This third release marks the end of the recording of all the orchestral works written by Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz over the course of her not exactly long life. And once again, the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Lukasz Borowicz unfolds a representative range that extends from the phenomenal artist's early neoclassical works to her late phase, in which tonal innovations were at the forefront of her creative work, without losing the indispensable communication with the audience. As a world premiere recording, this album contains the composer's first symphony, while the early Polish Overture and the late In una parte, with which Grazyna Bacewicz created a final "sonoristic" marvel in 1967, two years before her death, can also be heard as concert hall rarities.

In his later stage works, Franz Lehar replaced the happy ending usual for the genre with a bittersweet conclusion filled with painful doubts. In contrast, the ending of the operetta Schon ist die Welt, premiered in 1930, is unsurpassed in it's clarity. Crown Prince Georg and Princess Elisabeth, who were arranged to be married by his father and her aunt respectively, do not want to go through with the arrangement, but end up together in a mountain hut without having met before. They fall in love and realise in the end that the world is quite beautiful after all. Lehar pulls out all the stops of his artistry in this piece. The modern dances and inextinguishable melodies are surprising and he again proves himself to be a master of skilful recycling by bringing the second act of a once dismal story to a new, brilliant life. A highlight of the 2023 Bad Ischl Lehar Festival!

After studying at the University of Leipzig and spending several years as an organist at the city's Nikolai Church, the Saxon musician Johann Rosenmuller had to abruptly leave his position around 1655 for reasons less than honorable. He eventually found his way to Venice, where he worked at St. Mark's Basilica and the renowned Ospedale della Pieta. Among the many musical "souvenirs" he later brought back from the South was a new church style, infused with a vibrant colorfulness previously unknown in the more austere musical traditions of the North. It's no wonder that worshippers felt as if they were hearing angelic choirs and left the sacred concerts with their faith renewed. This�musica coelestis�continues to capture pure hearts and inspire a better life, even 340 years after the great composer's death.

In 1722, Christoph Graupner missed being appointed as the new cantor of St Thomas' Church in Leipzig by a hair and not Johann Sebastian Bach. But Graupner's employer, the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, refused to let him go. He knew exactly what a talented court conductor he had obtained around ten years prior. He was skilful at composing operas, cantatas, symphonies, concertos, chamber music and piano works and was therefore worth every penny of his handsome salary. Graupner imaginatively filled even small sacred works with life, producing great expression in even the most modest instrumentation using subtle voice leading. This is what we hear in these works, which are performed just as "agilely, nimbly and often with joyful and declamatory vigour" (Klassik-Heute) as the first recording of these so-called "Dialogue Cantatas".

Choirs of spirits, wild passions, unshakeable loyalty, a gruesome act of murder, and the eternal triumph of love over death - these are the thoroughly familiar ingredients of the libretto that Ethel Smyth wrote (in German) for her one-act opera Der Wald (The Forest). The music, however, is anything but gruesome. Echoes of Robert Schumann, some striking reminiscences of Richard Wagner, and, particularly in the prologue, an unmistakable touch of Art Nouveau carry the drama. It had it's premiere at the Berlin Court Opera on 9 April 1902. It was subsequently staged at the Royal Opera House in London and presented with triumphant success at the Met in New York in March 1903. There were standing ovations and a veritable sea of flowers for the 44-year-old Englishwoman, who was the first woman to conquer the classical music temple on Broadway with her work. Talent can achieve anything.

Agnes Tyrrel, the daughter of a British English teacher in Brno and his Czech spouse, did not have much time to put her creative talent into musical practice. She suffered from heart problems from a young age and was therefore unable to pursue an international career as a pianist. Thus, she dedicated herself to composition early on, which undoubtedly was not a pastime but a true calling. We already sense this in the first bars of the Impromptu, with which this detailed portrait of the artist begins. Here, someone boldly takes the stage without asking permission. This first, extremely flattering impression is followed by the beautifully radiant choruses, as well as her fantasias and her Grand Sonata. Ms. Tyrrel picks up the weaving that Chopin and Schumann left behind, spinning her own unique, colorful fabric.

