From the very beginning, St. Petersburg - the gloriously petrified vision of Tsar Peter the Great, was a city of art and music. The highest paid employee in the Tsarist palace was a violinist from Nuremberg: Anton Ferdinand Titz. He dedicated his life to chamber music. With his colorful, brilliant quartets in the tradition of the 'Wiener Klassik' he himself founded a Russian tradition around 1800. Decades later Alexander Glazunov made big sensation as a young composing dare devil. During his magnificent 1st symphony he also wrote the 5 Novellettes, Op. 15. The witty, energetic set of masterpieces is full of technical refinements and glamorous esprit, but also filled with deep emotional devotion. Within them one breathes the spirit and the joy of discovery of the Petersburg salons. Russian chambermusic triumphed in Tchaikovsky's successfull quartet debut and finally caught up with the musical capitals of Europe. Its overwhelming orchestral sonority meets Russian melos and passionate virtuos vitality. With its latest album, the casalQuartett presents known and newly discovered gems from the musical treasure chest of Old Russia.

When recording Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Anastasia Voltchok was keen to play right through the work only twice on one and the same day, the advantages of avoiding short takes self-evident. She prefers avoiding long pauses between variation groups, though feels it advisable to take time before starting the work’s second half. She believes it vital to have studied as many of Bach’s works as possible. Ms. Voltchok, who studied with, among others, Rudolf Buchbinder in Basel and Santiago Rodriguez in Maryland, prefers to allow herself to be guided by the spirit of the moment.

Classical Music

Clair-obscur, a Renaissance painting technique in which opposing light and dark tones are used to symbolize heavenly and earthly elements, is the visual equivalent of the sounds the quartet produces. These two poles can also be found in the quartet’s composition: two female and two male musicians in one ensemble create a unique musical energy. The main focus of the group is chamber music. The highly sought after ensemble concentrates not only on original works written for saxophone quartet but also greatly expands and enriches its repertoire with unexpected transcriptions and arrangements.

Solo Musica presents the Rodrieg Ensemble on an album that explores the dawn of modern classical music and it's continuing legacy with three late works of Claude Debussy as the point of departure. The album then explores the ongoing influence of the early modern period with Bohuslav Martinu's Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano; Harold Laudenslager's Evocation for Solo Flute; and Mark Rodrieg's 2011 triptych Holy War X, performed by the Rodrieg Ensemble and guest artists, including the Intercontemporain Quartet and female singers from Egypt, Italy and Japan.

The present release of Symphonies 4 and 7 must be understood both as an evaluation of the joint work over past years with the Münchner Symphoniker, and also as a look ahead at what is yet to come. Which composer would be better suited to such a Janus-like look than Schubert - for whom the open, the unspoken and the hoped-for played such an enormous role compositionally as well as biographically? The logo of the Munich Symphony Orchestra shows a golden angel on the banks of the river Isar - wing tips point skywards, keeping vigil over the Bavarian capital. As one of the city’s four symphony orchestras, the Munich Symphony is strongly committed to Munich and its musical traditions. “The Sound of Our City” is the orchestra’s motto as well as its mission: With four subscription concert series in all of Munich's major concert venues, the Munich Symphony is one of the city's most renowned ensembles, while on its numerous national and international tours it takes the "Sound of Our City" out beyond the city boundary. Kevin John Edusei is one of today's most promising young conductors. He is known for his delicate, clear conducting which creates space for new nuances in a wide-ranging repertoire from baroque to contemporary music.

Love Songs is a dialogue about love and it's reflections, created by four very close friends, the pianists Diana Ketler and Konstantin Lifschitz, violinist Andrej Bielow, and violist Razvan Popovici. These musicians journey through the subliminal passion, bucolic nostalgia, and gentle irony of Brahms' Liebeslieder-Walzer, as well as the intimacy and warmth of his songs Wir Wandelten and Wie Melodien zieht es mir. They continue with the exuberant admiration for the universe in Dvorak's Slavonic Dances, the ecstatic desire of Suk's Love Song, and, finally, the spiritual adoration of nature in Dvorak's Silent Woods and in the Spinning Room.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Dreaming and wishing hold the finer matter of life, wrote Franz Kafka. It is no accident that he came from Prague, the city that is the home of the sinister, where dreams are taken more seriously than in the world's brighter places. It is easy for those who mistrust the spoken language and the verbal articulation of thoughts. Among them were composers like the three great Czechs Anton�n Dvor�k, born in Nelahozeves in Bohemia in 1841, Leos Jan�cek, who came into the world in Hukv�ldy in Moravia in 1854, and Josef Suk, who came from Krecovice in the vicinity of Prague in 1874. The three of them also shared an enthusiastic interest in old national traditions, among them the great treasure trove of fairy tales and the wealth of folk melodies and rhythms. Perhaps fairy tales and dreams can help us to endure reality, because they place it in a vast continuum and because individual suffering then becomes part of a greater whole from which no-one is excluded. If that is true, then the music presented here really ought to be available on prescription. Ensemble Raro was formed in 2004 by four extraordinary young musicians: pianist Diana Ketler, violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, violist Razvan Popovici and cellist Bernhard Naoki Hedenborg. Their goal is to create unforgettable musical moments and to combine innovative approach with rich European tradition of intimate and sincere chamber music making. In 2011 the Ensemble Raro welcomed new members: violinists Alina Pogostkina and Erik Schumann, clarinetist Thorsten Johanns, horn player Olivier Darbellay and cellist Julian Arp.

Whether as a solo instrument or as part of the orchestra, today the saxophone seldom appears in concert halls and opera houses. Nonetheless, before it found its true home, it was heard in classical music. Here, Schulte-Burnert skillfully presents three particularly brilliant and virtuosic concertos by John Williams, Michael Nyman and Andrei Eshpai.

The name Arcadia is pleasant-sounding and popular. But the land of Virgil's poetry is not actually well known. Where is it? What is it? Is this just another tale of heartache? Well, it is a place where lovesick shepherds seek comfort in tranquil nature. The bubbling spring, laurel shaded, provides space for the troubled mind, whilst poetry and music provide escape for heavy hearts. The poetry of Giancarlo Pontiggia ,drawing on a variety of texts, finds inspired company in its recitation in the music of Alessandro Scarlatti.

Classical Music