Inspired by the American poet Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), the symphonic poem "The Bells" was written in 1913. In four parts, it describes the different features of bell ringing: children’s sleigh bells in the first section, the wedding bells of a young couple in the second, alarm bells for a misfortune in the third and mourning bells in the fourth one. In his work, Rachmaninov uses the text version by Konstantin Balmont (1867–1943), who freely rewrote the text by Edgar Allan Poe. Rachmaninov adeptly avoided onomatopoetically emulating the sounds of bells with carillons and similar percussion instruments. Between counterpoint and Russian church hymn: Escape from the world and faith in a moving cantata Taneyev had learnt his technique of composition from Bach’s and Handel’s polyphony and pursued the idea of combining counterpoint and Russian folk music. The cantata Ioann Damaskin (“Johannes Damascenus”), created 1883–84, refers to a longer poem by Aleksej K. Tolstoj (1817–1875). It deals with the flight of the world from John of Damascus (around 650– before 754) from the worldly crowds to the spiritual retreat. However, from this very long poem Taneyev selected merely 16 lines as the source for a church cantata without reference to the biographical background. It is purely about man’s path through life in darkness and fear and redemption at The Last Judgement. The counterpoint of the work, learnt from Baroque music, takes a special position in Russian late Romanticism.

Clarinetist Stephan Siegenthaler brings Max Reger's complete works for clarinet back to life, 100 years after his death. Reger barely had 20 productive years of composition however you'd never know it looking at his vast oeuvre, comprised of all genres with the exception of opera. Siegenthaler, born in Switzerland has studied music and performed all throughout Europe including Germany, Geneva and Bratislava.

 

REVIEW:

 

All chamber works of Max Reger for clarinet, one with string quartet, the others with piano, are comprised in this compilation. The music is not easy and one has to listen carefully until getting the point, even though the artists on this CD come up with very fine performances.

 

– Pizzicato

OehmsClassics’ presents the first complete recording of an opera conducted by Kirill Petrenko. In summer 2013, Petrenko will conduct the Ring des Nibelungen for the composer’s 200th birthday in Bayreuth. The Bavarian State Opera has appointed him its General Music Director as of the 2013/14 season.

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REVIEW:

Conductor Kirill Petrenko, leader of Bayreuth’s bicentenary Ring, matches Rudolf Kempe’s recently rediscovered 1955 Salzburg performance (Walhall): they’re both compelling story-tellers of large-scale operatic narrative who can mix and match dialogue scenes with varied tempi and dramatically appropriate orchestral balance. Frankfurt’s cast has plenty of gutsy ecclesiastical characters in the Council scene, Stallmeister and Mahnke do well by Ighino and Silla (but don’t miss young Elisabeth Söderström’s Son for Kempe), Koch is a worthy Borromeo and the whole is a triumph for British tenor Peter Bronder in the title-role.

– Gramophone

The pianist Anthony Spiri is considered among today's most respected vocal accompanists, chamber musicians and soloists. Born in the USA, he received his training in Cleveland and Boston before removing to Europe where he completed his studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Mr. Spiri is a professor of piano chamber music at Cologne's Musikhochschule. Special attention in the pianist's discography is given over to his modern piano recordings of Bach, father & sons, as is demonstrated here via this W.F. Bach release, his follow-up to his earlier OehmsClassics Faure release.

Good music was not enough for him: Alexander Scriabin wanted people with his music to liberate, redeem humanity. Scriabin's ecstatic sound poem leads the romantic Symphony orchestra at its limits. A departure into infinity: “And the universe echoed / From the joyful call / I am!” Says the end of his soaring poem “Poème de l’extase,” which is the inspiration for the symphonic work. With the voices of the WDR Rundfunkchor. A sung ending sounds in this recording, which crowns the bold flight of the soul with an orgiastic ending. As a long-time guest conductor of the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Dmitrij Kitajenko proves his particular affinity for the interpretation of Russian music here, as in Scriabin's Second Symphony. Kitjaneko celebrated his 80th birthday in 2020.

