All three composers of the recording "English Song: Never such innocence" experienced the horrors of World War I, the deaths of friends and colleagues. The regret over a lost innocence is reflected in their songs. Baritone Benjamin Hewat-Craw and pianist Yuhao Guo have taken the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams' birth as an opportunity to present songs by British composers between the years 1904 and 1914. Both Ralph Vaughan Williams and lesser-known composers George Butterworth and Ivor Bertie Gurney fought in the First World War. More relevant today than ever, the recording links three different composers' biographies, which for two of them came to an abrupt end with the onset of the Great War. Butterworth was killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Gurney suffered from shell shock after his military service and spent the last 15 years of his life in a psychiatric ward. He died in 1937, 85 years ago.

Since 1071, the St. Florianer Sängerknaben (St. Florian Boys' Choir) has been one of the most traditional of the renowned boys' choirs in Europe, to which Anton Bruckner belonged at the time. For centuries, one of the core tasks of the choir has been to provide music for the church services at St. Florian's Abbey in Linz, but today the boys also give concerts all over the world, always with overwhelming success. The album with well-known, but also lesser-known international Christmas carols contains recordings with their long-time director Franz Farnberger, which were made between 1998 and 2021 and thus vividly document the consistently high level of this boys' choir.

Uwe Ungerer writes: "The orchestral piece Oliver Twist Now – Symphonic Pictures, which I composed between November 2020 and February 2021, is based on a musical for children's and youth choir, which I had already successfully performed several times in 2016 as a stage work with choir, soloists and a six-piece instrumental cast. A great inspiration for my nearly one-hour orchestral composition were the works of Stephen Sondheim (musical), Danny Elfman (film music) as well as many classical models from Richard Strauss to Dimitri Shostakovich. When working on the orchestral pieces, there were two main challenges for me: First, I didn't want to just create a blown-up orchestral version from the small original, i.e., simply distribute the already existing notes among 40 instruments. Since I had decided on a large, romantic orchestra (expanded with electronic organ, piano and extensive percussion), it was important to me that the large orchestra interprets the musical numbers in a new way, elicits new facets from them and also makes use of compositional possibilities that one does not have with six solo instruments. The second challenge was that one should not have the feeling of missing something while listening. My "Symphonic Pictures" include eleven pieces that contain the most important motifs, melodies and songs. Some of them I designed as a medley, other pieces follow the flow of the original. The orchestral versions are meant to stand on their own as program music, and of course it should be possible to perform them in context or individually in concerts."

Giorgos Karagiannis was born in Grevena and received his first piano lessons there at the age of eleven. He completed his Bachelor's as well as Master's studies (Artistic Training Piano) at the Ionian University of Music Corfu with Prof. Lambis Vassiliadis. After successfully passing the entrance examination, he was admitted to study soloist training at the State University of Music Trossingen and completed his piano studies in the class of Prof. Tomislav Nedelkovic-Baynov with the concert exam. Karagiannis also studied Master Chamber Music at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media with Prof. Markus Becker and Lied composition with Prof. Jan-Philip Schulze. Karagiannis is a prize winner of various national and international competitions. He also performs regularly as a soloist or chamber musician and has already performed in various cities and festivals in Greece as well as in Germany, Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria and Thailand. With this recording he fulfills a personal dream with works by Ludwig van Beethoven (Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat major, op. 81a, Les Adieux), Franz Schubert (Piano Sonata in A minor, D 784) and Johannes Brahms (Three Intermezzi op. 117).

The members of the Hegel Quartet grew up in different parts of the 'New World': Australia, USA and Canada. In search of the roots of the musical traditions in which they grew up, each of them made their own way to Europe during their studies. It was pure coincidence that they met in mid-life, having already absorbed so much of the legendary musicians who make the European concert scene so rich. Composers Fritz Kreisler and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, like so many other Jewish artists, escaped the turmoil of the World Wars in the last century and eventually became citizens of the United States. These two great artists, and many others in similar life situations, created a thriving cultural paradise in their new homelands - for example, in South America, Canada, or Australia - that produced generations of artists. Even at the height of his success as a Hollywood film composer, Korngold greatly missed Vienna and its opera houses, and it seems that he died of a broken heart after unsuccessfully trying to re-establish himself in 1950s Europe. The Hegel Quartet’s new recording of these works is also accompanied, in a modest way, by a desire to repatriate, as it were, Kreisler and Korngold to their beloved Europe by four emigrants from the opposite direction.

