Johann Christian Schickhardt Six Sonatas op. 22 Johann Christian Schickhardt was three years older than Johann Sebastian Bach, survived him by more than a decade and travelled all over - in contrast to his contemporary. Whether the fact that his surviving creations are characterised by wonderful suppleness and beauty of sound was due to his love of travel would be worth investigating. Indeed, his works were not only highly regarded by his high-class dedicatees. Schickhardt mastered the international vocabulary of the baroque, whose elements he combined easily to create works to "entertain the spirit" that have survived for centuries. And thanks to the excellent Ensemble Epoca Barocca, the old prejudice that two recorders are "worse" than one loses it's very last fundament.

And shortly after Vol. 1, Vol. 2 is already released with further melody-saturated overtures by Paul Lincke, which are thus as good as complete on cpo. "What Strauss once was for Vienna - Lincke is for Berlin!". These verses by comedian Franz Heigl on Paul Lincke's 75th birthday celebrate the composer not only as the epitome of Berlin light music, but also as the founder of the associated operetta. Just as Strauss's Die Fledermaus was to Viennese operetta, his Frau Luna (soon to be released on cpo) is still considered a prime example of the Berlin variety of this genre, even though it did not take its present form until 30 years after its premiere.

In addition to the overture to Frau Luna, there are other entertaining pieces worth hearing - also from one-act operas - such as the overture to the operetta Das blaue Bild from his successful series at the Apollo Theater in 1906, a "Fantasy in One Act." Its very Parisian overture is characterized by a furious presto beginning, striking cornet and clarinet solos, and its sometimes lyrically rapturous, sometimes exuberantly lively dance-like gesture. True authentic Paul Lincke discoveries!

Finally: Beethoven's Piano Concertos 0 to 7 as interpreted by Michael Korstick are available on 4 albums, and once again he sets new interpretational standards. In the meantime, volumes have been filled with attempts to approach the question of an adequate interpretation of Beethoven's works, and with the indispensable elements of grandeur, drama and inwardness, the study of these works remains timelessly topical and will continue to open up new perspectives in the future. This complete recording of all the piano concertos arranges the six works that Beethoven gave an opus number in the appropriate order, leaving all the other pieces to follow on the fourth release. This project would not have been possible without the generous support of Dr. Ernst Denert. For his patronage, Michael Korstick was able to fulfil a long-cherished dream.

Franz Schubert's so-called "Arpeggione Sonata" owes its peculiar name to a long-forgotten string instrument that was usually referred to in Vienna in the 1820s as the "bowed guitar" or "guitar-violoncello". It was an invention of the Viennese instrument maker Georg Stauffer and was quite popular for about a decade. After that, it disappeared into the annals of history. If Schubert had not dedicated his famous sonata to the instrument, the arpeggione would have been long forgotten. But this way, the memory of the instrument was kept alive, albeit often in name only. On this album, we hear the intended instrument.

To complement the great "Arpeggione Sonata", soloist Lorenz Duftschmid has recorded five Schubert songs in instrumental versions (the poems in question are recited before the instrumental version in each case) as well as three nocturnes by an almost forgotten Romantic from the Rhineland: Friedrich Burgmüller. His "Trois Nocturnes", available in versions, sound most beautiful and full of emotion on arpeggione and guitar, the two instruments so closely related.

Instructing and educating Christians on the one hand and delighting their minds on the other, so that the words and truths of the Holy Scripture would be anchored deeply within them - this was the purpose of the sacred cantata. No master of the Baroque era wrote more of these than Georg Philipp Telemann. He approached this seemingly 'tedious work' with such incredible imagination that his congregations could never be bored. One need only listen to the so-called French Cycle (1713-14). To this end, Vol. 4 contributes ten more first recordings. There are certainly meditative moments in both the music for Advent presented here and the cantatas written for the 'normal' Sundays of the church year; but these works predominantly feature colourful, enormously picturesque music throughout. They always get straight to the heart of the worship service's message and are still instantly appealing today.

