Martin Luther reformed the structures of the church. Preaching the gospel was bound to have visible consequences for the form of divine service. Preaching and Luther’s own writings are complemented by the sacred song, through which evangelical faith is spread. The new song of the Reformation springs from the faith of a confessing church. In arranging, translating and expanding a whole series of older church melodies, and in particular through his own figures of speech, Luther was the true founder of German Protestant congregational singing. His own hymns reflect his strong personality founded on faith, exercising a powerful effect on his and following generations. He was the “Wittenberg Nightingale.” The reforming of the old order of service had shown the need for Latin chants to be replaced by verses sung in German. Luther’s first congregational hymn “Nun freut euch, liebe Christen gmein” was written in 1529. The first Lutheran hymn book, Geistliches Gesangsbuchlein, appeared in 1524. This “little book of sacred songs” introduces the great hymns of the Reformation, soon to find a place in popular culture and to be sung wherever the gospel is preached: Music had great significance for Luther. In honor of the 500th anniversary of the reformation, this collection of hymns by Martin Luther and songs from JS Bach is released.

The Ensemble Dreiklang Berlin presents this light-hearted album entitled Badinerie. The album’s title comes from the baroque dance which was frequently paired with a Gavotte, Sarabande, Minuet, and other dance movements to form a suite. The ensemble performs these works on recorders.

Born in Hanau near Frankfurt-am-Main in 1895, where he was something of a musical prodigy, Hindemith entered Hoch’sche Konservatorium where he studied violin, composition and conducting. He supported himself by playing in local dance bands and theatre groups. He soon made his mark as a performer and became deputy leader of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra at the age of nineteen, becoming its leader three years later.

His early compositional style earned him the reputation of something of an enfant térrible. Whilst his music is modernist in outlook, he rejected some of the modern trends in music, including the teachings of Schoenberg, who he admired, in favour of a more individualistic outlook. In 1921 he had his String Quartet Op. 16 and his Kammermusik No. 1 performed at the Donaueschingen festival of contemporary music. This was followed by further performances of his music the following year at the International Society of Contemporary Music festival which served to bring Hindemith and his music to the attention of a wider audience.

The music presented on these two CDs seems to have been performed as part of the centenary celebrations of Hindemith’s birth during the 1995 Schwetzingen Festival. This is a well planned and executed concert which brings together two of his better known pieces with two of his less well known theatrical works.

Der Dämon or "The Demon" is described as "A Dance-Pantomime" and is set in two scenes, revolving around the said Demon's seduction of two sisters. In the first scene he seduces the first sister, leading the second sister into a Dance of Grief and Longing. The second scene deals with the second sister's advances towards the Demon and his rejection of her. I really enjoyed this performance. This is a work known for its more jazzy elements, and the Ensemble Varianti highlight this aspect far more than the Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt under Werner Andreas Albert on CPO (999 220-2) whose performance is more symphonic.

The Kammermusik No. 2 is in reality a mini piano concerto and marks the first in a six-part series of solo concertos which Hindemith completed in 1927. It has a highly virtuosic obbligato piano part and is in itself quite dramatic; it is believed that Hindemith composed his The Four Temperaments in order to stop George Balanchine re-working the Kammermusik No. 2 as a ballet presentation.

Herodiade which is a Ballet – Orchestral Recitation after Mallarmé, is the latest work presented here and displays greater maturity. It is available in two versions, one with recitation, and one purely orchestral. The one presented here has the wonderful Gisela Zach-Westphal whose declamation is far more dramatic than Ann Gicquel for Albert on CPO (999 220-2), although I do prefer his more orchestral sound and he does present both versions.

The final work on the disc is a spirited performance of the Kammermusik No. 1 with its famous finale entitled 1921 and siren-call ending. This was the piece that really announced Hindemith on the world-stage. Both of the Kammermusiks are given performances here that bring out the chamber music aspect more than in the other versions I have, Albert on CPO (999 301-2, 999 138-2) and Chailly on Decca (473 722-2). Even so, each version has a lot to offer.

These four works all have a significant role for the piano and here Florian Henschel is on top form, especially when you take into account that he was a late replacement for Sviatoslav Richter. His playing is strong and impassioned and he seems to make light of some fiendish sounding piano writing. As mentioned above, the Ensemble Varianti are excellent and really bring out the different colours in the music. As for Gisela Zach-Westphal she makes this disc worth buying just for her part in Herodiade. Whilst I knew that Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau also liked to dabble in conducting, especially towards the end of his singing career, this is the first disc I have of him in this role. He manages to keep a tight control on his forces whilst not losing any excitement from the music. First rate performances.

