When Johann Evangelist Brandl wrote his Symphonie concertante op. 20, he had more time to concentrate on composing free of court occasions and to exploit in full his own capabilities rather than focusing on the planning and performing of concerts. Therefore his Symphonie concertante, like the one by Mozart, can be viewed as a sort of visiting card, and with it Brandl wanted to put out his feelers in quest of new appointments. Like Mozart, in his work with two solo instruments Brandl has the dimensions of the first movement noticeably expand in view of the solo concerto and in this way gives both soloists space and time to present all the themes and motifs in succession as well as to elaborate them with great virtuosity. What our two soloists, the Castro-Balbi brothers, display in breathtaking virtuosity is simply sensational. Brandl had composed his four-movement Symphony in D major with a dazzling finale as a “Grande Simphonie à grand Orchestre” some ten years earlier. Already then Brandl anticipated a lot of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony op. 60, which first was completed in 1806. Something of the quest for new sound worlds that the Rhinelander Beethoven envisioned is also in evidence in Brandl, who was ten years his senior. Today musicologists are discovering in Brandl an artist whose musical language above all toward the end of his creative career surmounted the style of Classicism and instead favored a sharpened chromaticism and already exhibited Early Romantic characteristics.

The title of the present selection of choral music from countries and epochs, Mirabile Mysterium (Latin for “Wondrous / Astonishing Mystery”), refers to the birth of Jesus Christ, by which nothing less than the incarnation of God is meant: out of love God renounces his almighty power and becomes a weak human being who like us is subject to suffering and death. Spiritual consideration of this mystery of faith, which the whole of Christendom celebrates every year at Christmas, has inspired composers of religious persuasions to write very special works. Along with the works specifically concerning themselves with the Christmas event and qualifying as Christmas songs in the stricter sense of the term, we also find, primarily at the beginning of the program, some genuine Advent songs. Even during what for Christians were pagan times, the word adventus (Latin for “arrival”) designated both the visit of a human ruler and the presence of a deity in his temple. As in the case of the visit of a state dignitary, certain spiritual exercises were undertaken in preparation for the visit of a god. As a result, the idea that an event begins already with its preparation was transferred to the spiritual sphere. The Church borrowed this concept for a period of inner reflection intended to convey an inkling of the incomprehensible gift granted to humankind in the miracle of Christmas. This program spanning six centuries offers us the opportunity to trace the history of the spiritual fusion of the Advent and Christmas seasons in music.

Gaetano Donizetti not only was very well acquainted with the Viennese models that then were dominant on the international market; at the latest since his study years in Bologna he had also been familiar with the most important exponents of Italian quartet culture. This is why his string quartets offer valuable insights into his education and early artistic development and are important documents attesting to the existence of a chamber music culture specific to Bergamo. In Quartets Nos. 4-6 conventional and innovative elements combine to form an astonishing synthesis. A great many different musical characters are heard in his quartets, which often come across as unconventional in form and tone. It thus may be said that Donizetti composed while feeling “the pulse of the times and that the Pleyel Quartet plays while feeling the pulse of the music. No wish remains unfulfilled. Here Donizetti’s music is performed just as naturally, spiritedly, and entertainingly as it is written.” This is how klassik-heute. com praised our previous album featuring Quartets No. 1-3.

The life story of the American composer and pianist George Antheil is the tale of a multiple taming. Almost a hundred years ago the young Antheil set out to conquer Europe with his “ultramodern” piano compositions and soon came to regard himself as the enfant terrible of contemporary music. His early concerts created sensational public scandals; audience members laughed and exchanged blows when he performed, and the press corps polarized the public. However, Antheil soon exhausted his potential for provocation: he became older, tamer, and more considerate, experienced bitter defeats, energetically and repeatedly got back on his feet, and on his return to the United States developed a style that interested some of the most renowned conductors in his native America – because with it he appealed effectively and originally to a broad public. The present production follows the winding path taken by this composer with four standout works exemplifying his creative periods. Golden Bird (1921), an exotically instrumented miniature of “Chinese coloration,” is followed by the iridescent music for the ballet Dreams (1934), which Antheil wrote in response to a commission from the famous choreographer George Balanchine. The two Serenades (1947-48) show us a composer of digestible and easily graspable music who was searching for a genuine »American tone« and during the course of his life learned that modesty can be a key to success.

