Dvorak's symphonic poems are fascinating works because they offer a perfect combination of colourful orchestration, lively narrative art and deeply rooted Czech folk music tradition. The poems recorded here, 'The Water Goblin' (1896), 'The Midday Witch' (1896) and 'The Golden Spinning Wheel' (1896), in particular, demonstrate the composer's ability to paint musical pictures and tell stories in a haunting way.

Principal conductor Ivor Bolton will bid farewell to 'his' orchestra, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, in summer 2025 with a 'French' album. He will hand over the baton to his successor Markus Poschner for the new season. So as a farewell, here are symphonic and vocal works by Ernest Chausson. The Symphony in B flat major recorded here is characterised by it's lyrical melody and harmonic sophistication, which builds a bridge between romantic expressiveness and impressionistic sounds. In comparison, the vocal works also presented here, such as 'Viviane' or 'Helene', often have a more intimate, vocal quality that emphasises the human voice. These differences illustrate Chausson's versatility as a composer and his ability to combine fascinating instrumentation with profound emotions in both instrumental and vocal music.

The music of Stravinsky’s "The Rite of Spring" has come down to us in the form of the orchestral score (which was laid aside amid the turmoil of World War I and only published in 1922) and a piano duet version published shortly before its 1913 premiere. Both versions are presented here side by side. These are not two aesthetically equal realizations of one and the same compositional concepts. Not only was ‘The Rite’ conceived from the outset as an orchestral work; it also owes its overwhelming impact in great measure to the colorful and often deliberately percussive sound of its instrumental forces.

Heinz Holliger: Grammont Portrait

Mozart+ is an exceptional selection of some of the most beautiful concert and opera arias by W.A. Mozart as well as discoveries of largely unknown arias from operas by Tommaso Traetta, Giovanni Paisiello and Vicente Martín y Soler, reflecting the exchange of musical ideas between Mozart and his contemporaries and getting these three composers out of Mozart's shadow. Olga Peretyatko chose arias from the well-known operas „Die Entführung aus dem Serail“, „Le nozze di Figaro“, "Don Giovanni" and „Clemenza di Tito“ by Mozart and combined these with arias from rather forgotten operas such as "Antigona" by Traetta, "Il barbiere di Siviglia" by Paisiello as well as "Il burbero di buon cuore" by Soler. The connection between Mozart and Soler becomes obvious, as the recording also includes two insertion arias (K582 and K583) by Mozart, which he had written for the revival of "Il burbero di buon cuore". Mozart+ is Peretyatko’s second collaboration with the Sinfonieorchester Basel and Ivor Bolton as the conductor, after the highly acclaimed recording “The Secret Fauré” (2018).

"This is the fourth production on the Sinfonieorchester Basel's in-house label, established in 2012. Renowned American conductor and pianist Dennis Russell Davies has been the orchestra's principal conductor since 2009. Honegger's Second Symphony (‘Symphonie liturgique’), completed in 1941 and premiered by Paul Sacher in 1942, follows the dramatic and emotional symphonic tradition of Beethoven, but in its form and spirit, hues towards the style of Haydn or Mozart."

With the reopening of the Stadtcasino, the music city of Basel gets back it's unique sound jewel. In August 2020, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, resident orchestra of the Stadtcasino Basel, celebrated it's return to the music hall, which was completed in 1876 according to plans by Basel architect Johann Jakob Stehlin. Acoustically the historic music hall is one of the world's best concert halls. The extension of the Stadtcasino was commissioned from the prominent architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron with their headquarters in Basel and who have already designed several famous buildings and concert halls, most recently the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. The program of the concert on August 26, 2020, was entirely dedicated to the reopening and under the impression of a newly forming music world after the Corona lockdown. The present recording was made as a co-production with SRF, which recorded the symphony orchestra's first concert in it's home venue, the Stadtcasino Basel. The lavish booklet presents numerous photographs of the opulent concert hall as well as an essay by Elke Heidenreich, who has been associated with the orchestra for years. The concert began with Beethoven's overture "The Consecration of the House, " with which the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna was opened in 1822. With Debussy's orchestration of the 3rd Gymnop�dies, a wealth of delicate timbres floated weightlessly into the restored concert hall. Satie described his music as "musique d'ameublement", a music of furnishing, which may also be understood allegorically as the tonal furnishing of the music hall. In the orchestral song "Morgen" by Richard Strauss, soprano Christina Landshamer presented herself as artist in residence. Finally, Dvorak's 9th Symphony "From the New World" was symbolic of the very special start to a new chapter in music with the Basel Symphony Orchestra under the baton of principal conductor Ivor Bolton.

