The captivating winner is the Zinzadse - but the other two impress for their heroically furious impetuosity.

The recorded classical music legacy of the one-time Middle-Eastern and Asian soviet republics is pretty much a closed book. Yet before state-controlled recording activity folded thousands of classical works were issued on LP. Will those tapes or LPs ever be transferred? Anything is possible but I am not holding my breath. There used to be at least one web-site that offered custom transfers of a host of LPs of operas, symphonies and concertos by Azeri and other composers of the Asian extremities of the Soviet confederation. How reliable it was I do not know. Until a happy day collectors and the curious will have to console their hearts with fine expatriate issues such as this made in Germany.

Sulkhan Nassidse wrote eight symphonies, five string quartets and concertos for violin, two violins, bassoon, piano and violin and cello. There are also ballets and an oratorio My Country. The Chamber Symphony No. 3 is in one twenty minute movement. The writing is tremendously powerful and virtuosic. The style has that sinuous oriental caramel quality. It is driven home by stark and hoarse writing redolent of Shostakovich's string symphonies and Bartok at his most turbocharged and insolent.

Bardanashvili was born in Batumi but is now a musical eminence in Israel. He has symphonies, operas and concertos to his name. The piece featured here is in effect his Piano Concerto - originally in one movement and now in three - each having its own track. It is played here in leonine style by the composer's friend, the Georgian pianist Alexander Korsantia. The composer piles tension upon tension in the highly rhetorical piano and strings writing. Part of the work's effect is achieved by the relaxation that comes when this deeply stacked linear activity ceases. The remission accentuates the ideas that float freely upwards liberated from the whirring chasmal sounds that relate perhaps to Martin?'s Concerto for piano and double string orchestra. The simplicity that enters for example at the start of the second movement recalls that of Valentin Silvestrov. The composer tells us that the Lisztian mitrailleuse harrying of the finale is a rearrangement of the middle movement of his 1983 Cello Concerto. No one can claim that the present performance delivers short change in the dynamism and fortissimo stakes. This is a really pumped-up assault.

Zinzadse's Miniatures come along as the equivalent of one of Beecham's bonne bouches designed to send the audiences home soothed. The eleven pieces may well be familiar in their string quartet format having been recorded by Sony a decade or so ago. These are relaxation after so much high tension torment in Nassidse and Bardanashvili. The writing is suave, light on the palate, witty, oriental in accent, sensitive, delicately pointed and enchanting. You might think about Skalkottas's Greek Dances but in fact these pieces find closer comparison in Frank Bridge's string miniatures with an infusion of Rimsky's and Khachaturian's oriental roses.

The liner-note covers all the listener's immediate needs for background.

The instant and captivating winner here is the Zinzadse - wait until ClassicFM discover this – will they? The other two pieces also impress for their impetuosity and heroic fury.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

Der ferne Klang by Franz Schreker (1878-1934) premiered on August 18, 1912 at the Frankfurt Opera House. Schreker had already begun composing his first full-length opera in 1901, after the text he had written in just a few weeks. Now the work, which was initially considered impossible to perform, but which made Schreker suddenly famous, is returning to the location of it's premiere for the first time after 1945. Almost half of all operas by the Austrian, who with one exception was both composer and librettist for all of his stage works, performed or premiered in Frankfurt. The Choir of the Oper Frankfurt and Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester perform under the direction of Sebastian Weigle.

"Oper Frankfurt is arguably the “right” company to produce this Der ferne Klang recording, because Austrian composer Franz Schreker (1878-1934) had a special connection with this opera house. It was here that he scored his first big success with this opera, followed by the premiere of his complete version of Die Gezeichneten, two of his most definitive works. His musical idiom is decidedly Late/Post Romantic, yet uniquely his own, beguiling in its lush and translucent tone colours. His style can also extend into an intensely expressionistic and harmonically adventurous, if unsettling, musical soundscape. At the height of his fame during the early years of the Weimar Republic, Schreker was the most performed opera composer after Richard Strauss. He was also a noted pedagogue, as director of Berlin’s Hochschule für Musik, and counted Berthold Goldschmidt and Ernst Krenek as his students. But by the late 1920s, with the rise of National Socialism and its inherent antisemitism, Schreker, who was Jewish, lost his academic appointments and his compositions were banned. Sadly he descended into obscurity, suffered a stroke and died at the age of 56. It was only in the 1980s, through Decca’s “Entartete Musik” series, that Schreker reemerged from a decades-long obscurity. His revival gathered momentum both in Germany and America. Salzburg Festival’s striking 2005 Die Gezeichneten garnered critical and audience accolades, reaffirmed by the more recent Warlikowski production in Munich, which made a powerful (if nightmarish) impression on me in 2017...

