Strasfogel, I.: Franz Schreker Book / Scherzo No. 1 / Schrek

Includes work(s) by Claude Debussy, Max Reger, Arnold Schoenberg, Alexander Alyabyev. Ensemble: Linos Ensemble.

Choral Music (Russian) - DOUBENSKY, F. / RACHMANINOV, S. / L

Beside the famous master of Baroque Music – Johann Sebastian Bach – this 2CD set, Baroque Christmas Rarities includes nearly unknown but no less atmospheric treasures of baroque Christmas music by Bach’s talented sons, Telemann, Buxtehude, and others. Most of them were commissioned works for the feast and includes very different styles: from festive cantatas, moody motets to chamber musically solo songs. A “must” for all lovers of Baroque Music as well for listeners that would like to find some extraordinary music for the upcoming feast.

REVIEW:

Seasonal motets and cantatas by Christian Geist, Pal Esterhazy, Buxtehude, and Giuseppe Maria Po del Finale, with a tranch of contributions from Bach family members. Thoroughly engaging.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Classical Music

Capriccio Encore is a series of re-releases of the most famous recordings from Capriccio’s back catalogue, fully re-mastered and competitively priced. The legendary recordings of artists such as Sandor Végh, Ton Koopman, Sir Neville Marriner and the Vienna Boys’ Choir also contain repertoire highlights that have a particularly special appeal, from the baroque to the present day. This specific Encore release features Sergei Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2 and Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14, performed by the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, lead by Sir Neville Marriner.

Periodically someone decides the time is ripe for a re-appraisal of the music of the Ukrainian-born Polish composer Karol Szymanowski. Among his most persuasive advocates have been such eminent conductors as Pierre Boulez and Simon Rattle, both of whom have committed much Szymanowski to disc. But, for one reason or another, he remains a name known to many while his music remains largely unknown. Possibly the Etude in B flat minor for piano – one of the most deeply moving of all piano études, with its powerful echoes of Rachmaninov – will be familiar to pianists, but little else from his broad output finds its way into the consciousness of music lovers. This latest disc devoted to Szymanowski on Capriccio’s “Modern Times” series does all it can to keep Szymanowksi obscure, but the music succeeds where Capriccio fails, and I would recommend this most strongly to all of those for whom Szymanowski is merely a name that sounds like a Russian transliteration of Schumann or a spoof composer with a name derived from a cross-fertilization of Schumann and Tchaikovsky. These are not the best performances you will find, and the packaging is grim, but the music is wonderful and for those whose idea of hi-fidelity is listening to music through their computer speakers, the flat recorded sound will not unduly disturb the pleasure of an encounter with this gorgeous music.

The trouble with describing the music of an unfamiliar composer is that one reverts to comparisons with better-known ones – as if originality of voice is given only to those whose music has crossed the fickle threshold of popular taste.

With the Concert Overture which opens the disc, one can possibly be excused this, for if any music ever sounded like a Richard Strauss tone poem, this does. From its boisterous opening to its triumphal conclusion, it is a feast of Straussian gestures and ideas, a wonderful orchestral romp and a stirring musical journey. And this is what Szymanowski intended, for in 1904 when he wrote it, Richard Strauss was the dominant figure. If the booklet notes are to be believed, Szymanowski deliberately aped the style of Strauss “as a provocation to the, in his view, completely fossilized structures of Polish music”.

At this point we must break off to mention those booklet notes, tightly compressed into a distinctly unappealing booklet which seems designed to put off potential buyers. Christian Heindl’s German text is dense enough, striving to place Szymanowksi in some sort of context with Polish music at the start of the last century. But the English translation (claiming to be the work of one Ian Mansfield) is a disgrace. Seeming to have done little more than run the original German through a free online translator, and not even having made the effort to check the spelling afterwards, Mansfield comes up with such incoherent nonsense as; “he ranks as one of the many tone wolves and practically outsiders in music”, “the composer instrumented the cycle for chamber orchestra”, and “meaningful for the concert hall and fathoming it to the depths”.

Soprano Marisol Montalvo is, thankfully, infinitely more eloquent in the cycle of five songs, Slopiewnie, which bears the same opus number as Szymanowski’s great opera, King Roger but is otherwise unconnected. Exotic, sometimes harmonically brittle, sparsely orchestrated but highly effective, these are a world away from the lush world of Strauss’s orchestral songs and present a musical voice which is both distinctive and accomplished. There is nothing identifiably Polish about these settings of Polish texts by Julian Tuwim, but the booklet note suggests the musical idiom is derived from Gorals, an ethnic group which “has its area of distribution in the Polish Tatra and the Beskids, but also in parts of Slovakia”. It also observes some stylistic parallels with Stravinsky and Les Noces. Montalvo has a pure, shining vocal quality with an innately focused sense of pitch.

