The Kernis Project: Debussy / Jaspar String Quartet
Sono Luminus
CD
$8.99$17.99Save 50%Jun 14, 2019
The Jasper String Quartet writes of their new release: “This Album marks the culmination of our decade-long journey with Aaron Jay Kernis’ music for string quartet. From the moment we put bow to string for Aaron’s Second Quartet, we realized his special voice and our connection to his music’s ability to capture both the complexity of the world and the simplicity of a moment. This depth fascinated us, inspired our playing and prompted us to dream of commissioning Aaron’s 3rd Quartet. Six years later, after performing and recording his first two Quartets and organizing the commission, we received the first movement of his Third Quartet “River”. As the movements accumulated in our inbox, so did our sense of excitement and dread. It was clear that this piece surpassed its two preceding quartets in complexity and difficulty. The route forward was clear enough, but still daunting. Practice, rehearse, repeat. Through the spring and into the summer the piece started to take shape. Coalescing first a little at a time - glimmers of cleverness, brilliance, atmosphere amid the musical and technical challenges. As those moments grew to sections and then movements that began to make sense, we started to build them into the larger arc. The quartet is subtitled “River”, an analogy for the constancy of change in our lives. The music too is constantly evolving, from moment to moment never predictable, never repeating itself. The flow of ideas isn’t one but four-dimensional, swirling constantly backward and forward in time and space. Yet there is a calculation of purpose, a consideration of form and care to structure that keeps the music grounded and allows a story to build out of the organic chaos…”
Siggi String Quartet was founded in 2012 during the Young Scandinavian Composers festival in Reykjavik. The quartet has actively collaborated with current composers and commissioned and premiered numerous works by various composers. The quartet’s repertoire extends from the renaissance through the classical masters and Siggi String Quartet four members have great passion for 20 and 21th century repertoire.
“Experimenting with sound and texture, improvisation and live electronics is an important part of our work. It does deepen our understanding of the standard repertoire indirectly, and it goes both ways.” Playing a late Beethoven parallel to working on Haukur Tómasson Serimonia makes us aim for rhythmical super-precision and working on Mamiko Dís Ragnarsdóttir Fair Flowers after performing the same Beethoven pushed us into the long phrases, picturing endless moss, grey and green and the tiny wild Icelandic flowers in bright violet and yellow. Una Sveinbjarnardóttir´s piece Opacity is more free, the structure is simple and the improvisando feeling is reigning. Daníel Bjarnason wrote Stillshot in 2015. The piece is dreamy and nostalgic and in form resembles a chaconne, where the same chord progression repeats itself throughout. In the middle of the piece there is a retreat from the harmonic structure before it resumes the form until the end. The composer describes the piece as depicting fragmented memories of a noblewoman. The recollections appear abruptly and vanish quickly, some of them distant but others more focused and clear. The title of the piece refers to the early days of photography where people would have to stay still for considerable time so the camera would produce a clear picture.
The term étude first started to turn up in musical literature in the late 1700s, and came into common usage in the first half of the 19th century. The notion of a piece of music exactingly engineered to promote some specific aspect of technique was nothing new; in her public presentations of “The Étude Project,” pianist Jenny Lin traces the concept back to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Clavier-Übung, four volumes of keyboard exercises published between 1726 and 1741 — the final volume known more widely as the “Goldberg” Variations.
Countless composers have risen to the challenge of the étude. This album, the first documentation of a sweeping project conceived by Lin, includes some of the most famous examples – Debussy, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Messiaen, Ligeti, and Glass – alongside equally noteworthy contributions to the format by such mavericks as Ruth Crawford Seeger, Toshio Hosokawa, and Unsuk Chin. Lin further pairs each of her canonical selections with an entirely new work by a member of ICEBERG New Music, a determinedly heterodox collaborative of 10 gifted young composers who represent a broad range of stylistic inclinations, but who are united by their enduring faith in substance and craft.