Thankfully, Oper Frankfurt’s production of Der ferne Klang was revived before COVID shut everything down, and it is now commercially available on CD. It features a strong ensemble cast led by tenor Ian Koziara and soprano Jennifer Holloway as the two lovers. Both sing beautifully, with Koziara taking top vocal honours for his free, beautiful, never stentorian, ringing tone. Holloway is equally impressive, a few fleeting moments of steely sound notwithstanding.

This recording includes no less than three Canadians— bass-baritone Gordon Bintner, baritone Iain MacNeil, and mezzo Julia Dawson—all members of the Oper Frankfurt Ensemble. Bintner, as the Graf, has the most music to sing, including a very nice aria, “In einem Lande,” which he handles beautifully, particularly at the top. MacNeil and Dawson have less to sing but both offer fresh voices and vivid imagination. All supporting roles are well taken, perhaps with one painful exception. I debated whether to mention it as it involves a singer I have admired in the past. I heard soprano Nadine Secunde (Alte Frau Mama) as a marvelous Sieglinde and Elsa 30 years ago. Here she is in shockingly poor vocal estate, afflicted by a painful wobble —perhaps in character for an ‘Old Lady’, but does it have to be this way? Sebastian Weigle shows his fine understanding of Schreker, leading the Frankfurt forces with strength and eloquence— the Zwischenspiel in Act III is a highlight. This piece might not delight everybody, but if you are fond of Strauss and early Schoenberg, and have an inclination to stories with a Freudian bent, you are in for a treat.

The opera’s story has little to do with logic, yet is strangely suited to Schreker’s lush and atmospheric score. As the listener, one takes a journey of poetic imagination that’s oddly satisfying. This is a perfect opera to illustrate that one should listen not with the head but with the heart. As with a lot of Schreker, the visual element is important, if not crucial, to the total enjoyment of the work, so it’s regrettable that this isn’t a DVD release. That said, it is still very enjoyable and an important addition to the discography of a much neglected composer. Highly recommended." —— Joseph So

This disc is a treasure, a rarity to behold.

I have encountered relatively few instances in which an artist’s sensibilities have seemed perfectly attuned to the music presented. Here is one such case. Bernd Glemser grasps the full measure of the Chopin Scherzos and Ballades like no other pianist in memory. Lise de la Salle’s recent recording on Naïve was certainly compelling, even if the tempos were stretched a bit. Kissin (RCA), however, was my previous favorite in the Ballades, in a field that includes Ashkenazy (Decca), Zimerman (DG), Pollini (DG), Biret (Naxos), Gavrilov (EMI) and many others. But Glemser clearly trumps Kissin and probably all other individual performances of the Ballades and Scherzos that I can ever recall hearing.

Glemser, who has recorded all the Rachmaninov concertos and Prokofiev sonatas for Naxos—and much else, besides — is an extraordinary pianist, an artist I have found consistently excellent over the years. Here, in my first exposure to his Chopin, I can say this is astounding playing and not just from the technical point of view. Glemser’s dynamics are rich in graded nuance, his tempo choices centrist and always a natural fit, his phrasing sensitive to the minutest emotional tic and his overall interpretive grasp of the music incisive and fully convincing. If all his Chopin is this good, he can stand with or ahead of Rubinstein, Cliburn, Perahia and other icons in this repertory.

The disc’s layout is a bit unusual, but follows the chronological order given in the headnote: scherzos and ballades are presented in ascending order according to opus number, not in an alternating pattern, as it might first appear. But whatever order Glemser had chosen, his deft interpretations would have worked.

Notice the fleet but troubled agitation in his Scherzo No. 1, played as if to express a burst of negative energy that always slackens to recall painful memories. Glemser’s dynamics and phrasing here consistently capture the roller-coaster emotions and heartrending drama. His coda is utterly thrilling. The First Ballade is filled with equally troubled emotions, all expressed so deftly by Glemser: the main theme is lovely in its neurotic longing and poetry, and the big love theme brims with hope, but ultimately false hope, that is utterly disarming and beautifully sad.

