Wagner’s Siegfried is the third opera in the cycle that makes up Der Ring des Nibelungen. It premiered during the first complete performance of the cycle in August 1876 at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Rene Kollo performs in one of his greatest recorded performances in the title role of Siegfried. German conductor Marek Janowski is a brilliant interpreter of Wagner, having conducted the first digitally recorded Ring cycle between 1980 and 1983.
The most complete collection available of music by the father of Czech nationalism in music. Ma Vlast, The Bartered Bride and the String Quartet ‘From My Life’: all written within a decade of each other, all so fundamental in their different genres in forming a Czech national identity in music that it can seem incredible they were the work of a single composer.
This extensive collection contains the complete orchestral works, the two passionate and highly personal string quartets, the dramatic Piano Trio, a generous selection of piano music, including the complete Czech Dances, and the opera The Bartered Bride, sung in German.
Performers include the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Theodore Kuchar (Classics Today writes: “Performance: 9. Theodore Kuchar and his forces tackle Ma Vlast with plenty of enthusiasm and vigor; indeed, from Sarka onward this is one of the best versions available.”), the Czech Stamic Quartet, Czech pianist Antonin Kubalek, Roberto Plano, and the Staatskapelle Dresden/Otmar Suitner.
The performances here all won enthusiastic reviews on their original release; gathered together here, they make an ideal introduction to Smetana’s world.
‘One of the most dramatic sets of the tone-poems that I have ever encountered.’ Rob Cowan, Gramophone, September 2019
‘Wonderful conducting and playing of both familiar and unfamiliar Smetana.’ Fanfare, November 2008 (Orchestral works)
‘The Stamitz Quartet are one of the most impressive [Czech quartets]… Their performance of the E minor is on the grandest scale.’ Gramophone, March 2005
Brilliant Classics have celebrated the 150th Anniversary of Reger’s birth last year by expanding their Reger Collection of a decade ago from 11 to 18 CDs. Added to the original set, which presented Reger’s best known works – the glorious orchestral Böcklin Suite, the Mozart, Beethoven and Hiller Variations, the mighty piano and violin concertos, the beautiful clarinet quintet (not in the least inferior to Brahms’ masterpiece), the complete Chorale Fantasias for organ (Reger, an organist himself, wrote extensively and superbly for his instrument) and a fine selection of choral music – is a new set of chamber music including the Piano Trio, Flute-Violin-Viola Serenades, Clarinet–Piano Sonatas and other works, and Reger’s compositions for solo viola and for solo cello. The transparency of the chamber music genre particularly highlights the composer’s absolute mastery of counterpoint. Also new is an expanded keyboard section, with more works for the organ – so associated with Reger – including the Sonatas and Fantasy–Fugues, and a new solo piano CD recorded in 2023 by Eden Walker featuring Dreams by the Fireside and the Bach Variations and Fugue.
The preserved “miraculous harp:” 475 years of orchestra history – and a whole century is there to be listened to. This CD box is an invitation to a musical journey through time with one of the world’s best orchestras! Not only that, it is one of the world’s oldest, founded in 1548 and active without a break ever since. The former Hofkapelle, the court orchestra of Saxony, now proudly bears the name Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden. “Kapellkonzerte“ since the beginning of sound recordings under conductors like: Fritz Busch, Richard Strauss, Karl Böhm, Joseph Keilberth, Kurt Sanderling, Otmar Suitner, Herbert Blomstedt, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Bernard Haitink, Fabio Luisi, Christian Thielemann and many more
2014 marks a year of celebration recognizing the 150th birthday year of the German late-Romantic orchestral, operatic and lied master composer, Richard Strauss (1864-1949). Arabella (premiered 1933, Dresden) was the last of the half dozen Strauss works to feature a libretto by the great Austrian writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal. This production, from the most recent Salzburg Easter Festival is, after Capriccio, the second of three Richard Strauss operas C Major is releasing in honor of the composer’s birth, life and work. The star-laden cast includes soprano Renèe Fleming, baritone Thomas Hampson, Albert Dohmen (Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, MET) and Gabriela Benacková (Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden). With Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden, “the music of Richard Strauss is in the best of hands.” (ORF) “Thielemann gets the best out of the cast...especially Renée Fleming with her “luxurious” soprano …” FAZ
Richard Strauss ARABELLA
Graf Waldner - Albert Dohmen Adelaide - Gabriela Be?a?ková Arabella - Renée Fleming Zdenka - Hanna-Elisabeth Müller Mandryka - Thomas Hampson Matteo - Daniel Behle
Florentine Klepper, stage director Martina Segna, set designer Anna Sofie Tuma, costume designer Bernd Purkrabek, lighting designer Volker Michl, choreographer
Recorded live at Salzburg Easter Festival, 2014
Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.0br> Region code: 0 (worldwide) Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 178 mins No. of DVDs: 1
