The Abegg Trio, hitherto distinguished for recordings of Beethoven and Brahms Trios, returns - as far as the name is concerned - to itself" with this recording; this judgment is not just a play on words. Far more, it refers to the recording itself: whereas the Beethoven and Brahms recordings were highly remarkable in themselves, the Schumann interpretation by the three musicians is utterly charming: With it's natural flow, musical elan where Schumann intended it, and analytically delicate detail work where the structure requires it. And whereas there is other high-standard competition to the D Minor Trio to which the Abegg Trio is supremely equal, the atmospherically dense and 'characteristic' recording of the Fantasy Pieces is unrivalled. The recording is beautifully transparent and faithful to the score. A thoroughly worthwhile recording." (stereoplay)

The violist Hartmut Lindemann, who emerged from obscurity five years ago and recorded with TACET, has set new musical and technical standards for his recordings. He never fails to entrance the listener with the pieces he plays. His fantastic viola playing and his solidly based musicality almost take a back seat as standard requirements. (Stereoplay)

The Goethe cycle Heut und ewig (Now and Forever) is E. Pepping's most extensive secular choral work. It was first performed by Spandau choir on the occasion of the honouring of Goethe by the municipal authorities of (west) Berlin on 16th July 1949. In fact it's first performance - as truly befitted Goethe bicentennial year - had been planned for the great Goethe celebrations in Weimar; but this pan-German plan was overtaken by political events whilst the work was still being written. For a west Berlin choir, a journey to the Soviet Occupied Zone would have been not only political folly but also dangerous. Thus Pepping's Goethe cycle unintentionally became part of the cultural and political labyrinth at the time of the foundation of two German states, both of which liked to view and portray themselves as the intellectual heir of the great German poet...

Summary, the series, is an attempt to reverse the wunderkind principle. Instead of pandering to the musical world along the lines of "faster, higher, further" by serving up younger and younger artists each year, here we ask the question: "As an artist grows in years and maturity, how does his or her view of musical works alter? Do some criteria become less important which maybe were taken too seriously in earlier years? Have new ones come along?" Volume 1: The Bartok Quartet founded in 1957!