During the summer of 1883 Richard Strauss composed two large-format orchestral works in traditional genres, the lengthy Concert Overture in C minor and the Symphony in F minor op. 12, both of them also with the same instruments. The overture is anything but a secondary effort; it also cannot be understood as a simple »work of his youth.« Although the key and the opening stance of the overture clearly point to Beethoven’s Coriolanus Overture, the subliminal irritations, frictions, surprises, and saliencies already present here become even much more apparent in the symphony. As in the overture, so too in the symphony: the composer abstains from any sort of allusions to content, and – even more strikingly – he does not include a dedication, even though the work was immediately published. And the finale pursues an unusual course, not with a breakthrough but over a festive path leading to a hymnic theme followed by an absolutely wild conclusion. Following our release of early chamber music by Richard Strauss, we are now presenting two more significant early works by him!

In the 1960s Aram Khachaturian engaged in a number of experiments in which he covered terrain situated at an astonishing distance from the immediately appealing tone of the works that he had composed prior to those years. These experiments included the first of his three concert rhapsodies, in which he completely emancipated himself from the established forms that he had filled out in his concertos for piano, violin, and violoncello, which already then were world famous. While the virtuosic ambitions of the rhapsodies are in no way inferior to the technical demands of their older sister works, he now requires what is perhaps an even higher measure of expressive shared experiencing and solo messaging. The direct juxtaposition of the two concert violin compositions recorded by Antje Weithaas and Daniel Raiskin and the Rhineland-Palatinate State Symphony Orchestra conveys the extraordinarily grand leap into a “modernism” that hardly anybody would have thought possible for the author of the Sabre Dance. In 1971 Aram Khachaturian was honored for his rhapsodic risk-taking when he received the State Prize of the Soviet Union for his second concert trilogy.

This album marks the recording premiere of four cantatas by Gottfried August Homilius for Advent and Christmas. Homilius was the number-one composer of Protestant church music during the second half of the eighteenth century and during his lifetime was regarded as »perhaps today’s very best church composer. “After his death the lexicographer Ernst Ludwig Gerber expressed the view that he was »without contradiction our greatest church composer.” Homilius’ music already displays elements of early Classicism and the sensibility of the empfindsamer Stil, his cantata choruses are frequently homophonic and songlike in design, and polyphonic sections are rather rare. His cantatas composed around 1776 prove to be works of individual design and conception and attest to his mastery as a composer. Arias of great tonal beauty, the naturalness of their expression, and the dramatic suspense of the numbers continue to fascinate listening audiences even today!

Jean-Baptiste Loeillet was from a Flemish family whose members included a number of musicians, two of whom went by the name of Jean-Baptiste Loeillet. Already in the eighteenth century this onomastic fact caused irritation and confusion. Our Jean-Baptiste, who later enjoyed a career as John Loeillet in London, was born in Ghent in 1680. What motivated him to go to London when he was a young man? Unfortunately, our sources are silent about this matter. However, he is termed “Mr. John Loeillet” in printed editions, which perhaps reflects the fact that he chose London as his home in the 1720s. His Trio Sonatas for flute (transverse flute and recorder), oboe, and basso continuo are virtuosic and multilayered. Galant tones endow the sonatas with rhythmically finely pointed, flowing tone clusters. The members of the EPOCA BAROCCA chamber music ensemble interpret the trio sonatas on original Baroque instruments and with their trademark passionate verve.

Reger & Weinberger Vol. 6. Our successful Reger edition now once again continues, and the critics continue to be more than enthusiastic about the volumes released to date. Musik & Theater has even claimed, “These recordings number among the best releases currently available in the field of Reger’s organ music.” And Vol. 6 again presents two albums in the best surround sound. The thirty little chorale preludes for the most familiar numbers in the Chorales op. 135a, composed by Reger expressly with the organist’s traditional duties in mind, occupy the center stage. A glance at the countless pieces of so-called practical liturgical music composed before and after Reger demonstrates that the quality of this collection can hardly be overestimated, given the fact that it offers what might be termed “Reger en miniature.” The wealth of the compositional ideas selected by him justifies the presentation of op. 135a in its entirety.

Antje Weithaas, Maximilian Hornung, and Andrew Manze. Antje Weithaas probes every detail in the musical text, charged with energy and with her compelling musical intelligence and unrivaled command of technique. Her charisma and stage presence are gripping but never force their way in front of the work. And we therefore are happy that this internationally top-ranking violinist is now interpreting the Violin Concerto by Robert Schumann and the Double Concerto by Johannes Brahms for CPO with Maximilian Hornung, a cellist who in every way is her equal. And they perform these works with the NDR Radio Philharmonic under the genial leadership of its principal conductor Andrew Manze, who has just renewed his contract with this orchestra through 2023. This recording brings together three great musicians and two composers who enjoyed the closest of relationships. Both works were written for the outstanding violinist Joseph Joachim, who played a central role for Schumann as well as for Brahms. In these interpretations – an absolute listening must!

