EIN HELDENLEBEN & TOD UND VERK

MASS IN A-MAJOR OP. 12

V 7: EDITION FERENC FRICSAY -

SYMPHONY NO. 4 PIANO CONCERTO

V 1: EDITION GEZA ANDA MOZA

... A magic floats above everything [encompassing the whole work]... (Paris, 1877, Journal de Musique) The second album by Franziska Pietsch and her Spanish piano partner Josu de Solaun is dedicated to the multifaceted world of French violin sonatas. With their usual aplomb and artistic intensity, the duo explore emotional landscapes complementing those of their previous album. Moving on from the exuberant revelry, serious tragedy and brutal reality of the sonatas by Strauss and Shostakovich, the musicians are now roving between the poles of dream and reality. Real experiences and emotions are reflected in a visionary dream world, external reality is mirrored internally. Inner emotions and images become reality via the music, triggering new emotions: dream and reality mirror each other. Faure, Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc create this "mirror world" in diverse ways. The common theme is the fantastical, the magic of imagination, the poetic distance to reality and the intensive engagement with inner emotions. Thus the dream world becomes a retreat - for listeners and artists alike.

To mark what would’ve been the late choral as conductor, pedagogue and organizer Uwe Gronostay’s 75th birthday, audite is releasing the present Christmas carols CD recorded for the RIAS Berlin during the 14 years (1972-86) of his period as RIAS Chamber Choir artistic director. + The Christmas carols form a dramaturgical cycle, beginning with the mysterious night into which falls the light of God; narrative and devotional songs as well as hymns of praise follow, leading to the birth of Christ, then back into the night that also symbolically bears within itself the dawning of the new day.

Deep emotions and sombre laments, the torments of Hell and the radiance of Paradise, and the sounds of celebration: the Staatskapelle Weimar and Kirill Karabits are continuing their partnership on the Audite label with Franz Liszt's symphonic poem Tasso: Lamento e Trionfo, his Symphony to Dante's 'Divina Commedia' and - a world-premiere recording - his Künstlerfestzug zur Schillerfeier. Their three previous releases have all been acclaimed by the press. The works that Liszt wrote for the Weimar Hofkapelle in the 1850s are the very embodiment of a Romantic ideal, combining literature, philosophy and the visual arts to create emotionally intense music that is turned both towards tradition and to the future. As a bonus download (15 tracks) Audite presents Liszt's melodrama Vor hundert Jahren, for which his Künstlerfestzug was initially meant as a prelude.

Classical Music

The Quartetto di Cremona has spent over three years working on its recording series comprising all twenty string quartets as well as the two string quintets by Ludwig van Beethoven - a gigantic project which most ensembles tackle at a more advanced age. However, the Quartetto di Cremona, founded in 2000, wanted to experience it sooner. The audite Beethoven cycle, with itsexciting blend of spirit, precision and sense of sound - the Quartetto diCremona's trademark - has its finger on the pulse: the success was so immediatethat, following the first volumes, concert halls across Europe and the USinvited the ensemble to perform: in many quarters their recordings enjoyreference status. Thanks to studying Beethoven so thoroughly, the ensemble'sbroad repertoire has gained a new level of intensity and their playing culturehas been honed even further, both in terms of detailed expression and ofoverarching gestures and contours. The final volume of the edition opens withthe third of the Op. 18 Quartets with which Beethoven introduced himself as acomposer in 1800 - six quartets which indeed all tell their own "story". Fromthe tentative beginning, cautiously drawing the listener in,through to the tempestuous concluding tarantella, every bar of the Quartet in Dmajor is replete and carefully considered. Beethoven's debut quartet is contrastedwith the so-called "Harp Quartet" Op. 74, featuring yet another formalsolution. A cunningly conceived first movement with prominent plucked "harpnotes" is answered by the finale, where Beethoven reuses a (discarded) numberfrom his incidental music to Goethe's freedom drama Egmont as a theme and variations - a clear indication of the factthat the composer, in 1809, at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, lived throughpolitically precarious times.

This release features a live concert recording from St Petersburg. Beethoven composed a total of eight works for cello and piano, whose sheer joy and ingenuity are hard to beat and are wonderfully captured in this live recording. The French cellist Marc Coppey and Peter Laul, his St Petersburg partner at the piano, perform these works with great character and energy, creating an impeccable, sparkling sound in the popular variations and substantial sonatas. Even in a live situation, the technical perfection of the performers is impressive. As a venue for their "Beethoven marathon", they opted for the Small Hall of the St Petersburg Philharmonia: its historical ambience, steeped in tradition, and the supremely attentive audience create atmosphere as well as inspiration. Both are features of this recording, setting it apart from other complete recordings of these popular works, most of which are studio recordings. The hall's resident Steinway and the recording equipment from the former Melodya studios complete the Saint Petersburg ensemble.

REVIEW:

Coppey and Laul put forward a highly effective case for this great music. Their sound is well balanced, the recording much more satisfying. There seems very little audience noise and no applause, and the players are technically remarkable. These two musicians play together as one, and their sensitivity for when to pause and how to make the most of Beethoven’s music is just as I would wish to play it myself. In a word, these are outstanding interpretations of some of the greatest cello music.