It is, quite simply, excellent, rich in the most beautiful 'affects', wonderfully transparent in sound, with a slight touch of swing in the fast movements that really allows this music to blossom, lively in the allegro, and wonderfully sentimental (but by no means saccharine) in the slow movements. This is what a reviewer wrote to us in his evaluation of this recording before it's release. Indeed, these concertos, recorded here for the first time on period instruments, possess a distinctive beauty that makes them "worth the fuss". In these virtuoso and weightless creations, their composer Joseph Umstatt (1711-1762) proves himself a connoisseur and master of the gallant style that took the entire music world by storm at the time - how else could he have spent the last decade of his life as court composer and kapellmeister to the Prince-Bishop of Bamberg?

When Jan van Gilse completed his studies in Cologne in 1902, he devoted himself to his prizewinning First Symphony along with a dramatic scene based on the prose poem Sulamith by Prince Erich von Sch�naich-Carolath, in which Satan realises that there is still love on earth despite his machinations. Judging by his impressive music, this must have been the innermost conviction of the composer, who never found it easy in his life to bridge the gap between his German education and the prevailing taste of his fellow countrymen. Combative and vulnerable, quick-tempered and desperate, he strove for a truth that few heard - a loner even when, in 1929, he wrote the poignant Kreis des Lebens (Circle of Life) after Rainer Maria Rilke, which had had to wait for a hundred years to receive an adequate performance and deserved recognition. Now it has arrived.

Music of Hanseatic Cities II Music from old Gdansk After the European Hanseatic Ensemble under the direction of Manfred Cordes made a stop in Stralsund in 2023, the journey now leads to Gdansk. And here too, the travelling company has unearthed numerous 17th century treasures of sacred music; organ pieces, choral movements, fascinating scenes such as the battle of Archangel Michael against his adversary... Once again an image of turbulent times appears before us, in which faith was to be strengthened, not least due to the spirit of music. However, what transpired behind the scenes is thought-provoking - the story of how good Christians and accomplished artists schemingly tried to force each other from their posts is the stuff of historical novels. The accompanying music can be found here.

In August 2023, the Innsbruck Early Music Festival featured a performance of a Baroque jewel, the three-act opera La fida ninfa (The faithful nymph), which Antonio Vivaldi premiered on 6 January 1732 in Verona and presented in Vienna on 5 January 1737. The storyline of the work is "typical". There is an evil pirate and a kidnapper, two brothers who were abducted separately, and two young girls and their father - who all tussle about on the isle of Naxos until a happy end is achieved. A great deal of confusion is a matter of course, but the awe-inspiring musical qualities of this work are far greater. The solos and ensemble pieces are of such variety and beauty that the reservations occasionally expressed about high baroque opera are completely unfounded. Here one literally longs for the repeat of the da capo arias with a silent 'sing it again'

A good year younger than Max Reger and five months older than Arnold Schonberg, Vienna's Julius Bittner (1874-1939) earned his livelihood as a lawyer for many years. Even before he gave up this profession in 1922, he was already one of the most frequently performed opera composers in Austria. In particular, his one-act opera Das hollisch Gold (Hellish Gold), which premiered in 1916, was highly acclaimed, and several of his instrumental works were also well received - even though (or perhaps because) he was anything but a "pioneer composer". His music was rooted in melody. He had broken free from Wagner's influence and became interested in folk music as exemplified by his two string quartets (1913 and 1917) with their "pastoral" flair. The former especially seems like the "Mahler of chamber music" in several passages, possibly a posthumous homage to his one-time supporter who guided Bittner's talent in the right direction.

In the long and eventful history of the Dresden court music, the figure of Kapellmeister Johann Christoph Schmidt undoubtedly marks a critical juncture. However, it seems that Augustus the Strong recognized Schmidt's talent early on, as his rise was steady and culminated in 1697 when he officially succeeded Schutz - a wise decision by the ruler, who Schmidt well served with musical creations that catered to the favored French taste. The Serene Highness likely experienced many unexpected delights: behind the facade of the conventional suite lies sophisticated rhythmic and metric artistry that enlivens the progression with displaced accents and whimsical turns, demanding an exceptional ensemble like the one Schmidt assembled in Dresden.

