Tokyo born composer Miho Hazama is one of New York's most astounding young talents. Lauded in Downbeat as one of "25 for the Future", Miho is quickly establishing herself as a force of nature on the world's stage. As the 2015 recipient of the BMI Charlie Parker Composition Prize, Miho developed her signature ensemble "m_unit". Now having 2 full length releases on Universal Music Japan/ Sunnyside Records, Miho has written for and expertly showcased the abilities of guest artists such as Joshua Redman, Stefon Harris, Steve Wilson, and Gil Goldstein, to name a few. Furthermore, each album was carefully overseen by Miho's musical mentor and jazz composition powerhouse, Jim McNeely. Critics and music fans alike have praised the recordings, and Miho has been featured in such influential publications as Downbeat, JazzTimes, NPR, CD Journal and many more. "Dancing in Nowhere" is the 3rd album of Miho with the "m_unit" and features Lionel Loueke as guest artist.
The Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra enjoyed a long and intensive artistic collaboration, which came to an abrupt end with Haitink's death in October 2021. BR-KLASSIK now presents outstanding and previously unreleased live recordings of their concerts from past years. This recording of Shostakovich's Fifteenth Symphony documents a concert given in February 2015 in Munich's Philharmonie i'm Gasteig. This recording of Gustav Mahler's Fourth Symphony documents concerts from November 2005 at Munich's Philharmonie i'm Gasteig. Haitink first conducted a Munich subscription concert in 1958, and from then on was a regular guest with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra - either in the Herkulessaal of the Residenz or in the Philharmonie i'm Gasteig. This congenial collaboration lasted for more than six decades. The orchestra musicians and singers enjoyed working with him just as much as the BR sound engineers. As an interpreter of the symphonic repertoire, and especially that of the German-Austrian Late Romantic period, Haitink was held in high esteem throughout the world. With him, the symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich were always in the best of hands. Haitink's driving principle was to make the sound architecture of a musical composition, with it's complex interweaving, transparently audible; extreme sensitivity of sound was combined with a clearly structured interpretation of the score. In his Fourth Symphony, Gustav Mahler brought his preoccupation with the poems from Des Knaben Wunderhorn to a preliminary climax. Texts from the collection, published between 1805 and 1808 by Clemens Brentano and Achim von Arnim, had already been incorporated into the "Wunderhorn Symphonies" Nos. 2 and 3. In Mahler's Fourth Symphony, composed between 1899 and 1901, the final movement features the Wunderhorn poem "Das himmlische Leben" (The Heavenly Life), which the composer had already set to music in 1892. It depicts a paradise beyond the grave, seen from a child's perspective. Mahler's sceptical view of the world of his time forms a utopian counter-concept to this "heavenly world."
Yoann Moulin completes his journey through German harpsichord music of the 17th century. We stand at the gateway to the art of Johann Sebastian Bach, alongside the composers who were his direct models and who passed on to him the principles of the Italian and French styles.
Whenever a definition is made in an attempt to distinguish one artistic concept from others, such delineation becomes an art in itself and is sometimes artificial. Music, let alone the musical genre of the art song, is no exception. Catch-all headings make matters easier. The two song cycles on this release certainly qualify as art songs. Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his opus 98 in 1816; musicologists commonly describe An die ferne Geliebte (to the distant beloved) as the first ever song cycle. Franz Schubert wrote his Schwanengesang (swan song) in 1828, the year of his death; the songs were posthumously made into a collection. In terms of its musicological and sociological development, the Lied, having long been considered “inferior,” underwent a kind of emancipation process throughout the early modern period up until the start of the 19th century, when the emergence of the educated middle-class, particularly in the German-speaking world, allowed the new genre to take root. Such songs were performed at small venues too: in salons, small halls and before audiences that were not necessarily aristocratic of courtly. Dynamically versatile and affordable, the piano was now a common keyboard instrument and was often used to accompany the vocalist with supportive harmonies and melodic counterpoint.