The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra is a prime example of an ensemble which no longer pays any attention to the separation of historical and modern instruments or historic and modern styles: here the things which belong together have come together, so that music performance can be filled with emotion and expression. 4009850011101 TCET111.2 19541938 .00 23.99 .25 TACET RECORDS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 03/27/2002 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/9/5/1/7/1997159.jpg 9 2 N BEETHOVEN / ZITTERBART PIANO SONATAS The meticulously prepared releases by the Stuttgart label Tacet deserve attention... this tells me that Gerrit Zitterbart can rank with the most gifted Beethoven performers of his generation... (Frankfurter Rundschau) 4009850001102 TCET11.2 07217012 .00 23.99 .23 TACET RECORDS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 05/23/2000 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/8/7/1/7/1997178.jpg 12 1 N RESPIGHI / SUK / FELTZ FONTANE DI ROMA & FESTE ROMANE / FANTASTICKE 4260014870228 DEGD21022.2 16985902 .00 20.99 .22 DREYER GAIDO COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 06/07/2004 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/2/5/4/4/2094452.jpg 8 1 N BEST OF JANACEK / VARIOUS BEST OF JANACEK / VARIOUS 099925399726 SPP3997.2 21077456 .00 20.99 .19 SUPRAPHON COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CLASSICAL VOCALS V/A COMPILATIONS 06/26/2009 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/7/1/5/7/2267517.jpg 4 1 N LAPCIKOVA,ZUZANA ADVENT & CHRISTMAS SONGS FROM MORAVIA 099925403324 SPP4033.2 21077470 .00 21.99 .15 SUPRAPHON COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CLASSICAL VOCALS 10/22/2010 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/0/3/5/7/2267530.jpg 33 1 N TOCH / BLOME / KAMMERSYMPHONIE BERLIN / BRUNS BUNTE SUITE / MOZART TRANSCRIPTIONS / CELLO CTO 4049774900716 DLTC90071.2 19599991 .00 20.99 .26 DELTA CLASSICS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 01/08/2013 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/2/7/5/2/2072572.jpg 5 1 N KIELLAND / MORTENSEN / BERG FRUH: BERG & SCHONBERG & WEBERN 7090020180342 LAWO1033.2 19591384 .00 18.99 .24 LAWO CLASSICS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 01/08/2013 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/0/8/5/2/2072580.jpg 3 1 N WAGNER / YOUN / BRUNS / MAYER DER FLIEGENDE HOLLANDER 809478071471 OPU7147BR 26578163 .00 39.99 .21 OPUS 111 BLU-RAY CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 07/29/2014 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/5/5/6/1/2591655.jpg 10 1 N PURCELL / KLISOWKA / KOOIJ CLOSE THINE EYES 8011570339317 STU33931.2 21209918 .00 18.99 .17 STRADIVARIUS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CLASSICAL VOCALS 09/10/2013 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/4/3/4/2/2292434.jpg 31 1 N VIVALDI SALMI A DUE CORI 4009350834040 NXS83404.2 23306509 .00 20.99 .25 NAXOS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 03/01/2002 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/4/4/8/6/1996844.jpg 5 1 N STRAUSS / ALSEN / FRUTSCHNIGG / REINING / BOHM RICHARD STRAUSS: DAPHNE 801439903067 MYT306.2 16551084 .00 10.99 .22 MYTO RECORDS ITALY COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 04/24/2012 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/5/1/2/2/2012215.jpg 2 2 N BERLIOZ ROMEO ET JULIETTE OP 17 3830257490739 AND9073.2 27539002 .00 10.99 .25 ANDROMEDA COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 01/01/2012 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/83/1758983-2602286.jpg 5 N FUJISAWA / BACH,J.S. / BEETHOVEN / SCHUBERT BACH & BEETHOVEN & SCHUBERT 880040209423 QURT2094.2 16955417 .00 18.99 .21 QUARTZ COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 07/10/2012 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/1/3/7/3/2003731.jpg 5 1 N BRAHMS / LANG / ADAM / ROSEL / WINKLER / ARENS BEST OF BRAHMS 885470003443 BLN300344.2 16955042 .00 16.99 .22 BERLIN CLASSICS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 07/10/2012 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/9/4/7/3/2003749.jpg 3 2 N PIEMONTESI / HANDEL / BRAHMS / BACH,J.S. RECITAL 5414706103425 AVCL1034SACD 16954984 .00 21.99 .18 AVANTI CLASSIC SUPER-AUDIO CD CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 07/10/2012 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/4/6/7/3/2003764.jpg 3 1 N EALES,GEOFF RED LETTER DAYS 710357618628 NIM6186.2 16957008 .00 16.99 .20 NIMBUS RECORDS COMPACT DISCS POP JAZZ 08/14/2012 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/7/9/9/0/2020997.jpg 10 1 N BACH / BAX / HUMMEL / BRAHMS / LINDEMANN / MARTIN HARTMUT LINDEMANN & BEN MARTIN My skepticism on my first encounter in about 1991 - "Never heard of him, who on earth is Mr Lindemann?" tipped suddenly over into unbounded enthusiasm, which has since mellowed into calm confidence: Lindemann has for the first time convinced me so firmly of the use of a rounded bow, with his portrayal of Bach's Chaconne, that I really "couldn't bother" about it's usage. The music created with it is overwhelming. [...] And if a player can summon up enough ardent eloquence, which supersedes all questions about the wherefore of the realization, we can only be talking about a really top-drawer musician..." (Stereoplay) "... There are basically two ways to play this work (Arnold Bax Sonata): tightly and dramatically, as Tertis and Bax do; or more discursively and romantically, as William Primrose and Harriet Cohen do in the other notable historical recording. Lindemann and Martin take the latter course, but execute their interpretation more convincingly than Primrose and Cohen. They shape the Celtic-influenced melodies with a sure touch and get right inside the music. (...) If you buy no other viola recital in 1994, buy this one." (The Strad)

In the finale [The Abegg Trio] plays the hundred bars written by Schubert which impose on the movement a completely different form and - due to the repeated quotation of the sombre slow movement - expression. The fact that the music never loses balance and gains that heavenly length once enthusiastically admired by Schumann, is the best reference one could make to the ensemble; and if anyone does not like this addition, they can listen to the movement in it's more usual form as an encore.