Glemser’s Second Ballade opens with a lovely serenity that yields to angry agitation, the pianist once more capturing the mood swings with such a convincing grasp on Chopin’s expressive soul as to mesmerize the listener, as if no other way with this famous music is possible. The lovely Third Ballade, the only work here mostly free of troubles, gets a perfectly balanced mixture of serenity and vigor, the whole keeping the listener smiling and comforted. The other performances are similarly convincing and Oehms Classics’ sound is vivid and powerful. All in all, then, this disc is a treasure, a rarity to behold.

-- Robert Cummings, MusicWeb International

Alongside those with Simone Young and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, OehmsClassics is now offering the third Bruckner cycle here with Ivor Bolton. This time it includes ''only'' the Symphonies Nos. 1 and 9. In its April 2017 issue, the renowned Gramophone Magazine wrote the following about the Second Symphony: ''The overall impression is one of vividness and transparency, aided by the exemplary recording...Among single-disc offerings of the 1872 edition, Bolton's recording is hard to beat.''

Past praise of previously issued recordings included in this set:

Bruckner: Symphony No 3 / Bolton, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra:

There is a compelling sweep to Bolton’s interpretation, replete with an atmospheric and detailed recording. And the ending could hardly be more final, more unequivocal, just as Bruckner surely intended.

– MusicWeb International

Bruckner: Symphony No 6 / Ivor Bolton, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg

An excellent recording overall. The focus on detail really justifies many of Bruckner's compositional decisions. More grandiose recordings make the work out to be more like the monumental Eighth or Ninth. It is always going to suffer by comparison with them, so in many ways Bolton's approach - to treat the often delicate textures with more care and attention - better represents its more modest aspirations.

– MusicWeb International

Following the complete edition of all the symphonies of Anton Bruckner with Simone Young and the Hamburg Philharmonic, OehmsClassics now proudly presents, with the present recording, the complete symphonic oeuvre of Johannes Brahms. For many years now, Simone Young has been one of the most important conductors of our time. She studied in her native city of Sydney and received a stipend to work at the Cologne Opera where she soon appeared as Kapellmeister; Daniel Barenboim then engaged her at the State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin. At this time she also rapidly developed her international career, which led her to all the world’s most important opera houses and symphony orchestras within just a few years.

Alongside her extensive operatic activities, Young has also made a name for herself on the concert podium. She has worked with leading orchestras such as the Vienna and the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York and the Munich Philharmonic and many others. She holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne, is a Professor at the Academy of Music and Theatre in hamburg, a Member of the Order of Australia, and a “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” in France and also a recipient of the Goethe Medal.

REVIEWS:

The highlight of the cycle is the pairing of the Third and Fourth Symphonies on CD 3, which shows the conductor off at her best. The music moves along with urgency and real involvement. You hear it in the propulsive tempo which begins the Third...the recorded sound, which is very good, captures a vibrancy that overcomes technicalities. Young maintains the same buoyancy, and a lightness of touch, in the two middle movements, where the progress of the Brahms Third is liable to sag. I like Young’s quick tempo in the finale (not all traditionalists drag their feet), which caps a reading that continually carries the listener along with its exuberance.

In Young’s hands the music [of the Andante moderato] is buoyant and foot-stomping at the same time.

No matter what comes before, the Brahms Fourth rises or falls on the finale, where one variation after another unfolds a musical narrative whose grip is inexorable. Young has the idea of giving us the whole span as if in one breath. Toscanini did the same, with iron rigidity as far as I’m concerned. Young is almost as insistent—she barely pauses for the tender flute variation in the middle—but without the feeling of being frog-marched to the finish line...What makes this whole CD so successful is the sense that Young has caught the spirit of the music and conducts it from the inside.

Brahms was a native of Hamburg, which makes this set a fitting tribute, and by my estimation, Young is only the second woman, following Marin Alsop on Naxos, to undertake all four symphonies. This mid-priced box set is a repackaging of separate discs recorded between 2007 and 2009. The absence of the usual fillers beyond the Tragic Overture on the CD that contains Symphony No. 2 is regrettable. But anyone who gravitated to Young’s Bruckner cycle is likely to be well satisfied by the grandeur and Romantic intensity of her Brahms.

