Certainly, the 'quietest time of year' is also the time when music is to be most frequently heard - not only in public, in shops or markets, but also in the countryside, where Christmas is the time when perhaps the most singing is done. The music author Marius Schneider once underlined this fact by writing:"God hungers for songs." And thus the time which celebrates the symbolic birth of the Lord is a great time for music - even for people who may have no direct religious beliefs. With this 5CD-Set Capriccio presents in total 100 Classical Christmas titles, sung by most famous choruses and soloists. And draws a bow from the high classical Christmas Oratorio by Bach to more simple songs from the country side. And of course the most famous song can't be missed: "Silent Night, Holy Night."

In terms of style, with his works linked to basic tonalities Weigl drew on the sound realm of late Romanticism, from whose aesthetics he never departed in favour of more progressive contemporary trends. Whereas Weigl’s Symphony No. 1, written in 1908, associatively evokes the mood of a composer thinking of new territory and inquiring into the future, the dissimilar pair of his Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6 shows the musician’s intellect at historically distinctive periods, allowing an assessment to be made as to whether what could be expected, intended and hoped for at the time of his early works was achieved or whether it developed in an entirely different manner. The background to Symphony No. 4 in 1936 was the emergence of dictatorial Austro-Fascism. Symphony No. 6 of 1947 is in a certain sense a continuation and a conclusion following the end of the Nazi terror and a war that did not remain without profound changes and far-reaching effects for almost all the countries in the world.

In his late years Hanns Eisler concentrated more and more on compiling his film music scores for the concert hall. That's the case also with his Leipzig Symphony which was not completed when he died. The (at that time) young composer Thilo Medek recognized this gap and completed the symphony with different pieces out of Eisler's film music scores. The compilation of Funeral pieces from Film Music scores was realized by Tobias Faßhauer and Jürgen Bruns in 2015. The scores use film music from the 1947/48 Hollywood movie ‘So Well Remembered.’

At the end of 1955, Eisler wrote the music for the KZ Documentary Nuit et brouillard (Night and Fog) for the French movie director Alain Resnais (1922–2014). After many successful concert performances (with and without film) this piece can now be listened to for the first time on album.

REVIEW:

The performances by both the MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig in the first two works, and the Kammersymphonie Berlin in Night and Fog, all under the direction of Jürgen Bruns, are excellent. Both orchestras are on top form with the excellent recorded sound and the wonderful booklet notes helping to bring out the best from this music. A very fine disc, one which will enhance any collection of Hanns Eisler’s music and of late twentieth century music as a whole.

-- MusicWeb International

With his opera The Diary of Anne Frank (1968/69), by virtue of the subject alone, Grigory Frid could be sure of attracting attention beyond the borders of Russia. The remaining enormous oeuvre by the composer, covering mainly instrumental works, songs, radio and film music, still remains to be discovered and explored in depth. Both prior to and after the collapse of the Communist USSR, Frid was awarded the highest honors, e.g. the title of Artist of Merit (1986) and the Moscow Prize (1996). It is not erroneous to view Frid’s aesthetic position in a propinquity to Dmitri Shostakovich, as well as a generation of younger composers such as Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina and Alfred Schnittke. As in the cases of these composers, Frid’s music is also positioned within a field of tension between following the great Russian tradition and the quest for possibilities of expression in keeping with new, modern and international trends.

When Kent Nagano assumed the direction of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in autumn 2006, he had intended a new production of Richard Strauss’ Salome as one of the first premieres. He wanted to precede the challenging one-act opera after Oscar Wilde’s drama with a new music theatre work. He turned to Wolfgang Rihm. ‘I replied’, Rihm said in an interview with Die Zeit: ‘There’s only one thing: the final scene from Schlusschor by Botho Strauß. Nagano’s commission became the catalyst in transforming this desire into reality. This is the genesis of Das Gehege. A nocturnal scene for soprano and orchestra. Kent Nagano and Jean-Pascal Beintus (* 1966) met in the orchestra pit of the Opéra de Lyon in 1988. After considering the first orchestral manuscripts, the maestro, known for his openness and great erudition, encouraged the young man to expand his musical career. Several pictorial projects came to Nagano’s mind, which he entrusted to Beintus’ musical imagination: first, Wolf Tracks for recitator and orchestra (recorded with the speakers Bill Clinton and Michail Gorbachov), for which Beintus was awarded a Grammy in 2004, before in 2008 writing for the family concerts of the German Symphony Orchestra in Berlin a suite on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s omnipresent The Little Prince.