RENAISSANCE AM RHEIN • Singer Pur Ens • OEHMS OC 820 (66:39 Text and Translation)


Music of JEAN DE LATRE, ZANGIUS, PEVERNAGE, HAGIUS, PEUDARGENT, JOHANNES DE CLEVE, LASSUS, MANGON, CASTRO, ANON


The occasion for this recorded program was an exhibit in Bonn (just concluded) devoted to the art and culture of the Renaissance as it flourished in the lower Rhineland, from Liège and Aachen to Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Cleves. The program mixes seven Latin-texted works, some with unfamiliar texts, with eight secular songs in German or French. The works are mostly obscure, but certainly one of the most obscure is O Dee cunctipotens by Martin Peudargent (active at the court of Cleves), which the notes describe as “one of the few works [of his] that has not been released on CD.” Since I couldn’t find his name in any record catalog before this, this seemed strange, but it turns out that a full SACD of his music appeared on an obscure German label a couple of years ago. Petit Jean de Latre, who served in Liège, had a whole LP devoted to his sixth book of chansons ( Fanfare 7:4), but none of his three selections here duplicate that program. These composers are poorly represented on discs, nothing here being duplicated. Such names as Konrad Hagius and Johannes de Cleve are totally obscure. Even the single Lassus motet seems to be a first recording.


Singer Pur, graduates of the Regensburg choir school (with a soprano added), have been recording regularly. This is one of their more imaginative programs, interesting for its variety, the rarity of the selections, and the special occasion that resulted in its production. Pevernage’s Salve Regina is interesting for its alternation between the solemn chant setting and polyphony, considerably more than simply intoning the first phrase in chant. Lassus’s meditation on death, O mors quam amara , is exquisite. The program ends on a lighter note with two German songs, hard to appreciate fully in the German dialect without English (only the Latin texts are translated into German). The Bonn museum exhibit focused on art and culture as well as music, emphasizing the distinct character of the Renaissance in northern climes, inconsistent with the familiar Italian models. This program will not duplicate anything in your collection.


FANFARE: J. F. Weber

This OehmsClassics all-Mozart disc features two fine piano concerti, K. 238 and K.415 together with the overtures to Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni. K. 415 (1782) is notable for having the largest orchestra forces Mozart had employed up until that time. German pianist Andreas Frölich, concert artist, professor and member of the Mendelssohn Trio, Berlin, has an accumulated discography of close to three-dozen discs. Eduard Topchjan leads the Armenian Philharmonic.

October 2011 marked the 100th anniversary of the Hamburg premiere of Mahler’s Second Symphony. This release features music recorded from the previous year with the Hamburg Philharmonic under the direction of Simone Young. Michaela Kaune and Dagmar Pecková appear as the soloists, performing with the NDR Choir and the Latvia State Choir in an impressive interpretation of Mahler’s Second.

REVIEWS:

Hugely impressive, a must for all Mahlerians...the heroine of the hour is Simone Young.

Mahler’s Resurrection has been much recorded in recent years, so much so that new versions prompt one to groan inwardly and mutter: ‘Not another one’. Such ubiquity has its price, for any newcomer has to be something out of the ordinary if it’s to have any impact. Of recent releases David Zinman (Sony-BMG), Jonathan Nott (Tudor) and James Levine (Orfeo) definitely belong in this category; Vladimir Jurowski (LPO) and Markus Stenz (Oehms) manifestly don’t. And now Oehms are taking another bite out of the cherry, with the Hamburg orchestra led by their chief conductor Simone Young.

But does this strategy pay off? First impressions are highly favorable; Young adopts sensible speeds and a generally spacious approach that really lets the music breathe. As for the orchestra, they play like a group of chamber musicians, each miraculous contribution dovetailing neatly with the next. Textures have a shot-silk quality that’s especially attractive, putting Oehms’ Super Audio efforts for Stenz to shame. And climaxes are superbly judged as well, expanding without any sense of strain; as for the soundstage, it’s as broad as it is deep, perspective natural and timbres vividly registered.

