Classical Music

Classical Music

Christmas with Bach: Gerhard L�ffler, the organist at the Church of St. James in Hamburg, has selected this title for his MDG debut. And to it we may add: "And with Arp Schnitger." After all, Schnitger's masterpiece of organ design in St. James is not only the largest instrument by this Northern German organ builder, whose death three hundred years ago is being commemorated in 2019, but also has what qualifies as the most important extant original pipework from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. With these resources it very much makes it's presence felt in the music and interpretation. And when captured in magnificent three-dimensional sound on this Super Audio album, it is guaranteed to spread the Christmas spirit throughout the year.

Classical Music

Dietrich Buxtehude began his activity at St. Mary's Church exactly 350 years ago, and the City of Lubeck fittingly commemorated this anniversary by awarding this year's renowned Buxtehude Prize to Harald Vogel. Matched by no other musician, Vogel ahs distinguished himself both in historical organ playing in general and with Buxtehude's oeuvre in particular. To celebrate this occasion, MDG is now releasing a highly interesting new edition containing all of Buxtehude's works from the Codex E. B. of 1688 and including- as a surprising rarity- the recording premiere of a sonata with obbligato gamba. The specialist Thomas Fritzsch proves to be a virtuosic and tonally sensitive duo partner for Vogel. Moreover, this album offers valuable documentation of significant instrumental resources. More than a hundred original stops from Buxtehude's times are employed, and the organs from Torrlosa, Helsingor, and Lubeck's Church of St. James- places where the composer himself was active- are now being heard together for the first time ever on album. This circumstance harmonizes very well with the Codex works, which were performed as liturgical music during religious services, "sub communion," during the Lord's Supper.

With universal themes such as love, loss, happiness, oppression, suffering and defiance, Gustav Mahler's songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn are some of the most profound ever written for the voice. Katharina Kammerloher and Arttu Kataja, acclaimed performers from the Berlin State Opera, plumb the depths and shallows of this music with vocal power and striking presence. Eric Schneider accompanies them, transcending the formidable piano part with great drama and expression.

More than almost every other 21st century composer, Jorg Widmann can write music that is both immediately moving and highly complex in structure. The versatile and highly talented pianist Yubo Zhou delves deep into Widmann's world of sound. With these four stirring piano cycles, Zhou reveals a whole cosmos of allusions and associations.

Classical Music

For more than 30 years, Trio Parnassus has inspired audiences with their gripping virtuosity as well as their sensitive musicality. Time and again, they delight audiences with outstanding originals alongside newly discovered works, expanding the trio repertoire and sparking new momentum in concert halls around the world. This SACD now completes the cycle of recording all of Beethoven's trios for MDG with the famous Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 81b (arranged by Nikolaus Simrock from Sextet, Op. 81b) and Piano Trio, Op. 38 (from Septet, Op. 20).

With a sure instinct for the extraordinary the Baroque orchestra caterva musica, formed by renowned soloists, release the final installment of their "L'arte del virtuoso" series in time for the ensemble's 25th anniversary. Once more they showcase their virtuosic artistry with distinctive solo concertos by J. C. Bach, Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Telemann and Walther, inspiring 18th century masterpieces that still connect with today's audiences emotionally with their cheerfulness, solemnity or sensuality.

The legendary Syrinx Quintet performs wind quintets by Françaix, Hindemith, Ibert, and Taffanel on this critically acclaimed recording. The individual instruments merge with a rarely heard homogeneity to create an ensemble sound that is unrivaled.

Dutch early Romantic composer Johannes Bernardus van Bree’s elegant melodies and carefully dosed counterpoint technique give his string quartets a simple yet charming originality. In the words of a contemporary, his works are characterised “by simplicity and naturalness… by polish, clarity and freshness, a certain popularity, without triviality”.

Carl Amand Mangold - never heard of him? Then it's high time you did! There is a great spirit of originality in the music by this mid-19th century genius. With their reputation for surprising audiences with unknown masterpieces by unjustly forgotten composers, the multi-award-winning Berolina Ensemble perform a selection of Mangold‘s chamber music recorded in MDG’s innovative 2+2+2 technology on Super Audio CD.

With Steffen Schleiermacher's cleverly compiled anthology of piano music by the group of artists known as"Groupe des Six" we experience what unites, but above all what distinguishes these highly individual composers.

For their 25th anniversary, caterva musica has recorded virtuoso concertos for all instrumental groups in the ensemble. L‘arte del virtuoso (The Art of the Virtuoso) is a four-part series released by MDG. The programme on Vol. 3 includes Franz Benda's dramatic flute concerto, lively chamber music by Telemann, Graun and Vivaldi, as well as a very special rarity: Johann Sebastian Bach's large-scale Sinfonia BWV 1045 with concertante violin.