This release celebrates the long collaboration between the great German pianist Herbert Henck and composer Walter Zimmermann. Both works were written for, and premiered by, Herbert Henck. Zimmermann says "Beginner's Mind is the result of my study of the contemporary European New Music scene. It is influenced on the one hand by Erik Satie, who wrote in the most simple way in the midst of a highly complex musical landscape, and on the other hand by John Cage, especially by the music of his "naive period" around 1950.... The piece represents the process from the "complex" to the "simple."... The techniques of this process are derived from Shunryu Suzuki's book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1970) and are divided into three main chapters, analogous to the book: 1) Leave the old, 2) Clean the mind, 3) Alter the consciousness. The piece ends with the Beginner's Mind Song, which articulates the new consciousness," and is sung by the pianist. Both the vinyl LP and CD covers are facsimiles of the original LP cover. Apart from it's ornate lettering, shining silvery-gray at the top, Michael von Biel's cover design for the 1978 LP of Beginner's Mind - which does not add the name of the composer, Walter Zimmermann - is empty, or white. The mind of anyone who wants to start anew should be blank. The CD reissue also includes Abgeschiedenheit (Detachment). It's influence comes from Meister Eckert, who Zimmermann sees as as a bridge from Cage to Zen to Europe. Herbert Henck gave the first performance of Abgeschiedenheit in Cologne in 1985. Liner notes by Walter Zimmermann, Thomas Groetz, Christopher Fox and Monika Furst-Heidtmann.
It is impressive how, over the last three years, the Austrian keyboard instrumentalist Elias Stemeseder and the German percussionist Christian Lillinger have developed a remarkable artistic partnership, which has already found expression in a series of different recordings. Expanding into a quartet with Peter Evans and Russell Hall, they reveal further facets of their collaboration on Umbra II. Unlike it's production-heavy predecessor Umbra, the music on Umbra II is entirely acoustic and the band's sound has a classical feel. This album, which has the strongest and most direct connection to the jazz tradition to date, was recorded at the venerable Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. "The duo are always looking ahead, whether that means bringing in new collaborators, embracing novel techniques, or adding new tools to it's instrumental arsenal. Umbra ll represents one leg of an ongoing journey. Here's hoping the destination always remains elusive", writes Peter Margasak in the liner notes.
This recital brings together three late piano groupings by Franz Schubert, works that distil his distinctive blend of intimacy, lyricism and emotional ambiguity. The program centers on the complete Six Moments musicaux D.780, framed by the poignant Allegretto in C minor D.915 and the Drei Klavierstucke D.946, composed in the final year of Schubert's life. Rich in expressive depth, the Moments musicaux move effortlessly between simplicity and complexity: gentle lyricism gives way to sudden shadows, major and minor coexist in close tension, and fleeting dance rhythms dissolve into quiet resignation. The Allegretto D.915, composed as a farewell to a close friend, exemplifies Schubert's rare gift for finding increased poignancy in moments of apparent calm. The Drei Klavierstucke, published posthumously, stand as impromptus in all but name-restless, searching works that juxtapose turbulence with luminous stillness. For pianist Katya Apekisheva, Schubert has been a lifelong companion. This recording represents a deeply personal homage, shaped by years of performing and living with this music. Recorded on a Steinway Model D at Syde Manor, the album offers a thoughtful, finely judged reading of some of Schubert's most inward and compelling piano writing.
BACH Mass in G, BWV 236. Gott der Herr ist Sonn’ und Schild, BWV 79. Mass in A, BWV 234 • Harry Christophers, cond; The Sixteen • CORO 16120 (73:52 Text and Translation)
A Lutheran Mass consists of just the Kyrie and Gloria, which were still sung in Latin more than a century after the Reformation began. (The Credo was sung in German and the last two movements were optional parts of the service.) Bach wrote five settings, but the Missa 1733 eventually gained the rest of its movements to become the Mass in B Minor. The other four have now been recorded by The Sixteen, though I have not received the other disc containing BWV 233, 235, and another cantata (BWV 102). Cantata 79 was chosen for inclusion because each of these Masses includes one movement that is a parody of the cantata, the “Gloria” of BWV 236 and the “Quoniam” of BWV 234. In fact, 20 of the 24 movements of the four Masses have been drawn from cantatas, reworked in various degrees. In each case the Gloria is divided into five movements with choruses framing the three inner movements. The Masses have not been regarded favorably by commentators, who seem to prefer the music in its original form as cantata movements, and Christophers calls them “seldom heard.” Perhaps they are not often heard in concert, but the “Qui tollis” from BWV 234 was recorded (twice) in the shellac era, and Hans Grischkat recorded an integral set of the four Masses in the earliest days of LP (he added the four settings of the Sanctus, BWV 237 to 240). Beginning around 1970 more sets began to arrive from Helmuth Rilling, Michel Corboz, Martin Flämig, Richard Hickox, and Hans-Martin Linde. After that I lost track, but sets have been more common than recordings of single Masses.
