Someone who really understands Beethoven (Pizzicato)

Presumably spring was Felix Mendelssohn's favorite season. In eight of the total of thirty a cappella choral songs, spring is mentioned in the title; and it is possible that the forest was the place he most liked to be, because not only are very many of his songs about forest: he also visualized his music being performed in woodland. In a letter to his mother he described such an experience; and in his own illustration (reproduced in the detailed CD booklet) he even painted the scene. This first complete collection is rounded off by two first recordings. Following their recordings of Bach (TACET 108), Schetz (TACET 99) and Pepping (TACET 123), Matthias Jung and the Saxon Vocal Ensemble once again demonstrate how well they can perform German lyrics.

(...) the musicians in this recording do a superb job of capturing all these disparate elements of the mass. The chorus is crisp and the soloists strong - especially tenor Roberto Sacci�, who gives an expressive, clear-voiced, and assured performance. In fact, all of the singers summon grace when called for, and bravura when needed. - Engineer and producer Andreas Spreer presents the listener with an extremely natural sound. All in all, a distinguished accomplishment. (Stereophile) Although the ensemble does not dazzle US with any famous names, I really like this production very much indeed for it's unaffected and almost sensational naturalness. (HiFiVision)

The sensation of this recording is the extremely clear, direct, warm and spacious sound. Thanks to the transistor-free tube technology which documents a musical delicacy we can rediscover this much-worn piece. Violinist Gaede and his Polish colleagues play not only with utmost precision and finely discerning dynamics, but also with bite and expression. (Audio)

Here the listener witnesses a rare musical experience. The twenty-three singers of the Saxon Vocal Ensemble which was founded in 1996 present an outstanding performance conducted by Matthias Jung. In short: an exemplary recording." (klassik heute) "... Twenty mixed voices are accompanied here only by an organ. No less an authority than Wilhelm Steuder writes in the notes that singing these works with or without instruments are both legitimate approaches. The Psalm of David mention no instruments in the score, although they are often used. The singers, based in Dresden, are flexible and responsive, producing exquisite tonal quality. This is certainly a worthy choice for a collector who wants a disc drawn from two of Schutz's most important books without going on to buy the complete sets that are readily available." (Fanfare)

The six piano trios KV 10 - 15 seemed to be only clumsy attempts of the little Mozart to many people up to now. The Abegg Trio using historical instruments opens the unexpected big world of the wunderkind. Sometimes you feel like sitting in a garden with thousands of wondrous, fabulous toys. Mozart tries out everything. He is never boring, often funny. With each new movement he knows more. He plays in the meadow of possibilities and it's a joy to follow him. The question of maturity is irrelevant. Either these pieces are "mature" or it is a delight to see the growing mastery. The Abegg Trio demonstrates once more his ability of intelligent program selection and witty and subtle performance. - Co-production with DeutschlandRadio.

Crossing the Channel is a result of Paris based Ensemble Providencia exploring the curious developmental connections in language and music between France and England during the Medieval Era.

Over several years and several decades, Domenico Scarlatti composed a new sonata for his royal piano pupil practically each week. And so something gradually evolved that can justifiably be described as his life's work. But what does a life's work mean for us today? An immense number of sonatas, 555 in total. Their grandiose diversity and originality are only actually unlocked when, instead of consuming them ne masse, you listen to just one a week. However you should then listen to this one sonata every day, just as Scarlatti originally intended. And in one fell swoop, your life is over! Can we really do them justice today? In view of this, mine and Christoph Ullrich's undertaking to stretch the production over 17 years seems appropriate. Besides this, at the same time, Christoph Ullrich is still working on other lifelong projects, such as his large-scale children's project Laterna Musica (formerly Earworm). And so with our altered perception of time, we're battling to revive the past whilst remaining modern and curious in order ot meet today's demands. But the battle is worth it! What an adventure! Because who knows what'll come out of it after 17 years? What will the fingers and ears end up doing? Will there still be music at the end of it all? In all of his playfulness, craziness and childishness, in his cacophony of hand-crossing and sensuality, this cycle can also offer something very special compared to so many others: the realization that doing more and more and doing it faster doesn't actually help. Composer in the face of the fact tha tour existence is finite.

