Bernard Haitink was born and educated in Amsterdam. His conducting career began at the Netherlands Radio where in 1957 he became the Chief Conductor of the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. The links between Bernard Haitink and the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra have withstood the test of time, even when his career was taking him all over the world. One fine example of this was Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust in 1998, later issued on CD(CC 72517). He returned on 15 June 2019, when he gave his very last concert in Amsterdam, with Bruckner Symphony no. 7, a work that has always been especially dear to him.

Widor’s cycle of ten organ symphonies underwent profound development and transformation over many years. Classical elements became more obviously virtuosic and, by the time of these Op.42 symphonies, his musical language had become monumental. Symphony No. 5 in F minor is world famous for a single movement, its concluding Toccata, a moto perpetuo of astonishing brilliance, but the whole work is imbued with structural and musical genius. Striking rhythms, dynamic contrasts and technical roulades mark out Symphony No. 6 in G minor. Also included is a graceful movement from Symphony No. 8 (8.574207) that Widor later omitted.

This sparkling opera buffa is a premiere from the 2016 Donizetti Festival of Bergamo, with the part of Pasquale in Neapolitan dialect. It is the story of two rich merchant brothers from Lisbon, who are used to weighing everything against their barganing power. Also the marriage of Pasquale's niece Isabella is a "bargain" to them: she must marry another merchant, so as not to break with family tradition. The gags among the various characters are hilarious - especially those between the two brothers, who have competely different characters - creating an almost surreal atmosphere. Olivo, interpreted by Bruno Taddia, is teh real protagonist: as Isabella's father, he portrays a gruff, inflexible man, and does so with self-assurance and ease but never over the top. No less convincing is Filippo Morace as his brother Pasquale: istrionic and exhilarating as a na ctor, musically precise, and excellent in his Neapolitan dialect performance. Laurea Giordano, also thanks to her physique du role, is perfect as Isabella, the heartbroken girl torn between love for the young Camillo and obedience towards her grouchy father.

Beethoven's Sonatas for Fortepiano and Cello or Horn clearly demonstrate the connection of the transition from Classicism to Romanticism - they were composed throughout his entire creative career and tell a continuous story, a musical and historical testament, of maturity and change. The three sonatas on this CD were created in three different phases - the young, the struggling and the mature Beethoven in an intense and lucid performance.

Celebrated for their only complete recording of Haydn’s string quartets on period instruments, the Festetics Quartet also tackled the world of Schubert, by matching two quartets which since the very first bars depict the twilit, death-haunted atmosphere which is one of the areas peculiar to his imagination. The Festetics Quartet, one of Europe’s most accomplished period instrument quartets, was founded in Budapest in 1982. While the group’s repertoire embraces the complete quartets of Mozart and many of Beethoven and Schubert’s quartets, the group has a special affinity for the quartets of Haydn. They have been widely praised for their perception and unity of style, and the ensemble performs regularly in Hungary and throughout Europe.

Georges Onslow is best known for a body of chamber music that follows the musical lineage of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. A master of the quintet medium, Onslow offered variations of ensemble to players, the two presented here being cast for string quartet and double bass. The tempestuous Quintet No. 23 in A minor is charged with almost ceaseless nervous energy and Schubertian lyricism; the mature Quintet No.31 in A major is both subtle and elegant, with a brilliant assemblage of details such as walking bass and violin-cello duets.

