A truly global project: in 2018 DENON released a real hit with the Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" by Antonín Dvorák. In addition, the formidable Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Andrea Battistoni plays the "Sinfonia Tapkaara" by Akira Ifukube. Thanks to the cooperation with MDG, the production is now available outside Japan and shows surprising similarities between Slavic idiom, American folklore and the sounds of the Native Americans of Hokkaido. Ifukube has gained worldwide fame with his numerous film scores, including the legendary “Godzilla” series. The composer himself is from Hokkaido, northernmost main island of Japan. The Ainu, Hokkaido’s indigenous people, have always maintained close contact with the peoples of Russia’s Far East, which is very close here. Russian Slavic elements repeatedly occur in Ainu music, and Ifukube rewardingly incorporates them into his compositions. "Tapkaara" refers to a boisterous Ainu dance that characterizes the finale of Ifukube's symphony. Instead of quoting original Ainu music, he invents completely new themes and motifs taking on the character of this dance. In this way, he resembles Dvorák's approach to the music of America – for example, in the marvelously melancholic second movement, which is formed on the basis of a mythical chant about the legendary Iroquois chief Hiawatha. Obvious and yet surprising: pentatonic tones repeatedly mark the course of events in the music of Dvorák and the Japanese composer. As an encore, so to speak, Battistoni and his large symphonic orchestra give a "Symphonic Fantasy" based on the "Godzilla" film series - a fiery and attractive medley with the best of eight monster films.

The conclusion of a very special edition! The Leipzig String Quartet performs four new works and with them rounds off the series of the early string quartets composed by the sixteen-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart during his journeys to Milan and Vienna. Now that the general inspection of Mozart’s quartets by this ensemble is complete, the only question is: Why have these youthfully fresh pieces so very much been overshadowed by the ten famous “great quartets?” After all, it was with the carefreeness of youth that the teenage Mozart went to work here: escaping from the narrowly circumscribed Salzburgian world, he eagerly absorbed what was in demand: in Milan the three-movement Italian sinfonia was his model; in Vienna it was the four-movement sonata of early Viennese classicism. However, Mozart did more than just produce skillful stylistic copies; he varied the fashionable model with rich imagination. Historically informed and using bows from the period when Mozart composed the quartets, the Leipzig String Quartet sets out in quest of a sound in keeping with the times and incorporating ideas of musical rhetoric as well as long lines of development and singing cantilenas. The quartets of Mozart’s youth now produce a slenderized effect without economizing on tonal refinement. This is “classical” musical pleasure in the best sense of the term!

“Mirthful and very pleasantly written“ stated a contemporary reviewer said about the instrumental music of Johann Wilhelm Wilms. Exactly the right thing for Helen Dabringhaus and Sebastian Berakdar, who now are presenting the world premiere of the three Flute Sonatas op. 15 by this German composer and Dutch resident-by-choice. This delightfully amazing programme is not only extremely entertaining, but also fills a gap in the history of reception between Mozart and Mendelssohn. Born in the Bergisches Land, the young Wilms soon made his way to Amsterdam, where he rapidly made a career as flutist, pianist, organist, and concert organizer. His marriage to the daughter of a very wealthy Amsterdam art collector shows the high reputation he enjoyed. Wilms only found time to compose on the side - a pity, really, because otherwise he might have put many more of his treasures on paper! Nevertheless: Wilms’s fame as a composer reached Schwerin, Breslau, Prague, and Leipzig, where his works were performed at the Gewandhaus and no less than E. T. A. Hoffmann took up his pen for a positive review. The fact that Wilms, as a "foreigner", composed the anthem of the newly founded Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1816 is proof of the esteem in which the industrious musician was held in his adopted country. It is thus not surprising that Wilms also outstandingly met the demands of the salons by supplying works such as the attractive polonaise at the end of the Sonata No. 2 or the lengthy, richly imaginative set of variation in Sonata No. 3. Helen Dabringhaus and Sebastian Berakdar hit the elegant tone exactly.

