On his recently released Offenbach album featuring some of this composer’s unknown overtures, “Howard Griffiths is able to generate sparkling moments, dramatic buildups of suspense, highly expressive lyrical designs, and frequently suddenly occurring shifts of mood with absolutely outstanding success” (klassik-heute. com). And the latest Offenbach interpretation by Griffiths also does perfect justice to this composer’s highly effectively instrumented and melodically very appealing music while transmitting infectious zest for life. Orphee aux Enfers was Offenbach’s first international success and perhaps his most performed opera throughout the world – a landmark establishing a new genre known as the “Offenbachiade” and standing for societal satire in the form of music theater. The present album offers the essence of the orchestral numbers and ballet inserts composed for the version of Orpheus in the Underworld from 1874. The rediscovery of the magnificent ballet L’Atlantide or Le Royaume de Neptune (The Realm of Neptune) and its recording premiere on this album qualify as nothing short of sensational. Found under incredible circumstances by Jean-Christophe Keck in an old storage box, this music from the recently published volume of Keck’s Offenbach edition for Boosey & Hawkes / Bote & Bock accomplishes a very important task ranking first on the list of every composer’s desiderata by making available score material in its uncorrupted form. These gems are finely orchestrated and filled with magical melodies!

CPO’s unique anthology of Baroque flute concertos contains not only the recording label’s sensational collections featuring virtuoso recorder concertos of the German, Italian, and English Baroque but also the complete solo recorder concertos of Georg Philipp Telemann, Alessandro Scarlatti, and Antonio Vivaldi. Telemann’s two so very different Concertos in F major and C major, for example, number among the most outstanding Baroque compositions of all for the recorder in a concerto role. Michael Schneider currently has no real rivals- worldwide- on his instrument. In his hands the recorder loses what so often limits its expressive capacity and gains a voice articulating all the musical facets. The complete eighteenth-century repertoire of recorder concertos, or most of it, is now available in performances by Schneider. Listening pleasure and astonishment are guaranteed for all!

Henri Mulet was born in the immediate vicinity of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica in 1878 and studied organ with Charles-Marie Widor and Louis Vierne at the Paris Conservatory. Vierne ranked his student with the “most brilliant of musical personalities” and described him as “an outstanding virtuoso and a very fine improviser.” From 1923 to 1931 Mulet was a professor at the Schola Cantorum in Paris; Camille-Saint-Saëns was one of his colleagues, and Gabriel Fauré merits mention as one of his first students. Mulet’s oeuvre focused first and foremost on the organ, and the Esquisses byzantines composed from 1914 to 1919 and published in 1920 has continued to be his most frequently performed collection of pieces. While the rhythms and meters in most of his pieces – the “quadrature of the compositional structure” castigated by Richard Wagner – were rather conventional, the harmonies negotiating between Debussy, Wagner, and Vierne are very appealing.

Following the successful albums Hymnus and Magnificat with music by Orlando di Lasso the Singphoniker are now concluding their little Lasso cycle with a recording of his complete Penitential Psalms. It was around 1559 that the Bavarian Duke Albrecht V commissioned a manuscript in which the textual, pictorial, and musical dimensions were to be combined. Orlando di Lasso was assigned the task of setting the seven Penitential Psalms, a group of texts regarded as a unit since ancient times, and rounded off this work with praise of God in the form of a motet on Psalms 148 and 150. Lasso set the texts verse by verse, in this way drawing on an old liturgical model for Psalm settings. This method means that relatively short textual units produce a self-contained musical whole with component parts of rather limited extent; the musical form, the structure of the composition of an entire psalm, is developed from the design of the text. Just how very much the composer was thinking of the traditional manner of singing is shown in particular by the sixth Penitential Psalm, in which he bases his setting on the monophonic liturgical singing of psalms in the Lydian mode and uses it as a cantus firmus. It is certainly no coincidence that in the nineteenth century the first significant edition of Lasso’s music was dedicated to the Penitential Psalms: Siegfried Wilhelm Dehn (who, by the way, taught Clara Schumann and Mikhail Glinka) published it in 1838. This is finely crafted and highly impressive music – and again and again the Singphoniker amaze us with their sonorous renderings of it.