The sound is clearly from a live event; you get the applause and one or two coughs. There is also a slight string twang that I am sure is not in the score. Despites this, these are performances that are full of thrilling and energetic playing. I would have loved to have attended this concert. The booklet essay is exemplary; it is detailed and informative and fills in a couple of blanks in my knowledge of this composer.

– MusicWeb International (Stuart Sillitoe)

“AMERICAN SOUL: from Broadway to Paris” is the title of Duo Rosa’s second opus, featuring art songs, Broadway melodies and cabaret tunes. In this new project, the two musicians maintain a concept that was one of the keys to the previous album’s success: a blend of classical and popular music in a varied, accessible programme that pleases audiences of all ages, regardless of whether they are classical music lovers or not. Concertgoers were mesmerized by the energy exuded by Duo Rosa on their first tour — Return World Tour — and by the theatrical effects with which they infused classical melodies and Latin American popular songs. Thus it is only natural that they would now turn to North American repertoire, in all its flamboyance, to present a recital brimming with emotions: happiness, nostalgia, humour, sadness…and many other surprises! To grasp the audience’s attention and hold them spellbound, the duo has selected a series of highly popular songs combined with less well-known classical melodies. They perform famous Broadway tunes such as I feel pretty and Somewhere by Bernstein from West Side Story, or Gershwin songs including The man I love and I got rhythm from An American in Paris. The cabaret genre is likewise present, with numbers by Kurt Weill (Buddy on the nightshift and Je ne t’aime pas) and William Bolcom’s humorous Amor. Léna Kollmeier also displays her skill as a solo pianist in two attractive, demanding pieces filled with imagery.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Frank Peter Zimmermann is widely regarded as one of the foremost violinists of his generation. He has been performing with all major orchestras in the world, among which are the Berliner Philharmoniker with whom he made his debut in 1985 with Daniel Barenboim; the Wiener Philharmoniker with whom he played first time in 1983 with Lorin Maazel in Salzburg; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, all London orchestras, as well as all big American orchestras. Frank Peter Zimmermann is a regular guest at all major music festivals, including Salzburg, Edinburgh and Lucerne.Over the years Frank Peter Zimmermann has built up an impressive discography, and has recorded virtually all major concerto repertoire. On this new release, he focuses on the original and reconstructed violin concertos of J. S. Bach. He plays on the 1711 Antonius Stradivari violin “Lady Inchiquin,” which is kindly provided by the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, “Kunst im Landesbesitz.”

Sofja Gulbadamova's recording of a total of 14 Humoresques by the composers Edvard Grieg, Max Reger, Antonin Dvorak and Robert Schumann demonstrate the very wide range that music bearing this title could have in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. While the literary humoresque was a popular and entertaining, relatively short-lived "Biedermeier-style narrative form" (Appel), musical humoresques covered a whole range of forms - from the small-scale to the large-scale, multi-part format, from the amusing and lively through to the enigmatic and ambiguous. Be prepared for contrasts, exaggerations, the OTT and the seemingly incompatible, for pieces that can cause you to laugh or indeed to cry, and which plumb the depths of the abysmal, the desperate and the gloomy - music that speaks both directly and sometimes between the lines.

Felix Mendelssohn's string symphonies can be broadly split into two groups: the first six all have a three-movement structure; the movements of the first three are ordered fast-slow-fast and are thus based on the pre-Classical models. The second group of string symphonies comprises more substantial compositions. This release features no. 7 in D minor, no. 9 in C major, and no. 12 in G minor. There are several ways through these three symphonies when we hear Mendelssohn's ingenuity break fresh ground. The Bolzano String Academy was established in 1987 by the South Tyrolean Music Association under the artistic direction of Georg Egger. The string orchestra consists mainly of South Tyrolean musicians who have gained a wealth of experience in prominent chamber ensembles and orchestras at national and international level and pass on their experience in joint projects with budding young artists. The String Academy usually performs without a conductor. Some of the String Academy's members also play in the Klassische Philharmonie Stuttgart, and this connection has led to collaboration with the conductor Frieder Bernius.

