Classical Music

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Mikhail Pletnev is an artist whose genius as pianist, conductor and composer enchants and amazes audiences around the globe. His musicianship encompasses a dazzling technical power and provocative emotional range, and a searching interpretation that fuses instinct with intellect. Under his leadership, in a few short years the Russian National Orchestra achieved towering stature among the world's orchestras. They now present Tchaikovsky's stunning Symphony No. 1 and his Slavonic March, Op. 31.

"Pletnev is a most caring and thoughtful shaper of moods as the First Symphony shows. The playing is finely nuanced to match the strong balletic character. Indeed it made me think of Nutcracker more than once." - MusicWeb International, (Referring to original DG release now reissued on Pentatone.)

Alongside its ongoing and much lauded Haydn and Schubert series, both on-stage and on-record, the Doric String Quartet with this Mendelssohn album is adding a new milestone in its repertoire. Mendelssohn wrote and published these three quartets at very different stages in his life and they therefore outline the complete trajectory of his creative output. The early Op. 12, also called No. 1, was composed in London and includes many musical allusions to Beethoven, dead only a few years before its composition. These subtly contrast with Mendelssohn’s genially flowing energy. While Op. 44 No. 3, which incorporates many deft variations, developments, and combinations, follows an extended honeymoon tour and Mendelssohn’s twenty-ninth birthday, Op. 80 emerged from a bout of helpless depression after the sudden death of Mendelssohn’s older sister and confidante, Fanny. Mendelssohn described this quartet as a Requiem, and the nervous agitation often found in his music here bursts forth with full force. Resignation, agitation, and nostalgia shape the work, the almost shocking finality of which may be said to prefigure Mendelssohn’s own death only six months later.

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REVIEW:

Op. 44/3 is the longest of the quartets, and the outer movements can sometimes come across as prolix. The Doric’s performance steers clear of this trap – again through the controlled variety and technical ease of their music-making – as well as tripping the light fantastic in the scherzo, and laying bare the emotional ambiguity of the Adagio. I look forward to Volume 2.

– BBC Music Magazine

This outstanding release was recorded live at The Library of Congress on January 28, 30, and February 1 1946, and this is the first time they have ever been available to the public! Beethoven’s 10 Sonatas for Violin and Piano are performed by Henri Temianka and Leonard Shure, two of the finest musicians of the first half of the twentieth century. This remastered recording has received glimmering reviews: “The performances are magnificent: bold and fresh, technically fluid and musically insightful… exciting…elegant…exceptional grace… this duo balances formidable power with magisterial command.” (The New York Times) “A great hit in the Beethoven discography… one of the most beautiful surprises to the discophile in recent years… makes you hold your breath constantly… A priceless treasure.” (Diapason)

Light and Darkness Religious inspiration: Franz Liszt´s religious compositions for piano solo. Interpreted by Martin Filjak. One of the most exciting artists to emerge in recent years, Martina Filjak is garnering international praise for her poetic passion and technical mastery at the keyboard. She came to international attention by winning the Gold Medal, the 1st prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 2009. During the past seasons she has performed with esteemed orchestras that include the Cleveland Orchestra, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona and the Japan Century Orchestra. Filjak’s most recent conductor collaborations include Michael Schønwandt, Heinrich Schiff, Theodor Guschlbauer, JoAnn Falletta, Alexander Shelley, Markus Poschner, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Josep Caballé-Domenech, Tito Munoz, Carlos Miguel Preto und Stefan Sanderling. Based in Berlin, Martina Filjak speaks seven languages. Fortunately, for an active performer, she loves to travel.

Pianist Jan Schulmeister (b. 2006) belongs to the sixth generation of the Cerný-Schulmeister musical family. Jan Schulmeister has been playing the piano since he was five years old. He is a student of Bc. Eva Zonová at Elementary Art School in Kromeríž. Since the age of seven he regularly participates in national and international piano competitions where he gathers the highest awards. He cooperates with many Czech orchestras such as Brno Philharmonic, Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra in Olomouc and Prague chamber Orchestra. He performed under the conduction of personalities such as Tomáš Netopil, Davies or Jakub Klecker. On this release, he presents a Romantic program of works by Johannes Brahms, Frederic Chopin, and Robert Schumann.

