Description

“What a beautiful task to translate the scent and character of tea into music – into sound, rhythm and harmony – but what a great challenge! Because the big question is, how does tea sound? Well-known in the West is the so-called coffee house music, a music in the background to all the clatter of dishes and the conversations of the visitors, which has the purpose to beautify the stay in the cafe but also to avoid a possible silence. Quite different is the tea music on this album! It is music to listen, that tries to transcend the fragrance and character of the tea into sound. When composing this music, I let myself be inspired from the feeling that the enjoyment of the tea triggers in me, but also from the poetic words with which Menglin Chou describes the different teas.

Menglin Chou, a sociologist and tea master, came to Switzerland many years ago. She had the idea that I could try to set in music the character of some especially valuable teas. The project took shape, and I began to translate into music the mood that these selected teas arouse in me, as well as the inspiration from the texts in which Menglin uses to describe the character of teas poetically. Stylistically, the resulting sounds are difficult to classify, yet they are very familiar to people from Asia and the West, as if they wanted to build a bridge between cultures. The result was a combination of musical cultures, in the service of capturing the special character of these wonderful teas and making them sound. And so we hope that the enjoyment of a cup of tea by listening to this music will be an additional enrichment”.

Description

Johannes X. Schachtner, after studying composition (with Prof. Jan Müller-Wieland, Rudi Spring and Prof. Hans-Jürgen von Bose) and orchestral conducting (with Prof. Bruno Weil) in Munich and and benefiting from scholarships spent in Bamberg (Villa Concordia) and Paris, now works as a freelance conductor and composer. His extensive compositional works are performed by internationally renowned soloists such as Julia Fischer, Matthias Höfs, Jan-Philipp Schulze, Salome Kammer and the conductor Ulf Schirmer. He has also been commissioned to compose many works, by the Munich Biennale, for the Leopold Mozart competition and the Kronberg Academy Festival, among others. 

Johannes X. Schachtner has been acknowledged many times in competitions for his work regularly featured in portrait concerts and documented on many CD recordings. In 2013 he received a number of awards, including the Music Bursary of the city of Munich and in 2014 the Bavarian Music Bursary.

Description

Active as interpreters in the European musical world, Scandinavian composers in the 19th century were interested in shaping their own style and incorporating it into European music. They were greatly influenced by folk music of different regions in Sweden, Norway and Finland. The Swedish violinist and violin pedagogue, Tor Aulin (1866-1914), was committed to the great romantic music tradition. In 1899, Aulin composed his “Four Watercolors” for violin (or cello) and piano. Also on the disc is the Sonata for violin and piano No. 1 in F Major by Edvard Grieg and following are four miniatures by the composer Jean Sibelius. On the voyage of discovery of traditional sounds of Nordic music, one arrives almost inevitably to Nordic folk music, which inspired the classical composers. Folk melodies are usually interpreted by a group of string instruments, or accompanied by guitar, flute and accordion, and are available today in collections according to the traditional mostly oral transmission. Fritz Froschhammer arranged these versions for violin and piano on this CD in cooperation with the Duo Froschhammer in 2017. The Duo Froschhammer features siblings Felix Froschhammer (First Violinist of the casalQuartett and Concertmaster of both the Ensemble Symphonique Neuchâtel and Sinfonietta de Lausanne, Switzerland), violin, and Julia Froschhammer, piano. Founded in 1998, the Duo has since performed in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Malta and at the famous Atheneum in Bucharest. Together they are prize winners of the International Wolfgang Jacobi Competition for 20th century chamber music and have been recipients of scholarships from the Bavarian Music Fund.

Description

20 years ago, the Luxembourgian composer Helen Buchholtz was an enigmatic unknown. In 1999, two suitcases containing around 250 music manuscripts were found, which have since become accessible to gender in the archive of Helen Buchholtz in CID | Fraen an Gender. Only by chance had they survived: the notes, packed in sacks after the death of the composer, has been saved from the fire by a nephew at the last minute … Helen Buchholtz, daughter of a wealthy brewery owner, received early lessons in music. At the age of 36, she married a German doctor and moved with him to Wiesbaden. Widowed early, she returned to Luxembourg, where she frequented poets and musicians. There her music came to the performance. But in concerts or on the radio she was heard …

The double CD presents a selection of the best of her 51 songs and ballads, which are selectively placed in a dialogue with contemporary music: Inspired by Helen Buchholtz ‘late Romantic music, Catherine Kontz, Albena Petrovic-Vratchanska, Stevie Wishart and Tatsiana Zelianko composed four new ones Songs. Film director Anne Schiltz also shot the documentary Im Dialog mit Helen Buchholtz.

Description

In a world sometimes tired of contemplating its own treasures, a plethora of discography with immediate and commonplace access can make the release of a new recording dedicated to some of Beethoven’s 32 sonatas surprising. More particularly, the choice made by an artist such as Philippe Entremont, after 70 years of a phenomenal career, to focus on one of the Viennese Master’s most recorded parts, reflects the complexity and intensity governing the relationship between the performer and the work, the relationship between his instrument and the orchestral aspects of the writing. This year, the exceptional artist celebrates two anniversaries. 70 years on the international stage and his 85th birthday.

The few sonatas on this CD, milestones in Beethoven’s oeuvre, are just a short list for the audience. For the very choice of the works testifies to a passionate commitment, a gourmet and jubilant approach to do justice, with style and elegance, to a long journey initiated in 1957, during a recording made at Pathé, nowhere to be found.