Following the release of Franz Reizenstein's Cello Concerto, it is now our pleasure to present to you his Piano Concerto No. 2. Like Berthold Goldschmidt, Reizenstein fled from Berlin to England in 1934, before the immigration laws had been tightened. Generally speaking, Hindemith's influence dominates in Reizenstein, though his effusive energy producing highly spirited and less sober results clearly distinguishes him from British and American composers like Rawsthorne and Berkeley. Reizenstein himself performed the solo part at the premiere of his Piano Concerto by the BBC Orchestra under Rudolf Schwarz in 1961. What stands out in this concerto is it's exuberant virtuosity, which produces brilliant interplay between the soloist and the orchestra. Reizenstein's Serenade in F numbers among the works adhering more closely to the "New Objectivity" emanating from Germany than to colorful impressionism. The last work heard here is the Cyrano de Bergerac concert overture - a powerful, energetic work and the symphonic portrait of an extremely popular stage figure working with a surprisingly modest orchestral ensemble. Here the composer in no way overlooks Cyrano's more romantic moments.

The composition of magnificent symphonies was not exactly the domain of Italian composers of the nineteenth century. However, this became the calling of Giovanni Sgambati, a Liszt pupil very much qualifying as the most important composer of symphonic music in Italy during his century. He contributed more to the renaissance of Italian instrumental music than any other composer, paving the way for its new popularity during the second half of the nineteenth century. Liszt described Sgambati as an “extraordinary and genuine artist,” Richard Wagner recommended his works, and European heads of state decorated him with medals. Although the dates of this Rome native lay rather precisely between those of Verdi and Puccini, he did not compose a single opera and as a composer endeavored to develop a style that would blend the cantability of his fatherland into the structural landscapes of the German romanticists. The harmonic language of his symphonies is tonal but also nuanced with many chromatic means and dissonances. His second symphony was rediscovered only a few years ago and now is celebrating its world recording premiere on cpo.

The first recording in our cpo SYMPHONIC JAZZ SERIES with the WDR Radio Orchestra of Cologne is entitled American Connection. Concertos for jazz clarinet by Jorge Calandrelli, Daniel Freiberg, and Jeff Beal are heard in performances with the world-famous clarinetist Andy Miles. Andy Miles is one of the youngest representatives of a guild whose members received posts as solo clarinetists in German orchestras (in his case with the Hamburg Philharmonic). Later he made his way to Cologne as the principal clarinetist of the WDR Radio Orchestra. Thanks to his "wild past" as a saxophonist in rock bands, a tin whistler in folk bands, and a clarinetist in jazz bands, Miles is able to exercise his activity in many musical fields. He numbers among the few genuine crossover musicians who succeed in mediating between classical and jazz music because they feel at home in both of them. The press has called him »the Marco Polo of the Clarinet.« It should also be mentioned that the famous Alan Silverman was in charge of an additional mastering of our recording in the United States. Alan has worked for artists like Norah Jones, Chaka Khan, The Rings, Dolly Parton, and Keith Richards and received more than fifty Grammy Awards. His Art! Mastering, one of the largest and best-equipped mastering studios in New York City, offers first-class analogue and digital outboard equipment and an excellent monitoring system.