With this release, cpo, the Gutenberg Soloists, and the Neumeyer Consort under Felix Koch have now completed an impressive five of the planned seven parts of their shared journey-on the way to what promises to be the first and, for a long time to come, likely the only and uniquely comprehensive recording of the cantatas that the extraordinarily industrious Georg Philipp Telemann composed in 1713/14 for the services at Frankfurt's Barfu�erkirche. This latest volume is devoted to the feasts of Ascension and Pentecost and also includes additional works designated for the Sundays after Trinity-each of them a smaller or greater marvel, rich in imagery that appeals to all the senses and pays full tribute to the instructive texts of the poetic pastor Erdmann Neumeister.

If you are still looking for proof that quantity and quality need not be mutually exclusive in the case of composing geniuses, you will find plenty here. Listening and discovering is pure pleasure, wrote FonoForum when the first part of Telemann's cantatas of the French Year was released on cpo. And Vol. 2 of our large-scale and unbelievably exciting project with the world's first complete recording of a complete vintage of 72 large-scale church cantatas by Georg Philipp Telemann (Frankfurt 1714 / 15) again does justice to these statements. This time, on 2 albums, cantatas for Laetare (Sunday of the Dead), Oculi (Sunday of Lent), Easter and the 22nd to 24th Sundays after Trinity can be heard, depending on the occasion with different musical means of expression and very expressive. It is this ingenuity, this astonishing imagination, which accounts for Telemann's special status - today as well as during his lifetime. Worth discovering, not only for Telemann fans!

Six dozen is half a gross. And Georg Philipp Telemann composed that many cantatas for the Frankfurt Church Year of 1714/15. cpo, Felix Koch, the Gutenberg Soloists and the Neumeyer Consort have taken up the cause to record this so-called "French church year" in its entirety – a mighty project that is all the more impressive given that the creative spirit behind these scores never worked en gros. Although he usually limited his instrumentation to two oboes, strings and basso continuo, adding a flute, bassoon, horns, trumpets and timpani for special Sundays or festive occasions, the composer's talent for orchestration was evidently boundless. He finds the appropriate sounds for his musical "sermon" on every theological topic. Every subject determined by the church calendar is reflected in his own individual way with a range of expression from the contemplative to the theatrical – and we are only one-third of the way through this fascinating journey.

Adalbert Gyrowetz is one of the numerous, highly talented Czech musicians of the 18th century who received an excellent education in Prague and then turned to the musical centers of Europe. His music is strongly influenced by the classical language of Haydn. Architectural structures, harmonic progressions of tension, instrumentation, disposition of a cycle, representation of affect, and the general idea of music as a balanced language of feeling and reason dominate the aesthetics of this style. The quartets for flute and string trio are all in three movements with the tempo sequence fast-slow-fast. Around 1800 this was rather the exception, since Haydn's mature string quartets had established four movements. The duration of the pieces is about the same as the total duration of a "normal" four-movement chamber work of the time.

In addition, it is interesting that the voices, especially those of the flute, violin, but also viola and cello, feature rapid and virtuosic solos. Gyrowetz thus writes a cycle of three lively quartets that want to be nothing more than virtuoso divertissements and amusements with esprit. The composer has succeeded in this!

This record launches a large-scale project: the world’s first complete recording of an entire annual cycle of seventy-two church cantatas by Georg Philipp Telemann for large ensembles (written in Frankfurt, 1714-15). All the featured singers perform in the “Gutenberg Soloists” vocal ensemble consisting of twelve members – in accordance with the Baroque practice, in which the solo parts are assumed by members of the choral ensemble.

