REVIEWS:
American Record Guide (11-12/97, pp.257-58) - "...These songs are well-loved in Finland, and you'll know why when you hear them....Jorma Hynninen could sing the phone book and it would be gorgeous....He doesn't over-inflect; he always sounds natural..."

Ondine is pleased to announce the first release with Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid with a performance of Reger’s Violin Concerto and the Chaconne for Solo Violin. This release invites to listen to a captivating performance of Reger’s Violin Concerto, a hugely charming big romantic work with broad sentimental gestures.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy the National Symphony Orchestra presented a new work by Peter Lieberson called "Remembering JFK," an orchestral piece with movie star Richard Dreyfuss narrating excerpts from Kennedy's speeches. This CD includes that and previously unreleased pieces from Kennedy's 1961 Inaugural Concert. That concert includes Leonard Bernstein's "Fanfare for the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy" and "Symphonic Dances from 'West Side Story.' " Also included is George Gershwin's "Concerto in F."

MOZART JUBILEUM - COLLECTION

Lars Vogt continues his Ondine recordings with a new cycle of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos. Conducting the Royal Nothern Sinfonia from the keyboard Lars Vogt shows the brilliance and the beauty of these two majestic works of the classic piano concerto literature.

Beethoven made an early reputation for himself as a keyboard player. Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 5 feature two opposite sides in Beethoven’s career: the 1st concerto is a masterpiece by a young composer in his 20s who is already looking into new dimensions of musical expression. Although it was his first published piano concerto Beethoven had already made serious attemps in the genre – large part of the material to his 2nd concerto also predate the 1st concerto.

The 5th concerto, commonly known as the Emperor concerto, was written between his 6th and 7th Symphonies when Vienna was under Napoleon’s occupation. During bombardment Beethoven, now 39 and increasingly deaf, had sheltered in the cellar of his brother, covering his head with a pillow against the noise of the cannons. Beethoven dedicated the work to Archduke Rudolph who had fled the city. Despite of its joyful, optimistic and hopeful character, occasionally echoes of war disrupt the work creating a strong impact. The work was premiered two years later in November 1811.

Lars Vogt was appointed the first ever “Pianist in Residence” by the Berlin Philharmonic in 2003/04 and enjoys a high profile as a soloist and chamber musician. His debut solo recording on Ondine with Bach’s Goldberg Variations (ODE 1273-2) was released in August 2015 and has been a major critical success. The album’s tracks have also been streamed online over 6 million times. Lars Vogt started his tenure as Music Director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia in September 2015.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky's fourth release on Ondine features a program of rarely recorded sonnets by Dmitri Shostakovich and Franz Liszt. Hvorostovsky is accompanied by his longtime duo partner, the Estonian pianist Ivari Ilja. Shostakovich's sonnets, considered one of the achievements of contemporary Russian vocal music, were composed as his health worsened and are filled with ruminations on mortality. Liszt's sonnets are based on love poems by the Italian Renaissance writer Petrarch. Both Hvorostovsky and Ilja brin great empathy to these compositions, matching the contemplative nature of both with quietly powerful and confident performances.

REVIEW:

Hvorostovsky offers searching readings of Shostakovich's rugged, jagged songs which are full of resignation and bittersweet regret, of loss and separation. There are few things finer than Hvorostovsky in full flight and Liszt’s Petrarch Sonnets allow him the chance to open up the Italianate warmth in his baritone, with impassioned accounts, especially of Sonnet 47.

– Gramophone

Uuno Klami write his Violin Concerto during World War II and it was premiered in Stockholm in 1944. The piece was lost during the war and Klami completed a new version in 1954. Klami is known for the strong influences he takes from French music and from Stravinsky. Known for his exceptionally wide repertoire and a great sense of musicality, Benjamin Schmid is one of the most versatile violinists of today. Described as "one of the most valuable of today's golden-age-violinists" - The New York Sun

D. SCARLATTI Harpsichord Sonatas • Janne Rättyä (acc) • ONDINE 1232-2 (57:10)


After a couple of generic paragraphs about the music, mixing the usual, uninformative clichés with some eyebrow-raising opinions (“Scarlatti introduces a veritable history of Spanish music into his style and enables sonic invention to blossom from the dry soil of the harpsichord....”), the liner notes finally deal briefly with the question that might interest anyone curious about this album: why an accordion? The answer does not satisfy: “The nuanced attention to sonic shape at every moment of the melody, figure or gesture ... the stunning range of color....”


