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Herz: Piano Concerto, Cello Concerto & Orchestral Works / Silber, Berlin RSO
Capriccio · May 2024CD$21.99 -
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Bartók: The Piano Concertos / Barto, Eschenbach, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Capriccio · Oct 2024CD$21.99 -
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Braunfels: Orchestral Works / Bühl, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
Capriccio · May 2021CD$21.99 -
Goldschmidt & Reizenstein: Cello Concertos / Wallfisch, Milton, Berlin Konzerthausorchester
CPO · Jul 2018CD$18.99 -
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SaleBeethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3 / Wührer, Davisson, Stuttgart Pro Musica Orchestra
Vox · May 2023CD$19.99$14.99 -
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Mozart: 45 Symphonies / Adam Fischer, Danish National Chamber Orchestra
Dacapo Classical · Jan 2014CD$53.99 -
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Blech: Complete Orchestral Works & Songs / Gornik, Ward, Aachen Symphony Orchestra
Capriccio · Aug 2022CD$21.99 -
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SaleKaminsky: Fantasy / Oppens, Cassatt String Quartet, ASU Orchestra
Cedille · Apr 2021CD$19.99$9.99 -
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Olesen: Der Wind bläset wo er will / Moser, Tausk, Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Dacapo Classical · Jan 2021CD$17.99 -
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Prokofiev: Violin Concertos / Cristian, Pietsch, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Audite Musikproduktion · Nov 2017CD$20.99 -
Brahms / Leenaars, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Sony Masterworks · May 2019CD$11.98 -
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SaleBeethoven: Triple Concerto - Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 / West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
UNITEL Edition · Jan 2021DVD$32.99$16.49 -
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Herz: Piano Concerto, Cello Concerto & Orchestral Works / Silber, Berlin RSO
Bruckner: Symphony No. 1 / Poschner, Linz Bruckner Orchestra
Anton Bruckner finally received the award of an honorary doctorate of the University of Vienna on 11 December 1891. For Bruckner, receiving the doctorate fulfilled a long-time wish. He had spent most of his life pursuing academic credentials and applied for honorary doctorates at Cambridge University in 1882 and at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Cincinnati in 1885. Two days later, Hans Richter conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in the first performance of the second or so-called “Vienna” version of the composer’s First Symphony, which he had dedicated to the university in gratitude for the degree. The changes Bruckner made in the revised version of the First Symphony are not as extensive as those he made to the Third, Fourth, and Eighth Symphonies during the late 1880s and early 1890s. His revisions to the First Symphony did not affect the overall form of any of the movements. He changed many details of orchestration, articulation, and phrase length, some of which are difficult to notice on first hearing. The 1891 autograph score is, nevertheless, the composer’s final word on how he wanted his First Symphony to be performed and understood.
Bartók: The Piano Concertos / Barto, Eschenbach, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Béla Bartók is one of the unquestionably “great” composers and one of the few modern composers who established themselves in the repertoire. His three piano concertos are central to his biography and musical output, but only the Third, with some generosity, could be considered “popular.” Although well represented on disc, the first two are rare concert program guests. Tzimon Barto sees a problem in an all-too-mechanical approach to these two percussive works: “Even Bartók needs a supple touch. If you bang away at it, without rhythmical buoyancy, of course it will become tedious.” These recordings are his attempt at doing justice to his Bartók-ideal.
REVIEW:
Christoph Eschenbach and Tzimon Barto have a long history of collaboration. Bartók, too, has long been a frequent composer on Eschenbach’s programs.
In these recordings, the two musicians offer very special, unconventional interpretations. They are not interested in motoric coolness, in hard-edged virtuosity, but in a very interesting way they search for moods and a narrative that cannot be found in the many other good interpretations of the Bartók concertos. Not with Zimermann/Boulez, not with Bavouzet/Noseda, not with Kocsis/Fischer, and, going back even further, not with Anda/Fricsay.
Eschenbach and Barto take their time with the music and, with remarkable transparency and many warm colors, create sometimes very mysterious and exciting passages, such as in the slow movement of the first concerto, or a wonderfully atmospheric Allegretto, which, at nine and a half minutes, lasts up to two minutes longer than with other interpreters. Even more astonishing is the greatly extended Adagio religioso, which at nearly 14 minutes is up to four and a half minutes longer than other recordings used for comparison.
