The program of Vol. 3 of the Hanns Eisler project by Holger Falk and Steffen Schleiemacher- a meritorious endeavor that has already earned them various prizes- features songs from this composer’s American exile. The Hollywood Songbook is a major work, even if measured solely by its length and total of thirty-two pieces. Moreover, the concentration and intensification of the content attained by Eisler while he was residing on the Pacific Coast make this rather loosely organized collection of occasional pieces what is certainly the most important song cycle of the twentieth century. Unlike many other exiles, Eisler was extremely successful in California, both artistically and financially. In the expanding entertainment industry there was an increasing demand for new film music, which Eisler supplied both willingly and reliably. His songs reveal the other side of his life in exile: yearning for home, reluctance to come to terms with his fate, and the insecurity of his life in exile. Once again Bertoit Brecht authored a great many of these impressive texts. The precise length of the Hollywood Songbook and the order of its titles are not entirely clear. The usual order of the thirty-two songs was not presented in full until 1982, forty years after Eisler’s death. Holger Falk and Steffen Schleiermacher complement this extensive cycle with some pieces from their temporal and topical context. The result is a most deeply moving, stellar song performance, presented with profound sympathy but without any edifying kitsch.

Classical Music

Delicate pianissimo passages, gripping rhythms, grand melodic developments, decibel-force noise registers: Steffen Schleiermacher’s works fully exploit the extremes of musical sound. Inspired by masterpieces from the visual arts, this composing internationalist commands an extremely sensuous and varied range of expression without equals in contemporary music. Along with the Ensemble Avantgarde, the Sonic.Art Saxophone Quartet, and Wolfgang Heisig on the player piano, Schleiermacher creates a musical self-portrait offering a rewarding listening experience for fans of new music – and others too! Schleiermacher’s incredible “Treppentanzer” based on Oskar Schlemmer for the player piano is heard here in a rendering by Wolfgang Heisig on the Phonola. Handel’s famous Passacaglia in G minor is heard as an encore in a grotesquely wild version on the Phonola- a fine bridge between Schlemmer who used this piece fot his Triadic Ballet, and Schleiermacher, who like Handel is from Halle and with this fine work show earns his place in the master’s genuine and venerable musical line.

Classical Music

From the cosmopolitan dandy to the ascetic clergyman: Hardly any other artist underwent such a profound transformation as Franz Liszt. In his "Consolations" one seems to be able to listen to this evolution: Disappointed love and pious wishes, abysmal grief and redeeming hope are all present in this cycle, which pianist Julia Hermanski presents in an exciting debut for MDG. The fact that Liszt was not only a keyboard lion, but also and above all an extremely sensitive poet: anyone who did not yet know this should not miss this opportunity to discover this album! Like Liszt himself, Julia Hermanski is also at ease with chamber music. This is especially helpful for the more intimate pieces in this collection: Schubert's "St�ndchen", which Liszt arranged several times, demands the most sensitive sound sensation in order not to violate the delicate simplicity of Schubert's original; and the recitative and romance "O du, mein holder Abendstern" after Wagner's "Tannh�user" also rely more on sensitive nuances than on extroverted piano acrobatics. In the "Tannh�user" overture, things sometimes get down to business - virtuoso opera paraphrases from his own hand were part of Liszt's permanent concert repertoire. He was well aware of their pianistic challenges: "I believe that few players will be able to master their technical difficulties" he wrote to his publisher. Julia Hermanski likes to take the risk. Liszt was also great at inventing his own stories, such as the Ballad in B minor, which retells the ancient legend of Hero and Leander. The story of the two royal children, separated by the deep waters of the Hellespont, is dramatically condensed until the tragic finale - a roaring feast of sound for Julia Hermanski, who is able to elicit grandiose sound effects from the Steinway concert grand "Manfred B�rki" from 1901.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music