Penelope Crawford presents a program of four of Beethoven's most important transitional sonatas, bridging the gap between his "middle" and "late" periods. Composed against the backdrop of Napoleonic Europe and Metternich's Congress of Vienna, these four works chart Beethoven's growth as a composer in a rapidly changing world. As with her first Beethoven sonata recording (opp. 109-11), Musica Omnia MO 0308), a splendid fortepiano by the great Viennese builder, Conrad Graf, is used here, similar to one of the last pianos owned by Beethoven, also by Conrad Graf.

Collectors familiar with Trudelies Leonhardt’s previous Beethoven releases on the Globe and Meridian labels will know what to expect here. As before, she uses a Viennese Benignus Seidner model fortepiano dating from 1815. Its low notes have a warm, slightly nasal timbre, with an attractive singing quality to the middle and high registers that contrasts to the jangly sonorities we sometimes hear from other instruments from that period, such as the Graf fortepiano. Leonhardt’s genial performing style evokes the intimacy and spontaneous inflections typical of Wilhelm Kempff and Wilhelm Backhaus in their later years.

She takes the two Op. 49 sonatas’ modest dimensions on their own terms, projecting the melodies in natural, conversational arcs. Leonhardt’s tempo for the G major Op. 14 No. 1 first movement is more of a Moderato than the Allegro that Beethoven specifies, and we might wish for more rhythmic backbone in the development section, or a brusquer attack to the Andante’s soft staccato chords. By contrast, Leonhardt brings out the Allegro assai finale’s sense of surprise in her sophisticated timing of the ascending scales and rests.

Also note the uncommonly clear left-hand passagework in Leonhardt’s expansive and well-proportioned Op. 110 sonata opening movement. Her little luftpauses at phrase ends disrupt the rhythmic flow of the Allegro molto movement’s main theme. The expressive eloquence informing the third movement’s ”Klagender Gesang” best illustrates Leonhardt’s seasoned musicianship, although she doesn’t match Peter Serkin and Ronald Brautigam for virtuosic momentum in the fugue’s climax. The booklet includes an extensive essay about the Seidner fortepiano and excellent musical annotations.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

This Oehms Classics 2CD set presents a complete edition of the four symphonies of Johannes Brahms by the Tonkünstler Orchestra led by Andrés Orozco-Estrada. The Tonkünstler Orchestra is among the most important institutions on the Austrian music scene. The orchestra maintains a concert repertoire from Viennese Classicism to the Romantic period through to music of the 21st c. Mr. Orozco-Estrada, born in Colombia and active on the Viennese music scene since 1997, concludes his music directorship of the Tonkünstler Orchestra, which he’s held since the 2009/2010 season, in September 2015.

Also available on Blu-ray

Il Farnace is the most re-written and re-proposed of Vivaldi’s operas. Versions of Farnace, two in 1727 and one each in 1730, 1731 and 1732, were conceived and adapted to the different circumstances for Venice, Prague, Pavia and Mantua, always with a cast to Vivaldi’s satisfaction and with the composer in control of the production. The greatest appreciation of Vivaldi’s operatic music was expressed in a letter by a spectator of the 1727 Carnival season. The abbot Antonio Conti wrote that of all the operas of the Venice season he liked best Farnace because its music was varied, “between the sublime and the tender,” and because Vivaldi’s pupil worked wonders. In 1738, for the Ferrara Carnival season, Vivaldi wrote a new score of the opera. This is the last Farnace, in two acts, as the third was lost.

For her new, and Alpha debut, recording, pianist Olga Pashchenko has chosen the combination of Beethoven’s two Opus 49 sonatas and three sets of his variations, thus tackling what are commonly called ‘smaller forms’ but which remain important works nonetheless, especially the Variations, op. 35. • This young pianist commands admiration for her way of always enlarging her route, already a long one (she gave her first recital when she was 9, in New York), relying on certain great influences (in particular, Alexei Lubimov) and thereby further affirming her personality as an exceptional musician.