All in all, however, this new recording is definitely interesting and worth listening to, because it brings out new aspects and gives Bartók a variety of expression that cannot be found anywhere else.
— Pizzicato
Telemann: 3 Overture Suites / Heerden, L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra
The work group formed by Telemann’s overture suites is regarded as exemplary and even today offers a wealth of discoveries – and the three works presented here in album recording premieres certainly answer this description. It is difficult to determine the chronological order of Telemann’s extant overture suites because the composer incorporated very different influences into them, not only from French music since the invention of the form by Jean-Baptiste Lully but also from the “Lullists” active in Germany such as Johann Sigismund Kusser, Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, and Johann Fischer. And for Telemann’s pronounced tendency to mix existing formal, stylistic, and generic traditions, the overture suite formed an absolutely ideal foil. Here we can find diverse characters, formal combinations, and stylistic interconnections in great supply. The great imagination and spirit at work here are also shown in the plentiful stores of surprising ideas that shine like flashes of brainstorm lightning in various passages.
Braunfels: Orchestral Works / Bühl, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
"Slightly the audience remember that I'm - as a descendant of writing tonal music - still alive and continue composing." (Walter Braunfels, 1946) Walter Braunfels is a composer whose music died twice: Once when the Nazis declared his music "degenerate art". Then again when post-war Germany had little use for the various schools of tonal music; when the arbiters of taste considered any form of romantic music - almost the whole pre-war aesthetic - to be tainted. This 9th release of Capriccio's Braunfels Edition shows us also an open-minded composer who experimented with Jazz elements in his Divertimento for radio-orchestra in 1929.
REVIEWS:
This is light and delightful music, far from offering even the hint of banality or boredom. The music of Walter Braunfels can hardly be stylistically determined, as he is said to have references to all the great composers around him, though Braunfels always kept his music on his personal path. Conductor Gregor Bühl is among some who are again paying attention to this composer. He gives this positively upbeat music the affection and care that makes its special character shine, modeling both the clean craftsmanship and the warmth of the music’s content. The airiness, as in Ariel’s singing, becomes just as clear as the heart beating in the Serenade, without any unnecessary display of individual compositional elements.
– Pizzicato
That Divertimento is the real discovery here: an absolutely delicious bon-bon evocatively scored for a small orchestra including two saxophones, used with effortless freshness and not a shred of fin-de-siècle decadence (fun though that can be). Both the Serenade and Ariel’s Song date from 1910, fairly early in Braunfels’ career, and if they lack the individuality we find in his more ambitious later pieces, they certainly fall gratefully on the ear and deliver exactly what they promise – a bit of light relaxation. The “song,” by the way, is a lyrical orchestral piece, and not a not a vocal work. The Don Gil prelude offers six minutes of comic opera fun. Apparently the opera itself, composed in 1921-23, was a failure, but from such failures have come many appealing concert works, and here is one. As with previous releases in this series, the fine performances under conductor Gregor Bühl have all of the conviction and commitment of a true believer in the cause, and the sonics are excellent. This disc will appeal to music lovers of all ages. Strongly recommended.
– ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)
Goldschmidt & Reizenstein: Cello Concertos / Wallfisch, Milton, Berlin Konzerthausorchester
In Berlin the composers Berthold Goldschmidt and Franz Reizenstein developed into products of the anti-romantic “new realism.” However, both distanced themselves from this dry objectivity and sought more powerful means of expression while avoiding the late romantic excesses that at the time continued to predominate in Germany. The surprising fact is that neither Reizenstein nor Goldschmidt felt drawn to Schonberg’s method of twelve-tone composition. In 1934 and 1935 both composers fled from Berlin to England, that is, prior to the tightening of immigration requirements. Influences from Reizenstein’s teachers Paul Hindemith and Ralph Vaughan Williams are audible in the rather harsh, expressionistic character of his concerto. Raphael Wallfisch writes of this work, “Reizenstein’s Cello Concerto is a tour de force for the cellist. What is involved here is an epic and heroic statement in which lyrical and dramatic elements alternate.”
