Description

With piano concerto no. 1 in d minor op. 15 by Johannes Brahms and piano concerto no. 2 in b major op. 18 by Hermann Goetz, pianist Andrea Kauten juxtaposes the works of two masters, who strike the musical-historical situation in the vacuum of the Beethoven succession illuminate in the second half of the 19th century. Both composers see themselves as traditionalists who want to create something new in proven forms. There is, on the one hand, the genre of a young composer who, early on, too soon as a harbinger of hope, mercilessly fails the work. And second, the work of a regionally recognized talent, which can attract the attention of the great German music world before his untimely death.

Description

The album Hymne à la beauté brings together seldom heard gems of chamber music in the delightful formation of voice, violin and piano — passionately performed by the aspiring and outstanding Swiss artists Sonja Leutwyler (mezzo soprano), Astrid Leutwyler (violin) and Benjamin Engeli (piano), who are among the most versatile musicians of their generation and have long-established reputations within Switzerland and abroad.
This programme of discoveries features captivating works by Louis Spohr, Johannes Brahms, Charles Ives, Camille Saint-Saëns, Felix Petyrek, Czesław Marek and Ottorino Respighi. On a special commission for this CD, the Swiss composer Martin Wettstein has composed the piece Hymne à la beauté (hymn to beauty) for mezzo soprano, violin and piano after a poem by Charles Baudelaire. The music is inspired by the incredible power of beauty, which is part and parcel of this world, giving us meaning and lust for life. At the same time, though, beauty can seduce and ruin people. Lying somewhere between kitsch and madness, beauty waits to be discovered by us.

The CD was awarded the Pizzicato Supersonic Award.

Description

Description

Galina Vracheva excels in the worldwide pianist scene not only with skillfully improvised cadenzas in piano concertos from the Baroque to the Modern, but also with spontaneous compositions to wishes expressed from the audience. Her teaching is equally unique, beginning with piano and composition lessons in Munich, Kiev and Berlin and more than ten years with master classes in concert improvisation at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Haus Marteau in Oberbayern, Mahidol University in Bangkok and the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana.

From this improvisation Galina Vracheva has meanwhile made her own art form. Be it that she improvises her cadenzas in piano concerts and at the moment of the orchestra entrance simply waits for what stirs her and what makes her sound. Or she asks her audience in the piano recitals to give her a theme, to sing a melody or to read a poem. For two nights Galina Vracheva composed piano fantasies for the recording of these CDs, spontaneously improvised after Beethoven’s symphonies.

Description

The works of the composer Markus Lehmann-Horn have already won several awards. As a border crosser between the classical and the technical-electronic music world, he also wrote numerous film music compositions for national and international film productions and was for this among others awarded the Franz Grothe Prize 2009. He has received numerous nominations and a Best Film Score Award at the annual Jerry Goldsmith International Award in Spain, as well as a nomination for the International Emmy 2012. Lehmann-Horn’s music is played by renowned orchestras, conductors and ensembles, including the Ensemble Triolog, Minguet Quartet, BR Rundfunkorchester, the NDR Radiophilharmonie or the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra. You will find on this CD Recordings with the NDR Radiophilharmonie and percussionist Alexej Gerassimez and a song for soprano and orchestra with soprano Sibylla Duffe and the Munich Radio Orchestra.

Description

The guitarist Aljaž Cvirn and cellist Isabel Gehweiler have been performing as a duo since 2016, making the cello-guitar repertoire known to a wider audience. Both musicians have won prizes in numerous competitions and triumphed together as a duo in the Paola Ruminelli Competition in 2017. The distinctive combination of the two instruments creates a magical, refined intimacy that is worthy of a chamber ensemble. Although original compositions are rare, a number of arrangements, including that of Franz Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata for cello and guitar, have become staple pieces for the duo.

