‘This West Indian tragedy has remained the sole dramatic work of a heroic world in pre-Columbian times that, after a flourishing heyday, was abruptly terminated by foreign violence.’ Egon Wellesz (1925). In musical terms, the Opferung shows Egon Wellesz at the zenith of his creativity. In this music, Wellesz’ emancipation from his mentor Schoenberg and his aesthetics has progressed even further, as throughout his life Egon Wellesz was interested in evolving his own, unmistakable musical diction. The events of 12 March 1938 put a sudden end to this so successful career: As a Jew, monarchist and the writer of ‘degenerate music’, the 53-year-old musician was immediately removed from all of his posts and wanted by the police after ‘the seizure of power’. Following a long illness, Egon Wellesz died in Oxford in 1974.

With this 2nd Solo-Album for Capriccio the Brass Quintet of Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin shows us the rich and colorful musical landscape of Italy. From Barock Era till modern hits of our time the five musicians offer a diversified program through musical history. With soprano Siobhan Stagg, one of the most outstanding young artists to emerge from Australia in recent years, they have a welcome additional support for their creative and virtuoso arrangements. In 2007, five musicians from the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin came together and founded the brass quintet of the DSO. The ensemble members share their enthusiasm for chamber music and appreciate the additional challenge alongside their work as an orchestral musician. Thematic coherent concert programs, in which original compositions and arrangements are placed in exciting and varied contexts, have been the focus of the ensemble and have been decisive for the artistic direction since the beginning.

‘It simply cannot be gauged what music has lost with him’ (Gustav Mahler) Hans Rott was a composer from Gustav Mahler’s time who had been unknown or known only by name even to most pundits. Many people have expressed the opinion, perhaps justifiably, that only his tragic fate prevented him from going down in the annals of music as Mahler’s equal and establishing a permanent position in the repertoire. A member of Bruckner’s circle within the music scene in Vienna, he developed a pronounced antipathy towards Johannes Brahms. In view of many of his works, it is difficult to comprehend that during Rott’s lifetime presumably not one of them was performed in public, but that only presentations took place under the aegis of internal conservatory events. With these recordings Capriccio attend to fill the gap with his (some of them reconstructed) orchestral works and document these fascinating worlds of music for the eternity.

REVIEW:

The young British conductor Christopher Ward directs Cologne’s Gürzenich Orchestra in Capriccio’s first volume of Rott’s orchestral works with obvious commitment and makes no attempt to batten down the Wagnerian elements that course so freely; nor should he. With a thoughtfully balanced recording and concise notes this is a revealing document of Rott’s music, and the reconstruction of the Hamlet overture has the advantage of being heard in its world premiere recording.

– MusicWeb International

Ferruccio Busoni was undoubtedly what can be termed a ‘child prodigy’. His maturity as a young pianist can only be indirectly evidenced by contemporary reports. But in his early compositions, his astonishing command of the meter can be assessed directly. In particular, he demonstrated a sure instinct for part writing and counterpoint, before he had received systematic teaching in these disciplines. Busoni connoisseurs will detect unexpected parallels to the works of his mature period; their germ cells, as it were. And the common music lover may find joy in a wealth of piano pieces, some of which at least need not shy any comparison with Schumann, Mendelssohn, Reinecke and Grieg.

In recent years, the jazz-like, classical and modern music by the Ukrainian composer Nikolai Kapustin (*1937) has become an inside tip on classical concert stages. During a visit to Nikolai Kasputin in Moscow ten years ago, the composer entrusted the cellist Eckart Runge with the notes for his Cello Concerto No. 1 op. 85, which, unlike the second one, had neither been performed nor recorded. The work vibrant with energy combines in unparalleled manner colorful symphonic music with the groovy sound of the big band tradition and the virtuosity of a Charlie Parker with the chamber music intimacy of a Miles Davis into a new and fulminant musical diction. With his fascinating, poly-stylistic realm of sound, mirroring an absolutely personal diction, two decades after his death Alfred Schnittke has become one of the composers of the 20th century permanently established in the repertoire. The Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1 was commissioned by the City of Munich for the inauguration of the Gasteig Cultural Centre in 1985/86.

“But tell me, who could have written a better libretto than my friend Heinrich von Kleist. When I was searching for a language in combination with which my music could produce something new, a diction targeted by my music, I hit on the Prince. . […] The tension between the life of the individual and raison d’état, issues as to the disregard of law and order, man’s quivering before the might of ruling authorities and the courage to resist it, all of that might happen today or might have occurred one or two thousand years ago. […]Many of my endeavors in works of recent years appear through this drama to have reached a new point, i.e. a new polyphony and its concomitant, freely chosen rigor.” (Hans-Werner Henze) This production of The Prince of Homburg is presented by the Staatsorchester Stuttgart and Cornelius Meister.

In addition to his own career, conductor Christoph Eschenbach has always promoted young talented musicians. One of these young prodigies is the German-Korean pianist Christopher Park, who has begun to forge his own successful path. In a rare moment both artists came together for a concert and production with NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester in 2014. This performance is presented here. The release features solo piano pieces by Christopher Park and shows us that he simply cannot mask his virtuosity and musical talent.