Today, his work "has no significant presence in recordings or concert life," states the boundless internet for those seeking information on the life and work of composer, pianist, and priest Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel (1750-1817). This perception, however, will have to change in the foreseeable future, for what has recently resurfaced from the legacy of this versatile Wurzburg-born musician awakens a curiosity that deepens with each encounter and is rewarded with ever-surprising creations. Now, alongside the three highly acclaimed chamber works released by cpo in November (555 499-2), two of his once widely performed symphonies join the spotlight, as well as one of the six piano concertos he composed - pieces that served both to showcase his classically refined, virtuosic eloquence and to bring universal delight in his presence.

At just ten years old, Helene Liebmann, nee Riese, made her public debut as a pianist in Berlin, marking the beginning of a remarkable career. Soon thereafter, her first compositions followed - understandably, works primarily dedicated to her own instrument. Shortly after her marriage in 1814, the young artist relocated to London with her husband, where she studied under Ferdinand Ries, a friend and student of Beethoven. During this time, her earliest chamber music works came into being, followed by additional compositions while in Britain, including the two duo sonatas and the first of two piano trios recorded here. These are all elegant and distinctive works, shifting from the spirit of late Classicism toward the Biedermeier era with a delicate Romantic touch, making them both accessible and enduringly appealing to listeners.

As a symphonist, the British composer, pianist, conductor, and pedagogue Philip Cipriani Hambly Potter works at the height of his era. He employs an opulent orchestra, drawing his colors from it's palette with a remarkably bold brushstroke: Where heavy brass just now steered through breaking waves, delicate flutes and tender strings sound forth the next moment; through dreamy scenes suddenly marches heavy footwork, and when it comes to bringing works to an applause-worthy conclusion, all participants must push to the limits of endurance... This attitude is as fascinating as it is entertaining-precisely the right middle ground between symphonic earnestness and nonchalant playfulness, a welcome facet of early Romantic literature, much like the spirited concert piece that tastefully separates the two symphonies.

Johann Abraham Schmikerer is only one of the vast number of shadowy figures from the annals of music whose life and activities are hardly known. Among other places, he is also known under the quite unflattering surname Schmierer, in no way deserved in light of his inventive compositions oriented towards the French tastes of the time. His Zodiaci musici of 1698, which is Schmikerer's only undisputed work, is now convincingly joined by the Musico-instrumentalische Gemuths-Lust of 1712 on this recording. It proves not only to be an equally enchanting collection as the "musical constellations", but is also in all likelihood the second part of the suite collection long thought lost, through which the name Schmikerer has been handed down to posterity.

When Johann Heinrich Rolle was born, Bach was 31 years old; when he died, Mozart, then in Vienna, was nearing his 30th birthday. In retrospect, it is tempting to count him among the countless "transitional" musicians who distanced themselves from the Baroque, embraced the fashionable galanteries of the time, and thus helped pave the way for the Classical era-as if they had foreseen what was to come. Rolle's career was indeed typical of his era: organist in Magdeburg, student of law, later active in Berlin-first as a legal advisor, then as a violinist and violist in the service of Frederick the Great-before returning to Magdeburg as organist, cantor, and municipal music director. In addition to a wealth of oratorios and cantatas, he produced a substantial body of instrumental music which, as this symphonic-concertante selection shows, places him firmly within the stylistic currents of his time: light-footed, elegant, spirited, and transparent-in short, so galant that the listener is delightfully engaged from start to finish.

Had Alberto Ginastera not been born just three years after the scandalous premiere of The Rite of Spring, he could easily have been considered one of the earliest followers of the "pagan" Stravinsky. Although wild rhythms of ancient dances, volcanic eruptions of complex sound layers, and martyrs of all kinds permeate his works, they are never random in form. His First String Quartet from 1948, for example, follows a traditional path, with some bows losing a bit of horsehair during performance - not unlike his Piano Quintet, premiered in Venice in 1963, which explores the limits of what is possible in seven extremely concise sections that the composer described as "neo-expressionistic". Maurice Ravel's unique String Quartet acts as an "impressionist" antipode and delicate counterpoint in this context.

Walter Kaufmann (1907-1984) was among the artists who lost their livelihoods with the founding of the 1000-year Reich and had to find his way in another place. The former pupil of Franz Schreker earned his keep at All India Radio in Bombay, where he was the music director for twelve years and also supplied India's aspiring film industry with soundtracks. He spent his later years as a teacher and composer in the USA. This recording marks Kaufmann's debut release, featuring four tightly structured, mostly playful works, and his vivacious 'Indian Symphony' and the 'Indian Miniatures' may now claim a worthy place in the ranks of renowned 'exotic' works. All works on this CD are first recordings!