The major work on the disc is the Fourth Symphony, subtitled Sinfonia Concertante, but which is, to all intents and purposes, a fully-fledged piano concerto. Szymanowski wrote the work for himself to play (although he dedicated it to Artur Rubinstein) and called it a Symphony to disguise his shortcomings as a concerto soloist. Ewa Kupiec is the fleet-fingered soloist, delivering the almost Ravelian delicacy of the first movement with a refreshingly light touch supported by the kind of clear-textured orchestration which seems such a feature of Szymanowski. Even as the movement builds up to its great climax, the feeling of delicacy and suppleness Kupiec brings to the performance is never lost, and Karl-Heinz Steffens seems to have an instinctive feel for the balance which comes across even when the recording engineers have done little to assist. A gentle, fluttering second movement introduces all manner of magical orchestral effects, much in the manner of a Bartók night-music movement but built around Polish rather than Hungarian folk songs. And in the final movement it is the spirit of Polish dances which seems to dominate in music that sounds like Ravel and Bartók holding hands but is, in reality, uniquely the voice of Szymanowski – stunning orchestral writing, impeccably crafted moments of climax and repose and an exotic musical language which is utterly enthralling. Steffens maintains a wonderfully incisive rhythmic momentum which his German players throw themselves into with great gusto.

The Nocturne and Tarantella is an orchestration, made two years after Szymanowski’s death by Grzegorz Fitelberg, of a work originally written for violin and piano. It draws attention to Szymanowski’s fondness for the exotic, combining Spanish and Italian elements in a scintillating dance-like display, where only the final cadence seems indicative of a composer not quite of the very first rank, but with a voice all his own.

– MusicWeb International (Marc Rochester)

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. In terms of style, despite his unmistakable personal note it is not wrong to see his piano concertos in succession to the great Slavonic Romantic concerto tradition, such as it was continued after Tchaikovsky by his Russian compatriots Rachmaninov and Medtner. 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.

‘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

Music in the tempest of the times: If we seek to deal with Gerhard Frommel’s personality and music (a master pupil of Hans Pfitzner) in greater depth, as in the case of many other German composers of his generation, we cannot avoid going into the historical and political events and the underlying active and reactive behavior of the individual. Concepts like opportunism or passive obedience come readily to mind, but they fall short of the truth, if we were not direct contemporary witnesses. His position during the years 1933-45 becomes all the more salient as regards the works recorded here, both of which were written at that time. Many things sound familiar; Wagner, Bruckner and other elements from the past stand out trenchantly, ‘For me, the 1st Symphony is at the centre of my oeuvre.’ Frommel says. The score reached Wilhelm Furtwängler, who then scheduled its premiere with the Vienna Philharmonic for the autumn of 1942.

What name comes to mind when you are asked about the essence of the Brazilian music? I am sure that some of you will say Villa-Lobos; others will think of Jobim. In Brazil, classical and the popular music are not far apart. They are more like two cities on the same plain and the present disc travels between these two cities while visiting a few towns on the way. What will carry us along this road? Obviously, the wings of song, as Portuguese is the singing language par excellence. The disc contains a selection of Brazilian songs written over the span of fifty years.

Christiane Roncaglio has a beautiful voice. With its dark smoky notes it sounds more mezzo than soprano. There are sharp corners too and the singing is intense. For these reasons, the album is probably not for repetitive and relaxed “evening listening”, but energises and stimulates. The diction is very clear. The accompaniment is divided between guitar and piano, a solution that provides lightness and diversity.

Jobim’s “Big Four” (Corcovado, Desafinado, One Note Samba and The Girl from Ipanema) are all here and need no introduction. His other songs are also memorably melodic and infectiously swinging in his unique affable way. Roncaglio’s performance of Jobim’s standards is a long way from the classical Astrud Gilberto’s shyness and mystery; her singing is more open and glossy. I like how she colours the long notes so that they are never plain or even, which is important for tracks like Eu sei que eu vou te amar.

Villa-Lobos’ songs from Floresta de Amazonas are all very beautiful and melodic. Roncaglio’s performance of them is alluringly mystical, like the singing of sea sirens. Songs from Santoro’s cycle Canções de Amor are sensual and expressive, and all distinctly Puccinian, especially the gloomy and intense Amor que partiu.

There are tender lullabies like Henrique’s Tamba-Tajá and sad cinematic ballads like Miranda’s Retrato. Some numbers, like Minha Terra, resemble operetta. Others, like Uirapuru, are more cabaret-style. Several tracks glorify Brazil and everything Brazilian. Roncaglio shows good control, plays with her voice and enjoys the process, yet never turns it into vulgar “cabaret singing”.

