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DECCA RECORDINGS

DECCA

$68.60 Jul 11, 2025

Jonas Kaufmann - "The Decca Recordings" [15 CD Boxset] The first boxset anthology chronicling a major chapter in the recording life of supreme tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Encompassing an entire decade of glorious music making from 2002-2012, the collection provides a rounded portrait of Kaufmann as opera star and Lieder recitalist, heard here at the height of his vocal prowess. All recordings unfailingly received rave reviews at the time of release; many of them are standard-setting and are now returned to physical circulation as part of this set. All additional material recorded in sessions for respective albums are included with those albums. Featured among the operatic repertoire is a rare recording of Humperdinck's fairytale opera Konigskinder with the late Armin Jordan. Also included, is a disc devoted to Kaufmann speaking about Wagner's music and the roles he portrays on his Decca recital disc (audio only, in German and English). Presented on 15 CDs with their original jackets. Limited Edition.

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DECCA RECORDINGS
DECCA Jul 2025
CD
$68.60

Thielemann Conducts Faust - Liszt, Wagner

C Major Entertainment

DVD

$13.49 ~~$26.99~~ Save 50% Oct 25, 2011

Also available on Blu-ray

THIELEMANN CONDUCTS FAUST

Richard Wagner: A Faust Overture

Franz Liszt: A Faust Symphony, S108/R425
Endrik Wottrich, tenor
Dresden State Opera Chorus
Dresden Staatskapelle
Christian Thielemann, conductor

Recorded live from the Semperoper Dresden, 2011.

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Japanese
Running time: 90 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

R E V I E W:

3542380.az_LISZT_Faust_Symphony_WAGNER.html

LISZT A Faust Symphony. WAGNER A Faust Overture • Christian Thielemann, cond; Endrik Wottrich (ten); Dresden St Op Ch; Staatskapelle Dresden • C MAJOR 707708 (DVD: 90:00) Live: Semperoper, Dresden 02/21–22/2011

Now here’s a good release, entering an uncluttered field with repertoire that coincides neatly with an anniversary and that fits its performers like a glove. Where I recently argued that Christian Thielemann just about makes a (flawed) case for himself in the congested world of Beethoven symphonies, his credentials for Wagner and Liszt are far less controversial. A retro knight of big-boned, smoothly contoured orchestral playing, he is here heard to great effect in repertoire that is shamefully underrepresented. I also cannot fault the pairing of a young Wagner’s aborted attempt at a symphony with Liszt’s epic achievement on the same subject. Before Cosima, what linked Wagner and Liszt were their respective attempts to set Goethe’s Faust to music. Wagner intended this, written during his Paris years, to be merely the first movement of a Faust symphony, before Der fliegende Holländer and his Saxony post got in the way. So it remained an overture, and it was Liszt who would carry on some of Wagner’s initial intentions, such as a second movement based on the character of Gretchen. Liszt himself conducted Wagner’s piece in 1852, but despite a final revision in 1855 (the version given here) and a sketch for Gretchen’s theme, Wagner’s “symphony” remains a tantalizing what-if, giving clearance for the older composer to work on his vast set of Faustian character portraits. As Tobias Niederschlag’s admirable notes point out, Lizst’s late addition of tenor and chorus (always a bit of an afterthought in my view) to his tonal portraits can be seen as a nod to Beethoven’s Ninth, a sign of the massive ambition on display.

Given its fractious birth, Wagner’s A Faust Overture tends, not surprisingly, to be dismissed as a rather nothingy, juvenile work, but Thielemann and the Dresdeners really do make a fine case for it. Despite the full string textures and grandly played climaxes, Thielemann wisely doesn’t linger or pull things about for effect, as he sometimes does, and the Dresdeners’ dark, burnished sound helps underline the familiar traits of mature Wagner, without preventing it from being an intense, nimble account of a work that deserves to be better known. Yes, there are hangovers of Weber in the tuttis, and obvious foreshadows of the Holländer overture, but also there is a germ of Wagner’s later epic arches of texture and melodic development. The dying chords of Tristan und Isolde , for instance, can surely be heard in the finals bars of this piece.

With those mournful broken woodwind phrases in the “Nostalgia” opening, Wagner must have had Liszt’s symphony at the back of his mind during Tristan’s development. Although grotesque humor doesn’t feature in Wagner’s opera, both pieces share that introverted sense of Weltschmerz that naturally brings out the best from Thielemann. Faust’s feverish obsession is brilliantly conveyed in the frenzied string writing, but Thielemann doesn’t let the symphony as a whole become the empty showpiece that some of Liszt’s vast tapestries can become. The second movement (Gretchen) is, likewise, very well controlled, with the love theme played with sincerity, but no less heartfelt than many more drawn-out versions, and with much exquisite solo playing from the orchestra.

