“Schumann soaked into my life not too fast. It might have been the over intertwining of inner voices…it might have been the broad spectrum of his emotions that needed time to mature and grow within myself….. I did not fall in love with him at first sight as I did with Chopin. Processing his music at times felt heavy. It was like a map in which I had to discover the evolvement of my own searching. The inner struggles, the layers of his wandering spirit embedded in his music either subtle or obvious way (with his own marking) brought me deeper into the cave of my own inner world. To understand him and to ultimately empathize with him required integrity and effort. Nevertheless, contrary to this weight, the duality of Florestan and Eusebius and many between them lift off the certain seriousness in my approach to his music. His music evokes the lightness of the existence. Perhaps the distance which enabled him to observe the alter egos within himself is the humor to his music. I learned to love him in time more than any other composers, most firmly, closely and freely to my heart.“ (Klara Min)

The artists write: “On this recording, we open up the complete original music set for the voice in Franz Schubert’s “Winter Journey” to the two wind instruments oboe and bassoon. We play Winterreise from an inner conviction – it draws us in and will not let us go. After we had played some of these Lieder at home for the first time, we could not resist them. We were seized by the ambition to arrange this setting with oboe, bassoon and piano, and make it as intensive and expressive a version of Winterreise as we could. We set out to show that the two instruments breathe, even sing, just as naturally as the human voice. The poetry of Wilhelm Müller should on no account be dismissed or disregarded for that reason. On the contrary, we rely on the subconscious recall of the sung words – by us and by our listeners – in order to bring out convincingly in instrumental sound the ideas inseparably associated by Franz Schubert with Wilhelm Müller’s poetic narrative. We were carried away by the euphoria of making this music, by the gloomy, despairing mood full of yearning and desire. Where such an emotional journey can lead is evident only when one has lived it every step of the way. We all belong to one family and yet in the past we had very little opportunity to make music together. Each one of us was harnessed to their own career path and it was seldom possible for us to come together as a group. The worldwide Corona crisis has suddenly jerked us to a kind of “emergency stop”. That has allowed us to grow together again as a family, not just physically but artistically too.”

Abstract instrumental works (that is to say, those which had no “programme” in „Socialist Realism“.) were considered undesirable or – as in the case of chamber music – tainted by Western decadence. Shostakovich had won no friends within the cultural establishment with compositions of this nature. In two Pravda articles of 1936, Shostakovich was accused of “left-deviant” and “petit-bourgeois decadent” attitudes. By that time, he had already composed his Sonata for Violoncello and Piano in D minor op. 40; written in 1934, this work was premiered in Moscow the same year. It is essentially the commanding chamber work of Shostakovich’s early years. In this recording, the sonata is heard in the version for viola and piano for which the viola part was arranged by Veit Hertenstein. Already seriously ill, he wrote his last work, the Sonata for Viola and Piano op. 147, one month before his death. It is regarded by many as his own encounter with Death. Shostakovich knew that he was about to die. Nor did he live to see his final work premiered.

Benjamin Bruns´ professional journey took him via the Dresden State Opera to the Vienna State Opera, where he remained a member of the ensemble until July 2020. His musical roster contains Mozart roles such as Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) and Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) but also other important repertoire like Fenton (Falstaff), Camille de Rosillon (The merry Widow), Lysander (Britten: A Midsummer Night's Dream), Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola), or the Italian Tenor in the Strauss operas Capriccio and Der Rosenkavalier. With Wagner roles like Lohengrin, Loge (The Rhinegold) and Erik (The flying Dutchman) or Matteo in Strauss’ Arabella he made his first steps into the light dramatic repertoire. In spring 2020 he had his debut as Florestan in Beethoven’s Fidelio (1804) at the Vienna State Opera. 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 the Berlin 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. This most recent release is a recording of Schubert’s Winterreise.

“The pupil Beethoven was here!” – the young piano virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles caught sight of this sentence in block letters on a note in the house of his teacher Antonio Salieri, Kapellmeister to the Viennese court. “A man like Beethoven still has something to learn from somebody like Salieri? How much more do I!” thought the fourteen-year-old acolyte of the arts and ardent admirer of Beethoven. It is indeed noteworthy that Beethoven, who by 1808 was already widely acknowledged as a genius, was still ready to take advice from Salieri. The two musicians must first have met in the mid-1790s; Beethoven made his first appearance as a soloist in Vienna in March 1795 with a piano concerto of his own that Salieri conducted. He was already known as a virtuoso and instrumental composer, but had yet to make his mark in the prestigious genre of opera. Beethoven began at that time to pursue his goal of employment in the operatic sphere and was evidently aware of his relative lack of experience in the field of vocal music. Salieri for his part was Vienna’s unchallenged authority on the subject and had been so for decades. The sociable and well connected maestro never charged his students, and Beethoven made good use of the offer of free lessons over the years. He thanked Salieri for his generosity by dedicating his op. 12 Violin Sonatas to him and by composing a set of variations on a Duettino from Salieri’s opera Falstaff ossia Le tre burle.

