Selina Ott / En-Chia Lin HONEGGER - GLIÈRE - WASSILENKO - DESENCLOS - SUTERMEISTER

 

HONEGGER - GLIÈRE - WASSILENKO - DESENCLOS - SUTERMEISTER

 

Hila Fahima / ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra / Michele Gamba DONIZETTI - VERDI

 

DONIZETTI - VERDI

 

Ori Kam / Sharon Kam / Matan Porat CONTRASTS

 

CONTRASTS

 

Selina Ott / ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra / Roberto Paternostro TRUMPET CONCERTOS

 TRUMPET CONCERTOS

Baiba Skride / Swedish Chamber Orchestra / Eivind Aadland MOZART Violin Concertos Nos. 1 - 5

VIOLIN CONCERTOS Nos. 1 - 5

Daniel Müller-Schott / Francesco Piemontesi JOHANNES BRAHMS The Cello Sonatas

THE CELLO SONATAS

Daniel Müller-Schott / Melbourne Symphony Orchestra / Sir Andrew Davis RICHARD STRAUSS Don Quixote - Sonata for Cello and Piano - Songs Op. 10 and Op. 32

DON QUIXOTE

Sharon Kam / ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra / Gregor Bühl WEBER - KURPINSKI - CRUSELL

WEBER - KURPINSKI - CRUSELL

Elisabeth Kulman / Eduard Kutrowatz LIEDER

Elisabeth Kulman and Eduard Kutrowatz have for many years now been working together, as they share an artistic passion for the unusual and unconventional which has manifested itself in pushing the traditional boundaries between various eras and genres. They aim, in their Lieder programmes, to recount new, interrelated stories, and to this end, they combine song and pieces for piano in unusual sequences, sometimes plucking verses from one song and placing them individually in a programme; carefully and deliberately choosing keys that connect a number of Lieder in order to provide a dramatic link that results in exciting, owing and sometimes imperceptible combinations.

At the 2017 Schwarzenberg Schubertiade, Elisabeth Kulman and Eduard Kutrowatz dedicated the first part of their programme entirely to Robert Schumann. The lieder cycle Frauenliebe und Leben and the op. 104 songs (after lyrics by the singer’s namesake Elisabeth Kulmann, who was born in St. Petersburg in 1808) form a common theme running through this part of the programme, though both song cycles have been broken up and are not sung in full, and are complemented by other songs and piano pieces in the same vein.

Meditation and reflection about love and death – the central themes of almost any artistic statement – therefore form a link right from the opening piece from Schumann’s Kinderszenen through to Mondnacht, perhaps the most poignant allegory on transience and leave-taking.

Daniel Müller-Schott / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Aziz Shokhakimov TRIP TO RUSSIA

This new release features the willfully diverse compositional and emotional landscape of newly discovered and rediscovered nineteenth-century Russian music, performed with dedication and delight in the musics individual detail and perspective. Daniel Muller-Schott ranks among the worlds best cellist and can be heard on all of the foremost international concert stages. A fearless player with technique to burn (New York Times), he has made his mark by delighting audiences for two decades. Muller-Schott works with leading international orchestras: in the US with the orchestras in New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles, in Europe with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Radio Orchestras of Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Paris, the London Symphony, and more. In the present recording, he plays the Ex Shapiro Matteo Goffriller cello, made in Venice in 1727, and a bow made by FX Tourte of Paris in c. 1820.

Baiba Skride AMERICAN CONCERTOS

“America, you are better off” – wrote Goethe in 1827, weary of German Romanticism and the 'fruitless wrangling' of sterile debates.

A century later, the New World experienced an unprecedented wave of migration consisting of leading figures, largely Jewish, from the cultural and intellectual spheres of Germany and Austriia, composers were able to immerse themselves in the new world of sound film in Hollywood. However, few were able to reap those rewards to the fullest. Among those few, who were able to make their way through pragmatism and perseverance, were Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Miklós Rózsa – both regularly nominated for Oscars. While making a living from this genre of 'music drama', each of them – whether or not they were recognized by the classical music business – sought to push the limits of the traditional formats and were remarkably successful in doing so.

'If you’re Heifetz, I’m Mozart!' Taking a phone call, Rózsa could scarcely believe that the legendary virtuoso was seriously interested in his Violin Concerto and was ready to give the work its premiere – but so he did in 1956. It was the same with the Violin Concerto by Korngold, Rózsa’s senior by ten years: the 1947 premiere of this twentiethcentury classic again showcased Heifetz as soloist. In the new generation of genuinely American musicians, one outstanding figure was Leonard Bernstein, an all-rounder whose early success led on to even greater heights: here too, one can hardly ignore his contribution to film music, even if it amounts to one single film. Bernstein rated his Violin Concerto of 1954, 'Serenade', inspired by Plato’s Symposium, as his best work ever, and this work too in its imaginatively slimmed-down scoring for string orchestra, harp and percussion is now acknowledged to be an important 20th-century concerto for violin. Isaac Stern performed the premiere of the work with the composer conducting. As an encore', this compilation includes the masterly Symphonic Dances from the immortal 'West Side Story', which has long risen above the 'fruitless wrangling' over 'light' and 'serious' music. The very different challenges posed by all three concertos are brilliantly overcome by Baiba Skride, whose unquestionable virtuosity nevertheless takes second place to the immediacy of her musical language and expression.