In September 2015 the Salzburger Hofmusik under Wolfgang Brunner presented a semi-scenic performance of the “Salzburg Haydn’s” Singspiel MH 118 during the Salzburg Haydn Week and in cooperation with the Michael Haydn Society and the Mozarteum University of Salzburg. More than two centuries had passed since its premiere in Salzburg, and Die Wahrheit der Natur (The Truth of Nature) is now also finally available on this album. Salzburg’s rich theatrical tradition was once inseparably linked to the Benedictine University. The final comedies presented by students at the university at the end of the academic year along with the participation of members of the court ensemble were in particular very popular and open to all local residents. As the music for this delightful comic and didactic poem penned by the Benedictine priest Florian Reichssiegel demonstrates, Michael Haydn also made original contributions to this genre. Reason, in the guise of Mentor, seeks true art with assistance from the three Graces, the daughters of Nature. During their quest for knowledge the four again and again meet curious types like the vain master of song Vollstreich, the braggart painter Wurmstich, and the ill-mannered schoolmaster Bockstolz and his wife Urschel. The plot includes scenes in which the quest for art is portrayed not only as a series of lessons but also as an entertaining adventure.

ROSETTI Violin Concertos: in D (C6/III:9); in d (C9/III:5). Symphonies: in G (A39/1:16); in B? (A45/1:14) ? Johannes Moesus, cond; Anton Steck (vn); Kurpfälzisches CO ? cpo 777 028 (76:08)


Francesco Antonio Rosetti (c. 1750?1792) was born Anton Rössler. He was but one of numerous exceptional musicians and composers whose homeland was Bohemia, a region that produced more than its fair share of talent (including Vanhal, Stamic, and Jirovec) in the 18th century. While in his twenties, Rössler turned his back upon the clergy, embraced music, and chose the Italian spelling of his name.


After obtaining a post at the court of Oettingen-Wallerstein, Rosetti?s reputation as a composer began to spread far afield. In his early thirties, Rosetti, in Paris, writes that most of the symphonies performed in the French capital were either his or those of Haydn. And it was Haydn who suggested that Rosetti?s symphonies be included in the London concerts managed by Johann Peter Salomon. Rosetti?s catalog, while not as extensive as that of Haydn or Mozart, contains over 400 items (symphonies, concertos, chamber music, and vocal works), and more than half of these were published during the composer?s lifetime. This serves to strengthen a 1784 comment by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart in Ideen zu einer Ästhetik der Tonkunst that Rosetti ?was one of the most beloved composers of our time . . . something easier, fuller of light, and more honey-sweet than the pieces of this man can hardly be imagined.?


Indeed, Rosetti?s toolbox was well stocked; it included an exceptional grasp of technique, not to mention extraordinary contrapuntal skill. He was also inventive in his use of the orchestral winds and liberally employed chromaticism, which doubtless raised more than an isolated eyebrow in the audiences of the era. Rosetti was one of the darlings of Classicism and many critics and performers were not shy about mentioning Rosetti in the same phrase as Haydn and Mozart. However, musical tastes, call them fads if you like, can and do change with the rapidity of the speed and direction of the wind, and by the end of the 18th century, Rosetti?s music was old hat.


Rosetti?s extensive catalog?already noted?included 44 symphonies and more than 60 concertos, including half a dozen for violin. The recipient of these works is unknown, but speculation is that they were composed for Johann Anton Hutti, who joined the Oettingen-Wallerstein musical establishment not long after Rosetti. We know a bit about Hutti?s musical ability as his violin concertos?published in the 1780s by Breitkopf & Härtel?indicate he was a ?well versed and capable performer.? Both the violin concertos and symphonies on this recent arrival from cpo are exceptional in content. The former are on a high level of inspiration; they include all of the virtuoso?s tricks of the trade and augur well for Rosetti?s contemporary reputation. The latter?though less substantial than the symphonies of either Haydn or Mozart?offer taut but never truncated structure and memorable melodic material. It?s easy to see why the Parisian musical public and Haydn respected Rosetti?s abilities.


One of the finest Baroque violinists active today, Anton Steck has recorded with Reinhard Goebel?s Musica Antiqua Köln, Marc Minkowski?s Les Musiciens du Louvre, and in 1997 became the leader of the Handel Festival Orchestra in Hallé. Since period instruments are not the domain of the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester, Steck has put aside his gut-strung violin and opted for a Tilman Muthesius instrument copied from a 1741 Guarneri del Gesù.


