Three composers, two performers and center stage a young, and sometimes sensitive, protagonist. Baritone Ludwig Mittelhammer and pianist Jonathan Ware interpret songs by Franz Schubert, Hugo Wolf and Nikolai Medtner. This is the debut album of a young singer of whom great things are expected. After studying in Munich with Lang, Dutilly Truniger and Elbert, and attending many master classes, with Dietrich Fischer Dieskau and Brigitte Fassbaender among others, Ludwig Mittelhammer guested at some famous venues such as London's Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie in Cologne and the Summer Festival in Bad Kissingen, and he recently gave his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser Möst. In his early 30s, he now feels it is time to release his debut album.“I would never be so arrogant as to say that I have interpreted these songs better or more correctly than everyone else- one simply cannot say that. But personally I do think that my performance on this album is the nicest.”

Vienna, winter of 1798. Two titans of the musical world encountered each other in a one of a kind duel. A musical trial of strength in front of a select audience, the objective of which was to choose the winner by the intensity of the applause. The suitable stage for this exclusive event was provided by the friend and benefactor of Mozart, Baron Raimund Wetzlar zu Plankenstern. At just 28 years old, Ludwig van Beethoven was already well known as a virtuoso of the pianoforte and master of improvisation. Beethoven's opponent, 25 year old Johann Joseph Baptist Woelfl from Salzburg, was a student of Leopold Mozart and no less successful in the local musical scene. Both of them had made their first successful appearances at the age of only seven years and competed to win the favor of the Viennese public. Exceptionally gifted pianist Luisa Imorde reawakens the spirit of this historic battle between the two musical geniuses on her new album “L’Affaire d’honneur“. Like Beethoven, Imorde made her first musical steps in the surroundings of Bonn. By the age of seven, she had already performed on stage time and again. Now she has made Salzburg the center of her work and life, like originally Mozart and Woelfl. Her first recording named “Zirkustänze“ found high appraisal by the musical press and the public alike. Now she presents her second album. Mrs. Imorde contrasts the variations of Woelfl and Beethoven over the same musical theme by Salieri “La stessa, la stessissima“, they open and finish this recording. In addition to that, Mozart’s visionary Adagio and Fugue for two pianos, pave the way to the future. Jacques Rouvier, former teacher of Luisa Imorde at the University of Music Mozarteum, Salzburg, plays the second piano. Then follows Beethoven with his famous “Pathétique“. Contrasting to that, Woelfl, who in fact was a great admirer of Beethoven, takes over form and material of the “Pathétique“ and tries to even surpass it in his Sonata in C minor.

Vienna 1789

Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg frequently examine the tense relationship between original work and arrangement as a result of their formation. On Illumination the acclaimed duo has dedicated a whole programme to arrangements for two pianos, throwing new light on some really great works and highlighting the versatility of Romantic composers. "It is easy to make an impression as a piano duo using virtuoso effects. But that alone is not enough," they say. "We have the impression that we have compiled a sort of cyclical programme: Debussy pays tribute to the older French master Saint-Sa�ns, who in turn honours his esteemed colleague Liszt, who in his turn dedicated his B minor Sonata to Schumann, whose works are now in the safe hands of Debussy."

J.D. Heinichen: La Gara degli Dei

Great Piano Concertos - Rachmaninov, Respighi, Schmidt, Rave

•Midori Seiler, the Baroque violinist of German-Japanese origin, has already impressively proved her skill at revealing new sides to great works with her recordings of the violin partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach. Joseph Haydn's violin concertos belong more in the category of rarely performed works in the genre – unjustly, since their quality and originality are in no way inferior to the popular concertos of Mozart and Beethoven. "Haydn's lavish palette of tone colours comes out fully here, as does his subtle humour, as well as his determination and the profound nature of his compositions – infused with popular elements, as always," according to Midori Seiler. Indeed, Haydn demonstrates a pioneer spirit in these works. "There is certainly a hint of the sound of the Baroque era, but there are also ideas that reach far into the future," she goes on to explain. In addition to her solo career, Midori Seiler is leader of the renowned ensembles Akamus and Anima Eterna. The dialogue between the soloist and the ensemble has a clear, fresh and unpretentious feel to it – resulting in cheerful, catchy and at the same time uplifting music, "whose magnitude the violinist embraces increasingly as she grows older." Midori Seiler gives these masterpieces by Haydn a new reading assisted by a small, almost chamber-size group of musicians from Concerto Köln, an ensemble that has earned an international reputation over nearly three decades without losing its young and dynamic appeal. All of the musicians perform on period instruments in such a technically flawless, individual and charming manner that the listener must surely succumb to the essence of this music.