I still have the occasional feeling of extreme control-freakery, as on Thielemann’s recent Beethoven, but here his quirks and homogenized sound fit the repertoire brilliantly, and although as typically plush and molded an experience as I had predicted from this team, this DVD confounds a lot of my prejudices about him. Most surprising is how swift Thielemann is, with the Liszt falling roughly between young (Sony audio) and old (Euroarts DVD) Leonard Bernstein in basic length, and similar in scale to Barenboim’s audio version. Likewise I wouldn’t have predicted how well Thielemann creates a sense of fun on the podium; the ironisch comes out well in the opening of the grotesque Mesphisto episode, spritely in tone, in complete contrast to the opening two sections. I would almost say light and fleet-footed, but after some comparison with 1960s Bernstein, or a terrific YouTube clip of Dmitri Mitropoulos rehearsing the same section, Thielemann cannot yield all of his steeliness. Choral singing is excellent, although I can think of more alluring sounds than the rather pinched, clunky tones of tenor Endrik Wottrich, in rather tense form here. DVD competition is scarce, but Kenneth Riegel on Leonard Bernstein’s 1976 Boston DVD is better. For true vocal allure, if weird German, Plácido Domingo on Barenboim’s Warner CD is the obvious choice.

I do wish concert DVDs would come with the option of having an mp3 of the audio only. I, for one, would love the Wagner overture on my iPod. But C Major’s presentation is still very fine, with good booklet notes and logical DVD menuing. Pity that there are no extras (Thielemann’s Beethoven symphonies on the same label came with a 60-minute discussion of each work), but camerawork is unobtrusive and the sound is very clear and balanced, possibly at times allowing that Dresden acoustic to give quieter moments a rather cold demeanor. Perhaps, because of that last point, I find myself preferring the Bernstein DVD, boisterous and all-embracing despite much slower tempi throughout. But it is not a clear victory, especially considering modern picture, sound, and so fine a Faust Overture performance as a filler. So, yes, unlikely readers who only want one version: Get the Thielemann.

FANFARE: Barnaby Rayfield

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Thielemann Conducts Faust - Liszt, Wagner
C Major Entertainment Oct 2011
DVD
~~$26.99~~ $13.49

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Honegger, Liebermann, & Strauss / Brogli-Sacher, Lübeck Philharmonic
Musicaphon Jan 2008
SACD
~~$16.99~~ $8.49

Korper

Wergo

$20.99 Sep 26, 2025

Enno Poppe has 'tailor-made' concise ensemble works for two of the most important ensembles of contemporary music: "Gold" - a purely vocal work for the SWR Vokalensemble - and "Korper" - for the Ensemble Modern. In the three-part a cappella work "Gold" (one of only two choral compositions to date), Poppe indulges for the first time in his love of the lustfully excessive texts by Arno Holz (1863-1929), one of the most important representatives of German Naturalism and literary Modernism. The poems are parodistically related to less humorous high literature. The SWR Vokalensemble's supple miracle sound appears confidently in various combinations, sometimes fanned out in 24 voices as in old vocal polyphony. "Korper" takes us to another end of the scale of possible sounds. Here, the 21 soloists of the Ensemble Modern form a formidable big band, augmented by appropriate woodwind and brass instruments (including saxophones, of course). Here, however, Poppe is more concerned with exploring and expanding what the big band provides as a 'sound body', i.e. The colors, dynamic and rhythmic possibilities, with the means of New Music, an art that the Ensemble Modern has truly perfected. As so often with Poppe, the piece "Korper" goes through multiple processes of intensification and collapse. In the climaxes, the physicality of the music is almost overwhelming. Nevertheless, the nuclei of the piece are the intimate, thinly scored moments when the electric strings ever so gradually rise up with the percussion, or when a saxophone, a keyboard, or a trombone steps out of the thicket of sound and is allowed a few moments of self-discovery.

