The series of Mozart symphonies, recorded by Johannes Klumpp with "his" Folkwang Chamber Orchestra Essen at GENUIN, enters the second round. The tradition-steeped orchestra now juxtaposes the first and last symphonies of the Viennese composer of choice: Early and late works in direct comparison, the alpha and omega of Mozart's symphonic cycle, so to speak. The ensemble thus draws connections between works that lie 25 years apart. Its joy of playing and virtuosity brilliantly illuminate Mozart's innovative power and artistic mastery!

The organ duo Marion Krall and Lars Schwarze take us to enchanted lands with their new GENUIN album, playing their own transcriptions of great orchestral works for organ with four hands and four feet. Since the Baroque era, orchestral works have been transcribed for the organ. Even today, the instrument's various colors make it possible to discover new, unexpected, but equally rich sounds in seemingly familiar works. The internationally awarded duo has now recorded works by Paul Dukas, Edward Elgar, Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky. The contemporary contribution is the radiant tone poem Kalliope by the Austrian composer Franz Danksagmüller, which is positively overflowing with imagination. A surprising album featuring the sound of the organ in all its grandeur and moments of true intimacy.

From the very first moment, the atmosphere seems to glow in Beethoven's last sonata for violoncello, with which Antoaneta Emanuilova and Endri Nini open their new GENUIN album Momentum. Momentum stands for the potency of the ideal moment, its inherent dynamism, and its independence from temporal processes. In addition to Beethoven, the two award-winning musicians perform Brahms' Cello Sonata in D major and Schumann's Adagio and Allegro, works of great inner fervor that demand the attention of listeners and musicians alike at every moment and yet reward this effort many times over with incredible inner richness. Emanuilova and Nini play the three late works, which are by no means serene, with crackling energy.

On its new GENUIN album, the Lux Nova Duo takes up the cause of composer Leo Brouwer. The Cuban old master is well known to guitarists and lovers of guitar music but deserves more attention for his gripping, pulsating and multifaceted music! In the unusual line-up with Lydia Schmidl on accordion and Jorge Paz Verastegui on guitar, the Lux Nova Duo presents smaller and more extensive works by Brouwer, such as his Souvenir de Liège, the expansive Triptico concertante or the centuries-spanning Folía a través de los siglos. Through the subtle playing of the Lux Nova Duo, we discover Brouwer's stylistic range, which extends from folkloristic impressions to new, advanced musical language.

A golden age is brought to life for us by sixty1strings on their new GENUIN album. Their unique instrumentation of mandolin, harp and guitar presents a thrilling program of baroque music from Spain, Italy and France. Konstanze Kuß (Spanish baroque harp), Ekaterina Solovey (baroque mandolin) and Negin Habibi (baroque guitar) plunge into the sensual compositions by Antonio Vivaldi, Marin Marais and Domenico Scarlatti with enthusiasm and panache. Both original compositions and arrangements are performed, and the mandolin serves as a full-fledged, silvery-singing substitute for a diva in a hoop skirt and wig...

In the middle of the 2020 lockdown, Fidan Aghayeva-Edler, an internationally active and recognized artist in the contemporary music scene, recorded the album Fenster (Windows). In this GENUIN production, she has exclusively compiled world premiere recordings by some of the world's leading female composers. There are works by Olga Neuwirth, Isabel Mundry, Olga Rayeva, Helen Grime, Chaya Czernowin and Margarete Huber, as well as the titular Fenster by Jeanne Artemis. An insight into seven different tonal worlds, which the inspiring pianist explores with her vast knowledge of contemporary playing practices and enormous sensitivity.

The works included on this album demonstrate the heart of German Romanticism, with works by Horn, Schumann, Homilius, Goldmark, Hummel, Schubert, and Steinhaur. World-renowned vocal ensemble Amarcord performs these works, alongside instrumental group German Hornsound. The timeless songs featured on this release speak to the listener of love, despair, and eternity. Brass and vocal fans alike will enjoy this album!

