This release is the 12th volume in the SWR CLASSIC Hans Rosbaud series – an extensive and in-depth exploration of the conductor’s artistic legacy. Hans Rosbaud was a passionate musician, whose conscientiousness, intuition and experience were extended to even the most complex and contemporary musical forms. The diversity of the works presented here demonstrate his musical universality, and serve to further contradict the reputation he garnered during his lifetime as being only a technically superior champion of the avant-garde. With the exception of two pieces by Debussy composed in the 1890s, this present anthology of French orchestral repertoire comprises compositions from the 20th century, featuring Ravel’s Ma mère l’Oye, Ibert’s Le Chevalier errant and Messiaen’s Chronochromie alongside works by French-Swiss composer Honegger and Milhaud, both members of the legendary Groupe des Six, and Bucharest-born Mihalovici, who, like Honegger, studied composition under the traditionalist Vincent d’Indy.

This is a re-release of the Jazzhaus/SWR music bestseller 101703. Upon nearing the age of seventy, Duke Ellington was looked upon as the great historical figure of African American music, honored with academic degrees and appearing on the front pages of renowned magazines. Still, he had to and wanted to perform as much as he could and therefore toured the world with his orchestra, from Japan to North Africa to South America and Eastern Europe. During his travels, he was able to stop off in Stuttgart in March 1967 to present a colorful mixed programme made up of a few tried-and-true pieces and many lesser-known compositions. By Ellington’s standards, it was a modern concert, exuberant in mood and at times mischievous in arrangements, which allowed some shrill coloring. And it also showed that even an ultimately traditional jazz orchestra in the rocky sixties could develop enough charisma to enthrall an audience like that in the Liederhalle. The revolutions were now being made by others, but Duke Ellington remained the brilliant master of the grand musical gesture.

Christian Ferras will most likely be remembered as the violinist who was filmed shedding tears at the end of the slow movement of Sibelius’s Concerto in 1965, and who, after a dramatic downturn in his career, took his own life at the age of 49. And, of course, as the child prodigy from the French provinces who became – at the height of his fame – Herbert von Karajan’s favorite violinist.

His artistic personality was shaped by his utter, though humble, devotion to the music, demonstrated by his appropriate yet lively tone, elegant bowing, effervescent, energetic fingering and considered phrasing. The recordings of Christian Ferras with pianist Pierre Barbizet are of the utmost importance, with the musicians forming an inimitable partnership. The concertos in this collection showcase the violinist as a captivating soloist – Müller-Kray follows his every move in the Beethoven and Tchaikovsky with dynamic sensitivity, Gielen’s analytical expertise within the Berg is unrivalled and Ferras’s partnership with Blomstedt results in a profound interpretation of the Brahms.

REVIEW:

Ferras had a chameleon facility of adapting his style and affect to the composer in hand, a quality most noticeable when we move from the overtly assertive Kreutzer to the dreamy, ethereal little Debussy sonata, to the wild, Romany Ravel display piece, whose recording is notably vivid.... Ferras was a champion of modern, contemporary music and considered himself to be a student of the Romanian composer and the pair’s empathy with this strange, haunting music is not in doubt. Schumann’s powerful, impassioned Violin Sonata No. 2 was premiered by Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim – who rated it very highly - and it is easy to hear its influence over Brahms. Its performance here is masterly.

-- MusicWeb International

Stéphane Denève, triple winner of the Diapason d’Or of the Year, produced many outstanding recordings as chief conductor of the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart from 2011 until 2016 when the orchestra merged with its sister orchestra from Baden-Baden and Freiburg to form the SWR Symphony Orchestra. They are now reissued as a five album boxed set including the ballet Daphnis et Chloé, Ravel's longest work, written for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, and the operas L'Heure espagnole and L'Enfant et les sortileges. Although the two operas cannot be strictly considered orchestral works, they are essential to understanding the œuvre of a composer who had a great predilection for fantasy worlds and the exotic. As a student Ravel composed the Ouverture de Shéhérazade and, several years leter, three poems for voice and orchestra on the same topic – both works form part of this set. Throughout his entire career, from Une barque sur l'ocean to Ma mère L'Oye Ravel created magical soundscapes in a highly original manner and with great stylistic freedom. A big inspiration for him was American operetta but also jazz and fairy tales. The formal structure of his works has the clarity of crystal and the elegance of mathematics. The SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart and the cast of young singers selected by Denève give thrilling interpretations.

REVIEWS:

Denève was the final Chief Conductor of this orchestra, from 2011-2016, after which they merged with the South West German Radio Orchestra for budgetary reasons. Their timbre is mellow and warm, akin to that of the Boston Symphony, but their ensemble playing and attack are tight.