Austrian classical composer Joseph Haydn was instrumental in his contributions to musical form. He earned the epithets "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet," but also contributed many works to the genre of the Mass. On this release, eight of his masses have been gathered. Some of these works he wrote for the Esterhazy family, for whom he served as Kapellmeister and court composer. This release begins with the Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae, which was written in 1766 after Haydn was promoted to Kapellmeister at Esterhaza. The mass is dedicated to the pilgrimage cult of Mariazell, Styria. Rounding out the release is one of Haydn's most popular masses, his Missa in tempore belli, or Mass in time of war. The work is also known as the Kettle Bell mass for it's dramatic use of timpani. He composed the work in August 1796 when Austria was mobilizing into war. Reflecting the troubled mood of this time, Haydn integrated references to battle in the Benedictus and Agnus Dei movements. Artists on this work include the Gachinger Kantorei Stuttgart, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, and more.

First of all, this is a composer, pianist and conductor who has wrongly been marginalized from contemporary awareness. He was born in Frankfurt on February 17, 1850, and died there on January 11, 1907. These dates show him to be an artist of an era characterized by a multidimensional intellectual climate and a psychological outlook that harked back to traditional values on the one hand whilst holding out revolutionary prospects on the other. As an artist, Urspruch was respected by his contemporaries and well established on the music scene. He began teaching at Dr. Hoch’s Conservatory at just 28 years of age, at a time when Clara Schumann was teaching there too. The director there was Joachim Raff, who was also his teacher. After Raff’s death in 1882, Urspruch moved to the newly founded Raff Conservatory and taught there for the rest of his life. He dedicated his piano concerto to Raff. His works encompass many genres, from piano pieces through song cycles, chamber music, symphonies, choral works and his comic opera Das Unmoglichste von allem, which was premiered in 1897. His life was centered around his family. His close personal friendship with Franz Liszt brought him a level of support that went far beyond the usual kind of appreciation shown by the more famous and older composer.

-----

REVIEW:

Urspruch wrote some memorable and interesting music and really deserves to be heard more often and I am very glad that someone has taken up the mantle of playing his works. Ana-Marija Markovina is more than capable of dealing with the sometimes extreme technical demands which this composer makes of his performer plus she is able to play with a lovely singing tone where required. She can also cope excellently with the rapid changing moods in this music and does not overplay the sometimes amazing technical demands. The superb recorded sound helps the clarity of the notes and the beauty in the music stand out. She clearly enjoys playing these works and always seems to be aware of what the music is about. I should also point out her disc of Hugo Wolf Piano music (on the Genuin label, number 87091) is well worth seeking out – his piano transcription / fantasies on works by Wagner are fascinating! I unreservedly recommend this set to all lovers of virtuoso piano music who also have an interest in the more neglected corners of the repertoire. I really wish that Urspruch had written more solo piano music so that there would be more for Ana Marija-Markovina to record.

– MusicWeb International

The compilation of works on this release is intended to provide a reasonably comprehensive view of the unaccompanied sacred choral music of the Romantic era while confining itself to German-language composers from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines. The chronological order of the composers and the consideration of a number of central works aims to show the interrelationships of the choral music scene over a period lasting more than a century. The young singers of the Jugendkonzertchor (the youth choir of the Dortmund Choral Academy) engage in intensive rehearsal work and supplementary voice training, their principal focus being the unaccompanied choral music of all periods. The ensemble’s broad repertoire also encompasses oratorio and choral symphonic works and popular music for choir. The Ruhrnachrichten newspaper praises the “perfectly homogenous overall sound and the admirably well trained soloists” of the jugendkonzertchor, who “fill the space around them with a power of their fresh young voices” to create a “luxury sound” : this is a choir of which “great things can be expected in the coming years.”

One of Germany's largest and most important independent record labels, Hanssler Classic is renowned for having recorded every single piece of music written by J.S. Bach. Their 172-album set of the complete works of J.S. Bach performed by Helmuth Rilling and the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart was the first complete set of Bach's works to be released together on album. It won the prestigious 2001 Cannes Classical Award for best special edition and the 2000 Echo Classical award for Editorial Achievement. The present release is an exemplary showcase of each and every one of JS Bach’s Oratorios, recorded over the last four decades.

Among Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's last works are quartets for piano, flute and viola, composed in 1788. His reasoning for composing these works is unknown bu tin several respects they represent a climax in chamber writing. Stylistically, they may be seen as an extremely elaborate synthesis of Classical writing and the individual style that caused Bach to be referred to as an original genius even during his lifetime.