Exhumed from the shadowy recesses of oblivion, Rosetti?s concertos receive passionate and well-deserved advocacy on this release. Steck?s execution is flawless, his tone secure, and his sense of musicianship unfailing from first note to last. Johannes Moesus and his band prove they are more than equal to the task, both in the concertos and the symphonies, exhibiting model musicianship and many other qualities indigenous to many of the orchestra?s better-known competitors. As for the sound, it?s up to the usual high standards that we have come to expect from Burkhard Schmilgun and his colleagues at cpo.


This is an exceptional release, holding extraordinary music that is presented with enviable and commanding feel for the repertoire. If you like Mozart and Haydn, there?s no doubt you?ll quickly warm to this beautifully recorded and well-executed release.


FANFARE: Michael Carter

Classical Music

Weinberger is clearly capable of playing with poetry and expressiveness, and many of the chorale preludes are genuinely gorgeous and even moving. The instruments employed bring us close to what Bach would have recognised as ‘his’, and for that we can value this set.

– MusicWeb International

Franz Danzi’s wind quintets tend to be the most well known of his works today and are still within the repertoire of many wind quintets. His rarely heard orchestral symphonies, which impressed Carl Maria von Weber, are also enjoyable works, enhanced by a richer palette of instrumental colors and graced with appealing Haydnesque melodies.

Edvin Kallstenius studied the natural sciences prior to receiving musical training from Stephan Krehl in Leipzig from 1904 to 1907. He was a music critic and from 1928 to 1946 served as the Swedish Radio music archivist in Stockholm. Additionally, he was a member of the executive board of the Swedish Society of Composers from 1933 to 1961 and of the Copyright Association from 1932 to 1957. Although as a composer he admired both the sublime and the lyrical Beethoven and was of the opinion that the old forms still had much to say, he filled these old forms with his unique harmonic designs and his own personal content. Throughout his life he held to a personal style that was rigorous but rich in innovations. He avoided rigid commitment to a monolithic tonal language by resorting to melodic intensity reinforced by harmonic expansions and interaction between introverted romanticism and gestures of greater vigor pointing toward expressionism. He was an uncompromising craftsman whose scores contain meticulously precise playing instructions. His music is not always easy to follow; he himself was held to be brusque and obstinate and was nicknamed »Gallsteinius« (Mr. Gallstone). His first symphony is one of the most remarkable symphonies composed in Sweden during the 1920s. After the symphony’s premiere Ture Rangström wrote, »Kallstenius is not a charming composer who invites one to applaud.« But the composer’s honesty, intentionality, and feeling did not escape him: »He does not play the coquette with his modernism.« In any case, in our Swedish discovery series his music always holds in store particularly interesting finds! - cpo

SYMPHONIC WORKS

Here, the polyphonic segments of the selected Magnificat compositions are based not on monophonic models but on pre-existent compositions. Accordingly, here we have to do with parody works in which a procedure widespread in Masses is applied to the Magnificat. Forty of Lasso’s 101 Magnificat compositions are to be assigned to this type. These imitation Magnificats in no way involve a simple re-textualization of pre-existent works. At the beginning Lasso mostly rather precisely draws on his particular model, but then he quickly departs from it. In the Magnificat on Rore’s Da le belle contrade the beginning corresponds to the original, but soon thereafter it departs from it the textual passage in Deo salutari« is completely freely set. This procedure thus is somewhat similar to collage technique: the possibilities range from the use of whole passages to the re-layering of blocks, paraphrasing, quotations of individual voices, free continuation, and so on. The result may safely be termed a new creation on the basis of a pre-existent work. The sound developed by the Singphoniker may be described as cathedral and no less directly immediate. The great fullness of sound displayed by this six-man vocal ensemble never fails to amaze the listener« (FonoForum 2/13).

