With the present CD, OehmsClassics releases the “Linz Version” of Anton Bruckner’s First Symphony. It is part of the complete symphony cycle being recorded by the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra under Ivor Bolton, its Chief Conductor since 2004. This live recording from the Large Festival Hall in Salzburg was realized in October 2013. The 91-regular member Mozarteum Orchestra is one of Austria’s leading symphonic organizations, presenting two concert series of its own throughout the year as well as playing the Sunday Matinees concerts at the annual Salzburg Festival.

Just last February, OehmsClassics presented the last CD of the Tchaikovsky cycle of the Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne with Dmitrij Kitajenko, and now a new cycle – although a somewhat smaller one – is being created there, in Cologne. Mr. Kitajenko has chosen Rachmaninov, a composer that fits the orchestra and especially the conductor perfectly. The orchestral combination of the composer’s First Symphony (1895) and “The Rock”, an early symphonic poem dating from 1893, marks the cycle’s opening gambit.

In honor of the open-air festival season, Oehms Classics has compiled this extensive album with wonderful arias and scenes from the best known and most beloved operettas. Top opera stars Martina Serafin and Nikolai Schukoff are featured on the release. Several Strauss selections are included in this release, as well as works by Offenbach, Zeller, Lehar, Benatsky, and Kalman. Austrian soprano Martina Serafin was born in Vienna to parents who were singers. She studied at the Vienna Conservatory and from 1995 to 2000 was a member of the ensemble of Graz Opera. She is particularly renowned for her interpretation of the role of Tosca, which she has sung for companies including the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Milan, and more. Austrian tenor Nikolai Schukoff is one of today’s important voices on the international and concert circuit. After a few years as a member of opera ensembles, his international breakthrough came in 2006 with roles such as Siegmund and Sergej. On the concert stage, he has appeared alongside the Munich Philharmonic and other renowned orchestras, and under the batons of renowned conductors including Riccardo Chailly, Christoph Eschenbach, and Marek Janowski.

Classical Music

Part 2 of Richard Strauss’ orchestra works from the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra with conductor Sebastian Weigle includes the roguish pranks of Till Eulenspiegel as well as the less frequently performed Symphonia Domestica. Recorded in January 2012 and March 2013 at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt by the much-lauded and proven team of the Frankfurt Opera. “Weigle loves a luxuriant and sonorous orchestral sound, and his interpretation is accordingly opulent.” - Pizzicato, November 2013

Classical Music

Things will be jolly good at the Morbisch Lake Festival in 2017! With Christel the post mistress and Adam the bird seller, two of the best-known operetta characters will be returning to the lake stage after an absence of nearly twenty years. Petty corruption in positions of authority, comedy of errors and something for the heart – all the classic operetta ingredients come together masterfully in the Vogelhandler. The arias “Grus’ enk Gott, alle miteinander”, “Ich bin die Christel von der Post” and “Schenkt man sich Rosen in Tirol” are very well known to lovers of operetta throughout the world.

Classical Music

Classical Music

The current renaissance in conjunction with the works of Giovanni Simone Mayr is not surprising, but is certainly necessary. With Demetrio, he left to posterity a masterpiece that belongs on the great stages of the world. Mayr's late work is a mixture of romantic anticipation, stylistic reminiscences of Mozart and Haydn, bel canto elements and a touch of Rossini, all worked into a unique form. Of particular note is Mayr's melodic inventiveness. Here OehmsClassics presents a live performace of Demetrio recorded at the Moutier Festival (Switzerland) in June 2011.

• On French pianist Kim Barbier's new CD, alongside works of Debussy and Albéniz is Robert Schumann's Kinderszenen (Scenes of Childhood), op. 15, within which is found the world-famous Träumerei (Reverie). _x000D_ • Ms. Barbier has distinguished herself as a versatile artist equally at home in concerto and chamber repertoire. _x000D_ • She has worked with renowned conductors such as Zubin Mehta and Sir Simon Rattle.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music