The most fun part of my job is figuring out what to play live. There's an infinite choice of immense, immortal music and I always try and design concert programs a bit like a set list for the audience. For this compilation (of my personal recordings from the last six years) I wanted to carry on in that vein and so I've made it a mix tape - these are the pieces that come up in my head unwarranted at 4am to get me through another rotten night of insomnia. These are the ones that always give me hope and a reason to hang on in there - because if music like this can exist then there is simply no question that the good outweighs the bad. They are my inside tracks. James Rhodes, 2015

Duets from thousand years of musical history for young people from 0-100 years. Patricia Kopatchinskaja invites us to join her for a musical experience that mixes composers spanning the eleventh century to present day. This album and book tell the story of this utterly crazy recording with the help of a rich selection of photos by Marco Borggreve. The barefoot violin player is joined by many musician friends including a clarinet player, playing the ocarina, an improvisatory harpsichordist, an electro musician, a toy piano player, and even her daughter, Alice. Take Two includes compositions from Bach, Miljaud, Cage, Sanchez-Chiong, and many more. It is said that Patricia Kopatchinskaja is as irresistible as a force of nature: passionate, challenging and totally original in her approach; (RPS Music Awards) a statement that is ever apparent on this album!

The Voce Quartet's first two recordings, devoted to Schubert and then Beethoven, were released to praise from critics such as Telerama and The Strad. This eclectic, innovative quartet is now celebrating it's tenth anniversary by tackling string quintets of Mozart and Brahms. The Brahms quintet, both brilliant and highly moving, recalls some of the composer's best-known themes. Violist Lise Berthaud is called upon to round out the quintet.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the chaconne was generally indistinguishable from the passacaglia, the two musical forms being so similar in nature. In both, the repetition of a single harmonic motif evoked a sense of time stretching far beyond the limits of our physical world, thus creating an illusion of eternity!

This recording collects some of the most beautiful examples from the literally hundreds of such pieces composed during the baroque period. Since the attempt to create the illusion of eternity in music was generally linked to the principle of melodic variations – whether it be variations on a theme or variations over a repeated harmonic motif – two famous examples of Folias composed by Falconiero and Vivaldi are also included.

Ensemble Caprice has made a habit of entering into dialog with composers of the past. For this recording, they have added several short vocal pieces written by the ensemble leader based on poems by the 17th century mystic Angelus Silesius. These brief verses in alexandrine meter are a perfect expression of the dichotomy experienced by the human being torn between life and death, between this world and the invisible world.

The Haydn Chamber Ensemble was founded in 2013 by Cornelia Löscher, violin, Luca Monti, piano and Hannes Gradwohl, cello to promote the music of Joseph Haydn and his contemporaries to a broader audience. Committed to their name, the musicians commence their debut CD with the Piano Trio No. 39 in G major, Hob. XV:25 by Haydn. This late work of his is then contrasted by the Piano Trio in E major, K. 542 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, that he composed at the height of his success in the year 1788 - then being around half the age as "Papa Haydn". Franz Schuberts Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat major D 929 originated from 1827, just one year before his passing, which ultimately brought the era of the First Viennese School to an end.

Harmonie & Turcherie: around the year 1800, Western music was experiencing a merging of two phenomena. On one hand was the success of a particular ensemble of wind instruments, boosted by the foundation of the royal and imperial Harmonie by Emperor Joseph himself in Vienna in 1782, the core of it's repertoire being arrangements of famous opera arias; on the other, the fashion for orientalism, reflected in different expressions of the arts: painting, sculpture, architecture and music. The typical octet of the Harmonie, consisting of pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons, was therefore reinforced by louder wind instruments such as trumpets, trombones, a contrabassoon or a cimbasso, as well as an array of percussion instruments - together, they could evoke the military bands of the highly feared Janissaries. That sound fascinated the most eminent composers of the time, including Haydn (Joseph and his younger brother Michael), Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti (Gaetano and his elder brother Giuseppe, active at the Ottoman court), Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Spohr, all of whom wrote small, little-known masterpieces for this particular band. Zefiro presents us with a varied program by these composers, alternating Turkish marches with chamber music works in a more operatic and deeper vein, thus revealing the versatility and colors of period wind instruments.

