While many great composers did not take into account the musical education of their descendants in their work; there is explicit children’s and educational literature from others. Among the best-known examples are certainly Bach; Mendelssohn or Schumann (Album for the Young). The Georgian pianist Giorgi Iuldashevi quotes from the latter work on his debut album under the name “Simplicity”; with which the young pianist dedicates himself to piano literature for children. Beginning with his compatriot Nodar Gabunia and his work “From the Diary of a Pupil” (1977); excerpts from “For Children; Vol. 1” by Béla Bartók; from György Kurtág’s “Játékok”; from the “Children’s Music”; Op. 65 by Sergei Prokofiev as well as from the “Children’s Album” Op. 39 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky are played. This selection of these highly varied; simple miniatures for children; far from any banality; reveals what Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; among others; stated: “In the restriction the master shows himself”.

Born in Vienna in 1903, Victor Urbancic held a variety of positions in German and Austrian musical life, including Kapellmeister at the Stadttheater Mainz, professor of music theory, piano and accompaniment and deputy director at the Graz Conservatory, as well as lecturer in musicology at the University of Graz before he was forced into exile in 1938 by the Nazi regime (since his wife Melitta Grünbaum was Jewish). After unsuccessful attempts to get a job in Switzerland or the USA, Urbancic decided – made possible by a fellow student – to flee to Iceland, where he worked at the Reykjavík Music School within a very short time, and over the years became a key figure in the Icelandic music scene while teaching at what then became the Reykjavík Conservatory. The Austrian soprano Marina Colda, together with Julia Tinhof, piano, presents songs by Victor Urbancic on this album by the title “Vorahnung” (Foreshadowing). The title is borrowed from the eponymous song from 1920 to the sombre lyrics by Edward Mörike, which against the background of Urbancic’s life story seems like an actual premonition of his fate. The vast majority of these songs were created in the time before his exile, as he was confronted with an extremely demanding workload in Iceland, and adhere to a somewhat late Romanticistic style of composing.

The concept album “Arvo Pärt” by Gramola is based on the motif of the mirror. Following up on Daniel Barenboim’s saying “Music comes from silence and ends with it”, there is a prologue and epilogue for piano solo (“For Alina” / “Variations for the Healing of Arinuschka”), which in minimalist form and Pärt’s own tintinnabuli style provides the framework for this almost spiritual journey. Embedded in it, the instruments violin, viola and violoncello, each in combination with piano, play three times first “Spiegel im Spiegel” (Mirror in the mirror) – moving down the musical scale, and then in reverse order of the instruments “Fratres” (Latin for Brothers). The meditative character of these works as well as the special timbres of the instruments are presented inimitably by the musicians Ketevan Sepashvili, piano, Veriko Tchumburidze, violin, Gertrude Rossbacher, viola, and Sandro Sidamonidze, cello.

The second volume of the series by the title “Doktor Lichtenthals MOZART” by Pandolfis Consort playing on period instruments presents symphonies by W. A. Mozart in chamber music arrangements. Peter Lichtenthal, born Wolfgang Mayer in 1779 in Bratislava, was not only a physician, but also a composer and author, including of two Mozart biographies, to which high authenticity can be attributed due to his acquaintance with Constanze Mozart and his two sons Carl and Franz. As a great admirer of the genius Mozart, he created numerous transcriptions of Mozart’s works to make them performable in a small private setting. In this case, the symphonies No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, and “Jupiter” No. 41 in C major, K. 551, are set for string quintet.

The young, already internationally successful Austrian baritone and ensemble member of the Munich Gärtnerplatztheater Daniel Gutmann presents songs by Robert Schumann based on poems by Heinrich Heine with Maximilian Kromer, piano, on this CD. In addition to Schumann’s most popular song cycle, “Dichterliebe” Op. 48, from which the title of this album, “Tränenflut”, is taken, this recording also finds the “Liederkreis” Op. 24 with its nine songs enter this compilation. In addition, Gutmann and Kromer interpret with “Belshazzar”, Op. 57, and “Die zwei Grenadiere”, Op. 49/1, Schumann’s settings of two of the German poet’s best-known ballads.