With this recording Dynamic brings to completion the project of recording Nicolo Paganini's entire output. Included in this programme are some absolute rarities, such as the Sonata Napoleon MS. 5, the splendid Maestosa Suonata Sentimentale MS. 51, the Sonata movimento perpetuo M.S 66 and La Primavera MS. 73, all performed faithfully following Paganini's original manuscripts. The set also features an exciting interpretation of the rare Concerto No. 3 in E major MS. 50, perhaps the less frequently performed of Paganini's concertos, and the Caprice No. 24 in an interesting version with piano accompaniment. Mario Hossen received his musical education in Sofia, Vienna and Paris. He made his debut as a soloist with an orchestra at the age of eight. Hailed for his incredible virtuosity and charismatic stage presence, Hossen plays a repertoire that ranges all the way from Renaissance music to Classic music to contemporary works and Jazz. As a concert soloist of international acclaim, Mario Hossen has performed with renowned orchestras such as the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, the Orchestra della Scala di Milano, the Royal Philharmonic, the Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic and the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie. Hossen's musicological and artistic endeavors are focused among other things on source research on Niccolo Paganini. Mario Hossen plays a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, 1749, on loan from the Austrian National Bank collection.

Krzysztof Ksiazek, born in 1992 in Krakow, was a semi-finalist and recipient of two special prizes at the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. He began his musical education at the age of nine in the piano class of Grazyna Hesko-Kolodzinska at the Stanislaw Wiechowicz State Primary School of Music in Krakow. From 2005 to 2016 he studied with Professor Stefan Wojtas, first as a student of the Fryderyk Chopin State Secondary School of Music in Krakow, subsequently at the Academy of Music in Krakow and finally at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, from which he graduated in 2016. He has won numerous international awards, frequently doing so performing works by Chopin, as he presents on this release. Here, he presents Chopin's playful Mazurkas alongside a Scherzo, Prelude, Waltz, Fantasy, Nocturne, and Polonaise, giving a broad overview of the brilliant composer's oeuvre.

In this new Chaconne release, Trio Goya offers unique accounts of Beethoven’s early piano trios, revealing on period instruments and in the magical acoustic of the Britten-Pears Auditorium at Aldeburgh’s Snape Maltings the extraordinary range of colors and narratives that these pieces suggest. Beethoven’s Opus 1 features amongst Trio Goya’s central repertoire, played regularly in the UK’s most prestigious venues and beyond. After a recent Wigmore Hall concert, Early Music Today wrote that “Trio Goya sent us home spinning on the delights and laughter of early Beethoven. His piano trio opus 1 No. 1 frothed and bubbled down the finale's theme, the musicians swept along by their own hell-for-leather, immaculately kept tempo.” These pieces mark a kind of beginning in Beethoven’s career. They were indeed planned and executed, over a period of two years, with unprecedented care and skill; they mark the start of a new creative period for the young genius, which is distinct from the younger Bonn years and is fully deserving of the label ‘first maturity’ conferred by the musicologist Lewis Lockwood.

Roman Jablonski is considered one of the best cellists in the world. The born-in-Gdansk musician can boast a great artistic biography based on performances on the most prominent stages in the world, successes at competitions and festivals, a list of recordings including over 20 items, as well as the recognition of international critics and years-long didactic activity. The latest release by Professor Jablonski features a programme composed of masterpieces of the Polish cello music, from works by Fryderyk Chopin to contemporary pieces. Among them, a prominent place is occupied by Witold Lutoslawski's compositions, with whom Jablonski cooperated closely for many years.

Donizetti was prolific in the field of vocal chamber music, to the extent that he almost rivaled Rossini. Nuits d'�t� � Pausillippe is an album of ariettas, romanzas, notturnos and duettinos published in 1836. The texts speak of four seasons and three cities, but it's Naples that takes the lead role: Donizetti lived and worked in the city between 1822 and 1838. Mostly authored by local poets, the texts are essentially simple portraits of things Italian: the boatman, the breath of the beloved, and the tower of Biasone (which ends with one of Donizetti's most disarming tunes). Le cr�puscule (Twilight), however, sets verses by Victor Hugo as a romanza describing the new dawn, and continues with the lover's door that is closed. While Posillipo (Pausilippe) is a hillside overlooking the bay of Naples, Infrascata is a steep road leading from the city centre to another hillside, that of the Vomero. The frontispiece of the first edition of Soir�es d'autumne � l'Infrascata indicates it was intended as a sequel to the earlier collection. Here the tone is more overtly ardent, not least in the Neapolitan barcarola Me voglio fa 'na casa (I'd Like to Have a House) which has been a popular recital item for many great singers. The complete collection is far less often heard, and recorded, lending considerable rarity value to this new recording. It is led by the soprano Letizia Calandra, a specialist in Neapolitan repertoire.

