"To me, Canto General by Pablo Neruda is the Gospel of our time." This quote of the composer Mikis Theodorakis on the textual basis of one of his most famous works shows very clearly how important this composition is within his oeuvre. The musical setting of major parts from the poem of the Chilean national poet Pablo Neruda in the original Spanish language unites the Greek and Chilean cultures into a remarkable symbiosis. Theodorakis created an epic oratorio in which the composer combined the songs of the Incas, the songs of the Andes and the rhythms of the tropics with the tonal world of the Greeks into a work that is among the most powerful and most intense works written by him. Most of the thirteen songs of "Canto General" captivate the audience with their sweeping polyrhythmic inventions, catchy repetitions of short motifs and simple compositional forms. With this work, Theodorakis' metasymphonic art reaches a new dimension. "A passionate appeal to the public." (Fono Forum)

In his work "Symmetry Disorders Reach" whose title and context are inspired by W.H, Auden's "New Year Letter"), Alexander Goehr uses models by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Schumann to explore the creative act. The disorders of the imagination are to be arranged and extended to a certain kind of symmetry, whereas he forms a symmetry (matrix) to a luxuriant disorder. Alexander Goehr (born in Berlin and brought up in England) belongs to the UK's leading musical figures, both as composer and teacher. This recording is the result of a unique collaboration between Goehr and one of his former Cambridge pupils, the brilliant composer and pianist Huw Watkins.

Kurt Schwitters's Sonate in Urlauten (Sonata in Primal Sounds) blurs the boundaries between speech and music. The literal translation of the title indicates a link between language and the musical form of the sonata; Ursonate could be translated literally as "sound poetry." This groundbreaking work, more than any other work in the genre, reached an unparalleled fame. On this CD, the SprechKunstTrio (speech art trio) Sprechbohrer presents their unique interpretation of Schwitters's magnum opus.

Caspar Johannes Walter studied with Volker David Kirchner, Johannes Fritsch, and Clarence Barlow and has participated with his compositions in international music festivals, e.g. in Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Italy. He was awarded a number of internationally recognized composition prizes and scholarships. Walter says about his compositions: "Chamber music has always been my favorite area of activity. The reason for this is that the interplay of a few expertly coordinated musicians offers maximum transparency even when the music itself is complex. Apart from all practical considerations, this allows me as a composer the liberty to listen exclusively to what the music is trying to tell me as I write it and to transcend the limits of my musical perceptions." This production received the quarterly German Record Critics' Award.

No romantic artistic life � la Wagner or Puccini stands in the background of Egk's body of work. His artistic personality exhibits no monomania. Egk viewed himself with a certain objectivity; humor, wit, and sarcasm are the characteristic elements of such a distancing self-perspective. In many ways Egk can be considered an heir of the French 18th century, a descendent of Voltaire whom Egk first read and admired in his school years in Augsburg, and who remained an influence throughout Egk's life. So "La Tentation" is indicative of Egk's relationship to France, in particular the enlightenment of 18th century rationalism. Janet Walker: alto / Werner-Egk-Quartett / Manfred Clement: oboe / Ulf Rodenh�user: clarinet / Johannes Ritzkowsky: horn / Eberhard Marschall: bassoon / Werner Booz: double bass.

M�ller-Siemens's music has as much to do with funk rock as well a Schubertian bouquet of mourning or cool jazz � la Miles Davis. A thoroughly fascinating hybrid. (Otto Paul Burkhard). Ensemble 13 / Manfred Reichert: conductor / Members of the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Basel / John Carewe: conductor / Volker Banfield: piano / Sinfonieorchester des S�dwestfunks Baden-Baden / Kazimierz Kord: conductor.

In Paul Hindemith's collected works the compositions for violoncello and piano occupy a significant position. They range from solo sonata to concerto with large orchestra. The large number of compositions for cello is perhaps surprising when one recalls that Hindemith first attracted public attention as a violist and that many of his works were written especially for his own concert performances. However Hindemith was always surrounded by cellists - in his private life as well as in the circle of friendly colleagues - who performed his works. Julius Berger: Violoncello / Siegfried Mauser: piano.