Organ Works of the North German Baroque featuring Flamme’s interpretation of Boehm’s complete organ oeuvre on the Creutzburg organ in the Church of St. Cyriacus in Duderstadt. Bohm, born in Thuringia, was 24 years older than Bach and the organist at St. John’s Church in Luneburg when the young Bach was residing there. Even if documents for a pupil-teacher relationship are lacking, the presence of the highly talented young musician in this town cannot have escaped Bohm’s notice.

After a long break, cpo continues its important, yeoman’s Heinrich Schütz edition – repeatedly hailed as a benchmark series – with the Weser-Renaissance Bremen under Manfred Cordes. This latest release has the ensemble interpreting Schütz’s Symphoniae Sacrae I, the oldest printed collection of his works. To capture the essence of these works involving obbligato early baroque instruments that also qualify very much as solo music, the technical bases must be fully and truly exhausted by the composer and the interpreters. “… Interpretive vibrancy, presence…and joy in sound…” (FonoForum)

TELEMANN Funeral Music for Emperor Karl VII, Ich hoffete aufs Licht, TWV 4:13 • Michael Schneider, cond; Gabriele Hierdeis, Annegret Kleindopf (sop); Dmitry Egorov (ct); Ulrike Anderen (alt); Georg Poplutz, Benjamin Kirchner (ten); Nils Cooper, Stepha Schreckenberger (bs); La Stagione Frankfurt (period instruments) • CPO 777 603-2 (62:53 Text and Translation)


Here is another of what seems like a flurry of Georg Philipp Telemann’s occasional music composed for the city of Hamburg during his long tenure there. In 1745 the Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation, Karl VII, died in Vienna. Since Austria and Prussia were in the middle of both the Silesian War and the War of the Austrian Succession, Karl, the erstwhile non-Hapsburg Elector of Bavaria, had seemed a decent compromise, and even though Hamburg was technically not part of the empire, it was a protected city due to its strategic importance as a northern port not dominated by archenemy Prussia. Therefore the city father felt obligated to celebrate Imperial events, and Telemann was certainly willing to oblige. The text chosen was by the chief pastor of St. Catherine’s Church, Joachim Zimmermann, and Telemann wrote the work in his usual manner, that is, quickly and efficiently.


The work is written in oratorio fashion in two parts based upon a combination of quotations from the Bible, newly written poetry, and an appropriate selection of chorales, all part and parcel of the normal Hamburg sacred musical text. For the composer, this was not extraordinary, but the convoluted performance circumstances, wherein the work was mixed in with normal church services, required him to hire extra musicians and to make do with a small chorus musicus of only eight singers, who performed both solo and choral roles. The music itself is vintage Telemann on the cusp of Empfindsamkeit and with hints of the Baroque peeking through. Throughout the work are several “dicta,” commentaries and prayers, which Telemann often sets in homophonic fashion. The second, “Die Güte des Herrn,” has a stern set of dotted rhythms in the strings that make the sometimes strange harmonic modulations more apparent, while the chorale tunes are both normal four-part settings or, as in “Uns lässet zwar,” suddenly appear from within the recitative, here to a continuo line that begins to walk with a steady eighth-note pace. There are moments where Telemann’s use of the orchestra is masterly, such as the soft lyrical line for alto (with choral punctuations) “Lasst uns klagen” with the timpani beating a funereal comma even as the piece winds along in a major key. Telemann’s arias, such as “Die ihr auf unbekannte Wellen” with fits and starts, swirling strings, and clarion trumpets, or “Melde, gewognes Gerüchte,” which was reused in the oratorio Tage des Gerichts , are filled with the contrasting dynamics, rhythmic-motivic structures, and textures of the early Empfindsamkeit ; indeed, they could all have been written by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Telemann’s successor some two decades later. Even the recitatives weave in and out of accompagnato, making the text flow together. The final chorus, “O du Volk vom teutschen Samen,” is a verse and refrain, and although there is a chorale-like cantus firmus for one of the verses, the expected counterpoint is missing entirely, making the work more intimate.


