"Ravel: Cantates pour le Prix de Rome" - test pieces submitted by Ravel for the Prix de Rome, featuring three cantatas and five short settings for choir and orchestra. Beautiful music worth knowing. (Even if Ravel failed to win this coveted award for five consecutive years).
"The Seven Stars' Symphony & Vers la voûte étoilée" - two significant works from French composer Charles Koechlin, played here by Sinfonieorchester Basel. Koechlin's "The Seven Stars' Symphony" is an ode to his favorite film stars, each represented by one movement.
"A Meditation" - five new choral works on this album–from composers James MacMillan, Will Todd, Anna Semple, Eoghan Desmond and Lisa Robertson–all grew from a meditation by theologian St John Henry Newman. The Sixteensing with joy and brilliance, conducted by Harry Christophers.
"Williams: Violin Concerto No. 2" - A star-studded album: Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Boston Symphony Orchestra take on John Williams's Second Violin Concerto, paired with three newly-arranged film themes.
"Vingt Regards sur l'enfant Jésus" - pianist Bertrand Chamayou conquers Olivier Messiaen's landmark work, an absolute odyssey for solo piano with influences ranging from plainchant to birdsong. Homages to Messiaen from Takemitsu, Cheung, and Kurtág surround the main event on both sides.