The performances are up to the ensemble’s expected high level. The group, always flexible in makeup, consists here of eight singers and an ensemble of 22 players. The cantata, written for Reformation Sunday of 1725 (the composer’s third cycle of cantatas), is especially well done. It is nice to hear the Mass movement that was singled out in the shellac era, a soprano solo with flute obbligato. The long lines require a voice capable of a sustained legato line, elegantly realized here by Julia Doyle. This is characteristic of the high level that Christophers has brought to this endeavor. I cannot compare this with the competition, but it can stand on its own for a favorable recommendation.
Composed between 1865 and 1868, Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem has become a repertoire staple for choirs around the world, amateur and professional alike, possibly because it relies so much more on the choir than it's soloists to convey the texts than other works. Brahms chose not to set the Requiem Mass, but rather a collection of biblical texts of his own selection, taken from the Lutheran Bible (hence the 'deutsches'). Rather than a prayer for the dead, Brahms's concern is much more with offering comfort to the bereaved, still on earth. When challenged about the lack of a single reference to Christ in the entire work, Brahms responded, 'I would gladly omit even the word German and simply put Human'. This adds credence to the view that he saw the work in an entirely humanist way, and that the religious overtones of the title and text selection are much more a result of the avowedly Christian culture of his times than a specific decision to express personal belief. Edward Gardner and his Bergen forces are joined by the soloists Johanna Wallroth and Brian Mulligan in this exciting new recording.
Since his student days, the German-Taiwanese pianist Marcel Mok has hardly studied any other work as frequently and intensively as Bach's Goldberg Variations BWV 988. It was therefore only logical not only to conclude his studies with this variation cycle, but also to make his recording debut with it. The result of this exploration absolutely proves him right!
A supergroup is what the German music magazine Jazzthetik calls Punkt. Vrt. Plastik. Kaja Draksler, Petter Eldh and Christian Lillinger make up this trio - "Two musicians and one musician who are among the most exciting and active that the European avant-garde has to offer. " And Die Zeit writes: "They reinterpret an entire genre at once: the good old piano trio. " The trio convinces with a highly individual sound and a rarely heard clarity and precision, even where there is free improvisation and where rhythm, melody and metrics dissolve. Now, a year after their celebrated album Somit, they present an impressive live statement that takes up the material from their eponymous first album and Somit and impressively demonstrates the live realizations of studio ideas. "It is a stunning reminder that whatever else it can be, music is a fundamentally communicative enterprise. It is our great fortune that the microphones were up on this night so that Punkt. Vrt. Plastik can again tell us what they said", writes Alexander Hawkins in the liner notes.
Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin / Prégardien, Bezuidenhout
HARMONIA MUNDI
CD
$22.49Aug 23, 2024
This first release in an exclusive recital collaboration with harmonia mundi presents Julian Prégardien's reading of a cycle that explores quintessentially Schubertian themes: nature, love, solitude, death. Taking full advantage of the unique timbres of a Graf-style fortepiano, the young German tenor and Kristian Bezuidenhout create an expressive palette of exceptional variety, full of striking contrasts.
Gianandrea Noseda is clearly one of those conductors who 'are equally at home in both genres', as the 'Neue Zurcher Zeitung' put it in 2021 on the occasion of his debut as General Music Director at Zurich Opera House. 'In hindsight, one cannot even judge whether he is the better opera or symphony conductor.' In his concert performances in Zurich, Noseda focused on the works of Johannes Brahms. Following a highly acclaimed performance of the 'German Requiem', he also conducted the Zurich Opera Orchestra in performances of Brahms's symphonies. The four symphonies by Johannes Brahms were completed between 1876 and 1885 and are regarded as milestones in the Romantic orchestral repertoire. Under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda, they were recorded live at the Zurich Opera House during various concerts and can now be heard together on this album.
Beethoven, Berg, Bartók: Violin Concertos / Zimmermann, Berlin Philharmonic
Berlin Philharmoniker
CD + Blu-Ray
$69.99Oct 15, 2021
The world’s great conductors are not the only important artistic companions of the Berliner Philharmoniker. It is also always exceptional soloists who perform regularly with the orchestra, providing individual inspiration in their collaboration and opening up stimulating perspectives on the music. The Berliner Philharmoniker enjoy a productive partnership with many of these esteemed companions – with some, even a friendship. One such friend is Frank Peter Zimmermann. He and the Berliner Philharmoniker have been closely connected ever since their first concert together at the Waldbühne in 1985. His performances have created a common thread between generations of musicians, and hardly any of the conductors who have shaped the orchestra over the years have not worked with this exceptional violinist.
