Classical Music

Classical Music

This new release from Nataša Antoniazzo (mezzo-soprano) and Mia Elezović (piano) is a showcase of 20th century Croatian Composers, including Ivan Brkanovic, Josip Hatze, Ivo Lhotka Kalinski, Ivana Lang, Dragan Plamenac, and more. Natasa Antoniazzo took her first singing lessons with professor Mladen Häusler, and then studied singing in the class of professor Nada Puttar-Gold and professor Snježana Bujanović-Stanislav at the Zagreb Music Academy. During her studies she performed in the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. Natasha’s Opera repertoire goes from Baroque through modern day works. She regularly appears at the Croatian State Radio Station and is an Assistant Professor in Zagreb.

Franjo Krežma is, without a doubt, a unique phenomenon in the history of Croatian music – with his gorgeous talent and ingenuity he worthily fits in the rich Croatian violin tradition, which starts in the XVII Century, when violin became one of the most important solo instruments. Franjo Krežma shines strongly, although unfortunately shortly, during the period of romanticism, followed by numerous names of the Zagreb violin school. The present release showcases songs by Franjo Krežma featuring poems by Heinrich Heine and Nikolaus Lenau. Soprano Natasa Antoniazzo is joined for this recording by pianist Maria Elezovic.

This double album brings together 38 songs by Giacomo Meyerbeer, making it the most comprehensive collection of such recordings to date. Best known for his operas, Giacomo Meyerbeer is remembered as perhaps the most successful stage composer of the nineteenth century. His grand opera style was achieved by merging German orchestra style with Italian vocal tradition. Besides his operas, he wrote around 50 other songs, many of which are gathered on this release. Performing these works are soprano Andrea Chudak, tenor Julian Rohde, and bass Tobias Hagge, joined by pianist Alexandra Rossman.

The present release is a beautiful album of music for flute and harp performed by the Aiolos Duo Maria Stange first studied piano and violin and discovered her passion for the harp as a teenager. She studied with Therese Reichling, former principal harpist in Bayreuth and Frédérique Cambreling, Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris. After her soloist exam with distinction at the Karlsruhe Musikhochschule, she started her career as harpist with radio orchestras such as SWR Baden-Baden, HR Frankfurt, BR Munich and Symphony Orchestras as Bamberger Sinfoniker and Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. Maria Stange is founding member of several ensembles for contemporary music and plays with the Ensemble Modern Frankfurt and the Concert Musikfabrik in Cologne. Mathias von Brenndorff is a versatile flautist with music of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, interpreted on authentic, historical instruments, as well as familiar with the interpretation of contemporary compositions and the use of corresponding unconventional playing techniques. Numerous new works have been dedicated to him and premiered by him. He is a founding member of flammabis - contemporary music and director of the VERSATO ensemble.

The basso continuo is the rhythmic and harmonic foundation of all baroque music. It requires no more than a baroque cello, a small positive organ or, as on this album, a harpsichord. This basso continuo sometimes merely accompanies another instrument or a singer, sometimes it is part of a larger orchestra. Until the 20th century, concert halls, through enthusiasm for the great works of Bach and Handel, tended to direct the audiences attention to this latter form of existence of the basso continuo. However, with the advent of historically informed performance practice and growing interest in early music, our view of the small forms of baroque music-making gradually changed. Although the numerous compositions for various instruments accompanied by the basso continuo had never been completely forgotten, they had been accorded little more than the status of practice literature for budding orchestral musicians. Slowly, people began to remember, among other things, that numerous cantatas and opera parts of early music were performed with very small instrumentation, namely singer, solo instrument and basso continuo group. This album is dedicated to one of these small baroque ensembles, namely the formation flauto e voce (recorder and voice). The Quartetto Primavera takes us from the compositions of the old masters to completely unknown and equally fascinating music. The work of Georg Philipp Telemann runs like a thread through the program. Even more than the two arias on this release, the three instrumental pieces illustrate Telemanns richness of color and versatility. He is considered one of the most influential composers of the era for good reason.

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier embodies a universal ability that reveals itself in, among other things, the enormous variety of genres and settings in his oeuvre. There is no need to give his music “a helping hand”; musicians just have to play it well, in an informed manner and on authentic instruments – as with all Baroque music. He is formally superior at all times, indisputably perfect as regards harmony, unmatched in the inventiveness of his melodies, with any subject flowing easily from his quill, always authentic in his personal style and distinct from others. Here, Boismortier’s works are beautifully performed by Les Deux Violes alongside Thorsten Bleich.

