The composers and educators Eugen Werner Velte and Wolfgang Rihm as well as alumni whose music is presented here demonstrate the characteristics of a school. The main function of an institution such as the University of Music Karlsruhe is first and foremost as a site for studies and second, a place for individual composition and pedagogic work. The Karlsruhe School is in no way a forced stylistic unit stubbornly passed along simultaneously as a solidified traditional framework. For 50 years, the University of Music Karlsruhe has radiated as a living, recreative phenomenon of this artistic freedom, extending far into a shared future. In the music of alumni taught by Wolfgang Rihm, ideals of musical freedom and openness continue to resound in concrete form. Jörg Widmann, Rebecca Saunders and Markus Hechtle, among others, contribute to the further development of the unique Karlsruhe School at their professional homes.

In the 1920s and 1930s, there was a multi-faceted musical scene in culturally flourishing Czechoslovakia. When we take a look at the works by Pavel Haas, Gideon Klein, Hans Krása, Viktor Ullmann or Erwin Schulhoff, we can perceive a stylistically very similar course, conceivable against the given background as a ‘Prague School’ (as a counter-movement to the ‘Viennese School’). In Schulhoff’s early works, the features are a late Romantic approach influenced by Reger that later developed with an emphasis on rhythm in the direction of Expressionism and Neo-Classicism, also including jazz elements. The starting point is the ‘Don Juan’ story, but the underlying idea in Beneš’ and Schulhoff’s work is not to present the colourful seducer, but the fate of a man driven by his desires and needs who cannot even remotely find happiness and peace in constancy. In his opera, Schulhoff brilliantly manages to find a different dramaturgical approach, on the one hand, and at the same time to pay a kind of alienated homage to Mozart’s work, on the other.

REVIEW:

This 2006 performance was recorded in the Theater an der Wien over several days. Raymond Very assumes the role of Don Juan with great resourcefulness, given some of the difficult registers asked of him, and Iris Vermillion’s La Morte is a perfect foil. Stephanie Friede is Margarethe and takes other smaller roles, whilst the Commendatore is Salvador Fernández-Castro. All the smaller roles are well taken. The ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra evokes both the impressionist-expressionist elements, as well as its more knockabout demotic, with great fervour and clarity and Bertrand de Billy lives up to his reputation as a most astute and perceptive conductor of difficult works such as this—difficult structurally, musically, and in terms of the right kind of ‘tone’.

-- MusicWeb International

Only few testimonies provide us any details about this now little known but once esteemed composer. Born in Coburg, 1735, Anton Schweitzer died 1787 in Gotha, where he had settled following the Weimar palace fire in 1774. Regrettably, only relatively few manuscripts have survived. Some of the works recorded here (which comprise almost the entire existing church music) have been preserved in several copies, which were recently found in different archives in Thuringia. This recording shows us a colorful virtuoso music of an unjustly forgotten composer. The works on this release are world premiere recordings.

In 1711 Christoph Graupner was already appointed court conductor and he would continue to work in Darmstadt for the rest of his life. Graupner’s focus shifted to sacred vocal music, which explains the sheer abundance of the 1,400-plus cantatas he composed. In 1723 the Leipzig city magistrates were looking for a new cantor at the Thomas School – and wanted him, above all. Alas, Graupner’s patron did not release him from his contract an so they had to hire Bach. Graupner, famous and widely celebrated during his lifetime, was soon thereafter forgotten. As we rediscover and hear more and more of his works, however, the judgment of his contemporaries would appear to us as increasingly germane. The present recording spans the liturgical arc from Maundy Thursday via Good Friday and Easter Sunday to Easter Monday and presents one liturgical work for each of the festive days – and each of them a world premiere recording!

REVIEW:

As one might expect, even though the accompaniment is limited to strings, the emotional content of the words, appropriate for the season, are reflected in Graupner’s progressive music. The text is never obscured, and he takes great pains to insure that rhythmic and textural variations are done gracefully. The performance by the Pulchra Musica ensemble is quite exact, with good intonation and a sense of style that allows for the variety of the music to emerge easily. Conductor Christian Bonath keeps things moving along, and the chorus Capella Vocalis works well. Sebastian Hübner’s tenor and Johannes Hill’s bass have the lightness of sound and flexibility for this sort of music, and the richness of countertenor Jan Jerlitschka complements them well. My only concern is that the one-on-a-part strings are perhaps too thin, and there are times when the orchestral accompaniment fades almost into obscurity. The recording of these sensitive and lyrical cantatas would have been enhanced by a thicker orchestral texture. But that being said, the performances are well worth adding to the growing collection of this master of the Baroque church cantata.

-- Fanfare

Benno Ammann’s oeuvre reveals influences from impressionism to free tonality, yet he belongs to no stylistic school. The Swiss composer wrote Missa Defensor Pacis (‘Defender of the Faith’) in 1946 for the official canonization, at St Peter’s in Rome, of Nicholas of Flüe, patron saint of Switzerland. This prestigious commission, with its complex polyphony, countless variations, and use of the cantus firmus technique, is one of the most important and extensive Masses by a Swiss composer for a cappella choir. The Basler Madrigalisten are one of the most traditional professional vocal ensembles in Switzerland and are primarily devoted to demanding repertoires from the Renaissance to contemporary music. The ensemble, founded in 1978 by Fritz Naf at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, has been under the direction of Raphael Immoos since 2013 and has toured Europe, the USA, Australia, and Asia.