At the time he wrote Enoch Arden, Strauss was known primarily as a composer of tone poems, having made a name for himself with works such as Macbeth, Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, Til Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks and Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The brilliantly orchestrated symphonic work From Italy was written at about the same time as Enoch Arden. It took Strauss a while to develop a reputation as an operatic composer: his opera Guntram was a critical failure. Of his 16 operas, Salome was the first to achieve any kind of fame, albeit of a rather scandalous and even infamous nature. Pianists have often deplored the fact that the gifted painter of orchestra colour wrote so little music for their instrument. Apart from the early Piano Sonata in B minor, Op. 5, the Five Piano Pieces, Op. 3, the Funf Stimmungsbilder, Op. 9, and Theme, 15 Improvisations and Fugue, there are only the highly demanding piano accompaniments for the lieder and, of course, the piano part in Enoch Arden. Despite its rarity, the 50-minute work in two parts has remained more or less at the fringes of mainstream repertoire. Yet no less than the eccentric Canadian musician and Bach specialist Glenn Gould recorded it, although it ''clearly contains some of the most sentimentally unbearable music that Strauss ever wrote''.

My own music is influenced by the music of Bach. Having studied in the Bach city" of Leipzig, fallen in love with his fugues as a child and won with his Preludes in the Jugend musiziert competition, achieved my first Bach cycle with the Goldberg Variations (in the USA for my Master in music and my first album recording) - then I was moved more and more deeply by the Credo, the inner conviction, in Bach's music. My imaginative powers, my musical energy (timbres, sounds, creativity, poetry) must be imbued with this richness. New music looks quite different from what it was in Bach's day (some even say it is all philosophy now, no melodies, notes or harmonies required). If modern music is still to be music, even today, and if it is still to enrich people's lives, a thing of value that they can and will remember, then Bach's store of wealth can always come to the aid of us composers. And so it is that J.S. Bach, who never left Germany and spent so long in Leipzig for want of a better position, today more than ever embraces the whole world with a web of his music, in all the places he never travelled to, whether Spain, Franconia, Hesse, Sweden, or far beyond Europe." (Ann-Helena Schlüter)

Benjamin Bruns began his singing career as an alto soloist with the boys' choir in his home city of Hanover. After four years of private singing lessons with Prof. Peter Sefcik, he studied at the Academy of Music and Theatre in Hamburg under the Kammersängerin Renate Behle. While still a student, he was offered a permanent contract by the Theater Bremen, a position which allowed him to build up a broadly based repertoire at an early stage. It was followed by a similar contract with the opera house in Cologne. His professional journey then took him via the Dresden State Opera to the Vienna State Opera. His repertoire contains such roles as Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Camille de Rosillon (The Merry Widow), Loge (Das Rheingold), or the Italian Tenor in the Strauss operas Capriccio and Der Rosenkavalier. Since his debut in summer 2012 he sang the Steersman in The Flying Dutchman for five seasons at the Bayreuth Festival. Oratorio and lieder form an important counterweight to Benjamin Bruns's stage work. At the heart of his extensive concert repertoire are the great sacred works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Mendelssohn. He has sung with such renowned ensembles as Berliner Philharmonics, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonics, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Bach Collegium Japan, the WDR Symphony Orchestra as well as Choir and Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome or the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Together with pianist Karola Theill he is regularly giving Lied recitals, dedicated especially to the important cycles of Schumann, Schubert and Beethoven. But also songs by Wolf, Britten, Fauré, Szymanowski and Strauss are to be found in his programs.

For this new release, pianist Annhelena Schluter invites the listener into her world of admiration for J. S. Bach as she performs Das wohltemperierte Klavier I. Annhelena says of this project: “The pedal point of holiness that underlies Bach’s music is mixed with our world like a recurring ostinato in normal everyday life. His musical message is one of comfort. My work as a musician is based on experiences, memories and a sense of purpose; not on mere knowledge. Johann Sebastian is my role model; his works are based on goodness energy, joy and patience… Bach’s Wohltemperiertes Klavier extends to the heavens, always upward-looking, beckoning us at every cadence, at every fresh start, in every pause, constantly reiterating the invitation.” Annhelena Schluter has studied in Cologne, Wurzburg, and the United States. She continually performs in masterclasses, festivals and concerts across Europe and the USA. Not only is she an accomplished pianist, she has also won several writing competitions for her lyrics, poems, and songs, and she has founded several music ensembles.