Many of the today-distinguished Soviet composers in the second half of the 20th century knew how to steer a middle course, enabling them to supply what was officially desirable all the while remaining faithful to themselves, writing the music they wanted to write. Kabalevsky was a Jack of all musical trades and, as a specialist for children’s music especially, cultivated a highly personal style, keeping easily within the bounds of comprehensible tonal aesthetics. His works are characterized by some of the features typical of Kabalevsky’s overall oeuvre: a cornucopia of melodious imagination, dance rhythms, above all in the fast movements, expansive slow sections and a positive, often cheerful tone. The present release presents a selection of his orchestral works alongside his violin concerto.

“I have given every operetta the style demanded by the space and time in which it is set.” (Eduard Künneke. Driven by success, Künneke committed himself to the genre of the operetta in the 1920s and 1930s. The diversity of his many operettas reveals Künneke’s enormous adaptability to the stylistic currents of entertainment music at that time. He had most international success with Der Vetter aus Dingsda (1921), with which Künneke has almost exclusively been identified up to today. His successful operettas were even adapted for London and New York. Herz über Bord was premiered in 1935, initially at the Zurich Opera and was performed almost 500 times between 1935 and 1937, including in Dresden, Stuttgart, Stockholm and Berlin. The Berliner Zeitung noted: “Once again, we can listen to operetta music written by an artist, a man of taste. Every number has its own weight.”

Music in the tempest of the times: If we seek to deal with Gerhard Frommel’s personality and music (a master pupil of Hans Pfitzner) in greater depth, as in the case of many other German composers of his generation, we cannot avoid going into the historical and political events and the underlying active and reactive behavior of the individual. Concepts like opportunism or passive obedience come readily to mind, but they fall short of the truth, if we were not direct contemporary witnesses. His position during the years 1933-45 becomes all the more salient as regards the works recorded here, both of which were written at that time. Many things sound familiar; Wagner, Bruckner and other elements from the past stand out trenchantly, ‘For me, the 1st Symphony is at the centre of my oeuvre.’ Frommel says. The score reached Wilhelm Furtwängler, who then scheduled its premiere with the Vienna Philharmonic for the autumn of 1942.

Dora Deliyska writes of her new release: “Based on a thorough musical analysis, I have tried to make a selection of pieces that will not only respond musically to one another, but also represent part of an overarching concept, the structure of B-A-C-H. The core of my concept is based on the idea of how musical compositions, written in different centuries with different compositional styles, can find a connection between one another, giving rise to very new and unique reflections. This way, the three composers (Bach, Chopin, Shostakovich) ‘communicate’ with one another, mutually influencing their artistic ideas.” Dora Deliyska has gained an international attention of audience and critics with her concert appearances, audio and video recordings. Due to her many recordings of works by Franz Liszt, she is considered one of the mot important Liszt interpreters of the young generation. But not only this has aroused the interest of the public: she has also gained recognition for her recordings of Schubert and her regular appearances in the renowned Vienna Musikverein and in the Vienna Konzerthaus.