This one-of-a-kind release features two of the leading musicians of the twentieth century, Mstislav Rostropovich and Sviatoslav Richter in live performances of sonatas. Especially notable is the Prokofiev sonata from Moscow 1950, which was the piece’s world premiere performance. Two other sonatas, by Beethoven and Brahms, are being released here for the first time. These two concerts took place in March 1950 and June 1964, when both of these remarkable twentieth century musicians were at the peak of their careers.

For Johannes Brahms, the essence and defining feature of chamber music resided in the string quartet, and the form commanded so much respect and rigor from him that he burnt dozens of his first attempts at the genre. This shows how much the three quartets brought together here, and added to quite naturally by the sublime piano quintet, represent the quintessence of that great resident of Vienna. It is a magical climax to this outstanding collection of Brahms’s complete chamber music works released by B Records, still under the auspices of La Belle Saison.

Friedrich Kuhlau (1786 - 1832) lived and worked during a transitional period of classical music. A contemporary of Beethoven and Schubert, his works remain almost unknown to this day, except for some compositions for the flute. The compositional style of the sonatas featured in this recording perfectly identifies with that of his contemporaries, while showing some differences in content; the structure of the sonatas is that of the classical period, but the use of melodic themes and harmony looks to the romantic period. These interpretations of the sonatas for flute and piano highlight the constant dialogue between the two instruments; in fact there is a continuous thematic exchange, which the artists found interesting to discover and highlight. The synergy is perceived above all in choppy tempos, while in every Adagio or Andante the flute assumes the role of the solo instrument, and the piano accompanies and responds. The themes in the slow movements are sweet and moving, and the composer manages to evoke emotions that are always different from each other, thus bringing out his predisposition for this type of tempo, present even in the most brilliant movements: in fact in every allegro, even in the one characterized by the greatest energy, there is a moment of tranquility in which the composer takes the time to make performers and listeners ponder.

Beyond Beethoven explores four works by close contemporaries of the great master composer in the early part of the 19th century, chosen partly due to the connections between the composers, Beethoven and his Op. 17 Sonata, and partly to dispel enduring modern myths about the instrument’s limited options. Performing on original period instruments (an 1810 cor solo by Lucien Joseph Raoux, and an 1815 fortepiano by Johann Peter Fritz), Anneke Scott and Steven Devine, take us on a compelling journey through this enlightening corner of the piano and horn repertoire.

This new release is the thirteenth volume in DOREMI’s Svaiatoslav Richter Archives series. Considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century, Svaiatoslav Richter was known for his virtuosic technique, vast repertoire, and the depth of his interpretations. On this volume, he performs Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 alongside the USSR State Orchestra, George Georgescu conducting. The performance was recorded live in Moscow in 1958. The other performances are of Etudes on Caprices by Paganini, Marchenbilder for Viola and Piano, and 3 Fantasiestucke for Cello and Piano recorded in 1986, 1985, and 1969, respectively. He is joined on this volume by cellist Pierre Fournier and violist Yuri Bashmet.

The works on this beautiful recording are transcriptions for flute and piano of Franz Schubert masterpieces, from "Heidenröslen," a lied he composed as a fresh-faced 17-year- old, to "Ständchen," written just prior to his premature death at the age of 31. The exquisite and expressive playing of flutist Nadia Labrie and pianist Mathieu Gaudet is seductive. "I have always found this music inspiring, so I wanted to perform a flute and piano version of some of my favourites. Schubert's music is so uplifting, so inspiring, so passionate - it taps into the soul, the voice, the breath of life." (Nadia Labrie) Nadia Labrie is a graduate of the Conservatoire de musique du Quebec and the Universite de Montreal. She received the Medal of the Governor General of Canada for the excellence of her college studies, and was awarded the Citizenship Lifetime Achievement Award by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec and Celebrations Canada President Marc Garneau.

