This release contains two of the most enduringly beautiful works by English composers on one album: Gustav Holst’s ever popular orchestral suite The Planets and Elgar’s lyrical Serenade for Strings. This is a great performance from Roger Norrington and his Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR. Holst’s The Planets Op. 32 is possibly his most well-known piece. Even today, a century after its composition, the work is widely performed and frequently recorded. The concept of the work is astrology- which is why the Earth is not included in the movements. The movements convey ideas and emotions associated with the influents of the planets on the psyche. Roger Norrington is known for his interpretation of British composers, which makes this recording all the more authentic and spectacular. This album is part of a new re-release series (Century Classics) consisting of SWR music bestsellers. The series is competitively priced, optically highly attractive and contains acclaimed SWR recordings mostly of the SWR orchestras and their chief conductors.

This recording takes a look at the lesser known side of Paul Hindemith's works. In addition to the Little Sonata, this CD contains the Kammermusik No. 6 and works by Stamitz and Biber with the basso continuo parts realized by Hindemith. Gunter Teuffel plays Hindemith's own viola d'amore, giving the whole production a 'personal' sound.

Henryk Szeryng, once regarded a supreme master, has faded from memory, his fame not comparable to that of Heifetz or Oistrakh, Milstein or Menuhin, although often mentioned along with them. His performances set standards; the major record companies vied for his favor. In 1955 Szeryng played with the Sinfonie Orchester des S�dwestfunks under Hans Rosbaud. These live recordings of a Romantically-edited Nardini Concerto in E minor and Vieuxtemps' popular fourth concerto were followed in March 1957 by studio recordings of Ravel's "Tzigane" and Schumann's neglected Violin Concerto.

In April 2012, the Schwetzingen Festival celebrates its 60th birthday. On this occasion, a very special oratorio recording from the festival's early years has been selected - a vintage performance of Haydn's "The Seasons", featuring the immortal Fritz Wunderlich!

Haydn wrote his oratorio "The Seasons" between the years 1799 and 1800. The work is based on the poem "The Seasons" by James Thomson in the German translation of the Baron van Swieten. The contemporary descriptions of nature and genre scenes are a work of perfection, insuring the composition's enduring popularity.

This early festival recording is a true time-capsule, recorded on May 24th, 1959 featuring in addition to Wunderlich, the vocal artistry of Agnes Giebel, and Kieth Engen, who together bring Haydn's secular oratorio to vivid life.

This is the fifth installment of the SWR Classic series dedicated to Hans Rosbaud. It contains Tchaikovsky's symphonies no. 4 and 5 - the only ones Rosbaud has recorded for the SWR. Especially no. 5 can be regarded as a reference recording along other famous interpretations. "He is not only a virtuoso pianist, but has more or less mastered nearly all orchestral instruments. That puts him in a position to provide the individual members of the orchestra with helpful advice, which-nowadays- hardly any conductor is able to do. As these qualities go along with striving for the ideal, a rare capacity for enthusiasm as well as with an iron will he does not hesitate to impose, Hans Rosbaud is an inestimable and somehow indispensable institution." (Bernhard Sekles, Rosbaud's former professor of composition)

Hans Rosbaud was greatly admired for his discipline, a capacity for enthusiasm, detailed knowledge of orchestral instruments and his faithfulness to the scores. He did not consider himself a champion exclusively of modern music, but rather of the entire repertoire. While he conducted many Mozart operas, he also gave equal attention to the works of Richard Wagner, Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler. This release, which contains several unpublished recordings, surveys a different Rosbaud from the new music specialist. We discover his interpretations of overtures from the early Romantic period, plus concert pieces by Carl Maria von Weber and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Weber’s overtures are considered virtuosic orchestral “treats.” Rosbaud puts his own distinctive slant on the music even during extrovert passages. He doesn’t exaggerate speeds, allowing the different instrumental groups to develop the themes to the fullest extent; the bolero and polonaise rhythms of Preziosa and the ultra-romantic sound of the horns in Der Freischutz are showcased to maximum effect. The flowing passages in Mendelssohn’s overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream Op. 21 are executed with precision and without pedantry. Rosbaud imbues the 17-year-old Mendelssohn’s masterpiece with dreamlike, intangible qualities that make this music truly unique. The scherzo and the nocturne of the incidental music Op. 61 are performed with equal care and precision.

While there is no disputing Richter’s extraordinary technique, what set his interpretations apart was his ability to immerse himself completely into the music he performed, allowing the purity of the composer’s original vision to dominate his musical choices. Richter himself said: “The interpreter is really an executer, carrying out the composer’s intentions to the letter. He doesn’t add anything that isn’t already in the work. If he is talented, he allows us to glimpse the essence of the work that is in itself a thing of genius and that is reflected through him. He shouldn’t dominate the music, but should dissolve into it.” This extraordinary approach is on full display in this programme. Collectors have long regarded Richter’s performances of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces as definitive, while his Ravel emphasizes the inherent neo-classical structure underlying the virtuosic display.