This new set includes all three Stravinsky ballets recorded by the Sinfonieorchester Basel under the direction of Dennis Russel Davis. The Sinfonieorchester Basel is based in Basel, Switzerland and often accompanies ballet and opera productions at the Theater Basel. They were founded in 1876 and have been going strong to present day. They have received numerous awards including Diapason d'Or in 2004 and 2005 as well as a nomination for the ICMA Music Award in 2015.

A former master student of Rudolf Buchbinder, Irina Georgieva performs regularly in Switzerland, Italy, France, England, Morocco, the Balkans, and recently in South America. Whether Stefan Lano, Michal Nesterowicz, Pablo Gonz�lez or Sascha Goetzel - the list of conductors Irina Georgieva has worked with is impressive. Just as impressive is her repertoire, which comprises classical music from the Baroque to the present. She loves the virtuoso piano music of the late 19th and 20th century, which is characterized by an expressive tonal language, special moods, and differentiated timbres. For her debut with Prospero Classical, she has chosen her favorite composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff. Together with the Basel Symphony Orchestra, she interprets two of his best-known works. The Third Piano Concerto in D minor as well as the incredibly virtuosic "Paganini Variations".

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of the important French composer Camille Saint-Saëns, the Basel Symphony Orchestra under its conductor Ivor Bolton had set itself the goal of giving its audience an insight into the composer's well-known and lesser-known symphonic works. In addition to the symphonies and various concertos, the orchestra has explicitly focused on the symphonic poems of the composer of the "Carnival of the Animals". For the first time, these works as well as the well-known "Bacchanale" from the opera "Samson et Dalila" have been recorded according to Hugh Macdonalds' new critical edition published by Bärenreiter. Camille Saint-Saëns - who also performed several times at the Stadtcasino Basel - was very old when he died in 1921 at the age of 86. He had an eventful life behind him. He lost his father when he was still a baby. He entered the world of music as a child prodigy. Later, as an adult, his two young sons die. After the death of his mother shortly afterwards, he dissolves his flat in Paris, gives away and sells his furniture and goes into hiding. He spends fifteen years in a travel fever in ship cabins and train compartments. He travels from North Africa to China, from Russia to America - and composes. With the four works he composed between 1872 and 1877, "Le Rouet d'Omphale", "Phaéton", "Danse macabre" and "La Jeunesse d'Hercule", Camille Saint-Saëns placed himself firmly in the tradition of Hector Berlioz, who had ushered in a new era in France with his "Symphonie fantastique", premiered in 1830, as well as the symphonic poems of Franz Liszt, who had established the genre in Germany. During Saint-Saëns' lifetime, his four "Poèmes symphoniques" became repertoire works that were heard around the world, but only the "Danse macabre" has remained in the concert programme to this day. This work with its pictorial depiction of a witches' sabbath - though clearly ironically broken - was a true scandalous piece at the time of its creation, not so far removed from Stravinsky's Sacre in this respect. His own mother fainted with indignation at the premiere and the hall audience went wild. In Germany, Carl Reinecke refused to perform the work because he considered the pictorial representation of skeletons by means of a xylophone immoral. Compared to the "Danse macabre", "Phaéton" is certainly more moderate. It describes Phaéton's high-spirited ride on Helios' sun chariot, which of course - danger of crashing! - does not end well. A rousing and concise orchestral piece. The critical first editions, which have just been published by Bärenreiter within the "Œuvres complètes instrumentales", offer the opportunity for new interpretations of these works on a reliable source basis. About the orchestra: the Süddeutsche Zeitung describes it perfectly: "You only have to experience the Basel Symphony Orchestra with its principal conductor Ivor Bolton once to know what this fabulous orchestra is capable of." Whether in its own concert series, at the Stadtcasino Basel or in guest performances at home and abroad, the innovative ensemble repeatedly confirms its high level of sound culture. The Briton Ivor Bolton has been the orchestra's principal conductor since the 2016/2017 season. Conductors with whom the Basel Symphony Orchestra has been closely associated include personalities such as Johannes Brahms, Felix Weingartner, Gustav Mahler, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Gary Bertini, Walter Weller, Armin Jordan, Horst Stein, Otto Klemperer, Nello Santi, Pierre Boulez, Mario Venzago and Dennis Russell Davies.

