SYMPHONY NO. 6 SYMPHONY NO. 4

The Summer Night Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic is the world's biggest annual classical open-air concert that takes place in the magical setting of the Sch�nbrunn Palace Baroque park in Vienna. This year marks the first time that Maestro Tugan Sokhiev will conduct the Summer Night Concert. The vocal soloist is world-renowned tenor Piotr Beczala, who will perform three iconic arias from: Georges Bizet's Carmen, Giacomo Puccini's Turandot and Emmerich K�lm�n's Gr�fin Mariza. With this open-air concert in Sch�nbrunn, the Vienna Philharmonic wishes to provide all Viennese, as well as visitors to the city, with a special musical experience in the impressive setting of Sch�nbrunn Palace and it's beautiful baroque gardens, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. Since 2004 the Vienna Philharmonic has provided an outstanding experience for the audience. The focus of this year's program is on well-known melodies from opera and operetta that lead us on a musical journey through various European landscapes und milieus.

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Three years after the creation of Médée, Krzysztof Warlikowski and Christophe Rousset were together again at La Monnaie for the revival of one memorable production whose staging reinforces the violence, tension and cruelty of this tragedy.

Whilst this work by Cherubini is considered part of the 'opéra-comique' genre, it is only due to the presence of spoken dialogue, which has been modernised here in the Polish stage director's interpretation.

Written in 1797, Cherubini's faithful version of Euripides' ancient tragedy is one of the most savage and powerful works of the opera repertoire, relating the cruel vengeance of a wounded woman for whom infanticide seems to be the only solution to her humiliation in love. As a continuation of Gluck's music, Cherubini's work is of boundless emotion, at once a refined, terrifying and desperate portent of a tragic outcome.

The cast : Nadja Michael as Médée, Kurt Streit as Jason, Christianne Stotijn as Néris Médée’s slave, Vincent Le Texier as King Créon and Hendrickje Van Kerckhove as Dircé Créon’s daughter. Christophe Rousset is conducted Les Talens Lyriques and the Chœurs de la Monnaie.

Director: Stéphane Metge
Length: 138 min - Image: Color, 16/9, NTSC
Audio: PCM Stereo, DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles: French / English / German / Dutch
No. of Discs: 2

Widely acknowledged to be Franz Schmidt's finest symphony, the main offering of this 2010 MDG Live disc is in some ways the composer's most challenging work. Schmidt composed the Symphony No. 4 in C major as a requiem for his daughter Emma, who had died in childbirth in 1932. Schmidt's grief is plainly evident in the brooding music, which works its way through many unexpected chromatic turns and dark modulations, and develops a plaintive trumpet theme, heard at the beginning and in various guises throughout the work. In terms of the structure, Schmidt combined sonata allegro and variation forms to elaborate the trumpet theme as a primary subject, and the four movements are to be played as one continuous movement. Schmidt is often regarded as a conservative composer, but his dissonant harmonies here are quite adventurous for his style, and the uncertain mood of the music is ambiguous enough to remind one of late Mahler. The filler work, the Intermezzo from Schmidt's opera Notre Dame, is a sweetly lyrical work that is cast in a more conventionally Romantic vein than the symphony, though it's uplifting mood is a suitable contrast to the bleakness of the preceding work. Stefan Blunier and the Beethoven Orchester Bonn play both works with passionate commitment and deep emotion, and the high standards of performance and reproduction that are typical of MDG's hybrid SACDs are met in this excellent recording.

-- Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide

Arnold Schoenberg's a cappella folksong settings are among his least-appreciated--and most easily listenable--works, excellent examples of his pre-12-tone harmonic style, with masterfully crafted polyphonic textures. For one thing, they're rarely heard, and although not especially a breeze to sing, they're effectively and soundly written--Schein uns, du liebe Sonne being the standout among the six works. The Op. 10 string quartet performed here is its original 1908 version rather than the one for string orchestra that the composer produced in 1929. It's craggy and difficult--but also offers a multitude of lyrical and beautiful moments that the Fred Sherry String Quartet fully exploits. Soprano Jennifer Welch-Babidge adds poignancy, sensitivity, and knowing style to the solos in the final two movements, using her thoughtful inflection to capture the music's colorful, moody impressionistic elements.


