Thomas Hampson, America’s leading baritone and a champion of the art of classic song — poetry set to music — makes his Cedille Records debut with a programme of songs by five composers of the early 20th century associated with the city of Chicago: Ernst Bacon, Florence Price, John Alden Carpenter, Margaret Bonds, and Louis Campbell-Tipton. All of them, Hampson says, 'have distinguished themselves in history as great voices of the artistic American narrative'. Hailed as 'an outstanding recitalist' by Grove Music Online, the much-honored international opera star, recording artist, and 'ambassador of song' performs compositions based on poems by Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, and Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet who became the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The latest postcard from The Chills’ epic journey is an album about “consolidation, re-grouping, acceptance and mortality,” claims the chief Chill. “Hopefully a kind of Carole King ‘Tapestry’ for ageing punks.”

These seldom-heard Schubert lieder—setting verses by German poets including Schiller and Goethe—reflect the Romantic-era’s artistic obsession with the classical myths and literature of ancient Greece. The resulting songs and duets reveal levels of fantasy and nobility rarely found among Schubert’s nearly 700 lieder.

Heitor Villa-Lobos was one of a number of eminent composers attracted to writing for the harmonica and his Concerto explores the instrument’s abilities perfectly. The first movement is highly melodic while the harmonica’s singing qualities are to be found in the plaintively haunting lyricism of the slow movement. The finale embodies festive romance and great virtuosity, capping one of the most exciting works in the repertoire. The sequence of arrangements and orchestrations of some of Villa-Lobos’s most beautiful, moving and famous melodies includes the masterpiece Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5.

Brazilian-American composer, Miguel Kertsman, writes in numerous genres embracing classical music, jazz, progressive rock, electronica and film, bridging these diverse elements to craft a unique sound world. Concerto Brasileiro explores lyricism and modernity through solemn chorale-like writing and seductive dances laced with Brazilian folk rhythms. Uncommon sonorities, haunting themes and ethereal landscapes mark out the Concerto for Violin, Horn, Shofar and Orchestra, while traditionalism and experimentation define the Journey for Bassoon and Orchestra. Chamber Symphony No. 2 explores and celebrates New York’s rich cultural diversity.

Although he was particularly renowned for his music for harpsichord and for guitar, British composer Stephen Dodgson was a versatile craftsman of chamber music. The examples here reveal his intricate but surprising turns of phrase, from the subtle exploration of sonorities in the Septet Variations to the sunlit beauty of the Pastoral Sonata. Dodgson’s mastery of colour and texture is evident in his Solway Suite, while the early Capriccio and Finale treats the listener to a kaleidoscope of whimsical and witty interludes.

Rossini considered the ‘mezzo’ voice to be his ideal, stating that ‘the contralto is the norm against which the other voices and instruments of the composition must be gauged.’ Containing numerous premiere recordings, this penultimate release in Alessandro Marangoni’s acclaimed traversal of Rossini’s complete piano music is vibrant with national colours from France, Italy and Spain, and rich in emotions of sadness and love, from the tragic Adieux à la vie! sung on a single note, to the sustained operatic embellishments of Questo palpito soave.

Tim Hecker will release his new album Konoyo on September 28 via Kranky. The album will mark the artist’s sixth release on the label, following his move to 4AD for his 2016 LP Love Streams.

Arany-Album is the sixth studio album of the Hungarian folk metal band Dalriada. The tracks are musicalized versions of popular works by János Arany.

The debut album Sentenced to Capital Punishment released through Rising Nemesis Records