The set is a highly worthwhile investment if you want a single collection of Ravel’s orchestral music. The sound is warm, clear, and spacious. Highly recommended.

-- Limelight (Australia)

Denève is very consistent in his meticulously prepared if slightly detached style. The playing and engineering is consistently very good indeed. The price of this box set is attractive. The song cycle and the two operas engaged me the most.

-- MusicWeb International

During his thirteen years as chief conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra of SWR Sir Roger Norrington conducted and recorded an important part of Berlioz's core repertoire. The present boxed set brings together on seven CDs the Requiem, the opera Benvenuto Cellini (concert performance), the oratorio L'Enfance du Christ, the overture Les Francs-juges and of course the Symphonie fantastique.

Norrington's style has caused a stir internationally with what has come to be termed ‘The Stuttgart Sound’: a synthesis of historically-informed performance practice with the technical capabilities of a modern orchestra. Whether in Mozart, Haydn, Bruckner, or Berlioz, Norrington seeks to capture the performance experience of the time, adjusting the orchestra’s size and seating plan to create an authentic sound without vibrato.

Hector Berlioz had to surmount a variety of challenges before he was able to pursue his musical vocation. His father, a respected physician in the provincial South of France, was not readily willing to come to terms with his son's intention to quit his medical studies and turn instead to music. He therefore made all further financial support subject to Hector's climbing up the musical ladder at lightning speed. Alas, it didn't work so easily. Berlioz's road to success was tedious and marked by adversity and struggle, his personal life tumultuous. The uniqueness and originality of his musical style are no longer disputed, but this insight came at the end of a decades-long process.

Hans Rosbaud was the chief conductor of the Southwest Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1948 until his death in 1962. He transformed the orchestra, later renamed as the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg, into a leading European ensemble. His interests lay in both contemporary music and the classical and romantic symphonic repertoire. This new series from the SWR Classic label presents largely unpublished recordings by Rosbaud of classical and romantic repertoire, starting with overtures by Richard Wagner.

When the Darmstadt teenager Volker Kriegel (1943-2003) officially debuted his first chords in the late 1950s, the guitar was still an outsider instrument in jazz. It could boast a few luminaries, but actually everything was still open when, in 1963 and 1964, the autodidact from Hessen won first prizes as guitarist and soloist at the amateur jazz festival in Düsseldorf. The debut recordings in 1963, which Südwestfunk (SWF) recorded with the nineteen-year-old guitarist in trio at the Deutschhaus in Mainz, and the 1969 studio sessions in the Kammersaal Studio, are worlds apart. For one thing, the guitar itself had carved out a career. On top of this, Kriegel had gained in self-confidence. But above all, he had found a counterpart in Claudio Szenkar, who opened up perspectives not only in terms of communication and composition but also through Kriegel’s own instrument. The combination of vibraphone and guitar was then still fairly new. In 1968, Kriegel decided to make music his main profession. Thanks to "With A Little Help from My Friends" and an appearance at the German Jazz Festival in Frankfurt, he achieved the breakthrough into public recognition. Together with the vibraphonist Dave Pike, the bassist Hans Rettenbacher and the drummer Peter Baumeister, he founded the Dave Pike Set, which became for four years his artistic center and a beacon combo of European jazz rock. And for the SWF (Südwestfunk, today SWR) he went twice into the sound studio. With the exceptions of The Beatles’s anthem "Norwegian Wood" and "Mother People" by the young guitar berserker Frank Zappa, hardly any pieces by other musicians are still to be heard in these recordings.

This is the fifth and final installment of the series dedicated to the complete recordings Friedrich Gulda made for the SWR and contains two recitals (live recordings) the Austrian pianist gave in Germany in 1959.

All those who attended Gulda’s concerts report unanimously that a very special aura emanated from him, which was markedly stronger than the one conveyed by his recordings – the distinct impression that the music sounded as if performed for the first time in the here and now, as if he was surrounded by a musical cosmos he was coaxing the tones out of, making them audible on the grand piano (or the clavichord). Soon after a final chord Gulda would often bid farewell to the pearl-like tones he had created as if by magic and send them off into the universe with a subtle movement of his hand. This also happened in connection with the two Beethoven sonatas presented here. The fact that Gulda cherished Beethoven’s opus 110 throughout his life is by no means surprising for in this piece Beethoven really transcends all boundaries: the most heterogeneous elements are joined together to form an integrated whole – with a fugue at the end to show his reverence for Bach!