The singer-songwriter, storyteller, author and musician Linard Bardill sings and writes in Swiss German, German and Romansh, for children and adults. The Graubünden native received the German Cabaret Prize and the Salzburg Bull for his music, and the German Record Critics' Prize for his album "Tanz auf den Feldern" and "Caffe Caflisch". Bardill explores musical and thematic boundaries, as on his new production with the Basel Symphony Orchestra. The Basel Symphony Orchestra is one of the oldest and at the same time most innovative orchestras in Switzerland. Its principal conductor since 2009 has been the renowned American conductor and pianist Dennis Russell Davies. Musical Singspiel by Marius Felix Lange and Linard Bardill tells of Carol. She has a thousand wishes. She wants to fly, to breathe under water, to walk through walls. The jester Millistrade promises to grant her all her wishes if she sells him her sleep in return. Soon Carol realizes she can't go back. In the realm of the water king Aquatinta, it comes to a showdown, dream or reality, sleep or awakening.

Music by the marvelous, criminally underrated composer and “Aural Alchemist” Charles Koechlin is always a discovery and invariably. “Koechlin can daub with notes as Seurat daubed with bright pigments on canvas [he] could, whenever he wished, bathe his music in the impressionist glories of Debussy and Ravel or give it the delicacy of Fauré and then toughen it up with some Roussel-like grinding rhythms.” (Robert Reilly)

Koechlin is an impressionist dreamboat. With a title like The Seven Stars Symphony (the seven are Douglas Fairbanks, Lilian Harvey, Greta Garbo, Clara Bow, Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings and Charlie Chaplin) and following so closely on the heels of the equally enchanting Vers la voûte étoilée (Toward the Vault of the Stars), you’d think the work was some spectacular colorist bonanza of celestial ambitions. Actually, it’s Koechlin’s ode to his favorite film characters as portrayed by these actors – but no less bewitching for it.

REVIEW:

The Basel Symphony Orchestra’s performance under Ariane Matiakh has a wonderful lithe elegance, which matches the beauty and refinement of Koechlin’s writing in every respect.

-- The Guardian (UK)

Charles Koechlin was a prolific composer with a list of works encompassing more than 200 opus numbers. His interest in film stars resulted in several compositions, the most spectacular being The Seven Stars’ Symphony written in 1933. He was a skilled orchestrator as evidenced in this work. He employs a gigantic orchestra, comprising substantially expanded woodwind and brass sections, including an alto saxophone, a large assortment of percussion, and in the third movement, an Ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument, invented just a few years before the work was written. Stylistically there are influences from most French composers, from Berlioz and Fauré (who was his teacher) to a modernist like Messiaen. Formally it isn’t a symphony, rather an orchestral suite in seven movements, each movement a portrait of a famous actor in Hollywood at the time the suite was composed, but all of them are still well-known today. His interest in movies emanated from the then quite recent arrival of the sound film, when he saw The Blue Angel with Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings.

That [Lilian Harvey] was the ageing composer’s dream-girl, is clear from the second movement of the symphony: jolly and charming, light-toned music with glittering flutes creating an aura around her. It is the shortest movement, lasting just over two minutes. The contrast between Harvey and the cool and mysterious Greta Garbo is striking. This is slow, almost melancholy music, and the use of the Ondes Martenot with its eerie glissandi paints a picture of an icy Nordic princess...Clara Bow['s] movement is racy and full of life – the scherzo of the symphony, and the finale is rather boisterous, presumably illustrating the hectic stream of fan letters – in January 1929 she received 45,000 letters!

...Marlene Dietrich is still well-remembered...Her movement is slow and beautiful with a deep clarinet solo featured. It is a set of variations on a theme that is built on the letters of her name. [Emil] Jannings’ movement is dramatic and dark, and the end is gloomy. The final movement is devoted to Charlie Chaplin, and it is by far the longest, occupying more than one third of the total playing time of over forty-three minutes. Though it refers to some of his merry pranks in silent movies like Gold Fever and Circus, a surprisingly large part of the movement is contemplative and chamber-music like, transparently orchestrated.

This effort by Sinfonieorchester Basel under Ariane Matiakh fills the need [for new recordings] admirably. The playing is excellent and the recording very good. Whether the work is the masterpiece some pundits maintain is another question. Koechlin’s masterly orchestration cannot be called in question, and that is reason enough to wallow in the music...This issue is well worth getting to know.

--MusicWeb International (Göran Forsling)