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3 / Wührer, Davisson, Stuttgart Pro Musica Orchestra
Friedrich Wührer was appointed Professor at the Vienna Academy of Music at the age of 28 but he did not confine his activities to teaching. He soon became increasingly active as a concert pianist. His concert tours led him to most countries in Europe, and earned him the reputation as one of the finest keyboard artists of his time.
Mozart: 45 Symphonies / Adam Fischer, Danish National Chamber Orchestra
MOZART Symphonies Nos. 1, 4–31, 33–36, 39–41. Symphonies, K 19a, 42a, 45a–b, 73l–n, 73q, 111b • Ádám Fischer, cond; Danish Natl CO • DACAPO 8.201201 (12 CDs: 716:42)
I mentioned in my review of a single disc from this series, which included symphonies Nos. 28–30 (Fanfare 34:4), that I didn’t think that Ádám Fischer’s performances captured “Mozart’s drama as well as they capture his elegance,” but added the caveat that it’s difficult to gauge an entire series of symphonies by one CD. Alas, in later reviewing the disc including symphonies Nos. 31, 33, and 34, I had the opposite feeling, that Fischer was making a “race to the finish line” and playing the symphonies too quickly. Now, as it so happened, I reviewed those two discs about two years apart, and so did not have the first still on hand to compare to the second, or to think about the differences in approach. But now I have the full set of 45 symphonies to review, and my feelings have changed. Now I am inclined to agree with Patrick Rucker, who gave a rave review to the single disc of symphonies Nos. 15–18 in Fanfare 31:1 (a disc reviewed, I believe, before I joined the magazine staff), stating that he was “grasping for superlatives.”
The difference? Listening to the entire series in chronological sequence. By doing so, I noted that, despite an overall theatrical approach to these symphonies (in the liner notes, Fischer admits that he tends to think of orchestral music “operatically,” i.e., finding a dramatic theme or thread in the music that he then tries to bring out), he does make distinctions between the earlier and the later symphonies. Reducing his approach to a few basics, he plays the earlier symphonies with equal drama and electricity but with far fewer changes in dynamics and fewer rubato touches. In addition, I was able to download the scores of four of the symphonies—two of the most famous late works (40 and 41) and two early symphonies (Nos. 5 and 15, chosen pretty much at random)—and although these are not up-to-date, verified, Urtext scores like the ones Fischer worked from, they do include dynamics markings. And, as any number of conductors of the past have mentioned, they do not tell you what to do between the forte here and the piano four or six bars later (or vice versa). You are expected to follow your own good taste in approaching them.
Perhaps another deciding factor for me was in hearing Philippe Herreweghe’s more dynamic performances of symphonies Nos. 39 and 41 and, believe it or not, Bruno Walter’s historic performances of symphonies Nos. 39–41. Despite Walter’s slower tempos (and richer string sound), he actually elicited much more nuance and detail from those symphonies than did Jaap ter Linden, whose set I gave a good review to and suggested at the time that it was a fine historically-informed set of the Mozart symphonies. But, to be honest, what really sold me on Fischer’s approach were his performances of the early, lesser-known, oft-neglected, and unnumbered symphonies. Each and every one of them sounded as if it was just bursting with excitement, yet not too much that it overpowered the music on the printed page.
Moreover, what struck me in the single disc of symphonies 31, 33 and 34 as too fast now, suddenly, made sense in context. And, for the several Toscanini-bashers out there, I found it almost comical to note that Fischer takes the Finale of the “Jupiter” Symphony at virtually the same tempo that they consider “too fast.” The difference, of course, is that musicians of the 1940s and 50s weren’t used to playing Mozart this swiftly, and so they tended to sound pressed, whereas Fischer’s Danish National Chamber Orchestra skips through the music deftly and nimbly, like snow rabbits dashing across the landscape. It’s the comfort level of the executants that makes the difference, then, not the “wrong” tempo.
A good example of Fischer’s approach is CD 3, where he presents no less that four symphonies in a row that are all in the key of D Major (K 73l, m, n, and q). It would have been very easy for him, and the orchestra, to simply slip into an all-purpose style for these works, which of course would make them sound pretty much the same, yet he continually varies his approach from work to work. I do, however, caution the listener to approach this set one CD at a time. That is what I did, listening on consecutive nights to only one CD per evening, and it worked out pretty well. You get a better feel for the magnitude of Fischer’s achievement that way, and you are being fairer to both him and the Danish orchestra, whose players helped prod him on to take chances with the music and do things differently from the norm. After all, this was a seven-year project for them. These symphonies did not just get all rehearsed and recorded within a year or two.