The two accompanying musicians play with sense and sensibility. Sometimes extra-musical squeaks are noticeable when the guitarist moves his fingers along the strings.

Overall, this is a very fine album with solid performances of beautiful songs. It is full of the colourful, carefree spirit of Brazil.

– M usicWeb International (Oleg Ledeniov)

When Kent Nagano assumed the direction of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in autumn 2006, he had intended a new production of Richard Strauss’ Salome as one of the first premieres. He wanted to precede the challenging one-act opera after Oscar Wilde’s drama with a new music theatre work. He turned to Wolfgang Rihm. ‘I replied’, Rihm said in an interview with Die Zeit: ‘There’s only one thing: the final scene from Schlusschor by Botho Strauß. Nagano’s commission became the catalyst in transforming this desire into reality. This is the genesis of Das Gehege. A nocturnal scene for soprano and orchestra. Kent Nagano and Jean-Pascal Beintus (* 1966) met in the orchestra pit of the Opéra de Lyon in 1988. After considering the first orchestral manuscripts, the maestro, known for his openness and great erudition, encouraged the young man to expand his musical career. Several pictorial projects came to Nagano’s mind, which he entrusted to Beintus’ musical imagination: first, Wolf Tracks for recitator and orchestra (recorded with the speakers Bill Clinton and Michail Gorbachov), for which Beintus was awarded a Grammy in 2004, before in 2008 writing for the family concerts of the German Symphony Orchestra in Berlin a suite on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s omnipresent The Little Prince.

On this double disc set, musicians from the (Western) European Baroque tradition (and from a Christian background), are joined by musicians from Jewish and Muslim backgrounds. (Capriccio)

A festive concert of great voices, this Volkslied-Edition offers on 5 CDs the most famous and most beloved German folksongs, performed by well known singers like Hermann Prey, Peter Schreier, and famous choirs, especially boys choirs, such as the Dresden Kreuzchor, Thomanerchor Leipzig and the Regensburger Domspatzen. A well done edition for all friends of choir music offered for a verys special price!

Classical Music

Traditional choruses and excerpts of Christmas music from the Baroque era to the time of Saint-Saens. Performing groups include: Wiener Sängerknaben, Regensburger Domspatzen, Dresdner Kreuzchor, Thomanerchor Leipzig, Tölzer Knabenchor, Academy of London, Dresdner Philharmonie, Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum Leipzig, Martin Flämig, Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden, Roland Büchner, Peter Marschik.

Selections include:
Bach, J S:

Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier, BWV469

Brahms:

O Heiland, reiss die Himmel auf, Op. 74 No. 2

Grieg:

Ave Maris Stella

Grüber, F:

Stille Nacht

Handel:

Messiah: Hallelujah Chorus
Tochter Zion, freue dich

Mendelssohn:

Von Himmel hoch: Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her

Ave Maria, Op. 23 No. 2

Saint-Saens

Christmas Oratorio (Excerpt)

Mozart:

Laudate Dominum from Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, K339

Reger:

Mariä Wiegenlied, Op. 76 No. 52

Traditional:

Maria durch ein’ Dornwald ging
In Dulci Jubilo
Adeste fideles
Stille, stille, lasst uns lauschen
Es ist ein Ros'
O Jesulein suss, O Jesulein mild

REVIEW:

Performances, as you would expect with such esteemed choirs at work, are mostly excellent; recording ambiences and quality are quite variable, but generally fine. The spare booklet contains no notes, texts, or information about the original albums these selections no doubt came from; all we get is titles, performers, and track timings. Still, if you’re a Germanophile or favor a boychoir kind of Christmas, this pleasant collection should enrich your holidays.

– American Record Guide

Max Emanuel Cencic has become one of the best countertenors of his time. Cencic is a former member of the Vienna Boys’ Choir and has had a successful career, regularly performing at some of the world’s most famous opera houses as well as recording for Capriccio and other labels such as Virgin Classics.

Capriccio now presents Cencic’s 3 previous CDs of cantatas by Vivaldi, Scarlatti and Caldara on the label in new packaging and a bonus documentary DVD which includes interviews and video clips.

The 20th century compositions asssembled on this disc embody the reaction of the ensemble to the political misuse of music. The Unmilitarised Zones by HK Gruber are islands of peace in a chaotic sequence of the most varied march fragments that go from the Badenweiler March via Sousa's Washington Post march to the Hungarian march of Berlioz. (Capriccio)

Following the success of 100 Christmas Classics (Capriccio C7331) comes Christmas Meditation, featuring 100 choral and vocal works from across the centuries. The set encompasses sacred Renaissance treasures including Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Bach/Gounod’s Ave Maria, Handel’s Baroque masterpiece Messiah (‘He shall feed his flock’) and classic Christmas carols such as It Came Upon A Midnight Clear by Richard Storrs Willis and Franz Xaver Gruber’s Stille Nacht (‘Silent Night’). Featuring some of the most renowned choral institutions, Christmas Meditation offers listeners a classical Christmas to remember.