Classical Music

... a very worthwhile disc that is a pleasure from start to finish. (Fanfare)

The unparalleled Welte Mystery Series by TACET has become a real treasure trove, not only for researchers but also for every music lover, as the example of “Traumerei” Op. 15 No. 7 by Robert Schumann shows: Not only does the music sound absolutely realistic and believable, and definitely not machine-like, but on top of everything else, you get a first-hand impression, so to speak, of how Robert Schumann was played after his death, yet still in the same century. It offers a comparison with a myriad of modern recordings. The series continues with this album featuring pianist Alfred Grunfeld. Born in 1851, these Welte rolls were recorded between January 15-20, 1905.

There is an interesting and innovative concept here in attempt to link musical Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) with the mid-eighteenth century literary movement from which it took it's name. Short readings in the original German (none longer than forty seconds, if this idea worries you) are interspersed between each work... (Fanfare) CHURNED UP... Texts of this time, recited like mottos between the pieces for hammer clavier or wind instruments with continuo, remind US of the literary origin of the uprising against common sense and convention; the well-researched booklet essays on social and musical history complete the product. The Munich Rococo Soloists vividly and dramatically present the mixed-up, bubbling nature of this music; the compositions with their lasting effect and often with exaggerated baroque rhetoric are explosive... (FAZ)

With Carlo Rizzi, Gordan Nikolic and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Amsterdam, one of the most sought-after conductors, one of the best violinists and an absolutely top-notch orchestra got together for a TACET production. What an honour to be able to work with such artists! We have tried to apply the precision and painstaking detail from chamber music to this project as well. Carlo Rizzi brings out typically Ravellian details that frequently have the effect of being levelled out, e.g. the composed overtones. There will be some surprises in store for one listener or another. In all honesty: do you know what the saxophones in Bolero play a few bars before the end? Or when the first harp plays and when the second harp plays in La Valse? Not least, this production should offer something to the many old-fashioned crazy audiophiles, our beloved public, who still prefer a carefully produced sound carrier to a blurred or squeaky You Tube download. Whether the result is really worth more than merely another line in the table "Recordings of the Great Orchestral Works of Ravel" - that is up to the critics to decide. It's your turn! (Of course the recording is also being issued as an LP and in TACET Real Surround Sound.). Andreas Spreer

2 guitars in 6 rooms. Recorded under a variety of acoustic conditions Two guitars in six rooms. Lovely! This is a Spanish CD you should be all agog about. (Gitarre und Laute)

Free but lonely is the romantic life's motto of the violinist Joseph Joachim, who was sponsored by Mendelssohn and Schumann and through his friendship with Clara Schumann and Brahms matured into one of the most influential musicians of the 19th century. - "F - a - E", a series of notes derived from this motto, was also the title of a violin sonata, composed jointly for him in 1853 by Schumann, Brahms and Albert Dietrich. - "Free but lonely" is the title of a series of CDs presenting music by the composers close to Joseph Joachim, and by Joachim himself. This opens up a fascinating panorama of romantic music, born from the fruitful exchange of ideas between famous and little known composers whose works deserve to be discovered.

This coupling of Schumann's two most popular piano chamber pieces is in every way a winner (Fanfare)

At the beginning of the 20th century there was not much innovation to be expected from the genre of the piano �tude... Apart from Scriabine, Debussy was the first to reach the level of Chopin and Liszt and at the same time enrich the genre. The trailblazing novelty of his "Douze �tudes" lies in their highly experimental nature; they are �tudes not only for the pianist, but also for the composer... "Erika Haase plays these �tudes as decisively and confidently as if she had composed them herself." (klassik heute)