I should also point out the work that went into Symphony No. 15, one of the four I obtained scores of. In the notes, Fischer asserts that if this work had not been by Mozart, who wrote so many symphonies and so many of good quality, it would probably be a much better known work, possibly a repertoire staple. Just reading the score, the music does look promising but certainly not brilliant. The first movement, for instance, is in a quick 3/4 time, featuring a jagged melody with the usual wide-ranging melodic leaps. From the first bar, the dynamics marking is forte, which changes to piano at bar 13, then back to forte at bar 22, piano again at bar 25, forte on the first beat of bar 30 with a sudden fp on the second beat (a half note played by the oboes, trumpets, and first violins, while the second violins play 16ths and the violas, cellos, and basses play eighth notes). It’s all pretty cut-and-dry, you might say, and this is how most conductors play it. Fischer adds a little burst of extra volume at the top of bar 5, when the agitated strings play against long-held notes by oboes and trumpets, and there are all sorts of little gradations of sound in various places, including slight crescendos to emphasize the musical drama. More interestingly, none of this sounds particularly fussy; if you didn’t have the score in front of you, or if you hadn’t heard any number of flat-response historically-informed performances, you’d think that this is simply the way the music goes. Toscanini once said it isn’t the f here or the p there that’s difficult to gauge, but what to do in between. Sadly, Toscanini paid little attention to most of Mozart’s symphonies because, except for the last three, he found most of them boring: “Is always beautiful, but always the same!” In Fischer’s performances, nothing is “always the same.” In the Andante of this Symphony, for instance, there are no dynamics markings at all, yet Fischer plays it at a moderate mp with further gradations down to p or pp and back again. By such means does he create and sustain interest.
The notes also explain the reason why the music sounds so vibrant and alive: His string players all use steel strings, which gives the music a consistently “edgy” quality that reveals, as Fischer put it, Mozart’s “earthily honest side.” The more you think about it, the more this makes sense, since Mozart was strongly influenced by both Haydn and C. P. E. Bach, both of whom exploited an earthy, dramatic quality in their symphonies.
Probably the most difficult aspect of the earlier symphonies to overcome was the monotony of orchestration. Clarinets, horns, and other instruments only begin to appear in Mozart’s symphonies later on; earlier, the composer had to rely on his ingenuity of counter-rhythms and occasional harmonic changes to sustain interest, and unlike Haydn, Mozart almost invariably sought the widest possible popularity for his music (perhaps one of the reasons why Toscanini found it “always the same”). Yet, as the notes also point out, in Mozart’s day no one bothered to listen to music more than three years old as a rule. It was all about what was new, not what had come before. No one gave a hoot back then about “historical performance practice” because they didn’t want it and wouldn’t have listened if you gave it to them.
I still feel that occasional movements, such as the Andantes of the “Paris” Symphony and No. 39, are a shade too fast for my taste, but in the context of Fischer’s overall musical conception what he plays works very well. I can now accept what I hear in those later symphonies because my tolerance was built up through what he did with the numerous early works. In short, I have taken this symphonic journey with Fischer, the only difference being that I did it in 12 nights rather than in seven years.
I have now replaced the Jaap ter Linden set of Mozart symphonies on my shelf with this one. I strongly urge you to give them a listen and see if you don’t agree.
FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley
Blech: Complete Orchestral Works & Songs / Gornik, Ward, Aachen Symphony Orchestra
The closest Leo Blech (1880–1959) gets to fame these days is being mistaken for Ernest Bloch. Actually, some might still remember his seminal work as an opera conductor in Berlin, where he worked for almost half a century (except for the Nazi years, when he lived in exile, avoiding a far worse fate). But his compositions – either operas or involving the voice in some other way – have disappeared from the repertoire. What a shame, because his music is, while less probing than that of his contemporary Bloch’s, very much charming in the style of, say, Humperdinck or Rheinberger. This release constitutes the first part of an upcoming celebration of Blech by Capriccio, which will later release a 2-CD recording of his opera The Alpine King and the Misanthrope.