The motifs in Tobias PM Schneid's mental universe of artistic associations elide and intermingle. The paintings of Robert Delaunay have had a formative impact on his music, but also the writings of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. Schneid proceeds from preformed material or, more precisely, from the musical styles and currents that shaped and continue to shape him as a musician and human being. Recognizable quotations are rarely to be found. His music comes into being as a sort of fusion, for he attaches central importance to the artistic worlds of jazz and rock. These worlds have all the more gravity for being filled with the deep-seated yearnings and sorrows of the blues, for harboring echoes of musical and sensual freedom as actually experienced.

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 is the last and only unfinished symphony in his complete oeuvre. On September 5, 1910 Mahler wrote his last notes: exactly 100 years later, the 23-year-old conductor and composer Yoel Gamzou presented with great success his new reconstruction of this extraordinary work. The world première with the International Mahler Orchestra took place at the Ryckestrasse synagogue in Berlin as part of the Jewish Cultural Days 2010. Yoel Gamzou first came in contact with the Adagio from Mahler’s unfinished 10th Symphony when he was about 12 or 13 years old, whilst fishing curiously amidst a jungle of books and scores in a local library. Already at first glance, it was obvious to me that this symphony has – or indeed would have had, considering it was almost lost and forgotten for decades – a unique meaning in musical history. "When I discovered that it was only the first movement of a large unfinished symphony, I instantly started investigating. I became indescribably fascinated and intrigued, in fact hypnotized, by the sheer magnitude of meaning and content hiding within this manuscript. It was immediately clear to me that the piece was entirely thought-through and that the meaning behind this hurried testament was an almost unbearably painful albeit thoroughly planned legacy. It seemed like the sketch was staring at me demanding to be heard, like a message in a bottle that hasn't really been found, let alone entirely understood, for almost a century.“ - Yoel Gamzou

Musica Ricercata of 1951-53 is a collection of 11 piano pieces which even with their traditional character went beyond what was considered appropriate for performance in Hungary in the early 1950s. The tenth piece, e.g., was considered too "decadent" because of the abundance of minor seconds. The short "Capriccios" and "Invention", written in 1947-48, reveal convincingly the emergence of Ligeti's musical identity. "Monument � Selbstportrait � Bewegung" (three pieces for two pianos) was written in 1976 while Ligeti was working on the opera "Le Grand Macabre". The conception of these three pieces arose from the inherent technical possibilities afforded by the simultaneous playing of the two pianos. Ligeti works here with processes which develop consequently from an initial core to unfurl in great complexity.

Music is the air I breathe and the planet I inhabit. The only way I can pay my debt to music is by bringing it to others, with all my love. (Cathy Berberian) Cathy Berberian was born in the United States of Armenian parents. While proficient in the traditional concert repertoire, Miss Berberian was renowned for her contribution to contemporary music. Her enormous flexibility and range together with a strong sense of theater and innate musicality have been acclaimed by press and public alike, and have inspired the creation of compositions by major contemporary composers such as Berio, Bussotti, Cage, Milhaud, Maderna, Pousseur, etc. One of the highlights of her career was her musical relationship with Stravinsky who made the final version of the "Elegy for JFK" for her voice and with whom she gave concerts and made Columbia recordings of Stravinsky's vocal music.

Works for voice with ensemble after poems by e.e. cummings and Arthur Rimbaud as well as chamber music works show the numerous facets of Matthias Pintscher's compositional technique. Presented by well-known interpreters, who are specialists in New Music, and under the direction of the composer himself, the CD offers a comprehensive insight into Pintscher's "penetrating the instant of time".

Music between Ennio Morricone and Charles Gounod with reminiscences of the music of the film "Stalingrad". Enjott Schneider has done it again: he added just the right musical touch to a very emotional film. The television film by Jo Baier, several times winner of the renowned Adolf Grimme Award, is the story of a common practice in Tyrol and Switzerland in the 19th century, which can be proven up to the 1930s: the renting or even selling of children from poor peasants' families at children's markets in Swabia as cheap labor. - A film with Tobias Moretti, Vadim Glowna and J�rgen Tarrach. Booklet contains liner notes in German only.

More than 50 composers from 13 different countries contributed to this collection of music with computers. Their pieces represent major directions of how avantgarde composers utilize the potential of new technology. Wilanow Quartet / Anthony de Mare: piano.

This is one of the finest cross sections of French piano music. The young Bulgarian pianist Naoumoff is the ideal interpreter from the precious miniatures by Debussy, Faur�, and Poulenc collected on this disc. (Basler Zeitung). Emile Naoumoff, piano.