The Doppler brothers played a dominant role in the K&K Monarchy’s musical life as composers, conductors, musicians and as orchestral soloists. They were on good terms with acknowledged artists of the era, such as Ferenc Liszt, Ferenc Erkel, or Jozsef Bajza. This is the fifth release in a set of 10 albums comprising the Dopplers' complete music for flute(s), including various arrangements. Flautist Claudi Arimany spent decades researching this project, inspiring many famous musicians to become involved in its realisation. Flutists Walter Auer, Shigenori Kudo, and Massimo Mercelli are heard alongside Claudi Arimany on this volume. Internationally renowned flautist Claudi Arimany is considered the direct heir, both in style and concept, of Jean-Pierre Rampal, his mentor and colleague. He has been performing alongside leading international orchestras as a guest soloist as well as teaching and studying flute pieces.

Harald Genzmer was a composition pupil of Paul Hindemith in Berlin from 1928 to 1934. Whoever studies Genzmer’s enormous oeuvre in detail will recognize in the pupil’s music many Romantic gestures and a sensual imagination rarely occurring in the teacher’s works. What Genzmer adopted from his mentor was the masterly craftsmanship, an awareness of classicism and form and joy in performing in itself and in the colours of the most differing instruments. The broadly educated scion of an academic family never regarded himself as a genius transcending boundaries, but as the servant of performers and the public: ‘Music should be zestful, artful and comprehensible. As practicable, it may win over the interpreter, and then the listener as graspable’. Musicians have always enjoyed performing Genzmer’s inspired music, which is affectionally adapted to the most varied instrumentations, and are now continuing to do so in increasing measure.

Bohuslav Martinů has suffered the fate of not enjoying the same popularity and wide appeal like Bedrich Smetana, Antonín Dvorák und Leoš Janácek on the podium. This often goes so far that his singular skill is referred to, but that the wealth of his oeuvre in all the salient genres is hardly familiar. For decades, Martinu had shied away from composing a symphony. The first one was finally to be written in the USA in 1942, followed by another one every year until 1946 (the sixth was only added to the work catalogue in 1953). For this reason, there is sometimes talk of the ‘American’ symphonies. The symphonies do mirror the events of the time, but at the same time long passages must be regarded as absolute music. Cornelius Meister is regarded as one of the finest young conductors of our day and age, and here he fantastically interprets these six symphonies with transparency, emotion, and aplomb.

REVIEWS:

It is always good to discover new recordings of Martinů’s symphonies, a sequence all the more remarkable for the short period, in which the first five symphonies were composed. Cornelius Meister, with the ORF Orchestra, provides us with a distinctive vision of Martinů’s symphonies. These performances sit very much in the Austro-German traditions of interpretation. Some moments are almost Brahmsian, phrasing is weighty, structure is emphasized.

Cornelius Meister is one of the most interesting of the younger conductors around. He has a superb rapport with his orchestra, whose playing is very fine throughout.

-- MusicWeb International

The appearance of this complete set of six symphonies on three CDs, recorded live in Vienna from 2011 to 2017, serves to reinforce the essential importance of Martinů as a 20th century orchestral composer. Although it doesn’t supplant the splendid Belohlávek Onyx set, it's nonetheless a very fine cycle. The sound is clear and lifelike, with most of the advantages of live recording, a sense of occasion and excitement and a more organic and natural arc to the performance, without too many of the disadvantages. The audience is mainly well-behaved and the applause is edited out.

-- Music for Several Instruments

Daniel Behle is one of the most versatile German tenors, with successes in concerts, recitals and the opera alike: “The basic idea for this programme was originally a homage to the golden 1950s and 1960s and my favourite singer of that time, Fritz Wunderlich. Earlier, not everything used to be bad, and for this reason I find it legitimate to ‘re-animate’ the greatest ‘pearls’ once more and present them to a younger audience.” Daniel Behle was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2014 in the recording of Leonardo Vinci’s Artaserse. His lieder recordings and solo CDs, including Die schöne Mullerin, Dichterliebe, Strauss songs and Bach arias, have been praised by critics. His debut album for Decca (Gluck arias with Armonia Atenea) was released in 2014.