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Korper
Wergo Sep 2025
CD
$20.99

Mix & Match

Wagner, R.: Die Walküre
C Major Entertainment Jan 2010
DVD
$42.99

Zwischen Leben und Tod (Between Life and Death) - Twenty-two

Metier

$18.99 May 15, 2026

In May 2026 Metier Records is proud to present Michael Hersch's monumental chamber work Zwischen Leben und Tod (Between Life and Death) performed by violinist Peter Sheppard Skaerved and pianist Roderick Chadwick, marking the label debut of one of the most gifted composers of his generation. Hersch's music has been described by The New York Times as "viscerally gripping and emotionally transformative music.claustrophobic and exhilarating at once, with moments of sublime beauty nestled inside thickets of dark virtuosity". In January this year he was selected as the inaugural recipient of the John Hopkins University Affiliated Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. Zwischen Leben und Tod is a startling yet moving 22-movement cycle for violin and piano written in inspiration of paintings by the surrealist German artist, writer and filmmaker Peter Weiss, each movement corresponding to a particular image. It's duration of 100 minutes makes it one of the longest works for violin and piano. Peter Weiss was best known as a playwright of searing and often disturbing stage dramas, including Marat/Sade which features the assassination of French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat in an asylum-set play by the Marquis de Sade. Weiss's little-known paintings and drawings share many of the same characteristics, featuring loneliness, violence and grief (themes of asylums, war, prisons, cannibalism) but also deeply meditative imagery (a string quartet, a garden concert, a boy in the grounds of a country house). Hersch found Weiss's spectrum of colour and motion, of proportion and spacing, particularly musical, and Zwischen Leben und Tod makes a deep and visceral engagement with these same explorations. The result is a complex, rich and multi-layered work featuring extremes of tempi, dynamics and technique making enormous physical demands on the performers, while being hugely rewarding. Much of the music is disturbing and raw, but the overall effect is affecting, offering the listener moments of solace. In David Hackbridge Johnson's fabulous booklet notes he says "The little modal chord figures, the open strings that plaintively grate over them, the wisps of folk song, the lullaby figures - all these are a welcome balm to sooth the sores of an atrocity exhibition. What tenderness amid the haunted landscapes!.. Despite these scenes of peril, after over 90 minutes between living and dying in Hersch and Weiss's world, a curiously cathartic sense is achieved; a procession of bleak images in sound that somehow resist despair." Violinist Peter Sheppard Skaerved has known and collaborated closely with Michael Hersch for over twenty years, and this is their first recording together. His performance here alongside that of pianist Roderick Chadwick is hugely expressive, displaying extraordinary virtuosity. Michael Hersch is professor of composition at the Peabody Institute and is a composer of "uncompromising brilliance" (The Washington Post). His output includes opera, theatre, chamber, vocal and orchestral works, performed across Europe and the US, including UK premieres at the Aldeburgh Festival and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He is the recipient of many prizes and awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship in Composition, both the Berlin Prize and Rome Prize, the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and the President's Frontier Award from the John Hopkins University.

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Zwischen Leben und Tod (Between Life and Death) - Twenty-two
Metier May 2026
CD
$18.99

Mix & Match

Strauss: Arabella / Fleming, Hampson, Thielemann

C Major Entertainment

DVD

$21.48 ~~$42.99~~ Save 50% Sep 30, 2014

Also available on Blu-ray

2014 marks a year of celebration recognizing the 150th birthday year of the German late-Romantic orchestral, operatic and lied master composer, Richard Strauss (1864-1949). Arabella (premiered 1933, Dresden) was the last of the half dozen Strauss works to feature a libretto by the great Austrian writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal. This production, from the most recent Salzburg Easter Festival is, after Capriccio, the second of three Richard Strauss operas C Major is releasing in honor of the composer’s birth, life and work. The star-laden cast includes soprano Renèe Fleming, baritone Thomas Hampson, Albert Dohmen (Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, MET) and Gabriela Benacková (Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden). With Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden, “the music of Richard Strauss is in the best of hands.” (ORF) “Thielemann gets the best out of the cast...especially Renée Fleming with her “luxurious” soprano …” FAZ

Richard Strauss
ARABELLA

Graf Waldner - Albert Dohmen
Adelaide - Gabriela Be?a?ková
Arabella - Renée Fleming
Zdenka - Hanna-Elisabeth Müller
Mandryka - Thomas Hampson
Matteo - Daniel Behle

Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden
(chorus master: Wolfram Tetzner)
Staatskapelle Dresden
Christian Thielemann, conductor

Florentine Klepper, stage director
Martina Segna, set designer
Anna Sofie Tuma, costume designer
Bernd Purkrabek, lighting designer
Volker Michl, choreographer

Recorded live at Salzburg Easter Festival, 2014

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.0br> Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 178 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

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Strauss: Arabella / Fleming, Hampson, Thielemann
C Major Entertainment Sep 2014
DVD
~~$42.99~~ $21.48

American Classics - Toch: Tanz-suite, Cello Concerto

Naxos

$19.99 Oct 31, 2006

The two works on this disc date from the early to mid 1920s and very much belong to the "new objectivity" of composers such as Weill and early Hindemith. Indeed, when listening to the Cello Concerto, the latter's Kammermusik series comes readily to mind. The Dance Suite, inventively scored for flute, clarinet, violins, viola, double bass, and percussion, is quite a substantial piece as well, lasting nearly half an hour and featuring a typically manic, highly stylized take on theoretically popular music. Both works are extremely acerbic harmonically, often verging on atonality, but at the same time quite recognizably melodic and often shot through with a curiously haunting, bittersweet lyricism.