Bucking a current fad, the new études were not proposed as sequels or responses to existing works. Lin simply asked the ICEBERG composers to challenge her, and then used her own keen ear and sure instincts to find sympathetic pairings. Driving rhythms and rich harmonies link pieces by Alex Burtzos and Chopin. Rangy scatterings of notes present a frolicsome affinity between Victor Baez and Unsuk Chin. Stephanie Ann Boyd and Debussy both deploy dreamy arpeggios in rippling waves; and so on. In each case, hearing the new piece enhances your understanding of the older one—and vice versa. Identifying affinities among old and new music, and among familiar and unknown pieces, is a knack Lin has demonstrated again and again throughout her career—and it’s part of what makes her not only a persuasive interpreter, but also an invaluable guide and companion. Stated simply: you are in extraordinarily sure hands, here.
REVIEW:
Aligning with composers of ICEBERG New Music, pianist Jenny Lin gave its ten members absolute freedom of style and pianistic approach when crafting new etudes for her. In addition to her Herculean playing, the fearless pianist brings curatorial prowess to bear in pairing each new etude with an existing work from the canon. Have a listen to this disc and then have another. The Etudes Project will repay you manifestly.
Anita Rachvelishvili became internationally known on the opening night of the La Scala season in 2009, when she sang the title role in Carmen opposite Jonas Kaufmann under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. This performance marked her debut in the role and was televised all over the world. She has since debuted this signature role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, State Opera in Berlin, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera, Teatro Regio in Turin, Canadian Opera Company, and Arena di Verona. The present album features some of the most popular and enduring opera arias in the mezzo Repertoire: two arias from Carmen, operatic favorites such as Saint-Saens Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix (Samson et Dalila) and Verdi's O don fatale (Don Carlo), in addition to a rarity: the Cavatina of King Tamar, from Georgian composer Dmitry Arakishvili's opera The Legend of Shota Rustaveli, demonstrating her Georgian heritage.
Bach: St. Matthew Passion (Highlights) / Rilling, Auger, Stuttgart Bach Collegium
Sony Masterworks
CD
$3.49$6.98Save 50%Aug 28, 2015
Drawn from the worldwide catalog holdings of Sony Classical, which includes both the Columbia/CBS and RCA Victor label imprints, the SONY Classical Originals, SONY Classical Masters Singles and Box Sets, and SONY Opera House series offer an extensive selection of highly desirable and collectible EU (Germany) pressed import editions, smartly-designed and graphically-pleasing, featuring the most sought-after recordings by the world’s preeminent, legendary artists both past and present, with many titles newly re-mastered in 24bit High Resolution Audio.
Given the tremendous success of American violinist Joshua Bell, it's only natural that players across the Atlantic would want a piece of the action with similar re-creations of the semi-popular violin recitals of a century ago. British violinist Charlie Siem both achieves the requisite fireworks and somewhat reinterprets the classic formula in this pleasing collection, named for a popular song (actually called Underneath the Stars) once arranged by Fritz Kreisler. The version here is by Josef Pasternack, but Kreisler is one of the chief models for what Siem is doing here. Another is his teacher, Shlomo Mintz. Siem is a bit lacking in the sheer emotion that Kreisler (and Bell) bring to a piece like Kreisler's own La Gitana (track 8), but in more athletic pieces like the Carmen Fantasy by the underrated Jenö Hubay (track 5), and the Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 4 (arranged by Marco Jovic), he's sensational. One extra attraction here is a group of more-or-less forgotten works that Siem has resurrected; in addition to the Hubay there's Ole Bull's Saeterjentens Søndag (Solitude on the Mountain, track 2), and Elgar's exuberantly sentimental Salut d'amour, Op. 12. Another is a compositional contribution by Siem himself, Canopy (as a "bonus" track 13). It was recorded separately from the other tracks and stands apart from them artisically, but it stands about halfway between Kreisler and Philip Glass, and it's a new direction in violin virtuoso music. An enjoyable outing from a young virtuoso to watch, with suitably understated support from the Munich Radio Orchestra under Paul Goodwin.