The Beethoven cycle of the 21st century! Christian Thielemann’s and Wiener Philharmoniker’s recording of BEETHOVEN 9 had been their first recording in HD of all nine Beethoven symphonies, accompanied by nine hour-long documentaries, one on each symphony, featuring Thielemann and Prof. Joachim Kaiser. From insights into Beethoven’s musical thinking to interpretational comparisons, including excerpts from performances by Karajan, Böhm, Bernstein, Järvi etc., to historical perspectives – no aspect of Beethoven’s symphonic oeuvre will remain untreated! “Thielemann’s recordings of the Beethoven symphonies stand head and shoulders above the countless and mostly undistinguishable versions on offer.“ (Die Presse) “The Vienna Philharmonic literally grew beyond itself that evening in the Konzerthaus.“ (Neue Züricher Zeitung) Missa Solemnis: Thielemann “conjured up the gigantic cosmos of the Missa with such lightness and grace that its mystery seemed to reveal itself.“ (FAZ)
Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden are continuing their internationally acclaimed Bruckner cycle with the Symphony No. 5. For Anton Bruckner, his Fifth Symphony was a glorious confrontation with the music of the past – from a personal, biographical angle, but also as a departure from the composition techniques he preferred up to this point. Not for nothing is this tremendous opus magnum regarded as Bruckner’s “contrapuntal masterpiece”. In this universally lauded performance, Christian Thielemann, already the leading Bruckner interpreter of our times, has once again proven himself to be a “magician of the Bruckner sound”. (Kurier)
Anton Bruckner SYMPHONY NO. 5
Dresden Staatskapelle Christian Thielemann, conductor
Recorded live at the Semperoper, Saxon State Opera, Dresden, 2013
Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 (worldwide) Subtitles: English, German, French Running time: 89 mins No. of DVDs: 1
475 Staatskapelle Dresden - Anniversary Concert - Live Recor
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$20.99Oct 02, 2026
The gala concert to celebrate the 475th anniversary of the foundation of the Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden on September 22, 2023 After the introductory tones of Carl Maria von Weber's festive 'Jubel' Overture have died away, conductor Christian Thielemann turns round and addresses himself to the audience: not an official pronouncement with an edited manuscript but a spontaneous, deeply felt expression of commitment. The principal conductor praises the 'wondrous way' in which the orchestra's sound has remained true to itself over the centuries, recalling the great succession of it's Kapellmeisters 'from Hasse through Weber and Wagner to Busch and Bohm' and relating it to the exceptional artistic depth of the city. With a nice touch of irony he quotes Rousseau, who praised Dresden's 'splendid orchestra' at a distance in 1763, and Beethoven, who wrote half a century later: 'It is said to be the best in all Europe.' Finally Thielemann finds words that sound like a gentle reminder in this splendid hall: 'Take care of this orchestra of mine the way you take care of Meissen porcelain and your art collections! It is an appeal and an avowal of love too - for the musicians, for the city, for a 475-yearold tradition that never gathers dust but is constantly renewing itself. The gala concert of September 22, 2023 is more than a celebration of the past: it is an affirmation of what remains present - that Dresden light that streams forth from this recording.
This new release features highlights of Dresden church music from the Carus catalogue. The set with 10 albums brings together several of Dresden's most important church composers such as Heinichen, Hasse, Zelenka and Homilius. The "Kyrie Gloria Mass" from Bach's B minor Mass according to the Dresden parts is also included in the release as a special treat. The performers include the Dresdner Kreuzchor conducted by their artistic director Roderich Kreile, the Dresdner Kammerchor and the Gaechinger Cantorey conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann as well as the Vocal Concert Dresden conducted by Peter Kopp.
From Mozart to Leoncavallo: three hours of opera's greatest hits in rhythmically buoyant, highly enjoyable East-German recordings. Taped between 1959 (Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer) and 1993 (Die Fledermaus), a collection of overtures gets this operatic compilation off to a (literally) flying start. Suitner in particular directs deliciously sprung performances of Humperdinck (Hansel und Gretel), Smetana (The Bartered Bride) and Suppé (Dichter und Bauer / Poet and Peasant and Leichte Kavallerie / Light Cavalry). The Austro-Germanic angle of the first half of the release is widened on the second half by a selection of opera choruses that represents some of the most powerful moments of 19th-century Italian opera. There is the triumphant hymn in praise of Egypt from the second act of Aida as well as the sublime song of pride and defiance, 'Va pensiero', that crowns Nabucco and became before long the unofficial anthem of the Risorgimento and the struggle for Italian unification. Verismo choruses are here too, taken from that evergreen pairing of Pagliacci and Cavelleria rusticana. Favourite German operatic choruses include the Chorus of Guests in Wagner's Tannhäuser as well as the hymn of the priests in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Suitner directs all these: a compilation album made in Berlin in 1978. He also exercises a subtle guiding hand over the Staatskapelle Dresden for a compilation of tenor/baritone opera duets recorded in 1972 with the two foremost East-German male singers of their generation, Peter Schreier and Theo Adam. 'Expectably' commented Fanfare, 'the results are echt Deutsch' - even if the repertoire itself again covers Smetana, Gounod and Verdi as well as Mozart and Lortzing, with all the numbers sung in German and 'performed with zest'.