In short, these works are very much redolent of their time and place, and if the period or the idiom interests you, then so will these very polished and well recorded performances. There's really nothing more that needs to be said: the players are uniformly fine, with cellist Christian Poltéra making the concerto sound as close to effortless as it probably ever can. The music may be gnarly, but it's also highly virtuosic and often fun (particularly in the Dance Suite), and this latter quality comes through quite effectively. In sum, this is a fine disc, but one for specialized tastes.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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American Classics - Toch: Tanz-suite, Cello Concerto
Naxos Oct 2006
CD
$19.99

Wagner Liaisons

Berlin Classics

$19.99 Nov 28, 2025

The German star pianist Matthias Kirschnereitdedicates this album entirely to the piano cosmos of Richard Wagner?. Wagner himself wrote few works for solo piano, but he influenced many of his contemporaries and musical heirs with his work?. Matthias Kirschnereit presents a wide range of repertoire - Wagner: Sonata for the album M.W., Lied ohne Worte E major for Eduard Reitz, In das Album der Furstin M., Zurcher Vielliebchen Walzer, Polka, Notenbrief fur Mathilde Wesendonck, Ankunft bei den Schwarzen Schwanen; Wagner/Stradal: Schmerzen; Wagner/Rubinstein: Musikalische Bilder aus Siegfried; Liszt: Am Grabe Richard Wagners; Bizet: Premier Nocturne D Dur; Duparc: Aux etoiles; Langgaard: Stambogsblad; Bulow: Innocence; Bruckner: Erinnerung; Mendelssohn: Lied ohne Worte E Dur op.38/3?

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Wagner Liaisons
Berlin Classics Nov 2025
CD
$19.99

Mix & Match

Schnebel & Schollhorn: Yes I Will Yes / Sun, Lavoie, Dernbach, Porter, Fischer, West German Radio Symphony Orchestra of Cologne

Haenssler Classic

$10.49 ~~$20.99~~ Save 50% Apr 01, 2022

Sarah Maria Sun is known as one of the foremost vocal performers in the contemporary music scene. Her repertoire currently spans more than 1000 compositions from the 16th to the 21st century, including 350 world premieres. She regularly performs as a soloist in renowned concert halls and festivals worldwide. At leading opera houses and stages she created complex female figures in music theaters, operas and monodramas. For her role as Elsa in Sciarrino’s “Lohengrin“ (2017) as well as for her performance in Philip Venables’ “4.48 Psychoses“ (2019) she was nominated as singer of the year. From 2007-2014, she was the first soprano of the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, a chamber ensemble of seven singers that has been one of the world’s leading pioneers of contemporary music for decades.

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Schnebel & Schollhorn: Yes I Will Yes / Sun, Lavoie, Dernbach, Porter, Fischer, West German Radio Symphony Orchestra of Cologne
Haenssler Classic Apr 2022
CD
~~$20.99~~ $10.49

Max Bruch - Edition

Haenssler Classic

$32.99 Jun 19, 2026

A musical portrait of the German Romantic composer: Bruch placed great emphasis on melody and expression, remaining stylistically rather traditional-even as the music around him was changing dramatically. In addition to orchestral works, he also composed choral and chamber music.

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Max Bruch - Edition
Haenssler Classic Jun 2026
CD
$32.99

Bruckner: Symphony No 5 / Thielemann, Dresden Staatskapelle

C Major Entertainment

DVD

$26.99 Oct 28, 2014

Also available on Blu-ray

Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden are continuing their internationally acclaimed Bruckner cycle with the Symphony No. 5. For Anton Bruckner, his Fifth Symphony was a glorious confrontation with the music of the past – from a personal, biographical angle, but also as a departure from the composition techniques he preferred up to this point. Not for nothing is this tremendous opus magnum regarded as Bruckner’s “contrapuntal masterpiece”. In this universally lauded performance, Christian Thielemann, already the leading Bruckner interpreter of our times, has once again proven himself to be a “magician of the Bruckner sound”. (Kurier)

