"Completed in Wahnfried on November 21, 1874. I say nothing further!!” With these words written at the bottom of his Götterdämmerung score, Wagner thus finished his composition of the entire Ring Cycle. The Frankfurt Opera also concluded Vera Nemirova’s highly praised production of the work in January, thus raising the bar.

REVIEWS:

Tempos and forward-movement are well-judged…The characters play off one another, diction is close to flawless; we can hear the sarcasm in Hagen as well as the craziness in Alberich…

The quiet evil with which the second act begins…is about as creepy as anything I’ve ever heard, with the high strings nervously stuttering and the winds and brass roiling—not to mention those trills on the Wagner tubas as the scene changes! Wagner’s solos for winds are as suddenly noticeable as Mozart’s. You are never bombarded by sound save for the truly big moments: the end of the prologue, the scene with the vassals, Siegfried’s Funeral March, and the final cataclysm, making these moments all the more powerful.

The cast is worthy. Lance Ryan…remains a bright-voiced hero…both of his high Cs are amazing…in general he is in solid voice. He is very moving in his death scene, phrasing handsomely and with a quiet resignation that is unbeatable on recordings.

Susan Bullock continues the Cycle as Brünnhilde…Every word counts: her conviction in the Waltraute scene; her horror when a stranger breaks through the fire; her reaction to Siegfried’s entrance for the Wedding Scene…and a fine Immolation Scene…suffice it to say that as far as wedding the words and music, she’s second to none, and her enunciation is spotless.

Gregory Frank[’s]…voice is big and dark enough…and he has an audible sneer that can send chills down the spine. His hatred, jealousy, and cunning are omnipresent, and he’s a fine phony in the first act.

Jochen Schmeckenbecher’s Alberich is about as unnerving as any you will ever hear in his scene with Hagen. Anja Fidelia Ulrich is a good, alluring Gutrune. The three Norns are excellent (Mahnke is the second; Meredith Arwady is the first; and the deliciously-named Angel Blue is the third); the Rhinemaidens are very expressive…

The chorus…is another of this set’s glories. Along with Weigle’s non-intrusive, clear-as-a-bell story-telling and the stunning playing of the Frankfurt Opera, this set is a winner. It’s among the most committed sets around. The sonics are spectacular.

-- ClassicsToday (Robert Levine)

While playing Brahms’s clarinet sonatas for clarinet and piano, there is no hiding; and I hear [Manno's] masked, yet suggestively mournful, techniques in a more pronounced manner. Sonatas 1 and 2 (op. 120, 1894) were among Brahms’s final compositions. Manno plays the sonatas with a sad, dreamy, wistful quality. [Compared to others,] the Manno version is more “inside the cranium” of dear Brahms, a self-described “melancholic,” and tenderly resigned to his fate.

This Oehms Classics 2009 reading of Ralph Manno’s clarinet and Alfredo Perl’s piano opens new doors for me to the autumnal Brahms clarinet sonatas, together with their reading of the elegiac Brahms Clarinet Quintet (op. 115). These readings are the most sensitive interpretations of these pieces I’ve yet heard: less lugubrious than Kell, a tad more thoughtful than Spaendonck, a smidgeon less shrill than Cohler, and nice to have in one Brahms collection, a two-CD album mostly of the clarinet music. Serious collectors, take note!

The sometimes low-profile approach to the early Brahms Piano Quintet (op. 34) is in contra-distinction to the usually bloated Beethovenesque aggression so frequently presented. I’m not saying it’s too obviously slow. More precisely I mean it leans toward understatement in an extremely thoughtful way, and without slowing the progress to a crawl. It is a piece that dates back to Brahms as a student, and it has something of Beethoven’s swagger, played with Brahms’s sense of restraint. That is not to say that Brahms lacked for self-assertion; as we know, he seemed also to have a feel for choral works such as Ein Deutches Requiem, his “Lullaby,” and other delicacies. Brahms’s restraint is on display, at least in those moments where other groups go over the top for the big effect, and we can see how Alfredo Perl’s playing in the Piano Quintet often moves toward low-balling, or toward whatever is the opposite of over the top.