For Queen And Country: Music For A Royal Celebration
Sony Masterworks
CD
$7.49$14.98Save 50%Jun 03, 2016
In April, the United Kingdom celebrated the birthday of the longest serving monarch in British history. This release is the perfect soundtrack to the celebrations. Some of Britain’s most popular artists and ensembles have gathered together for this two-disc set, which includes patriotic anthems and popular tunes. Musicians include Russell Watson, Jonathan and Charlotte, The Band of H.M. Royal Marines, The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, and The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sony Classical is pleased to announce a new batch of reissues from the CBS/Sony and RCA Victor/BMG back catalogues. This latest instalment of the popular series showcases Mozart and Chopin along with conductor Robert Craft’s pioneering Webern recordings and the global journeys of that irrepressible musical explorer Yo-Yo Ma.
Sir Colin Davis was indisputably one of the greatest Mozart conductors of the last century, both in the opera house and in the recording studio. In Munich in the early 1990s, near the end of his tenure as chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, he recorded several of the popular serenades and wind concertos (“Davis is completely at home in this music and brings to it grandeur and delicacy in good measure and judicious balance” – Gramophone). And in 1998, as the Dresden Staatskapelle’s first-ever conductor laureate, he recorded twelve opera overtures (“Beautifully turned string playing, wonderful contributions from the wind section, and transparent textures: it all represents splendid ‘big band’ Mozart in the modern tradition” – Classics Today). These superb RCA recordings are now reissued in a 4-album box set.
REVIEW:
Colin Davis’s RCA Mozart CDs from the 1990s, mostly with the Bavarian RSO, tend towards more relaxed tempos than on his earlier analog recordings, a live coupling of the Posthorn Serenade and the Bassoon Concerto recorded at the Mozartfest in Würzburg in June 1992 claiming among its many virtues textural opulence (Eberhard Marschall’s bassoon is among the richest in tone that I’ve ever heard) and, as Christopher Headington noted in these pages (9/94), an unhurried finale ‘despite the Presto marking that tempts less experienced conductors’. You might additionally note Davis’s Toscanini-like vocalizing at the start of the Andantino, a romantic reading that works wonderfully well. Also included are similarly affecting accounts of Eine kleine Nachtmusik, the Wind Serenades Nos 10-12, the Clarinet Concerto (with a mellifluoussounding Karl-Heinz Steffens), and the one CD featuring the Dresden Staatskapelle, an hour’s worth of overtures. I’d never clocked on previous occasions the strong similarity between the very brief Bastien und Bastienne Overture and the opening of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. As Mozart orchestral compilations go, this is among the best, one that you should return to with constantly renewed pleasure. The recordings are full-bodied.
‘My Vienna’ is Jonas Kaufmann’s deeply personal tribute to the world-famous melodies from the birthplace of waltz and operetta and follows up the album release from Fall 2019. The 100-minute film consists of Jonas Kaufmann’s Wiener Konzerthaus concert interspersed with documentary-style segments where Jonas Kaufmann explores the city’s fascinating lighter musical heritage. His concert from the Wiener Konzerthaus includes well-known Viennese songs like “Wien, Wien nur du allein“, “Im Prater blühn wieder die Bäume”, “Sag beim Abschied leise “Servus““. He also sings scenes from famous operettas such as “The Merry Widow”, “Wiener Blut” and “Die Fledermaus” where soprano Rachel Willis-SØrensen joins him on the duets.
‘My Vienna’ is Jonas Kaufmann’s deeply personal tribute to the world-famous melodies from the birthplace of waltz and operetta and follows up the album release from Fall 2019. The 100-minute film consists of Jonas Kaufmann’s Wiener Konzerthaus concert interspersed with documentary-style segments where Jonas Kaufmann explores the city’s fascinating lighter musical heritage. His concert from the Wiener Konzerthaus includes well-known Viennese songs like “Wien, Wien nur du allein“, “Im Prater blühn wieder die Bäume”, “Sag beim Abschied leise “Servus““. He also sings scenes from famous operettas such as “The Merry Widow”, “Wiener Blut” and “Die Fledermaus” where soprano Rachel Willis-SØrensen joins him on the duets.