– American Record Guide

"Previously unreleased. This small trove of live recordings from conductor Claudio Abbado from the Lucerne Festival, approved for release by the conductor himself, is being issued in memory of his recent passing (Jan. 2014). The extensive multi-language booklet contains a portrait of Claudio Abbado by Peter Hagmann tracing the conductor’s long-standing activities in Lucerne; also included are previously unpublished photos from the Lucerne Festival archives."

The Divertimento for violin and piano by Stravinsky was written in 1932 as an arrangement of his ballet Le Baiser de la Fee. The sonata for violin and piano by Shostakovich was composed in 1968 on the occasion of Oistrakh’s 60th birthday. The two pieces could hardly be more disparate: Stravinsky’s work is a spirited homage to Tchaikovsky, whereas the Shostakovich is profound and mysterious. Both works, however, share a preference for an allegorical idiom and symbolism.

News of the death of Nikolai Rubinstein came as a great blow for Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky decided to dedicate a piece of music to his late friend - not a classical work for choir or orchestra but one for piano trio. The memory of Rubinstein evidently enraptured him to the extent that he burst all dimensions with his his monumental Trio Op. 50, which encompasses all range of emotion and presents a musical and technical challenge to any piano trio. The Swiss Piano Trio, founded in 1998 with Martin Lucas Staub (piano), Angela Golubeva (violin) and Sebastien Singer (cello) has won numerous prizes at international competitions, including the International Chamber Music Competition Caltanissetta in Italy and the Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria.

Two of the most popular string serenades: Dvorák's Serenade for Strings is full of melodic ideas and sensual melodiousness in a Bohemian tone. Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings is a sumptuous work, a "symphony without winds" so to speak, and combines rococo elegance with great romantic gesture. The BCO was founded in 2007 by Japanese conductor Toshio Yanagisawa in order to foster understanding among the Balkan nations, shaken by ethnic conflicts. Since then, the BCO has served as a cultural bridge connecting people through music, for many years now also around the world. The BCO consists of excellent musicians who serve as principal string players in orchestras of their home countries and take leading roles in the classical music scene in these Balkan countries. Despite the difficulties to promote classical music during the recovery process after the political conflict, the BCO's has been able to improve it's musical quality tremendously.

This new release is a live recording of one of the greatest conductors of the twentieth century, Paul Kletzki. Recorded at Lucerne, Kunsthaus, on September 7, 1946, this concert includes Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, Schubert’s Symphony No. 7 Unfinished, and Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3. The original recordings of this concert have been impressively remastered to preserve all of the nuances of this concert.

Joseph Haydn’s string quartets, often rated as the basis for playing quartets, represented far more than an obligation to the Amadeus Quartet. During their entire career, which spans four decades, they thoroughly and continually dedicated themselves to these works, especially those of Haydn’s middle and late periods. Most of their concert programs featured a quartet by Haydn and in their sonic legacy, Haydn’s string quartets make up more than a fifth of the total. The musicians held these works in such high esteem due, on the one hand, to their relative technical ease and, on the other, their high musical demands.

REVIEW::

This batch is devoted entirely to Haydn, and includes works that the Amadeus never recorded commercially: Opp 9/3, 20/5, and 33/2 (The Joke). For the last, the Amadeus cut a forceful profile in the scherzo and make an affectionate beeline for the gentle ‘joke’ at the close of the finale. Their playing of the F minor Quartet (Op 20/5) suggests implied parallels with Mozart’s G minor Quintet in the scherzo, while the lilting Adagio is given the loveliest reading imaginable. The C major Quartet Op 54 No 2 features a brief Adagio that can only be described as cantorial: the solo violin wails expressively over supportive chords, the effect not unlike the ‘beklemmt’ passage in Beethoven’s Cavatina (the Quartet Op 130). We’re given a complete recording of the Quartet from 1969 and that movement alone as recorded in 1950, both extraordinarily moving. Fifteen works are included overall (the majority originating in Haydn’s later period), including The Seven Last Words which is additionally available as a downloadable ‘extended version’ with German texts. An unmissable collection.

— Gramophone

A young duo introduces itself. The interpretations of Cheng² Duo are steeped in a rare balance of an unfiltered, youthful joy of playing and enthusiasm on the one hand, and mature, profound and advanced interpretations on the other, always demonstrating technical perfection: they command attention from the first note. Bryan and Silvie Cheng are brother and sister; he is a cellist, she a pianist, and together they are the Cheng² Duo (pronounced Cheng Squared Duo), now presenting their debut album. These two Canadian artists are children of Chinese immigrants: she was born in Tokyo, he in Ottawa; today, he lives in Berlin, she in New York - cosmopolitans, therefore, with a diverse cultural background. Both are young, barely or around twenty years of age: audite's youngest artists to date, which also reflects the label's strong commitment to its performers. This first disc makes the panorama of French chamber music written between the 1860s and the 1910s come alive in all its diversity: from multiple-movement works whose composers mainly drew on Beethoven and the German romantic composers, through to character pieces which formed part of the repertoire performed in sophisticated salons. Principal trends, some of which were devoted to one another by way of trenchant polemics, are represented by works of César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns and his student Gabriel Fauré, as well as Claude Debussy. The performers have not only proved an instant success as Cheng² Duo - stepping in at short notice at Carnegie Hall and impressing both the audience and the promoter to the extent that they were immediately re-invited - but have also won renowned awards as soloists, each in their own right.