To help artists develop exciting projects that are difficult to realize under existing conditions is the goal of the SWR NEWJazzMeeting. This legendary sound laboratory for jazz of the SWR was founded in 1966 by Joachim-Ernst Berendt and takes place every year. The idea: musicians who always wanted to perform with one another but who, for a variety of reasons, have so far not been able to do so, develop a concert programme in the broadcaster’s studios that the SWR then presents in several concerts in its transmission area. In the course of its fifty-year history, the SWR NEWJazz Meeting has in this way served as a driving force for new trends in jazz. “I see a particular value in exploring the music of my South African homeland and making it fit for the future.” Kyle Shepherd, born in 1987, is the most innovative and important pianist of the contemporary South African jazz scene. His sound boldly makes reference to the roots of township jazz and the Goema Beat of his hometown of Cape Town. Nevertheless, he refuses to be put into a pigeonhole; his horizon extends far beyond his beloved Cape Jazz. “It’s cool to choose the African thing in conceptual questions. But just as cool to choose something else.” Kyle Shepherd, the most innovative and important pianist of the contemporary South African jazz scene, is the curator of the 2016 SWR NEWJazz Meeting. At his wish, four young jazz musicians from South Africa and the Benin-born guitarist and singer Lionel Loueke (who since 2001 has been living in the United States) met in November 2016 at the SWR’s Baden-Baden radio studios. The musicians named their project “Sound Portraits From Contemporary Africa”. The African improvisers experimented for five days and developed a concert programme that they then presented on a tour in the SWR broadcasting area.

If there is a country famous for its reservoir of extraordinary musicians and its significant composers in particular, then it's Finland, which is all the more astonishing when you consider the size of its population - Finald has 5.5 million inhabitants. The country's distinguished tradition of music-making is fundamental to this reputation for artistic excellence. Finland can be rightly called a "country of singers". Even when it comes to contemporary compositions, traditional music always plays an essencential role in the pieces, contributing to their accessibility. This collection of Finish choral music includes works by renowned composers of the last century: Jean Sibelius, Einojuhani Rautavaara and Kaija Saariaho. This album provides a definitive and entertaining cross-section of the most important Finish choral music, it also coincides with the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence.

“Whoever has heard Elisabeth Grummer singing cannot forget the way this lovely voice, at once ethereal and yet full sounding, effortlessly flows along,” wrote Lanfranco Rasponi. “No other has ever brought such intimate spirituality and such romantic sensitivity into music.” This characterization, referring to the singer’s major opera roles, applies equally to her concert appearances and song recitals. Elisabeth Grummer was born in 1911 and grew up in Meiningen, where she trained as an actress and appeared in classical roles at the theater. After her marriage, she put an end to her acting career and moved to Aachen, where her husband worked as concert-master at the opera. She took voice lessons and was discovered by Herbert von Karajan, the young General Music Director at the opera at the time, who offered her a role as a flower girl in Parsifal in 1941. More roles followed, engagements in Duisburg and Prague and finally at the Stadtische Oper Berlin in 1946, where she evolved into an excellent singer of lyrical piano parts. Until 1961 she appeared each year at the Bayreuth Festival. She made guest appearances at all the major opera houses in the world, but remained true to the Berlin Opera unti her farewell to the stage in 1972. She taught at the Berlin music school and held master courses in Paris and Salzburg. Compared to Elisabeth Grummer’s rank as a singer, her recordings are shamefully few in number, giving these radio recordings a special documentary significance.

A singer with an exciting presence and a voice to immerse yourself in. A band that lit up with high wattage a repertoire including both standards and popular songs. A band leader who had his ensemble under control through proven discipline and could, when needed, take the lead as a soloist, but tended to hold back amidst his all-stars. The result a mixture that whisked the concert hall in Freiburg (Germany) for one evening in October 1959 into a wonderful world of successful jazz entertainment and sent the audience out into the night with an earworm.

An attractive programme of 20th-century American music, moments of choral weight and exposed fragility alike approached with great individuality.

– Gramophone [7/2014]

This is re-release of a bestselling SWR album. It contains major but rarely played works for piano and orchestra by Ernest Bloch, in the interpretation of Jenny Lin, who is the ideal pianist for these demanding scores. The excellent sound quality makes this album of late Romantic and neo-classicist music a great listen. Jenny Lin studied with Noel Flores at the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna, with Julian Martin at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and with Dominique Weber in Geneva. She currently resides in New York City where she serves on the faculty of the 92nd Street y Music School. She is one of the most respected young pianists today, admired for her adventurous programming and charismatic stage presence. She continues to receive accolades worldwide as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. The New York Times writes: "No one who has heard [her] will need to be told that Ms. Lin has a gift for melodic flow" and "remarkable technical command," the Washington post praises "Lin's confident fingers... spectacular technique... " and Gramophone magazine has hailed her as "an exceptionally sensitive pianist."

For this delightful new album, German folk songs are altered by a completely new sound: jazz. For the first time, the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart and the SWR Big Band collaborate for a recording. Conducted by Morten Schuldt-Jensen, the big band brings a rhythmic energy to the folk song melodies.