This first double album present cantatas from the late summer of 1715 and five additional cantatas for the Lenten season from the cycle known as the “French Annual Cycle.” A significant reference is found on the original Frankfurt organ part of Telemann’s cantata “Gott schweige doch nicht also” from this year: “Judica, from the French Annual Cycle." This means the cantata concerned was intended for the Fifth Sunday in Lent; that is, it belonged precisely to the annual cycle of church cantatas that contemporaries called “French” because of its style. This is music worth discovering – and not only by and for Telemann fans!

Indeed, Vienna is so rich in composers [...], that it is but just to allow it to be, among German cities, the imperial seat of music, as well as of power. Sir Charles Burney, the famous observer of European music, was quite correct. This city on the Danube was bubbling over with talents and masters who all made their livelihood there. This included Johann Baptist Wanhal, one of the innumerable Bohemians that tried their luck in the shadow of the court palace. He contributed many beautiful pieces to his preferred medium of instrumental music. The small selection of the present production alone well demonstrates that Wanhal was able to hold his own in the symphonic genre next to Joseph Haydn, who was seven years his senior. Subtle orchestral colours, a fine sense for dramatic events, especially in the minor keys, and striking melodies are characteristic of the creations that were enjoyed not only in the old imperial city.

At last I have fulfilled a wish: The production of melody-saturated overtures and waltzes by Paul Lincke. It is also an overdue rehabilitation of the composer Lincke, who certainly wrote more than just the "Berliner Luft". Of course, that is included in our Vol 1, and it is certainly not due to the rhymes of Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers that this march has become the unofficial Berlin anthem and has remained so to this day. It is Paul Lincke's music, whose unashamed catchiness "overtakes you", as his first biographer, the composer Edmund Nick, wrote: "Only a genuine Berliner like Lincke was capable of making a declaration of love to his father city in this way. All the softer emotions that move the Berlin heart are included in it." Irrespective of such clichéd attributions, Paul Lincke founded something with works like this that had never existed before: Berlin's own popular music. And like Franz Lehár, Paul Lincke was a master of instrumentation, but remained true to the classical orchestral movement, like his models Jacques Offenbach and Franz von Suppé. And he took special care with overtures, whether to a farce or an operetta, whereas most Viennese operettas of the time had to make do with a short prelude. Look forward to many Lincke discoveries!

The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid were not always merely the nightmare of classical philology students. On the contrary: the great work on the transformations of figures of ancient mythology by scornful, amorous or grateful gods have been handed down to us in innumerable paintings, stories, theatre pieces and operas. The symphonies written by Joseph Haydn's colleague and friend Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf in the 1780s occupy a special place among the purely instrumental reflections of these events. Anything but programmatic in the Romantic sense, it plays with sophisticated associations that can only be discovered by those who listen attentively and can supplement the allusions with their own imagination - a rewarding endeavour, especially when sparks fly out of the classical symmetry of the gods as they do here.

For the last ten years or so, there has been a gratifying renewal of interest in the eminent Russian composer Nikolai Myaskovsky, whose career spanned the late Romantic to early Modern periods. His creative legacy deserves far greater attention than is currently paid to him: Myaskovsky's music demonstrates the highest level of craftsmanship and explores a very unique realm of emotional and soulful experience. His Cello Concerto, Op. 66, was composed in the last three months of 1944. What prompted Myaskovsky to compose this work is not known, since the work was neither commissioned by a performer nor written for a specific artist. It was probably intended to contribute to the growing repertoire of instrumental concertos being created for the rising generation of young Soviet virtuosos.

The two-movement concerto opens with a contemplative Lento ma non troppo in a modified sonata form, with a brief solo cadenza taking the place of the development. The prevailing autumnal melancholy mood is balanced by a passionate second theme in major. The ensuing Allegro vivace is shaped as a rondo, with two slow episodes complementing the energetic main theme with its lively triplets. After a brilliant cadenza, the movement reaches its climax when the material of the opening movement is resumed, then leads into a meditative coda. In addition, two virtuoso cello sonatas by Myaskovsky can be heard. The remaining pieces on this CD are by Myaskovsky's teachers at the St. Petersburg Conservatory - Nikolai Rimsky-Korssakoff, who taught him the art of orchestration, and Anatoly Lyadoff, with whom he studied harmony, counterpoint, and free composition.

