First Hand Records

20/08/2025

FHR can't wait to release Bellot Ensemble's wonderful debut album 'Cupid's Ground Bass'! Album released on 21 November 2025 with a few taster singles before this.

BIBER • CAVALLI • FARINA • KAPSBERGER • MONTERVERDI • STROZZI • UCCELLINI

BELLOT ENSEMBLE
Lucine Musaelian, soprano, viola da gamba
Kieran White Tenor
Olivia Petryszak recorder
Edmund Taylor, Maxim Del Mar violin
Jacob Garside, cello
Nathan Giorgetti viola da gamba
Daniel Murphy, theorbo, baroque guitar
Matthew Brown harpsichord, organ

Recorded at St Barnabas Church, Walthamstow, London, UK, 8–11 November, 2024
Produced by Tom Pickering
Recorded by John Croft (Chiaro Music Recording and Production)
24bit, 96kHz high resolution recording, editing and mastering

Album cover design by Francesco Vitali

Supported by the Continuo Foundation

'A prevailing feature of music of the 16th century and earlier was a split between the deployment of voices and instruments: occasionally replacing each other, or used in alternation – a more concerted effort in writing dedicated instrumental music with increasing degrees of complexity and virtuosity was taking place.

The penchant for writing stories about love in its many forms continued, finding a new home in the developing operatic works as well as the ever-popular madrigal genre, as composers continued to find ways to describe the joy, grief, despair and ecstasy of the human experience of love.

Cupid’s Ground Bass is a celebration of these developing musical aesthetics of early 17th century Italy, focusing particularly on the composers’ language of love in all its forms.'

18/08/2025

Lovely to hear Villa-Lobos' 'Bachiana brasileira No. 5: 1st mvt' from our 2011 album 'ARIA' on BBC Radio 3 Essential Classics this morning. Really beautiful playing from Gerard McChrystal, soprano sax and Craig Ogden guitar

Ian Skelly plays the best in classical music.

16/08/2025

Nice review just in from American Record Guide of our release 'The Secrets of Andalusia' from earlier this year.

'The liner notes of this entrancing (if somewhat exotic) program describe it as an attempt to “create a soundscape of music” from Andalusia, exploring the rich confluence of musical traditions in the Iberian Peninsula. To that end, traditional Sephardic songs sit beside European polyphonic works, and a single track may include both baroque and flamenco guitars, viola da gamba, recorders, and kanun (a type of Middle Eastern zither). All of these are, in fact, included on the vibrant, rollicking rendition of ‘Dindirin, dindirin”, which also incorporates a dance-like instrumental interlude with palmas (handclapping)—a world away from the smooth, self-contained version offered by the King’s Singers! Nor does the ensemble confine itself to a particular time period: though most the pieces are from the 15th to 17th centuries, there are also beautiful arrangements of traditional songs and texts and a kaleidoscopic contemporary work for flamenco guitar performed and composed by Monteverde. It’s not exactly a cohesive concert, but that seems to be the point: the juxtapositions merely underline the richness of the overall sound world. That said, one of the strengths of the album is the perceptive pairings pointed out in the program booklet. Versions of a Judeo-Spanish song (‘A la una yo naci’ and ‘A la una naci yo’) are separated by two additional tracks, but are worth listening to back-to-back. The first is sensually lilting, replete with percussive clapping and a swaggering flamenco guitar solo; the second is more rhapsodic, showing off Victoria Couper’s swooping voice and the delicate virtuosity of the kanun. The notes (and texts, with translations in English) enrich the experience; I found it best to jump around the tracks, following the logic as it unfolds in the essay.' (© 2025 American Record Guide)

https://firsthandrecords.com/products-page/album/the-secrets-of-andalusia-lux-musicae-london/

Lux Musicae London
Sophie Creaner, Mirjam-Luise Muenzel recorder
Roberta Diamond, soprano
Daniel Thomson, tenor
Aileen Henry baroque, harp
Toby Carr, baroque guitar, lute
Harry Buckoke viola da gamba
with
Victoria Couper, soprano
Konstantinos Glynos, kanun
Ignacio Lusardi Monteverde, flamenco guitar, oud

Supported by Continuo Foundation
Recorded and produced by John Croft (Chiaro Music Recording and Production)

We know that key influences on Flamenco date back to Islamic Iberia or the Al- Andalusian era of Spain between the 8th–15th centuries. Yet the first mention of Flamenco by name is not until 1774, where it appears in an epistolary novel, Cartas Marruecas, by the playwright and soldier, José de Cad...

16/08/2025

Wonderful to hear our just released 'BACH The English Suites' album open BBC Radio 3 'Record Review' show today! Performed by Alexandra Papastefanou

'Papastefanou makes the transition to piano relatively effortless... She uses the instruments resources to illuminate Bach’s musical lines and counterpoint with good contrast of dynamics and colour’

Recorded and edited by Petros Petropoulos Πολυφωνικη Στουντιο
Mastered by John Croft (Chiaro Music Recording and Production)

Alexandra Papastefanou

Flora Willson picks 5 indispensable recordings by this week's BBC Proms Composer: Puccini

15/08/2025

🎼 Moto Pick of the week
Alexandra Papastefanou records the complete English Suites by Bach.
Writer and performer, she combines stylistic clarity with expressive depth.
Read more at https://moto-perpetuo.com/alexandra-papastefanou-bach-english-suites/

15/08/2025

Great to see our just recent release of BACH' 'The English Suites' is Moto Perpetuo's 'Pick of the Week'! Featuring Greek pianist Alexandra Papastefanou Alexandra Papastefanou

'This is a recording shaped not just by excellent technique, but by an artist who understands the composer before imposing her own vision. A technically fluent reading, yes—but also one shaped by knowledge, conviction, and a genuine desire to communicate.'

Recorded and edited by Petros Petropoulos Πολυφωνικη Στουντιο
Mastered by John Croft (Chiaro Music Recording and Production)

Greek pianist Alexandra Papastefanou releases a rare complete recording of J.S. Bach’s English Suites. A thoughtful, clear, and expressive interpretation on Fazioli piano.

12/08/2025

Excellent review of our just released album of SHOSTAKOVICH just published on the Cultural Attache website:

'If you want to hear three impressive works by Shostakovich performed beautifully, this album is for you. It is haunting when it needs to be, melancholy as required and playful in moments. The musicianship and the recording itself serve as a great way of honoring Shostakovich...'

Paul Neubauer, viola
Ann Marie McDermott, piano

Dinin Arts Management & Consulting
Opus 3 Artists
8VA Music Consultancy
Tippet Rise Art Center

Cultural Attaché's New In Music This Week: August 1st and August 8th features thirteen new releases in classical, jazz and musicals.

12/08/2025

Wow, an impressive 10/10 review just published on ClassicsToday for Kristin Lee, violinist's recent debut album 'American Sketches' released on FHR!

'Kristin Lee’s Marvelous American Sketches - A wonderful disc'

Jensen Artists
Jeremy Ajani Jordan Music
Oktaven Audio




Kevin Puts, composer

Violin virtuoso Kristin Lee serves up a delightful and stylistically wide-ranging cornucopia of American music, performed with unalloyed joy, style and effortless technique, abetted by Jeremy Ajani Jordan’s equally brilliant pianism on most tracks. You can’t get a stronger start to a program tha...