Anton Bruckner
SYMPHONY NO. 5

Dresden Staatskapelle
Christian Thielemann, conductor

Recorded live at the Semperoper, Saxon State Opera, Dresden, 2013

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, German, French
Running time: 89 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

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Bruckner: Symphony No 5 / Thielemann, Dresden Staatskapelle
C Major Entertainment Oct 2014
DVD
$26.99

Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 85 & Sir John Falstaff, Op. 6

CPO

$18.99 Jul 03, 2026

After Hugo Kaun ended his American adventure and returned to the Old World, he began to pour the exotic events of his life into two symphonic tone poems. These have been in our catalogue since late 2023 under the title I'm Urwald (In the Primeval Forest). He soon rose to become one of the most highly regarded German composers (thanks primarily to his noteworthy works for male choirs), and in 1905 turned his attention to programme music. Sir John Falstaff, the incomparable charmer from William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor and the drinking companion of the future King Henry V, has been given a well-deserved place in the musical gallery of famous literary heroes alongside Till Eulenspiegel, MacBeth, Don Quixote, Don Juan, and Zarathustra, all to whom he certainly does justice from this, his first self-assured appearance. It also provides an excellent introduction to the powerful Second Symphony, which was completed five years later - further evidence of an orchestral maestro who had mastered the late Romantic repertoire with consummate skill.

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Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 85 & Sir John Falstaff, Op. 6
CPO Jul 2026
CD
$18.99

Mix & Match

Soler: Sonatas For Harpsichord Vol 13 / Gilbert Rowland

Naxos

$13.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 30% Jul 31, 2007

A top-quality conclusion to a series which has given some brilliant and idiosyncratic music.

This disc is announced as the final instalment of Gilbert Rowland’s Naxos cycle of the complete Sonatas for Harpsichord by Padre Antonio Soler. I haven’t heard all of the earlier volumes, so I won’t attempt any kind of comprehensive statement about the project as a whole, but my impression, for what it’s worth, is that the series has got better and better as it has gone on. I agree with Patrick Waller (see his review of Volume 12) that the recorded sound has improved in later volumes; it was rather clattery and echoing on some of the early discs, but there are certainly no problems with the sound on this final volume. My sense is also that Gilbert Rowland has come to sound more and more at home with the music, his playing increasingly relaxed, his phrasing more flexible and his range of tonal colours more various. Whether or not these (remembered) impressions are correct, what I can say with some confidence is that this final disc is full of exciting and exhilarating music, played with considerable panache.

Spanish musical traditions are, of course, a central element in Soler’s harpsichord music; traditional Spanish dance rhythms are very clearly audible in the almost seven minutes of the central allegro (marked ‘assai spiritoso’) of Sonata 66, played here with sympathetic (and technically assured) flair; Spanish idioms are also very much to the fore in the opening Cantabile of Sonata 60. At times (as in Sonata 76) the influence of Domenico Scarlatti, Soler’s erstwhile teacher is evident. But Soler clearly listened rather more widely - at times the music prompts one to think of C.P.E. Bach.

Elsewhere, Soler’s fugues would satisfy all but the most pedantically rigorous of Germanic theorists. The fugal third movement of Sonata 66 is a delight, though some of its modulations might perhaps upset that hypothetical pedantic theorist; surely even he (or she?) would find little to complain about in the ‘intento a 4’ which closes Sonata 68, beautifully worked out and technically very accomplished.

But if Soler could be ‘correct’, he could also be somewhat shocking. The allegro in 6/8 of Sonata 60 is full of unexpected leaps and begins with some unconventional harmonies (“almost Bartókian” says Rowland in his characteristically useful booklet notes) that even now retain some of their power to startle.

Rowland responds to the range of this music and, on this disc at any rate, plays it with real innerness. At times here, as on some of the earlier volumes, I wondered whether one or two of the pieces might not work better still on the organ, but that is a quibble which shouldn’t detract from our gratitude to Rowland and to Naxos for the completion of this substantial project. I believe that the only sonatas by Soler which were ever published during the Eighteenth Century were those which appeared as XXVII Sonatas para clave, published around 1796 by Richard Birchall of London. So there is an aptness in the choice of a British (Rowland was born in Glasgow) harpsichordist as the protagonist for this series. In this final disc he plays a two manual instrument by Andrew Wooderson, made in 2005 and modelled on 1750 instrument from the Goermans workshop in Paris – and with its bright (but not excessively so) sound and clear articulation it enables Rowland to do something like full justice to this engaging music.

