Classical Music

Born in Tel-Aviv in 1985 to a family of musicians, violinist Itamar Zorman's impressive path of study led to his 2011 victory at the Int'l Tchaikovsky Competition, with more competition successes coming before and after that triumph. Professional worldwide engagements, and now a debut CD, have followed. "From the beginning, it was clear to me that the repertoire for my debut CD needed to reflect my beliefs as a musician. In addition, I wanted the recording to mirror a real concert program." Playing with pianist Kwan Yi, the selections feature Messiaen, Schubert, Chausson, Hindemith and Brahms.

Giuseppe Verdi finished his first volume of Romances with none other than two of Gretchen's songs from Goethe's Faust, which gives the publication a particularly fascinating perspective. Imagine the late bloomer from Busseto, who was just working on his first opera, and was considering all possible text sources - it might be conjecture but not completely absurd to see a first, tentative approach to Goethe with the pieces "Meine Ruh ist hin" ("My peace is gone") and "Neige, neige, du Schmerzenreiche" ("Lean down, you who are full of sorrow"). It may be only postulation, but consider if we had lost not just the planned King Lear, but a Faust as well...! The second volume of six Romances (1845) is more colorful and varied, as humorful and melancholy strains alternate. The gloomy yet beautiful evening scene "Il tramonot" ("The Sunset") [16] stands next to "Zingara" with it's bolero rhythms and musically blazing eyes [3], and next to the desire of the prisoner for the freedom of the lovely evening star ("Ad una stella") [15]. After that, in the cheery chattering of the "Spazzacamino" [2] ("The Chimneysweep"), it's easy to understand why his harmonies in three-quarter time aren't all that elegant: "I look coarse and black, and everyone who gets too close to me gets black as well..." At the end, Felice Romani's glowing ode to his wife ("Il mistero") [17] leads on to a sparkling paean to wine: apparently both are cardiotonic medicines, if we are to believe the last words in each.

“When a young artist chooses Liszt for his CD debut, it would be easy to think, “Aha, someone wants to show off his virtuoso abilities!” But I’ve made this decision out of a desire to show Franz Liszt in a different way. We live in an increasingly fast-moving age, without much opportunity to ruminate on questions of meaning and spirituality. Liszt probably found himself in a similar dichotomy. I am thoroughly convinced that the more profound musical value of the works I’ve chosen are often underestimated, and that there is too little contemplation about Liszt’s personality.” (Alexander Krichel)

Before Eug�ne Ysa�e�s six solo sonatas /written 1923/24) or Zolt�n Sz�kely�s solo sonata (written 1919/20), the established solo violin repertoire was limited to Bach�s Sonatas and Partitas and Paganini�s 24 Caprices. Reflections, Carolin Widmann's new CD, features solo works beyond and since Ysa�e, by Boulez, Sciarrino and J�rg Widmann. A hugely versatile musician, Ms Widmann's activities span the great classical concerti, new commissions specially written for her, chamber music and, increasingly, period instrument performances including play/direction from the violin.

This splendidly colorful programme comprises pieces often performed by the Meininger Trio, mainly as encores- pieces that audiences constantly want to hear no matter the venue. This demand led to the highly original idea of making an "album of encores." The result is a release that presents a series of musical snapshots for pure enjoyment. The Meininger Trio consists of flutist Christiane Meininger, cellist Milos Mlejnik, and pianist Rainer Gepp. The Meininger Trio has always been out of the ordinary with their spectacular projects- whether walking in Mozart's footsteps, listening to the colors of the sea, or discovering the sensual sides of music with siren calls. The ensemble brings together virtuosity, beauty, and passion.

