Classical Music

Classical Music

In the first part “world” of their new "dimensions" trilogy Marlis Petersen and Stephan Matthias Lademann make a journey through 100 years of musical romanticism - an epoch in which natural images of various kinds play a central role as the projection and reflection surface of human feelings and longings. We can hear compositions by Franz Schubert, Clara and Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner, Sigurd von Koch and Hans Sommer, who are concerned with the themes of "heaven and earth", "man and nature", "lot and knowledge" and "hope and longing ". Marlis Petersen is a lyrical soprano, touring worldwide since 2003. Everybody knows her as Alban Berg's heroine Lulu, which she presented in ten different productions worldwide, most recently at the Bavarian State Opera (just released on DVD) and Metropolitan Opera. The magazine "opernwelt" has already honored her for the third time with the title "Singer of the Year". In January 2017 she was part of the great Elbphilharmonie-opening with Jörg Widmann's "Arche" under the direction of Kent Nagano. Marlis Petersen has been dedicated to the genre "Lied" for several years.

After “no-ce.chansons.noce” and “coincidence” comes “illusion”, the third album of Cécile Nordegg alias No-Ce. “Illusion” is a journey by songs through time, a journey through ancient and contemporary illusions, through yesterday and today. It is a compilation of German songs originally performed by Marlene Dietrich, Zarah Leander, Hildegard Knef and Alexandra; it also includes compositions by Kurt Weill. These revived songs are monologues of a woman who lives in a world of illusions, generating new illusions and fantasies to travel in her own chosen world.

Albena Petrovic Vratchanska is a Luxembourgish composer of Bulgarian origin and a Knight of The Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg - L’Ordre de Mérite du Grand-Duchéde Luxembourg ( 2013). She is honored also with the Médaille de Mérite en Argent de l’Union Grand Duc Adolphe (2017), Médaille en Argent de l’Union Saint Pie X (2018) and the Cultural Award 2007 from the municipality of Hesperange. Many of her compositions are performed also outside Luxembourg - in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Bulgaria, Poland, Greece, USA, Singapore, Russia, Spain, Andorra, Brazil, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Kosovo, Switzerland, Denmark, Serbia, Austria, Australia, Portugal, Croatia. 2016 she realized the album Crystal Dream with the pianist Romain Nosbaum at the label GEGA NEW with huge international success and press acclaim. Albena Petrovic is President/Founder of the International Composition Competition “Artistes en Herbe” ("Budding Artists") under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of Luxembourg. Already with her fifth edition, the Competition is unique in its kind in Western Europe - children of tenders’ age may compete in the Junior category, and in Senior category adult composers are invited to compose music which will enrich the pedagogic repertoire for children. Véronique Nosbaum is a very special personality in Luxembourg vocal scenery. She is one of those naturally involved in many kinds of art creation - contemporary art, theatre, literature, music. Romain Nosbaum is an individualist among the pianists of his generation. Without airs and graces, but with modesty and passionate devotion, he is solely focused on music. Both the grand gesture and sheer brilliancy are not his main focus – instead, his playing stands out through intelligence, subtle individuality and technical perfection.

Accompanied by the Schonbrunn Festival Orchestra conducted by Guido Mancusi, Josef Hofbauer presents this new album of trumpet concertos. Included on this disc are concertos by Harutyunyan, Planel, Torelli, Neruda, and more. Hofbauer says of this release, “With this CD I devote myself to a journey with the Schonbrunn Festival Orchestra. A journey through various music genres and their trumpet concertos. It is also a journey through my past… Each concerto we recorded for this CD has its own story in my past – thus My Favourite Trumpet Concertos.”

Classical Music

Invited to perform and record with the heralded English Chamber Orchestra, bassoonist Rui Lopes then took on the challenge of choosing the program’s repertoire. + He chose to start with Vivaldi and Mozart, leaping into the Romantic era with Elgar and finally on to the modern era with Jean Françaix and Villa-Lobos. + Rui Lopes only began bassoon study at age 18, but is nonetheless one of the more promising bassoonists of his generation. + The Elgar and Françaix arrangements are world premiere recordings.

Do you remember the song at evening and the voice that lulled you to sleep when you were little? A lullaby brings a quiet close to the day, to hours, which can be so new and exciting for a child! And if you sing a lullaby to a child yourself, it is a different, but just as emotional and intimate an experience. Both these experiences have inspired the creating of this song recital out of original instrumental works and arrangements. This programme reflects the most important human emotions. It could stand for one day in the life of a child or for the whole course of a lifetime. Music accompanies the most important moments in life. Even before birth, sounds play an important part in a baby's development. Music therapy has a particularly beneficial influence on babies who arrive early, because it's healing and calming effect has lasting consequences for the child's continuing development. The present recording has been made in close partnership with the Foundation for Neonatology in Zurich. As a child takes it's first musical impressions from voice and song, the musicians have made up a programme of songs in which their instruments sing the songs and tell the stories. The Duo Arnicans is made up of Florian Arnicans, whose roots are in Germany, and Arta Arnicane, who was born in Latvia. They found each other through music and now live together in Zurich.