Michael Schneider’s direction keeps the tempos moving along and the performance crisp. The eight-member soloist-chorus sounds at times much larger, but the voices are equally adept at their solo numbers. Nils Cooper’s bass, in particular, has that nice, light German sound that I find particularly attractive in Telemann’s (and Bach’s) music. The recording is, as always with cpo, well staged and the sound clear. This is clearly a work that anyone who fancies Telemann ought to have in their collection, for it shows that the composer was talented and able to bridge styles, occasions, and requirements with ease.


FANFARE: Bertil van Boer


La Stagione Frankfurt with Michael Schneider have a good history of inspiring, original and stimulating performances of music from the High/Late Baroque period - particularly that of Telemann. Here they are again with that composer's Trauermusic für Kaiser Karl VII [TVWV 4:13], 'Funeral music on the death of Emperor Charles VII'. The CD is part of CPO’s 'Musica sacra Hamburgensis 1600-1800' series; it's a rarity which has much to recommend it.

The emperor's death in 1745 was a significant event for (the citizens of) Hamburg … he had offered protection against a number of potential and actual enemies. Arrangements for formal and elaborate ceremonies marking his death were expedited quickly. So what we have on this CD is music originally written for a specific occasion in the middle of the north German eighteenth century. But its beauty, sobriety and delicate restraint can speak to us now. Especially when performers as experienced and insightful expose and embrace the idiom of Telemann so well.

The Hamburg City Council commissioned Telemann to write funeral music to texts by Joachim Johann Zimmermann (1710-1767), who had already proved himself with equivalents for the emperor's own coronation and his predecessor's funeral. What we have here is an amalgam of free poetry, Biblical material and hymns. It's divided into two parts of roughly equal length - one to be performed either side of a sermon. Its tone is as much about expressing concern for an uncertain future as a panegyric on the dear departed.

Somehow Telemann conveys the anguish relating to the threat which an uncertain future held as much as the grief at the emperor's death. He dos this not by writing music that's tentative or insipid. Instead this is achieved through using modulations of key and trills, specific voice and instrument combinations and musical phrasing that would perhaps indicate impatience in other contexts. Here they are somewhat unsettling … the soprano recitative, Du bleibst indessen [tr. 20], for instance. The contradiction between words ("you are constant") and melodic and textural wavering is an odd one; but it nevertheless successfully adds to the unpredictability of the situation.

Several aspects of the music stand out: the use of a rather prominent drum at key moments - recorded very forward; and some striking chromatic passages - in the Dictum for chorus, Meine Harfe ist [tr.13], for example. Instrumentation is interesting: muted, shady and reserved; not at all grand nor yet lugubrious. La Stagione Frankfurt respects and breathes full life into this highly nuanced set of atmospheres and allusive writing. They are aided by the variety of compositional forms - arias of types, chorales, recitatives and choral interpositions - which Telemann uses. Rarely do such contrasts really call for flourishes. When they do come - as in the short choral Dictum, Ach daß müssen [tr 25] - Schneider and his forces afford them all the more impact. Otherwise one is struck by the level, even-tempered, though no less vigorous and definite pace and 'attack' delivered by soloists, choir and instrumentalists.

The mildness and sense of having all expression, developmental lines and partnerships between text and music well within these musicians' grasp is matched by a quiet and purposeful energy throughout this hour long performance. There are single memorable moments - the final chorus, O Du Volk [tr. 29], for instance. But one is left with a more general feeling of music written for an occasion about which we cannot possibly have the strength of sentiment that contemporaries evidently did. Yet this touches us with its graceful observance of the complex public feelings and slightly suppressed hope for the future. This, by its very nature is more generalised, in music that's thoughtful, yet almost extrovert.

The booklet that comes with the CD contains much useful background information, the text in German and English, and details of the performers - though it is set in an almost impossibly small font size. The acoustic is clear and aids our understanding of the equally clean and unruffled articulation of the text by the eight soloists of La Stagione Frankfurt.