This lightness of touch – not to be confused with lightweight – is such a relief after the heavy-handedness of some rivals, especially in the affectionate phrasing of the Andante. Young doesn’t dawdle, the music as fleet-footed as one could wish for, the silken strings lifting Mahler’s lovely tunes and really making them sing. There’s little of the tugging and misjudged tempo relationships that mar so many readings of this symphony; that tends to underline this conductor’s unwavering sense of clarity and purpose, qualities that I yearn for – but don’t always find – in this glorious work.

This tautness of conception and ensemble continues in the Scherzo...As for the woodwinds, they’re alert and idiomatic, the lower brass growling with the best of them. But it’s the liquidity of rhythm that’s most telling here. Young presses on without ever seeming rushed or perfunctory. Indeed, that’s another aspect of this performance that demands a mention; none of Mahler’s quirkier passages is ignored or sidelined. The music is in a constant – and intoxicating – state of efflorescence. This really is Mahler playing of the highest order, magnificently recorded

Young builds and maintains tension throughout. The sudden eruptions are entirely expected and, more important, suitably scaled. Just sample the outburst at 8:04; it’s massive without being ponderous or overdriven. Moreover, it’s not as histrionic as some, which fits in well with Young’s clear-eyed view of this score. I know Klaus Tennstedt’s recently released live Resurrection has its devotees, but its extreme soul-baring strikes me as self-serving and, ultimately, self-defeating. While the LPO play this music as if to the manner born, the Hamburg playing is more sharply characterized. They’re precise but not at all pedantic, every nuance and instrumental strand is uncovered in the most easeful way.

...the cataclysm that follows is truly thunderous, Young dimming the lights as it were, so that when the Resurrection motif appears it glows beautifully in the inky darkness. It’s an effective piece of theatre that works this time round. Although the passages that follow aren’t as broad as they can be, they’re alive with incident and chockful of detail. This really is a most impressive recording, every bit as immersive as Nott’s Super Audio disc. Indeed, the crack of timps here is just as arresting as it is on the high-tech Tudor one; oh, and I’d love to know what tam-tams the Hamburg band use, as they pack a mighty shimmer.

Young presses on, but there’s so much in which to revel – helped by the fact that the orchestra keeps its composure throughout – that one isn’t aware of just how swift she is from this point on. It’s incredibly exciting, the offstage contributions rather distant but just audible above the hike in ambient noise.

Again one can only marvel at the subtle instrumental and vocal shading the engineers extract from this acoustic. It’s a pity the soloists aren’t ideally secure, but what a heart-racing sense of anticipation Young conjures here - what trembling inexorability, that throwaway harp figure like the rending of a veil. Although the organ isn’t very prominent the tam-tams are simply stunning, the closing pages as death-defiant as ever.

What a glorious coda to this double centenary, with its hits and misses, and what a triumph for Oehms[.] But the heroine of the hour is Simone Young who, while no stranger to these symphonies, here confirms her Mahlerian credentials in a most emphatic fashion. Despite one or two minor caveats, this Resurrection belongs in the select company of recent issues from Zinman, Nott and Levine, all of whom bring something memorable to this oft-played score. Hugely impressive, a must for all Mahlerians.

-- Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International

The rediscovered composer Emanuel Moor (1863–1931) belonged to a generation of composers who grew up with the romantic music of Brahms, Schumann, Wagner and Debussy, but were then confronted with the new challenges of modernism around 1900. Reflecting his friendship with the famous cellist Pablo Casals, he composed numerous works for cello. This recording highlights various stages in that friendship with Pablo Casals. Moor's Sonata No. 2 for violoncello and piano Op. 53 was written in 1901, before the two met. The Double Concerto for two violoncelli Op. 69, written for Pablo and Guilhermina Casals, was well received at the time. The Suite for four cellos Op. 95 was commissioned by Pablo Casals. From 1920 Moor also worked in instrument making. He developed a two-manual concert grand piano (duplex coupler Grand Pianoforte) and made modifications to string instruments.