The “Sei Suonate à Cembalo certato è Violino Solo”, as Bach’s six Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord (BWV 1014–1019) are entitled in the oldest surviving fair copy, are undoubtedly among those works which have set new standards in chamber music. They have long established themselves on the world’s concert platforms, and yet they still raise questions. There is no certainty about when or where the sonatas were written. Did Bach compose them when he moved to Leipzig? And did he deliberately plan them as a set of six? We cannot tell. Accordingly, Bach’s Violin Sonatas BWV 1014–1019 are not only unbelievably varied, they amount to a veritable treasure-chamber of musical forms and moods. Bach’s son Carl Philipp Emanuel perceptively remarked in 1774 that the Sonatas sounded “very good even now, even though they are over 50 years old”, and in addition contained “some Adagii, which one could not set more songfully at the present day”. That “present day” was the world in which Emanuel Bach lived and worked, the world of the Enlightenment, the galant style and the “sentiment” of Empfindsamkeit. From such a perspective, as works in which the primacy of melody is constantly evident despite the narrow limits imposed by the writing for trio, the Violin Sonatas may be perceived as a bridge into our own times.

Pan and Apollo – or to put it in musical terms: wind and string instruments. Both of them ancient gods from Greek mythology: Pan, god of shepherds, the forests and nature and Apollo, son of Zeus, prophetic god of music – each representing their own instrument. Ovid’s Metamorphoses tell of the contest, Pan with his syrinx (pipes of pan) and Apollo strumming on his lyre. J.S. Bach took this theme for his famous cantata Geschwinde, ihr wirbelnden Winde (Calm, you whirling winds) (Secular cantatas Vol 9 BWV 201, 207a). But this recording is not a contest between the two instruments (in our case, the flute and the harp), rather something quite different. Staying in the realm of ancient Greece: water, the theme of this release, comes from the “four elements” doctrine of the ancient Greek philosophers. And that is not the only remarkable feature of this recording. Alongside the beauty of the chamber music, the clarity and lucidity of both instruments, lies the enjoyment of precious musical rarities.

The first true complete recording of Robert Schumann’s works for piano solo on 17 albums (in 15 volumes), played by Florian Uhlig, seeks for the first time to offer imaginative compilations on album (e.g. “Robert Schumann and the Sonata”, “The Young Piano Virtuoso”, “Schumann in Vienna”, “Schumann and Counterpoint”, “Variations”) containing all original works for pianoforte written between 1830 (Abegg Variations op. 1) and 1854 (Ghost Variations) according to the newest critical editions and/or first editions. Several of these albums include premiere recordings. The booklets by Joachim Draheim, who discovered and/or edited a number of the works, shed light on the biographical and musicological background to the works thus coupled.

During Paganini´s lifetime (1782–1840), there were rumors that Paganini had sold his soul to the Devil. His violin technique was so astonishing, his performance style so exuberant and his appearance so, well, demonic that there could be no other explanation. With modern medical knowledge, it now seems more likely that he had Marfans and Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, allowing him to stretch his hands in ways no one else could. Whether or not he had natural advantages, Paganini changed the course of violin playing, as Pavel Šporcl explains: “He was the best – a magician of the violin. He became a global star – the tabloid newspapers gossiped about him and told readers to sell everything to buy a ticket to see him. He also did so much to advance violin playing and repertoire. Violin technique and the way we play today are largely due to Paganini.” Pavel Šporcl and his famous blue violin are celebrated around the world. He is considered in the ‘royal line’ of Czech violinists, having been taught by the legendary teacher Vaclav Snitl (himself taught by Jaroslav Kocian) as well as by Itzhak Perlman, Eduard Schmieder and Dorothy DeLay. Šporcl whose iconic blue violin was created by leading contemporary instrument maker Jan Spidlen, has done a great deal to popularise classical music in his country – having sold more than 230,000 albums and frequently appeared on television, including his recent documentary series on the great Czech violinists of yesteryear, and his regular top-rated program introducing children to music.