This release supports my sense that these are really strong readings where less is more.

-- Fanfare

REVIEWS:

"All Fidelio and Beethoven fans will need this."

As most opera lovers know, Beethoven toiled greatly over his sole opera which was premiered in 1805 and revised in 1806--and then finally again in 1814, in the version that is now famous and beloved. The recording under consideration here is of the first version; this is the third time it has been recorded commercially.

Listening to this version...is an ear-opener: much music was eventually used in the familiar 1814 version, but even within those many pages there are small alterations everywhere and they're great fun to spot.

The performance is excellent, indeed marginally better than [the recording by John Eliot] Gardiner. It's as tightly led in exciting passages but Bertrand de Billy also captures some rapturous stillness and warmth in "Mir ist so wunderbar" and elsewhere, while Gardiner seems a bit clinical. De Billy also has slightly better singers. Camilla Nyland's sound is grander than Hillevi Martinpelto, and her reading of the text is deeper; Kim Begley and Kurt Streit are vocally both fine, but Streit's sweetness and goodness make a better case for Florestan. Peter Rose's understated Rocco is never mugged, and while I prefer a heavier voice than Gerd Gochowski's as Pizarro, his ease with the vocal line is a pleasure to hear. Dietmar Kerschbaum's Jaquino never cloys and Brigitte Geller's Marzelline is beautifully sung. De Billy gets thrilling playing from the Vienna Radio Symphony--the scoring in this version of the opera is very horn-heavy and generally heftier than the 1814--and I have a preference for ORF's non-period instruments here. The Arnold Schoenberg Choir sings with accuracy and feeling. All Fidelio and Beethoven fans will need this.

-- ClassicsToday.com

REVIEWS:

Weigle’s pacing is superb; the first half of scene 4 is especially riveting.

The conductor has a fine cast to work with. Although he only began to register on the international opera scene when in his late-50s, Terje Stensvold has sung Wotan in several theaters away from his home base in Norway, including the Vienna State Opera, the Swedish Royal Opera, and Deutsche Oper Berlin. Stensvold is a real baritone who never has to bellow at the top of his range, but he still has an instrument with plenty of godlike substantiality. Also excellent is the American tenor Kurt Streit as Loge. Streit has impressive Mozart credentials (he’s recorded Così fan tutte with both Barenboim and Rattle) and brings an appealing lyrical sense to his part. Alberich’s curse, as rendered by Jochen Schmeckenbecher, is quite intense, and Hans-Jürgen Lazar offers an especially colorful portrayal of Mime, continually changing the timbre of his voice to add to that character’s high-strung, quasi-demented nature. Meredith Arwady, the Erda, delivers a sad yet stern warning to Wotan in her brief but dramatically charged appearance.

Sonics are a valued and carefully considered factor with this set...A sophisticated editing process results in a lucid, balanced, and, yes, natural presentation. Those who especially relish the orchestral contribution to a Wagner opera will not be disappointed by the wealth of detail and rich sonorities.

Oehms provides a libretto in German and English, and there’s an excellent essay on the Ring’s genesis, sources, and its 19th-century political context.

-- Fanfare

The 4th album by the Piano Duo Walachowski is dedicated to works by the young Richard Strauss and the famous Schubert Fantasy in F minor. The world Premiere Recording to be heard is the Strauss arrangement of Lachner's Nonet, which Strauss made when he was young. For quite some time now, Anna & Ines Walachowski have ranged among the leading piano duos of our time. For almost two decades, the sisters have been inspiring their audience in the international concert halls. “Neither of the pianists falls short in any way, neither in temperament, sparkling rhythmic presentation, nor warmth or tonal aesthesia.“ (Klassik Heute)

REVIEWS:

The talented Polish duo of Anna & Ines Walachowski has long been one of the leading piano duos of our time. For almost two decades, the sisters have been inspiring their audiences in international concert halls. Their 4th CD is now dedicated to “Intermezzo” by Richard Strauss and the famous Fantasy in F minor by Franz Schubert. The world premiere recording that can be heard is the arrangement of Lachner's Nonet in F by the very young Richard Strauss.