Hänssler Classic/SWR Music is proud to announce the latest release of jazz great Sammy Nestico in performance with the SWR Big Band. Sammy Nestico is widely considered to be one of the most important American composers and arrangers in the world. He returns once again, to collaborate with the multi-Grammy nominated SWR Big Band on a program featuring entirely his own compositions.

While renowned for his thrilling arrangements of jazz standards, Sammy Nestico is also one of the great jazz composers, as you will hear for yourself on this new recording. In addition to scintillating new arrangements of tunes from the Grammy-nominated "Fun Time," Maestro Nestico adds a sheath of other originals in new charts especially created for the jazz virtuosos of the SWR Big Band.

The result of this latest meeting of the Grand Old man of Swing, with the SWR Big Band will continue to delight jazz collectors everywhere.


"Nestico’s arrangements are mostly about eruptive brass and life-affirming energy, but in the occasional slow piece, like “A Song for Sarah” and “Samantha,” there are rich colors and subtle sonorities which this recording beautifully renders and arrays across a lifelike sound stage." -- Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes.com

This release contains a great cross-section of American music: from ragtime pioneer Scott Jopin to Richard Rodgers, the legendary composer of musicals, together with works by Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin and Aaron Copland. The musicians of the SWR Rundfunkorchester Kaiserslautern play with zest and flamboyance, led by celebrated conductors Klaus Arp, Saul Schechtmann, Ernst Wedam, and Caspar Richter. The Rundfunkorchester Kaiserslautern was founded in 1951 by Emmerich Smola for the Southwest Radio. In 2007 the ensemble merged with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrucken, and the combined group is still performing and recording to this day. This album is part of a new re-release series (Century Classics) consisting of SWR music bestsellers. The series is competitively priced, optically highly attractive and contains acclaimed SWR recordings mostly of the SWR orchestras and their chief conductors.

Here is a highly intelligent collection of reflective and joyous music for the Christmas season! Drawing upon musical inspirations from Praetorius to Britten, the SWR Rundfunkorchester Kaiserslautern is joined by World Class soloists (Claron McFadden, Olaf Bär) and magnificent choirs (SWR Vokalensemblem, Mainzer Domchor) in a true Holiday feast. Of special importance to collectors is a recording of the rare, and utterly charming Weihnachtsouvertüre by Otto Nicolai.

British conductor Sir Roger Norrington lends impressive insight into three masterpieces by the great British composer Edward Elgar. The programme comprises Elgar's ever-popular "Enigma Variations", the thrilling overture "In the South,” and the refined sounds of his Introduction and Allegro for string quartet and string orchestra. Roger Norrington’s work on scores, on sound, on orchestra size, seating and playing style, has had a profound effect on the way 19th century music is now perceived and, not surprisingly, he is in great demand by symphony orchestras world-wide. He works regularly with orchestras in Berlin, Vienna, Salzburg, Amsterdam, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and London. He is Chief Conductor of the Radio Sinfonie Orchester in Stuttgart and of the Camerata Academica in Salzburg. He is closely associated with the London Philharmonic and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment which has, since January 1997, taken over the work of the London Classical Players.

Written during the summer of 1875, Anton�n Dvor�k's Symphony No. 5 in F Major, Op. 76 is considered the first work in which Dvor�k found his way to a new symphonic idiom. It's noticeable inflections of Bohemian folklore, accompanied by almost Schubertian phrases, infuse the symphony with light and give it buoyancy. Two of Dvor�k's many one-movement orchestral pieces, In Nature�s Realm Op. 91 and the Scherzo capriccioso Op. 66, serve as considerable, substantial encores. Karel Mark Chichon (OBE) is Chief Conductor of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbru�cken Kaiserslautern.

A great program featuring the largely neglected piano concertos from some famous composers active in France between 1890 and 1951. Debussy's "Fantaisie" was created in a period of change, exploring how the piano could become a voice in the orchestra. After an altercation with the work NOT being played at its scheduled 1890 premiere, the Fantasie had to wait until after Debussy's death for its first performance and is seldom heard in the concert hall today. The contrast with the late romantic Debussy work, Ravel is represented with the bright, humorous G Major Concerto. Poulenc's Piano Concerto is a jewel of sounds and colors, yet still stands in the shadow of his Concerto for Two Pianos. Finally, there is Jean Françaix's Concertino, composed for a short, witty ten-minute film. Charm and wit, and all the corresponding range of moods are at Florian Uhlig's command; the result is an entertaining and musically ravishing CD.

Recording information: Funkstudio, SWR Stuttgart.

Classical Music