When, on 26th August 2013 in the KKL Concert Hall, Claudio Abbado conducted a performance of Bruckner's Ninth with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, there was present in the room an inescapable sense of an ending. To this day, those present recall the conductor's gesture of gratitude and thanks at the final ovation: Abbado placed his right hand on his heart with that gently self-effacing yet friendly look which was so characteristic of this man who was a star conductor yet who was devoid of any lordly airs. The premonition that this could turn out to be the last concert of Abbado's could be felt in the atmosphere. And what a concert experience it was, this last concert and therefore also last concert recording of Claudio Abbado! One year before, in August 2012, the Lucerne Festival audience experienced Bruckner's groundbreaking Symphony No. 1 in Lucerne's concert hall in a similarly spectacular performance. For his interpretation with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Abbado had opted for thr less familiar "Vienna" version, which Bruckner himself considered to be the definitive one. In the taut, pared-down sound of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, the tempestuous musical developments acquired an electrifying presence and urgency. At the same time, Abbado succeeded in bringing out the coherence of the work's formal design even in the midst of all it's angular awkwardness and quasi-volcanic innovative character.

By the time of Emperor Joseph II’s death in 1790 Beethoven was a member of the court musical establishment in Bonn. To mark the occasion, Beethoven was commissioned to write to cantatas, one to mourn Joseph’s death and the other to celebrate the accession to the throne of Emperor Leopold II. Although Beethoven was only 19 years old at the time, both works show the embryonic marks of his greatness: intense expression and control of structure in one, and an almost operatic panache in the other. Neither piece was performed during Beethoven’s lifetime.

For the first time ever, a Chinese symphony orchestra is performing at Lucerne Festival. If yet more evidence that classical music has long since become a global language were needed, it would be this appearance by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra under music director Long Yu. These musicians from Asia have planned a program of three Russian composers. Aaron Avshalomov, who was born in 1894, served as a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory, where he taught from 1919 on; he was one of the founders of China's Western musical tradition. His tone poem Hutongs of Peking captures the sounds and voices that once echoed through the narrow alleys of the Chinese capital. Tchaikovsky's immortal Violin Concerto will be performed by one of the leading virtuosos of our time, Maxim Vengerov. And the orchestra will demonstrate the degree to which a composer under Stalin had to wrestle with his own identity with Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. Here the composer reacts to the political demand to be popular and monumental - which leads to an absurdly overstated "jubilant" conclusion.

Born in Strasbourg, Elizabeth Sombart studied piano from the age of seven. She studied all over the world with various teachers, including Bruno-Leonardo Gelber, Peter Feuchtwanger, Hilde Langer-Ruhl and Sergiu Celibidache. Elizabeth received the rank of Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite in 2006 and then was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2008, both in reference to her career in music. Elizabeth has a strong relationship with the RPO and will be continuing this Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle with them over the coming months. Beethoven is one of the single most influential figures in the history of Western music. Starting out with Mozart and Haydn as his spiritual mentors; he wrestled off the shackles of 18th century Classicism, forging uncompromising musical landscapes with a visionary intensity that left most musicians quivering in his wake. For centuries, music had lagged behind the other arts, but with Beethoven’s iron-clad will, it found itself at the cutting edge of social change.

