Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803) studied theology and won his first reputation as a poet with the publication in 1748 of the first three songs of his biblical epic Der Messias (The Messiah). Throughout his life his religious and moral poems of experience were admired by, among others, Goethe and the poets of the G�ttinger Hainbund. Klopstock spent almost twenty years of his life in Copenhagen, where the Danish King Friedrich V granted him a pension that allowed him to work without worrying on the completion of his Messias. In 1770 Klopstock returned to Germany and lived in Hamburg until his death. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries many composers followed the expressed wish of the poet and set many of his works to music. With Schubert's Klopstock settings this tradition finds it's conclusion, with later generations of composers only sporadically devoting attention to his poems. Friedrich von Matthisson (1761-1831) began to study theology at Halle in 1778, but later turned to philology and pedagogy. As travelling companion and private secretary of Princess Luise of Anhalt-Dessau he became a popular member of court society and made many contacts in aristocratic and cultural circles. After the death of the princess he entered the service of King Friedrich I of W�rttemberg. He was given the title of Confidential Legation Counsel and was Chief Librarian and member of the directorate of the Stuttgart Theatre. In 1828 Matthisson left Stuttgart and returned to the princedom of Anhalt-Dessau. He died in 1831 at W�rlitz. During his lifetime there appeared sixteen authorised editions of his poems of sensibility; he published a twenty-volume anthology of poems and wrote for the important literary journals of his time. In his Memoirs he provides a r�sum� of his eventful life. His senior, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, was among the poets that he revered from his youth. They met for the first time in May 1784 and thereafter remained in general but friendly contact. The poet in Stimme der Liebe, D187, 1st Version, (The Voice of Love) reveals his sense of the rich emotional world of Empfindsamkeit: nature on a spring evening promises him in the whispering of the wind and in the song of the nightingale the 'joys of love' ('Freuden der Liebe'), which find their fulfillment when Laura came from the 'labyrinth of plane-trees' ('aus der Platanen Labyrinth'). Schubert set the poem as a tender strophic song that through small crescendi, unobtrusive chromatic moves and intensifying repetitions of closing lines aptly reflects the atmosphere of the poem, but at the same time also allows prominence to Schubert's individual reading of it. The gentle melancholy, for example, that sounds in the 'prophetic lament' ('prophetischen Trauerlied') of the cricket in Matthisson is only a momentary mood, but in Schubert, on the other hand, it becomes a central element of his strophic pattern and therefore of his whole musical interpretation. In Andenken, D99, (Remembrance), the poet embeds his repeated 'Ich denke dein' ('I think of you') (verses 1 to 3) in different images, moods and scenes and associates his confession with the plea 'O denke mein, / Bis zum Verein / Auf besserm Sterne!' ('Oh think of me, / Until we meet / Under a better star!') (verse 4). Schubert chooses the form of the varied strophic song so as to be able to accord with the different facets of the poem. The whole euphoric passion of his reading can be seen in the musical expansion of the fourth verse: he takes again the melody of the first verse, but builds it up through repetitions of the text, melodic expansions and dynamic increases to a passionate gesture. While in Stimme der Liebe and Andenken the gaze is directed to the present and the future, he looks back in Erinnerungen, D98, (Memories), to the past. One has the impression that the poet is singing alone, wandering through the countryside and thus recalls events with his beloved. Schubert chooses here, too, varied strophic form and through recitative and arioso passages (verses 4/5) increases the scenic effect of these memories. Schubert turned to Geistertanz (Dance of Spirits) on three occasions. The first two are fragmentary versions and the third, completed version works as macabre counterpoint in the otherwise inner emotional harmony of the Matthisson settings. Schubert wrote down the two fragments, D15 on one page in 1812 and it may be assumed that they were written one shortly after the other. Schubert seems to have played musically with the lay-out of the poem: textual omissions, shifts and twists show his joy in experiment as well as the rich fullness of his musical ideas, and the two fragments offer a completely individual form. The music is in the dramatic style of his early ballads and with tremolo effects, a quotation of the Dies irae, recitatives, word-painting and rapid changes of mood, brings to life the horrible drama of the midnight scene. Particularly impressive are the twelve hammer-strokes at midnight, heard in the piano in the first version. The third version from 1814, D116, is completely different. Here the colorful abundance of ideas gives way to one clear musical concept. Schubert chooses as his basis the dance character of the gigue and within this circle of associations enters into the changing aspects of the gloomy proceedings. He succeeds, moreover, in bringing together in the melody elements of recitative and song and thereby translates musically the verbal structure of the poem and the physical experience of a danse macabre.

