Gottorf Castle is not only one of Schleswig-Holstein’s most important architectural edifices; it also plays a significant role in German cultural history. Vol. 3 in the Manfred Cordes-led Weser-Renaissance ensemble’s new cpo series ‘Music for Gottorf Castle’ is dedicated to the psalms and cantatas of Georg Österreich (1664-1735). Today approximately seventy skillfully wrought church or sacred cantatas from his compositional oeuvre continue to be extant. Österreich famously bequeathed to posterity a music library without which we would hardly know anything at all about the pre-Bach period.

In recent years the young Swiss conductor Simon Gaudenz has made a name for himself, particularly as an interpreter of the Classical-era repertoire. A fresh, new approach against the background of historically informed performance practice characterizes his recordings and concerts. During this same time he was associated with the Odense Symphony based on the island of Funen (the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen and Carl Nielsen!), serving as its principal guest conductor. This orchestra, one of Denmark's premier musical bodies next to the Danish Radio Symphony in Copenhagen, immediately felt that extraordinary things could be realized with this baton-wielding revolutionary. It was agreed that he and the orchestra take on Schumann, the results being this 2CD set of the complete symphonies.

The new cpo edition featuring Gerhard Weinberger playing organ works of Max Reger (1873-1916) on great organs that survive from his times has reached its second volume. Reger's chorale fantasias above all occupy the focus, the instruments once again very well chosen. Not only the Furtwängler & Hammer organ in the Verden Cathedral seems to be especially predestined for Max Reger's organ music; the 1912 Stahlhuth organ too enables the greatest possible differentiation with its rich tonal palette… a very decisive factor in rendering the nuanced sound structures in this composer's organ music.

Ernesto Cavallini (1807-74) was an extremely successful clarinetist and composer. He studied at the Milan Conservatory, held the post of first clarinetist at the La Scala, Milan for twenty years, and then went to St. Petersburg in Russia, where during the following fifteen years he made a name for himself as a soloist and chamber musician. The two virtuoso clarinet concertos, heard here in world premiere recordings, both call for full orchestra as well as outstanding clarinet technique in order to master the work’s sophisticated, highly demanding solo passages.

Following his first reading of the libretto, Franz Lehár himself wrote of the igniting sparks inspiring him to write his Paganini operetta. Since this inspirational thriller’s premiere took place during the night prior to his fifty-third birthday on 30 April 1923, the composer viewed his work as “a birthday present from our dear God.” And divine providence had a second present ready for Lehár: an encounter with Richard Tauber at the Salzburg Festival of 1924. Lehár had found the interpreter corresponding to the ideal always nurtured in his imagination and Tauber the composer capable of rendering audible his special qualities. This live ‘Paganini’ production from Munich in October 2009 features the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Muenchner Rundfunkorchester, conductor Ulf Schirmer and a distinguished cast of vocal soloists including Kristiane Kaiser, Eva Liebau, Zoran Todorovich and Martin Zysset.

Michael Haydn, brother of Joseph, has been a special focus for the cpo label. Following the symphonies, cpo are now dedicating themselves to a group of five works for a quintet ensemble, entertaining court music on the highest level, consisting of two violins, two violas, and basso have come down to us. M. Haydn designated two of the quintets as divertimentos and then exceeded the classical number of four movements. The Haydn Quintet of Salzburg performs on historical instruments in a historical setting – the Kuenburg Palais in the heart of Salzburg.

Even before meeting they were dedicating hours of practice to Liszt’s Mephisto Waltzes. An international solo piano competition was coming up, and the two young pianists were scheduled to vie against each other with this work. Twenty-five years and dozens of successful competitions later, the same two pianists sat down opposite each other at two grand pianos to perform not as rivals but as a renowned duo. “We have decided to dedicate this CD recording to Franz Liszt’s original works for two pianos and to his versions of his own solo piano compositions for two pianos” (Genova & Dimitrov Piano Duo).

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

Just after the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss's birth, CPO are releasing a concert performance of his rarely performed sung poem "Feuersnot" under the baton of Ulf Schirmer. The satirist Ernst von Wolzogen, who wrote the libretto for this "Bavarian burlesque" founded the first literary cabaret in Berlin, the Ueberbrettl.

Vol. 2 of the Vogler Quartet’s complete Dvořák quartet cycle includes a further selection from the Cypresses, the Quartet No. 4, and the two late Quartets opp. 105 & 106, again displaying this ensemble's high musical culture. This culture combines maximal transparency and a profound probing of a work’s structure, qualities that in recent years has brought the ensemble an international reputation and a chamber music professorship at the Stuttgart College of Music, succeeding the Melos Quartet. “An all-around successful inauguration of this complete edition.” - FonoForum on Vol. 1

CPO’s annual tradition of releasing freshly produced alternatives to Bach's Christmas Oratorio during the fall season when Christmas is just around the corner continues with this release of three cantatas by the Bach pupil Johann Agricola (1720-74). + After receiving instruction in composition from Bach, Agricola became a chamber musician and court composer under King Frederick II and later Prussian court chapel master following Carl Graun's death. + His compositions, mainly oratorios, cantatas, songs, and operas, display influence from composers such as Hasse and Graun.

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

The production of the CPO series A Different Bruckner under the conductor Mario Venzago concludes with a recording of the composer's Symphony No. 5 in B flat in its 1878 version. + This interpretation of the Fifth may make feelings run even higher than they have so far with Mr. Venzago's previous Bruckner renderings because, as he himself writes, “The present reading does almost entirely without the song element and instead establishes musical discourse. + The orchestra speaks and debates as if the instruments were the members of a parliament engaged in serious, sober, and brilliant discussion.”

Reinhard Keiser is regarded as one of the most important German baroque era opera composers; Pomona forms the ideal introduction to the world of German-language baroque opera. A few deities come together to participate in a contest ultimately to be decided by Jupiter, the father of the gods. And that’s it! No intricate plot, no complicated character groupings. Pomona was the last opera based on a libretto by Christian Heinrich Postel, a highly experienced librettist who’d recognized the young composer’s talent, and beginning in 1697 penned his texts exclusively for his musical settings.

Alphons Diepenbrock continues to number among the best-known Dutch composers of the turn of the 20th century. Hans Christoph Begemann and Otto Tausk have recorded Diepenbrock’s most important baritone songs.