“Now I have come across someone who really has a great creative talent.” (Peter Tchaikovsky) Although the originality of his musical language paved the way for Russian modernism, Catoire's work still followed the artistic ideals of Russia and not the new culture of the Soviet Republic. His work is highly expressive and of enormous polyphonic density, greatest expressiveness, fine colors, rhythmic and harmonious scope. Catoire's music was almost never performed and his name remained almost unknown also to expert circles. He left behind 36 works including some symphonic pieces, a piano concerto, chamber music, songs and piano cycles. This music was written in the “fin de siecle”, with its shine and nobility, but also with its fragility.

His monodrama The Diary of Anne Frank (1968) put Grigori Frid on the musical map, beyond the borders of Soviet Russia. Frid was born in the Petrograd (St. Petersburg) of 1915 and had to witness early on how his family fell victim to the seemingly indiscriminate (and in fact deliberately arbitrary) rounds of suppression, arrest, and deportation of the Stalin Regime. His music stands in the aesthetic realm of Dmitri Shostakovich on the one hand, and that of his younger contemporaries Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Alfred Schnittke on the other. His works finds itself influenced by the great Russian tradition but yearning to find new, modern ways – more in line with international trends in music – of expressing itself.

REVIEW:

Grigori Frid (not to be confused with the Hungarian composer Géza Frid (1904-1989) had Jewish roots and could have lost his life when young, as his family were persecuted and murdered under Stalin and again during World War 2, having been conscripted into the Soviet Army as a paramedic. Later he returned to his job at the Moscow Conservatory and lived to a great age.

The Piano Quintet Op 72 is formally very interesting and unusual. Ostensibly in three movements (allotted three tracks), it actually divides into several sections dictated by tempi. The overall feeling of this work could perhaps leave you thinking of Shostakovich in one of his more solemn moods, I also thought occasionally of Edison Denisov’s (d.1996) Piano Trio and of Elena Firsova, but on this, my first acquaintance with Frid, I can also recognise a mature and individual voice.

Phädra, composed four years later, although another piano quintet, is marked deliberately as for viola (first) with two violins, cello and piano. The sombre first movement has, right from the start, a tolling bell high in the piano and its title, Phädra, perhaps acts as a description of how the composer wanted to present her character. Surprisingly, the second movement uses the ‘Serenade’ melody found in Stravinsky’s ‘Pulcinella’, linking us via Pergolesi back to Racine’s time. Frid, however, develops the movement into a very intense central section in which the melody is again enveloped in the tolling bell and highly dissonant, fortissimo writing in the upper strings. It returns as if unmoved to its original innocence. Movement three is oppressively and freely chromatic. The final movement summarises the sombre mood of much of the music and recaps, it seems, some of the first movement.

These two works are superbly played with a deep understanding and a high-quality musicianship, demonstrating fully the needs of the music. They represent some of the high peaks of Frid’s output and open a door onto a composer who is now awaiting discovery.

-- MusicWeb International

Of particular importance to Eisler was the principle of synthesis, working with a variety of musical aesthetics, and merging them to an autonomous whole… albeit always with an eye to also wanting to “change the world” with his music. The October Revolution of 1917 and the assumption of power by the Bolsheviks in Russia shaped young Hanns Eisler already for the rest of his life. Later on, in the 1930s after all, there was no topic that preoccupied him more, during the years of exile, than the sustained protest against National Socialism. Eisler wanted to make a musical stance against Fascism with his Opus 50; he wanted to show – together with his collaborating librettist Brecht – that there was not just a Germany Nazis but another, better Germany… driven into Exile or interned in concentration camps. The Deutsche Sinfonie is arguably Eisler's most important composition; she is unique in its ingenious combination of symphony, cantata, and oratorio.

REVIEWS:

The performance here crackles with atmosphere.

-- BBC Music Magazine

This performance is an old one, dating from 1989. I don’t think it has been issued previously, but it was worth digging up from the vaults as it is very good and the work is not often performed or recorded. Capriccio have issued a number of other recordings of Eisler so this must have been an informed choice. The conductor Günther Theuring was not a household name but specialised in works of this kind and leads an assured performance. Of the soloists I particularly liked the mezzo-soprano Hanna Fahlbusch-Wald but the others are all competent. The chorus was enthusiastic and precise, the orchestral playing very secure.

-- MusicWeb International

Completed! This is the last release in a set of 12 albums comprising the Dopplers' complete music for flute(s), including various arrangements. Flutist and mastermind Claudi Arimany presents works by different composers, dedicated to Franz Doppler or arranged on motifs from his different operas. Arimany spent decades researching this project, inspiring many famous musicians to become involved in its realization. After 4 years and 12 Volumes we are proud to close now another gap in musical history.