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

Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony and the musical city of Leipzig are closely intertwined with each other: Felix Mendelssohn, Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester, made the work an indispensable part of the concert hall repertoire and Arthur Nikisch, one of his successors, established in 1918 the worldwide tradition of performing this groundbreaking and pioneering work at the end of the year. The phenomenal Herbert Blomstedt, Gewandhaus-kapellmeister from 1998 to 2005, once again conducted Beethoven's Ninth in Leipzig for the 2016 New Year celebrations. With his former orchestra, of which he has been Conductor Laureate since 2005 and with whom he enjoys a close friendship, he achieves a gripping interpretation of this monumental work. Under the direction of Blomstedt, together with his excellent musicians, the choirs, and an outstanding quartet of soloists led by the magnificent voice of Christian Gerhaher, the utopia of global freedom and humanity in Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy," penned in Leipzig in 1785, grows to overwhelming dimensions.

Ludwig van Beethoven's devotion to wind musical instruments dates already from his young life in Bonn, as proved from the correspondence between his teacher Josef Haydn and the Elector of Bonn Maximilian Franz: here the composition of his Parthia dans un concert, or wind Octet op. 103 is mentioned as a work written before his arrival in Vienna and therefore as the earliest piece he wrote for winds. The remarkable Rondino for the same instruments, using the recently invented mutes for the horns, might have been part of the same Parthia in an earlier version. Once in Vienna, Beethoven was impressed by an ensemble consisting of just 2 oboes and cor anglais and wrote for them the extended and virtuosic Terzetto op. 87 in 1794 and the Variations on Mozart’s Don Giovanni in 1796. Also from 1796, a quintet with the unusual scoring of one oboe, three horns and bassoon survives incomplete. The picture of Beethoven’s output for winds wouldn’t be complete without his military music, commissioned around the year 1810. According to the Austrian tradition, with remote Turkish influence- the so-called janissary music- the scoring here includes also trumpets, contrabassoon and a rich variety of percussion instruments.

Based on a fairy tale about the Peri of Persian Mythology, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri is an innovative form of dramatic cantata for solo voice, choir, and orchestra. The piece is an oratorio in three parts, with text by Emil Flechsig and Schumann based on the story by Thomas Moore, Lalla Rookh. This recording is from 1981. It features the Leipzig Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester conducted by Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, along with some of the greatest soloists including Magdalena Hajossyova and Marga Schiml.

The great pianist Paul Badura-Skoda presents two milestones of piano literature and the most important works by Franz Schubert in this genre: the monumental ‘Wanderer Fantasia’ in C, D760 and the unfinished and posthumously published Sonata in C, D840 ‘Reliquie’. Paul Badura-Skoda’s intensive study of Schubert’s oeuvre and the preserved fragments of the third and fourth movements as well as of Viennese Classicism in general led to this completion of the great sonata, kept entirely in Schubert’s style so that the transitions take place flowingly and no stylistic ruptures can be discerned.

Unlike any other composer Giuseppe Verdi illuminates the great emotions and opulent melodies of the Italian opera. Created exclusively for the occasion of the celebrated composer's 200th birthday, Beijing's most important opera house, the National Centre for the Performing Arts, presents an exceptional gala: Viva Verdi. It features stars from the opera world such as Dilb�r or Roberto Scandiuzzi as they perform the best moments from Verdi's operas and his Messa da Requiem in a visually stunning production by director Hugo de Ana. As the moderator of Viva Verdi actor Zhang Guoli sheds more light on the composer behind the brilliant music. An international festival for opera fans, which once again gives emphasis to the reputation of the National Centre for the Performing Arts as "the most prestigious venue of it's kind in China"

When the revered writer Alessandro Manzoni died in 1873, Verdi was unable to bring himself to attend the funeral. Instead he composed his monumental Messa da Requiem in Manzoni’s memory and conducted its first performance on the first anniversary of the writer’s death. In addition to its profound spirituality, the work also brings together all the finest qualities familiar from Verdi’s operas, qualities that include endless melodic lines and powerful musico-dramatic effects. The present performance was recorded in Los Angeles’s legendary Hollywood Bowl in August 2013 and brought together three superstars from the world of music: the conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the tenor Vittorio Grigolo and the bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, all of them at the top of their form. “It was an important and exceptional evening … That experience involved a radical and wondrous rethinking of the Requiem on Dudamel‘s part.” (Los Angeles Times)