-- Glyn Pursglove, MusicWeb International

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Soler: Sonatas For Harpsichord Vol 13 / Gilbert Rowland
Naxos Jul 2007
CD
~~$19.99~~ $13.99

Schreker: Complete Orchestral Works, Vol. 2

CPO

$18.99 Feb 14, 2025

Following the first volume in this series, which charted Franz Schreker's developmental path up to the success of his dance-pantomime Der Geburtstag der Infantin (The Birthday of the Infanta; 777 702-2), this second album focuses primarily on the triumphant years that followed the premiere of his opera Der ferne Klang (The Distant Sound) in 1912. The Vorspiel zu einem Drama (Prelude to a Drama) from 1914 and the Chamber Symphony, composed in 1916, are among the gems of musical Jugendstil (Art Nouveau). Originating as offshoots of contemporary stage projects, these two captivating works display a mastery of sound, harmony, and melody that was unparalleled at the time. The Four Small Pieces for Large Orchestra (1931), which separate these older "siblings" on this recording, speak in a new language. These abstract contributions to film music, presented as a compact and multifaceted concert suite, hint at powerful new directions - plans that, sadly, Franz Schreker could never fully realize.

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Schreker: Complete Orchestral Works, Vol. 2
CPO Feb 2025
CD
$18.99

Schubert: Lied Edition 12 - Mayrhofer, Vol. 2
Naxos Apr 2003
CD
$19.99

Bach: Leipzig Organ Chorales / Craig F. Humber

MDG

SACD

$28.99 ~~$37.99~~ Save 25% Apr 01, 2010

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Composer and organ builder very nearly get equal billing on this CD. Bach’s name is in larger letters than Silbermann’s on the cover, but the latter gets twice the column inches inside.

Craig Humber is happy for the organ to be the star of the show, or so it seems from the fact that it was he who penned the comprehensive notes about its history and construction. They are an interesting pair J.S. Bach and Gottfried Silbermann; almost exactly contemporaries and equally distinguished, and yet there is no evidence they ever worked together or even met.

Issues then of authenticity, or at least historical verisimilitude, ought by rights to be the starting point for a project like this. They are certainly important motivations for Humber, but he is also at pains to emphasise that traditions of organ building in the 18 ^th century were as diverse as those of performance. So, where Bach borrows freely from courtly dance styles of France, so Silbermann borrows the designs of ‘fiery reed and powerful mutation stops’ from his Gallic contemporaries.

But historical issues aside, the most valid and obvious justification for recording this music on this instrument is that it works supremely well. Bach’s lyrical counterpoint in these, for the most part gentle, works ebbs and flows beautifully when rendered in these warm, restrained timbres. Humber claims to use every stop of the organ at some point on this recording, but he mixes the colours subtly, and his restraint with the mutation stops in particular makes their few appearances all the more effective.

Two discs of Chorale Preludes, even if they are by Bach, can be excessive for a single sitting, and this is music best appreciated in small, but regular, doses. Almost any recording of works in a single genre by a single composer risks monotony, and that can be a particular problem here, as almost every work is slow, quiet and made up of unbroken contrapuntal textures. On the other hand, Humber is to be congratulated for not attempting to sex it up for the sake of impatient listeners. Each of these works functions as a perfect artistic entity, whether heard in a liturgical context or heard in succession, and Humber is happy to present them just like that, with nothing added or subtracted. It is quite a conservative approach, even for an organist, but it’s ideal.

The SACD sound is good, almost too good. The liner-notes make much of the imperfections of the organ, statements which sit uneasily with the balance and evenness of tone in the recording. And how have they managed to avoid excessive resonance from the cathedral acoustic? MDG make a big thing out of their opposition to any kind of digital manipulation, so it can only come down to astute sound engineering on the day – or on the night rather, if the stories I’ve heard about organ recording sessions are anything to go by.

Craig Humber is clearly passionate about the work of Gottfried Silbermann, and he demonstrates on this recording that he has the artistic skills to show off the organ-builder’s work at its very best. A recording project that makes such a feature of its instrumentation is always going to require the highest possible standards of recorded sound. Fortunately, that’s exactly what this one gets.