"•On her latest CD, with the Sonatas No. 32 in C minor op. 111 by Ludwig van Beethoven and the one in B flat major D 960 by Franz Schubert, Dora Deliyska combines both composers' respective last piano sonatas. In them, the young Bulgarian pianist fathoms profound emotions and explores the compositions as interactions between the creative paths of the composers with the unknown dimension - death. With her interpretation, Dora Deliyska offers the listener the opportunity to experience unknown and alien spheres as the fulfilment of our human course and to immerse himself in the light of music. Part of this edition includes a bonus CD with videos of Dora Deliyska from Schönburg Palace in Vienna with works by Beethoven, Wagner/Liszt and Verdi/Liszt. • Dora Deliyska began piano lessons at the age of five. Surrounded by music in her family, she held her first concert at the age of nine. After musical training in her Bulgarian home, she moved to the University of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna, where she received instruction from the Professors Jürg von Vintschger and Stefan Vladar. In 2010, she graduated there with an M.A. in Prof. Noel Flores' class. The same year, she obtained her postgraduate diploma at the Oxana Yablonskaya Piano Institute in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, Italy. • Her artistic development has been strongly influenced by master classes and private lessons with respected musicians such as Dmitri Alexejew, Mikhail Voskresensky, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Boris Bloch and others. Dora Deliyska is considered one of the most important Liszt interpreters of the young generation. Her discography comprises CD recordings with piano works by Franz Liszt (2008), by Liszt and Chopin (2010), transcriptions of Franz Schubert songs by Franz Liszt (2011) as well as by Franz Schubert (2013)."

Where next after Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet? Try these duos and trios by Georg Friedrich Fuchs (1752-1821) in newly recorded period-instrument performances. Born in the German city of Mainz in 1752, Fuchs was a pupil of Haydn’s before becoming a wind-band leader and composer. Aged 32, however, he moved to Paris, and established his name there, teaching at the conservatoire and composing for many French publishers with an eye to the fast-developing market for attractive music for winds, especially the clarinet, accessible to amateurs. His experience as a working musician in the French National Guard prompted him to produce Harmoniemusik – wind-band music – for various combinations of such instruments, without string accompaniment, as the duos and trios found on this album. There is also a brief Pot Pourri on arias of Paisiello conceived for the unusual combination four clarinets, two horns and two bassoons. Between 1803 and 1805 he produced six trios for three clarinets, and Luigi Magistrelli has chosen to record three of them, along with Fuchs’s ingenious arrangements of six arias from Mozart’s Magic Flute, which weave melody and accompaniment between the two instruments, producing pieces satisfying to both play and listen to on their own terms. As a clarinetist and ensemble leader, Luigi Magistrelli has built up a considerable Brilliant Classics discography of lesser-known repertoire from the Classical and early Romantic eras. Most of his albums feature first recordings, and he is joined by Italian colleagues who have equally extensive experience in historically informed performances (using instruments of the time, often returning to the original manuscripts) of 18th- and 19th-century music.

I puritani is one of Bellini's most creative and influential masterpieces, a bel canto opera stamped with vocal and orchestral writing of intoxicating beauty and dramatic intensity. Set in England in the Civil War shortly before Oliver Cromwell's triumph, it involves romantic and political intrigues that drew from Bellini music of melodic raptness and melancholic depth. It also inspired him to compose some of his most breathtakingly virtuosic passages, notably Elvira's Mad Scene, that call for the utmost in theatrical power. This production includes all the music performed at the work's Paris premiere.

