Märchenhaft (Swedish "sagolikt") is a concert program by Nordic Light Duo inspired by the wonderful fairy tale world of the popular children's book author Elsa Beskow. Devotedly and lovingly designed, Beskow's fairy tales and illustrations run like a thread through the musical delightful experiences in it. The program is divided into five sections, each representing a fairy tale: Flower Festival in Täppan, The Story of the Curious Perch, Putte's Adventure in the Blueberry Forest, The Journey to the Land of Long ago, and The Sun Egg. Each section immerses you in an exciting story, enhanced by Elsa's original illustrations. These texts and pictures are then accompanied by songs and piano pieces chosen to match the stories.

Two illustrations are even firsts and can only be seen in this publication, thanks to Daniel Beskow's family ties to Elsa Beskow, his paternal great-grandmother. Because of this connection, the idea for the Märchenhaft project was born in 2018. With it, the two musicians wanted to contribute to the rebirth of Elsa's fantasy world and bring a new musical fairy tale series to life. They firmly believe that this fairy tale treasure belongs to the European cultural heritage and with its re-release in a musical guise, they found an opportunity to pay tribute to Elsa's work in an original way and bring it to a new, larger audience. Fairy Tale has become a huge success in Sweden and the duo has given over a hundred concerts under this name in recent years. The intimate setting, the imaginative mood and the interplay between literature, music and visual arts remain the main features of this exciting project, which we can now also experience on this sound recording.

It is indeed a pleasure to find myself writing the introduction to this record programme, the result of an extended gestation spanning more than a decade of my musical research. The common thread of this project is the search for a personal reflection in the mirror of the anthropomorphic musical instrument par excellence, the human voice. Finding a parallelism between vocal cords and guitar strings, by arranging originally vocal works. This primordial and initiatory sound in the communication between living beings is here understood as a medium that goes under the musical epidermis, towards a more anthropologically horizontal pulsation and resonance. Over the centuries, from the Gregorian chant onwards, we have witnessed a fervent “musically oriented” approach to sound and metrics, in favour of instrumental performance and dance. However, in my experience, the most effective musical expressions have always been characterised by a communicativeness that goes beyond the instrument, revealing an expressive flow that, unmediated, takes us back to the apparent naturalness of the vocal expression. Similarly, from the opposite perspective, it was enlightening for me to listen to Carmelo Bene’s recordings and discover that Valerio Binasco studied The Tempest using the metronome, to get in contact with “the musicality of speech”. The intention to interbreed with the human voice has been and still is for me an inexhaustible source of inspiration. This research, which can be extended to compositions of all epochs, is presented here in a compact version, through the arrangement of works by two authors belonging to German Romanticism.

“One of the most important advantages that the Luxembourg citizen has when abroad is that linguistically and culturally we embrace both the German and the French cultures...This gives a Luxemburger, particularly one active in the arts or the cultural environment, a different outlook and approach,” suggested Luxembourg composer Alexander Müllenbach in an interview. Perhaps it is this different perspective, the quite individual, open approach, that Françoise Groben herself had, a quality that she brought to her performance of German and French compositions for the cello. And it is for that reason that Banque Générale de Luxembourg placed at her disposal an exquisite instrument built by Matteo Goffriller in 1695.

Françoise Groben was born in Luxembourg on December 4, 1965. She received her first lessons in the cello at the age of five at the city’s Conservatoire, studying there with Francine Weber-Deprelle, Jean Join und Georges Mallach. She eventually completed her studies with Boris Pergamenschikov at the Cologne Musikhochschule, graduating in her concert examination, while continuing to attend master classes given by such artists as Daniil Shafran in Moscow or William Pleeth in London, or by the Amadeus Quartet. From 1974 onwards she was a member of the ensemble Les Musiciens founded by her father, Joseph Groben, and was only 15 when she first played in the Youth Orchestra of the European Union, going on to perform under such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Herbert von Karajan and Georg Solti. The recordings collected here illustrate the entire spectrum of Françoise Groben’s artistic interests, demonstrating that she was not only a leading soloist but also a gifted and coveted chamber musician who regularly included pieces by Luxembourg composers in her programs and was strongly committed to contemporary female composers.

"Being able to release my first solo CD with the hänssler CLASSIC label is simply fantastic. The assembled works on this CD reflect my musical focus. The juxtaposition of globally renowned and beloved compositions with the quest for seldom-performed musical treasures captivates me in my profession. I have recorded a journey through the colorful world of fantasy. The sound journey with Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn Bartholdy shows famous, rarely played and unfinished piano works, which, besides a reference to nature, find their nucleus in Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata'.