Irish Chamber Orchestra / Jörg Widmann WIDMANN 180 Beats per Minute - Fantasie MENDELSSOHN Sinfonie 3 "Schottische"

Seldom has one heard one of the best known works of Mendelssohn, the brilliant Hebrides Overture, so wild, gruff and raw, so fissured even, as in this concluding installment of Mendelssohn symphonies with Jörg Widmann. This is without question a thoroughly contemporary interpretation; we get the now universal sense of hearing anew that comes with period instruments, even though none are being played here. It must have been a real stimulus to the composer at the conductor’s desk – a music analyst in the highest degree – to take this music tamed by over-familiarity and strip it of everything that is pseudo-obvious and safely middle-of-the-road. And it is that principle, faithfully followed in the earlier releases, of quite deliberately comparing and contrasting Mendelssohn’s works with the clarinet-playing conductor’s own that must have been what struck the spark and audibly kindled the music-making spirit of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. A drama otherwise reserved for the concert hall here comes across admirably: the well-known early-19th-century works sound like new, which is a compliment to their interpreters. Widmann’s two early works, now a part of his own history, turn out to be good, even exhilarating, listening; inspired by the young composer’s disco nights, “180 beats” goes well with the fascinating “Fantasie”, played by the composer himself, which effortlessly surmounts the limits seemingly set on the harmonies of a monophonic wind instrument. This is a spine-tinglingly new way to listen to Mendelssohn’s music. (Arkiv Music)

Anett Fritsch / Münchner Rundfunkorchester / Alessandro de Marchi MOZART Arien

Born in 1986 in Plauen, Anett Fritsch studied at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Music Academy in Leipzig with KS Prof. Jürgen Kurth. In 2001 she was awarded the first prize at the Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig. She was a laureate at the international competition of the Chamber Opera at Schloss Rheinsberg in 2006 and 2007, where she sang the parts of Despina in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte and Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. In the season 07/08 the Oper Leipzig engaged Anett Fritsch for various parts, including Gianetta in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore.

Since 2009 Anett Fritsch is part of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg where she sings among others Pamina, Blanche/Dialogue des Carmelites, Konstanze/Entführung aus dem Serail and Marie/Fille du Régiment.

Anett Fritsch had a great success at her debut at the Glyndebourne Festival with the part of Almirena in Händel’s Rinaldo and with the part of Merione in Gluck’s Telemaco at the Theater an der Wien. She also made a triumphant debut as Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte at the Teatro Real Madrid, a production which was also very successful at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels and in 2014 appeared at the Wiener Festwochen. The tour through Europe Figaro/Cherubinowith René Jacobs and the Freiburger Barockorchester met with a big international response.

In 2014 Anett Fritsch made her debut at the Salzburg Festival as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. In Munich she sang Figaro/Susanna.

Future engagements include Arabella/Zdenka in Dusseldorf, Ginevra/Ariodante in Amsterdam, Nozze di Figaro/Susanna in Toulouse, Donna Elvira/Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival, a production of the Salieri opera Falstaff at the Theater an der Wien, Pamina in Toronto, Donna Elvira/Giovanni und at La Scala, Sifare/Mitridate at Covent Garden, Figaro/Cherubino at the Bavarian State Opera Munich.

Daniel Müller-Schott / Angela Hewitt BACH Gamba Sonatas

With performances as intellectual as they are musical, Daniel Müller-Schott and Angela Hewitt unite to produce a very worthwhile rendition of the Bach Gamba Sonatas. Hewitt, already an esteemed interpreter of Bach who has performed or recorded the complete works for solo keyboard, branches out here in a collaborative effort. All of her skills as an interpreter of Bach's solo works are indispensable here as the Gamba Sonatas are truly a collaboration of equals. Her touch is light and graceful without seeming timid or weak. The soloistic nature of her right hand brilliantly matches both the sound and temperament of Müller-Schott, and her accompanimental left hand is steady and elegant. Although Müller-Schott's release of the six unaccompanied Bach suites is a welcome contribution to the field, he is not known as much as a Bach interpreter as his colleague. Still, through self-proclaimed study and investigation, he presents a very satisfying blend of a Baroque sound and right-arm articulation on a modern instrument. In many ways, his playing is reminiscent of Anner Bylsma, but with a more focused core to his sound. In addition to the three gamba sonatas of the senior Bach, this album also includes the much more virtuosic and showy D major Sonata of C.P.E. Bach. Coupled with the wonderful playing, listeners are also treated to an excellent set of liner notes making this album a very wise choice. (Mike D. Brownell)