The duo’s current concert repertoire includes sonatas by Franz Schubert, Antonio Vivaldi and Radamés Gnattali. The two musicians approach the complex sonata genre from a great variety of stylistic angles, with their two instruments imparting a sea of tone colours on a comprehensive journey through different styles and performance practices.

https://www.isabelgehweiler.com/

https://www.aljazcvirn.com/

Description

Although Elena Moşuc is first and foremost a bel canto specialist and performer of various Mozart heroines for dramatic coloratura soprano, it must be noted that Giuseppe Verdi’s stage works have always been an integral part of her repertoire and will play an even more prominent part of it in the future. Since Maria Callas these roles are sung with heavier and above all dramatic voices. Nowadays this is considered common property. However, one should always keep in mind that these roles – in terms of requirements and stylistics – can not be separated from the era of bel canto and even in Verdi’s times were sung or composed explicitly by leading bel canto primadonnas for these types of voices ,

Elena Moşuc began her brilliant international career at the Zurich Opera House. Guest appearances take place at the most important houses and festivals in the world (including the opera houses of Amsterdam, Barcelona, ​​Berlin, Hamburg, Milan, Munich, Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, London, Helsinki, Rome, Venice, Verona) as well as in the USA at the MET, in Japan, China and Korea.

Description

As a composer Hans Sommer emerged with songs and especially with his operas. Since, however, no opera of Sommer could hold its own in the repertoire for a long time, one overlooked easily the quality of his works and his contribution to the further development of the opera after Wagner. The much sung songs during his lifetime disappeared from the repertoire of the singers; Hans Sommer wrote the important contributions in the area of ​​the art song at a time when his star was already sinking and he no longer had protagonists. In the last years of his life, Hans Sommer devoted himself once more primarily to song creation, and the first settings of Goethe were created. In total, there were 23 songs, which he largely instrumented and are one of the most valuable creations of Sommer.

For the first time, you can hear works on the CD that were recently discovered and provided by the great-grandson of the composer. The mezzo-soprano Constance Heller completed her vocal studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, where she graduated “with distinction” and the academic degree “Magister artium”. Heller sings parts on all major opera stages in the world.

Description

Do you remember …
… the song at evening and the voice that lulled you to sleep when you were little? A lullaby brings a quiet close to the day, to hours which can be so new and exciting for a child! And if you sing a lullaby to a child yourself, it is a different, but just as emotional and intimate an experience. Both these experiences have inspired us in creating a song recital out of original instrumental works and arrangements. This programme reflects the most important human emotions. It could stand for one day in the life of a child or for the whole course of a life.

Music accompanies the most important moments in life. Even before birth, sounds play an important part in a baby’s development. Music therapy has a particularly beneficial influence on babies who arrive early, because its healing and calming effect has lasting consequences for the child’s continuing development.

We ourselves are convinced of the curative power of music. The present recording has been made in close partnership with the Foundation for Neonatology in Zurich.

As a child takes its first musical impressions from voice and song, we have made up a programme of songs in which our instruments sing the songs and tell the stories.

Tracklisting

1. Chanson de matin, Op. 15, No. 2 (Arr. for Cello and Piano)
2. Arioso, Bwv 156, No. 1 (Arr. For Cello And Piano)
3. Ständchen, D. 957, No. 4 (Arr. for Cello and Piano)
4. Aria (Arr. for Cello and Piano)
5. Lied ohne Worte, Op. 109
6. Melodie, Op. 55, No. 4 (Arr. for Cello and Piano)
7. Serenade, Op. 3, No. 2
8. Elegie, Ijm 67 (Arr. For Cello And Piano)
9. Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14 (Arr. for Cello and Piano)
10.  Song of the Birds
11. Piece en forme d’Habanera (Arr. for Cello and Piano from Vocalise-etude en forme de Habanera, M. 51)
12. Suite populaire espagnole: I. El paño moruno (Arr. for Cello and Piano)
13. Suite populaire espagnole: II. Nana (Arr. for Cello and Piano)
14. Suite Populaire Espagnole: Iii. Cancion (Arr. For Cello And Piano)
15. Suite populaire espagnole: IV. Polo (Arr. for Cello and Piano)
16. Suite populaire espagnole: V. Asturiana (Arr. for Cello and Piano)
17. Suite populaire espagnole: VI. Jota (Arr. for Cello and Piano)
18. Ave Maria (Arr. for Cello and Piano)
19. Romance, Op. 78, No. 2
20. Hushaby, Hushaby Bear Cubs, Op. 29, No. 4
21. Lullaby for an Active Little Boy
22. Abendlied, Op. 85, No. 12 (Arr. for Cello and Piano)
23. Wiegenlied, Op. 49, No. 4 (Arr. for Cello and Piano)
24. Chanson de la nuit, Op. 15, No. 1 (Arr. for Cello and Piano)