This brand new album for the very first time brings together the complete songs of Clara Schumann in the original key - a long-overdue present for the two hundredth anniversary of her birth! Why is this collection so compelling and vibrant? Because all the songs are heard in the original keys and in each case fittingly performed by a female or male voice. Miriam Alexandra and Peter Gijsbertsen of course contribute their share here, while Jozef de Beenhouwer's experienced and sovereign piano accompaniment shows them in the very best light. Clara Schumann enjoyed international fame as a pianist and continued to concertize with great success throughout Europe even when she was the mother of a growing brood of children, a housewife, and her husband Robert's assistant. She revealed her compositional talent while she was still a young girl- as the twelve-year-old's "Der Wanderer" and "Der Wanderer in der Sagemuhle" demonstrate. Later Robert Schumann encouraged his beloved wife to compose new works and even published joint collections of their songs- a very unusual practice during a time when people at most turned up their noses at compositions by women. Clara reached one high point in her vocal oeuvre with the Jucunde songs. The demanding piano part reveals the keyboard virtuoso- but not without offering the singer sufficient room for the luscious design of this music radiating charm, mirth, and joie de vivre. Robert was especially fond of her last song based on Goethe's "Veilchen," even though it had to vie with Mozart's setting.

Classical Music

Classical Music

A lot has been written about the multifaceted relationship between Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Maria Sournatcheva opens another audio chapter in this story. Together with the pianist Aleksandr Shaikin, this principal oboist from Winterthur explores the musical interrelations waiting for discovery in the chamber music of the three and very particularly in some of their songs. In the process she brings to light so many a veritable surprise. Robert’s Romances are of course a must. However, it is hardly known at all that three Romances by Clara have been transmitted to us. Originally intended for violin and dedicated to Joseph Joachim, these character pieces prove to be extremely progressive compositions and particularly compelling when rendered by the oboe and piano. The same applies to Robert’s “Adagio and Allegro;” it is just as “swift and fiery” as Schumann prescribed- and here many a horn player will turn pale with envy. It is perhaps the oboe’s sound so similar to the human voice that makes the interpretations of songs with the oboe so moving. “Stille Tranen,” “Von ewiger Liebe,” “Verzagen”- the titles referring to quiet tears, eternal love, and despair already indicate that an emotional tour de force awaits us. “Widmung” supplies the name and the conclusion- how fitting for Robert’s wedding present dedicated to his beloved Clara!

Classical Music

Who's afraid of big emotions? An-lun Huang's piano trios dazzlingly demonstrate that contemporary music in no way has to be accessible only to a sworn community of experts. With his skill this Chinese-Canadian composer combines the best traditions from several world regions to produce a euphonious and harmonious whole - and does so with great class. The premiere ensemble for the Trio No. 2 from 2015 lends this first recording a special measure of authenticity. As a composer and as a teacher An-lun Huang is sought after throughout the world. His Chinese Rhapsody No. 2 marked the beginning of a breathtaking career: it was with this work that Huang's fellow Chinese musician Lang Lang played his way to the first prize in the youth section of the legendary Tchaikovsky Competition. Music is a tradition in the master's family: Huang's father was one of Paul Hindemith's last students at Yale. The Chinese element of course is not lacking in the piano trios. Again and again pentatonic motifs of earworm quality spread out East Asian flair. The fact that Huang understands his compositional trade is immediately audible. His music, instrumented for the difficult trio combination with a sleepwalker's sureness and perfectly balanced in it's proportions, enthuses listeners from beginning to end.

Franz Schubert’s Symphony in C major very much deserves its popular designation: it is indeed “The Great.” After all, its playing length of an hour means that it transcends the dimensions of everything that came before it. Moreover, with this mighty feat Schubert was very much inviting direct comparison with the works of a certain composer who was almost thirty years his senior: Beethoven. Peter Gülke and his Brandenburg Symphony discover hidden and more obvious allusions while situating this gigantic work, complete and unabridged, in a previously hardly noticed, surprising comparative context and present the results in vibrant SACD sound. On this recording Peter Gulke once again shows why he has been showered with the highest honors in the field of music and the study of literature. Just in time for the two hundredth anniversary of the Brandenburg Theatre, he and his orchestra are in top form. In keeping with the festive occasion- and the outstanding importance of the work- Schubert’s symphony is heard in luxurious three-dimensional sound. Genuinely great music conveyed in magnificent audio form!

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Powerful female characters and a woman's powerful voice: MDG listeners are familiar with Mary-Ellen Nesi from several outstanding Handel recordings. In her most recent recital the acclaimed mezzo-soprano turns to dramatic roles from Baroque and classical operas. The selection on this release is compelling: supported by the musicians of Armonia Atenea under the conductor George Petrou, Nesi lends complex female characters a deep intensity of irresistible audience appeal from the first note straight through to the very end. And these characters really do have to be filled with life. From Medea to Aristea, from Alcestis to Galatea, and from Andromeda to Eurydice: the ancient material has been set many times, and the interpretations of these personalities, often complicated ones, are no less diverse. Hasse's Eurydice endows the enchanting nymph with a self-confidence that was once completely foreign to Gluck and Monteverdi. And then Medea: the mother who murdered her children doubtless numbers among the most fascinating figures from ancient mythology. While Handel, bowing to convention, eliminated the bloodthirsty episode, two generations later Cherubini depicted the whole Medea, in a role with absolutely superhuman difficulties. The work was too extreme even for his contemporaries. It was not until 2013 that researchers roused the sleeping beauty "Du trouble affreux" after more than two hundred years of slumber.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music