The Swiss Piano Trio's sixth and final release featuring works for piano trio by Ludwig van Beethoven presents two early masterworks and real rarities: adaptations for piano trio of Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 and his String Quintet Op. 4, based on his Octet Op. 103 and reworked by the composer himself (this piano trio is therefore a double adaptation of the octet). Both piano trio adaptations were published by Artaria in Vienna in 1806. Whilst it is not documented who arranged the string quintet for piano trio, the Second Symphony was adapted by Beethoven's pupil Ferdinand Ries in collaboration with Carl Czerny and under the supervision of the composer. The result is a resplendent realization of an ingenious orchestral work which greatly astonished contemporary audiences. The magnificent version for piano trio facilitates a renewed encounter with a work which is still unjustly overshadowed by the Eroica Symphony.

This is the fifth release in the series The RIAS Amadeus Quartet Recordings. This installment is dedicated to nineteenth-century Romantic composers. The Amadeus Quartet included a wider repertoire in the broadcasting studio than in the recording studio. Works by Edvard Grieg and Robert Schumann interpreted by the Amadeus Quartet can be heard here for the first time. Five works in this edition represent novel repertoire that the Amadeus Quartet never recorded on LP: Dvorak’s Piano Quintet, Grieg’s String Quartet, Mendelssohn’s String Quartet, and Schumann’s String Quartet and Piano Quintet. Only half the works recorded here belong to the string quartet genre. The Amadeus Quartet enjoyed collaborating with other musicians and did so often. In the three piano quintets by Brahms, Dvorak, and Schumann, they performed together with pianist Conrad Hansen, who had appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic under Wilhelm Furtwangler in the 1940s. In the string quintets by Brahms and Bruckner, the Amadeus Quartet is joined by South African-born Cecil Aronowitz- the musician they always turned to when in need of a second violist. And in Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet we hear Heinrich Geuser, regarded as Germany’s leading clarinetist in the 1950s.

Following Sergei Prokofiev's works for violin and piano, Franziska Pietsch now presents an album featuring both Violin Concertos of the Russian composer, with whose oeuvre and idiom the artist - a former promising star of the GDR - has felt at home ever since her youth. Alongside Cristian Macelaru and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin she presents a thrilling new recording. The two violin concertos represent two phases in, and two sides of, Prokofiev's life and work. The first was written during an era of early successes, stylistically and temporally close to his Symphonie classique, but not premiered until he was in exile. The second mirrors the itinerant existence of his life as a musician in exile, but also his longing to return to Russia. Franziska Pietsch, the "Anne-Sophie Mutter of East Germany" (W. Dulisch). From promising star of the GDR with a burgeoning solo career to boycott, via a new beginning, chamber music and leading orchestras, back to being a soloist and enriched by a transformed understanding of her own role: with this recording of the Prokofiev Violin Concertos, Franziska Pietsch has come full circle. Thanks to her intensive engagement with chamber music and her experience as a concertmaster, Franziska Pietsch's performances as a soloist are not only world-class, but also characterised by an exceptional sense of chamber-like intimacy.

An outstanding violinist of the 20th century - Wolfgang Schneiderhan, born in Vienna in 1915, was concert master of the Vienna Philharmonic for many years before turning to his solo career entirely. Although Schneiderhan possessed enormous technical prowess, he never entered the territory of pure virtuoso concertos or sensational solo pieces. Instead, his dexterity always underpinned a well-articulated tone, a cultivated breath of modulation and a highly differentiated dynamic pallette. The natural and genuine nature of his playing was, justifiably, praised again and again. The range of Schneiderhan's repertoire is also displayed in these three Lucerne live recordings, now released for the first time. His commitment for the music of his time becomes particularly evident: he performs Henze's highly virtuosic First Violin Concerto alongside Martin's Magnificat.

Andras Schiff has been closely associated with Lucerne Festival for 35 years. These live recordings from 1998/99, now released for the first time, present him interpreting two masters of the miniature: Schiff performs the short pieces with a love of risk, a great art of characterisation and a tremendous sense of sound.

Magnificent sacred music with trumpets and timpani, crowns and concludes the five-part series dedicated to the music of Gregor Joseph Werner. The album unites four multifaceted world premiere recordings that present Haydn's predecessor at Esterházy Palace as a forward-looking master of his time.

Jean-Baptiste Dupont performs transcriptions of works by Johann Sebastian Bach on the organ of Saint-Sernin. The layering of composition, transcription, instrument, and interpretation emphasizes the polyphonic depth and dynamic colouring of the pieces. Timeless masterpieces merge with the expressive potential of the Cavaille-Coll organ, itself a masterpiece of the 19th century.