Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

German pianist, music educator, and composer Walter Braunfels (1882-1954) wrote his Grosse Messe, Op. 37 between the years of 1923 and 1926. At the time of its completion, Braunfels was at the peak of his career. The piece is not liturgical, yet the mass speaks from a place of deep and sincere spirituality. “He is a high-romantic, solidly anchored in the German composition- culture, and yet he has a very unique language- sensationally well-orchestrated, as it happens-about him, which makes it so fascinating” (Weigle).

Ernst von Dohnanyi’s piano works are influenced by the late romantic era, with different character pieces woven together as a cycle like the late piano works of Brahms. Dohnanyi first made his mark on the music scene as a pianist. He made his debut in Berlin in 1897 and was at once recognized as an artist of extremely high merit. Similar success followed in Vienna, and then he toured Europe. After he began composing, the piano was his natural instrument to write for. Sofja Gulbadamova has long been a champion of Ernst von Dohnanyi’s piano oevre. Sofja has won prizes at many international competitions in the USA, Spain, France, Germany, and Russia. Several CD recordings of her performances have already been published in Germany and France, and have been widely well-received.

Classical Music

Part, A.: Berliner Messe / Fratres / Collage Uber B-A-C-H /

Purcell, H.: Opera Suites

Classical Hall of Fame


J. L. BACH Der Herr wird ein Neues im Lande erschaffen. Die Weisheit kommt nicht in eine boshafte Seele. Ich will meinen Geist in euch geben . Missa brevis • Hermann Max,cond; Maria Zadori (sop); Susanne Norin (alt); Wilfried Jochens (ten); Stephan Schreckenberger (bs); Rheinische Kantorei; Das Kleine Konzert (period instruments) • CAPRICCIO 67 131 (65:55 Text and Translation)


For a number of years, considerable attention has come to focus on the children of Johann Sebastian Bach, but more recently, the light has begun to shine on some of his other relatives, specifically his cousin, Johann Ludwig Bach (1677–1731). Like many of Sebastian’s other kin, Ludwig has largely remained in the shadows, something that may have pleased him, for as Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach wrote, “It would be impossible to understand why such good men are so little known beyond their fatherland and their situation that they did not want to venture far beyond same to seek their fortune elsewhere.” Later on, C. P. E. Bach observes, “They were happy to settle for the applause they were sure to receive from the rulers in whose territories they had been born and from their many ingenuous compatriots rather than to risk the uncertainty and difficulties involved in winning accolades from fewer and perhaps envious foreigners.” But to a degree, this anonymity has begun to dissipate. A number of years ago, Capriccio released a compact disc of motets (10 560) and another of funeral music (10 814), and Carus has three discs of Ludwig’s choral works in its catalog: two CDs of the motets (83.186 and 83.187) and another disc that holds four cantatas, none of which duplicate the repertoire on this Capriccio release. Very little of what was Ludwig’s apparently extensive œuvre has survived. With regard to his sacred compositions, we have just under two dozen cantatas, a dozen or so motets, and one mass.


The cantatas were composed for use during the liturgical year 1704–05, specifically the fifth Sunday following Epiphany, the fourth Sunday of Easter, and the Visitation of Our Lady, while the Missa brevis , which uses the hymn tune Allein Gott in der Höh sei Her , dates from a decade later. C. P. E. Bach thought a great deal of his relative’s work in this cantata; he praised the “ample variety” and also the “exceptional beauty” of the choruses. In the 19th century, Carl Friedrich Zelter, director of the Berlin Singakademie wrote, “These pieces indicate that he [Ludwig] must have written a great deal, because they could otherwise not be as good as they are.”


This is repertoire that is tailor-made for Herrmann Max, Das Kleine Konzert, and the Rheinische Kantorei. Soloists and choir are light-toned, agile, and communicative. They generate focused and appropriate emotion and shape and color their melodic lines with enviable ease. The orchestra is also in fine form, playing with energy, conviction, and razor-sharp ensemble. Marcus Schleich and Jörg Schultess receive special kudos for their enviable execution of the taxing horn parts in Ich will meinen Geist in euch geben.


This four-year-old release from Capriccio is musically and artistically without fault. The curious will be pleasantly surprised and amply rewarded by this new inductee in our Hall of Fame; the Baroque fanatic, however, should acquire the Carus disc of cantatas as well.


FANFARE: Michael Carter

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

This final release of Capriccios Bruckner Symphonies - The Complete Versions Edition includes his very first and last Symphony. In March 1861, Anton Bruckner completed his counterpoint studies with the renowned teacher Simon Sechter who had also taught Schubert. His graduation signaled the end of an extended compositional hiatus. Bruckner's F-Minor Symphony was conceived in the classical and early romantic tradition of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann. Bruckner's Ninth: his best (as some say) symphony, certainly his most daring and, thanks to the missing finale, his most mysterious. It is where Bruckner meets Mahler and, while working on it, his maker. He wanted to write a finale, of course, but too much remains missing. What is left, is a heavenly Adagio, which quietly fades away with references in the brass to the two preceding symphonies. Thus ends Bruckner's uncompleted life's work.

Maria Herz, nee Bing, was born in 1878 in Cologne. By the 1920s, she became to be recognized as a dynamic element of the contemporary music scene. New music's 'chief theoretician', Theodor W. Adorno, became interested in her works and their style, which was rooted in Late Romanticism and aimed at Modernism by way of Expressionism, New Objectivity, and Neo-Baroque, all while retaining it's playful, charming air. She was close to a veritable Who's-Who of contemporary musicians, including the Budapest String Quartett, Gregor Piatigorsky, Emanuel Feuermann, Hermann Abendroth, Otto Klemperer, and Hans Rosbaud. In her lifetime, only five songs (1910) and a transcription of Bach's Chaconne for string quartet (1927) were published, but all her 30 orchestral works, solo concertos, chamber music pieces, and art songs have survived in manuscripts. The Nazis seized her family's assets and forced Maria Herz to emigrate, first to England, and, after the war, to the United States where she lived with her children and died in 1950, in New York.