"The three composers are united by the search for new possibilities of expression. There are (almost) no limits to the imagination. Ludwig van Beethoven takes center stage. His contrasting works Fantasy for piano Unv 12, an unfinished sketch, and the universally known 'Sonata quasi una fantasia' op.27 No. 2, more familiar to most as the 'Moonlight Sonata', are an exciting combination.Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Phantasie op. 28 'Scottish Sonata' harks back to Beethoven's love of nature. He wrote this fantasy in 1833 on his cultural journey through Italy, France and Great Britain. Here, Mendelssohn Bartholdy sets his impressions of the mood and landscape of Scotland to music. Franz Schubert's Fantasy op. 15 D 760 'Wanderer Fantasy' is a work that is close to my heart." - Maximilian Schairer

Featuring more than a hundred pieces, this album showcases the charming dances Schubert composed for the many fashionable salons in Vienna between 1815 and 1823. It joins other Naxos albums dedicated to Schubert’s piano dances and miniatures by Yang Liu (8.573941) and Daniel Lebhardt (8.574145, 8.574277). French pianist Didier Castell-Jacomin is a Steinway Artist.

A very fine and enjoyable set...just delightful—a balm to your soul.

Julia Fischer and Martin Helmchen’s interpretation of Schubert’s music for violin and piano has been highly successful from the onset, and now returns in an affordable stereo re-issue. The release uniquely features Fischer as a pianist in the Fantasia for Piano Duet D. 940. She had previously performed as a pianist in concert, but this was her recording debut. Julia Fischer and Martin Helmchen are among the most outstanding instrumentalists of their generation, and both have a vast Pentatone discography.

-- ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)

Julia Fischer and Martin Helmchen’s interpretation of Schubert’s music for violin and piano has been highly successful from the onset, and now returns in an affordable stereo re-issue. The release uniquely features Fischer as a pianist in the Fantasia for Piano Duet D. 940. She had previously performed as a pianist in concert, but this was her recording debut. Julia Fischer and Martin Helmchen are among the most outstanding instrumentalists of their generation, and both have a vast Pentatone discography.

REVIEWS:

German-Slovak Julia Fischer, who nearly opted for a career as a pianist, now shines in the constellation of top young violinists. She and her gifted pianist, Martin Helmchen, capture the sunny nature of the three youthful sonatinas, where the challenge is not primarily technical but musical: how to maintain their buoyant charm. The late Rondo Brillant D895, on the contrary, has a dark portentousness in the opening andante, while the exuberant, somewhat repetitive allegro presents a greater virtuosic challenge. These outstanding players respond with persuasive vigour and freshness.

-- The Guardian

On Vol. 1:

Helmchen is adept at pinpointing the crucial harmonies… and his touch is unusually sensitive… Fischer similarly manages to combine restraint with warm expression, and the occasional moments where she plays with more abandon - as in her dramatic first entry in D385 and the ebullient Minute of D403 - stand out the more effectively.

-- Gramophone

On Vol. 2:

☆☆☆☆☆  A magnificent account of this inspired work [the F major Fantasy]...It's a challenging piece...yet Fischer and Helmchen present as fine as any account on disc...They are a marvellous team, evidently giving each other ideas as they go along.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Characteristic Schubert, played with penetrating subtlety by the two young Germans Fischer and Helmchen...The CD ends with the D940 Fantasia for piano duet, with Fischer partnering in a powerful performance: one moment fiery, the next caressing. And all such heavenly music.

-- The Times of London

A slipcase containing four 1CDs and a 2CD with archive recordings of the SWR which go as far back as 1952. The recordings belong to some of the greatest singers of all times, the repertoire consists of art songs (lied), arias and baroque arias.

Ingrid Haebler (born in 1929) belongs to the same generation of Viennese pianists as Badura-Skoda, Brendel, Gulda and Demüs. In 1954 (approx. the period when the recordings on this album took place) she won the ARD competition, then as today a quality seal and a guarantee for a successful career (which she enjoyed). However, considerable disagreement has long surrounded her interpretations: for some she is a model because of her flawless technique and the absolute poise of her music-making; for others, she is virtually a symbol of academic discipline. However, her recordings were considered good enough to be used in the faked recordings of the pianist Joyce Hatto – which, when uncovered, led to one of the big and quite unique scandals in the history of music performance.