The brass quintet quinTTTonic came together in Vienna in 2017 and prepares its audience a cocktail of fine brass sounds, enriched by vocals and a touch of poetry. The five brass players’ debut album “Luftveränderung” (Change of Air) is presenting a colorful selection of pieces ranging from Viennese classical music, contemporary works and jazzy chaos to traditional local music and original compositions. The tailor-made repertoire is mainly characterized by the collaboration with composers – such as Leonhard Paul, Ursula Reicher and Kurt Schwertsik. Five female brass players from Upper Austria, Lower Austria and Carinthia – five individual characters, five creative minds, four different instruments. Their different roots are clearly noticeable, as is their love of musical experimentation – Crossover at its best!

Peter Lichtenthal, born Wolfgang Mayer in 1779 in Bratislava, was not only a physician, but also a composer and author, including of two Mozart biographies, to which high authenticity can be attributed due to his acquaintance with Constanze Mozart and his two sons Carl and Franz. As a great admirer of the genius Mozart, he created numerous transcriptions of Mozart’s works. On its first CD of a two-part series by the title “Doktor Lichtenthals MOZART”, which is now released, the Pandolfis Consort presents piano works by W. A. Mozart in arrangements by Lichtenthal. On period instruments, the Consort takes over the function of the entire orchestra as a string quartet in the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, featuring the Romanian pianist Aurelia Visovan on the likewise historic fortepiano. The Fantasy for Piano No. 4 in C minor, K. 475, and the Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K. 457, also included on the CD, were extended by Peter Lichtenthal with a cello part, which is interpreted by Günter Schagerl.

The present Reflections juxtapose four composers of the so-called First and Second Viennese Schools, who became world-famous through many things – except compositions for organ. Pier Damiano Peretti, organist and composer as well as professor of organ at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, conceives an organ program framed by the two Fantasies in F minor K. 594 and K. 608 “for a mechanical clockwork organ” by W. A. Mozart. In addition, there are arrangements for organ by Franz Schubert of the Fugue in E minor op. 152 (D 952), the Fantasia in F minor for piano four hands op. 103 (D 940) and the Adagio in G major, D 178. The Six Little Piano Pieces op. 19 by Arnold Schönberg as well as the Variations for Piano op. 27 by Anton Webern are portraying the Second Viennese School. All arrangements were created by Peretti, who is performing on the Lenter organ of the Lutherische Stadtkirche Vienna.

Thomas Albertus Irnberger, the Salzburg violinist, who performs worldwide, and Michael Korstick, piano, internationally known for his Beethoven interpretations, release works by Sergei Prokofiev for violin and piano on this double SACD. With unmatched precision in ensemble play and critically acclaimed virtuosity, the performers present the two sonatas for violin and piano, Op. 80 and Op. 94a, the “Five Melodies, Op. 35a” and “Five Pieces from Cinderella”. Also included on this recording is the Sonata for Violin solo, Op. 115. Irnberger dedicates this recording to Igor Oistrakh, who was born in Ukraine and died in 2021, from whom he received important impulses for his own playing, and whose father David Oistrakh was one of the most important Prokofiev interpreters and friends of the composer.

After the first CD with Chinese and Classical songs (“I love this country”, Gramola 99275), this time the soprano Marie Cho with Niels Muus at the piano presents songs by Mozart (the “Abendempfindung / Evening Thoughts”, and the canzonetta “Ridente la calma”, a free arrangement of an aria by his friend Myslivecek), Schubert (“Die Forelle / The Trout”, “Frühlingsglaube / Faith in Spring”, the “Serenade” from the song cycle “Schwanengesang” and the popular “Ave Maria”) and Brahms (the dramatic love song “Von ewiger Liebe / Of Eternal Love” and the peacefully swaying “Wie Melodien zog es mir / Like Melodies It Pulls”) and as a conclusion two Chinese songs, the Eastern Mongolian “Shepherd Song” by Qu Xixian and “Songs of my Hometown” by Xu Peidong. In between, piano pieces by Mozart and Schubert, played by Niels Muus, will be heard.

The Ensemble Trisonante was founded in 2015 and has since developed into an internationally sought-after and regularly performing piano trio. With their debut CD “Unfolding”, the three musicians Christina Leeb-Grill, piano, Cecilia Sipos, cello, and Luís Morais, violin, go into discovery mode in the early work of great composers. Franz Schubert composed the Sonatensatz in B flat major, D 28, in 1812, when he was just 15 years old; Nevertheless, it is not difficult to discover the composer’s very own tone. Claude Debussy wrote his first chamber music work, the Piano Trio in G major, at the age of 18; Like Schubert’s work, it was not published until almost 100 years after it was written.