[The sisters'] strong personalities do not stand in each other's way; on the contrary – thanks to their common teachers and their extraordinary harmony, they form a physical and creative unity that they benefit from as a duo.

-- Stretto

This is the third volume in the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra’s series of Mahler symphonies, conducted by Tomáš Netopil. Since winning the 1st Sir Georg Solti Conductors Competition at Frankfurt in 2002, Netopil has become one of the most sought-after conductors of the younger generation. Now celebrating his ninth season as general music director of the Aalto Musiktheater and Philharmonie Essen, he gave an acclaimed performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony at the Aalto Theater in Essen in May 2022.

When we consider the great musical nations of the world, Hungary perhaps does not come to mind first. But the more we think about it, the higher the country rises in such a ranking. For Salaputia Brass, Hungary has played a leading role since the 20th century. It has established itself not only as a goldmine for instrumentalists, but has also produced many (contemporary) compositions for the developing genre of brass chamber music. This album brings together an overview of contemporary Hungarian music.

”His Mozart combines the clarity of Christian Zacharias with the refined nuances of Alfred Brendel and the warm sound of Daniel Barenboim.“ This was the verdict in the 5/2015 issue of Fono Forum, which in the next issue promptly awarded the star for the Album of the Month to William Youn for Volume 2 of his edition with Mozart’s piano sonatas. OehmsClassics is proud to have completed this cycle with an exceptional artist, and to be presenting all five volumes here in one spectacular set. The award-winning pianist William Youn has been described by critics as a “genuine poet” with “sovereign, bravura technique of touch”. After early studies in Korea and in the USA, William again changed continents to study at the Hanover University of Music and at the Piano Academy Lake Como, where he worked regularly with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Dmitri Bashkirov, Andreas Staier, William Grant Naboré and Menahem Pressler. Based now in his adopted hometown of Munich, Germany, William performs internationally from Berlin via Seoul to New York with major orchestras

WILLAERT Huc me sidereo. Dilexi quoniam exaudiet. Audite insulae. Haec est domus Domini. Verbum supernum prodiens. Confitebor tibi Domine. Te Deum Patrem ingenitum. Beati pauperes spiritu. Sustinuimus pacem. Praeter rerum seriem. Alma Redemptoris Mater. Mittit ad Virginem. Benedicta es coelorum Regina. Salve Sancta parens. Inviolata integra et casta. Sub tuum praesidium. O admirabile commercium. Aspice Domine. Peccata mea. Domine quid multiplicati sunt. Pater peccavi. Miserere nostri Deus omnium. Avertatur obsecro. Omnia quae fecisti. Recordare Domine. Victimae paschali laudes. Veni Sancte Spiritus • Singer Pur • OEHMS 835 (3 CDs: 225:35 Text and Translation)


When Adrian Willaert (c.1490-1562) arrived in Venice in 1527, he was the first Flemish musician to be appointed maestro di cappella of St. Mark’s basilica, and the last of a long and distinguished line of Franco-Flemish musicians to dominate the Italian musical scene in the 15th and early 16th centuries. Although his position gave him the opportunity, not to say the duty, of supplying music for Mass and Vespers for his celebrated choir, his output does not appear on records as frequently as the music of his successors, most notably Monteverdi. Only a fraction of his 150 motets are available, and I have only three of his eight Masses in my collection. (His madrigals are better represented.) The Musica Nova , from which these motets come, was published by Gardano in 1559 at the behest of Alfonso d’Este, soon to be duke of Ferrara, who acquired the manuscript from the singer Polissena Pecorina. It contained 25 madrigals and 27 motets, works dating back through his career but kept apart from other music already published earlier. With the madrigals issued earlier ( Fanfare 33:4), Singer Pur has now recorded the entire publication. In the previous review, I indicated that I had not found any of the madrigals on records (no reader has written to offer any information on this).