The accordion is a keyboard-based wind instrument. Its range of color is based on stops. If you’re looking for nuance and color, the piano is far better at it, because dynamics can be applied individually to each note. Dynamics on an accordion apply to all notes across the board at any given time by varying the degree of air pumped through the bellows. It’s safer to say what the liner notes in all their vague effusiveness never point out, that Janne Rättyä is an excellent classical accordionist who has collaborated with a host of modern composers, and understandably wants to claim some Baroque territory for his instrument as well.


How does this work out in practice? Rättyä is careful to select music that plays to the strengths of his instrument. The F-Minor Sonata, K 386, features lively two-part counterpoint, and the accordionist is an agile technician. He also plays several slower works, such as the well-known Sonata in C Minor, K 11, where a guitar-like, single-note melody is played in the right hand. This allows him a degree of freedom with dynamics, and also reveals his sensitivity in phrasing. He shows himself of much of the same mind as harpsichordist Richard Lester, with his flexible, folk-inflected tempos, rather than more Italianate performances in Scarlatti’s keyboard music that emphasize consistent rhythms. Some of the moderate tempo pieces benefit from a similar treatment. The E-Major Sonata, K 135, sounds very playful here, without losing its forward pulse, and the pastoral-like G-Major Sonata, K 13, is picked out with grace.


I find matters less successful when Rättyä tries to push beyond these boundaries. The popular F Minor Sonata, K 519, and D-Minor Sonata, K 52, are muddy in their bass voicings, because the instrument’s rounder tone blends the notes of the chords rather than allowing them to stand out distinctly. But in general, the album hews to the plan laid out above: faster, two-part counterpoint pieces, and slower ones with a simple single-note melody in the right hand. This makes for a certain monotony, since there’s far more to Scarlatti than that, but a few selections at a time make for attractive listening. Up to you.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal


The truth is that Rättyä does some amazing things from a purely mechanical point of view: some of the quicker sonatas, such as K.386 in F Minor, have seldom been played more accurately on any instrument, and the accordion’s near total absence of resonance makes it impossible for the player to hide. You just have to keep going. It’s like getting stuck on a roller coster. In slower, more emotionally affecting music the instrument frankly sounds silly. Strike that–it sounds silly everywhere, but give Rättyä credit for taking this project completely seriously and doing everything that he can with the limited resources that he’s stuck with. He even arranges the sonatas into quasi-scholarly groups by key, although he’s limited to C, F, E, G and D (major and minor). The sonics are terrific."

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

With this new release the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Daniel Reuss pay tribute to Max Reger (1873-1916) and Rudolf Tobias (1873-1918), a composer of the classical-romantic tradition and associated with the beginning of professional composition in Estonia.

REVIEWS:

Vogt bring qualities of freshness and joie de vivre to the Goldbergs that have often been much less marked. He is not reverential and he has noted – correctly, surely – how entertaining the Variations are. This is a distinguished addition to the discography of the Goldberg Variations in all their glorious elegance.

- Gramophone

Vogt's feeling for the over-arching whole is impressive. He's not above a little 'guiding' either - sometimes drawing attention to detail in a way denied to Bach's harpsichord. But he's sparing in the use of the pedal and, like Schiff and Perahia, inclined to let his fingers sing wherever possible - to laugh, too.

- BBC Music Magazine

Helsinki Recital: Karita Mattila (Live)

This exciting new program of Violin Sonatas by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) comes from award-winning violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt as the latest volume in their highly successful series of violin chamber works. These sonatas were composed between 1878 and 1888, and are among the greatest 19th century chamber music masterpieces. . This release also features a Scherzo movement from the F. A. E. Sonata, which was Brahms’ contribution to a composite sonata with Albert Dietrich and Robert Schumann in 1853. Christian Tetzlaff maintains an extensive performance schedule and is one of the world’s leading international violinists. He has won numerous awards including “Instrumentalist of the Year” from Musical America, and the “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” for his recording of violin concertos by Mendelssohn and Schumann.

REVIEWS:

A breathtaking balance of poise and daring. Tetzlaff and Vogt take obvious pleasure in details without losing sight of the larger picture, whether it’s a phrase, a movement or an entire work. Indeed, they sharply delineate the individual character of each sonata.