Roger Sherman is the President of The Gothic Catalog, where he has been producer and recording/mastering engineer for hundreds of recordings. He is now Associate Organist, Emeritus of St. Mark’s after more than 30 years of service to the Cathedral. He is also Artistic Director, Emeritus of the Orcas Choral Society. Since 1993, he has been the host of the popular radio program The Organ Loft, broadcast throughout the Pacific Northwest. As a recording artist he has been featured on both the Loft and reZound labels. On this release, featuring works by Bohm, Bach, Sweelinck, Purcell, and more, he performs on the organs of Saint Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, and San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice.
For her recital debut the in-demand concerto soloist Katherine Bryan performs a selection of twentieth-century concertos, including the rarely recorded Liebermann Concerto for Flute and Orchestra. The Liebermann concerto has rarely been recorded in it's entirety. Commissioned and originally performed by James Galway, the concerto is considered one of the most substantial and significant additions to the flute repertoire in recent years. Considered 'a flautist's dream composer' (BBC Music Magazine) Liebermann's writing is full of optimistic, audience-friendly and tuneful melodies with rapid-fire fingering passages that showcase the technical prowess of the soloist. Katherine stated: 'I feel that Lowell Liebermann's concerto encompasses all the emotions and colours of which the flute is so brilliantly capable and it is for me, quite simply a twentieth-century virtuoso masterpiece, and thrilling to play.' The inclusion of works by Hu¨e, Nielsen and Poulenc in the programme shows the particular diversity of the flute, demonstrating the variety of repertoire composed for the instrument during the twentieth century.
Conceived at the heel of Italy's boot-shaped peninsula in Apulia, Patrick Belaga's Blutt makes music for the unruly imagination. The title is an old German word for 'naked', 'bare', but it can also mean 'blood' when spelt blut. Take away another letter and it makes 'butt'. None of these definitions and adaptations were what prompted the classically-trained composer and cellist to name his second album with a word simulating the sound of a punctured artery. That came later. Blutt's nine woozy compositions are inspired by a contemplative road trip with a friend, and the mysterious muffled music heard from an unidentified source. It was a combination of jazz and classical music that haunted Belaga's wanderings through the Byzantine town Gallipoli, and soon infected his dreams of long-gone civilizations. This record is it's outcome, where organic instrumentals and electronic production merge into a sound that's both contemporary and ancient. Samples of mewing incantations and tape hiss sway atop the waltzing thud of piano chords on "Sigh". Composite layers of Belaga's cello play in downcast harmony on "Rust". There's a wistful sense for the romantic, in the eerie rhythm of a piece like "Momentum". The quarter tones of an Eastern European and Middle Eastern folk scale probe a profound melancholy via Kai Knight's violin. It's notes are haunted by a field recording of running water on "Unsoft", echoes of panpipes and a Jew's harp on opener "Lilt". As a consummate composer and performer known for his work with artists Wu Tsang, boychild, Josh Johnson and Asma Maroof, Belaga's Blutt is itself marked by flawless collaborations. Vocalist and instrumentalist Jazmin Romero sings and composes the surreal melodies of "Grey Eye". Multidisciplinary dance artist and producer Riley Watts contributes to the muted, motorik movement of "The Tunnel is a Tower". Together, the record plays as a stunning soundtrack to the strangeness of sleeping, and the heartbreaking transience of time. Like an intense dream half-remembered, the emotions persist after waking but for the sharp machinations just outside of the mind's reach. The album is mastered by Rashad Becker, featuring artwork by Giovanni Furlino & design by N MRE 08.
These recordings stand out as formidable achievements. They match technical mastery at the highest level with profound insight. No less impressive is the compelling interaction between Zimmermann and the excellent NDR Elbphilharmonie under Alan Gilbert, a crucial component in music that is so symphonic in design.
– BBC Music Magazine
The First Concerto will raise eyebrows. It’s fast, and certainly makes you sit up and hear this concerto in a new light. Zimmerman pursues the Passacaglia’s cantabile line with lyrical ease but can also produce a darker, uglier sound when appropriate, spitting ferociously in the Scherzo and producing icy glissandos, and he does conjure up impish colour in the nose-thumbing Burlesque.