On the 100th anniversary of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, the composer's piano arrangement appears on Tacet alongside smaller works, mainly for piano four-hands, played by Evgeni Koriolov and his partner Ljupka Hadzigeorgiewa. This piano version of the Rite freshly exposes several aspects of the work. Structures absorbed into the dominant orchestral instrument tone colors display a quite different balance, and compositional details that, until now not apparent, are opened up. The rhythmic drive takes on a new note, and the lyrical elements take on surprising coloring.

This latest release from Evgeni Korioliov offers a new and, at the same time, old answer to the question of whether there is any point in bringing out discs today that have been recorded a hundred times before. Mozart KV 330 etc- many people are rolling their eyes at it, but only until they hear the first few notes. This music has never before been heard like this. The mobile phone falls into their lap, the composer mouse is still. The ears really want to give it their full attention. Some of the nagging stress of everyday life evaporates. Time drifts by. It makes you happy to watch this. This is actually what music should always do. In the midst of all this pleasure, it’s easy to forget the artful way in which this is achieved isn’t thanks to any old pianist. Evgeni Koroliov doesn’t go looking for recognition. He calmly takes us by the hand and shows us the beautiful, hidden corners in Mozart’s music.

Roger Hanschel approaches classical music from a different angle. With insatiable curiosity, this stupendous sax virtuoso has absorbed the various components of world music and created his very own personal mixture from it. What may initially appear as constant or slowly changing repetitions of patterns in unusual meters - offering the platform for lyrical excursions, expressive outbursts or virtuoso escapades, often but not always by the saxophone - reveals itself to be a metamorphosis of classical forms of composition. Mr. Hanschel, with the Auryn Quartet play seven of his compositions.

Evgeni Koroliov isn't the kind of musician who prefers to concentrate on previously unrecorded music. His specialty lies in discovering something new in well-known works. This is particularly true in this collection of pieces by Maurice Ravel. He immerses himsel fin the music without any extravagance, adding nothing to the score. Nevertheless, Koroliov always manages to make the music sound fresh to our ears. In Ma Mere l'Oye, Ljupka Hadzigeorgieva harmoniously completes this process of re-creation.

The clarinet player uses his instrument as billiard cue. This little provocation on the cover indicates what is going on. It's common knowledge that Mozart composed these pieces not long before his death. But for Dirk Altmann (and booklet author Katharina Eickhoff) they are not the creations of an angel on the way to heaven but were written in a very earthly environment a part of which was playing billiards with his friend and clarinet player Anton Stadler. What happens when the clarinet concerto is played exempt of romantic, nearly religious enhancement? We hear the inspirations of a joyful genius. Surely you want to know more

Featuring a new instrumentation of the “Visions Fugitives,” this release is a kaleidoscope of Prokofiev’s chamber music oeuvre. A cosmopolitan ahead of his time, twentieth century Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev masterfully writes with boldness, virtuosity, and tenderness. Founded in 2013, the Ludwig Chamber Players are known for their interpretations of Schubert, Mozart, Brahms, and especially Prokofiev’s Quintet in G minor.

Dvorak's 9th symphony paints the town red, for sure. But that's not all! The strings of Andras Keller are able to blossom like flowers. They don't play uniformly but with a seemingly congenital naturalness as if it were easy for 14 violins to sound as homogenously and at the same time as individually as a single violin. Also for the wind it is not the high performance that counts but the sensitivity and the flowing of the music, e. g. The English horn solo in the second movement. The brass: no power play but rich and gentle, always sensitive chords. - The tempi, the transitions, everything flows organically and invites you to go along. That is the great art of legato. Old-fashioned to some people, in fact timeless beautiful. No surprise that one role model for Andras Keller is Wilhelm Furtwangler. After that and without any showing off the loved by many cellist Miklos Perenyi gently carries you off into the mysterious world of the rondo op 68/8 and "Klid" (silent wood) op. 95. Three slavonic dances from op. 46 round off the program. The ("Klassik-heute") recommendation of Guido Krawinkel in the latest review of another TACET recording was: "... Keep your eyes and listen." That's what we suggest here also.