The 1934 Suite in G for String Orchestra is another gem--solidly tonal yet occasionally stretching the boundaries of traditional harmony, rich in melodic ideas and exciting rhythmic touches. Its five movements demand the highest level of technique from the players, even though it originally was written for developing student musicians. Again, this outstanding piece is rarely played or recorded, but this first-rate performance by Robert Craft's Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble is all you will need. The same goes for the rest of the program--and Naxos' engineering, from London's Abbey Road studios (choral works) and New York's premiere chamber-music recording venue, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, matches the disc's fine musical values. Informative notes by Craft, along with texts and translations for the vocal works, crown this much-needed addition to the Schoenberg catalog. [1/5/2006]
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

"Every so often, you come across a performance that renders you powerless to resist, that sweeps you away with it, that reminds you of why you fell in love with music in the first place" (The Globe and Mail)Tafelmusik is thrilled to present its live recording of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony — the final work in the orchestra’s complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies, which began 18 years ago. With the September 30, 2016 release, Tafelmusik makes history as the first North American orchestra to have recorded all nine Beethoven symphonies on period instruments. The recording took place February 4 through 7, 2016, during a series of sold-out, critically acclaimed public performances in Toronto’s Koerner Hall, with conductor Bruno Weil leading the combined forces of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir, and guest soloists Sigrid Plundrich, soprano; Mary-Ellen Nesi, mezzo-soprano; Colin Balzer, tenor; and Simon Tischler, bass-baritone. “We approach the Beethoven concerts and recording as if they were the very first performances, as though the music had been composed yesterday. This is the real thing — there’s no sense of routine with Tafelmusik musicians and everybody’s playing with a full heart and a full soul and spirit. That is the secret to a great performance,” stated Maestro Weil, who marks the 25th anniversary of his first collaboration with Tafelmusik this year.

Korngold’s music for Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado about Nothing, premiered in Vienna in 1920, enjoyed instant success and soon spread around the world. But the music has not been heard as Korngold intended since the 1st production. For this recording, made in conjunction with a staged US premiere, Korngold’s complete score was reconstructed from the original Viennese materials and is played here by the chamber-orchestral forces for which it was written.

REVIEW:

This is indeed a worthy and welcome addition to the Korngold discography. At long last we have a further complete performance of the composer’s delightful incidental music to Shakespeare’s comedy. It joins the sequence recorded by Ondine with John Storgards conducting. The music was first performed in Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace when Korngold was just 21. It was very successful and the composer would later go on to adapt the music for various chamber ensembles and as an orchestral suite. Now we have the music as it was performed at Schönbrunn together with choice dramatic overlays including Balthasar’s Song, ‘Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more; Men were deceivers ever’, Beatrice’s soliloquy as she yields to love, and the two sets of lovers’ happy uniting in the final wedding scene.

The orchestra is the same size and specification as that at Schönbrunn with a string quartet rather than a string section so that proper balances with all the other instruments can be assured. With the string quartet are: solo flute/piccolo, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet and trombone with two horns, a piano, harmonium, harp and three percussionists plus solo timpanist. The original parts were available so that each player could replicate the bowings and articulations used in Vienna. Furthermore, all the composer’s own recordings of the work were made available too, so questions of tempo and portamento could be addressed. Conductor John Mauceri was a very apt choice for he has had much experience conducting Korngold and is a stalwart champion of film music, an asset that might well be regarded as not being far removed from the spirit of this work – in fact the March of the Watch could be considered a pre-echo of Korngold’s Sherwood Forest scenes from his The Adventures of Robin Hood. Mauceri also contributes the erudite notes for this album.

Korngold’s conception works very well in his chosen ensemble. It points up the comedy and irony such as that in March of the Watch and in the dreamy romanticism of the Garden Music. All those intimate glistening string-harp-and-harmonium figures, and rippling piano arpeggios, suggest birdsong and flowers nodding in zephyr breezes. It’s all in gentle romantic waltz time, plus the contrastingly intense almost Mahlerian Funeral Music. Although I would have thought it unnecessary, five of the pieces that have dialogue are repeated again in purely instrumental dress.

There have been a number of recordings of Korngold’s purely orchestral suite from Much Ado About Nothing. Of these I would unhesitatingly recommend Caspar Richter’s 2002 reading originally released on CD DCA 1131. This is not only because it included, for the first time, the enchanting Garden Music but also for the other items on this album which had great appeal especially Korngold’s divine Abschiedlieder Songs  (Songs of Farewell). A delight for committed Korngold fans.

-- MusicWeb International (Aan Lace)

Richard Strauss revived some of his less well-known scores in later years, turning his richly imaginative fairytale opera Die Frau ohne Schatten into an attractively compact orchestral tone-poem. Strauss preserved the storyline and tuneful highlights of both this and his Diaghilev-commissioned ballet Josephs-Legende, which describes a biblical drama in soaring themes and splendid orchestral effects. The charming and lyrical Serenade for Winds, written when Strauss was only 17, drew the composer to the attention of Hans von Bulow, whose support and influence was of importance to Strauss's early career.

