Classical Music

Bach, J.S.: Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 (Highlights)

Gerhard Oppitz is recognized as being one of the top pianists performing internationally today. His series of Schubert’s piano works, based on his long experience with the works, showcases his superior technical control, deep intellectual pervasion, and sweeping musical realization. This ninth installment includes dances, marches, and sonata fragments.

This is the 21st CD of the complete recordings of the Haydn symphonies by Thomas Fey and the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra. Pizzicato praised Fey's interpretations of Haydn as 'mature and coherent.' It's a balanced performance of using historical performance practice, and modern strings and historic brass instruments.

The Staatskapelle Dresden unquestionably belongs to the international elite of orchestras. Here, the outstanding wind soloists of this vaunted orchestra, together with the Munich-based pianist Margarita Höhenrieder, perform two special works from the Viennese classical repertoire: Mozart's Quintet for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano in E flat major, K. 452, and the Quintet in E flat major, Op. 16 by Beethoven. As a very special encore, oboist Bernd Schober has edited the beloved Andante from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 for wind quintet and piano.

Classical Music

Much has been written about the contrasting Italian and French musical styles at the beginning of the 18th century, but Telemann was among the first composers who attempted to fuse these contrasting styles into an expressive, emotionally rich church music. The three cantatas featured on this recording are all festive works written by Telemann for performance variously during 1716/17 and 1720 church years, and exhibit the composer's ingenuity at adapting the Italianate style for use in the Lutheran church. The music is easy-going, tuneful with moments of virtuosity and characteristic tone painting.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Der Musikalische Adventskalendar (2007)

Bach: Die schönsten orgelwerke

Liszt: Piano Works

TELEMANN HIGHLIGHTS

CANTATAS: BOX 2

SCALES FROM WEIMAR: ORGAN WORK

SONATAS FOR VIOLIN & PIANO

SCHUMANN: Marchenerzahlungen

RUSSIAN PIANO MUSIC

Piotr Plawner writes of his new release: “Of all the Polish violin repertoire, the works of Henryk Wieniawski are the best known, both in his native Poland and abroad. His two violin concertos and various works for violin and piano are performed all over the world. The International Henryk Wieniawski Competition in Poznan (similar to the Chopin Competition in Warsaw) is an internationally acclaimed competition. I find Karol Szymanowski one of the most versatile Polish composers… Eight years ago, I teamed up with the Polish Radio Orchestra to give Emil Milynarski’s First Violin Concerto its world premiere. It is hard to believe that the concerto was composed in 1897 and went unperformed for 113 years. This album is intended to bring home the message that this music must not be forgotten. May this release be a token of my gratitude to all the composers whose highly interesting and beautiful works are to be heard on this release.”

The amalgamation of cultures in a potpourri of musical exchange is what “Mantra Meets Classic” is all about. The pinnacle of a journey of five years has been reached, and what is about to unfold, is a dream, of offering a Divine work, “Shanmuga Kavacham,” to the whole world. It was written in the Tamil language by the saint/poet Srimath Pamban Swamigal in 1891. The saint had prophesized, that after 100 years, this sublime work would reach a Global audience, and here we are today, bearing testimony to this miraculous prophecy, through an Indo-German Collaboration.

The internationally distinguished guitarist Jose Fernandez Bardesio plays music from North, Central, and South America, in all its great diversity of style. Its various influences from tango, folk, jazz and Afro rhythms make this music an essential part of the guitar repertoire. His arrangement of Ginastera’s Tres Danzas Argentinas is a real challenge and an expedition to the limits of the guitar; for the bitonal first and third dances, the three bass strings are retuned. Ginastera employs guitar techniques on the piano, such as the golpe, and for this reason Bardesio’s arrangement is seen as an enrichment of the literature.

Silvius Leopold Weiss is a composer whose compositions for the lute have been subject of much academic research and now enjoy an extensive discography. His early works, featured on this new release, show the new Italian influence on the young composer. Joachim Held is one of the foremost lute players of his generation. He captivates his audience with the refinement of his playing and moves the listener with expressing the different moods of the soul. In 2006 Joachim Held became the first ever lute player to receive the renowned German Echo- Klassik Award. He won in the category of "Best soloist recording of the year" for his album "Delightful Lute-Pleasure. Baroque Lute music from the lands of the Habsburgs," released by Hanssler Classic.

Siemens AG and the Orchestra Academy of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester are linked by a partnership spanning many years. What began with the family of the firm's founder Werner von Siemens, has continued across the generations through to today's company. The intensive fostering of young talent, be it in science, research, art, culture, business or technology, is today Siemens' credo, one that sees the company live it's social responsibility in a sustainable manner. Siemens can look back on a long tradition in the promotion of music in particular. Now, the Siemens Arts Program is going still further in this direction by initiating it's own projects, in which new work is created in direct collaboration with artists. The focus here is on contemporary visual arts, cultural education and classical music. The present recording, which also came about within this framework, offered the Orchestra Academy of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and it's young scholarship holders the opportunity to record an album under exceptional production conditions, bringing harmony to the well-known cello repertoire with a technically innovative audio method. Intensive collaboration between the Orchestra Academy and the Siemens Arts Program, it's artistic director Stephan Frucht, the Bayerisches Staatsorchester solo cellist Jakob Spahn, and the Immersive Audio Network IAN, has here given rise to a completely new aural experience, lending the symphonically arranged cello works of Tchaikovsky and Gulda a transparency redolent of chamber music.