Classical Music

Import Hybrid-SACD pressing.

Hector Berlioz was a great admirer of German music, relishing in particular the intellectual depth he found in Beethoven’s symphonies. + Carl Maria von Weber provided Berlioz with an equal level of inspiration, his orchestration of von Weber’s Aufforderung zum Tanz directly expressing his reverence of the German composer. + Combining Beethoven’s wealth of ideas with the innovative and “characteristic” sound effects he encountered in von Weber’s opera Der Freischütz, Berlioz created in the Symphonie Fantastique an eminently personal work clearly departing from his musical role models.

Since 2011 Marcus Bosch has been General Music Director of the Nuremberg State Theater. He is attracting new audiences with a range of innovative concert formats. He is continuing the orchestra's series of CD releases with a complete recording of the symphonies of Antonín Dvorák. The symphonies no. 3 and no. 7, which are not so famous and in their substance very contrary, start the series. Bosch elaborates the sensitive differences in both symphonies and he conveys the fascinating transparence once again.

This hybrid SACD of Coviello is, if you will, something for the brave, for it holds masses of sound at the ready, which can be a challenge for some stereo systems (and neighbors). + For the first time all four organs of Freiburg Minster are simultaneously operated by one player. Organist Gerhard Gnann has chosen original Bach works and romantic adaptations of his music for this program. + The acoustic conditions for this were also a big challenge, but sound engineer and label co-owner Moritz Bergfeld fully mastered the challenge. + The result is far more than just an audiophile experience.

For the setting of the contemplative but highly emotional text of the medieval sequence Stabat mater Boccherini chose an intimate chamber music instrumentation of soprano and string quintet (in his preferred instrumentation with two violins, viola and two cellos). The five string instruments are not only accompaniment, but together with the singing voice they transform into one instrument section, so that one can speak of a sextet for singing voice and string quintet. With the angelic singing of Núria Rial, the work becomes a real treat for lovers of beautiful voices and chamber music lovers alike. Nuria Rial studied voice and piano in her native Catalonia and was a member of Kurt Widmer's class at the Basel Academy of Music. In 2003, she was awarded the "Preis der Helvetia Patria Jeunesse Stiftung" by the Pro Europa - for her exceptional achievements as a singer. She has performed at all the leading music festivals in Europe and collaborates with such conductors as Ivan Fischer, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Paul Goodwin, Trevor Pinnock, and Teodor Currentzis as well as notable ensembles, including Concerto Köln, The English Concert, Kammerorchester Basel, Collegium 1704, Il Giardino Armonico, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Elbipolis Barockorchester, Le Cetra Basel and L’Arpeggiata, Festival Lucerne Strings.

For a long time Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello worked as Kepellmeister at the Wurttemberg court in Stuttgart. His concerti a tre are actually triosonates for two violins and basso continuo. In these charming chamber music works Brescianello finds his own style, which is characterized by sonorous slow phrases and joy in virtuosity. The ensemble Der musikalische Garten, which has always been highly praised for its musical discoveries, recorded the first six of the 12 concerti a tre. The musicians of the ensemble Der musikalische Garten are current and graduated students of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and have met in Basel. The ensemble engages intensively in the German music of the seventeenth century, especially in the scordatura repertoire, of which most important representatives are H. I. F. Biber, Joh. H. Schmelzer or J. Pachelbel. However, the ensemble is always searching for new, rarely or never performed scordatura repertoire. The ensemble was selected as “Promising Ensemble 2011” by the IYAP Antwerpen and won second prize and audience’s prize of the international competition “Van Wassenaer” in Amsterdam 2011.

The Silk Road connecting China with Europe since ancient times has always been a medium of cultural exchange between East and West – reflected here in a trio of works - Alexander Borodin’s well-known “In The Steppes of Central Asia”, Ferruccio Busoni’s “Turandot Suite” and the 1955 orchestral suite “Silk Road” by the Japanese composer Ikuma Dan (1924-2001). A prolific scorer of films, Dan left behind a considerable body of work besides, including symphonies, operas and chamber music. For this Coviello CD, the Swiss ‘argovia philharmonic’ is led by its current Music Director Douglas Bostock.