-- Fanfare

Classical Music

BACH Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: in G, BWV 860; in F?, BWV 887; in e?, BWV 858; Book II: in g?, BWV 853; in b?, BWV 891. SHOSTAKOVICH Preludes and Fugues, op. 87: in e; in A?; in e?; in D? • Bernd Glemser (pn) • OEHMS 738 (61:40)


German pianist Bernd Glemser is not the first artist to combine the Bach and Shostakovich preludes and fugues on disc: Olli Mustonen did so in two double CD sets from RCA (hard to find) and Ondine. On those discs, Mustonen played all of Bach’s Book I and all 24 of Shostakovich’s op. 87, ordering them in a harmonic key system based on a rising fourth.


Glemser’s approach on this single disc is quite different. He has chosen excerpts based on a structural similarity between the themes used by each composer. This gives the program musical unity, and in performance Glemser brings out the stylistic likenesses rather than emphasizing contrasts. (He also departs from Mustonen by dipping into Bach’s Book II.) In addition, Glemser’s program has the kind of balance you would expect in a live recital. He gets off to a bubbling start with the joyous G-Major Prelude and Fugue, following it immediately with the pensive E-Minor Prelude and Fugue by Shostakovich. The central platform of his recital places serious, extended preludes and fugues by both composers together, each in the key of E? Minor. This is followed by one of Shostakovich’s greatest hits (so to speak), the cheeky and sprightly D?-Major Prelude and Fugue, with the B?-Minor pair by Bach closing the program on a more lyrical note.


In short, a lot of thought has gone into the programming, and the pianist brings the same rigor to his performance. While finding the mood of each piece and clarifying the contrapuntal detail, he never oversteps the limits of style or makes his points too heavily (unlike the dazzling but quirky Mustonen). Glemser’s piano is recorded in a slightly distant but flattering acoustic; it is very easy on the ear. I have had increasing pleasure from this disc with every hearing. Strongly recommended.


FANFARE: Phillip Scott

Austrian violin virtuoso Benjamin Schmid about this recording: “after 30 years of playing the master, the time felt right to improvise on Bach: Bach as the inventor of “walking bass“; master of improvisation; figured bass and Realbook; swing of the centuries; variation as form; Sarabande and Blues; Aria and leadsheet; pedalpoint and modal jazz; counterpoint and voicing; Cantata and Gospel; ultimate chamber music….. I just followed the temptation and inspiration took over!“ Benjamin Schmid was born in Vienna and grew up in Salzburg. Among other competitions, he won the Carl Flesch Competition in London 1992, where he was also awarded the Mozart-, the Beethoven- and the Audience Prize. Since then he has performed on the world’s major stages with renowned orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra London, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam under conductors such as Christoph von Dohnanyi, David Zinman, Seiji Ozawa or Valery Gergiev. As one of the most versatile of today's violinists Benjamin Schmid combines his qualities as a soloist, the extraordinary broad range of his repertoire – in addition to the usual works he also plays the violin concertos by Hartmann, Gulda, Korngold, Muthspiel, Szymanowski, Lutoslawski and Reger – with his remarkable skill in jazz improvisation

The present recording especially concentrates on works by Johann Sebastian Bach in minor keys; these are contrasted by four works in major keys. The general perception is that minor key works frequently emanate a certain sadness as their fundamental emotion. Bach, on the other hand, repeatedly develops in his minor key compositions-particularly in the organ works- an unsurpassed elegance out of the melancholy depths, as Joseph Kelemen impressively proves at the Treutmann Organ of the Grauhof Monastery Church. Joseph Klemen completed his studies in organ, harpsichord, and choral conducting at the Academy of Music in his native city of Budapest, the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and the Academy of the Arts in Bremen. He has been active as a church musician in Southern Germany since 1986. With a strong commitment to historical performance practice, he is considered by specialists to be an authority on German organ music of the 17th century and the organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach.

BACH Cantatas: No. 131 2,3; No. 182 1-3 • Thomas Gropper (cond); 1 Regine Jurda (alt); 2 Maximiian Kiener (ten); 3 Franz Schlecht (bs); Arsis Vocalists Munich; L’Arpa Festante; (period instruments) • OEHMS OC 783 (47:23 Text, no Translations)


Bach’s Cantata 131 may have been his first ever, composed at Mühlhausen in 1707 or 1708. We can hear in it the youthful composer remaining true to his German roots, but stretching his wings, experimenting with an episodic, through-composed structure, and succeeding brilliantly. The experiment, however, was short-lived. By the time Bach moved to Weimar in 1714, he was settling on a new format, which he would refine and perfect in later years: a succession of individual movements, usually including an elaborate choral number, a group of solo pieces, and an unadorned setting of the relevant chorale. A heightened awareness of international trends surfaced in French overtures and Italianate recitatives and da capo arias. Cantata 182 was Bach’s first for Weimar.


