Volume 5 of Profil's Günter Wand Edition is devoted to Carl Orff's massive and enormously popular cantata, Carmina Burana, in a stirring radio performance presented with the NDR Sinfonieorchester in 1984. (Profil)

Halina Czerny-Stefánska, who was born in Kraków in 1922 and died there in 2001, achieved international fame as an interpreter of Chopin. On the 150th anniversary of the Polish composer's birth, the state-owned record company Polskie Nagrania produced a comprehensive collection of his works, featuring a number of her exemplary recordings, which form a major part of this set. One incident makes particularly clear what high esteem Chopin interpreter Czerny-Stefánska had achieved in the world of music: Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 was released in the West as an LP featuring the brilliant, short-lived pianist Dinu Lipatti. Fifteen years passed before it transpired that the artist on this recording was not Lipatti, but Czerny-Stefánska, with the conductor Václav Smetácek. The mistake was admitted and corrected.

“The reason for this transcription was simply that – once again – I had been busy with the Ninth, this time with the intention of arriving at the essence of the work: I wanted to understand Bruckner even better, come to grips with the architecture of his symphonic thought. And that led automatically to the idea of making an arrangement for a keyboard instrument, because when you tackle that, you are practically compelled to limit yourself to the essence of a work. And: The organ is Bruckner’s instrument, which stayed with him all his life. Even as a boy, Bruckner was fascinated by his father’s organ playing. Later, during his teacher training, he played the organ himself in small rural churches. After his return to the Augustine abbey of St. Florian he became its organist, then cathedral organist in Linz and finally the Emperor’s organist at the Hofburgkapelle in Vienna — of which he was very proud. The organ kept Bruckner company, then, right up to his death.” (Gerd Schaller) Hailed as one of the most significant Bruckner exponents of our time, Gerd Schaller is a freelance conductor in constant demand from leading ensembles, concert halls and opera houses at home and abroad as guest conductor. Along the way, in 2008, he founded Philharmonie Festiva, a symphony orchestra with which he pursues his own ambitious projects. For many years now, Schaller’s activities have centered on the music of Anton Bruckner, by whose combination of deep emotion and extreme complexity the conductor has been fascinated since he was a boy. This fascination has resulted in his large-scale project BRUCKNER2024, in which he aims to record all Bruckner’s significant works to album from his personal perspective by the composer’s bicentenary in 2024.

The Gurre-Lieder occupied various phases in Schoenberg’s life. He explained it to Alban Berg thus: “I wrote the first and second parts and much of the third in March 1900. Then a long break, filled with operetta orchestration. Rest completed March 1901. Then orchestration commenced in August 1901 (again held up by other work). Continued in Berlin mid-1902. Then long interruption by operetta orchestrations. Last worked on in 1903. After that put aside and totally abandoned! Taken up again in Vienna in July 1910. All orchestrated except for the closing chorus. Finished in 1911 in Zehlendorf (outside Berlin).” On this release, the Gurre-Lieder is presented by the Staatskapelle Dresden as the 50th volume in their Edition Staatskapelle Dresden.

To get a sense of the ambition of the Romantic movement, one need only hear Franz Liszt's A Symphony to Dante's Divine Comedy, which represents one high point of exploration that had wide influence, and Alexander Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy, which is characteristic of the period's final efflorescence. These are the major works of this album by Yuri Ahronovitch and the Orchestra of the Alte Oper Frankfurt, with Richard Wagner's Rienzi Overture serving almost as a light interlude between them. While this operatic piece is certainly an important indication of the groundbreaking directions Wagner would take in his later music dramas, it is still a comparatively modest musical example, particularly when compared to the weighty works on either side of it, which leave a clearer impression of Romantic innovations. In terms of orchestration, form, and harmonic advances, the Dante Symphony and Poem of Ecstasy both seem to burn with originality and still have the capacity to surprise modern listeners, where Wagner's overture has sections that hearken back to early 19th century Italian opera and seems at time predictably bombastic. The live performances date from 1983, so the sound quality is not outstanding, and the sound of the orchestra is a little shallow in dimensions. All the same, this CD will be a keeper for Ahronovitch fans, and an interesting offering for beginners exploring Romantic music.