Throughout his entire life, Bruckner longed to return to the tranquility of the hilly woodland idyll that was his home in Upper Austria. That impression is perhaps most clearly expressed in his “Romantic” Symphony with its horn calls and the Landler-like dance tunes (in the clarinet) which recalled dance melodies of his childhood. Bruckner explained personally that this was the inspiration for the music for the “meal during the lunch break of the hunt”- and the chirruping of a bird “Zi-zi-bee” all of which combines to make the work a sensitive declaration of love for his childhood in that rural landscape near his birthplace of Ansfelden and the nearby Augustinian monastery of St. Florian. Founded by Prince Elector Moritz von Sachsen in 1548, the Staatskapelle Dresden is one of the oldest orchestras in the world and steeped in tradition. Over its long history many distinguished conductors and internationally celebrated instrumentalists have left their mark on this one time court orchestra. Previous directors include Heinrich Schutz, Johann Adolf Hasse, Carl Maria von Weber, and Richard Wagner, who called the ensemble his “miraculous harp.” Principal conductor since the 2012/2013 season has been Christian Thielemann.
Edition Staatskapelle Dresden, Vol. 44: Richard Strauss / Thielemann, Langhein
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$24.99Jan 11, 2019
The way Richard Strauss spoke of his “beloved Dresdeners” rang of Bavarian humor blended with a subtle touch of mischievous irony and, first and foremost, a good dose of respect and appreciation. Home to the Königliche musikalische Kapelle (“Royal Musical Ensemble”) and the Court Opera, Dresden soon became a center of Strauss’s music; many of his works were given their premiere there. Ernst von Schuch, Strauss’s “most loyal conductor of choice”, was a key figure: at the symphony concerts given by the Kapelle, the Dresden General Music Director soon acquainted audiences with all of Strauss’s tone poems, from Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche through Also sprach Zarathustra to Sinfonia domestica. Strauss enthused that, years later, it was “the brilliant Schuch’s untiring magic wand” that eventually opened the series of “exemplary premieres” of his operas in Dresden. Works including Salome, Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier made Strauss the leading musical dramatist of his time. He had no fewer than nine operas premiered in Dresden, his “Eldorado for premieres”, and dedicated the Alpine Symphony to the Dresden Kapelle as a token of his gratitude. The present release is the 44th volume in the Staatskapelle Dresden’s exploration of Strauss’s work, and includes, most notably, his Konzert fur Horn und Orchester op. 11.
Peter Damm, who is one of the 20th century’s leading horn players, has built up an impressive discography in the course of the last three decades. These naturally focus upon his instrument: the horn. The present Edition brings together many of his recordings for the Eterna label. It illustrates the history of horn music through a large and varied repertoire such as is only rarely to be encountered. From chamber music to the great horn concertos, from the music of the 17th century to twentieth-century works, the spectrum is immense. Peter Damm was born in Meiningen (Thuringia) in 1937. After learning the horn at the College of Music in Weimar he began his artistic career in 1957 as solo hornist with the Gera municipal orchestra. In 1959, Damm was appointed solo horn with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, which at that time was making numerous Gramophone recordings. Damm’s first solo recording was in 1961 with the Gewandhaus horn quartet, playing Robert Schumann’s Konzertstück op. 86 for four horns under the baton of Franz Konwitschny; he first appeared on a chamber-music recording in 1964. In 1969 Damm was appointed solo hornist with the Staatskapelle Dresden. His cantabile style of playing placed Damm firmly in the Dresden tradition and became the hallmark of the Dresden wind section for almost forty years. During those years in Dresden Peter Damm was involved in more than 100 studio recordings with the Sächsische Staatskapelle. Famous international conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Herbert Blomstedt, Bernard Haitink and Giuseppe Sinopoli were fascinated by Damm’s horn playing at first hearing. Peter Damm would always champion new music and the rediscovery of forgotten works from all eras in his work as a soloist on record releases. This applied in particular to the works of the Dresden court composers. Peter Damm celebrates his 80th Birthday on July 27th, 2017.