Celebrating the 250th anniversary of his birth, Sony Music Entertainment presents four major reissues devoted to Ludwig van Beethoven in its series of Classical Masters. Among the treasures in these new budget-priced sets are the complete symphonies, string quartets and violin sonatas performed by illustrious musicians of the past century.
The Italian violinist Uto Ughi studied with Enesco, was signed by EMI while still in his teens and went on to become a major RCA artist in the 1980s and 90s. In 1978, he recorded Beethoven’s 10 Violin Sonatas with Lamar Crowson, whom none less than Alfred Brendel described as “one of the finest chamber music pianists of our day”. The set was acclaimed on its release in Italy on LPs but has been largely unavailable since then, making this first release on four albums particularly enticing to the many admirers of these two superb musicians.
REVIEW:
Sony Classical’s budget price release of a 1978 Beethoven cycle originally issued by Dischi Ricordi featuring violinist Uto Ughi and pianist Lamar Crowson comes as a welcome surprise. The 34-year-old Ughi’s instrumental mastery and intelligent musicianship were captured at the cusp of his early maturity. His burnished, almost viola-like sonority is firmly focused in every register, abetted by impeccable intonation and a knack for tossing off the most difficult passagework with flawless ease. More to the point, however, Ughi consistently taps into the sometimes stressful dramatic, dynamic, and emotional contrasts that characterize Beethoven’s style, as does his expert collaborator Lamar Crowson.
The G major Op. 30 No. 3’s Allegro assai exemplifies this in how the duo offsets their fleet and winged treatment of Beethoven’s lyrical themes with appropriately hard-hitting szforzandos and driving climaxes. Another cogent case of “opposites attracting” can be found in both the refinement of the rapid runs and the unfettered dynamic surges in the A minor Op. 23 Allegro molto finale (sound clip). Listeners also will notice the playfully dovetailed imitative writing in the “Spring” and Op. 30 No. 2 Scherzi, and, conversely, the controlled rapture of Op. 96’s sublime central movement, where Ughi’s sheer tonal beauty and seamless bow control yield no quarter to the immense catalogue competition.
Each variation in the “Kreutzer” sonata’s middle movement conveys a distinct character, yet easily flows from one to the next. I also like how Ughi’s unexpected accents or points of emphasis appear to push the finale’s scurrying triplets ahead of the beat, yet never actually do so. In this sonata, however, Crowson proves less assertive a partner than the conductor/pianist Wolfgang Sawallisch in Ughi’s stunning and slightly superior early digital-era RCA Victor remake, coupled with the “Spring”. A pity that these later alternative readings didn’t find their way into this bargain box, along with Ughi’s still-artistically-competitive and long unavailable RCA Beethoven concerto with Sawallisch conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. Still, the 1978 Ughi/Crowson cycle is a veritable sleeper, worth considering as a supplement alongside the Dumay/Pires, Perlman/Ashkenazy, and Grumiaux/Haskil reference versions.
Traditionally, Switzerland has an important and impressive heritage regarding festivals for classical music, among them the famous Lucerne Festival, rooting back to the so-called "Concert de Gala" in the gardens of Richard Wagner's villa at Tribschen in 1938 conducted by Arturo Toscanini. This release features the fascinating variety and the many facets of the classical festival scene in Switzerland. The selection of the works takes the importance of big names and well known works into account, but also presents modern or even avant-garde approaches or less well known chamber music works.
The world’s leading orchestras, conductors and soloists, outstanding concert venues like the KKL Culture and Convention Centre by the renowned architect Jean Nouvel in Lucerne, a breathtaking landscape: there are many reasons for falling in love with the Swiss music festivals. The Swiss festivals now draw more than 500,000 classical music enthusiasts to the shores of Lake Lucerne or the Verbier mountains every year. And the numbers of visitors is growing from year to year. With this release, you will understand why.