The Ferrara Duo is a duo for bassoon and guitar from Mannheim, consisting of Annina Holland-Moritz and Stefan Conradi. The duo interprets original works and arrangements from baroque, classical, romantic and modern repertoires. The name Ferrara Duo refers to Canon Afranio zu Ferrara, who in 1439 invented the phagotum in the Italian city of Ferrara, which was then mistakenly referred to as the forerunner of the bassoon. The Ferrara Duo gives concerts in Germany and abroad, released its first album in 2015 and also works as a publisher of various sheet music editions for bassoon and guitar. This new release features works by Elgar, Telemann, Ganglberger, Debussy, and many more.

Anyone standing on top of the walls of Jerusalem gazing across the old city will notice a massive spire made from white stone and covered with a pyramidal roof made from whitish slate. This spire belongs to the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, a Neo-Romanesque structure situated in the middle of the old city. The church today, is a major magnet for tourists and the center of a vibrant congregation. Playing this famous Schuke organ from this great church is the organist Gunther Martin Goettsche. Goettsche plays Buxtehude, Bach and Mendelssohn beautifully leaving no doubt why he is not only a great composer in his own right but one of the most celebrate organists of his time.

Composer and violinist Felix Treiber was born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1960 and studied at the State Conservatory for Music in Freiburg with Nicolas Chumachenco and Wolfgang Marschner. In 1984 he founded the Spohr Quartet, which performed extensively in Germany and throughout Europe. Between 1987 and 2001, Felix Treiber served as concert master of the Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe. Currently he is artistic director and composer-in-residence of the Ensemble Sorpresa, a large chamber ensemble known for its innovative programs. Treiber's works for orchestra, concertos, song cycles and various combinations for mixed ensembles have been performed in Europe, Japan, Russia and the USA. His compositions have been broadcast on different radio stations and released on albums. This 2-album release showcases his chamber music, written between 2005 and 2018.

The Hungarian pianist, Anna Adamik, studied piano teaching at the Conservatory "Franz Liszt" in Budapest with Tamás Fülep, and continued to study piano concert playing at the Music University in Vienna with Paul Badura-Skoda. In 1980 she won the 2nd prize at the Hungarian National competition. From 1987 to 1989 she received a scholarship of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research. In 1989 she recived her concert diploma. She participated in various master-classes, with Dimitri Bachkirov, Leonhard Hokanson, Vitaly Margulis and Rudolf Kehrer among others. In 1989 she moved to South Germany and studied in Freiburg piano accompaniment and Lieder interpretation with Ramón Walter. Until 1997 Anna Adamik was a teacher at the Jugendmusikschule Markgräflerland and corepetitor at the Württembergischen Staatsoper in Stuttgart. From 1997 she is a teacher at the Lndeskonservatorium für Vorarlber in Feldkirch. For this album, she performs the work of LV Beethoven.

Soprano and producer Andrea Chudak has been interpreting Ave Maria settings for over 15 years. During this time, a large collection of more than 200 compositions from all eras of music history was created; composers even wrote new works for her and dedicated them to her. In any case, the compilation of 68 selected Ave Maria presented is a spotlight-like overview of a repertoire that is hard to grasp in its entirety, from Gregorian chant to arrangements by successful alley-makers and ambiguous salon pieces to occasional works by composers who succeed in other genres and contemporary pieces for today’s liturgical practice. With these new compositions, the millennium-old tradition is given new facets that open up very individual interpretations.

“I imagined a 360 degree discovery voyage of the cello, with the intention of showcasing the full range of its possibilities through a varied and contrasting repertoire. Beginning with great pillars of the cello repertoire like Haydn's C major Concerto, which enhances the virtuoso possibilities of the cello with its classical language, and Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations displaying maximum romanticism, it passes by fiery early twentieth century Spain, and approaches the world of contemporary music with Childhood, composed by Enrico Melozzi. Childhood, a work dedicated to me, explores in particular the entire range of timbres the cello has to offer, from the lowest octave to the most daringly high registers. I always think that the cello is the human voice of the performer and it is for this reason that the idea arose to include instrumental versions of works for voice. In Giovanni Sollima's reckless version for cello and orchestra of "Una voce poco fa" from The Barber of Seville. I adore the irony Rossini uses in the role of Rosina. The melancholy of a Persian melody, a popular theme passed down orally by my Iranian grandfather, orchestrated by Enrico Melozzi, devours the cello with its poignance and sensuality.” -Leila Shirvani