Classical Music

Classical Music

Finding the names of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven on the track list of a CD or on the title page of a concert program provokes a sense of familiarity and natural affiliation in the minds of most music lovers and experts, who not only associate the three composers with each other but also, inevitably, with the concept of Viennese Classicism. On this recording, Ola Rudner and the Wu?rttembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, flanked by soloists Ramo?n Ortega Quero (oboe), Sebastian Manz (clarinet), Marc Gruber (horn) and Theo Plath (bassoon), explore the symphonic world of Viennese Classicism.

Classical Music

AMILCARE PONCHIELLI: Andrea Gruber; Marco Berti; Alberto Mastromarino; Carlo Colombara; Ildiko Komlosi; Elisabetta Fiorillo; Roberto Bolle, Letizia Giuliani, primi ballerini; Orchestra, Chorus and Corps de ballet of"Arena di Verona"/Donato Renzetti; Live recording: June 17, 2005 AMILCARE PONCHIELLI: La GiocondaNTSC All Region; Doby Digital 5.1, DTS; PCM Stereo 2.0; Color; 16:9; 162 minsSubtitled in Italian, English, French, German & Japanese.

PONCHIELLI: Gioconda (La)

Wagner: The Flying Dutchman, WWV 63

Classical Music

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) had a special fondness for the cello. He studied the cello as a child, and picked the instrument up again as a young adult after an accident injured his hand and he was unable to perform as a concert pianist.; Although Schumann held the cello dear, he only composed two works that still remain: Op. 129 Cello Concerto, and the Five Pieces in Folk Style which is performed on this album.; Although many of the compositions on this recording were not originally scored for cello, cellists, in their eagerness to perform Schumann’s music, have made lovely arrangements and transcriptions.

Classical Music

To many contemporaries it might seem incomprehensible that Pfitzner had his poetic and musical masterpiece Palestrina followed by this slight fairy-tale opera, whose libretto could scarcely satisfy higher artistic demands. Pfitzner was captivated by the cozy sphere, reminiscent of old picture-books, of this typically German Christmas fable (in which also appear folklore figures like Knecht Ruprecht). The sound of Christmas bells and carols awakens in an elf the wish to draw close to humans. Although the old fir tree warns the elf of the heartlessness of the human race, he has his way and leaves his forest home. He in fact becomes acquainted with grief and illness and at last offers himself to be taken to heaven instead of Trautchen. The Christ-child agrees to the exchange, Trautchen is cured, and from now on the elf will come to earth from heaven each year at Christmas as a Christmas elf. The piece ends with a happy Christmas party by Trautchen’s family. The present recording is a production by the Bavarian Radio in which the original texts that Pfitzner placed between the individual numbers are replaced by a text by German journalist and literary writer Alois Fink. Sung and spoken in German language, the booklet contains a synopsis in English.