German soprano Ruth-Margret Putz made her debut in Cologne in 1950 as Nuri in Tiefland by Eugen d'Albert. She sang at Hannover Opera from 1951 to 1957; in Stuttgart from 1957 notably as Gilda and Zerbinetta; at the Beyreuth Festival in 1960 as Waldvogel, and at the Salzburg Festival in 1961. She made a Russian tour in 1961 as well, and was on the roster of the Hamburg Staatsoper from 1963 to 1968. As far as commercial recordings go, however, not many exist. It is all the more rewarding, therefore, that this album offers twenty-first century listeners the opportunity of acquainting themselves with Ruth-Margret Putz's wide-ranging vocal ability and artistic attributes. Here is a singer who now enjoys a quiet life in a retirement home near Stuttgart, but remains mentally alert, and who still has much to impart to us.

The Ninth is an unusual symphony. The scheme of two slow outer movements and two fast ones in the middle is not in accordance with tradition. The keys of the four movements - D major, C major, A minor, D flat major - are at best vaguely related; nor did Mahler specify the key of the Ninth Symphony. The free, open form of the individual movements with their broadly arching structures is also confusing. Adorno once remarked that one must listen to this symphony "from the bottom to the top", ignoring formal expectations and concentrating on the individual motifs which develop, "as with a narrative when one does not know how it ends." Certain commentators have seen a novel-like structure in Mahler's symphonies, and a narrative model must be applied to the Ninth in particular - one that ends openly and uncertainly instead of affirmatively in a recapitulation

Classical Music

To forge chamber music from orchestral scores and make music of the highest order with like-minded colleagues - this was the ambition of eight section leaders of the Dresden Staatskapelle when they founded the Dresden Octet to give a chamber concert during the orchestra's tour of Hong Kong in 2015. The idea of creating such an ensemble had been on the cards for some time - hardly surprising given that the Staatskapelle is bound to chamber music by a long and significant tradition embodied by the Tonkunstler-Verein zu Dresden (Composers' Society of Dresden), which was founded in 1854 and has been run independently to this day. "For us, music-making in the octet is an ideal form of chamber music," acknowledges the ensemble's double-bassist and founding member Andreas Wylezol. For this release the ensemble has chosen Franz Schubert's Octet in F major D 803.

It may seem unimaginable to audiences of postwar generations that Dresden opera lovers had to wait four years after 1945 for a performance of a stage work by Wagner due to negative associations with the Third Reich. These excerpts from radio broadcasts of the first Wagner productions after 1945 capture great singers of the era in a truly historic setting.

Classical Music

This new Tango music, rooted in Buenos Aires, expands through a variety of situations via my own style of breaking with the traditional "rules" of the "Musica Porte�a". I try to avoid what is established as "Tango" because I believe that what is "Established" in Art is "Dead" in life, or dead in Tango. The Argentine writer Roberto Arlt inspired "El demonio del insomnio", "Argentinos en Europa", "Atenti nena que el tiempo pasa" and "La terrible sinceridad". Those four works belong to his "Aguafuertes Porte�as", written during the first half of the 20th c. in Buenos Aires. (Marcelo Nisinman)

Svyatoslav Richter was born in Ukraine on March 20, 1915. His father came from a family of businessmen, but earned a living as organist and choir director in Odessa. He brought up his son alone, and Svyatoslav had had no regular pianistic training at a conservatory when he began working as rehearsal pianist at the Odessa Opera at the age of fifteen. His exceptional talent enabled him to make his concert debut in 1934. His talent was recognized by Heinrich Neuhaus, the famous Russian piano teacher with German roots who included him in his master piano class at Moscow Conservatory in 1937. Neuhaus’s influence can hardly be overestimated. He trained him in enormously subtle dynamics, pronouncedly Romantic playing with certain composers and great reserve with others. In 1986 in a rare interview, Richter stated that Neuhaus had made his hands freer and softened his tone. On this release, Richter performs Beethoven alongside the USSR Symphony Orchestra and the Moscow Philharmonic.

Der Freischutz has since it's premiere been an indispensable part of the operatic repertory, possibly never more significantly than for the Dresden Opera. This exceptional addition to the Semperoper Edition, recorded in 1951, is presented as an historic recording of the 1000th performance of the work by Dresen Opera. This production was undertaken with the utmost care and attention to detail, focusing on ultimate fidelity to the composer's intention. An edition for all time.