Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

When Lajos Lencsés learned by chance of some of Gluck's oboe quintets, the manuscript of which was in the Este Library in Modena, nothing held him back from looking at them himself as soon as possible. The delightful pieces are successful arrangements of Gluck's operatic melodies, which represent a veritable enrichment of the repertoire.

Lajos Lencses is generally considered one of the most talented oboists in Europe. He has appeared on over 30 recordings and has actively promoted contemporary music for the oboe. Lencses is not only a virtuoso oboist but is equally talented on the oboe d'amore and English horn. While he has attained nearly the level of acclaim of iconic oboist Heinz Holliger, Lencses has chosen to balance his career as a soloist by remaining the first chair oboist in the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra. His repertory is amazingly broad, taking in works by J.S. Bach, Vivaldi, Cimarosa, Handel, Rosetti, Mozart, Dittersdorf, Bellini, Koechlin, Nielsen, Françaix, Martinu, and contemporary Hungarian composers Sandor Balassa, Frigyes Hidas, and Josef Soproni. Stylistically, he is known for his ingratiating tone, lyrical sensibilities, and brilliant technique.

As a master student of Arnold Schönberg, Walter Goehr was particularly fond of New Music, but as a conductor he devoted himself to compositions from previous centuries. The present recording of a concert from 1955 with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which he recorded with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, documents that he did this very successfully. Goehr was born in Berlin, but, being a Jewish man, he was forced to seek employment outside of Germany after working for Berlin Radio in 1932. He was invited to become music director for the Gramophone Company, and thus moved to London. It was during this time he conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the premiere recording of Bizet’s Symphony in C. He was in high demand as a guest conductor for orchestras all across Europe, including the ensemble heard in this historic recording.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Susanne Westenfelder, music theorist and music journalist, writes in the booklet for the latest addition to the Calmus CD library 'Liebesleid', among other things: 'In 2017, the two researchers Kazuma Mori and Makoto Iwanaga published a study. The result: songs that bring tears to our eyes seem to have a cathartic effect on us, calm us down and even make us feel good afterwards. A German newspaper concluded what we all already suspected: Music helps against lovesickness. Tear-jerking songs for tear-jerking eyelids. ' We have taken on this mission - as usual across styles and eras. We move between baroque (Johann Grabbe: Three Madrigals) and contemporary music (Gordon Kampe: 'Je deviens fou... ') and also make a stopover in the German Romantic period with works by Johannes Brahms and another with folk songs from the British Isles (John Rutter: 'Five Traditional Songs'). We have also been able to recruit outstanding arrangers to tailor some of the love song dramas to us. These include our house and court arranger Juan M. V. Garcia with 'Hallelujah' and 'Another Love' as well as ex-King's singer Philip Lawson with the eponymous arrangement of Fritz Kreisler's 'Liebesleid'. Because alongside all the heartache, there is always certainty at the end: 'And if you are ever sad, don't despair, because it will always be like today: love's sorrow is followed by love's joy. '

Together with Op. 150, the Violin Duos Op. 148 and 153 form Spohr's last cycle in this genre. It is as if Spohr, whose last published compositions included the new duos, once again wanted to show all his ability to write large-scale music with the limited instrumentation. Ursula Schoch and Tjeerd Toch are both members of the famous Concertgebouw Orchestra.

The late Romantic composer Anton Beer-Walbrunn (1864-1929) has been impressively rediscovered in recent years by the BAYER RECORDS label with several highly acclaimed recordings of his music. Ursula Schoch and Marcel Worms present here with great passion and persuasiveness some of the works for violin and piano by this unjustly forgotten composer. A real discovery!

Wann wird der Mond rund und hell? - Chinese Lyrics

Like no other, the universal artist Robert Schumann knew how to merge music and literature into a single entity. The CD "Mondnacht" is sounding proof of this. The combination of Schumann's music with Eichendorff's poems to form the Liederkreis op. 39 is regarded as the epitome of Romanticism par excellence. Chamisso's cycle of poems "Frauenliebe und Leben" is elevated to a highly emotional, personal level by Schumann's settings. With the lesser-known songs op. 107, the performers create a congenial link between these two song cycles. The poetic piano pieces "Arabeske" and "Blumenstuck" harmoniously round off the CD as a whole. Together with the sensitive pianist Mamikon Nakhapetov, the wonderful soprano Angelika Huber crowns her tenth art song CD with Schumann's masterpieces.

The late Romantic composer Anton Beer-Walbrunn, for many years a professor at the Munich Academy of Music, created convincing works for solo piano, ranging from small character pieces to large-scale sonata form, which this recording fortunately brings back into the public eye. As the culmination of a whole series of piano compositions, the composer succeeded in 1915 with his "Fantasy Sonata for Piano in F-sharp Minor" op. 58, an impressive, full-blown work. The title of the album alludes to the Adagio "In memoriam" op. 57, with which Beer-Walbrunn created a musical memorial to his relatives and friends who died in the First World War. In complete contrast, the character pieces op. 56 and 67 appear as delightful miniatures that inspire with their richness of ideas and colors.

This double album brings an extensive project to a close: the recording of all the Lied works for voice and piano by Anton Beer-Walbrunn, complemented by world premiere recordings by his composition students Wilhelm Furtwängler and Josua Benjamin Carnap (a half-brother of the philosopher Rudolf Carnap). Eichendorff settings run like a thread through the song oeuvre of the three artists, who are to be helped to a new perception with this recording.

After Louis Spohr with the violin duets op.9 and op.13 had rather met the demand of the publishers for conventional teacher-pupil-play literature, he presented with the following duet collections opp. 39 and 67 clearly more demanding works, which have it not only play- but also movement-technically in itself. The two violinists Ursula Schoch and Tjeerd Toch present here the first installment of their complete recording of the duets opp.39 and 67. The members of the Concertgebouw Orchestra show that in these pieces the listener also gets his money's worth.

Violin duets generally have the reputation of being grateful playing literature for teachers and gifted students, but of giving the listener only limited pleasure. With the violin duets Opp. 39 and 67, however, Louis Spohr (1784-1859) presented several works that require two virtuoso players due to their high demands on playing and compositional technique. Ursula Schoch and Tjeerd Toch are both members of the famous Concertgebouw Orchestra and let us get our money's worth in the second installment of their complete recording of the two collections.