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The Cleveland Orchestra is the “aristocrat among American orchestras” (The Telegraph) and its sovereign, Franz Welser-Möst, rules his subjects with a velvet glove. Indeed, velvet and silk keep showing up in descriptions of the Clevelanders’ sound under its principal conductor. It is Welser-Möst’s nimble alternation between smoothness and a sound that’s as “sharp-edged as a skyscraper” (The Telegraph after the Brahms’ First at the orchestra’s London Proms concert). That keeps the ensemble and the audience figuratively on its toes. When Brahms set out to write his first symphonies, the pressure was high. Critics and audiences expected him to follow directly behind Beethoven. Some even called Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 “Beethoven’s Tenth.” Although it took Brahms quite a number of years to present these works, the first three of his symphonies, recorded here in live performances, do not disappoint.

The longer the modern era lasts, the older “New Music” grows, and the more versatile it becomes. Upon closer listening, one quickly becomes aware of the many byways and backroads of the genre, in addition to the principal trends, and one composer who trod his own path decisively, with great success, is Gottfried von Einem. Since his breakthrough with the premiere of his opera Dantons Tod (the death of Danton) at the Salzburg Festival in 1947, through to the composer’s death in 1996, many of his works have been performed on the international music stage, as witness recordings featuring the likes of Böhm, Karajan and George Szell on this label. However, everyone knows that for a composer to continue to develop his artistic skills he needs more than glittering premieres, and so the Orfeo label is delighted to mark the 100th birthday of the composer born in 1918 by releasing, alongside other new recordings of his works from its catalogue, a retrospective of von Einem’s work featuring the very best performers of today.

The earliest work on this new release is the choral work with orchestra Stundenlied, which originates from a highly interesting cultural and historical source: a collaboration with the playwright Bertolt Brecht who from 1949 lived in the German Democratic Republic. The story of Christ’s passion is witnessed and presented in a popular, naive way as a dreadful event and brilliantly depicted by von Einem using simple and stringent compositional means to produce a work that is haunting and authoritative, performed here by the Singverein and Philharmonic Orchestra of Vienna under Franz Welser-Möst.

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Irish-born Victor Herbert was one of the most celebrated names in American music in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A cellist, conductor, and composer of light operas, he was also a recording artist. His two cello concertos are full of gracious melodies, the D major having a song-like slow movement and a spirited polonaise finale that earned praise at its 1885 première in Stuttgart. The E minor concerto, scored for a large orchestra, is more tightly constructed then the first and it was hearing this work that inspired Herbert’s superior at the National Conservatory in New York, Antonín Dvorák, to write his own great B minor cello concerto.

At the most recent production at the Vienna State Opera, the twins were sung by Nina Stemme and - for the first time in the role - Johan Botha. Since then both soloists have enjoyed international success in even more dramatic Wagner roles. This CD release of the live performance of the first act is ideal for all those who are curious to hear more, but perhaps hesitate to get to grips with complete, modern performances of the Ring.

The 2008 Salzburg Festival production of Dvorák's opera Rusalka was outstanding even by the Festival's high artistic standards. Its exceptional nature was due in part to the fact that in the pit the Cleveland Orchestra was appearing for the first time as an opera orchestra in Salzburg. The high expectations raised by the orchestra and its Music Director, Franz Welser-Möst, were fully met, and even in the live recording of the opening night made by Austrian Radio, the conductor's genuinely dramatic approach to the work is never less than gripping.

The fairytale narrative gains in psychological focus and depth, aided and abetted by the team of soloists headed by Camilla Nylund as Rusalka and Piotr Beczala as the Prince. To the role of the water nymph, Nylund brings a beautiful lyric soprano voice that retains its focus and penetrating power even in the score's most dramatic outbursts, while the bright tenor voice of Piotr Beczala produces a convincing vocal portrait of the hapless heroine's inconstant lover, following her decision to enter the world of mortals. The remaining roles were cast from strength, notably the admonitory figure of the Water Goblin, taken here by Alan Held, whose powerful Wagnerian bass-baritone lends the role an impressive profile; Birgit Remmert, with her dark-hued, impressively full-toned voice and Emily Magee's burnished soprano, with its brilliant upper register.

Particularly gratifying in a Salzburg Festival production is the casting of minor roles with promising young singers including Eva Liebau as the Turnspit, Adam Plachetka as the Gamekeeper and the three well-modulated wood nymphs of Anna Prohaska, Stephanie Atasanov and Hannah Esther Minutillo. Appearing alongside this team of singers is the Vienna State Opera Chorus on outstanding form. All in all, then, it comes as no surprise to know that the response to the musical side of this production was extremely positive, a response which it is hoped will be repeated in the case of the present live recording.