Also available on Blu-ray

This box set contains three extraordinary ballet choreographies by the successful German choreographer Christian Spuck for the Ballett Zürich whose ballet director he has been since the 2012/13 season: Verdi’s Messa da Requiem conducted by Fabio Luisi, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and Mouse King, conducted by Paul Connelly, and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet conducted by Michail Jurowski. Christian Spuck comes from Marburg and was trained at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart. He began his dance career with Jan Lauwers’ Needcompany and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s Ensemble Rosas. In 1995 he became a member of the Stuttgart Ballet and served as the company’s resident choreographer from 2001 to 2012. In Stuttgart he created fifteen world premieres, including the story ballet Lulu. Eine Monstretragödie after Frank Wedekind, Der Sandmann and Das Fräulein von S. after E.T.A. Hoffmann. Since the 2012/13 season, Christian Spuck has been director of Ballett Zürich.

Classical Music

With this release of works by Mussorgsky, Liszt, and Beethoven, pianist Yuko Batik explores human imagination and fantasy. One of the most important examples of programmatic music, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition impresses upon the listener the visions that would befall a viewer watching gallery paintings. The techniques required to play this work on a single instrument display Batik’s virtuosity. Yuko Batik travels globally performing in concert halls in Austria, Hungary, Bosnia, Turkey, Japan, Italy, and Germany.

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

This box set contains three extraordinary ballet choreographies by the successful German choreographer Christian Spuck for the Ballett Zürich whose ballet director he has been since the 2012/13 season: Verdi’s Messa da Requiem conducted by Fabio Luisi, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and Mouse King, conducted by Paul Connelly, and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet conducted by Michail Jurowski. Christian Spuck comes from Marburg and was trained at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart. He began his dance career with Jan Lauwers’ Needcompany and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s Ensemble Rosas. In 1995 he became a member of the Stuttgart Ballet and served as the company’s resident choreographer from 2001 to 2012. In Stuttgart he created fifteen world premieres, including the story ballet Lulu. Eine Monstretragödie after Frank Wedekind, Der Sandmann and Das Fräulein von S. after E.T.A. Hoffmann. Since the 2012/13 season, Christian Spuck has been director of Ballett Zürich.

Although Liszt’s thirteen symphonic poems exist in two-piano transcriptions prepared by the composer himself, it was his Czech student August Stradal (1860–1930) who transcribed twelve of them for solo piano – versions which demand almost superhuman virtuosity. Stradal died before he could tackle the last of the symphonic poems, Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe; Risto-Matti Marin has made good that lacuna with his own virtuoso transcription, and adds six of Stradal’s transcriptions of Liszt songs for good measure. The Finnish pianist, Risto-Matti Marin, began his piano lessons at the Kuopio Conservatoire as a pupil of Jouni Räty and continued with professional studies there under Jaakko Untamala. In 1998 he transferred to the Sibelius Academy to study with Erik T. Tawaststjerna, and from 2002 onwards also studied with Teppo Koivisto. He gained a Master´s degree in music in 2004. Since 2005 he has studied at the Sibelius Academy DocMus department. Winner of the first prize in the Kuopio Piano Competition in 1996 and the Helmi Vesa Piano Competition in 1999, Marin was awarded the third prize in the Weimar International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in 2003.

German pianist Burkard Schliessmann is a performer with a passion and vision, to seek out and interpret the forms, colors and textures, indeed the soul and expression: the poetic impact, of works we believe have already been fully explored. His previous recordings have received worldwide acclaim "Schliessmann is too good a pianist for anyone to pass on this" - American Record Guide; "without equal" - Fanfare. This triple SACD set with state of the art sound and luxury packaging chronicles the works of Chopin in order, showing the composer's development and is thus informative for scholars as well as being a superb recital. Chopin is the composer above all who has inspired Schliessmann and his interpretative style.