Victor Bruns, born 1904 in Ollila in today’s Finland, wrote over 20 solo concertos, 50 chamber pieces and several ballet works. Bruns discovered the bassoon as his true vocation and moved to the Leningrad Conservatory in 1924, until he became bassoonist at Leningrad State Opera in 1927. Bruns completed his studies in composition with Vladimir Shtsherbatshov beside his work in the orchestra and he continued his compositional studies in 1946 with Boris Blacher. He worked as bassoonist of the Staatskapelle Berlin from 1946 until his retirement in 1969 and became a frequently performed composer, popular among musicians and audience alike far beyond the borders of the German Democratic Republic, whose works continue to deserve our attention. In 1960, Victor Bruns was awarded the Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic. In 1971, he was appointed an honorary member of the Berlin State Orchestra, and 20 years later the International Double Reed Society in the USA made him an honorary member.

20 years ago, at the beginning of his career, the young baritone Bo Skovhus made his first recording of Schubert’s “Schöne Mullerin”. Now, as a famous opera and Lied interpreter he presents a new production of all 3 Schubert Cycles: “I’m very thankful to do this again. As a young men you do not reflect so much what happen. Now, when I’m older, I understand much more about. Especially for this cycle it’s important to have another point of view.” (Bo Skovhus) Stefan Vladar, the famous Viennese pianist and his partner on the piano, shows us the virtuosity of the piano part in a new different light.

On May 28th May Mitsuko Shirai celebrated her 70th birthday. She looks back on life rich with musical performances: lieder, concerts, and also operas. The Lied duo Mitsuko Shirai / Hartmut Holl have created their own vast library of songs with numerous recordings and set new standards with concerts and releases. ''I prize all the recordings of Mstuko Shirai and Hartmut Holl, a historically great partnership in song, and I cherish the memory of the many times I heard them live.'' (Richard Dyer, Boston Globe)

Together with his friend Holst, at the beginning of the 20th century Ralph Vaughan Williams deliberately took the course of liberating himself from ''German influence'', as they called it, working for original British music. He found models and inspiration in original English folk music. Most of the works recorded here rank among the less known pieces by the composer, but all of them very clearly reflect the personal hue, the absolutely ''personal style'' of Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Capriccio Encore is a series of re-releases of the most famous recordings from Capriccio's back catalogue, fully re-mastered. The legendary recordings of artists such as Sandor Végh, Ton Koopman, Sir Neville Marriner and the Vienna Boys' Choir also contain repertoire highlights that have a particularly special appeal, from the baroque to the present day. This specific Encore album features the Vienna Boys' Choir alongside the Symphonieorchester der Wiener Volksoper, performing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem in D minor and Ave verum corpus. Also on the album is Anton Bruckner's Motetten.

Austrian composer Hanns Eisler is best known for composing the national anthem of the German Democratic Republic, for his long partnership with Bertolt Brecht, and for his film scores. His promising career in Hollywood, however, was interrupted by the Cold War. Film studio bosses blacklisted his music, and he was subjected to two interrogations by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Despite efforts by his American musical powerhouse friends Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, he was deported in 1948. In addition to the Oscar-nominated score for Fritz Lang’s film “Hangmen Also Die,” this release contains other rarely heard works by Hanns Eisler, in which the special interpretation that this pupil of Schoenberg had developed of the twelve-tone technique plays an astonishingly important role for the field of film and orchestral music.

REVIEWS:

Eisler's music bears the stamp of a modern original. Thankfully, recordings of his works are far more plentiful than they once were. The Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under Johannes Kalitzer do the honors for these works and their dedication gives us what sound to be very fitting performances, spirited and detailed.

-- Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review

The composer wrote the first book on composing for film and treated the craft as an art in its own right. His score to Hangmen Also Die was nominated for a 1942 Oscar. The Grapes of Wrath is an alternative score to John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, which was being filmed at the time by John Ford with music by Alfred Newman. Eisler’s work, with a searing twelve-tone lament, is infinitely preferable. And then there is a serialist score for Joris Ivens’s Maiost propaganda film, The 400 Million, again a work of uncompromising power. Beautifully played. We really need to hear more Eisler.

-- Musical Toronto