Oboe and Oboe D'Amore Concertos - Bach, J.S. / Vivaldi, A. /

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

As a Hamburg-based musician Matthias Höfs has a special relationship with Georg Philipp Telemann, who was a very successful composer of operas at the city’s opera house on the Gänsemarkt. As director of music for the five parish churches of Hamburg, Telemann made a decisive contribution to the sacred music performed at those institutions. And it has not taken the 250th anniversary of his death, on June 25, 2017, for Telemann to be acknowledged as one of the most efficacious Baroque composers alongside J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel. Matthias Höfs played solo trumpet in opera for 16 years with the Philharmonic State Orchestra of Hamburg and now gives concerts all over the world, enjoying an acclaimed reputation. On his new release the star trumpeter presents works by Telemann together with the estimable Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.

Günther Herbig knew the Berlin Symphony Orchestra well, even before being made Principal Conductor in 1977 of what is now the Konzerthaus orchestra. He had deputized in that post from 1966 to 1972. Solo flautist Richard Waage, an orchestra member from 1961 to 2002, also valued the work ethic of his Principal Conductor – notably when it came to the execution of solo parts. “With Herbig things were ‘more open’, when you had worked your way into a certain context, than with other conductors. He allowed you more freedom.” On one occasion when he had the opportunity to see Herbig’s conducting score, he was impressed by how every harmonic step was marked, so that the score bore traces of a musicological analysis. Solo flautist Richard Waage, an orchestra member from 1961 to 2002, also valued the work ethic of his Principal Conductor – notably when it came to the execution of solo parts. “With Herbig things were ‘more open’, when you had worked your way into a certain context, than with other conductors. He allowed you more freedom. You could offer more as an individual. I liked that a lot.” On one occasion when he had the opportunity to see Herbig’s conducting score, he was impressed by how every harmonic step was marked, so that the score bore traces of a musicological analysis. “This was the mathematical impulse” characteristic, he judged, of Herbig’s way of working. This architectural, formally structured approach to the music fitted well with the recording technique of those days, which did not allow breakdown into such small steps as today. Arches of tension thus sound more plausible, because there are fewer pieces to put together. “When you have long takes, of course that makes it all more organic,” concludes Richard Waage. It will surely have been these working conditions and the conductor’s specific style that made it possible, even in such an unpretentious piece as the Pavane, “to bring out the character of mourning”, which so moved Jürgen Kögel and other participants. This recording contains Ravel’s symphonic works La Valse, Ma Mère l'Oye, Pavane pour une infante défunte and last but not least the famous Bolero.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Telemann, G.P.: Concerto in D Major, Twv 53:D5 / Vivaldi, A.

Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite (The) - The Sleeping Beauty -

Hindermann, W.: Triple Concerto in G Major / Concerto for 2

Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

Handel, G.F.: Organ Concertos Nos. 1-4

SIBELIUS:SINFONISCHE DICHTUNGE

When you read the name German Brass, you know just where you’re at: here are musicians who can conjure up the most finely-honed degrees of timbre, volume and pitch that it is humanly possible to produce on brass instruments. It rings true: German Brass represents the hallmark of the highest quality brass music made in Germany – or as Concerti magazine put it: “Trailblazers of the Brass scene”. The ensemble’s last album was all about pre-Christmas anticipation, joyful messages and everything that revolves round Bach, Telemann and Handel. Brass Hommage takes us to the opposite end of the calendar spectrum. Things are colorful, rhythmic, exotic even. After a bombastic introduction by way of Strauss’s Thus spake Zarathustra it’s off to the south and the west, armed with a sun hat and shades with classics ranging from Black Bottom Stomp, via Quien Sera, As Time Goes By, Tico Tico to Oye Como va. This is the perfect programme for hot days and balmy nights. With their virtuosity, their brilliant musicality and their own special charm, they have definitely placed their stamp/made their mark on brass culture. Their declared goal is to reproduce the grand-scale resonant sound of an organ. That’s what inspires German Brass’s arrangers and members to produce that sound which has given this top-flight ensemble an inimitable edge for decades. They have been making German brass history now for more than 40 years. Founded in 1974, they seem not to have grown a day older since then. Proof of that can be seen in their full concert schedule. The fact that the ensemble recruits musicians from Germany’s top orchestras means that they can offer outstanding quality, and their collaboration over decades still has audiences gasping, wide-eyed and perking up their ears to hear this musical cornucopia.

Classical Music

Track List:
1 Nun lasst uns Gott, dem Herren
2 Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
3 Befiehl du deine Wege
4 Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott
5 Du meine Seele, singe
6 Gott des Himmels und der Erden
7 O Gott, du frommer Gott
8 O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß
9 Christ ist erstanden
10 Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist
11 Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten
12 Großer Gott, wir loben dich
13 Jesus, meine Zuversicht
14 Schönster Herr Jesu
15 O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden
16 Auf, auf, mein Herz, mit Freuden
17 In dir ist Freude
18 O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf
19 Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her
20 Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn
21 Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern
22 Nun danket alle Gott
23 Wie lieblich ist der Maien
24 Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud
25 Der Mond ist aufgegangen

Classical Music

Classical Music

Claire Huangci went from being "clearly a pianist to follow" to the status of internationally established and acclaimed young pianist even before winning the Mozart Prize at the Concours G�za Anda in 2018. Following on from four successful solo albums from arrangements of Russian ballet music through Scarlatti to Chopin's complete Nocturnes and all of Rachmaninoff's Preludes she now releases her first orchestral album with Berlin Classics. Together with the aspiring young South Korean conductor Shiyeon Sung and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie she plays Chopin's Piano Concerto No 1 and contrasts it with Paderewski's concerto. Chopin's Piano Concerto No 1 is well established on the world's concert platforms. Huangci is well aware that there are two sides to Chopin the man who composed the piano concerto and the creator of the Nocturnes In comparison to Chopin, Paderewski is relatively unknown, yet he was an intensely interesting man and his piano concerto is rich in ideas and resources. The configuration of the recording is ideal- two artists who composed their works early in their careers, interpreted by an equally young pianist. Huangci perceives the youthful verve of the compositions:"Both composers exude a true joie de vivre, a love of life, attributable to their youth. The concertos were clearly written by men who looked with hope to the future." She brings the same youthful elan to her interpretation.