Also available on Blu-ray

This box set contains four exceptional and star-studded opera and operetta recordings from the Opernhaus Zürich: Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi, Berg’s Wozzeck, Massenet’s Werther, and Lehar’s Das Land des Lachelns. Philharmonia Zurich is the orchestra of Zurich Opera. As an independent body of 116 contract players, it has existed since 1985 under the name of Zurich Opera Orchestra. It was renamed in 2012 with the appointment of director Andreas Homoki and general music director Fabio Luisi. The Choir of the Zurich Opera House, with its 60 permanent members and the participation of up to 160 performances per season, forms an essential cornerstone of the artistic ensemble at the Zurich Opera House. Under the umbrella of the most traditional Swiss opera house, it unites singers on the highest professional level, whose musical and stylistic versatility is combined with the power of acting and spontaneity. On a regular basis, the members also prove their artistic format as soloists. The choir reflects the claim and the radiance of the Zurich Opera in its international composition, which have been proven by numerous DVD recordings and were awarded the “Opera Company of the Year” in 2014.

Excerpts of reviews of previously released volumes in this set:

Berg: Wozzeck

This is a finely honed production that follows its premise to an absurdist conclusion with slick theatricality and dispassionate zeal. All sentimentalism is banished here. So, largely, is the opera’s plea for justice and compassion. It is left to Christian Gerhaher’s Wozzeck to fight that battle, which he does with formidable diction and great lyrical beauty, offering, where he can, a still centre in the tumult.

– Gramophone (DVD/Blu-ray of the Month, November 2016)

Massenet: Werther

Director Tatjana Gürbaca and designer Klaus Grünberg have transformed Massenet’s masterpiece into a compelling drama that glues you to the edge of your seat from start to finish. Flórez gives the performance of his career as a hero who knows that death is where passion is fulfilled. Anna Stéphany’s Charlotte, by turns terrified, tender and tearful, is with him all the way.

–BBC Music Magazine

Classical Music

Featuring ten premiere recordings and a number of recently discovered ‘Sins of Old Age’ manuscripts unassigned to specific volumes, this album brings together a notable diversity of genres and instrumentation. They include the catchy ‘Allegretto’ for violin and piano that Rossini used as his musical calling card, the ‘Tarantelle pur sang’ for choir, harmonium, clochette and piano, and a harmonization of the simple folk melody ‘Marlbrough s’en va-t-en guerre’ that transforms it into a little musical gem. The Ars Cantica Choir was established in 1988 in Milan and today, as a body of professional singers, has won a reputation for its versatility and ability to tackle repertoire from the Renaissance to the contemporary.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

R E V I E W S

No easy listening here. Groh offers a monumental reading of the Sonata hewn from stone, with dark colors, generally measured tempos, and a crushing weight. In his curious program note (it’s framed as a letter to Liszt, but it tells the composer mostly things he already knows), Groh not only points to the Faust legend, but also suggests that the sonata has “parallels with the story of the Creation in the Bible.” His lengthy analysis, though, pretty much drops the analogy once it’s gotten past the opening measures—and rightly so. For the progress of the Liszt Sonata has nothing in common with Genesis; and what little light and Edenic joy the music might contain is blocked out by the almost unrelievedly grim intensity of the interpretation. Not even the fugue (played with exceptional clarity) has much spark or impetuosity.

In the end, then, Groh’s reading brings the music closer in spirit to Byron’s Manfred (with its self-lacerating guilt) than to either Faust or the Bible—but the music certainly supports that interpretation, and Groh the performer (as opposed to Groh the writer) makes a persuasive advocate. The careful shading of the opening measures holds out the promise of a performance of great expressive depth, taking nothing for granted—a promise that’s fulfilled in the artful shaping of the recitatives, the inevitable growth of the crescendos, the assurance of the phrasing, and the staggering conviction of the climaxes. I’m not quite ready to admit this CD to the inner circle with Argerich, Horowitz (the early recording), Ernst Levy, Hough, Pollini, Richter, and a handful of others; but it’s certainly close, and readers with several recordings on their shelves already should find this a gripping alternative view.