“Masterpieces are irreplaceable with their timelessness. I still clearly remember when, for the first time, I heard a couple of bars in the last movement of Beethoven’s Opus 109 – it was about 20 years ago and I felt deeply touched and captured at that moment... It was something truly indescribable to me. I have always believed that I should only record pieces of music to which I feel strongly attached. I felt that this composition would grow as if it were an extension of my own musical language. It is now very clear to me that Opus 109 will always be the music to accompany me through all the ups and downs of life, and the same is also true for Opus 111. It has to be admitted that I totally fell in love with the variations to be found in Opus 111. I desperately wanted to be part of that particular world encompassed by the fragile and sublime colors which are to be found between the “pp” and “ppp” (“very quiet” and “extremely quiet”) parts of the work, which permeate the whole special atmosphere. It seems as if one is being driven towards infinity – somehow it might even take one to a sublime place without conflicts, pain and evil.“ (Haiou Zhang)

To make the dream come true and record the music for the album, Kaczka and Nadrzycki had to conquer thousands of kilometres and overcome numerous obstacles. The mental barrier turned out to be the hardest: if they wanted to focus strictly on the music, they had to forget about cancelled flights and restrictions, not to mention all the disturbing news regarding the global spread of SARS-Co-V 2 or the insecure artistic and professional prospects for the future in face of the lockdown and closed concert halls. But they succeeded. They managed to devote themselves to the music entirely, the result being an exquisite album that for listeners will prove to be a welcome respite from the pandemic and a space to breathe freely.

Although Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s first instrument was the piano, even as a child he revealed himself to be a highly gifted violinist. In this domain too he was encouraged by his father Leopold, well-known violin teacher in his own right and author of a violin method widely respected at the time. Even when Wolfgang was already 21, father Leopold reaffirmed his son’s violinistic talent, on 8 October 1777. ‘You don’t realize how good you are on the violin when you put your mind to it, playing with character, conviction and spirit, just as if you were the best violinist in Europe.’ That letter was written in the period between 1773 and 1779, when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed numerous works requiring string soloists. From April to December of 1775 alone, the 19-year-old penned 5 violin concertos, in an unbroken process as it were. At that time Mozart was employed as concertmaster by the archbishop’s court in Salzburg, where instrumental music was highly prized. He had, however, previously got to know the Italian tradition and art of the violin in situ, frequenting students of the famous Giuseppe Tartini there, such as Pietro Nardini and Gaetano Pugnani. On several occasions during his three journeys to Italy, he also met the Bohemian composer Josef Myslivecek, who cultivated the violin concerto genre intensively. Synthesizing the influence of Italian masters with that of Joseph Haydn, Johann Christian Bach and French violinists, Mozart composed his own concertos, which sparkle with vitality but are at the same time both intimate and graceful.

Moritz Benjamin Kolb writes: “We first placed the sheet music of Purcell´s fantasias on our music stands at a time when we were principally working on Mendelssohn's last quartet, immersed in his dark spiritual mood. We played the first bars of one of the fantasias on a whim, perhaps subconsciously wishing to find a light-hearted contrast to what we were working on. The incredible beauty and clarity of the music took hold of us straight away, in a way that no other music had affected us till then. Our faces brightened up and we knew that these gems would stay with us. From then on, we began each rehearsal with one of the fantasias. This new light was rather like an awakening for us. We began to include the fantasias in our concert programmes. As a result of the enthusiastic audience reaction and our collaboration with the wonderful Richard Gwilt we decided, over time, that we would take possession of these works. As a result, the contrast between light and dark on this recording is something very personal. We are very happy about this and grateful.”

Kathrin Christians won her first flute competition at the age of twelve and studied the flute in Mannheim, Munchen and Stuttgart. She finished her masters’ degree in 2012 at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart with Prof. Davide Formisano, with a final grade of 1 with distinction. At the age of only 23, she became first flautist with the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Mannheim Mozart Orchestra, a position she held until early 2013. She played numerous concerts throughout Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Italy, France, Denmark, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Africa. In 2014, she performed at, among others, the Lucerne Festival and the Luneberger Bachtagen. In 2013, she thrilled her audiences with solo concerts at the Stuttgarter Liederhalle and the Schwetzinger Rococo Theater, and debuted with a double concert for flute and harp by W. A. Mozart with Catrin Finch at the Festival Palermo Classical. This release is her debut solo recording, and features works by Jindrich Feld, Mikis Theodorakis, and Mieczyslaw Weinberg.

One of the 19th century’s most important music critics, Eduard Hanslick (1825-1904) noted in his memoirs (Aus meinem Leben, vol. 2, Berlin 1880) in the section “On Johannes Brahms”: “A young Hercules at the parting of the ways. Will he turn to the left, to the utterly Romantic, to music that knows no bounds and no restraints – or to the right, on the path of our Classical composers? He has chosen the latter, and having introduced to us (in 1862) his Handel Variations, his G minor Piano Quartet, his B flat Sextet, we could no longer doubt that in Brahms we had been vouchsafed a figure who was not merely a promising genius, but a master in the noblest sense of the word. A master who had the ability to cast original, modern content in Classical form. And at the same time a piano virtuoso in the grand manner whose manly, intelligent delivery takes wing freely above consummate technique.”