Luc Beauséjour, a highly sought-after musician for his virtuosity and the subtlety of his playing on the harpsichord and organ, is never short of ideas when it comes to offering concert programs imbued with refinement. The repertoire heard on this recording, originally written for the harpsichord during the Baroque period, is being played here on piano. If many pianists have played Bach, Scarlatti, Handel, Rameau, and even Couperin and Froberger, few harpsichordists have come to the defense of the harpsichord repertoire on the modern piano with such conviction and audacity. Fascinating!

Nicknamed ‘the poet of the piano,’ Nelson Goerner has an impressive discography, including his recent multi-award-winning Chopin and Debussy CDs. For this disc, Goerner tackles Beethoven’s Sonata No. 29 ‘Hammerklavier’, and his Bagatelles Op. 126. Of his Hammerklavier, the great composer said, “Here is a sonata that will make pianists work hard.” Goerner rises to this challenge beautifully, playing the forty-five minute work with passion and emotion.

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REVIEWS:

Goerner’s Hammerklavier is about flight, variety of shapes, sounds, ideas and precision of communication. Phrases are imbued with life and meaning but, equally importantly, they are separated by breath, lending them intelligibility. If ever there were an effortless Hammerklavier finale, this is it.

– Gramophone

The Hammerklavier has received several amazing recordings in recent years, and Nelson Goerner’s is one of them. It is also a highly individual though never quirky account.

– BBC Music Magazine

Only a little chamber music for flute by Beethoven has survived. He was not particularly fond of this instrument. However, he managed to pen an elegant, nimble Serenade, op. 25, which the Ardinghello Ensemble is now releasing along with a new rendering of the magnificent String Trio op. 3.

For the Ardinghello Ensemble Beethoven stands at the beginning of an epoch of special interest. The four instrumentalists performing with Karl Kaiser – all of them women – very undogmatically operate with insights provided by historical performance practice and set out in quest of the “Faraway Sound” of romanticism - while discovering unheard-of and never-expected material.

This new release centers around the importance of nighttime rituals from different eras and traditions. This album is the first release by the Georgia State University Singers with their current director Deanna Joseph. The ensemble were 2014 finalists for the American Prize in Choral Performance.

Featuring songs by Schumann and Schubert, this new release creates an ethereal, dream-like program. Korean pianist William Younhas been called “a true poet” with “masterful technique.” Multi-award winning soprano Isabelle Catherine Vilmar joins Youn for these recordings.

This unusual but beautiful song cycle was created by drawing a collection of arias by J.S. Bach and framing them within the movements of his B minor orchestral suite. Two arias are taken from the Matthew Passion, two are from Eastertide cantatas, and the majestic Agnus Dei is taken from his most outstanding choral work, the B minor mass. It is believed that Bach’s incredible writing for alto voice was inspired by his wife, Anna, who was herself an accomplished alto singer. Catherine King performs these works alongside the Norwegian Baroque Orchestra. Catherine has been described as “bell-voiced… with firm clear tone, elegant phrasing and agile, precise coloratura’. (Gramophone)

The only winner to take home both the First Prize and two special jury prizes at the Rostropovich Competition, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker is one of an elite number of cellists who are truly making their mark on the world of classical music.; This is her very first sonata recording, and she is joined by pianist Martin Helmchen for these performances of Brahms’ sonatas.; With playing which has been described as “moving and instinctively beautiful” (Die Zeit) Marie-Elisabeth provides a charming programme in this recording.

This outstanding performance was recorded as part of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s 70th concert season. Led by Honorary Conductor for Life Christoph von Dohnanyi, this recording was taken live at the Royal Festival Hall in October of 2015. Believed by many to be Schubert’s greatest symphony, this work is interpreted by Dohnanyi beautifully, and with grandeur and intensity.

This release is the debut album of Trio Aleksic, made up of Serbian siblings Aleksa, Nadezda, and Ana Aleksic. Since their inception in 2005, the ensemble has made appearances on a number of chamber music stages in Austria. The group holds interest in bringing little-known composers into the limelight. For this release, they have chosen string trios by Beethoven, Herzogenberg, and Dohnanyi.