-- All Music Guide

The present release is a live recording of 1942 from the opera house of the State Theatre of Saxony, the Semperoper, destroyed by bombing three years later and finally reopened in 1985. The opera chorus and orchestra are to be heard performing alongside an outstanding ensemble of soloists under the musical direction of Karl Böhm, then principal conductor in Dresden as successor to Fritz Busch. Sung in German to a text by Julius Hopp, the new production – advertised as being in its 500th performance in mid-June 1942 – was created by Heinz Arnold, then Oberspielleiter (chief production supervisor) and post-war opera director to the Dresden State Opera. Stage sets and costumes (given as Trachten, “outfits”, work clothes or regional dress) were the responsibility of Adolf Mahnke and Richard Panzer. What little has survived as evidence of this historic staging suggests that it was strongly influenced by the Paris premiere. The Hispanic-Moorish elements of the stage façades clearly suggest the architecture of faraway lands. This thrill of the exotic is also to be found in the “outfits” and of course in the music. Georges Bizet thus combined and compared the charm of folklore with the (normally forbidden) deviant behavior of his characters. With their dusky harmonies, these psychologically convincing sequences of tuneful numbers hold the audience under their spell. The performance is an irresistible delight, especially in this realization under a maestro like Karl Böhm.

DIABELLI: Grande Sonate Brillante

Flautist Brandon Patrick George describes his debut album as a dialogue between the past and the future. It is indeed quite a leap in time from Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) to the Finnish composer Kalevi Aho, born in 1949 – yet he has included works for solo flute by both composers on this recording. There are also two important chamber works for a flute and piano duo which represent milestones in the repertoire: a sonata by Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) and a sonatina by Pierre Boulez (1925-2016) – and so this release represents a walk through musical history spanning 300 years. Brandon Patrick George is the flutist of the Grammy®-nominated Imani Winds, and has performed with many of the world’s leading ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE).

REVIEW:

What strikes the listener on this debut release by Brandon Patrick George is the chances he takes. Until the final Flute Sonata, Op. 94, of Prokofiev, George plays perilously virtuosic works, with every detail of his playing exposed by hyper-clear sound. George chooses an intelligent program that begins with the Bach's Flute Partita in A minor, BWV 1013. George's crisp, sharp-edged performance is masterly. The pieces by Pierre Boulez and Kalevi Aho not only extend the virtuoso challenges but tie into the implied Baroque counterpoint of Bach's Partita. Only with the Prokofiev Flute Sonata does the music relax, and George with it. It's an exceptionally well-structured program, flawlessly executed.

- James Manheim, AllMusic.com

An uncommon pairing. Well worth hearing. A fascinating release.

Sophie Moser and Katja Huhn have chosen an absorbing programme of two contrasting violin sonatas. Firstly there’s a rarely-heard score byf Wilhelm Furtwängler: his difficult and serious Second Sonata. The coupling is Beethoven’s optimistic Sonata No. 8 in G major, much better known but often overshadowed by the composer’s more famous Spring and Kreutzer sonatas.
 
The first thing that I noticed was the attractive presentation. Full of interesting information the booklet includes fascinating reproductions of a 1940 recital programme of Furtwängler’s D major Sonata with descriptions in German.
 
It may come as a surprise to some readers that in addition to the demands of a heavy conducting schedule Furtwängler found time to compose. Furtwängler was fifty-two when he completed his Violin Sonata No.2 in 1939. Cast in three movements it is a long work lasting over forty minutes. At times it reminded me of the chamber music of Reger and Hindemith. I found the sound quality excellent being especially clear and well balanced.
 
Marked Allegro moderato the opening movement has a sunny disposition with a tinge of mystery. Soon developing into a fierce storm the forceful music surges over the listener like a torrent. Much of Moser’s violin part is for its highest register. Thankfully Huhn’s piano is never allowed to dominate. An uneasy calm pervades the Lento. Although the piano textures are heavy the lyricism is predominantly passionate. There are passages of greater weight and angst but this soon diminishes. A curious short passage for pizzicato at 8:53-9:08 is impassive and characterless. Moser and Huhn drive the pace of the Finale: Presto like a gale-force wind. Here Furtwängler’s writing encompasses dramatic emotional contrasts with extremely wide dynamics. Short passages of relative calm provide only a brief respite from the near frenetic writing. Rather abruptly the score ends with a sudden outburst of energy.
 
Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 8, sometimes known as the ‘ little G major’, is the last in a set of three sonatas. Published as op. 30 in Vienna in 1803 the set bears a dedication to the monarch Tsar Alexander I of Russia. With regard to the sound quality I found Huhn’s piano placed too far forward in the balance which creates an unappealing bright metallic resonance when played with force. 

The playing here is assured with plenty of zest in the uplifting and joyous opening Allegro assai. Contrasting starkly with the outer movements the central movement is more relaxed and features light Viennese rhythms. A temperament of childlike simplicity makes few demands on the listener. Briskly taken by Moser and Huhn the lyrical Finale: Allegro vivace just bounces along with playing that feels fresh and buoyant. 

The Beethoven and Furtwängler violin sonatas are an uncommon paring on disc. Furtwängler’s D major score is well worth hearing and makes this a fascinating release.
 
-- Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International

A collection of compositions by some of the great piano virtuosos of all time, Evgeni Bozhanov follows in the footsteps of Chopin, Schubert, Debussy, Scriabin and Liszt with this inspirational and personal performance Live in Warsaw. Truly internalizing the music, Bozhanov illustrates that internal conception becomes both more complex and clearer with time, emerging into a statement that is relevant to him.

Pianist and music teacher Artur Balsam was born in Warsaw on February 8, 1906. He attended the Helena Kijenska-Dobkiewiczowa Conservatory (now Academy) of Music established at the beginning of the 20th century in the Polish city of Lodz. After that he went to the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where he continued his studies with Artur Schnabel. A mere 12 years elapsed between his concert debut in 1918 and his success at the 1930 Berlin International Piano Competition; shortly after winning that competition, he was awarded the Mendelssohn Prize for chamber music in 1931 in Munich. Balsam matured into a sought-after partner at the piano: having won the Mendelssohn Prize together with the violinist Roman Totenberg, he toured the USA the following year with the brilliant young Yehudi Menuhin. After the rise to absolute power in Germany of Adolf Hitler at the head of his Nazi party, Balsam emigrated to the United States. He settled in New York in 1940, made a name for himself on the American chamber music scene and was the favorite accompanist of many famous soloists, especially in the years from 1940 to the early Seventies of the last century. He frequently partnered the great violinists Nathan Milstein and David Oistrakh, also playing for Joseph (violin) and Lillian (viola) Fuchs, Leonid Kogan (violin), Zino Francescatti (violin), Pierre Fournier (cello) and Mstislav Rostropovich (cello). Balsam was the pianist of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini for five years. He was also a piano soloist for other leading orchestras.

The present 10-album compilation illustrates Louis Kentner as a successful soloist, chamber musician and concert pianist. A highly gifted musician, Kentner studied from 1911 to 1922 at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, attracting early attention in 1916 with a concert performance of Chopin. At the Music Academy, he studied piano with Arnold Székely, chamber music with Leó Weiner and composition with Hans Koessler and Zoltán Kodály. He made his official debut at the age of 15 (1920) and began concert tours of European cities, attracting particular attention for his interpretations of Chopin and Liszt. He won the Liszt Prize in Budapest and the Chopin Prize in Warsaw. In 1933, Kentner gave the first Hungarian performance of Béla Bartók’s Second Piano Concerto (conducted by Otto Klemperer); in London in 1946, the first performance in Europe of the composer’s Third Piano Concerto under Sir Adrian Boult. Bartók’s artistic oeuvre found a special place in Kentner’s heart.

REVIEW:

Profil’s 10-disc Louis Kentner collection offers a diverse, if somewhat skewed, representation of the Hungarian-born/London-based pianist’s large recorded output. Among his sessions with violinist Yehudi Menuhin included here, the 1961 Ravel Trio, 1954 Chausson concerto, the 1956/57 Brahms sonatas, and 1950 Walton sonata represent their collaboration at its equitable best. However, two entire CDs given over to their 1951 Bach sonatas capture Menuhin on raspy and intonationally tenuous form, notwithstanding Kentner’s sensitive contributions. On the other hand, Kentner’s Dvorák “Dumky” Trio with violinist Henry Holst and cellist Anothony Pini was the 78 era’s point of reference.