Also at the age of 18, Sergei Rachmaninov composed the one-movement Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor, which formed the prerequisite for a much expanded piano trio only two years later. Dmitri Shostakovich’s first chamber music work is the Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor, Op. 8, which today is one of the most popular piano trios of the 20th century.

Father and son Amiram (violin) and Maxime Ganz (violoncello) present a highly demanding programme on their first joint CD recording with solo sonatas and duos from the first half of the 20th century. Starting with the Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7 (1914) by Zoltán Kodály, the Hungarian composer and folk music researcher who, along with Bartók, had the most significant influence on the development of a Hungarian national musical identity. From the latter comes – already from the time of his American exile, the year 1944 – the Sonata for Violin solo, Sz. 117, which is formally inspired by Bach’s sonatas and partitas, and is full of breakneck virtuosity.

The first part Dialogo of the two-movement Sonata for Cello solo was composed by György Ligeti, also from Hungary, in 1948, and then five years later added another movement, Capriccio, to the work, with which he completed the work for the sonata. The second duo on this album, Maurice Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello, dates from 1922; While audiences and critics were initially rather hostile to the change in Ravel’s style that took place here, the work today is received as one of the most poetic compositions by the French composer.

Syrian-Emirati composer Somar Ajalyaqin (b. 1978) started his relationship with the arts at an early age in his hometown Damascus. After having studied both poetry and painting, he began his musical journey on his mother’s advice, as she advocated a holistic approach to artistic expression. This debut album with Anna Volovitch, piano, Christoph Croisé, cello, Heinz-Peter Linshalm, clarinet and the Santos String Quartet features a collection of compositions in varied styles and instrumentation: from the Five Piano Pieces with playful titles such as The Cat and the Wool Ball, Capriccio Andalucía or The Butterfly and the Flame, to the Sonata for Cello and Piano and the Fantasy for E-flat Clarinet and Piano “The Cricket in the Mirror”, a wide spectrum of sound and expression is represented here. The intensely touching String Quartet “Wuhan Oblivion”, the composer’s most recent work, paints not only a picture of our eerie streets, abandoned during lockdown, but mostly a picture of our inner lives as we fight to overcome this paradoxal moment of communal loneliness.

Anton Bruckner, who had been cathedral organist in Linz since Christmas 1855, had already been a student of the Viennese music theorist Simon Sechter since he took up this post. Despite these intense and extensive studies, he then took private lessons with the Linz theater conductor Otto Kitzler. Kitzler encouraged him from the beginning to write complete pieces and no longer to carry out mere exercises. This resulted in the “Kitzler-Studienbuch” in 1862, which, in addition to piano pieces, also contains quartet sketches and songs for voice and piano. On this recording on a restored Bösendorfer fortepiano owned by Bruckner, Christoph Eggner presents countless Waltzes, Minuets, Polkas, Marches, but also Etudes, individual movements such as an Andante or a Rondo as well as four Fantasies. These small pieces correspond to the taste of his time, and the fact that Bruckner was already thinking in terms of orchestral sound is shown by the instrumentation notes and executions that follow these piano pieces – thus already in these beautiful pieces is the seed for all the admirable creations of the awakening symphonic composer Anton Bruckner.

The album “Atlantic Crossings” by the Parisian Orchestre Pasdeloup, directed by Wolfgang Doerner, is dedicated to music written by European composers who came across the Atlantic to New York or later had to flee there from the Nazis. Gustav Mahler, who since 1907 has been travelling annually to New York over the winter to perform there, is introduced with the “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen” with the Austrian baritone Daniel Schmutzhard, “Das himmlische Leben” with the French soprano Amel Brahim-Djelloul, as well as the orchestral pieces “Blumine” and “Entracte” (from “The Three Pintos”).

Extended by the jazz orchestra of percussionist Franck Tortiller, Orchestre Pasdeloup presents Sigmund Romberg’s “Lover Come Back to Me”, again featuring Amel Brahim-Djelloul; Romberg had been living in New York since 1909 and had established himself on Broadway. In the same line-up, Kurt Weill, who had to leave Europe for good in 1935, can be heard with “Berlin im Licht”, the chanson “Je ne t’aime pas” written in France in the early thirties and the Broadway song “That’s Him” from 1943.