Both of these early cantatas on this disc are likely candidates for chamber-sized performances, but they are sung here by a chorus of about 50 singers. Thomas Gropper’s temperate direction serves the music well. The choral singing is nicely burnished and admirably precise. The first chorus of No. 182 seemed to lose a bit of its forward momentum, but order is quickly restored and the cantata (and the disc) ends well. The soloists are similarly effective. One can get a vague sense of meandering in the bass aria of BWV 182, but the overall impression is positive. The featured (but unnamed) wind soloists—the oboe in No. 131 and the recorder in No. 182—are especially fine, more reasons to give the disc your consideration. In all, an excellent 131; a good 182.


FANFARE: George Chien

According to a dictionary, a whirlwind is 1. A small rotating wind and 2. A wild person, moving briskly and violently. Both associations inspired us to choose this title for our recordings. In earlier centuries, women composers rocked many conventions, and today women composers sometimes still have to contend with considerable resistance or prejudice. The women who took up the pen for us in this project are all vibrant, strong and inspiring personalities with enormous focus and concentrated creative energy. The selection of works originate from female composers all over the world. Singer Pur are a German vocal sextet founded in 1991 founded by former members of the Regensburger Domspatzen. The five original members were joined by a soprano in 1994. The sextet is focused on classical music, but have also performed and recorded traditional folk songs.

The most amazing piece that this teenager, who is reaching for the stars if not beyond, has composed – and at the age of fourteen – is his First Symphony for large orchestra entitled “Kraftwerk”. It is almost an understatement to prophecy this young man a great future. That the pianist Alexander M. Wagner is in no way inferior to the composer is proven by this recording of piano works, recorded by the sixteen-year-old in February

Since its inception in 1991, the Singer Pur ensemble have become one of the leading a cappella choirs in Germany. These former members of the Regensburger Domspatzen are known for their tireless international activity as musical Ambassadors from the city of Regensburg. In 2013 the group won the coveted Caeciliaprijs (Belgium) and the Bavarian State Prize for music.

With their brilliant Christmas CD Singer Pur sets new standards in the interpretation of traditional carols. A special 2 CD edition. - Oehms, (translated from German text.)

CD 1
1. We tell you to love Advent - Melody: Heinrich pipe 1954 | Set: Oliver Gies (born 1973), 201 33:22
2. Nun komm - Melody: Martin Luther, 1524 | Set: 1. verse: Melchior Vulpius, 1609 2nd verse: Andreas Raselius, 1599, 3rd stanza: Johann Eccard (1553-1611), 4th verse: Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630), 5th verse: Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) 03:09
3. Übers mountains' Maria goes - melody and sentence: Johann Eccard, 1575 03:00
4. I ??broke three drought Reiselein - melody and phrase: Hugo Distler (1908-1942) 02:03
5. Us Let's be happy and cheerful - Melody: 19th century | Set: Bernhard Hofmann (* 1959) 2:45
6. Adventlied - Es kommt ein Schiff - Melody: Andernacher Hymns, 1608 | Set: Max Reger (1873-1916 ) 2:04
7. Power up the door - Melodie: Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen (1670-1739) Hall, 1704 - Set: William Hawley (* 1950) 3:00
8. Maria went through a thorn forest - Melody: folk song from Eichsfeld to Harthausen, Spiritual Songs, 1853 - record: Hugh Keyte | Andrew Parrott, 1992 02:07
9. O you quiet time - melody: Cesar Bresgen (1913-1988) | Sentence: Marcus Schmidl (* 1971), 2015 02:46
10. Morgenstern was dark night - Melody: Georg Joseph Vogler (1749-1814) | Set: Heinz-Walter Schmitz (1944) 2:32
11. Awake! ruft uns die Stimme - Melody: Philipp Nicolai by Hans Sachs, 1513 | Set: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750 ) 1:50
12. O Heiland, the heavens tear on - Melody: Augsburg, 1666 | Set: Reiko Füting (* 1970), 2014 03:11
13 Es kommt ein Schiff - Melody: Andernacher Hymns, 1608 | Sentence: Marcus Schmidl (* 1971), 201 54:08
14. Now, dear soul, now it is time - set: Johann Eccard (1553-1611 ) 3:05
15. Come O, O come, Immanuel - melody: Dusseldorf, 1836, 4th verse: France (15th Century.) | Set: Florian Mayr (* 1962 ) 4:09
16 And our dear Lady Dream - Melody: Hymns of Nicolaus Beuttner, 1602 | Set: Max Reger (1873-1916 ) 2:11
17. Daughter of Zion, Rejoice - Melody: George Frederick Handel, 1747 | Sentence: Marcus Schmidl (* 1971), late 20th century .2: 01
18 The night has advanced - melody: John Petzold, 1939 | Set: 1st and 4th verse: Jürgen Essl (* 1961), 2nd and 3rd verse: Helmut Brand, 1991 03:48
19. How beautifully shines the morning star - Melody: Strasbourg, 1538 | Set: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) 02:43
20. Softly Falls the Snow - Melody: folk song | Set: Heike Beckmann, 2014 03:19
21. Hail, liaba Christ - melody and sentence: Fischbach Auer Liederbüch l1: 51
22. How should I receive you - Melodie: Johann Cruger, 1653 | Set: 1. verse: Friedrich Zipp (1914-1997), 2nd and 3rd verse: Johann Cruger 02:37
23 morning, children's will be what - Melody: Carl Gottlieb Hering, 1809 | Set: Samo Ivacic (* 1974 ) 2:40
24. Merry Christmas everywhere - Melody: since 1885 handed down | Set: Sören Sieg (* 1966) 3:14
Total: 2:07:44