-- Gavin Dixon, MusicWeb International

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Bach: Leipzig Organ Chorales / Craig F. Humber
MDG Apr 2010
SACD
~~$37.99~~ $28.99

Telemann: Paris Quartets, Vol. 1 - 6 Quadri (1730)

SOMM Recordings

$18.99 May 09, 2025

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) was-to characterize him in contemporary terms-a workaholic, thanks to which we have, amongst his 3,000-plus works, his two sets of marvellously rich Paris Quartets. SOMM Recordings is pleased to release TELEMANN Paris Quartets Volume 1: 6 Quadri, featuring leading period-instrument specialists from The London Handel Players, praised by the New York Times for their "soulful depth" and their "consummate skill and musicianship." At the height of his phenomenal productivity, Telemann held the positions of Kantor at the Johanneum Lateinschule in Hamburg; Kapellmeister to the five largest churches in the city; and Director of the Hamburg Opera. He also had obligations to the courts in Eisenach and Bayreuth. As if that wasn't enough, he embarked on an ambitious project of self-publication of his works. Amongst these were Quartets for violin, flute, viola da gamba or cello, and continuo; divided into 2. Concertos, 2. Ballets, 2. Sonatas. The first set of quartets, or quadri, was published in Hamburg - certainly by 1730 though the exact date is unknown - and such was their popularity that they were republished in Paris by Le Clerc in 1736 without Telemann's permission. It would seem that this prompted him to make a long-awaited visit to the French capital where he stayed for eight months in 1737-38. While there, he composed a second glorious set of quartets, naming his two collections Quadri and Nouveaux Quatuors. In the latter part of the 20th century, the editors of the Telemann Musikalische Werke titled the two sets collectively as The Paris Quartets, by which name we still know them. As their extended title indicates, the Quadri are not six works of the same genre. Instead, they comprise two Italianate concertos, two German-style sonatas, and two Balletti or suites of French dances, bringing together a variety of national styles. The ensemble of London Handel Players is flexible in size, consisting primarily of strings, flute/recorder, and harpsichord. The featured musicians on SOMM's first volume of the Paris Quartets by Telemann are Rachel Brown, flute; Adrian Butterfield, violin; Gavin Kibble, viola da gamba; Sarah McMahon, cello; and Silas Wollston, harpsichord. The London Handel Players' critically acclaimed discography for SOMM includes five discs of Handel chamber music: his Trio sonatas Opp. 2 (SOMMCD 084) and 5 (SOMMCD 044); his Complete Sonatas and Works for Violin & Continuo (SOMMCD 068); and two volumes titled Handel at Home (SOMMCD 055) and Total Eclipse, Handel at Home Vol. 2 (SOMMCD 0676). David Vickers, reviewing Handel at Home for Gramophone, wrote, "Their consummate musicianship is consistently delightful: sparkling violin-playing (often with two players in perfect unison) and superb continuo contributions are just as impressive as Rachel Brown's poetic flute solos."

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Telemann: Paris Quartets, Vol. 1 - 6 Quadri (1730)
SOMM Recordings May 2025
CD
$18.99

Louis Ferdinand Prinz von Preussen - Complete Works

Haenssler Classic

$38.99 Jul 18, 2025

Louis Ferdinand Prince of Prussia (1772-1806) was not only heir to the Prussian throne, but also a talented composer. Inspired by the music of his time, especially Beethoven and Mozart, he created a series of works characterized by great emotional depth and melodic elegance. His oeuvre mainly comprises piano pieces, chamber music and songs that reflect both courtly refinement and personal sensitivity. Despite his early death, Louis Ferdinand left behind a remarkable contribution to German music of the early Romantic period, which is still recognized today.

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Louis Ferdinand Prinz von Preussen - Complete Works
Haenssler Classic Jul 2025
CD
$38.99

MEYERBEER: GRAND OPERA (OPERA ARIAS)

ERATO

$17.28 May 05, 2017

Giacomo Meyerbeer, the master of Parisian grand opera, was hugely successful in his time and a major influence on Verdi and Wagner. His music has fascinated Diana Damrau since her student days. With her brilliant coloratura, lyricism and dramatic power, the soprano rises triumphantly to the vocal and expressive challenges of arias from 10 of his operas, singing in French, Italian and German. Two of the arias receive their world premiere recording with this album. The idea of a Meyerbeer album has been close to Diana Damrau's heart since she first recorded for Erato back in 2006. She became fascinated by the composer's music as a student in Wurzburg, when she was invited to perform his cantata Gli amori di Teolinda. "I immersed myself in Meyerbeer's world," she explains, "and was excited by his multifaceted writing for the voice, by his orchestral colours, his theatrical instincts, the powerful and varied way in which he expresses emotion, his splendid melodies and, last but not least, his ability to capture precisely the right 'national style'. If you compare his Italian, German and French works, it is like listening to three different composers."