The latest [2015] release from the Seattle Symphony’s Grammy-nominated label is a provocative coupling of two great works by European composers reflecting their response to the vibrant culture of the New World. Varèse’s Amériques, written only 30 years after Dvo?ák’s beloved “New World” Symphony, is a pivotal masterpiece that changed the course of music forever. In live performances of electrifying energy, and recorded in stunning sound, this is a mind-bending combination of masterpieces. - Seattle Symphony Orchestra

Behzod Abduraimov joins Alpha for several recordings, starting with this ‘kaleidoscope of miniatures’ – miniatures that are in fact fairly gigantic, and showcase the Uzbek pianist’s extreme virtuosity and sensitivity. ‘Each movement is in itself a miniature, and taken together they form a kaleidoscope of human emotions and images of all kinds,’ says Behzod Abduraimov. In his view, the pieces in Debussy’s Children’s Corner are not intended for young piano students, but ‘for adults, so that they can immerse themselves in the world of children with a little nostalgia and a lot of humor.’ When it comes to Chopin, ‘each prelude has a different musical essence, creates its own atmosphere. Together they form an arc spanning the distance from the first prelude to the last. So I tried to consider them as a whole.’ Finally, Mussorgsky evokes in ten highly expressive movements the paintings at an exhibition held in posthumous tribute to his friend Viktor Hartmann. A ‘Promenade’ heard several times suggests Mussorgsky himself strolling through the exhibition. For Behzod Abduraimov, the “Promenades” play a key role in this cycle: they create the atmosphere before each painting.

REVIEW:

Each of the three works that Behzod Abduraimov presents in this program consists of small, strongly individual pieces that ultimately add up to more than the sum of their parts. Abduraimov’s impressive interpretations bear this out; he manages to tap into each piece’s character, while unifying them by way of timing and carefully thought out tempo relationships.

In Debussy’s Children’s Corner, for example, the pianist’s measured pace allows breathing room to his distinctions between legato and detached articulation. The foreground and background components emerge in clear and consistent perspective throughout Jimbo’s Lullaby and Serenade for the Doll, while the clipped phrasing of Golliwog’s Cakewalk conveys more bite and rhythmic spring than usual.

Even in a catalog awash with distinctive Chopin Preludes cycles, Abduraimov’s stellar technique, intelligent musicianship, and feeling for nuance stand out. Note No. 3’s alluringly shaded left-hand runs, No. 5’s cross-rhythmic definition, and the crystalline shimmer of No. 8’s busy textures. Abduraimov’s fleet poise in virtuoso showpieces like Nos. 16, 19, 22, and 24 veer closer to the classicism of Pollini’s 1974 traversal than to the improvisatory Argerich or Arrau’s epic dynamism.

A few textual observations: Unlike Pollini, who executes No. 9’s controversial dotted eighth- and 16th-note pattern to conform to the accompanying triplet, Abduraimov plays it as written. However, like Pollini (as well as Alfred Cortot and Ivan Moravec), Abduraimov favors the “traditional” E-natural on the final beat of No. 20’s third measure, rather than the “controversial” Urtext E-flat that Arrau, Rudolf Serkin, and Alexandre Tharaud prefer.

If anything, Abduraimov opens himself more to the inherent drama in Mussorgsky’s Pictures, yet without doing violence to the music. It’s true that the pianist reinforces octaves here and there, and adds effective right-hand tremolos to Gnomus, yet such emendations enhance rather than distract from Mussorgsky’s intentions. Abduraimov’s steady tread in the Promenades allows the music’s asymmetry to speak for itself. He takes his time over Bydlo’s oxcart ostinatos, yet never drags, and eschews the capricious and cutesy tempo changes that younger pianists deem necessary in the Unhatched Chicks Ballet.