I like the genial interaction between Kentner, clarinetist Reginald Kell, and violist Frederick Riddle in Mozart’s wonderful “Kegelstatt” Trio, while the pianist’s intense and angular partnership with violinist Jeno Lener in Beethoven’s A major Op. 30 No. 1 sonata makes the music sound positively contemporary. Kentner’s otherwise run-of-the-mill 1959 Mozart C minor K. 491 concerto stands out for the pianist’s own harmonically wild first-movement cadenza. The 1958 Brahms B-flat concerto with Adrian Boult is riddled with slapdash articulation and glaring wrong notes from the soloist, compounded by slack ensemble elsewhere (the slow movement’s misaligned clarinet/piano in measures 59 and 61).

The day after presenting its European premiere, Kentner and Boult played Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in a BBC studio broadcast, first issued on CD by Pearl. Aside from the pianist’s momentary stumble in the final bars, Kentner offers a direct and clear reading of the piano part. Kentner’s 1930s and ’40s Liszt recordings generally make up in proficiency for what they lack in inspiration. For example, in La Leggierezza, Kentner almost always slows down before a climax, and generally keeps the left hand parked in neutral. The E-flat Paganini Etude’s descending octaves sound expertly rehearsed rather than demonic in the way of the great Horowitz and Arrau shellac versions. He brings brooding drama to the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2’s opening section, but the “friska” doesn’t match the insouciance of Friedman or Moiseiwitsch.

While Kentner’s 1948 Liszt Sonata misses the fantasy and volatility of Cortot or Barerre, its clarity and classicism warrant respect. The same applies to Balakirev’s Islamey. In his pioneering Balakirev Sonata and the first of his two recorded Liapunov Transcendental Etudes cycles, Kentner’s tone opens up as his effortless fingers fuse bravura and poetry. Kentner is also on top form in Constant Lambert’s curious arrangement of Liszt’s Dante Sonata for piano and orchestra.

To sum up, Profil’s Kentner box offers undeniable attractions, not to mention its modest cost. But why waste two discs on Menuhin’s lousy Bach, when Kentner’s Chopin Scherzi and Ballades, 1963 Beethoven Hammerklavier, and 1963 EMI Liszt Années de Pèlerinage excerpts have yet to be reissued?

– ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

Hélène Boschi’s repertoire was broad-based, ranging from the Baroque (François Couperin, Jean Philippe Rameau, Johann Sebastian Bach) to contemporary music. Her favorite composers of the Viennese Classical era were undoubtedly Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert; strangely, it seems she left behind no Beethoven recordings. One notable fact about Boschi is that she was the first female pianist to record the works of Padre Antonio Soler (1729-1783), receiving the 1952 Grand Prix du Disque in honor of her achievement. As for the nineteenth century, her passionate readings of Schumann are of the utmost importance; but Carl Maria von Weber and Muzio Clementi also captured her attention, as did Frédéric Chopin and Emmanuel Chabrier and the Impressionists Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Modern classics were also integral to her repertoire – as were the works of her immediate contemporaries. Luigi Dallapiccola dedicated his 1952 piano composition Quaderno di Annalibera to Hélène Boschi, Claude Ballif paid her that honor with his Fourth Sonata op. 31

Classical Music

KROPFGANS: Lute Concerto / Lute Sonatas / Divertimentos

Classical Music

Till well into the 1960s it was common practice to perform operas in the language of the country where they were being performed. What now seems strange to us, with our reverence for the original, was taken for granted then – except perhaps by those who knew not only the music but the language originally set to it and were annoyed by more or less inappropriate translations. Today we have long since grown used to being distracted from the action on stage by subtitles, or surtitles, and thus being at least able to follow the crude, implausible or totally incomprehensible plot of this or that opera by reading the libretto. Whatever the language, the artistic value of the performance depends very much upon its exponents. And that was where the German-speaking nations of the 1950s and 1960s, when the recorded-music market had not yet succumbed to globalization, had a lot to offer. The proof is in the five complete recordings – complete, that is, but fo the cuts so often made in those days – that make up this box set. The cast lists read like a Who’s Who of contemporary vocalists. We can count ourselves lucky to have these audio documents – edited to the highest possible technical standards – at our disposal. They offer us a reunion with a great series of irreplaceable and unforgettable soloists.