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MEYERBEER: GRAND OPERA (OPERA ARIAS)
ERATO May 2017
CD
$17.28

J. Strauss Jr: Die Gottin Der Vernunft / Pollack, Kumpfmuller, Cortez, Mittermeier, Fodinger

Naxos

$20.99 ~~$29.99~~ Save 30% May 31, 2011

Set in the town of Chalons near the German border at the time of the French Revolution during the Reign of Terror in 1794, Johann Strauss II’s final operetta The Goddess of Reason languished for 111 years until this 2009 in-concert revival. Its light-hearted mockery of the aristocracy, morality and the army, somewhat controversial at the time, seems as harmless now as that of Bernstein’s ebullient opera Candide and its humour stands the test of time. Abounding in waltz tunes and marches, its exuberant music is vintage Strauss. For this recording Christian Pollack has reconstructed the score as it would have been heard on its opening night with additional items that Strauss added for its 25th performance.

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J. Strauss Jr: Die Gottin Der Vernunft / Pollack, Kumpfmuller, Cortez, Mittermeier, Fodinger
Naxos May 2011
CD
~~$29.99~~ $20.99

Siegfried Idyll: Organ Transcriptions

Oehms Classics

$19.99 Oct 18, 2019

Organist Hansjorg Albrecht and his sound engineer Martin Fischer have collaborated again on a set of new Richard Wagner organ transcriptions. This time Albrecht plays the celebrated Woehl organ in the Herz-Jesu-Kirche in Munich. The transcriptions are by the young composer Axel Langmann, and by Edwin Henry Lemare. The Overtures to Die Feen and Das Liebesverbot are heard in world premiere recordings. Hansjorg Albrecht has released more than 20 albums on OehmsClassics, both as conductor and organist. They include the complete recording of Walter Braunfels' orchestral songs, which received many positive comments from the international media; and Richard Wagner's Ring ohne Worte in the orchestral version by Lorin Maazel, which was nominated for the German Record Critics' Prize. Hansjorg Albrecht was also nominated for a Grammy award in 2013 in the category Best Classical Instrumental Solo for his organ recording of Gustav Holst's The Planets.

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Siegfried Idyll: Organ Transcriptions
Oehms Classics Oct 2019
CD
$19.99

Wagner: Die Walkure / Mehta, Seiffert, Schnitzer, Wilson

C Major Entertainment

Blu-Ray

$45.99 Jan 26, 2010

Richard Wagner
DIE WALKÜRE

Siegmund – Peter Seiffert
Hunding – Matti Salminen
Wotan – Juha Uusitalo
Sieglinde – Petra-Maria Schnitzer
Brünnhilde – Jennifer Wilson
Fricka – Anna Larsson
Gerhilde – Bernadette Flaitz
Ortlinde – Helen Huse Ralston
Waltraute – Pilar Vázquez
Schwertleite – Christa Mayer
Helmwige – Eugenia Bethencourt
Siegrune – Heike Grötzinger
Grimgerde – Manuela Bress
Rossweisse – Hannah Ester Minutillo

Valencian Community Orchestra (Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana)
Zubin Mehta, conductor

La Fura del Baus, staging
Carlus Padrissa, stage director

Recorded live from the Palau de les Arts "Reina Sofia", Valencia, Spain, 2008.

Bonus feature:
- The making of Die Walküre

Picture format: 1080i Full HD
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (opera) / Dolby Digital 2.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: German, French, English, Spanish (opera) / English (bonus)
Booklet notes: German, French, English
Running time: 245 mins (opera) + 27 mins (bonus)
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 50)

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Wagner: Die Walkure / Mehta, Seiffert, Schnitzer, Wilson
C Major Entertainment Jan 2010
Blu-Ray
$45.99

DER WANDERER

HYPERION

$18.49 Feb 11, 2014

Florian Boesch possesses a sensuously attractive baritone voice, first-rate diction and remarkable acting ability. Following on his acclaimed album of Loewe songs, Boesch is joined again by Roger Vignoles for an album of Schubert Lieder. Der Wanderer focuses on the composer's darker songs. They encapsulate a recurrent theme of German Romantic art: that of the rootless outsider. It is the world of Goethe's mysterious Harper and Mignon, and of the solitary, silhouetted figures in the darker landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich. In music it found it's supreme expression, not only in Schubert's Winterreise but in these many individual 'wandering' songs: some grimly resigned, some serenely contemplative, others imbued with a sense of physical and spiritual isolation and longing for an ultimately unattainable 'otherness.'

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DER WANDERER
HYPERION Feb 2014
CD
$18.49

Joseph, J.: Dance of the Three Legged Elephants / Joseph, J.
Signum Classics Jan 2009
CD
$19.99