Most of these motets have two parts; some have three, and O admirabile commercium has seven parts. The motets are set out here in order of themes, not the order of the published book, where the motets are grouped in ascending order of settings for four, five, six, and seven voices. The first disc is generally in praise of the Blessed Trinity, the second is entirely Marian in devotion, and the third is penitential, concluding with the sequences of Easter and Pentecost. Except for the last two pieces, it is remarkable that three very full discs can be equally divided along three distinct themes. The texts are from the Psalms and other scriptural and liturgical sources. Considering that the composition of these motets may have extended over a period of some years, the polyphonic style is notably uniform.


One motet that is special for its breadth is O admirabile commercium , the seven-part motet that takes its text from the seven antiphons for Lauds and Vespers of January 1. (While this is the feast of the Circumcision, it is structured as a Marian feast, and since 1970 has been known as the feast of Mary, the Mother of God.) This motet for five voices runs almost half an hour. The liturgical texts draw on biblical allusions, as in Rubum quem viderat , the third section, which takes the account of the burning bush unburnt from Exodus as a parallel to Mary’s giving birth while her virginity remained intact. Singer Pur’s execution is uniformly exquisite, with four male singers added to the six members of the ensemble (five former choirboys at Regensburg cathedral plus a soprano). Along with the Cinquecento disc (34: 2), these two sets of Musica Nova may be regarded as the preeminent observance of the composer’s 450th anniversary. With this recorded evidence, Willaert demonstrably occupies a place leading up to the glories of the High Renaissance that the next generation of composers achieved. Be sure to hear this impressive set.


FANFARE: J. F. Weber

Weber's four piano sonatas are packed with unforgiving and cruelly exposed passages involving octaves, double notes, unison runs, and other virtuoso challenges. Yet there's plenty of charm and elegance underneath the music's glittery surface. Michael Endres employs his scintillating technique to emphasize Weber's inherent Romanticism by way of tasteful rhetorical broadenings (usually in first-movement second subjects) and by stressing inner counterpoints and stepwise bass lines.

The First sonata's famous "Perpetuum Mobile" is a good example of Endres' approach, in that the pianist makes more of the left hand's tuneful bounty than most. Also notable are the strategically placed moments of relaxation in the fleet finale of the Fourth sonata (by contrast, Fleisher's classic mono recording bursts from the starting gate and rarely lets up). At the same time, Endres truly takes the Third sonata's Allegro Feroce to heart, though not quite matching Hamish Milne's gaunt intensity here, or Richter's crisp and supple articulation in the finale.

Endres' adherence to the Second sonata's myriad expressive markings pays memorable dividends that easily stand up to Garrick Ohlsson's more volatile recording. The variation sets, Invitation to the Dance, and Grande Polonaise sport plenty of stylish zest and effortless fingerwork, along with soft windows of color that offset the bright, slightly flinty sonics. In sum, this makes an attractively priced complement to the more expensive Milne and Ohlsson Weber sonata cycles.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

A year or so ago Oehms released a CD version of this opera from the same source that was recorded in 2011; this video version was made the following year. I was impressed with the earlier CDs, and this performance has much to recommend it as well. The added visual element is a definite plus–it’s a fascinating production.

Jens Kilian is the set designer and Vera Nemirova is the director. Yes, it is Regie, but there’s neither an overturned chair nor a Nazi to be found. The set is a huge, tilted circle; within it, like the rings of an old tree, are other, smaller circles that rise and fall. Some characters live and work on the lower levels (Mime and Erda), and some above; others travel between. The circle can open into smaller chambers for one-on-one moments–the Wanderer and Mime are chatting comfortably at times in a “comfortable” space. When Brünnhilde is placed on her rock–dead center of the huge ring–it rises to form a pillar, and the fire (real fire, by the way), the circumference of a larger ring, rises to protect her, like a nimbus. Aside from swords, spears, and a forge, there are no props. A most remarkable decision of Nemirova’s is to make the Forest Bird a lithe dancer (Alan Barnes, here) with long, feathery talons, who moves and flaps silently, and also moves appropriately when the off-stage voice of the bird (Robin Johannsen, quite lovely) sings.

