A showcase for two masterful musicians, Fissures presents saxophonist Idit Shner and harpist Yumiko Endo Schlaffer in a program of works for this unique combination of instruments that has rarely been represented in recorded form. A wide array of composers and musical expression are explored, from Rokus de Groot's bass saxophone feature Cadenza, to Dr. Yusef Lateef's light and transparent Romance.

Crossover projects are the hallmark of the Sonux Ensemble. Together with the jazz-saxophonist Stefan Kuchel and the Sirius Quartet, the young men’s choir performs contemporary works. The Quartet members describe themselves as artists of improvisation who break out of the conventional vocabulary of sound for a string quartet. Most pieces on this CD were written especially for the Sonux Ensemble, and thus composed to the singers’ strengths. "We have worked on these pieces together with the composers, and given them their first performances over the course of the last five years. This disc features only world premiere recordings and, literally, unheard of choral music," the choir’s director Hans-Joachim Lustig notes.

John Taverner (1490-1545) and William Byrd (1540-1623) born a generation apart, both hailed from Lincolnshire, and left a collection of choral works that rank (with that of Thomas Tallis) as some of the finest of its age, or indeed any other.
Both men worked in turbulent times – the older Taverner grew up during the reign of Henry VII, and became Informator Choristarum at Cardinal College, Oxford – Cardinal Wolsey’s new college in the university. Here Taverner recruited 16 boys and 12 men for the choir.