Anyone who entitles an organ piece a Grand Pi�ce Symphonique should not be surprised if this very title one day is used as a benchmark to determine the legitimacy of this claimed attribute. This is exactly what the organist, composer, and pedagogue Zsigmond Szathm�ry did at the behest of his young colleague Christian Schmitt when he examined the orchestral possibilities of C�sar Franck's "great symphonic work". The result of this exploration gives us the world premiere of a concert piece in which the king of instruments and it's personified registers - i.e. The orchestra - form a captivating synthesis. Next to Franck's well-known tone poem Les �olides (The Daughters of Aeolus), the programme includes a rarely recorded work by Charles-Marie Widor - a Walpurgis Night that easily rivals the most famous witches' dances in the Romantic literature.

William Grant Still (1895-1978) from Little Rock was a pioneer in many ways. He was the first African American to successfully depart from the generally acceptable genres of jazz and pop. He lived to see a symphonic work and an opera of his performed, he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic and directed an important Southern orchestra. The respect that he acquired is reflected in two Guggenheim fellowships and five honorary doctorates, as well as a growing number of top-quality recordings of his works. This album is dedicated to the composer's impressive art songs. Two dozen works, including simple spirituals, expansive, declamatory and captivating scenes, touching miniatures and provocative challenges paint a portrait of a self-assured man asserting his musical authority.

Emanuel Moor (1863-1931) was the son of an opera singer and cantor from Kecskemet, Hungary. He studied in Budapest with Robert Volkmann and then in Vienna with Anton Bruckner and the pianist Anton Door. And there is no doubt that the city on the Danube left it's musical mark on his work, as the three piano trios presented here reveal. However, the point of departure for this trilogy does not start with his composition teachers, but with another famous counterpart, Johannes Brahms, who inspired not only Moor but also many of his younger compatriots. The chamber music of Bela Bartok and Erno Dohnanyi also led him down a path to produce a wide spiral of unique structures and modes of expression with the piano always to the fore. The composer's brilliant mastery of this instrument is combined with the two string instruments to create exciting constructions.

Albert Lortzing, who did not even reach the age of fifty, composed a towering number of stage works, several of which are regarded as German national treasures even today. Others have proven themselves to have stood the test of time thanks to excellent recordings. Although he became immortal with his Zar und Zimmermann and Undine, his purely orchestral output is quite thin. If it were not for the concert piece for horn and a similar work for trumpet, there would only be a number of overtures and pieces of ballet music available to a symphonic ensemble to produce a colourful portrait. The WDR Funkhausorchester has thus recorded a lively mixture of soloistic brilliance, entertaining dances and "dramatic" overtures whose existence was previously only known to die-hard Lortzing fans.

The Austrian composer Hans Gal expressed himself in practically all important areas of so-called "classical" music, and not least had great success with several of his stage works before he had to emigrate from Germany to England due to the political situation. He was obviously a very gifted creator of musical idylls, as this new recording from Finland shows. The Divertimento for Chamber Orchestra from the 1920s and the Serenade for Strings have a gracious charm that is only surpassed by the seductive, harmonically enchanting Concertino for Violin and Orchestra. The piece reveals nothing of the composer's personal circumstances or the growing threat looming over Europe - all that was good, true and beautiful was an inextinguishable source of life to Hans Gal.

This chamber music recording features two important anniversaries - the 150th anniversary of the death of French composer Louise Farrenc, who died on 15 September 1875 after a successful career in Paris and the 75th birthday of her Russian colleague Elena Firsowa, who was born on 21 March 1950 in Leningrad in the late-Stalinist Soviet Union. She had every reason to be glad at the "mercy of a late birth", since she was among the rebellious who bristled against the long-established standard-bearers very early on. Her piano quartet, now ten years old, is the centrepiece of this recording. Louise Farrenc once again demonstrates her impressive creative powers with her first piano quintet, and her compatriot Mel (anie) Bonis (1858-1937) deserves admiration for her first quartet, whose almost Art Nouveau-like melodies and sonorities are without question some of the most beautiful chamber music written after the turn of the century.