– Gramophone Magazine

I get the impression that Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt want to drag the composer out of his book-lined study and seal the door. It’s beautiful playing, tonally and expressively, and very musical, but it’s also surprisingly open – Brahms after an expensive course of Viennese psychotherapy.

– BBC Music Magazine

Classical Music

This new release from Ondine is the first installment in a series of Brahms recordings with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra and their chief conductor Jaime Martin. Together with the orchestra, Martin offers delightful interpretations of these two early examples of Brahms' orchestral writing. Jaime Martin became the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Gävle Symphony Orchestra in 2013. During recent years orchestral engagements have led the rising conductor to collaborate with several prominent orchestras around the world. Martin is also Chief Conductor of the Orquestra de Cadaques and known for his active career as a solo flautist. The two Brahms' orchestral Serenades heard here were written in the late 1850's and together with the first Piano Concerto, offer the earliest surviving examples of his orchestral writing.

REVIEW:

Anyone who champions Brahms’s gloriously eccentric, lyrical, and capacious Serenades deserves full attention. Here they get it. There’s some lovely playing, with warm woodwind and horns and nice, crisp syncopations. Martín does not allow the tempi to drag: important in works that need to be kept agile and alert to reveal their special charm.

– Guardian

Ondine’s successful partnership with violinist Christian Tetzlaff continues with a new recording of Dmitri Shostakovich’s two Violin Concertos, personal, powerful yet distinctive works originally written for legendary Russian violinist David Oistrakh. Mr. Tetzlaff has been considered one of the world’s leading international violinists for many years, and still maintains a most extensive performing schedule. Musical America named him “Instrumentalist of the Year” in 2005. Previously released recordings on Ondine of the Mendelssohn and Schumann violin concertos, the Mozart Violin Sonatas and the Schumann Violin Sonatas have all received the highest critical praise. John Storgårds is today one of the most prominent Finnish conductors of his generation, known for his innovative and pioneering programming as Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic (2008–2015), Artistic Director of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra (1996–) and Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic (2012–). Mr. Storgårds also has several award-winning recordings with various orchestras to his credit,

This release continues a series of recordings of Erikki-Sven Tuur's works. Tuur has written symphonies, concertos as well as commissions by various well-known orchestras. This album contains two concertos featuring the rising Finnish clarinetist Christoffer Sundqvist and star violinist Pekka Kuusisto together with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Hannu Lintu. Clarinet Concerto Peregrinus Ecstaticus was written to a commission by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and premiered together with the soloist Sundqvist and Lintu in 2013. The Latin title of this concerto suggest a pilgrimage. Tuur gave the following description of the work "Imagine a pilgrim's quest, full of obstacles and hazards, towards his desired goal - his perseverance and vigor alternating with exhaustion and fatigue - conquering actual physical obstacles combined with spiritual struggles...However, this composition is not an attempt to describe such a journey. On the most abstract level, this is the very hourney. I came up with this story and the title of the piece after I had already finished the score. Thus, this is not a program music. I would be delighted if this piece inspired listeners to create their own 'stories', in the hope that the music touches the creative core of the audience."

Following Lars Vogt's massively popular recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, this new recording features much-loved piano works by Franz Schubert. Vogt was appointed the first ever "Pianist in Residence" by the Berlin Philharmonic in 2003-2004 and enjoys a high profile as a soloist and chamber musician. Schubert's Impromptus, D. 899 and the famous Moments musicaux are some of his most well-known pieces that are featured on this release.

Zemlinsky’s Die Seejungfrau has been recorded at least seven times, but this newcomer has some special qualities. It is without question the most gorgeously played and opulently engineered, which is saying a lot. After all, Chailly and the Concertgebouw (Decca) aren’t exactly slouches, and neither for that matter is Zemlinsky authority Antony Beaumont with the Czech Philharmonic (Chandos). It was Beaumont, in fact, who produced this new critical edition, restoring some five minutes of music to the central movement, including perhaps the work’s most convincing climax and interesting harmonies. So for that reason alone this performance, conducted by Storgards with 100% conviction and confidence, is worth having.