REVIEW:
In the times we are living through, the music of Leo Blech recorded for this CD could be characterized as eco-music. The majority of the works describe nature in an idyllic, idealized state, as we wish it back only too gladly.
Now Leo Blech had to contend with quite different problems during his lifetime. As a celebrated conductor with Jewish roots, he was ostracized by the Nazis in the mid-1930s, was forced into retirement and went into exile.
For Leo Blech, music and nature were undoubtedly a refuge to a peaceful world. This is reflected in his compositions, beginning on this recording with Waldwanderung, an atmospheric contemplation of nature interpreted by the Aachen Symphony Orchestra under Christopher Ward with fine texture, lyrical wind choir and delicate string sounds.
Overall, we are dealing with extremely sensitive interpretations. Especially in the works with vocal instrumentation, Christopher Ward lets the orchestra sing and the great potential of the wonderful melodies come to full fruition.
The symphonic poem Die Nonne, on the other hand, is gripping and highly dramatic. The historical and emotional connection with Leo Blech, who was born in Aachen, repeatedly drives the entire ensemble to committed interpretations. In the end, the result is a coherent and noble homage to the composer Leo Blech
-- Pizzicato
Kaminsky: Fantasy / Oppens, Cassatt String Quartet, ASU Orchestra
Pianist Ursula Oppens, stalwart champion of 20th- and 21st-century American music and recipient of multiple Grammy nominations and other honors, celebrates her decades-long friendship and professional association with composer Laura Kaminsky on an album of world-premiere recordings. The program includes two recent works written for the pianist: Kaminsky’s Piano Quintet, performed with the Cassatt String Quartet, “a concise work of considerable substance and atmosphere” (New York Classical Review) and the turbulent Reckoning: Five Miniatures for America for piano four-hands, with pianist Jerome Lowenthal, created expressly for this recording. A large-scale Fantasy for solo piano explores sonorities from French Impressionism to jazz. Oppens gave the New York premiere in 2017.
Kaminsky’s Piano Concerto was inspired by visual images of sunlit rivers in New York City and St. Petersburg, Russia, where Oppens gave the world premiere with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic led by its artistic director Jeffery Meyer. On this world-premiere recording, Meyer, who is also director of orchestras at Arizona State University, conducts the ASU Symphony Orchestra.
REVIEW:
The solo piano Fantasy is just that, an imaginative fantasia piece that moves in unexpected directions at Kaminsky’s whim. A few hints of jazz rhythm come and go in it as well as a remarkable passage in which the two hands play completely different and opposing lines against each other. Interestingly, this Fantasy is longer than the entire Piano Quintet and only eight seconds shorter than the entire Piano Concerto that ends the disc. More and different permutations follow within that time span, all of them unexpected and interesting. These performances, all first recordings of these works, are all excellent, which helps us to appreciate Kaminsky’s sound world. Highly recommended.
– The Art Music Lounge
Titan of the contemporary keyboard, Ursula Oppens is a rarity among artists living today. She is the stalwart bearer of a mid-century musical torch that apparently burns eternal. How fortunate we are to have such musicians as Oppens still making music with fortitude, passion and tireless faith.
Oppens wields her piano at the album’s centre, steering a varied vessel with consistent skill and surety. Even in brief piano passages, as she peeks out from dense ensemble material, Oppens’ artistry sings unmistakably. The 20-minute solo Fantasy (2010) should be considered a tour de force in and of itself. When it comes to a career such as Oppens’, dedication and staying power carry the day. May she always urge us to listen close and listen well, ever compelling our ears toward the future.
-- The WholeNote
Schumann: Fantasiestücke - Kreisleriana - Brahms: Theme & Va
This is Volume 1 in Imogen Cooper’s new series on Chandos Records, dedicated to the complete works for piano by Robert Schumann. Recognised worldwide as a pianist of virtuosity and poetic poise, Imogen Cooper has established a reputation as one of the finest interpreters of the classical and romantic repertoire. She has dazzled audiences and orchestras throughout her distinguished career, bringing to the concert platform a unique musical understanding and lyrical quality.