REVIEWS:

A rather sumptuous collection of seasonal choral works, instrumental pieces and carols. --BBC Music Magazine

After the success of the 5 CD box “100 Christmas classics” (Capriccio C7331), the new 5 CD box “Christmas Meditation” contains 100 choral and instrumental works from past centuries. It contains works from 43(!) composers, including excerpts from Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Bach/Gounod's Ave Maria, Handel's Baroque masterpiece Messiah, and traditional and classical carols such as "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by American composer Richard Storrs Willis, and Franz Xaver Gruber's "Silent Night”. With some of the most renowned choirs, “Christmas Meditation” offers you an unforgettable Christmas.

In addition to world-famous Christmas music, in this box you will also discover previously unknown but no less beautiful work by Bruch, Rheinberger, Carl Neuner, Wagenseil, Robert Fuchs, Johann Philipp Reichert or Johann von Herbeck. Cannot be missed!

--Stretto

The seductive, addictive potential of this music can be heard and felt straight away. His film music, an important pillar of his livelihood, embodies almost everything that characterizes Schnittke's music as a whole. It heralds a musical personality which, precisely because of its conscious use of tradition in the twentieth century, represents a solitary exception. Curious – not greedy for the old – he collected discarded or worn-out remains of music history, cleaned and polished them, and placed them in strikingly new contexts. The principle of drawing from and making use of the past was not well received in the strongholds of the avant-garde, but was all the more enthusiastically embraced by film viewers and concertgoers. 25 years ago Schnittke had encouraged the young conductor, arranger, and film music expert Frank Strobel to condense the music of his film scores into suites and to republish them for concert use. Since then, Strobel has arranged around a third of Schnittke’s over 60 pieces of film music and successively recorded them with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.

‘I find myself increasingly occupied with matters of the human soul, its sublimation and spiritual abyss. Certainly my opera The Ocean Betrayed betrays this preoccupation. This music has been to Hades and back, with Monteverdi and myself.’ Hans-Werner Henze. Henze originated this storyline by following his fascination that he had of the work of the enfant terrible of post-war Japanese literature, Yukio Mishima (1925 - 1970), whose novel “Gogo no Eiko” forms the basis of the opera. This novel, like almost all of the author's creations, sketches a suffocating scenario of hopelessness in which the struggle for normality is doomed to failure. Henzes free-tonal score ties in with musically-dramatic principles of composition following the tradition of Richard Strauss. In symphonic interludes, the luxurious orchestra gives the eponymous hero a voice: the angry “betrayed sea.”

REVIEW:

Despite his stylistic adventurousness and position as a political outsider, Henze was the last composer in the German operatic tradition (think of it as Late, Late German Romanticism), and his score beautifully exploits the lush forces of the Vienna Philharmonic. Since, as he noted, “Mishima’s novel is teeming with references to all things French”, he adopts a French musical style, mixed with Japanese elements of rhythm and exotic percussion. The vocal lines are compelling, and conductor Simone Young reveals both the work’s dense beauty and the sustained, gut-wrenching brutality of the final scenes.

Josh Lovell’s sweetly smooth lyric tenor establishes a chilling contrast between Noboru’s youth and his malevolent nature and explains Ryuji’s easy affinity with the boy. Erik Van Heyningen’s powerful bass voice is a bit mature for the gang leader (“Number One”), but Henze’s writing demands it, and his vocal authority reflects his power over the others. Vera-Lotte Boecker is a magnificent singing actress; her lean and supple sound is perfect for the sensuous Fusako, and she glides effortlessly through the coloratura of the 13th scene, as Fusako imagines a happy future for the newly formed family. Bo Skovhus shouts a bit on fortes, but his singing in the gentler sections is appropriately ingratiating.

-- American Record Guide

"A choice Robert Schumann song recital featuring baritone Paul Armin Edelmann and pianist Charles Spencer.
Mr. Edelmann maintains an international operatic and recital stage presence, winning critical acclaim worldwide.
Charles Spencer, a much sought-after accompanist, is Professor of Lied Interpretation for singers and pianists at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt.
""Paul Armin Edelmann is the perfect song-poet...a wonderfully balanced and seamless voice... - FonoForum"

Classical Music

Classical Music

Anne Schwanewilms ranks among the greatest Strauss and Wagner interpreters today, but for her new album she deliberately chose songs by Schumann and Wolf. In Anne’s words, “The tranquility that can emerge with Schumann and Wolf is incredibly intense and fascinating for me.”