Following Anthony Goldstone's surveys of rare and previously unrecorded music by Schubert and Beethoven (some original, some in arrangements) and the groundbreaking disc of Mozart piano duo works made with Caroline Clemmow (25046) this is perhaps his most ambitious project to date, including two completely new sonatas, realized from sketches left by Mozart, and several other newly-completed pieces. Approved with enthusiasm by Mozart scholars, including Julian Rushton who wrote the booklet notes, these wonderful new completions will soon be part of the standard Mozart repertoire. ALL FIRST RECORDINGS.

Naïve is particularly proud to release the first recording from the orchestra recently founded by conductor Mathieu Herzog: Ensemble Appassionato. A favorite composer for the orchestra, who other than Mozart to bear witness to the recording debut from this ensemble? An ensemble born under the most auspicious circumstances, full of members from France’s major string quartets. The last three symphonies, a triptych as monumental as it is mysterious - we know almost nothing about the circumstances surrounding their composition - are probably the works that best symbolize the projects thus far of Mathieu Herzog and the Ensemble Appassionato. Their fresh vision, modern and chamber-like, plus a multitude of eclectic repertoire. A vision galvanized by the desire to share music with everyone. Listening to this recording nourished with as much passion and ambition as respect and humility, a more human and personified Mozart appears before us, more luminous than ever. Clear timbres, instrumental cohesion, balance, well-rounded characters, full-bodied tempi ... Mathieu Herzog demonstrates here a vision and an inherent know-how, placing him immediately in the pantheon of great conductors.

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REVIEW:

At root, these are modern-instrument performances that digest the historical discoveries of our time and offer a full-bodied chamber presentation. These three performances are, in their own ways, individual, minutely considered and thus, perhaps inevitably, not to every taste. The ensemble sound, however, is one of the glories of this set. As chamber players and therefore soloists in their own rights, the contribution of each player is palpable.

– Gramophone

Fleur de Son’s tribute and to Mozart continues with this second volume of his works for violin and piano. Long affiliated colleague and friend Jacques passionately pursued this Mozart project with Christina Petrowska Quilico right to the very end, with a performance at the Chautauqua Festival on July 11, 2015. At his suggestion, they sight-read all the Mozart Sonatas. It was so much fun that soon some late sonatas appeared on a concert. He then insisted that all of them be performed in one day. As Petrowska Quilico recalls when she asked why, his response was that of Sir Edmund Hillary on climbing Mount Everest: “Because it is there!” Jacques observed: “It’s fun to see in one day the evolution of the form in Mozart’s head. He started very young… and the last sonatas were written three years before he died.” That remark led to the accomplishment of actually performing all of the sonatas in a marathon concert. Out of that experience this recording project emerged. The marathon concert lasted seven and a half hours, with three very short breaks. The artists were so energized that they just had to duplicate the excitement of the live performances by recording the entire series.

DER SCHAUSPIELDIREKTOR

Mozart, W.A.: Serenades Nos. 6, 9 / Flute Concerto No. 1

Classical Music

Mozart: Rare Chorale Works - The world has enjoyed the genius of Mozart through his symphonies, operas, chamber and piano music. In addition, his Requiem, left incomplete at his death, remains one of the most beloved of sacred choral works. Gloriae Dei Cantores presents a rare look at a side of Mozart that is not so well known: his contribution to music for the Church. Included in this recording are two rarely heard major works of great beauty and invention: Davide Penitente K. 469 and the Litaniae de venerabili altaris Sacramento K. 243. Also included are a further litany, several motets, and two of the famous church sonatas for small orchestra and organ, giving a rounded picture of Mozart, the sacred musician.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Written in 1782, Mozart's Mass in C minor - although incomplete – ranks as one of the outstanding Mass settings in European music history. The very recent reconstruction/completion of the Mass by Clemens Kemme in the spring of 2018 confines itself to the original sources, avoiding any arbitrary additions. The work was recorded in this critically acclaimed version for the Bayerischer Rundfunk during the summer of 2018, and conducted by Howard Arman. This album is thus the first recording of the definitive version of this new and intelligently edited reconstruction of Mozart's Mass in C minor. An introduction to the work is also included, enabling this masterpiece to be approached from new perspectives. In Vienna in the summer of 1782, Mozart started writing a new Mass despite having apparently received no commission to do so. On August 4, 1782 he married Constanze Mozart, and from his correspondence it appears that he had made himself a promise to “have a newly-composed mass performed in Salzburg if he brought her there as his wife.” The work may have been performed on October 26, 1783 in St. Peter's Church in Salzburg, with Constanze as the soprano soloist; concrete evidence of such a performance is however lacking. Nevertheless, the Mass can probably be seen as a kind of votive offering for Constanze. The fact that the work was not completed may be due to the church music reforms implemented by the Emperor Joseph II, who preferred sacred music to be performed on a smaller scale. In 1785, Mozart eventually reworked the “Kyrie" and "Gloria" from the mass for his cantata Davide penitente.

What was Mozart really like? Was he "a flawless and infinitely good man," as his admirer Tchaikovsky believed? Or was he, as Goethe secretly feared, a man "in the grip of the demonic spirit of his genius"? This audio biography lays no claim to solving the riddle of Mozart either, but it does bring the composer to life - in his thoughts and feelings, his everyday life and his era, as embodied by the Viennese actor Florian Teichtmeister, and strictly according to original source material. The narrator is Udo Wachtveitl, while the author is J�rg Handstein, who has already retraced the lives of Mahler, Wagner and Verdi in the form of audio-biographies for the BR-KLASSIK Wissen series. The audio biography is enhanced by the two Piano Concertos No. 18 and No. 23, played by Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim, accompanied by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

Elisabeth Schilz Grummer was a German soprano. She has been described as "a singer blessed with elegant musicality, warm-hearted sincerity, and a voice of exceptional beauty" (Gregory Berg, Journal of Singing). BR Klassik presents this historical recording from the years 1956, 1960 and 1962.