Franz Schubert‘s song cycle Winterreise, the undisputed highlight of the Romantic lieder genre, achieves new dimensions: Gregor Meyer sets a stylistically varied and atmospherically dense choral accompaniment alongside the solo baritone voice of Daniel Ochoa and the piano played by Christian Peix. Soloists, choir and conductor have intimately worked together to create a knowledgeable and refreshing reinterpretation of this timeless classic, which, with its new approaches to understanding both text and music, will hopefully soon be heard more often in the concert halls. Baritone Daniel Ochoa, who is praised for his stage presence and expressiveness by audiences and critics alike, recently added many achievements to his portfolio. In 2015–2016 he had his role débuts as Giovanni and Marcello at the Vienna Volksoper, played the role of Dr. Falke (Die Fledermaus) in Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan Theatre and gave several concerts in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Furthermore, several recordings featuring Ochoa have been released in the last few years, among them two Bach recordings by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
Wilhelm Furtwangler - The Radio Recordings 1939-1945 / Berlin Philharmonic
Berlin Philharmoniker
SACD
$311.99Feb 01, 2019
These discs are hybrid Super Audio CDs playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
The radio recordings between 1939 and 1945 with the Berlin Philharmonic and Wilhelm Furtwängler are among classical music’s most compelling sound documents. Created at the peak of the collaboration between orchestra and conductor, Furtwängler’s artist personality is conveyed more vividly than anywhere else. What can be heard is music in which inspiration and the expressive will know no bounds and in which, not least, the existential experience of the Second World War reverberates. For the first time, the Berlin Philharmonic are releasing a complete edition of these recordings.
Wilhelm Furtwängler is accorded almost mythical status to this day. Biographically and artistically rooted in the 19th century, he embodies a bridge to the late-Romantic period and the founding years of the Berlin Philharmonic, whose chief conductor he was from 1922.
Furtwängler’s auratic charisma stems from an intriguing basic interpretive concept which avoided authoritarian gestures and deliberately aimed at the blurring of tonal contours. The result was a warm, mixed sound, in which developments and intensifications never appear calculated, but seem to grow organically.
This edition not only brings together all surviving radio recordings of the period, but also draws on the best available material – in particular, original tapes, which were taken to the Soviet Union after the war and only returned to Germany from the early 1990s onwards. Especially for this edition, the recordings have been carefully restored, digitally sampled using state-of-the-art technology, and remastered in 24-bit resolution. A total of 21 concerts are presented here, in whole or in part. The edition’s features include numerous historical photos, articles on the history behind the recordings, plus an extensive essay by the American musicologist Richard Taruskin on Furtwängler’s art – all of which results in a release which provides an opportunity to discover and relive this great chapter in the history of the Berliner Philharmoniker in all its facets as never before.
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REVIEW:
Do you want this box? Yes, you do. Is it worth it? Again, yes, almost certainly, it is. For one thing, these are the recordings that have come, more than any other, to define this conductor’s identity, and his legacy. The audio restoration does wonders for the piano concertos in particular. These are the concerts that, so they said later, made life worth living for many Berliners. They matter.
Not that a flutist would actually need to poach in foreign territories due to a lack of attractive repertoire, but the arrangements presented here, based on well-known chamber music works and songs, nevertheless make sense: they underline not only the versatility of the instrument, but also the interpreter's abilities. When the Russian-Swiss flutist Sofia de Salis, together with her piano accompanist Iryna Krasnovska, performs such well-known chamber music works as Franz Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata or César Franck's Violin Sonata on the flute, she astonishes us not only once.
Gerhard Oppitz is recognized as being one of the top pianists performing internationally today. His series of Schubert’s piano works, based on his long experience with the works, showcases his superior technical control, deep intellectual pervasion, and sweeping musical realization. This ninth installment includes dances, marches, and sonata fragments.
When the ORFEO label was established in Munich forty years ago, surely no one with the music scene back then would have predicted that the record company would develop into a firmly established player on the classical music market. One of the label’s main priorities in the early years was vocal music, with opera rarities top of the list and since the mid 1980s the re-use of historic tape recordings. Big names featured on the label’s own productions, while ORFEO also developed into a talent factory by discovering and nurturing young artist. This “ORFEO 40th Anniversary” 2-album sampler well reflects these two sides of the label by combining highlight tracks of historical recordings with today’s global stars.
When the ORFEO label was established in Munich forty years ago, surely no one with the music scene back then would have predicted that the record company would develop into a firmly established player on the classical music market. One of the label’s main priorities in the early years was vocal music, with opera rarities top of the list and since the mid 1980s the re-use of historic tape recordings. Big names featured on the label’s own productions, while ORFEO also developed into a talent factory by discovering and nurturing young artist. This “Legendary Conductors” 10 album set for the anniversary of 40 years of ORFEO label history presents a selection of outstanding recordings with legendary conductors in the true sense of the word.
Schubert's eight "spontaneous inventions" from 1827 are character pieces that are among the best known and most popular works for piano. Full of rich lyricism, they are much more than trifles or whims, as the title suggests. Kemal Cem Yilmaz began studying the piano with Daniel Vodovoz in Langenhagen at the age of eight. Audiences were thrilled by his numerous public appearances as a child; already tat that time, his playing was mature and inspiring. He studied the piano with Heidi Kohler, Markus Groh, and Christopher Oakden in Hannover and with Alfredo Perl in Detmold. Concurrently with his musical studies and concertizing activities, Kemal Cem Yilmaz worked for twelve years as a taxi driver in Hannover.
Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 18 in G Major, Op. 78, D. 894 & 3
Ars Produktion
SACD
$21.99Jan 29, 2016
Pianist Elena Margolina enjoyed a highly distinguished musical education, graduating with a piano concert diploma from the St. Petersburg State Conservatory and, summa cum laude, from the University of Music in Detmold in 1996. She has made numerous recordings for radio, television and also several CD recordings. On her latest recording she plays three piano pieces and a sonata by Franz Schubert.
The superb Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio is heard in all of Schubert's music for Piano Trio- the two great masterpieces (the B-flat and E-flat Trios), as well as the rarely played "Sonatensatz" and Notturno. In addition, Sharon Robinson and Joseph Kalichstein perform the lovely "Arpeggione" Sonata. This specially priced release includes notes by Schubert specialist, Malcolm MacDonald.
Clara Schumann: Piano Trio; Franz Schubert: Quartet Rosamunde; Trio D471
CAvi-music
CD
$19.99Nov 01, 2013
C. SCHUMANN Piano Trio in g. SCHUBERT String Quartet No. 13 in a, “Rosamunde”. String Trio in B? • Gunilla Süssman (pn); Antje Weithaas, Christian Tetzlaff, Gergana Gergova (vn); Rachel Roberts, Wolkver Jacobsen (va); Alban Gerhardt (vc) • DEUTSCHLANDFUNK 8553294 (68:40)
Reading almost anything written about Clara Schumann, I am reminded somehow of Anne Brontë, a fine novelist who was the talented sister to two geniuses. Anne can’t win in the critical world, and Clara, who besides being reputedly one of the best pianists of her era was one of its better composers, can’t win either. The annotator to this collection of live performances from the Spannungen Chamber Festival virtually apologizes for Schumann as a good student who, sad to say, never learned “that rules are meant to be broken.” It strikes me that, living with Robert Schumann, and hearing his works, Clara Schumann had plenty of opportunities to realize that rules could be broken. Perhaps his pathology made her leery of going outside certain boundaries. Nonetheless, I find her Piano Trio a mostly pleasing work with touching themes that aren’t necessarily developed as compellingly as those of the greatest of her contemporaries. But the Finale is memorable and lively.
Schubert is the greater companion here. The String Quartet is played almost carefully, or at least to my mind with not the most desirable fervor. Lines meant to fade sensitively seem rather to peter out. I prefer my recordings by the Italian Quartet, the Guarneris and the Emerson Quartet. The playful String Trio is performed well, but still I would pick up this disc mainly for the Schumann.
Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 1-8 / Harnoncourt, Berlin Philharmonic
Berlin Philharmoniker
SACD
$64.99Sep 22, 2017
In these recordings, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Berliner Philharmoniker present a brilliant and multifaceted interpretation of Franz Schubert’s eight symphonies. This Schubert is colorful and dramatic – and represents a unique synthesis in which the famous sound of the Berliner Philharmoniker is as evident as Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s familiarity with the transparency and sound speech of historical performance practice. The CD hardcover edition enables playback with either the best CD sound or – when used as an SACD – in high-resolution audio quality and in surround sound. Founded in 1882, the Berliner Philharmoniker has consistently been ranked as one of the best orchestras in the world. In 2006, ten European media outlets voted the ensemble number three on a list of “Top Ten European Orchestras,” and in 2008 it was voted the world’s number two orchestra in a survey by Gramophone.
This 2CD set of Schubert’s Piano Trios features historically informed performances, with the piano part performed on fortepiano by Viviana Sofronitsky, the daughter of legendary Russian pianist Vladimir Sofronitsky. Violinist László Paulik is one of the founding members of the Concerto Armonico Chamber Orchestra, and the Quartetto Luigi Tomasini. Cellist Sergei Istomin is in demand throughout Europe and North America as soloist and chamber musician. His repertoire includes baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary music on both period and modern instruments.
If you take stock of all the lieder composed by Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Mahler, Strauss, Debussy, and of course, Schubert, you will note that the majority are slow, meditative, contemplative. Virtuosity is not an essential part of the equation in the lied genre, at least not in the sense of rapid vocal coloraturas or thundering piano passages. The song automatically comes with a text included, and this opens up another world entirely. This has musical implications as well. In Schubert’s case, a great poem whose verses convey a striking message is provided with a magnificently sensual musical frame that allows the text to exude a powerful influence on the listener. “Wandering,” or, better yet, “strolling” through nature is part of the very essence of the Romantic poet, with all his loneliness and longing. He contemplates nature, he listens to the silence, he describes inner emotional states. “Wandering” could also imply a sort of movement, but in Schubert’s lieder we are actually dealing with an individual subject who is moving, “wandering” through the time allotted to him on this earth. We are confronted with a series of snapshots, doubts, and fears. Whenever Schubert depicts the inner emotional state of the soul, he is always honest and truthful. This is Andre Schuen’s third album. His first two have been rave-reviewed all over the globe. Schuen counts as one of the young stars in the world of vocalists, and not only participates in the highest level of festivals, but also in the world’s biggest opera houses.