‘Yes, he is so related to my very self that he and I are like two fruits from the same tree, produced by the same soil and fed by the same air.’ (Gustav Mahler) The premiere of the Symphony No. 1 in E major by Hans Rott, written more than 100 years earlier, in 1989 introduced the international music world to a composer who had been unknown or known only by name even to most pundits. His colleagues and friends included the one or two-year younger composers Gustav Mahler and Hugo Wolf. Besides Wagner, Bruckner was the most important model for Rott’s first symphonic work. The symphony is the summum opus the not quite twenty-year-old left behind. It is his first and final finished major work. It is the synthesis of what he had written to date and a proclamation of what might have come.

REVIEW:

Christopher Ward is a young and ambitious conductor who already has a burgeoning CV, especially in opera. I hope that he continues also to tackle rare repertoire like this, as, on the whole, he has delved deep inside the character and style of this composer and I’m sure, with the help of such a fine orchestra as the Gürzenich he can do so again.

– MusicWeb International

“Now I have come across someone who really has a great creative talent.” (Peter Tchaikovsky) Although the originality of his musical language paved the way for Russian modernism, Catoire's work still followed the artistic ideals of Russia and not the new culture of the Soviet Republic. His work is highly expressive and of enormous polyphonic density, greatest expressiveness, fine colors, rhythmic and harmonious scope. Catoire's music was almost never performed and his name remained almost unknown also to expert circles. He left behind 36 works including some symphonic pieces, a piano concerto, chamber music, songs and piano cycles. This music was written in the “fin de siecle”, with its shine and nobility, but also with its fragility.

REVIEW:

Catoire's works are attractive and well worth hearing. These performances certainly make an excellent case for them: the pianist Oliver Triendl has no problems with the often demanding piano writing. In the concerto Roland Kluttig and his radio orchestra provide good support and in the two chamber works the Vogler Quartet make excellent partners and play with a will. No complaints about the recording, though different teams and venues were used for the concerto from the chamber works. The disc is handsomely presented with a cover sleeve and altogether this is a quality production.

– MusicWeb International

Despite a certain inner distance to the Communist regime, Rudolf Wagner-Régeny was considered one of the most distinguished artistic personalities in East Germany. Karl Böhm and Herbert von Karajan were only two of the distinguished conductors to champion his music. Although he himself was not regarded as a stylistic pioneer, the way Wagner-Régeny took up and blended old and new elements formed a highly individual musical diction that might well be defined as a personal style. Genesis (1955/56) is a blend of oratorio and cantata. It was written prior to East Germany’s ambivalent attitude towards the church. The latter represented the strongest opposition to the regime and was discriminated mainly during Walter Ulbricht’s tenure as the chairman of the Central Committee.

From the diversity of Bulgarian musical culture Pancho Vladigerov stands out as undoubtedly the most important composer for the musical self-conception of modern Bulgaria. In the 1920s he worked as a conductor, pianist and composer in close association with Max Reinhardt at the Deutsches Theater Berlin. He also associated with many German-speaking writers, such as Stefan Zweig, Gerhart Hauptmann, Arthur Schnitzler and Hugo von Hofmannsthal as well as with many fellow composers of the time (including Bartók, Kodály, Strauss, Ravel, Glasunov, Hindemith, Schoenberg, Rachmaninov and Szymanowski). In this light, it is difficult to understand why the imaginative and colorful music by the sound wizard does not possess any appropriate status in European concert halls today. However, in his homeland he held a pre-eminent position up to the end of his life. Irrespective of the prevailing political conditions, he was shown the greatest respect by all sides and granted both personal and state recognition. With these recordings, produced in the 1070s in Bulgaria, Capriccio releases an 18-album Vladigerov-Edition to preserve this colorful music also for the next generations.

The Doppler brothers played a dominant role in the K&K Monarchy’s musical life as composers, conductors, musicians and as orchestral soloists. They were on good terms with acknowledged artists of the era, such as Ferenc Liszt, Ferenc Erkel, or Jozsef Bajza. This is the eleventh release in a set of 12 albums comprising the Dopplers' complete music for flute(s), including various arrangements. Flautist Claudi Arimany spent decades researching this project, inspiring many famous musicians to become involved in its realization. Featured on this album alongside Arimany are Janos Balint, Aleksandra Miletic, Sara Blanch, and more.

Five years after Shostakovich premiered his quintet to turbulent success in 1940, his new 24-years young friend Weinberg premiered one of his own. For the premiere on March 18th, the 27-year old Weinberg got the String Quartet of the Bolshoi and a 30-year old pianist, already famous then, by the name of Emil Gilels. The Quintet op.18 is one of the unequivocally great chamber pieces of that time and it is a superb entry-point into the world of Weinberg. As with any truly great masterpiece, a work like the Piano Quintet benefits and indeed demands many and diverging interpretations. This also includes different versions, such as this arrangement of the quintet for chamber ensemble. The idea is hardly far-fetched: Weinberg arranged several of his own works for chamber orchestra; his friend Shostakovich’s string quartets have popularly lent themselves to such arrangements. It suits the treatment naturally – and the orchestral version, therefore, gives us just one more way to discover and enjoy one of Weinberg’s ingenious gifts to his belated but finally eager public.