Beethoven performing seemingly rather trivial tasks for publishers offers a lesser known perspective on the mastermind: the businessman. Like with Joseph Haydn, there exist a multitude of folk song arrangements by Beethoven from many different language areas, besides the here portrayed Scottish, Irish and Welsh songs also Spanish, Hungarian or Swedish ones. Scottish musicians Lorna Anderson, soprano and Jamie MacDougall, tenor and the Austrian TrioVanBeethoven (Verena Stourzh, Clemens Zeilinger, Franz Ortner) take on an exploration to the treasures of Celtic melodies. Beethoven's personal touch in these songs is not only perceivable in the pre- and postludes, but is present in all of the instrumentation - a fact that motivated the initiator George Thomson several times to request even more simple instrumental parts as accompaniment, which Beethoven rejected in his very own way: "Unfortunately, I am not able to fulfill your request. I am not accustomed to retouching my compositions."

Classical Music

1825 - the title of the upcoming album of the young Austrian harpist Elisabeth Plank takes reference to the instrument of this recording, the historical double-action harp which was created in that year by the Paris firm of the �rard Brothers. The selection of works makes the emergence of an original harp style audible, which foremost consisted of a stylistic distinction between harp and piano, which was first made possible by the further technical development of both instruments during that time. The album presents compositions by Louis Spohr, Ludwig van Beethoven and Ignaz Pleyel, which were still written for the single-action harp, next to works for the double-action harp by Elias Parish Alvars, without any doubt the most popular harp player of his time, by Franz Lachner, Charles Nicholas Bochsa and Gioacchino Rossini. "For me this album represents the start of an intensive examination of the historical double harp and of the history of the harp in Vienna. This release is therefore intended as an invitation to people to immerse themselves in a world of sound unknown today and in an unfamiliar aspect of Vienna" (Elisabeth Plank).

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Following up to her recording of piano concertos by J.N. Hummel and Beethoven, Austrian pianist Ingrid Marsoner is now presenting her interpretations of late piano sonatas by Beethoven. Marsoner's subtle yet vigorous play is opening with the Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101. The Rondo alla ingharese, quasi un capriccio, Op. 129 i sbetter known by its popular name ''Rage Over a Lost Penny'' and is as an early work like the ''lighter'' Sonata No. 24 in F sharp major, Op. 78, a welcoming intermezzo and an interesting contrast to the somewhat more profound late sonatas. As such the Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111 symbolizes this world and the hereafter with its two very dissenting movements. The Austrian pianist Ingrid Marsoner is blessed with a musical sensitivity rarely to be found in the younger generation. Without any mawkishness, she is capable of moving listeners with Franz Schubert, accomplishing structural and atmospheric miracles with J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, unfolding an amazing energy in musical competition with symphony orchestras and then, when she dips into the subtleties of a Mozart sonata or a modern impression, differentiating the finest nuances so fluently that the famous borderline between musical art and music ocne more completely loses its validity. She has received major musical inspiration from other eminent pianists such as Tatiana Nikolayeva, Paul Badura-Skoda and Alfred Brendel.

Classical Music

The project EntArteOpera is dedicated by means of concerts, scenic performances and publications to the perpetuation and revival of works by forgotten, ostracized composers who were persecuted, exiled or even murdered by the Nazi regime. Salzburg violinist Thomas Albertus Irnberger presents on this upcoming release the Concerto for Violin, Horn and Orchestra by Ethel Smyth, the Concertino for Violin, Clarinet and Orchestra Op. 21 by Vitezslava Kapralova, the Concerto funebre for Violin and Strings by Karl Amadeus Hartmann as well as the Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra H 342 by Bohuslav Martinu. Collaborating artists for these exceptional instrumentations include Milena Viotti, horn, Reinhard Wieser, clarinet, and Michael Korstick, piano, the Orchestra Wiener Concert-Verein under the baton of Doron Salomon as well as the Israel Chamber Orchestra and the Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt under the baton of Martin Sieghart.

Bulgarian pianist Martin Ivanov, who attained great international reputation for his debut album with the waltzes by Frederic Chopin, dedicates his second release to the music of Robert Schumann. The Fantasy Pieces Op. 12 as well as the Novelletes Op. 21 were composed during a period in Schumann's life which was affected by the death of his mother, the forced separation from Clara, and the estrangement from his father. Much of the cheerfulness and much of the deadly seriousness in this music has this biographical background; also, Schumann probably always thought of his beloved Clara as a possible interpreter of these works. Martin Ivanov accomplishes once again to boast with supreme technical accuracy and deep emotional intuition. Born in 1990, Ivanov began his piano studies with his mother, who taught him through his high school education at the National School of Arts in Ruse, Bulgaria where he graduated in 2009. Since 2012, Martin has been studying with the very active pianist and conductor Professor Stefan Vladar. His solo career has taken him to festivals and competitions across Europe, where he has found great success.