HAYDN: QUARTET

NINTH SYMPHONY BY MAURICE BEJART - ON SCHILLER'S

“Altfrentsch” is a rarely used concept in Appenzell dialect that has its origins in the German expression “altfrankisch” (“old Franconian”), which itself derives from the Middle High German “altvrenkisch”, thus “in the manner of the old Franks.” It means roughly “old fashioned” or “in the old manner.” “Altfrentsch” is also used to denote the original forms of Appenzell string music. “Altfrentsch” is thus the name given to the oldest collection of dances from Canton Appelzell. The dances in this collection, dating from the late 18th century, were only discovered in Gonten in 1998, and have thus not been frequently recorded or performed.

RUSSIAN EASTER FESTIVAL OVERTU

TCHAIKOVSKY: THE SEASONS A. ARENSKY - PIANO TRIO

BEETHOVEN VIOLIN CONCERTO & SYMPHONY NO 6 PASTORAL

The Polish National Radio Orchestra is the country's leading performing ensemble and one of Europe's finest broadcasting orchestras. Building on a long tradition, the group performs throughout the world as a musical ambassador for Poland, often featuring works by Polish composers - as the pieces by Karol Szymanowski and Witold Lutoslawski on this CD impressively demonstrate. This is the orchestra's second album with their Principal Conductor Alexander Liebreich. Their first CD together, also with compositions by Szymanowski and Lutoslawski, is already cited as a reference recording, with "thrilling, technically brilliant performances." (Der Tagesspiegel) In the work of these twentieth century masters, we encounter "exquisite compositional refinement of the highest order, born of an awareness of the European tradition," according to Alexander Liebreich. Szymanowski's powerful and imaginative Symphony No. 2, Lutoslawski's groundbreaking Musique fun�bre � la m�moire de B�la Bart�k and his masterpiece Livre pour Orchestre were recorded in Katowice's new concert hall, which opened in 2014 and is already celebrated for it's phenomenal acoustics.

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Stravinsky in Hollywood, a film by Michael Capalbo, tells the story of an "old school" European artist knocking heads with the brash New World. The documentary uses a combination of existing archival footage (some never before seen), interviews with Stravinsky and his assistant Robert Craft, and premieres several big studio film scenes of the 40s with music Stravinsky wrote for them.

Originally released in 2004, Sir Charles Mackerras and the SCO’s ‘Bartok & Kodaly’ has been re-issued as part of Linn’s ECHO series. Both Bartók works represented here would figure in any roundup of 20th c. masterpieces; this was Sir Charles Mackerras’ first recording of ‘Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste’, the composer’s spectacular tour de force. Kodály shared Bartók’s fascination with folk music; his ‘Dances of Galánta, distinguished by brilliant orchestration, takes its material from 18th c. Verbunkos (Hungarian dance) music. “…vivid... a real sense of drama.’ (The Guardian)

Whether as a solo instrument or as part of the orchestra, today the saxophone seldom appears in concert halls and opera houses. Nonetheless, before it found its true home, it was heard in classical music. Here, Schulte-Burnert skillfully presents three particularly brilliant and virtuosic concertos by John Williams, Michael Nyman and Andrei Eshpai.

This 24Bit/96kHz audiophile remastered two-disc recording of Aida, captured in performance on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, NYC in 1962 features a young, vibrant cast of future stars and Metropolitan Opera stalwarts. Opposite the great Italian tenor Franco Corelli as Radames is soprano Gabriella Tucci as Aida; mezzo-soprano Irene Dalis is Amneris and a young and future prominent American bass Cornell MacNeil portrays Aida’s father. George Schick, one-time President of the Manhattan School of Music, conducts the Met Opera Orchestra and Chorus.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Prior to becoming Principle Guest Conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Andrey Boreyko served as chief conductor of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra from and is currently in the same position with the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra. In his first recording for Henssler CLASSIC, Maestro Boreyko delivered what has come to be regarded as one of the definitive recordings of Shostakovich's difficult and emotionally searing Fourth Symphony. For this new release, Boreyko returns with what will surely become benchmark versions of two equally difficult Shostakovich scores.

Region: 0 (all region)
Format: NTSC, Digital 2.0, 5.1 / DTS 5.1, Aspect Ratio 16:9
Run Time 61:27
Booklet notes in English and Chinese

Classical Music

Also available on Blu-ray