For the second time, the violinist and jack-of-all-trades Igor Malinovsky releases an album on GENUIN. His previous brilliant production of Russian violin sonatas is now followed by a marvelous classic of the concertante violin repertoire: Vivaldi's most famous concerts, the Four Seasons. Malinovsky's violin merges with the instruments of the Dresden Residence Orchestra, which he founded, to form an incredible unity. Everything sounds historically informed, but not dry, musical, but not romanticized. A recording as fresh as a spring rain! Igor Malinovsky was a child prodigy who studied with Vladimir Milstein in Russia’s Yekaterinsburg from the age of six. His studies led him to work with Dora Schwarzberg, Gerald Schulz, and Zakhar Bron at the music conservatories in Vienna, Cologne, and Zurich. At the age of 24, he became the concertmaster of the Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich. In 2005, he took up the same post at the Komische Oper Berlin as well as in the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana in Valencia. In April 2013 he founded the Dresdner Residenz Orchester with young musicians from all over the world and has since been delighting audiences in the acoustically vibrant halls of the Dresdner Zwinger and on tour.

A mysterious instrument, ethereal sounds, explosive music and a virtuoso player of the highest order: Carolina Eyck is one of the few internationally acclaimed theremin players. For her instrument, the Leipzig composer and pianist Christopher Tarnow composed two sonatas that he and Ms. Eyck, who enjoy a productive artistic friendship in the city of Leipzig where they both reside, recorded together for their debut CD on the Genuin label. Carolina Eyck is the developer of a new playing technique, using a new and technically more advanced instrument that she obtained in 2006. Greater precision in playing possibilities resulting from this technical development allowed for the discovery of previously unknown realms of sound. This performance technique she introduced in her textbook, The Art of Playing the Theremin.

MENDELSSOHN String Quartet in f, op. 80. 4 Pieces for String Quartet, op. 81. MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL String Quartet in E? • Merel Qt • GENUIN GEN 11204 (69:26)


The pairing of the two chief works on this disc is most apt: the only string quartet by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel and the last string quartet by brother Felix, the latter penned in 1847 to express his terrible grief over her tragically early death, with his own following shortly thereafter. They are supplemented by the four pieces of the op. 81, of which the first two ( Andante and Scherzo ) also date from 1847, the third ( Capriccio ) from 1843, and the last ( Fuga ) from 1827; they were published together posthumously. Mendelssohn’s op. 80 surely needs no introduction from me; suffice it to say that it is to my mind his greatest masterwork among his chamber pieces, and its heartfelt searing drama completely refutes the absurd canard that its creator was content with producing works of faultless formal elegance but lacking in expressive depth. The Mendelssohn-Hensel work, timing out at about 20 minutes, is finely wrought and delicate. It opens with a genteel and placid Allegro ma non troppo, moves on to a graceful but stately Allegretto and slightly pensive (and slightly overlong) Romanze, and closes with a spirited and energetic Allegro molto vivace. As always, the compositional style is markedly similar to that of her brother, somewhat less imaginative melodically and harmonically but nonetheless of considerable quality and having distinct touches of individuality. One can only wonder about and regret what she might have produced but did not due to her untimely demise and the social restrictions of her era.


The Merel Quartet of Zurich, performing on modern instruments but with interpretive touches clearly informed by period-instrument practices (leaner tone and use of reduced vibrato), presents top-notch performances all around. The Mendelssohn-Hensel quartet is given a warmly sympathetic reading; the rendition of the Mendelssohn op. 80 has a knife-edge tension and keenness that unashamedly bears comparison to the best recorded competition, and the members of the op. 81 foursome are treated as substantial works in their own right rather than as mere afterthoughts. The recorded sound has a bright, crisp immediacy without harshness.