The Berlin weekly journal ''Die Woche'', issued from 1899 to 1944 by the publisher August Scherl, announced a composition competition in 1903 with the aim of encouraging new songs ''im Volkston''. Prominent composers of the time were approached by the publishers for this competition and asked to send in an appropriate song. Of the songs submitted, thirty were selected and published in a special issue that was available in shops. At the first performance of the songs of othis first competition, however it became clear that many of these songs were indeed in a folk-music style, but due to their complexity they were rather closer to the genre of the art song. For this reason, the publisher August Scherl decided to hold a second competition during that same year. This one was basically run in the same way, but this time composers were not approached directly; this time there was a public announcement in the journal ''Die Woche''. In addition, special emphasis was to be laid on brevity, easy singability and comprehensibility. The best and most beautiful of these songs are represented on this recording. As a bonus, we have also included Waldeinsamkeit by Max Reger with Regula Muhlemann. This song was submitted by the composer but rejected by the jury - hard to believe, actually.

This album presents a brilliant live recording of pianists Jura Margulis and Martha Argerich performing in Lugano in 2014. Fulfilling a life-long dream of his, Margulis performs with Argerich his own transcription for two pianos of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain. Also on this album are several solo works, performed by Margulis, by esteemed composers such as Bach, Liszt, Mozart, and Shostakovich. This recording is truly an ovation-worthy performance.

The style of the Czech composer Bohuslav Martin? was enriched by numerous influences which are reflected in The Greek Passion; magnificent choirs contrast vividly with intimate chamber music, and folkloristic elements are placed next to complex, classically worked-out orchestral movements. A highly emotional mixture of oratorio and dramatic opera takes the listener into a world in which catastrophes abound. Lorenzo Fioroni, who has directed operas in Nuremberg, Augsburg and Heidelberg, has produced this dramatic contest against fear in Graz.

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REVIEW:

A burning issue still today, this opera about migrants arriving in a Greek community just preparing a passion play was written by Bohuslav Martinu in the 1950s. The music is colorful and ardent, and the recorded production from the Graz Opera deserves lots of praise.

– Pizzicato (Luxembourg)

This collection contains the most important recordings by Alfredo Perl with piano works by Franz Liszt. A special highlight is the recording of the piano concertos with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Alfredo Perl studied with Carlos Botto at the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, Günter Ludwig at the Musikhochschule in Cologne and Maria Curcio in London. He gave his first concert at the age of nine and then performed throughout South America and Europe as recitalist and with the Santiago Philharmonic Orchestra and the Zagreb Symphony Orchestra. Perl has since been a prizewinner in major competitions, including the Ferruccio Busoni Competition in Bolzano and the Beethoven Competition in Vienna, and he won first prize at the International Piano Competition in Montevideo. Alfredo Perl is professor for piano at the Detmold University of Music and has been artistic director of the Detmold Chamber Orchestra since 2009.

Classical Music

The Faust Symphony, first performed in Weimar in 1857, is one of Franz Liszt’s most significant compositions. For the recording of his transcription of this work for organ, Hansjorg Albrecht played the celebrated Klais organ in the Philharmonic Hall of the Gasteig, Munich.Hansjörg Albrecht, conductor, organist and harpsichordist, is Artistic Director of the Munich Bach Choir & Bach Orchestra (founded by the legendary Karl Richter). In addition to this role he regularly conducts the Bach Collegium Munich, the Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo Naples and the C.P.E.-Bach-Choir Hamburg. With these ensembles as well as in collaboration with guest orchestras he has developed new programmatic profiles and is regular guest at major music centres and European festivals. Concerts as organist have taken Hansjörg Albrecht to a number of great concert halls and cathedrals in Europe and Russia as well as to Japan and the USA. He also guested with renowned orchestras such as Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, and St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra New York.