Violinists Simone Lamsma and Candida Thompson explore connections between J.S. Bach and Arvo Part on their new release Part uber Bach with Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Arvo Part's groundbreaking Tabula Rasa is presented alongside Bach's Concerto for Oboe and Violin in the version for 2 violins, and Part's own Collage uber B-A-C-H, written in 1964 wherein the Estonian master intertwines his own modernist music with phrases from J.S. Bach's music.

This is a live recording of the Dutch singer Trijntje Oosterhuis, at home in the Netherlands, with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta & Jazz sextet The Houdinis, conducted by Wayne Marshall, doing Billie Holiday & George Gerswin material.

Following on the worldwide success of In a Time Lapse, Ludovico Einaudi presents his new work, "Elements". The work's sound is lush and deep and interwoven with a freshness that naturally blends Einaudi's piano with acoustic and electronic sounds. In addition to his usual collaborators, the album also features the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Berlin-based electronic musician Robert Lippok, Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco and South African violinist Daniel Hope.

It's difficult to imagine that a musical instrument as heavy and unwieldy as a double bass could sound so light and malleable as it does in this wonderful recording by double bassist Rick Stotijn. Of course it doesn't hurt that the music performed is by the double bass composer extraordinaire Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889). What Paganini did for the violin, or what Rossini did for Italian opera, Bottesini did for the humble double bass. A master double bassist himself, most of his compositional output was devoted to this instrument. His music is very much in the style of a Rossini opera, with a flowing cantabile style in which the instrument plays the lead role of tenor as in an opera.

Arrangements for string orchestra of works originally written for string quartet are not uncommon, especially in the cases of Beethoven. But in the amazing scherzo, with its huge climax not long before the movement's end, the extra weight makes a substantial and thrilling difference. And in the slow third movement… there is an organ-like solemnity added by the basses, and that needs the supplementary upper strings to get the proper balance. The Walton piece is a complete success, making the piece sound as if it had originally been conceived for string orchestra.

Amsterdam Sinfonietta and their Director and Violinist Candida Thompson join baritone and pianist Thomas Oliemans and guest musicians Bert van den Brink, Ruben Drenth and Jens Meijer to bring our listeners Formidable! an album of French Chansons.