NAR is the Mongolian sun that burns over the desert steppes. NAR is the light that shines in our hearts when night envelops the rooftops of Paris. NAR is the life force that animates the songs of Duo Gobi Rhapsodie. Traditional Mongolian music usually draws its inspiration from nature. This is the reason why this first opus gets its name NAR. The sun, standing at the source of everything, is - like this first album project - the starting point of many more musical adventures to come. The sun, at the center of which nuclear fusion generates energy, corresponds to the creative energy that animates Duo Gobi Rhapsodie as they compose their music at the intersection of Mongolian folk song, jazz and Western classical music. Duo Gobi Rhapsodie is the unlikely encounter between two musical worlds (traditional folk music vs. classical music), two countries (Mongolia vs. France) and two cultures... Since their meeting, Susanna and Mandakhjargal have developed, arranged and composed an extensive repertoire of new unique pieces based on traditional Mongolian songs.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Chile opened up to the music of foreign composers. In particular, the romantic musical tradition of Europe influenced the national musical identity from then on. This album embarks on a musical search for traces of the connections between the European musical style and Chile's folkloric, nostalgic and patriotic music. It is the time of romanticism in literature, painting and music, which discovers the country and its people and travel, and more and more dissolves the traditional rules of artistic demarcation. The individual moves into the center and asks questions about his identity and origin. Folk music is recognized as a value in its own right and finds its way into high culture. Nature is perceived for the first time as a space that wants to be explored and traveled scientifically and artistically. The discovery of landscape opens up new vistas, purposeful wandering follows the need to exchange ideas. This pursuit is not limited to one continent: The artist as globetrotter is an embodiment of the romantic attitude towards life. With Santiago Heitz, Federico Guzmán and Guillermo Deichert, this album presents three of these globetrotters who have shaped Chile's national musical identity. As composers, they succeeded in creating their own musical style from elements of Chilean and European musical traditions. 

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Review:

The pianist Hugo Llanos Campos shares exactly this culture-connecting openness. Born in Santiago de Chile in 1994, his fascination with Beethoven led him to Vienna, where he completed his master's degree. Virtuosic, with a slender touch and, when necessary, also trenchant and punchy, his playing on this CD prescribes a healthy balance of pianistic bravura and dance-like verve. One can happily immerse oneself in the resulting narrative flow, which makes it possible to experience many aspects even without knowledge of the background described in the detailed booklet. A real discovery.

(Online Merker)

 

 

For Omar Massa, it is important to break new ground to bring the music of Buenos Aires into the 21st century. This task requires him to be creative and searching, without forgetting his roots and the past. This is his passion: to write contemporary tango. In Argentina, tango embodies the so-called "way of life" and apart from the fact that it is not as popular today as it was in the days of his grandparents or in the "Golden Age", many people still gather in the nights of Buenos Aires to surrender to the music, the dance and the poetry of tango. For Omar Mass, the tango is still a hidden treasure of the nights of Buenos Aires. To deal with its mystery, its mysticism, is a very wonderful ritual for him. Together with Markus Däunert and Kim Barbier, Massa presents music that is almost congenial for exploring and exploring extreme ranges of sound possibilities. The classical musicians Däunert and Barbier discover new sides of themselves through the Argentine tango.

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REVIEWS:

The Massa Trio plays their own pieces as well as those of Piazzolla with gripping intensity, with glowing colors and passionate rhythms. Consequently, I rank this outstandingly recorded SACD as one of the most exciting and immersive tango recordings in my collection.

© 2022 Pizzicato

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Lovers of Latin American music will find some interesting things to discover in this release.

The extensive liner notes give full details of each of the works. So, there is no need for me to elaborate on that. Listeners should nonetheless be aware that not all is easy on the ears. Although Massa, in his personal note believes that “Tango is a form of meditation”, some of his dances may arouse powerful emotion. But that is all part of the discovery trip, though I take it that for insiders Piazzolla and Ginastera are familiar ground.

All of it was captured by Manfred Schumacher in Ars Produktion’s notably fine resolution in full (!) surround. Why not try it out?