CD 2

1. In dulci jubilo - Set: William Hawley | Text: Heinrich Suso, Peter of Dresden 03:31
2. Christnacht - melody and sentence: Florian Mayr | Text: Auguste vuz Egloffstein 2:12
3. Adventsruf - from Niederrhein | Set: Florian Mayr 03:50
4. Maria went through a 'thorn - Set: Reiko Füting 04:09
5. How a Ros - Set: Michael Praetorius 02:38
6. Come, you shepherds - from Bohemia | Sentence: Peter Wittrich | Text: Carl Riedel 2:15
7. The Savior is born - from Austria | : Hans Schanderl | Text from the county Glatz 02:52
8. Sleep well, you Himmelsknabe you - from Bavaria | Set: Hugh Keyte, Andrew Parrott, Clifford Bartlett, Text: Daniel Schubart: 02:53
9. It is scho Dumpa - from Tyrol | Sentence: Peter Wittrich 03:38
10. A child in the cradle - Set: David Overton 02:24
11. Sleep, my little baby - Set: Howard Arman 3:10
12. From the high heavens, their angels come * - Set: Claudia Reinhard 02:52
13. Still, still, still - from Salzburg | Set: Singer Pur by "Ars Musica" Vol. 2 2:00
14. O Jesus tenderly - Set: Samuel Scheidt 02:10
15. I was in deep night of death - sentence: Johann Eccard | Text: Paul Gerhardt 02:54
16. Lieb Nachtigall, wach auf - sentence: Marcus Schmidl 1:59
17. Three ships sailing I saw - from England | Sentence and translation: Wolfram Buchenberg 02:14
18. Do you remember how it happened? - Set: Marcus Schmidl | Melody: Christian Lahusen | Text: Hermann Claudius 02:54
19. Silent Night - Set: Marcus Schmidl | Melody: Franz Gruber | Text: Joseph Mohr 03:37
20. It is scho Dumpa (Dreigesang) - from Tyrol | traditional set 01:27
Total: 55:39

Cellist Sebastian Klinger is considered one of the outstanding young soloists and chamber musicians of his generation renowned for his warm tone intensity of expression and flawless technique qeeded with musicality. This release is his exploration of lesser-known French literature for cello from minor Debussy and Franck to Dutilleux.

This series honors the 200th anniversary of the birth of Anton Bruckner, which falls in 2024. It's dedicated to Bruckner’s symphonies, all recorded in new transcriptions for organ by Hansjörg Albrecht. The 4th recording was made on the impressive organ of St. Peter, Munich. A bonus track on each volume will be a brand new composition for organ that references Bruckner the composer. Two or three volumes will be released each year, with the project reaching its conclusion in 2024. The third volume features Bruckner’s Symphonic Prelude in C minor, his Symphony No. 3 in D minor, and living composer Johanna Doderer’s PINUS Bruckner-Fenster IV for Organ.