Throughout his life, Philipp Scharwenka (1847-1917) was eclipsed by his younger brother, Franz Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924), who made a world-renowned career as a piano virtuoso. It is only from the historical perspective that it becomes clear that Philipp was superior to his brother as a composer. This is demonstrated by this album, supplementing Philipp Scharwenka’s meager discography with his works for violin, viola and piano. Violinist Laurent Albrecht Breuninger heads up this project, joined by violist Lise Berthaud and pianist Oliver Triendl.

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 tenth 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 flutists Jean-Pierre Rampal, Paul Edmund-Davies, pianists John Steele Ritter and Zsolt Balog, and the renowned Iberian Flute Trio.

“Just heard your wonderful Sinfonietta: hope it is the beginning of your American success,” wrote Arnold Schönberg to Zemlinsky. But Zemlinsky suffered a stroke and died some days later on, lonely in New York. In his Sinfonietta op. 24 (1934) he used again a short theme from the last song of his Maeterlinck-Songs, Op. 13 (1913): “Wohin gehst Du?” (Where are you going?) It’s a theme of ‘self-doubts‘ and ‘Farewell’ when Zemlinsky noticed very carefully the more and more stronger restrictions against the Judaism in Vienna. The Maeterlinck-Songs are “the center of his productivity” (Adorno), and abduct the listeners in a mystic world about life, evanescence and death.

The music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold has enjoyed a major renaissance over the last three decades. He is no longer the neglected, unknown master, the hidden Wunderkind of 20th century classical music. Korngold in a nutshell can be encapsulated thus: Precocious teen and Wunderkind who composed too-beautiful music to be taken seriously at a time when modernism swept the cultural stage. When he died, Korngold was certain that he was and would remain a forgotten composer – at least in his homeland. As part of the greater trend of re-appreciation, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, under Caspar Richter, made these recordings for ASV in the late 1990s and early 2000s (now available as 4-album box on Capriccio Label), pioneering efforts at the time and still much appreciated for the overview they give us of Korngold’s œvre, beyond the handful of greatest hits available elsewhere.

With “Première Portraits” Capriccio set an example for the support of young and talented artists and invite them to release their première CD for a worldwide audience. German baritone, Christian Miedl. has gained an international reputation especially in the field of contemporary music, with highly acclaimed world premieres and national premieres of important works by Wolfgang Rihm, Peter Eötvös, Ennio Morricone, Salvatore Sciarrino, and Luca Francesconi. Among other prizes and awards, he holds the Lied Prize of the prestigious Francisco Vinas Competition of Barcelona. Opera engagements have taken him to Teatro alla Scala Milan, Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Hamburg, Wiener Staatsoper, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Suntory Hall Tokyo, the opera houses of Lyon, Malmö, Frankfurt, Cologne, Bonn, Seattle, and the Spoleto Festival USA.

The renaissance of Walter Braunfels’ music is well under way. Interest in his work is picking up. As part of that happy development, it only makes sense that once recordings of Braunfels’ most public works had come out, it is now the turn of the less conspicuous works to shine. Starting right here, for example, with Braunfels’ compositions for piano, piano four hands, and two pianos. Although his solo and quadrodexterous piano compositions do not take primacy in his œuvre, they are an important aspect of the composer Braunfels who came, after all, from the piano.

When in 2014 Capriccio started the cooperation with Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, no one ever thought that we would be able to present a 10CD-Collection after 6 productive years. The meaning of this edition was always to fill the gaps of 20th century repertoire and to focus on composers which – most of them – never really found their place in the yearly concert schedules worldwide. That's a pity, as we can hear with this collection a lot of fascinating works of composers which were unjustly banned from the musical conscience and only got a marginal note in the musical encyclopedia. These recordings should help to give them better attention and hopefully bring them back in the concert halls.

Past praise for previously released volumes included in this set:

Antheil: Jazz Symphony & Other Works

Steffens underscores The Jazz SYmphony’s unifying characteristics rather than emphasizing its incongruities.

Pianist Frank Dupree’s finely chiseled performance in the First Piano Concerto maintains a tighter grip overall than any of his rivals.

– Gramophone

Dutilleux: Symphony No. 1; Deux Sonnets de Jean Cassou; Metaboles

The ambience of the recording is excellent and allows the intricate detail of these pieces to be heard to advantage. For listeners who do not know the music of Henri Dutilleux this is an ideal introductory album: enthusiasts of the composers will demand this disc for their collection.

– MusicWeb International

Zimmermann: Modern Times

Photoptosis is usually considered Zimmermann's defining work but never has it sounded so raw-boned and unrelenting: kudos to the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and Karl-Heinz Steffens for pulling off such a chancy, intrepid performance.

– Gramophone

Who would assume today that after its premiere in 1910 Ernst von Dohnányi’s dance pantomime spread like a wildfire over the stages of the world. The ‘Wedding Waltz’ from Der Schleier der Pierrette could regularly be heard on musical request programmes on the radio, enjoying similar popularity to the waltz sequence from Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. Dohnanyi’s choice of the genre of pantomime was entirely in keeping with the spirit of the age that, following the large-scale, plot-laden ballets of late Romanticism, sought to find in pantomime a more intimate and more naturalistic form of expression. It may come as a surprise that the source for Dohnányi derived from none other than Arthur Schnitzler (1862–1931), one of the salient representatives of fin-de-siècle Austria. With this first complete recording again an important gap is closed in the knowledge of repertoire of this fascinating epochal time of musical history.