© 2022 HRAudio.net

One of the many fascinating aspects of music is its versatility. From deep melancholy and sadness to cheerful verve and joy, from tranquil idyll to dramatic impetus, it measures every conceivable state of mind. The present, very personal recording of the Lithuanian female musician duet - Ieva and Marija Dudaite - proves this and the title of the recording convincingly: INSEPARABLE. In this impressive recording, INSEPARABLE presents a program that has matured over 10 years of making music together - a captivating musical scenario with surprising twists and turns, immortal melodies, and great seriousness and warmth. It combines works by Ieva Dudaite, role exchanges (the pianist sings), four-hand piano playing, their own aria arrangements and a piano sonata by Lithuanian composer Jurgis Kubilius dedicated to Ieva Dudaite.

Pianist Elena Margolina enjoyed an excellent musical education. She completed her studies at the Saint Petersburg State Conservatory with a concert diploma. In 1996 she completed her concert diploma at the Detmold Conservatory of Music with distinction. Elena Margolina is a laureate of several prestigious piano and chamber music competitions. These include the 1st prize at the V. International Schubert Piano Competition in Dortmund in 1995. The artist has successfully taught at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts, and has been active in international master classes (in Germany, Italy, South Korea, Canada, China, Albania, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Great Britain, among others). Since 2014, Elena Margolina has been a professor of piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold. Elena Margolina completes her Schubert recordings with ARS - the two sonatas D 850 and D 958 can be heard here in a very personal interpretation.

It is regrettable that the music of the German-Italian Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948) is largely forgotten today. Yet until the 1930s he was considered a legitimate successor to Verdi and Puccini and was one of the most frequently performed opera composers in the world. Not only did the First World War and fascism in Italy and Germany plunge him into a creative crisis, musical history overtook his tonal language, which then seemed finally obsolete after the Second World War. A Wolf-Ferrari renaissance is still pending, but the present successful recording with instrumental music will contribute to an overdue revision.

Dominik Hellsberg writes: “Ignace Pleyel’s string quartets represent an attractive challenge for experienced chamber musicians. The style is very familiar, yet the music is entirely new and full of surprises. For example, one discovers discrepancies between exposition and recapitulation, unexpected changes from major to minor keys, or the peculiar nature of the scoring, in which every instrument and ensemble member, even the second violin, is tasked with the continuation of the principal voice. Elegance is one of the main stylistic ingredients of Viennese Classicism, and it is also a principal focus of Pleyel’s compositional style. The beauty of Pleyel’s music is expressed with the utmost delicacy and with noble, deliberate restraint - a sign of true art.”

About these quartets, which were written in their time for lovers and which today are a challenge even for the best musicians, one could put the words with which Mozart summed up the essence of his concerts in his letter of 28 December 1782: "They are very brilliant, pleasant in the ears, of course, without falling into emptiness, here and there even connoisseurs can receive satisfaction alone, but in such a way that those who do not know must be satisfied with them, without knowing why.'' In short: the most beautiful chamber music "for connoisseurs and lovers", played by the wonderful musicians Karel Valter (transverse flute), Pablo Valetti (violin), Peter Biely (viola) and Petr Skalka (cello).

Metamorphoses run through nature, history and society. Transformation is one of the leitmotifs of our life, art and culture. For the album ‘Metamorphosen’, flutist Anette Maiburg and her ensemble (Maiburg Ensemble) were also interested in using arrangements to look at works from the classical repertoire and rarities from a different perspective. Whether Anette Maiburg is infusing classical soundscapes with glowing lyricism, luxuriating in the melancholy of a French chanson or swaying with dance-like suppleness in samba rhythm, her flute always sounds exciting, sensuous and colourful. Anette Maiburg is an elegant soloist and sensitive ensemble player and thus a virtuoso on her instrument but more besides. She is a true artist with a zest for experimentation, who moves with the surefootedness of a sleepwalker across the boundaries of genre and style.

Elena Margolina's Schubert interpretations are characterized by sensitive playing, which enables the pianist to make audible the shades that are so immensely important in these works. The pieces are poignant in the truest sense of the word and take hold of the listener. 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. Elena Margolina has won prizes at renowned piano and chamber music competitions, including First Prize at the Fifth International Schubert Piano Competition in Dortmund in 1995. She has taught at the University of Music, Media and Drama in Hanover and at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart and offers master classes world-wide, including in Germany, Italy, South Korea, Canada, China, Albania, Russia, the Ukraine, Israel, and the United Kingdom. In 2014 Elena Margolina joined the faculty of the University of Music in Detmold as professor of piano.