After listening to a substantial number of operas, cantatas, concertos, and chamber music left by the immensely prolific Georg Philipp Telemann, one might assume there would soon be nothing new to discover. This is far from the truth, as demonstrated by the latest production from Camerata Koln and it's director, Michael Schneider. The "Six Quatuors ou Trios 1733" are not merely a continuation of Telemann's Concerti da camera. They differ significantly: polyphonic, chromatic quirks, delicate cantilenas, highly virtuosic (and expertly executed) miniatures, and finally, a series of ancient women's portraits in the contemporary colors of the "Getreue Music-Meister" - if anything is repeated here, it is the amazement at an almost limitless, inexhaustible imagination.

The close-knit nature of the Bach musical family is documented in many sources. They met regularly for family celebrations, exchanged experiences and, of course, always had an eye on where there was a vacant position. In baroque Central Germany, the name "Bach" was practically synonymous with the job title "musician". For the Ensemble Polyharmonique and Teatro del Mondo with its director Andreas Küppers, too, the "Old Bach Archive" is the most important starting point for the musical representation of Bach's "Family Affairs". Six compositions from this valuable collection were selected for the present recording. These pieces are complemented by further works from Bach generations up to the late 18th century. A clearly audible connection is revealed not only by the consistent instrumentation of four to six vocal parts and basso continuo, but also by a kind of "family sound". Even when Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach composes a motet in the style of Empfindsamkeit, it may be assumed that he also had the works of his ancestors in mind, which were composed more than 100 years earlier. The "Family Affairs" with 15 works from four generations thus provide an impressive testimony to this unique musical dynasty.

The number of pieces written for Holy Week is vast. But you will hardly encounter such a unique treatment of fundamental Christian faith as in the Rappresentazione sacra al Santissimo Sepolcro, which was composed at the Viennese imperial court in the mid-17th century. It is a staged presentation of the events at Christ's tomb that was either composed by His Majesty Leopold I himself (from 1660) or by one of his court conductors. This recording presents the Sepolcro of 1667, which was set to music by a top Italian star - the Franciscan Antonio Cesti (1623-1669). The new imperial maestro di capella creates a world where allegorical figures representing nature and it's four elements mourn the sacred sacrifice. The waters drizzle down, the winds blow and the flames blaze - this master of opera cannot deny his true nature.

Although almost completely forgotten today, Georg Wilhelm Rauchenecker was an exceptionally versatile musician of European stature: as founder and conductor of the first professional orchestra of the city of Winterthur (1875), composer, ardent Wagnerian, city organist, music dealer and pedagogue, he left weighty and far-reaching traces in Germany, Switzerland and France. The two orchestral works presented on this album were written for "his" Winterthur City Orchestra (as the Musikkollegium Winterthur was called until 2000), while the Oriental Fantasy is an early work by the 21-year-old. Rauchenecker's symphonic debut seems in some ways to have been his artistic calling card: Few of his other works were performed as often, and the piece remained in the repertoire until at least 1932.

Despite Rauchenecker's close contact with the works of the New German school and his personal acquaintance with Richard Wagner, this work shows the composer to be a preserver of the symphonic tradition. In a certain sense, the work speaks of a commitment to "absolute music," for programmatic allusions as well as explicitly coloristic instrumental effects are completely dispensed with. His technically extremely demanding Oriental Fantasy combines the virtuosic demands of a solo concerto with a rhapsodically free form, and was one of Rauchenecker's own showpieces as a violinist.