The viola da gamba is generally regarded as a chamber music instrument, which rarely seeks the accompaniment of an orchestra, but apparently this was more common than one assumes nowadays. The discovery of four hitherto unknown gamba concerts in the music library of the Eleonore von Munster (1734-1794) at Ledenburg Castle is a special stroke of luck, for one of the four works is by Carl Friedrich Abel, whose concerts have so far been considered lost. On this latest COVIELLO release Thomas Fritzsch and the Merseburger Hofmusik play gamba concerts of Abel, J.C. Bach, Raetzel and others. Thomas Fritzsch was born in Zwickau and grew up in the midst of a lively tradition of Saxon church and house music. After studying cello and viola da gamba at the Leipziger Musikhochschule, he began freelance activity as a specialist for the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, he is one of the most revered gambists in the world.

Jacques Duphly (1715-1789) mixed elements of traditional French Suite with influences of "modern" Italian style up to echoes of the early classical sonata in his music. The interpretations of Medea Bindewald, accompanied by Nicolette Moonen on the violin, bring unexpected vocal qualities to the warm sounding harpsichord.

Classical Music

Classical Music

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Classical Music

Classical Music

The Salzburg Chamber Soloists were formed by Lavard Skou-Larsen in 1991 with the goal of performing chamber music with the freedom and expression of soloists. Vivaldi's Four Seasons are instantly recognizable even to those with a low affinity for classical music, and they are performed here by the Salzburg Chamber Soloists with intensity and passion. Piazzola's Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas provide the perfect foil to Vivaldi's seminal work, in the form of four sensual tangos.

Classical Music

Already two years ago the ensemble Der musikalische Garten brought the mastery of Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello (1690-1758), the former Kapellmeister at the W�rttemberg court, back to the ears. In his Concerti a tre he artistically and imaginatively demonstrates the possibilities of the friendly competition between the two fundamentally equal violin parts. The works represent a remarkable enrichment of the repertoire in the field of the late baroque trio sonata. In the eagerly awaited second series, the performers delight with beautiful slow movements and irrepressible virtuoso joy of playing. All four musicians of the ensemble Der musikalische Garten studied historical performance at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and they keep looking for new musical paths and unknown musical gems, for the hidden trails and extraordinary flowers of the musical garden.

Nicolaus A. Huber, a German composer, has been inspired in his musical experiments by Josef Anton Riedl, Dieter Schnebel, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and most importantly by Luigi Nono. Nono encouraged Huber to find more ways of eradication tonality by studying psychology. In doing so, Huber is able to better understand human responses. This album from Coviello is a clearly ambitious musical experiment recorded by ensemble reflexion K, under the direction of Gerald Eckert. Ensemble reflexion K has previously recorded an album of works by Gerald Eckert.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Import Hybrid-SACD pressing.

Import Hybrid-SACD pressing.

The innovative changes that characterize musical instrument making at the beginning of the 19th century reflect the increasing technical demands of composers as well as the needs of musicians striving for perfection and the audiences’ insatiable thirst for novelty. The harpsichord, which had definitely fallen out of favor because of its limited musical expression, was now superseded by the pianoforte. The range of the new instrument was expanded and in order to enhance its expressive possibilities, pedals were added to modify its tone color and timbre. Another instrument also underwent a rapid evolution: the transverse flute. The famous flute-maker Johann Georg Tromlitz developed a new key system that allowed flute players to perform with greater velocity, produce a pleasant, even tone and optimize intonation across the full range of the instrument. As to the cello, innovation affected not so much its construction as its role: the instrument gradually freed itself from playing a supporting role to the piano and became an equal partner in the ensemble, engaging in dialogue with the other instruments in its own right. And so this combination of instruments – flute, cello and piano – was now ready to establish itself in the chamber music genre. This release explores those first chamber works, and includes pieces by Carl-Maria von Weber, Friedrich Kuhlau, and Carl Czerny.

• Karl-Heinz Steffens conducts the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in the complete symphonies of Robert Schumann. Mr. Steffens, until 2007 Principal Clarinetist of the Berlin Philharmonic, has been Music Director of the Rheinland-Pfalz Staatsphilharmonie since the 2009/10 concert season. Complete on 2 SACD's.