As a composer Hans Sommer became well known for his songs and especially for his operas. Since, however, no opera of Sommer's could hold it's own in the repertoire for any length of time, one overlooked easily the quality of his works and his contribution to the further development of the opera genre. The songs, sung frequently during their lifetime, disappeared from the repertoire of the singers through the time-boundness of the selected poems; Hans Sommer wrote the most important contributions in the area of the art song at a time when his star was already sinking and he no longer had a large audience. The fact that he published his operas and parts of his song making in self-publishing and the publisher Litolff, who had published at least half of the total of about 300 songs Hans Sommer's was dissolved in 1940, a possible revival of works by Hans Sommer's has been simply impossible until now. Sommer's final compositions, which are centered mainly on Goethe's texts, serve as a message to posterity, advocating an intellectual mindset that, throughout his life, was rooted in Naturphilosophie, a philosophical approach to nature that flourished in the German-speaking world in the early 19th century. The selection of texts furthermore bears eloquent testimony to Sommer's loneliness in his final years and the unwavering "optimism of an incorrigible idealist".

With piano concerto no. 1 in d minor op. 15 by Johannes Brahms and piano concerto no. 2 in b major op. 18 by Hermann Goetz, pianist Andrea Kauten juxtaposes the works of two masters, who strike the musical-historical situation in the vacuum of the Beethoven succession illuminated in the second half of the 19th century. Both composers see themselves as traditionalists who want to create something new in proven forms. There is, on the one hand, the genre of a young composer who, early on, too soon as a harbinger of hope, mercilessly fails the work. And second, the work of a regionally recognized talent, which can attract the attention of the great German music world before his untimely death. Trained from the age of seven by the Basle pianist Albert Engel, the Swiss-Hungarian pianist Andrea Kauten became a finalist at the Jecklin Competition in Zurich at 13 and won first prize at the Swiss Youth Music Competition one year later before enrolling at the Basle Academy of Music. A scholarship from the Federation of Migros Cooperatives Switzerland then enabled her to continue her studies at the famous Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. This opportunity, and the brilliant combination of technique and expressivity she admires in Liszt’s music, have left an indelible mark on her playing. Her close blend of sensitivity and consummate technique enables her to coax unimaginable sounds from the concert grand piano. Her playing is poetic, subdued, richly expressive, but always eminently creative and always in keeping with the demands of the music.

In his compositions, Kunets combines elements of classical music, jazz and pop music. The melody and the romantic character of his symphonic works reflect the essence of the composer. "My music has a very lyrical character; I try to convey my view of life and my feelings. It is, so to speak, the result of my philosophical reflections, little stories about our existence surrounded by nature, which in turn is closely connected with our emotional being. "For "Reflection", Yury Kunets once again collaborated with arranger and conductor Lee Holdrige (Emmy & Grammy award-winning composer and orchestrator) and recording producer Christopher Alder (10x time Grammy award-winning record producer). "This music explores the true nature of reflection. I did not want to show reflection as a physical phenomenon, as in a mirror, but as a reflection of the spiritual being and the true picture of what is in it." (Yury Kunets) "Reflection" contains images that draw on a series of inspirations: from the beauty and magic of moonlight and the winter scenes of Yury's homeland to nostalgia, spirituality and true self- observation.

• Conductor Fabio Luisi leads the Vienna Symphony in works by Mozart, Schumann and Chopin. • Pianist Margarita Höhenrieder rarely performs in concerts but is highly respected among experts. She's been invited to perform as soloist by the world's most eminent conductors. • Booklet notes, including performer biographies, are in German, English and Spanish.

Jose Bragato and Jurg Eichenberger became close friends when Eichenbergers chamber music ensemble Chamber Soloists Lucerne went on a tour of South America in the summer of 2004. Bragato's tango Graciela y Buenos Aires is a musical testimony to this love story. As a gesture of gratitude for the invitation, Jose Bragato then gave him some of his own compositions and exclusive arrangements, including some for cello and piano. 'Danza de la Vida' is the first recorded compilation of some of these pieces. The pianist Eriko Kagawa and Jurg Eichenberger have been working together for decades and spent a long time planning a recording of Bragato's tango Graciela y Buenos Aires and his arrangements of Piazzolla. A conversation with Eriko's husband, Daniel Fueter, led to the idea of juxtaposing these pieces in all their brilliance with a different, yet fitting kind of music. The name Erik Satie soon sprang to his mind. Daniel Fueter wrote 'E.S. - eine Hommage' (E.S. - an homage) for the ensemble. He arranged Satie's piano pieces for cello and piano and titled the collection "kleine Festschrift zum 150. Geburtstag Erik Saties in 4 Kapiteln." Erik Satie was born in 1866; Fueter's arrangements were written in the summer of 2016. Danza de la Vida is intended as a tribute to Jose Bragato, who knew of their plans. He died at a ripe old age shortly before Eichenberger and Kagawa recorded his music.

Yury Kunets is a Russian composer, musician, and producer. Kunets began composing while studying in a public school. From the late 80's on, he wrote lots of songs for different bands and solo artists. From 2004 Yury was involved in several musical TV projects as a producer. Along with author and director Maxim Kapitanovsky, he created two music films: Blame it all on the Beatles. By 2011 Yury Kunets had accumulated a considerable repertoire of instrumental pieces. In collaboration with award-winning American conductor Lee Holdridge and British recording producer Christopher Alder, Yury began recording a series of symphonic music works. In 2011, the first pieces were recorded in Krakow with the Wroclaw Score Orchestra. After receiving positive reactions, Yury decided to continue recording with Holdridge and Alder. By the end of 2014 he had recorded several new compositions in Warsaw. Yury Kunets' music combines elements of classical music, jazz and pop music. In his symphonic compositions melody and romance work to reflect the author's inner energies. ''The music itself exhibits a very lyrical character, through which I was trying to convey my own understanding of life and my state of mind. It's the result, so to speak, of my philosophical reflections, littles tories about our being surrounded by nature, which is intimately connected in turn with our own emotional lives...'' (Yury Kunets)