CONTENTS:
DISC 1: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37 Francesco Piemontesi, piano Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Roger Norrington, conductor
Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E-Flat Major, K. 543 Francesco Piemontesi, piano Le Cercle de L'Harmonie / Jérémie Rhorer, conductor
DISC 2: Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550 Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551, "Jupiter" Le Cercle de L'Harmonie / Jérémie Rhorer, conductor
DISC 3: Elgar: Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47 Schumann Quartett CHAARTS Chamber Artists Felix Froschhammer, concert master
Kancheli: Chiaroscuro for Violin and Orchestra Sebastian Bohren, violin CHAARTS Chamber Artists Andreas Fleck, conductor
Schumann: Dein Angesicht, Op. 127 No. 2 Lehn' deine Wang' an meine Wang', Op. 142 No. 2 Es leuchtet meine Liebe, Op. 127 No. 3 Mein Wagen rollet langsam, Op. 142 No. 4 Ian Bostridge, tenor Saskia Giorgini, piano
Ralph Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge: V. Bredon Hill Ian Bostridge, tenor Casal Quartett
Purcell: The Fairy Queen, Z. 629: O Let Me Weep Regula Mühlemann, soprano Robin Müller, violin CHAARTS Chamber Artists
DISC 4: Brahms: Piano Trio No.1, Op. 8 Jonian-Ilias Kadesha, violin Vashti Hunter, cello Joonas Ahonen, piano
Blum: Luzerner Kreisel Silke Gäng, mezzo-soprano Oliwia Grabowska, piano
Gesualdo: Madrigals, Libro 6: II. Beltà poi che t'assenti Davos Festival Kammerchor
Dalbavie: Palimpseste für Flöte, Klarinette, Violine, Viola, Violoncello und Klavier Àgnes Vass, flute Joonas Ahonen, piano
Dickkopf: Paris Davos Festival Männerchor
DISC 5: Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 Lily Francis, violin Festival Orchestra / Willem de Bordes, conductor
Enescu: Romanian Rhapsodies, Op. 11: No. 1 in A Major Jonian-Ilias Kadesha, violin Festival Orchestra / Daniel Bard, concert master
DISC 6: Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 5 in D Major, Op. 70 No. 1 "Ghost" Candida Thompson, violin Xenia Jankovic, cello Paolo Giacometti, piano
Enescu: Octet in C Major, Op. 7 Daniel Bard, violin
DISC 7: Bach: Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227 Britten: Hymn to St. Caecilia Gabrieli Consort & Players Paul McCreesh, conductor
DISC 8: Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 Elgar: They Are at Rest Gabrieli Consort & Players Paul McCreesh, conductor
DISC 9: Haydn: Symphony No. 6 in D Major, Hob. I:6 "Le Matin" CHAARTS Chamber Artists Gregory Ahss, concert master
Sollima: Fecit Neap 17 Giovanni Sollima, cello CHAARTS Chamber Artists Gregory Ahss, concert master
Schönberg: Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 Felix Froschhammer, violin Gregory Ahss, violin Lawrence Power, viola Razvan Popovici, viola Maximilian Hornung, cello Andreas Fleck, cello
DISC 10: Webern: Sechs Stücke für großes Orchester, Op. 6 Orchestra of the Lucerne Festival Academy / Susanna Mälkki, conductor
Neuwirth: Trurliade - Zone Zero Victor Hanna, percussion Orchestra of the Lucerne Festival Academy / Susanna Mälkki, conductor
Rihm: Gruss-Moment für Pierre Boulez Ligeti: San Francisco Polyphony Orchestra of the Lucerne Festival Academy / Matthias Pintscher, conductor
DISC 11: Shostakovich: From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79 Shostakovich: Cello Sonata in D Minor, Op 40 Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19 Bloch: From Jewish Life, IEB 6 Sol Gabetta, violin Bertrand Chamayou, piano
DISC 12: Mahler: Symphony No. 5 UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra / James Levine, conductor
DISC 13: Bach: Concerto for 4 Keyboards in A Minor, BWV 1065 Martha Argerich, piano Evgeny Kissin, piano James Levine, piano Mikhail Pletnev, piano
Haydn: Symphony No. 88 in G Major, Hob. I:88 Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra / András Schiff, conductor
Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19 Lynn Harrell, cello Yuja Wang, piano
Ysaye: Sonata for 2 Violins in A Minor, Op. posth. Joshua Bell, violin Leonidas Kavakos, violin
Following up its recent box of his 78 and early LP recordings for RCA, Sony Classical is now issuing a 5-album set of Chopin recordings made by the Ukrainian-American pianist Alexander Brailowsky in stereo for American Columbia in the early 1960s. The new reissue contains the complete Preludes, Waltzes, Mazurkas, Polonaises, Andante spianato, B minor Sonata, Fantaisie-Impromptu, Berceuse as well as numerous other works.