Christian Thielemann writes: “I see Die Meistersinger as the pivot and central point of Wagner’s entire oeuvre. On the one hand it is a reaction to Tristan; on the other, he had found himself in a blind alley with Siegfried, and together those two works showed him the way out of it. The fascinating thing about Die Meistersinger is that you can find everything in it. Hero and anti-hero, comedy and tragedy, upperclass and lower-class lovers, burlesque and reflection, the old and the new, in short a whole world. The magic words summing it up for me are ‘atmosphere’ and ‘poetry’. How can I, as a conductor, make the music glitter in its exaggerations and parodies, and at the same time lend it authority? Conversely, how can I make its emotionalism sound not false but genuine, emphasizing the deeply felt popular note in the music? Wagner is fundamentally asking his interpreters to square the circle, which is what makes Die Meistersinger such a difficult work to perform. Perhaps it can succeed only by osmosis, if we open ourselves up entirely to all its moods, colours and aromas, inhaling them so deeply that they naturally emerge from us again at the right moment.”

Antonio Janigro (1918-1989), the founder and long-term conductor of the Zagreb Soloists, which developed over time into one of the world’s best string orchestras, lives on in the memory; as an outstanding cello virtuoso he set benchmarks with his recordings. He began his studies at the conservatoire in his native city of Milan. Pablo Casals recommended he then go to Paris, where in subsequent years he won six national and international prizes, and where, in 1933, his worldwide career was to begin. After the end of the Second World War Janigro went on to study orchestral direction, and made his debut as a conductor in 1948. In 1954 he founded the Zagreb Soloists, whose reputation grew at such a mercurial pace that the ensemble was given permission, even at the height of the Cold War, to perform on international stages. Janigro was also conductor of the Radio Zagreb Symphony Orchestra (1954-64) and of the Orchestra Dell’Angelicum di Milano. As successor to Karl Ristenpart he headed the Chamber Orchestra of Saarland Radio. He taught at the music universities of Düsseldorf and Stuttgart and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and was conductor of that institution’s Camerata. Antonio Janigro compiled a wide repertoire both as a soloist and with the Zagreb Soloists, encompassing works by Vivaldi, Corelli and Boccherini as well as the great works of the Viennese Classical School by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven through to Brahms. He simultaneously ensured that works by contemporary composers were well represented in his concert programmes and as a result premiered some very interesting works by the likes of Krzysztof Penderecki, György Ligeti and Milko Kelemen, who was involved in this very collection, both as composer and arranger.

This album features a recording made during a performance at the Prinzregententheater in Munich on January 18, 1962. It was directed by Rudolf Hartmann and the performance was given, as was usual in those days, in German. The original analogue tapes have been stored at the Fritz Wunderlich Society in Kusel (in the Rhineland-Palatinate), and have been restored by TechneAudio in Baden-Württemberg. Some specialists suspect that the recordings were made by Fritz Wunderlich himself, a great fan of the latest technology. Despite costly and careful restoration of the tapes, some defects and intrusive artefacts on the mono tapes, some of which are damaged, are clearly audible. However, the historic significance of this recording certainly justifies its release. Not surprisingly, Fritz Wunderlich (1930-1966) in the role of Ernesto receives the greatest attention. Probably Germany’s greatest tenor knew just how to cultivate the love-sick bachelor, as he did with all his roles, and to breathe life into the character with his inimitable voice. In addition to lyric qualities, the role demands other skills such as the canto fiorito style of ornamented singing of the nineteenth century.

Classical Music

Profil continues it's Gunter Wand Edition with a new series featuring the DSO performing Schubert's Symphony No. 8 and Bruckner's Symphony No. 9.

Classical Music

Classical Music

The London Symphony Orchestra along with Felicia Taylor presents this wonderful collection of the all-time greatest film songs, featuring unforgettable songs such as "Unchained Melody", "My Heart Will Go On", "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and many more!