Mozart: Name Symphonies

"•Christiane Karg feels close to Richard Strauss, and not simply because they both grew up amid Bavarian landscape. Together with Mozart, the great late Romanticist now plays an ever greater part in her repertoire: she was recently acclaimed in both Antwerp and Ghent as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier. Since Strauss has always figured in her lieder recitals, this CD of Strauss lieder comes as no surprise, especially in view of the forthcoming anniversary year, marking the composer's 150th birthday. Indeed, anyone who has followed Christiane Karg's career will see this new release as a logical consequence. You only have to listen to the timbres in her voice and the skill with which she lends them an artistic and natural touch, and you will hardly be able to avoid comparisons with the great voices of her fach. • Christiane Karg's personal choice of lieder combines the familiar with the seldom-heard, lively songs with more reflective ones, and delivers a convincing range that rightly demotes such details to a secondary role. She succeeds in demonstrating as has seldom been achieved the touching manner in which Strauss's early and mature lyricism is able to transform the great themes of love and transience that were woven into his expression of the Romantic world around him. One especially charming example is the song ""Alphorn"" written when the composer was a mere twelve years old, requiring an obbligato horn, played on this recording by Felix Klieser. Her pianist is Malcolm Martineau, an exceptional artist in his own right, who navigates virtuoso hurdles with ease while giving the vocal part a steady foundation. One only needs to hear the opening bars of ""Morgen"" in order to capture that remarkable musical pulse. – This is a real summit of achievement!"

Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her (Das große Live Weihnachtsal

•With her live recording of the opulent Elgar concerto at the beginning of last year, Catherine Manoukian demonstrated how she lends a lean, precise and yet emotional character to the Romantic repertoire. That same quality is fully evident in her new recording of the three Brahms Sonatas: together with her Norwegian accompanist, Gunilla Süssmann, she presents a reading of Brahms whose seemingly restrained surface is barely able to conceal a rich inner emotional world. This is particularly appropriate in the three violin sonatas: the composer, normally a very reserved man in his private life, here quotes songs of his own that provide some insight into biographical context. The nicknames sometimes given to the sonatas, of "Regenlied", "Thun" and "Symphonic", give a hint at their inspirations and reveal how Brahms uses the intimate framework of chamber music, expanding it and taking it to the instrument's technical limits. This recording succeeds in making this audible at the highest level of intensity while always maintaining the fabric of the motifs and the formal structure: here is a modern, lean reading that nevertheless does not lack emotion and depth.

DRESDEN-GANZ GROßE OPER(SPECIA

“Workshop works, to keep the right hand, freed from the baton, from dozing off too soon” is how Richard Strauss understatedly described his masterly output following his final 1942 opera “Capriccio”, including his two Sonatinas for 16 winds. Members of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra founded the armonia Bläserensemble in 2000. The ensemble’s repertoire ranges from Trio d’Anches and classical wind quintets to Mozart, Dvorák and Richard Strauss.

Bach’s Cello Suites, the finest of all such works in the literature, speak in pure and clear voice, always spiritual yet down to earth. Isang Enders (b. 1988) was principal leader of the Dresden Staatskapelle cello section for four years before embarking on his solo career. He is a co-founder of the Ceres Ensemble and a founding member of the Int’l Shostakovich Festival. “The suites should speak, sing, dance, hunt and contemplate – altogether subjectively and characteristically. The subjective aspect of this recording is the result of my firm conviction." – Isang Enders

A recording featuring outstanding late masterpieces: Brahms ripe with emotion and ending in a mood of resignation, Reger with his densely meshed yet always transparent last work. The musicians playing together with Sharon Kam in the clarinet quintet bring these songs of farewell to life, illuminating them and allowing them to flow as if in one concerted breath. Heartfelt feeling and transcendence The string quartet has a perfectly balanced, homogeneous constitution and is justly deemed the "prime genre" of chamber music. What happens when it is joined by a clarinet, a wind instrument with quite different registers? The clarinet may come to the fore with an accompaniment, only to make a sudden retreat into the web of voices and provoke a startling change in timbre. The three most significant works for this scoring were written by Mozart, Brahms and Reger, the two latter works indebted to their respective predecessors - a highly instructive sequence. Sharon Kam recorded Mozart's Quintet in 2011 as a pendant to his Concerto with her colleagues Isabelle van Keulen, Ulrike-Anima Math�, Volker Jacobsen and Gustav Rivinius ("a brilliantly successful disc of this very desirable coupling, very well recorded" - Edward Greenfield, Gramophone). She quite deliberately refrained from choosing an existing quartet as her partner, making up a team of soloist friends instead. The result was a true quintet and not a "41" formation. The harmony was abundant from the start, and so they simply kept making music together - naturally enriching their concert repertoire with Brahms and Reger. The idea of a further recording was irresistible. Both works are quite special, mature pieces: Brahms ripe with an emotion he rarely revealed and ending in a mood of resignation, Reger with his densely meshed yet always transparent final work. This is the piece that may well be a surprise for some lovers of chamber music. In this new recording, the five comrades in music bring these pieces to life, casting light into every corner, giving free rein to their emotions, yet never losing the structural oversight - and letting all this flow as if in one concerted breath. For those seeking closer insight into the relationships and cross-connections, there is a limited special edition. This includes a bonus CD with the Mozart quintet and an informative discussion between the clarinet player and Reger publisher Michael Kube. Musical examples, excerpts from letters and explanations draw the attentive listener ever closer to the charmed circle of these works.