Jean Muller writes: "Mozart’s piano sonatas are, according to Charles Rosen, actually quite fully fledged Classical compositions which are in no respect inferior to his works in other genres. Even in the few sonatas composed for pedagogical purposes, the dramatic genius of Mozart that had been sharpened by opera reveals itself. In all his sonatas the astounding, simply inexhaustible melodic richness is perfectly balanced by clear proportions and an osmosis between form and content, and with a dreamy, almost playful lightness. In the two minor-key sonatas, on the other hand, Mozart is shockingly tragic, unexpectedly uncompromising, and on a par with Beethoven in terms of dark, surging power. One particular aspect, however, seems to me to be frequently neglected: the typical Mozart humour. Capricious, mischievous, childish, playful, parodying, affectionate etc – there are not enough adjectives to describe the wit of Mozart. Astonishingly, this humour never has a hurtful or injured tone but is, on the contrary, always deeply gracious and humanistic. The emotional spectrum of Mozart’s humour, with all its diversity, is always focused on the light.“

When some of Vsevolod Zaderatsky’s compositions were performed in a concert before the Academic Council of Moscow Conservatory in 2004, its members unanimously concurred that the works were written by one of the most significant Russian composers of his time. Reference was made to the “lost classics of the twentieth century.” The twentieth century brought forth many examples of the suppression of works by certain composers and even of whole categories of music. The numerous composers labeled as “degenerate” in Nazi Germany are fine examples. Since the late 1980s there has been a revival of works by Jewish composers murdered in the Holocaust; such composers include Viktor Ullmann, Pavel Haas, Erwin Schulhoff, Jozef Koffler and Gideon Klein. Only after the breakup of the Soviet Union were Russian avant-garde works of the 1910s and 1920s by Arthur Lourie, Alexander Mosolov, Sergei Protopopov, Nikolai Roslavets, Leonid Polovinkin and Gavriil Popov rediscovered. Barely known until just a few years ago, the works of Mieczyslaw Weinberg have received much attention recently. It is also worth noting the discovery of the New Jewish School, the decline of which in the late 1930s was caused by Stalinism and Nazism in equal measure. A series of first ever album recordings of music by the New Jewish School has been released by Hanssler Classics in recent years.

With 3600 listed works in all known genres credited to his name, Telemann was one of the most prolific composers of his time. He was famous for his extremely fluid compositional technique; but his stable health also enabled him to work for nearly 75 years without any major interruptions. Interestingly, Handel’s music was spared a major downfall in its posthumous acceptance. And while Johann Sebastian Bach’s works were only properly discovered in the course of the changing ideals of cultural history in the nineteenth century, Telemann’s works were regarded with increasing criticism, occasionally even with contempt. Systematic research into his contribution to music history did not begin until the second half of the twentieth century. Owing to the huge volume, there is no end in sight.

New: supplemented and completed! "The recordings are of the highest quality throughout! The different interpretations are also convincing, original sound ensembles underline the mastery of Bach's son! A must for every music lover!" "The CPE Bach Edition brings together beautiful music played by outstanding musicians. Ideal for anyone who wants to get to know the work of this composer at an affordable price."

The violin concertos by Max Bruch and Johannes Brahms are among the most significant works in the violin concerto repertoire. They are regarded as highly virtuosic and place great demands on the soloists. They were composed in the 19th century and remain an integral part of the concert repertoire to this day. They showcase different facets of Romanticism: Bruch's work is melodic and emotive, whereas Brahms' concerto is more monumental and symphonic in scope.

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's compositional work can be characterised overall as a permanent conflict between high artistic standards and the need to make concessions to playability, audience taste, and contemporary understanding of music. However, as the eldest son of the famous Thomaskantor, he was willing only to a limited extent to subordinate his musical ideals to external constraints, as numerous contemporary anecdotes and documents attest. He preferred to accept being considered an outsider and deliberately moved his art beyond the boundary that Gotthold Ephraim Lessing described as the threshold at which the common people could "distinguish the true from the false." This uncompromising attitude not only shaped his contemporary failures but also explains the enduring fascination that his work exerts today.

A musical portrait of the German Romantic composer: Bruch placed great emphasis on melody and expression, remaining stylistically rather traditional-even as the music around him was changing dramatically. In addition to orchestral works, he also composed choral and chamber music.