The Fantasy and Fugue responds well to the same epic approach—but I’m marginally less convinced by Totentanz. No complaints about his technique: in that regard, this is as stunning a performance as its companions. But Groh gives us a remarkably unironic reading of a piece that’s fueled by sardonic wit—and for all the detail, for all the striking contrasts, it seems to be a bit too monolithic. Still and all, this is a significant contribution to the Liszt catalog—and I’m eager to hear more from this remarkably talented musician.

FANFARE: Peter J. Rabinowitz

Star conductor Myung-Whun Chung is a cultural ambassador of his home country South Korea and has dedicated himself for many years to promoting young Korean artists. Since pianist Sunwook Kim won the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006 at the age of 18, he and Chung have enjoyed a close musical partnership. Sunwook Kim has received outstanding international reviews for his previous solo recordings of piano works by Beethoven, Brahms and Franck. The composer Johannes Brahms is very close to the pianist's heart and it is no coincidence that his Piano Concerto No. 1 was at the heart of Kim's Asia tour with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and its first guest conductor in the fall of 2019. The recording of the Piano Concerto is complemented by the Six Piano Pieces, op. 118. The Piano Concerto was recorded live at the Seoul Arts Center in South Korea in September 2019 and the Six Piano Pieces in June 2020 in the Mendelssohn Hall of the Leipzig Gewandhaus.

“Piano trios have often been formed by a threesome of like-minded soloists: the fabled ‘Million Dollar Trio’ of Heifetz, Rubinstein and Piatigorsky springs to mind. The present ensemble, founded in 2009, belongs decidedly to this illustrious line. The three trios were recorded in Nimbus’s hall at Wyastone Leys, a most vivid acoustic that brings the three players straight into one’s living room.” (The Strad) Trio Shaham Erez Wallfisch was founded in 2009 and comprises three of the finest international instrumentalists performing today. Playing chamber music together at the Pablo Casals Prades Festival Hagai Shaham and Raphael Wallfisch recognised an immediate musical synergy. Arnon Erez joined them for trio concerts in Lucerne and the Netherlands later that year and the Trio Shaham Erez Wallfisch was established. Since 2009 the Trio have performed, broadcast and recorded widely throughout Europe and Israel, giving concerts in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, France, Israel and Spain. For this new release, they have chosen chamber works by Dvorak, Grieg, and Schumann.

This third volume of our Michael Gielen Edition is devoted to music by Johannes Brahms, with all the recordigns taken from the archives of the Southwest German Radio. These recordings were made between April 1989 and January 2005. Michael Gielen enjoyed a felicitous involvement with Brahms' chamber music, particularly the late piano works where, in Schoenberg's words, the "progressive Brahms" is most evident. Maybe that's why Brahms' first piano quartet, orchestrated by Arnold Shcoenberg, sounds so ravishingly sharp under Gielen's direction. The solemnity of Schicksaslied calls for sincere commitment on the part of the conductor. Working as one, the Symphony Orchestra of Baden-Baden and Freiburg and Michael Gielen achieve an interpretation of this work that is both balanced and comforting.

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REVIEW:

Gielen proposes we listen to Brahms for the sake of his musical arguments rather than for the lustrous sounds that he's capable of conjuring, an approach that seems eminently sensible, and a valid alternative to various fleshier interpretive options.

– Gramophone

Kuhlau: Fantaisies & Divertissements for Solo Flute

This new, exciting release will allow listeners to rediscover a great and too often forgotten pianist- Pietro Scarpini. “This set will appeal especially to aficionado’s of great pianism and will be of added value in enhancing Scarpini’s scant discography. The albums are complemented with a beautifully illustrated booklet. Rhine Classics have carefully restored and remastered these valuable aural documents in 24bit 96KHz sound.” (MusicWeb UK) “Piano-wise Rhine Classics has given us a stimulating six-album set of Pietro Scarpini playing Busoni and Liszt [...] all played with intelligence and the odd tell-tale flashback to old-world performing gestures.” (Gramophone UK)