Classical Music

Complete recordings of Liszt’s organ works, containing both original works and organ arrangements, performed by Hungarian organist István Ella, who received the Liszt Award in 1999.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Herbert Blomstedt has recorded Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 6 in A major several times since the early 1980s, which makes him something of a champion for this comparatively under-recorded work. His live 2008 recording with the the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is the first super audio version he has made, and while audiophiles will be attracted to it and his other SACDs in the Bruckner cycle on Querstand, it is recommended to a general audience as well. Blomstedt is a past master in Bruckner's music, with decades of intimate experience, and his controlled expression, steady pacing, and clear conception of the formal needs of the symphony make him an excellent guide, especially for listeners who might not know it as well as the more popular Fourth or the Seventh. Leipzig's playing is full in expression and rich in tone, though the music never feels heavy or plodding, thanks to Blomstedt's light touch and forward propulsion. High energy is sustained throughout, even in the Adagio where the slightest slackening of tempo can distract from the movement's building outpouring of emotion, and there is an air of suspense that holds the listener's attention through the fast movements, most notably in the Scherzo and the Finale. The reproduction is exceptional in every way, providing vivid orchestral colors, credible dimensions, and a fine balance between acoustic resonance and precise details that are perfectly audible. Highly recommended.

-- All Music Guide

Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: St. Thomas Church Choir, Leipzig. Soloists: Georg Christoph Biller, Alexandra Röseler, Hartmut Becker, Carola Christoph.

The Schwabach-born composer Adolph Henselt is mostly known as father of the Russian piano elite, being trained at conservatories all over Russia. However, this virtuoso was also a fantastic composer. On this CD from pianist Stefan Burkhardt, Henselt’s romantic chamber music has been rediscovered. Henselt appears as a composer who challenged the technical and aesthetic possibilities of his time, albeit with a pleasing gesture! This CD includes ten remarkable first recordings; the Duo, Op. 14 has been recorded and published before in the version for piano and French horn.

Anton Ulrich of Saxe-Meiningen travelled to Vienna in 1724 – a fruitful journey according to the Meiningen Music Archive. The youngest son of Duke Bernhard became deeply immersed in the musical life of the city, and during the following times, he had copies made of music he found interesting – not necessarily to have them performed, but more to have them sent to the ducal treasure chest. In this way, an important collection was established of 107 manuscripts with a total of 297 vocal compositions from Vienna’s music scene composed between 1710 and 1740, of which several exclusively exist in the Meiningen Archive. Of the more than 170 cantatas in this collection, four are recorded here, three of which can only be found in this archive. Furthermore, there are two sonatas by Johann Adolf Hasse and two sinfonias published under his name, too. However, the latest musicological research has concluded that the sinfonias were actually written by Paolo Scalabrini, Court Conductor in Copenhagen. On the double album at hand, we hear Philipp Mathmann (soprano) together with the specialist ensemble for Early Music Capella Jenensis conducted by Gerd Amelung. Some of the works are recorded for the first time here.

Friedrich Ladegast was one of the most important organ builders of the second half of the 19th century. He was born in 1818 in Hochhermsdorf, and so the musical world has recently celebrated his 200th birthday. On behalf of this occasion Querstand has released two albums which contain the programs of the first concerts played at two of the greatest Ladegast Organs: the Merseburg Cathedral organ and the Organ at Schwerin Cathedral. It had to have been a great event for the small city of Shwerin to have decided to build one of the largest organs of the time. The number of participants in the opening concert was correspondingly large. Even at first glance the program that took place on October 3, 1871, the preferred form is evident: many individual pieces in changing formations create a colorful and accessible sequence of music for a broad audience.

"Revelatory...In each movement, every phrase runs into the next as if a perfectly rehearsed, scripted dialogue were being overheard. What is so compelling is the directionality of the playing that each and every member seems to give their line in a way that is completely unified in goal whilst retaining individual expression. It is though the orchestra has been transformed into one giant organic being; an experience that many will have heard in the concert hall but seldom captured on disc...Highly recommended." - SA-CD.net

It had taken almost 60 years when the church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Dachau got an organ, in 2015, which was appropriate to the size and sound of the large and unusual church interior. The church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built in 1954-1956 in the new district of Dachau-Sud which sprung up after the Second World War. With its fully preserved features, it is considered to be an important testament to the architecture of the 1950s. In 2001, the parish decided to have a new organ built after it had become clear that the 1959 Staller Organ was not repairable any more. The new organ, tonally and architecturally designed specifically for the space and, with 41 registers on three manuals and pedal, generously dimensioned, was ceremoniously inaugurated on October 25, 2015. Tonally, the new instrument is designed for balance and the greatest possible authenticity; despite a disposition which, at first glance, appears rather unspectacular, almost “universal,” the Kaps organ can bring the vast majority of the rich organ repertoire to life very convincingly. A living proof that is the album at hand- the first recording at the new organ which contains a very versatile repertoire from Baroque to 20th-century pieces, containing both German and French works.

