Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Ludwig van Beethoven is probably one of the most interpreted composers of all time. Especially in the Beethoven year 2020 there are countless releases of his well-known works. For his new album, pianist Matthias Kirschnereit has therefore set himself the challenge of exploring and recording the unknown jewels of Beethoven's piano music: "My aim in this album is to take works by Beethoven that are not generally familiar and give them new luster... Pieces, that is, that do not necessarily set out to change the world. I am no archaeologist; my task is not to rummage in attics or search libraries and archives for hitherto unpublished works. Everything has long been in print, as my intensive collaboration with the publishers Henle and Wiener Urtext Edition has confirmed. So, I started looking at what I could put together... and I was simply amazed."

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Try something new is Simon H�fele's motto. Inquisitive, intrepid and full of passion for his instrument, on his new album "Standards" he turns to the trumpet in all it's many facets, sweeping his audience along with him with his audacious and clever programmes and thrilling playing. As a "Rising Star" of the European Concert Hall Organization and one of Konzerthaus Dortmund's "young wild things", Simon H�fele has centered his debut album on the Berlin Classics label around the key repertoire for trumpet and the quintessence of his time as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist.

Classical Music

Xavier Sabata has long since established himself as an exponent of the great roles for countertenor and he is a welcome guest on the stages of opera houses worldwide. His discography to date illustrates his voice-motivated focus on music from 1600 to 1800 while also presenting the portrait of an artist who engages with intellectual concepts across the world and throughout the ages. His debut album on Berlin Classics marks his departure from Baroque terrain and makes him a wanderer, in more senses than one, facing the emotional and vocal challenges of Schubert's "Winterreise". In an age in which Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition are played on the accordion, Vivaldi's Four Seasons taken apart and rearranged, and a chamber septet can perform the Goldberg Variations of Johann Sebastian Bach, the old idea of fidelity to the Urtext loses it's significance. It seems that these days, nothing is sacred: not even the greatest work of the Lieder repertoire, Franz Schubert's Winterreise. Catalan countertenor Xavier Sabata sings the work, written one year before the composer's death, with the support of pianist Francisco Poyato and in doing so is one of the first of his fach to have tackled the cycle. He himself sees no reason why his voice register should be an issue. "Schubert had friends who were not professional singers and still sang his Lieder. I am so grateful that women have taken it upon themselves to sing this work. Why should a counter-tenor not sing it too, if he succeeds in bringing out the deep inner conflicts, feelings and meanings of the piece?" "I am no lover of assignment to particular registers," says Xavier Sabata. "Many people are happier when they can pigeonhole a thing. That may even provide a degree of reassurance. But music and art must never have labels stuck to them! Every time something is performed, a new work of art is created."