Abel Carlevaro is considered one of the great guitar personalities of the 20th century. He inverted his own playing technique and an instrument constructed after his measures, featuring among others a varied geometry and a repositioned sound hole. This album presents works like Preludios Americanos, Cronomias, Veinte Microestudios and the Milonga Suite No. 1.

Classical Music

Georgian born pianist Ketevan Sepashvili’s latest album by the title Fantasy Images presents two great piano cycles: Kreisleriana Op. 16 by Robert Schumann – composed with Clara Wieck, the adored daughter of his teacher and his later wife in his thoughts- constitutes one of the most demanding and varied piano cycles of German romanticism. The title Kreisleriana refers to the artist figure of “Kreisler” by E. T. A. Hoffman, an eccentric, wild, and quick-witted Kapellmeister. Similar to Schumann, Sergey Rachmaninov had more or less concrete pictures in mind while composing the Etudes- Tableaux Op. 39. Ketevan Sepashvili succeeds inimitably in painting these fantasy images through the listeners ears to the mind’s eye. Ketevan Sepashvili’s exceptional talent became evident in her early childhood. Before she was two she began playing Georgian folk music melodies she had heard on the piano. Following her professional training she continued her studies with Hans-Jurg Strub in Switzerland. Her artistic work has already brought her numerous national and international prizes and scholarships.

“There can hardly be more intractable material for bravura passages than the double bass.” – contrasting these words by the doyen of Viennese critics, Eduard Hanslick (1825–1904), Hungary-born Ernö Racz, solo double bass player at the Lower Austrian Tonkunstler Orchestra, steals the show with his brilliant style of playing, where even the most virtuoso pieces are mastered with ease. On his latest album by the title “Viaggio nel tempo” with Veronika Trisko, piano, he presents original pieces like Extrème by Lajos Montag, short pieces by Serge Koussevitzky, Signs, Games and Messages for double bass solo by György Kurtág or the double bass solos from symphonies by Joseph Haydn, as well as arrangements like the Sonata for violin and b.c. G minor by Henry Eccles, the Arioso from the Cantata BWV 156 by J. S. Bach or the Nocturne No. 20 by Frederic Chopin. Kicho by Astor Piazzolla is dedicated to Piazzollas longtime friend and colleague Enrique “Kicho” Díaz, regarded as one of the most brilliant interpreters of the tango of his day.

Vidala focuses on Latin America during the years of colonization, where in the 16th century three different cultures start intermingling: Natives, Spanish conquistadors and African slaves. From Mexico to Argentina there is an explosion of new dances with exciting names like Sarabanda, Zamacueca, Pasacalle and Folia. The recording features instrumental arrangements of traditional melodies and songs from Latin America, performed by Argentinian tenor Francisco Brito, as well as works by Italian composers such as Alessandro Piccinini, Tarquinio Merula, Biagio Marini and Antonio Vivaldi. Since it's formation in 1999, the Bach Consort Vienna with musical director Rub�n Dubrovsky, are widely renowned for their authentic performance practice and with Vidala take us on a journey through time to the roots of European Baroque.

On this release titled The Maltese Touch, guitarist Simon Schembri and Parisii Quartet present three works which, alongside virtuosity of execution, also display a wide range of emotions and contrasts. The guitar concerto op. 30 by Mauro Giuliani was arranged for guitar and string quartet by the composer himself. Luigi Boccherini who was for many years in the service of the Bourbon court and other nobility in Madrid dedicated his composing the specific native sound scapes, that his adopted country Spain offered. Thus he arranged a number of his earlier string quintets for guitar and string quartet like the Quintet in D major, G. 448 “Fandango”. The piece Nazca by the French guitarist and composer Erik Marchelie was written in 1988 and refers to the enigmatic drawings on the desert floor of the Peruvian desert.

This exciting and diverse collection of 19th and 20th century Austrian works is performed by Austrian flutist Elisabeth Most and guitarist Maroje Brcic. These original works for flute and guitar are from composers Cesar Bresgen, Mauro Giuliani, Alfred Uhl, Jan Truhlar, and Leonardo de Call. Elisabeth Most is a popular guest on concert stages across Europe, South America, and the USA. She is also an ambassadorof the Institut fur Klangreihenmusik in Vienna. Maroje Brcic performs as a soloist as well as in several chamber ensembles. He was recently awarded the Orlando Prize for the best music performance at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

Classical Music

Classical Music

The Calamus Consort transports the listener with this program to a private concert in late eighteenth century Vienna. The focus at that time was not on technical virtuosity or compositional richness but rather on delight in making music and interest in experiments in sound. With Monica Theiss-Eröd, soprano, Valentina Kutzarova, mezzo soprano and Adrian Eröd, baritone, the recording features duets and trios from operas and musical comedies by Wolfgang Amade Mozart, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, Giovanni Paisiello as well as instrumentals by Franz Anton Hoffmeister and Anton Stadler. The Calamus Consort's varied sound schemes stem from the use of modern copies of the many different historical clarinets, basset and natural horns as well as all sorts of percussions being used at the time.

Classical Music

The second release by the four-hand piano duo Viennese Waltz Export (Marialena Fernandes and Ranko Markovic) sheds light on the development of the waltz over the years and national borders. Commencing with classical Viennese Waltzes by Johann Strauss I, the duo move on to Russia with a Rachmaninoff waltz as well as his arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty for four-hands. Waltzes by Johannes Brahms and Wolfgang Rihm lead to the concluding Valse du mystérieux baiser dans l’oeil by Erik Satie, allowing a certain glimpse of emerging musical Dadaism.

Classical Music

The Haydn Chamber Ensemble was founded in 2013 by Cornelia L�scher, violin, Luca Monti, piano and Hannes Gradwohl, cello to promote the music of Joseph Haydn and his contemporaries to a broader audience. Committed to their name, the musicians commence their debut CD with the Piano Trio No. 39 in G major, Hob. XV:25 by Haydn. This late work of his is then contrasted by the Piano Trio in E major, K. 542 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, that he composed at the height of his success in the year 1788 - then being around half the age as "Papa Haydn". Franz Schuberts Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat major D 929 originated from 1827, just one year before his passing, which ultimately brought the era of the First Viennese School to an end.

Classical Music