The great Baroque organ of the Jakobikirche in Stralsund, whose original housing we can still see today, was built by Christian Gottlieb Richter of Stettin in 1741. From 1779 until 1783, Ernst Marx from Berlin built a new instrument reusing many components from the old organ, and this happened again when Friedrich Albert Daniel Mehmel from Stralsund built another new organ from 1870 until 1877. In 1945, the Jakobikirche was hit by a bomb on the southwestern corner of the side isle. As a result of the damage, the church sanctuary could be accessed. The organ was robbed of almost all of its metal pipes and was seriously damaged in all areas. Now the Dresden-based organ workshop of Kristian Wegscheider, also of Dresden, was commissioned to build a new, three-manual organ with 51 voices, consistently using the production methods and timbral aesthetics of the 18th century. It can be said that this organ is both a new and old instrument because its conception and artisanal production of today is based on models of the best organs of the 18th century. As part of the restoration of the organ, which began in 2017 and was completed in 2020, the case was completely restored and reconstructed in its old dimensions and structure with all of the old wood carvings as well. The idea for the program of this release – the first one recorded at the new organ – was to choose repertoire of the time of Johann Sebastian Bach and the generation of his teachers and pupils especially suited to the new instrument and to present it with as many compositional forms and registers of the organ as possible. The Chorale Variations by Daniel Magnus Gronau are recorded here for the very first time.

“The works of Fährmann represent as it were a nec plus ultra of the art of modern organ counterpoint and organ playing; at their best they rival the works of Max Reger, equal in boldness yet appearing at times superior in their fantasy.” Although the interpreter, composer and pedagogue was celebrated at the time as here in 1902 in the scientific supplement of Leipziger Zeitung, he – as many of his coevals – was nearly forgotten over the years. Today his work, somehow at the interface of a Lisztian romanticism and a kind of moderate modernism, can be seen as an insider’s tip. The organ player and specialist in German romantic organ music Dietrich von Knebel attends to the huge and multifaceted organ work of the composer. This album is already part V of his recording of Fährmann’s music for organ. With a playing time of only about 20minutes, the Sonata No.6 is kept relatively concise within Hans Fährmann’s entire oeuvre of sonatas. It was probably created in the period 1905/1906. The recording was made on the large Jehmlich organ of the Christ Church in Dresden-Strehlen (built in1904/1905). The Farewell and Peace Songs, op.66 are predominantly calm and meditative. They were written during the First World War in which Fährmann had also lost some of his students at that time. Here he writes a memorial tribute to some of them by name. The recordings of this cycle were made on the Jahn organs of the Dresden Johannis Cemetery and the Celebration Hall of the Dresden Crematorium.

The recordings collected here are drawn from two live performances in Kunst-Station Sankt Peter in Cologne in 2010 and 2011. At the time Dominik Susteck, organist at Kunst-Station Sankt Peter, invited Matthias Gueting to play at the annual festival orgelmixturen, one of the rare occasions when we are lucky enough to have an entire festival dedicated to contemporary music for the organ. This present release grew out of the decision to document some of the pieces played in these concerts, and the works selected were primarily chosen out of a desire to introduce interested audiences to largely unknown organ music that we felt was deserving of a CD release. The pioneering works of the 1960s by Mauricio Kagel and Hans Otte are contrasted with “modern” contributions from two composers of our time, Erik Janson and Matthias Schlothfeldt. Bridging the chronological gap between these two poles is a composition drawn from Jorg Herchet’s extensive body of works for organ. The organist Matthias Geuting was organ student of Gerd Zacher during his church music studies in Essen. He is also a champion of new repertoire for the organ, having premiered numerous new pieces- many of which have been recorded for broadcast by the WDR and DLF. The works by Janson, Herchet and Schlothfeldt on this release are world premiere recordings.

Günter Raphael was an extremely versatile and fruitful composer. He left behind numerous symphonic works, solo concerts, oratorios (requiem), solo songs, sacred and secular choral music, organ works and a particularly extensive chamber music oeuvre. His work is characterized by the constant creative engagement with tradition. In the course of time he found his style of distinctive idiosyncrasy, the lush sound and the polyphony equally committed. His music radiates a strong concentration, not least due to Raphael's eminent counterpoint and joy in memorable melody combined with rhythmic diversity and a clear sense of form. This seventh part of Günter Raphael Edition offers an insight into Günter Raphael's string quartet work, the composer created ten works in this genre, but only released four of them for publication. The idea for concert performances and recordings of the Raphael string quartets and the associated stay of the Australian Acacia Quartet in Berlin in spring 2017 came about due to the long-standing friendship between the first violinist Lisa Stewart and the founder of the Christine Raphael Foundation Fredrik Pachla, who are based in Cologne studied, and the quartet's long-standing interest in Günter Raphael's music. After intensive preparation in Australia, a stay of several weeks in Europe was realized. The first concerts in Sydney delighted audiences and musicians alike, and after further concerts in Berlin the present recording was made with three of Günter Raphael's string quartets: two early works and his last work of this genre, composed after the Second World War.