This world premiere recording of Joachim Raff’s comic opera Dame Kobold is a significant highlight among our 2026 operatic releases. Raff was a prolific composer and a leading figure in 19th-century German music, but his operas were overshadowed by those of Wagner; consequently his works are still being rediscovered today. The chamber-music qualities of his later comic operas were ahead of their time, anticipating developments in the genre associated with the turn of the 20th century. The lightness, facility and flexibility of Raff’s score chimes with us today more than ever, so we're delighted to present this hidden masterpiece more than 150 years after its first production in Weimar. The superb cast is led by baritone Matthias Lika (Don Juan), who was awarded First Prize in the concert category at the 2024 National Singing Competition in Berlin, and soprano Lara Rieken (Donna Angela), winner of the 2022 National Singing Competition, the 5th Vienna International Music Competition, and the 2023 Fritz Wunderlich Society competition.

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Kip Winger is a genre-bridging composer with a long and successful career in rock music. He played bass with Alice Cooper from 1985 to 1987 and recorded with Alan Parsons, Roger Daltrey and Bob Dylan. These are world premiere recordings of two works commissioned from Winger by Giancarlo Guerrero, the conductor on the album: In the Language of Flowers is a violin concerto celebrating a love story interwoven with cryptological associations of flower arranging, while Symphony of the Returning Light centres on the theme of atonement and incorporates Morse code rhythms. So, here we have music by an eclectic, multi-platinum rock music artist and GRAMMY-nominated classical composer, conducted by a six-time GRAMMY winner, performed by the 14-time GRAMMY award-winning Nashville Symphony, and produced by ten-time GRAMMY winner Tim Handley. And not to forget violin soloist Peter Otto, who both serves as concertmaster of the Nashville Symphony and enjoys a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician and educator.

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In this recital, Canadian pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko explores the evolving style, dramatic breadth and technical daring of Alexander Scriabin’s piano works. The album charts the remarkable evolution of Scriabin’s musical language, from his earliest pieces to the sensual, volatile Piano Sonata No. 5, which stands at the summit of Scriabin’s creative trajectory. As a resonant counterpart, he plays Rachmaninov’s brooding Piano Sonata No.1 in D minor. We expect critical reaction to confirm what has already been appreciatively stated of the 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition winner: ‘impressive maturity … sensitivity and deep emotional expression.’ (Bachtrack); ‘a strikingly original talent, including sterling technique, stylistic discernment, vivid imagination and the ability to identify with every note he plays.’ (Gramophone)

Please note that a digital-only release of four early piano works by Scriabin is also available on 9.70408.

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Paul Büttner was born in Dresden in 1870 and studied violin and oboe at the city’s conservatory, from where he gradually established himself as an outstanding musician. But he remained virtually unknown as a composer until 1915, when the celebrated conductor Arthur Nikisch premiered his Symphony No. 3, following which Büttner became acknowledged as one of the greatest contemporary symphonists after Brahms and Bruckner. His Symphony No. 4 from 1917 continued this success and was performed on numerous occasions by several orchestras. In 1933, however, his music was marked as ‘degenerate’ by the totalitarian regime, which erased him completely from their permissible sources of musical culture available to the public.

This album represents both a special tribute and a personal gift to composer Arvo Pärt (b. 1935), one of the most influential composers of our time. The programme, which includes two world premiere recordings, features pianist Reinis Zariņš and the Trio Palladio performing Pärt’s timeless chamber works, including the famous classics Für Alina, Fratres, and Spiegel im Spiegel, together with a selection of early piano works. It also includes two special dedications by Latvian composers Georgs Pelēcis and Andrejs Selickis, who have been greatly influenced and appreciatively mentored by Arvo Pärt.