REVIEW:
If Brailowsky's Polonaises don’t match Arthur Rubinstein’s finesse and red-blooded ardor, they’re at least idiomatic and shapely, as are the sensitively turned-out Chopin/Liszt song transcriptions and the Berceuse.
Romance showcases Lang Lang’s innate yet sophisticated feeling for nuance and reflection. Carefully selected from his Sony Classical discography, the selections achieve a fulfilling programmatic unity through subtle contrasts in mood and style. The slow, yearning repeated note themes of Liszt’s Liebestraum No. 3 and Chopin’s “Aeolian Harp” Etude naturally lead into Hans Zimmer’s captivating main soundtrack theme from the film Gladiator. Similarly, the juxtaposition of Chopin’s C-Sharp Minor Nocturne, Liszt’s Consolation No. 3 and the Adagio from Beethoven’s Sonata, Op. 2 No. 3 and Bach’s Air on the G String illuminates the common ground between four proudly individual composers. Romance casts fresh light on Lang Lang’s lyrical gifts, revealing the artist behind the phenomenon.
The LaSalle Quartet was active from 1946-88; however, it's influence goes far beyond that. Violinist Walter Levine is still a vital, much sought out authority for string players. From their founding, the Quartet was devoted to the late 19th and 20th c repertoire. The works of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern were a significant part, as were the quartets of Schoenberg's teacher, Alexander Zemlinsky. This CD of studio recordings from 1965, 1968 and 1977 draws Zemlinsky together with Haydn and Brahms - a bold program for an ensemble specializing in modern to include some "early music".
This release marks the first appearance of the chief conductor of the German radio philharmonic orchestra, Karel Mark Chichon, on the SWR music label, and for his debut, the young London-born conductor has done nothing less than a complete recording of the symphonies of Anton Dvorak. but that's not all! in addition to the symphonies are other orchestral works of the Czech master, as is the case here with the early, Slavic-patriotic themed rhapsody, op. 14. future releases will include all the overtures and interludes from Dvorak's operas - works of exquisite beauty, but rarely appearing on recordings.
Two well-known and two less-familiar orchestral works by Debussy
• A new recording from the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and Heinz Holliger,
following up on their globally acclaimed Koechlin series
• A continuation of the orchestra’s exploration of the French orchestral repertoire that began
with their CDs of the music of Koechlin
• May 21st 2014: Heinz Holliger’s 75th birthday
The "Afternoon of a Faun“ together with the orchestral "Images" are among Claude Debussy’s best known and most popular compositions. Both works show different side of the composer: "Afternoon of a Faun" is a textbook example of musical impressionism, while
about the "Images", the composer himself said that his
goal was to “try to achieve something different – an
effect of reality”. The scores contrast well with the two
Rhapsodies: the one for clarinet, called the "first"
Rhapsody, was sketched out within a few weeks at the
end of 1909, while the "second" Rhapsody for
saxophone was only completed and orchestrated after
the death of its author.
The Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and
conductor Heinz Holliger manage to bring out the
evocative, dynamic colors and peculiarities to be found
in all of these works with precision.
Although not blessed with a wide literature, numerous composers have written duets for violin and violoncello. The present collection of works by Hungarian composers not only provides both a wide overview, but above all else, many musical pleasures! Here two full blood-musicians Friedemann Eichhorn and Alexander Hulshoff have a knack for these musical partnerships.
Bach a poet? In our age of performer's intensive efforts at keeping faithful to the original and the "correct" performing style, this statement sounds surreal today, seeming to reek of nostalgia. From this perspective, Bachiana, featuring the Duo d'Accord, must appear anachronistic, since it's music takes us back to an epoch - the era of the Romantics - in which Bach was played in a free, even occasionally downright carefree, style. "The artistry of Duo d'Accord lies in that their performance appears to develop completely freely and flows with all due desirable precision." - (FonoForum)
Haydn: The Seasons / Muller-Kray, Wunderlich, Engen, Giebel
SWR
CD
$13.49$26.99Save 50%Apr 24, 2012
In April 2012, the Schwetzingen Festival celebrates its 60th birthday. On this occasion, a very special oratorio recording from the festival's early years has been selected - a vintage performance of Haydn's "The Seasons", featuring the immortal Fritz Wunderlich!
Haydn wrote his oratorio "The Seasons" between the years 1799 and 1800. The work is based on the poem "The Seasons" by James Thomson in the German translation of the Baron van Swieten. The contemporary descriptions of nature and genre scenes are a work of perfection, insuring the composition's enduring popularity.
This early festival recording is a true time-capsule, recorded on May 24th, 1959 featuring in addition to Wunderlich, the vocal artistry of Agnes Giebel, and Kieth Engen, who together bring Haydn's secular oratorio to vivid life.
Prior to becoming Principle Guest Conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Andrey Boreyko served as chief conductor of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra from and is currently in the same position with the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra. In his first recording for Henssler CLASSIC, Maestro Boreyko delivered what has come to be regarded as one of the definitive recordings of Shostakovich's difficult and emotionally searing Fourth Symphony. For this new release, Boreyko returns with what will surely become benchmark versions of two equally difficult Shostakovich scores.
Baritone Gérard Souzay never had the opportunity to develop a following due to his brief operatic career. Yet experts recognized his innate musicality and his perfect pronunciation of German - his Lieder interpretations are considered legendary. Souzay limited himself to recitals of German Lieder and French mélodies, but what you'll hear provides sheer delight. He still is a singer for aficionados, but this historic recital, recorded in his prime, will surely further this great singer's reputation throughout the world.
Furtwängler famously considered himself a composer who conducted, rather than vice versa, and his most familiar surviving work is without question his Second Symphony. It’s a lovable outpouring composed in the last year of the Second World War but that has both its head and its heart buried among the dying embers of late Romanticism. Bruckner, Strauss, Brahms and Reger are all there in attendance and, although the work is well worth sampling, one laments the fact that, while we have at least four recordings of Furtwängler conducting it, we have none of him conducting the Missa solemnis or Parsifal. The 1954 Stuttgart RSO recording of Furtwänger’s Second, reissued here by Hänssler Classic, comes paired with a typically marmoreal account of Beethoven’s First. Both performances are characteristic...it’s nice to have seven minutes’ worth of Furtwängler in (German) conversation with the conductor Hans Müller-Kray, a privilege included only on the Hänssler Classic set.
![Mein Wien / Kaufmann, Willis-Sorensen, Rieder, Prague Philharmonic [Blu-ray]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/3862731-2631617.jpg?v=1790451249&width=800)
![Mein Wien / Kaufmann, Willis-Sorensen, Rieder, Prague Philharmonic [Blu-ray]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/3862731-2631617.jpg?v=1790451249&width=400)