The repeated notes of Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle are as perfectly aligned and voiced as the rapid alternating chords of the Limoges Marketplace coda. And to hear how one can produce massively resonating sonorities without banging, check out The Great Gate at Kiev’s climactic pages. Debussy, Chopin, and Mussorgsky add up to a triumphant triumvirate in Abduraimov’s hands, together with Alpha’s first-class engineering.

– ClassicsToday.com (10/10; Jed Distler)

With these two rarely played works of Robert Schumann, Christoph Spering proudly introduces himself to OehmsClassics. He is able to enthrall audiences, especially at lecture-concerts in Cologne, with the background and secrets of music history and through clear and humorous presentations, creating a link between entertainment and education at a high standard of excellence. OehmsClassics is delighted over this collaboration and anxiously awaits the second publication of this year: The version of Gluck's Iphigenie in Aulis adapted by Richard Wagner.

The centerpiece of this program is the first ever recording of the Hiawatha Melodrama, a concert work for narrator and orchestra designed to show the kinship between Dvořák's New World Symphony and Longfellow’s poem The Song of Hiawatha, which Dvořák said had inspired him in the symphony. It takes music from the symphony, as well as passages from the American Suite and Violin Sonatina, and fuses them with the poem, which is recited by a bass-baritone. Also included is music by Arthur Farwell, who was influenced by Dvořák, and was a proponent of Native American music. This recording thus celebrates the crosscurrent of influences between the Czech composer and American music and culture.

The Barber of Seville is Rossini's most popular opera. It's effervescent overture (written originally for another work!) presents a perfect platform for the amusing plot in which the barber, Figaro, stage-manages a romance between Count Almaviva and Rosina, and puts to flight the old suitor, Dr Bartolo. 'Largo al Factotum' is one of the most popular arias in opera - nearly 200 years after it's first performance it is still one of the great show-stoppers. But why was the opera received with boos and catcalls at it's first performance in 1816, and why did Rossini return to the plot and environment presented so sublimely by Mozart? Opera writer Thomson Smillie and actor David Timson present the background in their informative but entertaining manner.

This is the fourth volume of the Diogenes Quartet's acclaimed complete set of Schubert String Quartets. The ongoing project for Brilliant Classics has already been highly acclaimed, with Jerry Dubins of Fanfare writing of Volume 2 (BC94462): "Immaculate execution is complemented by genuine emotional engagement and real feeling for Schubert's unique modes and moods of musical expression." With two more volumes to come, this series is sure to attract Schubert aficionados and string quartet lovers alike. This 4th installment of the complete String Quartets by Schubert presents one of the most famous string quartets ever written: the Quartet in D minor "Der Tod und das M�dchen" (Death and the Maiden), one of Schubert's grimmest and most powerful works, Beethovenian in structure and scope, Schubertian in passion and poetry. The Schubert cycle by the German Quartet Diogenes Quartet is highly regarded, critics praise their superb unity of ensemble and style, their impeccable intonation and their fiery and passionate music making.

Gaetano Donizetti's La Favorite was rather laborious in the making: it started out as a re-working of L'Ange de Nisida, to which the composer added parts taken from some other operas of his. The work, which was premiered at the Op�ra of Paris, is set in 14th-century Castile and tells the story of the hapless love between Fernand, who has second thoughts about taking holy orders and leaves the monastery of Santiago de Compostela, and Leonor, the mistress of king Alphonse XI. It is an intimate drama, where history and politics are but the backdrop to the protagonists' passions and torments. Fabio Luisi's conducting is both measured in balancing the orchestral sounds, and personal, varied and vigorous. The orchestra is crystal-clear, neat in it's accompaniment, neither subject to the voices nor prevaricating. Veronica Simeoni (Leonor), Celso Albelo (Fernand) and Mattia Olivieri (Alphonse) give excellent vocal and acting performances.