Each issue in the series, 'Musica sacra Hamburgensis 1600-1800', has been worth a close look. Ich hoffete aufs Licht is no exception. Schneider and his group make music with real style; yet never overstate their case. A rarely-heard work from Telemann's canon, of which there is no other recording available, this may not be ground-breaking Baroque at its unique best. Even so, it has a lot going for it.

-- Mark Sealey, MusicWeb International

Also available: Widor: Organ Symphonies Nos. 5, 6 & 8-10 / Schmitt

Jan van Gilse (1881-1944) was a Dutch conductor and composer who is most known for his five symphonies and his Dutch opera Thijl. For this new recording, his Piano Concerto “Drei Tranzskizzen” and Variations on a Saint-Nicolas Song have been chosen. Pianist Oliver Triendl has around 50 CD recordings to his name, and is an advocate of rarely performed repertoire from romantic and classical eras. He is joined here by the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Porcelijn.

Boris Papandopulo has to be regarded as the most important 20th c. Croatian composer. His imposing musical oeuvre of more than 450 works reveals a multifaceted style: folklore, neoclassicism and neo-baroque as well as impressionistic and expressionistic idioms flow into his music. Most importantly, however, his works are full of optimism, vibrancy and captivating resiliency. His Piano Concerto No. 2 and the Sinfonietta form the ideal introduction to this artist - with more yet to be heard!

Hermann Max and the Rheinische Kantorei set out on new paths toward the interpretation of Bach’s motet cosmos. The present CD also includes the Motets BWV Anh. 159 because Bach scholarship has come to regard these works, long ascribed to Johann Christian Bach, as compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach as they clearly bear his musical signature.

Concertgoers and critics alike rave about Silke Aichhorn’s entertainingly moderated concerts, and her goal is nothing less than the redefinition of the image of the harp! Active as a soloist and chamber musician, Aichhorn is one of the most sought-after and versatile harpists of her generation. Following her release featuring Eichner’s harp concertos, she now interprets for cpo three harp concertos by Johann Wilhelm Hertel, a composer regarded as one of the most important representatives of the empfindsamer Stil during the German preclassical period. His concerto oeuvre comprises some fifty solo concertos, and seventeen harpsichord concertos by him are known today. Three works – heard on this release – are assigned to the harp or harpsichord: "Concerto per la Harpa o il Cembalo concertato." The harp’s softer tone seems to make it the more suitable instrument for these charming works of brilliant virtuosity offering top-quality entertainment. Genuine enrichments of the quite compact harp repertoire are in store!

Founded in 1999 Écho du Danube’s festival and concerts programs often include rediscoveries based on intensive research and library work, an often exciting as well as laborious but important aspect of its musical existence and as the source of new inspiration. The ensemble formations vary from duo or trio to twenty persons or more based on the work requirements. On cpo the ensemble here offers a multifaceted program of spirited and fresh music from 16th-17th c. Neapolitan composers with lavish instrumental resources including the salterio and baroque percussion instruments.

In 1927 the Czech composer Jaromír Weinberger celebrated a sensational success with Schwanda the Bagpiper. Then, in 1938, one year after the premiere of Wallenstein in Vienna, Weinberger had to flee from the Nazis. He did not have much success in the United States, suffered while in exile, and took his own life in 1967. Wallenstein was completely forgotten, certainly also because of the great challenges posed by its performance. Cornelius Meister, the principal conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, writes, “Along with a large chorus and orchestra, there are numerous stage musicians who are divided into three groups, even so as to include table music with a harpsichord, a large military band, and trumpets. Weinberger has a different style featured in each of the six scenes, and the absolutely indescribable manifoldness extends from the operetta, atonality, and music of folk character to romantically ramified counterpoint, so that one almost has the impression that several composers are at work.” The opera is based on Friedrich Schiller’s trilogy of the same name on the subject of the downfall of the famous General Wallenstein during the Thirty Years’ War.