Classical Music

C�sar Franck and Ernest Chausson: this MDG top-interest special edition presents chamber music by two French composers connected by much more than just the teacher-pupil relationship. The first release of their string quartets, Franck's Piano Quintet, and Chausson's Piano Quartet by the Belgian Spiegel String Quartet and the pianist Jan Michiels received an enthusiastic reception from music experts and the listening public alike. Chamber music did not have an easy time in France until Cesar Franck joined forces with like-minded individuals to establish the Societe nationale de musique in 1871. The society's declared goal was to break the dominance of German chamber music- which was also a political priority after France had come out on the losing side of the Franco-Prussian War. And so Frank developed a clear style of melodic emphasis with anticipations of the impressionist era. During the last decade of Franck's life he celebrated the greatest musical successes. Along with the two works recorded here, this period witnessed the composition of his famous Violin Sonata.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was the pioneer of an epochal change. For the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of the most influential son of the great Johann Sebastian Bach, Yuval Rabin has taken on a very special project. This Israeli organist who exhaustively studied Bach's instructions for the treatment of repetitions in his doctoral dissertation now puts his findings to the practical test. As Bach saw it, the embellishment of repetitions in no way was limited to highly imaginative improvisation. Instead, a creative compositional process was necessary and presumed a profound understanding of the formal design of the piece and it's emotional content. This places great demands on the player, but for the public it is not only highly entertaining but also helpful. This birthday present for "the Hamburg Bach" of course must also be delivered in a proper package: produced in room-filling 2+2+2 sound and in the finest SACD technique, this new recording is not only a musical treat but also a very special feast for the ears delighting both heart and soul.

After more than 70 years of silence a great organ has risen again in the Trinity Church of the Gda?sk Franciscans. With determination, passion and diligence, Andrzej Szadejko worked on the reconstruction of the baroque organ, which finally was completed in 2018 by the Dresden manufacturer Wegscheider. His multi-colored portrait represents the opulent sound conception of Baltic organ building from the early 17th to the middle of the 18th century, but also revives the grandiose musical culture of Gda?sk's golden age. The anonymous Fantasia at the beginning of the programme is chosen from the Gda?sk tablature of 1591 and sounds in festive Gothic blockwork registration. The Baltic metropolis cultivated relations with the whole world. So it is not surprising that even the famous Sweelinck composed 8 variations on a "Poolsche Dans" in distant Amsterdam - a welcome occasion for Andrzej Szadejko to use the Renaissance voices - like the wonderfully creaking shelf - as soloists. Of course, Buxtehude cannot be missing: With classical Sesquialtera registration in the chorale arrangement "Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt" or in the grandiose "Magnificat", which Szadejko arranges according to old practice alternating with the exquisite Choralschola, the master of North German organ art is shown to his best advantage. Froberger, Muffat, Kerll, but also Böhm and Bach and even Frescobaldi as guests from more southern regions prove the versatility of the new instrument reconstructed according to historical models. Probably the only one of its kind in a baroque organ in the world is the large pedal, which was erected in 1703 after a lightning strike in its own case on the south wall of the church, in which the impressive 32' sub-bass is located.

As an educator Peter Feuchtwanger left his mark on several generations of pianists. With his individual technique based on uncompromising naturalness, he helped the young Martha Argerich to achieve her breakthrough. Very much interested in Far Eastern and Indian culture, Feuchtwanger also repeatedly composed for unusual instrumental combinations and wrote “Dhun,” a work commissioned by the unforgettable Yehudi Menuhin, who premiered it with Ravi Shankar. Lennart Felix, one of Feuchtwanger’s youngest pupils, is now commemorating his teacher, who died in 2016, with a very special epitaph: he presents Feuchtwanger’s works along with the Paganini Variations by Johannes Brahms – a greater act of homage could hardly be imagined! With this recording Lennart Felix continues a line of tradition leading from Brahms by way of Feuchtwanger’s teacher Edwin Fischer, Walter Gieseking, and above all Clara Haskil from the golden age of German piano playing through to the present day. Martha Argerich has written of the works of her early mentor, “Peter Feuchtwanger’s piano music impressed me very much because of its depth, great freshness, and originality.” That says it all!

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music