Nine operas, around 70 symphonies, nearly four dozen string quartets alongside other works of chamber music, and a substantial number of concertos as well as vocal compositions, both sacred and secular: there's no doubt Franz Anton Hoffmeister, as a publisher, knew exactly what connoisseurs and lovers of music enjoyed playing. He was also never short on musical ideas of his own when it came to meeting the tastes of the late 18th century. Two years older than Mozart, Hoffmeister is widely regarded as one of the "most remarkable, skilled, and prolific composers of sophisticated, artful entertainment music" - a reputation clearly demonstrated in this production. It blends elegant and soulful hunting themes, virtuosic passages for two accomplished horn players, and smooth, pleasing orchestral sounds into classical delights.

Following the example of his distant 'great uncle' Felix, Arnold Mendelssohn (1853-1933) was a highly regarded composer, particularly in the field of Protestant sacred music, in which his famous relative had already distinguished himself. In contrast, his serious interest in the classical-romantic instrumental genres only began during the First World War, as if the composer wanted to reassure himself of tradition before all of the old structures collapsed. He was already approaching seventy when he wrote his violin concerto and, immediately afterwards, the second of his three symphonies-two witty masquerades whose broad spectrum between expressive meditation and a cheerful finale offers plenty of room for reminiscence, but not imitation. Mendelssohn juggles with symbols of the past but is never at their mercy. He masters them with ease.

E. T. A. Hoffmann is rightly regarded as one of the great writers of German Romanticism, rather than as one of the major composers of the period. Nevertheless, the trained jurist and later Prussian judge repeatedly sought to earn his living as a composer and conductor, since he considered music to be the most romantic-and therefore the highest-of all the arts. That he was thoroughly versed in the craft of composition is evident from the more than seventy works he wrote in almost every musical genre.

Exquisite music between late Romanticism and Impressionism, which [...] definitely deserves to be heard." There is not much to add to the words of the reviewer who reported on the first part of these complete recordings for klassik-heute. Leopold van der Pals, the son of Danish-Dutch parents, grew up in Russia and spent his life searching for higher truths. His inspirations-Goethe the scientist and his spiritual successor Rudolf Steiner-and his own experiences led him to ever-new explorations of the possibilities of infinite metamorphosis to an all-encompassing state of being. The current release concludes his cycle of string quartets. A bonus track-the melodious, distinctive quintet for flute and strings, where the composer renounces all virtuoso pretensions in a particularly appealing way.

Finland has it's Sibelius, Denmark it's Nielsen-but who was the most important composer in Sweden at the beginning of the twentieth century, a figure who entered music history with a voice entirely his own? Ture Rangstr�m (1884-1947). He was a natural talent, a musical force of nature. And so is his music: monumental, hymn-like, and elemental. With a keen sense for new ideas, he created al fresco musical tableaux in a block-like technique, in which elegiac passages are at times colored by glaring orchestral effects. This music is overwhelming in the truest sense of the word.

Alongside Einojuhani Rautavaara, Aulis Sallinen is undoubtedly one of the most important classical figures in contemporary Finnish music. In addition to his symphonic works, it was above all his operas The Horseman and The Red Line that brought him international acclaim. His music is free of modern dogma and speaks directly to the listener through it's honest intensity. A firm grounding in tonality, simple thematic ideas, and clarity of formal design, combined with powerful inner tension, are the keys to his enduring popularity.

Caspar Joseph Brambach, who was two months younger than Johannes Brahms and survived him by almost five years, once basked in the glow of considerable attention. He studied and later taught at the Cologne Conservatory and was music director in Bonn for eight years before he dedicated himself solely to his own compositions, in which vocal music played a predominant role. His works for male chorus were especially well received, but his instrumental works were also popular. Brambach, who was from the Rhineland, left no doubt that the masters of the Romantic era, above all Robert Schumann, played an important role in his musical world. This first recording includes the sextet for piano and strings from his last year in Cologne and just as he moved to Bonn (around 1860). Also featured are his three piano quartets, the last of which the composer used to champion his ideals shortly before the turn of the 20th century.