Reger: Orchestral Works / Segerstam, Norrkoping Symphony
REGER Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Mozart, op. 132. Symphonic Prolog to a Tragedy, op. 108. Piano Concerto 1. Suite in Olden Style, op. 93. Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Beethoven, op. 86. A Ballet Suite, op. 130. Four Tone Poems after Arnold Böcklin, op. 128 • Leif Segerstam, cond; 1 Love Derwinger (pn); Norrköping SO • BIS 9047 (3 CDs: 203:54)
This new compilation of Leif Segerstam’s Reger recordings, originally issued on three separate CDs in the 1990s, makes an outstanding introduction to the work of a composer still largely known by many classical lovers for his organ music and one song, Maria Wiegenlied. When I reviewed the 2-CD Guild set of historic Reger recordings ( Fanfare 37:6), I said how much I liked the works presented there. I can say much the same thing of this set, despite Segerstam’s penchant for slower tempos, simply because as a composer himself he approaches each work from a structural standpoint and brings out many subtleties.
Surprisingly, only two works are duplicated in the two sets, the Mozart Variations and the Ballet Suite . The Guild collection also included the Lustpielouvertüre, Serenade in G, Romantic Suite, and Eine vaterländische Ouverture. Possibly one may also want to hear Reger’s Violin Concerto, Sinfonietta, and the Variations on a Theme of Hiller, but otherwise, between these two sets, you have the bulk of Reger’s orchestral oeuvre . Early on in life, Reger became infatuated with both Bach and Wagner, and from these twin fonts of Teutonic culture he created remarkably interesting structures in music. And, surprisingly, his music is not only interesting but also fun to listen to, a point I made in regards to the Guild set.
Of the music new to me via this release, I was particularly impressed with the Symphonic Prelude to a Tragedy (which one might describe as a more modern, and more tragic, incarnation of Brahms’s Tragic Overture ), the piano concerto, and the Beethoven Variations and Fugue. My sole complaint of the recordings, and this probably has more to do with the engineering than with Segerstam, is that in quiet passages the music sometimes fades out of earshot. Unless you are listening with your ears very close to the speakers or, on headphones, with the volume turned up high, you will miss some of those softer passages. Other than that, however, I was very pleased overall with Segerstam’s readings. As usual with this conductor, transparency of texture is paramount, often revealing details that go unnoticed in others’ readings, and his subtle plasticity of phrasing keeps the music fluid and moving forward. Thus in a work like the Mozart Variations, one may prefer the more straightforward conducting of Eduard van Beinum in the Guild set, but one will find much more to hear in the Segerstam performance.
I was not particularly impressed by the Suite in Olden Style, which just toodled along and sounded nice but not much else. The Variations on a Theme of Beethoven is based on the last of the op. 119 Bagatelles. He originally wrote it for two pianos, but when preparing the orchestral score he eliminated four of the 12 variations and, according to the notes, changed both the playing order and the arrangement of keys. When he finished this score in August 1915, he had less than a year to live. In this case, I felt that Segerstam’s performance was a bit too airy for my taste, making the music sound less energetic that it might have, but the Ballet Suite came off pretty well. Segerstam’s problem, like the famous criticism of Bruno Walter, is that “when he comes to something beautiful, he melts.”
The liner notes suggest that the reason Reger’s Piano Concerto has failed to gain a place in the standard repertoire is that it is technically demanding but does not allow the soloist to “show off.” I would also suggest that the dark, brooding quality of the music is another reason. Most people like their piano concertos to sound cheerful or dramatic or, if somewhat brooding, then brooding in a Romantic Russian (read: Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff) sort of way, neither of which Reger gives us. This is a very complex piece, too, continually evolving yet knitting together its various sections within each movement with consummate mastery. (I would particularly commend this concerto to many modern American composers who write “clever” music that does not develop properly.) Derwinger is a committed interpreter, throwing himself into this complex score with emotional fervor, and Segerstam, too, is particularly dramatic here.
What makes this packaging even more attractive is that BIS is selling the 3-CD box at a special price. I found it listed for $32.75 at Presto Classical and $38.49 at ArkivMusic, an excellent bargain considering BIS’s normal price tag for single discs, which run around $21.
FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley
Mozart Arias II / Regula Muhlemann, Kammerorchester Basel
Olesen: Der Wind bläset wo er will / Moser, Tausk, Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Danish composer Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen brings together two of his major orchestral works of the 2010s, Der Wind bläset wo er will and his Cello Concerto, for his third release on Dacapo Records. Olesen's stunning music is about life and about being alive: each piece is a world unto itself. They are recorded here with cellist Johannes Moser and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Otto Tausk. Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen trained both as a cellist and composer at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Aarhus. As a composer he studied with Karl Aage Rasmussen, Bent Sørensen and Olav Anton Thommesen at the Academy and privately with Henryk Gorecki and Poul Ruders. He has been the leader of Ensemble 2000 and chairman of the Aarhus Young Composers Society, and is at present director of the SPOR Festival in Århus. Outside Denmark TAO's music has been performed in Germany, England, France, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Chile, Russia and Finland.
REVIEW:
Olesen’s Cello Concerto is a wonderful find and worth the price of the disc on its own. Johannes Moser is completely inside it and it’s difficult to imagine a more emotionally powerful rendition. The Dutch conductor Otto Tausk is equally attuned to the essence of this singular piece and ensures world-class accompaniment from the DNSO. Dacapo’s teriffic recording exudes clarity—the balance between soloist and orchestra seems ideal.
These two substantial works add up to just under 50 minutes of exceptional contemporary music, but frankly who’s counting? In each case the sounds Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen has devised are utterly absorbing. He writes with tremendous sophistication and wit in the first piece and with an emotional directness in the second which is as daring as it is affecting. To echo the translation of the title of the first piece, both works last as long as they do. Each will amply reward any curious, sympathetic listener. That is surely enough.
– MusicWeb International
Prokofiev: Violin Concertos / Cristian, Pietsch, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Brahms / Leenaars, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
There was no point in his life when Johannes Brahms did not take an active interest in choral music. It was an interest that he evinced not only as a choral conductor in Detmold, Hamburg and Vienna but also as a composer who bequeathed to posterity a vast number of secular and sacred choral works. Among his principal compositions for chorus and orchestra were not only his German Requiem but also his Song of Destiny op. 54 (1871) for mixed chorus and orchestra. This was arguably the most significant of all Romantic settings of a poem by Friedrich Hölderlin and has now been selected by the Berlin Radio Choir for a CD that explores the whole vast range of Brahms’s choral writing. Under the direction of Gijs Leenaars, the Choir – heard here in various formations – is joined in some of these works by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester of Berlin. The Drei Gesänge op. 42, for example, are scored for mixed unaccompanied chorus, while Nänie op. 82 was written for chorus and orchestra. “All of the pieces that are featured on this CD show how well Brahms was able to write for the human voice,” says Gijs Leenaars, “and this is true of both their compositional textures and the impact of the sonorities that he uses.” At the same time Leenaars notes that the present programme is an ideal showcase for the Choir’s versatility. The Choir, he goes on, is a “great vehicle for choral works with orchestra, in which the right balance between orchestra and voices is a challenge”, while in the a cappella repertory the singers impress with the delicate textures of their voices.
The texts that Brahms has set in this selection of pieces all raise existential questions about our lives as human beings. The Song of Destiny is taken from Hölderlin’s epistolary novel Hyperion and draws on the world of classical mythology, contrasting the carefree lives of the gods on Mount Olympus with the toilsome existence of mortals on earth. Nänie for chorus and orchestra was written in 1881 in memory of the painter Anselm Feuerbach, who had died the previous year. The motet “Warum ist das Licht gegeben dem Mühseligen?” (Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery?) op. 74 no. 1 revolves around the question of why an almighty God allows to us suffer. “Es tönt ein voller Harfenklang” (The sounds of a full-toned harp ring forth) comes from the Vier Gesänge op. 17, which Brahms wrote in 1860 for the women’s choir that he had founded in Hamburg the previous year. And the Geistliches Lied (Sacred Song) op. 30 for four-part mixed chorus and strings invites its listeners to be steadfast and take comfort in their faith in the face of suffering and death.