The work itself remains problematic. Thematically it owes quite a bit to Tchaikovsky–Francesca da Rimini in its “motto” theme, and the slow movement of the Fifth Symphony elsewhere. Its three movements can very easily come off as relatively undifferentiated sonic blobs due to Zemlinsky’s habit of immediately resorting to lyrical noodling just as things start to get moving. Each part seems to end five or six times before it actually stops, with the loud closing bars of Part Two sounding especially gratuitous. But the music is so beautiful from moment to moment, and so brilliantly scored, that in a performance like this one the defects hardly matter. If you’re a fan of Seejungfrau, this is now the version to own, and if you aren’t a fan, this one might make you one.

As to the coupling, well, here’s a story. At least two other very good recordings of Seejungfrau come in tandem with the Sinfonietta–Dausgaard’s and Conlon’s. This version, though, is the premiere recording of a recent rescoring for chamber orchestra by one Roland Freisitzer. I am not going to accuse Freisitzer of parasitically attaching himself to the coattails of the great (like Anthony Paine, for example, with his abominable Elgar Third Symphony), because no one is making a living creating alternate versions of works by Zemlinsky. On the other hand, the justification offered for disfiguring a late masterpiece by claiming to make it more playable by chamber orchestras just won’t wash, for several reasons.

First of all, there’s plenty of great music already written for chamber orchestra. No one needs Zemlinsky’s Sinfonietta any more than we need the recent silly, pint-sized arrangement of Mahler’s Second Symphony and other such curiosities–especially on recordings. Second, Zemlinsky’s Sinfonietta is scored for a fairly modest ensemble as it is–basically only double winds and standard brass, with no tuba. Freisitzer eliminates the three percussion parts, but adds a piano, pointlessly. His choices beg the question of just what constitutes a “chamber orchestra.” After all, if the Tapiola Sinfonietta under Mario Venzago can play Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony, then Zemlinsky’s Sinfonietta certainly stands squarely within the realm of possibility. Finally, it seems singularly strange, not to say conceptually confused, to couple a carefully prepared critical edition of Seejungfrau with a mongrel deconstruction of the Sinfonietta. Do Zemlinsky’s own ideas matter or not? The scoring of the Sinfonietta, even more than with Seejungrau, constitutes one of the most telling and original aspects of the work. This was a bad idea, despite the fact that the arrangement is excellently played by Storgards and members of the Helsinki Phil.

So because the recording of Seejungrau is so terrific, and perfectly fine recordings of the Sinfonietta are not that hard to find (including Beaumont’s, differently coupled), I am going to base the rating for this release mostly on the former, and largely ignore the latter. Seejungfrau really is that good.

-- ClassicsToday.com

• With this release Ondine presents two dramatic works by Dmitri Shostakovich, The Execution of Stepan Razin and the Zoya Suite, coupled with his Suite on Finnish Themes.
• The Execution of Stepan Razin, premiered in Moscow in 1964, got a mixed reception. The execution scene and the final, tragic vision is simply spine-chilling: Stepan Razin’s bloody head rolls to the ground and bursts out laughing at the Tsar. Capturing rich intonations and melodies of the text, the bass soloist and the chorus engage in a multi-layered dialogue of this very theatrical work.

Ondine proudly presents the first CD with works by German composer Jörg Widmann (born 1973) only. This release features his Violin Concerto (2007), Insel der Sirenen for Violin and 19 Strings (1997) and Antiphon for Orchestral Groups (2007-08).

This release includes the world première recording of the full orchestral score written by Armas Järnefelt (1869–1958) for Mauritz Stiller’s silent film Song of the Crimson Flower (1919) performed by Gävle Symphony Orchestra under Jaakko Kuusisto.

Armas Järnefelt – today largely known in music literature only as Sibelius’ brother-in-law – became one of the most remarkable Finnish orchestral composers during the 1890s. The composer wrote several symphonic poems and orchestral suites in his young age which were highly successful and widely performed by various orchestras in his home country. However, for reasons unknown, Järnefelt decided to devote himself to conducting. In the years to follow, Järnefelt moved to Sweden and become a highly-esteemed conductor.