Danish-born Joachim Andersen was a spectacular flautist who made his mark in Berlin in the 1880's, becoming a founding member of the Berlin Philharmonic and an important force during it's early years.

From West Side Story to the Simpsons, Barber' Adagio and music by John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith, this recording captures all the excitement of some of the most popular movie and television soundtracks, arranged for brass quintet.

There are not many so-called 'standard' songs on this CD but the observant reader may already have noticed that it presents several Schiller texts in alternative settings, ranging from very early (Des M�dchens Klage D6 is Schubert's first song - bar one) to very near the end of the composer's life. It is instructive to compare and see the quite different approach to the same text at different times. Listening to Schubert songs is always life-enhancing and even if not all of them are masterpieces there are constantly interesting turns of phrase or just a beautiful melody that is a pleasure to listen to, especially when sung so well as Lothar Odinius does here. This disc is from beginning to end Schubert singing on the highest possible level.

Grainger / Lilburn: Colonial Diversions

ARAMBARRI: 8 Basque Songs / In Memoriam / Spanish Fantasy

Here is a recording of rarities on two counts. Not only is the music of Kryukov, Vasilenko, Frid, Krein and Bogdanov-Berezovsky little known outside of Russia, but viola sonatas are as welcome as they are scarce. Romantic lyricism, the influence of Scriabin.

What a delightful surprise! Two of these works, the elegantly neo-classical Concerto Grosso and the colorful Three Symphonic Versions, were recorded by Dorian in Venezuela some years ago under Eduardo Mata--and quite well too, but these newcomers offer every bit as much energy with even greater clarity of texture. The percussive finale of Versiones (Xilófono) gains in stature in this performance, the variety of incident belying its brevity (just three minutes). In the Concerto Grosso for string quartet and orchestra, the four soloists offer smoother timbres than Dorian's Cuarteto Latinoamericano, with absolutely no loss of verve or rhythmic incisiveness. The exchanges between quartet and orchestra also register more effectively, with a less jarring sense of separation between them thanks largely to conductor Maximiano Valdés' more graceful and discreet accompaniments.


The Symphonic Dances are new to CD--and are wholly characteristic. Gregoriana, the second movement of four, sounds like the little brother to the first movement of the Versiones. The opening Overtura typifies Orbón's brilliant sense of instrumental color allied to artful formal control. If you enjoy, say, Copland of the famous ballets, then you will love this music as well. The final dance offers a riot of rhythmic and instrumental fireworks, and like all of Orbón's music it lasts not a second too long.


As noted above, the playing of the Asturias Symphony Orchestra is very fine. The players sound right at home in the idiom despite the fact that the composer, though of Spanish origin, spent most of his career in Cuba and later the United States, his music owing as much to the New World as to the Old. First rate recorded sound rounds out this superb collection, perhaps the best release thus far in Naxos' Spanish music series and certainly one of the most important and purely enjoyable.


Perhaps Naxos can get its hands on the composer's long-thought-lost Symphony in C and give us a premiere recording along with the remaining orchestral works (there are only a couple of others). Like so many of his Spanish forebears, Orbón's output is very small, but it's of the highest quality and always is superbly crafted. Don't miss this chance to get to know him. [2/21/2004]
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

For all it's charm and elegance, Lennox Berkeley' unique compositional voice is marked in his sacred choral music by an inner conviction borne of a strong personal faith. In this regard he mirrored his lifelong friend Francis Poulenc.

With some notable exceptions, professional recorder players have largely ignored modern repertoire regarded as being too tonal, melodic or romantic.

Schubert set the poetry of over 115 writers to music. He selected poems from classical Greece, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, from eighteenth-century German authors, early Romantics, Biedermeier poets, and Heine.

Includes work(s) by Saburo Moroi. Ensemble: National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Conductor: Takuo Yuasa.

DIALOGUE FOR TWO ORGANS

Naxos is proud to announce the Tintner Memorial Edition, a special series of recordings celebrating the life and work of the late Georg Tintner. Through his passion for music, Maestro Tintner touched audiences and musicians on five continents. In an age that celebrates presentation over content, he remained resolute in his belief in the transcendent importance of musical ideas.

Sir John Dankworth was inspired by Benny Goodman' playing to study clarinet at the Royal Academy: his delightful Suite for Emma was composed for Emma Johnson, former BBC Young Musician of the Year, who performs it on this disc.