I presume that most collectors already have at least one recording of the op. 80 and are more likely to consider acquiring this disc for the Mendelssohn-Hensel quartet, for which alternatives are scarce. I would avoid the Asasello Quartet on Avi, the Lafayette Quartet on CBC Musica Viva (currently out of print, but available as an MP3 download), and the Fanny Mendelssohn Quartet on Troubadisc (diffidently reviewed by David Johnson in Fanfare 18:1, though he recommended the accompanying performance of her trio), all of which are slack or overly cautious and lackluster. That leaves only the Erato Quartet on cpo, a performance strongly recommended by John W. Lambert in 23:5. That is a fine interpretation, but very different from this one; it takes an overtly big-boned romantic approach, and is set in an extremely resonant recording acoustic, with the result sounding more like a small string ensemble than a quartet. That disc is filled out by the quartets of two now quite obscure women composers, Maddalena Laura Lombardini-Sirmen and Emilie Mayer. One’s choice between the cpo disc and the present one will therefore be determined by preferences in pairings, interpretive approach, and sonic ambience. For anyone desiring alternative recommendations for the op. 80 and 81 of Felix, I would turn to the complete quartet cycles by either the Leipzig or Emerson quartets; see the excellent summary of their respective strengths by Burton Rothleder in his review of the Leipzig cycle (my own preference) in 32:6.


FANFARE: James A. Altena

The MDR Chamber Choir is one of the most sough after vocal ensembles from around the world, bringing 73 singers of various nationalities together. Alongside well-known German Christmas carols such as Stille Nacht or Vom Himmel Hoch, many members of the choir have chosen carols from their own countries for this release, carols that are not only closely connected with their country's traditions but also have a special personal meaning for them.

Forget everything you ever knew about all-male choirs – unless you already know the two other GENUIN CDs previously released by the highly successful Camerata Musica Limburg... Not familiar with the discs yet? Then be sure to get the new recording of Romantic vocal repertoire featuring works by Schubert, Vaughan Williams and Sjöberg. The warm timbre of the male chorus and the four fantastic French horns glow like stars in the night, and the excellent soloists Alison Browner and Christoph Prégardien are beautifully supported and can allow their artistry to effortlessly unfold. The snow melts away and love is awakened in your heart... An absolute highlight!

These wonderful musical leaves, compiled for us by the pianist Tobias Koch for the fourth CD of his Schumann series on GENUIN, waft towards us as if from distant times. Alongside works of Schumann, we find delicate treasures by Johannes Brahms, Theodor Kirchner und Voldemar Bargiel – all works that these composers would have written in Schumann's poetry album, so to speak. Some of them appear on CD for the first time here. And alongside this allurement of rarity, Koch's floating, breathing piano sound fascinates us once again, conjuring up the period of these pieces with their impetuous feelings, salons and yearning for distant places - fragile and moving miniatures...

That a harpsichord can be so sensual, bursting with life, and even humorous as in Anke Dennert's GENUIN solo debut (following two ensemble productions) is certainly a rarity - even given that the times when these instruments were disparagingly referred to as dry-as-dust egg slicers belong to the distant past... Anke Dennert plays music by the venerable Georg Philipp Telemann, who - as we learn with pleasure upon listening to this recording - was in reality not as venerable as all that; with an astonishing wealth of nuances, the harpsichordist offers a splendid rendition of the Hamburg master's Polish, pastoral, Latin, and above all sumptuous delicacies on her one-of-a-kind, 300-year-old instrument. A discovery for connoisseurs and lovers of Baroque music!

That the Munich pianist Michael Schäfer is making us listen to in the 17th album of the GENUIN Un!erhört! (“Unheard of!”) series is unbelievable: World premiere recordings of the mysterious Leonid Sabaneev are on the program. And not for the first time: following a release featuring the composer’s chamber music and the first part of his works for piano, Schäfer now presents a third brilliant recording with additional works for piano solo. This music "between all worlds, between all times" is glowing, animated and is played at the highest technical level. Everyone will enjoy this music- not only Russian fans and keyboard enthusiasts! Since its founding by Michael Schafer in 2006, the Un!Erhort! series has established itself as a highly-praised and internationally respected landmark project for the rediscovery of great- albeit forgotten- music. All the recordings published in this series have been met with the highest praise from critics of leading music magazines and forums and been awarded numerous prizes and honors. So let each new release in this series stir your curiosity as a listener once more and discovery what unheard of riches from the musical cosmos still await you!