Schumann: Davidsbündlertänze, Nachtstücke & Gesänge der Früh
Dohnanyi, Weiner: Works for Orchestra
Ernst von Dohnanyi was one of the most versatile and influential musicians of his time but his works are now seldom played. A gap which Capriccio want to fill now with this fifth recording of his late romantic, sensual music, deeply rooted in the Austro-German classical tradition. An appetizer is the overture of the one-act opera Tanta Simona, which has plenty of that Italian flair to show for that runs through the opera’s plot. After its premiere in 1910, the Suite in F-sharp minor Op.19 became one of the most performed Dohnányi’s works, whereas the American Rhapsody Op.47, which is full of quotations with American folk melodies, was his last orchestral work, first performed in 1954 at Ohio University. Finally his 8 years younger colleague Leó Weiner shows us in his early composition, the Serenade in F minor (1906) apart from the influence of the German and Austrian romantics, typical Hungarian colors and rhythms.
REVIEW:
Ernö Dohnanyi’s one-act comic opera Aunt Simona was premiered in Dresden in 1913. This aunt was once abandoned by her lover. Having become misandrist, she warns the younger generation against any relationships. The overture is already full of melodious inventions and is a pleasing start to this CD, on which the Suite op. 19 is the longest work.
With its variation movement, a scherzo, a romance and a rondo, it is a particularly attractive work, full of beautiful melodies and imaginative orchestral touches. Roberto Paternostro lovingly allows the melodies to blossom, but also sharpens the contrasts, making for an exciting performance overall.
The American Rhapsody, Dohnanyi’s homage to the United States, where he settled in 1949, is based on various American melodies without ultimately sounding truly American. Paternostro does well not to search uselessly for an Americana character, but to make the music simply vital or, for long stretches, with a lot of genuine poetry too.
– Pizzicato
Beethoven: Triple Concerto - Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 / West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra celebrates its 20th anniversary by giving a concert at the Berlin Philharmonie with world-renowned artists: Anne-Sophie Mutter and Yo-Yo Ma perform Beethoven’s Triple Concerto together with Maestro Barenboim and the young musicians. Yo-Yo Ma, who played with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at their first concert 20 years ago, and Anne-Sophie Mutter, who made her debut with the orchestra only this year, were named as honorary members of the orchestra on the occasion of this event. “It is fascinating to experience how brilliant, concentrated and at the same time relaxed these three world stars make music together and listen to each other. A masterpiece of harmony“ (RBB24). The second part of the concert features Bruckner's 9th Symphony, transcendental music which the composer himself dedicated to “the dear God“. The symphony is unfinished not only because Bruckner died during the process of composition, but especially because it seems to perish in nothingness. The musicians of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra are excellently prepared and play technically and tonal flawlessly. A magic moment.
Berlioz: Concert Overtures / Cambreling, SWR Sinfonieorchester
The present release contains Hector Berlioz's complete concert overtures, including the one written for his early opera Les francs-juges, superbly performed by the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg directed by the French conductor Sylvain Cambreling. French composer Hector Berlioz wrote a number of overtures, many of which remain concert staples. They include not only overtures intended to introduce operas, but also independent concert overtures. The album opens with one of the most popular overtures, Waverly, Op. 1. Composed in 1828, it was inspired by Sir Walter Scott’s Waverly novels. Also included are Le Carnaval romain, Op. 9, a standalone overture intended for concert performance made up of material from the opera Benvenuto Cellini, Le Corsaire, Op. 21, and others. This album is part of a new re-release series (Century Classics) consisting of SWR music bestsellers. The series is competitively priced, optically highly attractive and contains acclaimed SWR recordings mostly of the SWR orchestras and their chief conductors.
TCHAIKOVSKY: SYMPHONIES 1-6 MANFRED
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 / Saraste, WDR Sinfonieorchester Koln
What makes Bruckner's eighth symphony so special to Jukka-Pekka Saraste is the richness of it's atmosphere. He is always excited by the dramatic first subject of the first movement, which is based on the same rhythmical motive as appears in the beginning of Beethoven's Ninth symphony. Saraste chooses to perform the Haas edition because it contains some fascinating sections taken from Bruckner's first version. In his version, Bruckner, advised by his well-meaning supporters, appears to have tried to create a greater symphonic unity and line.