Some of Järnefelt’s miniatures became hits for salon orchestras in Europe, such as his Berceuse, but this recording makes more justice to a largely forgotten Nordic composer. In 1919, Finnish-born film director Mauritz Stiller approached Armas Järnefelt and commissioned him to write an orchestral score for his silent film ‘Song of the Scarlet Flower’ (Sången om den eldröda blomman), based on a novel by Finnish author Johannes Linnankoski. Järnefelt made great efforts for the project and as a result, wrote a large 100-minute orchestral score. The work can be considered as his final orchestral masterpiece and a pioneer work in film music. The film was a huge hit and went on to be screened in more than 40 countries in addition to Sweden. It was also the first ever Nordic feature-length film to have a full-length original score written for it. Järnefelt’s score was lost for a long time, although he did conduct a recording of extracts from the score in 1931. In the 1980s the original score was rediscovered among the possessions of Järnefelt’s relatives. Järnefelt’s score was augmented and restored by Jani Kyllönen and Jaakko Kuusisto for the present recording.

The celebrated Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk is known as a tireless champion of the best contemporary music. On this release, he portrays the Icelandic composer Haflioi Hallgrímsson—himself a professional cellist—with his two works for cello and orchestra, and is joined by the forces of the remarkable Scottish Chamber Orchestra under the direction of John Storgårds. This CD includes the first commercial recording of the Cello Concerto, which Hallgrímsson dedicated to Mørk in 2003. He has championed the work in a number of performances across Europe to great acclaim. The Times calls it, “a remarkable new addition to the cello repertoire… one of his [Hallgrímsson’s] finest work to date.”

This new release by the award-winning Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu is dedicated to the music of Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918–1970), a leading figure in the music of post-Second World War Germany. This album includes a rendering of the composer’s magnificent violin concerto featuring star violinist Leila Josefowicz, orchestral score Photoptosis, as well as the first album recording of Die Soldaten Vocal Symphony based on an opera that is widely considered as one of the greatest German operas of the 20th century. Zimmermann wrote his Die Soldaten opera, one of his keyworks, during the 1950s and 60s. The premiere of the opera was cancelled, and upon hearing the claim that the opera would be ‘impossible’ to perform, the composer adapted parts of the opera into a 40-minute vocal symphony suitable for concert performance. This work, filled with power and drama, is much more than a description of the apocalypse of modern war, and deserves its rightful place alongside the operas of Alban Berg. Zimmerman’s Violin Concerto is a relatively early work in the composer’s oeuvre. It was premiered in 1950 but has suffered much neglect. The influence of Schoenberg, Hindemith, Bartók, Stravinsky and Prokofiev are visible in this work which we might consider to manifest echoes of war. Photoptosis (1968), ‘Incidence of Light’, is among Zimmermann’s final orchestral pieces. Inspired by a painting created by Yves Klein for the Gelsenkirchen music theatre, this work includes quotations by Scriabin, Beethoven, Bach, and Wagner, among others. Yet, this “Prélude”, as described by the composer, is not a collage, but a study in orchestral sonority and light. Recordings by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hannu Lintu on Ondine have gathered excellent reviews in the international press. Two of their recordings were nominated for Gramophone Awards in 2018.

Classical Music

Heino Eller (1887-1970) can be considered as one of the founders of Estonian professional music culture. Eller’s legacy is twofold – in his prolific instrumental compositions he forged an elaborate style that successfully combined both modern and national elements, and as a prominent professor of composition during half a century he influenced generations of Estonian composers. This new recording by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Olari Elts and featuring violinist Baiba Skride includes some of the highlights from the composer’s catalogue of orchestral works and is a fitting tribute to the centenary of Estonia’s independence. Heino Eller’s Violin Concerto in B minor was the first in its genre in Estonian music. First written in the 1930s the one-movement work was scheduled to be performed in Tallinn on June 1940. For reasons unknown, the work was withdrawn until March 1965 when Neeme Järvi conducted the premiere. Another work for violin and orchestra, Fantasy, was first written in 1916 and orchestrated in 1964. Fantasy is one of the earliest compositions that bears the hallmarks Eller´s individual style, and its sensitive lyricism and charming simplicity give the work an enduring appeal. The Symphonic Legend is Eller’s largest score prior to the First Symphony (1936). It was premiered on June 1923 in Tartu, and Eller revised the score for performance in 1938. A work with a wealth of musical material and masterly orchestration, Symphonic Legend was next performed only in 2014 by Olari Elts with the Estonian NSO, and the current recording is the first. Heino Eller wrote three Symphonies between the 1930s and 1960s. Unlike his other two Symphonies, the 2nd Symphony has only one movement. The severe and at times tragic nature of the music was incompatible with the demands of the official Soviet cultural ideology.