Now at Last: Vox humana by Allan Pettersson. “Ever since I began my work as a producer with CPO, I’ve wanted to release Allan Pettersson’s cantata Vox humana from 1974 as part of our edition of his works. However, we could not find the right Swedish soloists and a Swedish choir for the job. Now we’ve finally found the ensembles we wanted and can release this magnificent work on CPO. Vocal works occupy a relatively modest place in Pettersson’s oeuvre; after the composition of the Barfotasånger from 1943 to 1945, almost thirty years passed before he again decided to write a work for the human voice. In 1973 / 74 he wrote his twelfth symphony based on texts from Pablo Neruda’s Canto general and immediately thereafter, in 1974, the three-part cantata Vox humana, which is also often termed a song cycle and likewise is based exclusively on South American texts. And as a bonus the album also contains Pettersson’s Six Early Songs for Middle Voice and Piano, here in a special arrangement by Staffan Storm for string orchestra and harp from 2016. A gala premiere event!”

Cello Concertos from Exile Vol. 4. Significant concertos by three great composers now join the rich and multifaceted repertoire of our new series featuring »Cello Concertos by Jewish Composers in Exile.« The Cello Concerto in three movements composed by Paul Ben-Haim for Richard Katz in 1962 employs virtuosic agility and the expressive flexibility of the solo instrument and exemplarily demonstrates how Ben-Haim was able to fit the stylistic elements characteristic of the Eastern Mediterranean into the structures provided by European forms. Ernest Bloch originally wrote his Symphony for Cello and Orchestra for trombone and orchestra. The enormous size of the orchestra contributes to the exotic panorama with tone colors reminiscent of Schelomo and the other six works of the »Jewish cycle« completed by him forty years earlier. Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Cello Concerto was originally composed for Deception, but some months after this film had premiered in the cinemas, he reworked the concerto, which in its concert hall version consists of one short movement and among other things a development section featuring fully refined counterpoint and heavy percussive effects.

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REVIEW:

This release constitutes an excellent addition to this increasingly impressive series. Wallfisch's enthusiasm and commitment to these scores is exemplary. Borowicz is fully attuned to this repertoire and, together with Wallfisch, is an inspiring collaborator. The warmth and ambience of the Cardiff venue add positively to the experience. I must also add that the liner notes, in German and English, are first rate.

– MusicWeb International

Kreutzer’s Violin Concertos Vol. 2. Ten years after our release of the first album featuring violin concertos by Rodolphe Kreutzer, we are now releasing his Concertos Nos. 1, 6, and 7, again in interpretations by Laurent Albrecht Breuninger. Even today Kreutzer continues to be ranked with the great violin virtuosos of his time and along with Viotti, Rode, and Baillot is regarded as a central figure of the French violin school. As FonoForum wrote of Vol. 1 in 2011, Breuninger “does outstanding justice to the virtuosic demands. He adds brilliant polish to his solos, absolutely in a manner reminiscent of Paganini.” Kreutzer wrote his nineteen violin concertos during his active years as a virtuoso. After he had found it necessary to abandon his solo career in 1810, he did not compose a single other such work. Although the concertos adhere to the traditional three-movement design, they contain numerous innovative elements, formal surprises, motivic-thematic interdependencies, and genial ideas.

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!

The Concerto Copenhagen is Scandinavia’s most renowned Baroque ensemble and one of the most innovative such formations worldwide. Its trademarks are its unusual program combinations featuring Scandinavian rarities and famous Baroque masterpieces. This world-class orchestra now turns to Handel’s great Brockes-Passion in a recording based on the Halle edition of this composer’s works. The Passion text published by the well-to-do Hamburg resident Barthold Heinrich Brockes was a literary bestseller during the early eighteenth century. Composers set his poetic text, the first to add narrative elements to the Biblical Passion texts, more than thirty times. Today the best-known of these compositions is the one by George Frideric Handel, who set these verses to music in 1716, creating what would remain his only sacred work in German. Stylistically, however, the Brockes-Passion prefers to follow Italian models and speaks a musical language resembling that of the Baroque opera. Following concerts with this program, Die Welt enthusiastically summed up the result: “Mortensen’s elite forces from the original sound movement instinctively realize what their master and motivator wishes… One of the best early music ensembles paints a Baroque picture that richly displays magnificent color, suggests mystery, and repeatedly also is animated by dance. The method employed by Mortensen while modeling the music enables him to breathe new life into one of the most significant Passion oratorios composed prior to the later masterpieces by Bach.”