Mime, wearing thick glasses, is dirty-looking and clumsy; Siegfried, blonde hair flowing, is in leather and a bear skin at the start (the stage direction, “enter, chasing bear”, has been altered to “enter, wearing a bear”), and later in what looks like a collection of wolf skins. The Wanderer goes from elegant dress pants to long, leather coat, but he’s always natty. In other words, due to the set and costume design, this Ring is universal; it takes place neither then nor now; it weds the phantasmagoric with the literal. Somehow, it all works.

Moreover, the characterizations are vivid. Siegfried may be an insensitive dolt, but he’s genuinely curious about baby animals looking like their parents, touched emotionally by the green around him during the Forest Murmurs, stumped and jumpy when he discovers that Brünnhilde is not a man, and almost maniacally happy at the opera’s close. Wotan is a tough guy in Act 1 with Mime, but is all too human in his confrontations with both Erda and Siegfried. And Brünnhilde’s transformation from goddess to woman is subtle and rings true.

Musically, there is much to marvel at, as there was with the audio-only CDs. Sebastian Weigle, while not holding back, gets a chamber-like effect from the orchestra, and the series of duets that make up the opera have an informality about them that practically turn some scenes into a drawing room comedy or drama. Siegfried and Mime banter irritatingly and Mime and the Wanderer play off one another. Mime’s commentary during the Forging Song is deliciously wicked (diction is impeccable from all singers throughout).

Casting a true Heldenbariton, rather than a bass Wanderer, is one of the keys. I was unfamiliar with Terje Stensvold and assumed him a relatively new find; in fact, he is 68 years old and has been singing for decades, with no deterioration of the voice’s core. As suggested above, his Wotan can be playful and grave by turns, godlike and ready to give up his godhood. It is a wonderful performance.

Similarly, Lance Ryan as Siegfried is more in the Windgassen than the bari-tenor mode (he studied with Gianni Raimondi and Carlo Bergonzi). His tone is bright and forward and his high notes are amazingly big and solid–he even articulates the high C at the end of his entrance laughter. The Forging Song sounds joyous. He’s tireless until the last 20 minutes, where at this point his tone becomes leathery, with pitch issues as well. But he’s exciting, good to watch, and one of the more “complete” Siegfrieds I’ve ever seen.

Susan Bullock’s Brünnhilde is matronly–she actually does look like Siegfried’s aunt–but she acts up a storm and almost makes up for it. She’s in better vocal condition than on the CDs, with the voice solidly produced, a real trill, her enunciation perfect. The voice may not be pretty but she inhabits the role, and the high notes ring out as well. As the pair acknowledges their love, Brünnhilde’s pedestal lowers–they’re finally on the same level. A nice touch, again.

Peter Marsh’s Mime is just right, a slime-ball who thinks he’s smarter than he is, with a voice that’s laser-focused. Jochen Schmeckenbecher’s Alberich, in somewhat regular, modern dress, is not as dark-toned as we’re accustomed to (Neidlinger, Kelemann), but his nastiness is never in doubt. Magnus Baldvinsson’s Fafner, not amplified and hardly a huge sound, becomes all too human, wonderfully curious about the boy who kills him. Meredith Arwady’s Erda, assisted by crucial stillness from Weigle’s baton, makes the best of her scene, albeit with a far-too-wide vibrato.

Conductor Sebastian Weigle has no fear of pulling out all the stops, but he never drowns out the singers; inner voices are audible but not awkwardly underlined. His chosen tinta–lighter than the Furtwängler, Knappertsbusch, Levine crowd–is abetted by the surprisingly brilliant playing by the Frankfurt forces, whose brass is shiny and whose strings shimmer, but also by two other factors: the spotless recording, in which the harps and triangle can be heard even when up against the full complement of strings and winds.

The unhelpful booklet has only a synopsis in German and English; those are the subtitle choices as well. There are only three tracks per act–a really dumb, inconvenient choice. There is wild applause, and plenty of it, after each act. This is a good option for a non-traditional (i.e: the opposite of the Met’s literal set on DG) Siegfried, along with Barenboim’s on Warner Classics, in the Harry Kupfer, Bayreuth production.

-- Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

Mannheim-trained Georg Joseph Vogler had great personality as a composer, though he's best known today as the teacher of Weber and Meyerbeer. His Requiem was composed around 1808; he hoped it would be performed at Haydn's funeral a year later, but apparently the piece was not heard in the composer's lifetime (he died in 1814). It's full of interesting ideas, from the brass fanfares throughout the Dies Irae sequence, to an a cappella vocal movement (well sung by the four soloists), to a truly luminous choral setting of the Lux aeterna. The entire work lasts about an hour in this performance and it surely deserves a place in the collection of most choral music enthusiasts. As a change of pace from yet another performance of Mozart's Requiem, this would be most welcome, and the score is readily available in the Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Bayern series.

As suggested above, the performances are generally very good. The soloists work well as a group, and only bass Wolf Matthias Friedrich sounds a bit wobbly now and then (and light of timbre). The Orpheus Choir sings ably, and conductor Gerd Guglhör, aided by an ample acoustic, plays up the brass and timpani theatrics at the big moments quite effectively. In the Haydn, his dynamic manipulations in forte episodes border on mannerism but don't ever cross over the line, but the "authentic" strings sound predictably thin, a problem that might have been remedied had there simply been more of them. A small disappointment, then, in what otherwise is a wholly recommendable release.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

The violin-accordion Duo ViA! (Sinn Yang and Harald Oeler) made their debut in 2009 with the program Seasons at the Heidelberg Spring Festival. + At that time, it required a great deal of courage to present to the public, in a sold-out hall, one of the most popular and most frequently played classical works, Vivaldi’s I quattro stagioni in combination with Astor Piazzolla’s Las cuatro portenas. + For the Duo, the program Seasons was and still is both an experiment and a daring feat.

Pauline Viardot (1821-1910) is one of those artists whose name and compositions were forgotten after her death. Despite this, she is one of the most fascinating, versatile and original musicians of the nineteenth century. Alongside her activities as a singer, she was also a pianist, composer, arranger, editor, and pedagogue. Only in recent years has her significance in the musical life of the nineteenth century been gradually recognized, and the range of her work known. The present release contains Viardot’s settings of German texts, primarily composed during her period in Baden-Baden between 1863 and 1871 and songs which were also published in German translation. Miriam Alexandra is of German-Greek ancestry and was born in Heidelberg. She received her vocal training at the music academies in Karlsruhe and Cologne with Christiane Hampe and Klesie Kelly. She then travelled as a Visiting Fellow to Harvard and Cambridge for further studies. During her academic studies, she was a scholarship holder of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation, the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation Live Music Now, the Richard Wagner Society in Karlsruhe and the Brahms Society in Baden-Baden. Much in demand as a concert singer, she has worked with all of the most respected conductors and orchestras in the world. Her repertoire includes both standard works and rarely performed works. Pauline Viardot is very close to her heart, and she is deeply committed to her Lieder.

In celebration of the 75th birthday of Dmitri Kitaenko, often lauded as one of the great conductors of our time, OehmsClassics has boxed up for release Mr. Kitaenko’s recent and most highly regarded, and in one instance awarded a Supersonic notice from the prestigious Luxembourg-based magazine Pizzicato, complete Tchaikovsky symphony cycle on 8CDs. The set features the six numbered, completed symphonies, the Manfred Symphony, op. 58, and the late, unfinished Symphony in E-Flat (No. 7; 1891/92) as reconstructed by Semyon Bogatyrev in the mid 1950s. Along with the symphonies are several other orchestral works, including the Rococo Suite and the Sleeping Beauty Suite, op. 66a, as well as the unfinished, single movement Third Piano Concerto, op. posth. 75 (1893) featuring Lilya Zilberstein at the piano. On these recordings, Mr. Kitaenko is at the helm of the Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra, of which he has held the post of Honorary Conductor since 2009.