– Gramophone
Stunningly performed and recorded, Zimmermann’s inspiring release on BIS deserves substantial praise.
The Music of E.T.A. Hoffmann - Vocal & Instrumental Works
CPO
CD
$99.99May 15, 2026
E. T. A. Hoffmann is rightly regarded as one of the great writers of German Romanticism, rather than as one of the major composers of the period. Nevertheless, the trained jurist and later Prussian judge repeatedly sought to earn his living as a composer and conductor, since he considered music to be the most romantic-and therefore the highest-of all the arts. That he was thoroughly versed in the craft of composition is evident from the more than seventy works he wrote in almost every musical genre.
Strauss: Ein Heldenleben & Der Rosenkavalier Suite / Sondergaard, RSNO
Linn Records
CD
$20.99Apr 12, 2019
This recording is the first in a new series with Thomas Søndergård and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The programme features music by Richard Strauss: the concert suite from Der Rosenkavalier and Ein Heldenleben, a work they have performed together in concert to critical acclaim. The tone poem tells the epic story of an imaginary hero and offers a stirring introduction to the world of the German Romantics. Strauss demands uncompromising virtuosity from both the orchestra and the horn player who is tasked with portraying the bold hero. Following a concert performance of Ein Heldenleben in March 2018 The Scotsman stated: “From the swaggering confidence of Strauss’s bounding heroic theme to the gleefully grotesque carpings of his critics, Søndergård delivered a bold, utterly committed account – this is clearly music that matters to him.” Closing the recording is the concert suite from Der Rosenkavalier in which Strauss’s colourful and evocative orchestration recalls many favourite moments from his most popular opera.
Elgar: Partsongs - From The Bavarian Highlands / Hanft, Arman, Bavarian Radio Chorus
BR Klassik
CD
$19.99Jan 15, 2021
The British composer Edward Elgar wrote a great deal more than just his “Pomp & Circumstance” marches: his highly diverse oeuvre encompasses symphonies, concertos, chamber works, piano music and numerous choral works (oratorios, cantatas and partsongs). On this release, partsongs by Elgar can be heard with and without accompaniment as part of a representative selection of live and studio recordings. The album begins with the song cycle “From the Bavarian Highlands” op. 27; its six cheerful numbers were written while Elgar and his wife were on holiday in Garmisch in 1895. Alice Elgar had sketched verses from Bavarian folk melodies, and Upper Bavarian songs and dances can be heard in her husband’s settings. These were happy memories of carefree holidays in a region rich in music and full of fine landscapes. The Bavarian Radio Chorus, conducted by Howard Arman, sings the songs in their original version with piano accompaniment (the orchestral version came later). As a composer of English-language choral songs, Elgar is still little-known on the European mainland; in the United Kingdom, however, the situation is very different. The country has long had a lively choral scene, focusing primarily on English music – from Purcell and Handel to Hubert Parry, Charles Villiers Stanford and Elgar, all the way to Benjamin Britten and today’s contemporary composers. The program on this release has been compiled and conducted by the Englishman Howard Arman, one of today’s most knowledgeable experts on British choral music and artistic director of the Bavarian Radio Chorus, and these recordings should do much to boost the popularity of this highly appealing music on the European mainland as well.
The special vibrations that the Hohenstaufen Chamber Music Festival generates are directly audible in the contents of this anniversary CD box, which consists solely of live performances. The choice of music ranges far and wide through all periods and genres: from Johann Sebastian Bach through key works of the Viennese Classical school and the German Romantics to French Impressionist compositions and classics of the Modern era. There are jazz numbers and contemporary works too, a further pointer to the ethos of the Hohenstaufen Chamber Music Festival, which does not call for tradition to be upheld on principle but aims at a constant rediscovery of the world and it's inhabitants through their sounds and timbres, no matter whether they come from "old" or "new", "serious" or "light" music. Hohenstaufen doesn't pigeonhole things like that; it believes in taking your partners to make "good" music. Music is good, quite simply, when it moves us, uplifts us, challenges us. "Music must never be comfy," to quote the pithy conclusion that Helmuth Rilling, to whom the Festival is greatly indebted, once drew. "It must stir people, touch them personally, give them food for thought." If the pieces brought together here can achieve this, the Hohenstaufen Chamber Music Festival will have received the biggest twentieth birthday present it could have.
