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Markus Lehmann-Horn: Solo Works

Artist: Markus Lehmann-Horn

Title: Solo Works

Catalogue No.: SM 290

Release: 25.05.2018

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.

Backcover & Playlist

Gehweiler / Cvirn: Sonaten Für Violoncello und Gitarre

Artists: Isabel Gehweiler / Aljaž Cvirn

Title: Sonaten Für Violoncello und Gitarre

Catalogue No.: SM 285

Release: 27.04.2018

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/

Backcover & Playlist

Elena Mosuc – Verdi Heroines

Artist: Elena Moșuc

Title: Verdi Heroines

Catalogue No.: SM 279

Release: 27.04.2018

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.

Backcover

Constance Heller & Gerold Huber: Mignons Sehnen

Artists: Constance Heller & Gerold Huber

Title: Mignons Sehnen

Catalogue No.: SM 281

Release: 13.04.2018

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.

CD Backcover

Enchanted – Works for Cello & Piano

Artists: Duo Arnicans

Title: Enchanted – Works for Cello & Piano

Catalogue No.: SM 288

Release: 06.04.2018

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)

Eichenberger / Kagawa – Danza de la vida

Artists: Duo Jürg Eichenberger-Eriko Kagawa

Title: Danza de la Vida

Catalogue No.: SM 278

Release: 02.03.2018

Description

José Bragato and Jürg Eichenberger became close friends when Eichenbergers chamber music ensemble Chamber Soloists Lucerne went on a tour of South America in the summer of 2004. Bragato’s tango Graciela y Buenos Aires is a musical testimony to this love story. As a gesture of gratitude for the invitation, José Bragato then gave him some of his own compositions and exclusive arrangements, including some for cello and piano. danza de la vida is the first compilation of some of these pieces on CD.

The pianist Eriko Kagawa and Jürg Eichenberger have been working together for decades and spent a long time planning a recording of Bragato’s tango Graciela y Buenos Aires and his arrangements of Piazzolla. A conversation with Eriko’s husband, Daniel Fueter, led to the idea of juxtaposing these pieces in all their brilliance with a different, yet fitting kind of music. The name Erik Satie soon sprang to his mind. Daniel Fueter wrote E.S. — eine Hommage (E.S. — an homage) for us. He arranged Satie’s piano pieces for cello and piano and titled the collection “kleine Festschrift zum 150. Geburtstag Erik Saties in 4 Kapiteln” (a little anniversary volume marking Erik Satie’s 150th birthday in four chapters). Erik Satie was born in 1866; Fueter’s arrangements were written in the summer of 2016.

danza de la vida is intended as a tribute to José Bragato, who knew of their plans. He died at a ripe old age shortly before Eichenberger and Kagawa recorded his music. We fondly remembered this great musician and friend during the course of the project.

Tracklist

Track Individual Titel Duration Composer
1 Introducción al Angel 3:49 Bragato/Piazzolla
2 Milonga del Angel 4:28 Bragato/Piazzolla
3 La muerte del Angel 4:03 Bragato/Piazzolla
Chapter 1 – Satie
4 Prélude 0:16 Erik Satie
5 Valse-Ballet 2:21 Erik Satie
6 Caresse 1:54 Erik Satie
7 Le Piccadilly (Marche) 1:34 Erik Satie
8 Graciela y Buenos Aires 7:25 José Bragato
9 Oblivion 4:25 Bragato/Piazzolla
Chapter 3 – Satie
10 Premier Nocturne 2:42 Erik Satie
11 Deuxième Nocturne 1:47 Erik Satie
12 Troisième Noctuurne 2:39 Erik Satie
13 Adiós Nonino 5:56 Bragato/Piazzolla
Chapter 2 – Satie
14 Fâcheux Exemple 0:48 Erik Satie
15 Exercice (1) 1:13 Erik Satie
16 Exercice (2) 1:01 Erik Satie
17 Exercice (3) 1:09 Erik Satie
18 Exercice (4) 0:19 Erik Satie
19 Resurrección del Angel 5:49 Bragato/Piazzolla
Chapter 4 – Satie
Le Piége de Méduse
20 Quadrille 0:43 Erik Satie
21 Valse 0:38 Erik Satie
22 Pas vite 0:40 Erik Satie
23 Mazurka 0:38 Erik Satie
24 Un peu vif 0:14 Erik Satie
25 Polka 0:25 Erik Satie
26 Quadrille 0:53 Erik Satie
27 Le Grand Tango 10:44 Astor Piazzolla

Wiener Symphoniker – Beethoven: Symphonies 4 & 5

Title: Beethoven: Symphonies 4 & 5

Catalogue No.: WS 014

Release: 23.02.2018

Description

In February 2018, the Wiener Symphoniker and their Music Director Philippe Jordan present the second CD in their first complete recording of the Beethoven symphonies. With his Fifth Symphony, Beethoven created a true symphonic icon. It is as universally known above all thanks to its powerful opening bars. Its parallels with its predecessor, the Fourth, are less prominent than those with, for example, its successor the Sixth. Nevertheless, the Fourth features many ideas that would only be fully elaborated in the Fifth. “The connection”, Jordan emphasises, “is more a matter of the spirit of the works, but is no less important for all that.”

As with the first, enthusiastically received first CD, this recording was made live in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein as part of an acclaimed cycle during 2017. International critics were especially pleased with Jordan’s approach, which combines Wiener Klang, the distinctive Viennese instrumental style, with a contemporary and pared-back interpretation while incorporating insights from historically informed performance and original tempi. But for Jordan, the content is the main focus: instead of venerating Beethoven the monument, he wants to show him in a “more natural, direct and human” way.

Tracklist

Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major op.60 
1 Adagio – Allegro vivace 11:03
2 Adagio 8:41
3 Allegro vivace 5:44
4 Allegro ma non troppo 6:45
Symphony No. 5 in c minor op. 67
5 Allegro con brio 6:59
6 Andante con moto 8:47
7 Allegro 7:46
8 Allegro 10:41
Total Running Time 66:25

Taschenphilharmonie – Beethoven Revisited Symphonies 1-9

Title: Beethoven Revisited Symphonies 1-9

Catalogue No.: ETP010 – 6 CD Box

Release: 09.02.2018

Description

This is an extraordinary journey through the most preeminent of classical symphonies. With an ensemble of only 12-16 top-quality musicians, the Pocket Philharmonic Orchestra explores Beethoven’s musical origins.

All the great conductors and orchestras have shown where Beethoven led:  how his ideas paved the way for later masters like Schumann, Bruckner and Mahler. What hasn’t been shown yet is where Beethoven was: where his musical language came from, how he shifted standards and developed techniques in a completely new and revolutionary way.

The Pocket Philharmonic has a new approach to this idea: instead of a full chamber or symphony orchestra, the ensemble performs as a chamber ensemble in a symphonic manner – symphonic chamber music, or chamber music symphonies, so to speak.
“This is the most vivid performance of the Eroica you have ever heard” said the critics. “It makes the revolution in his music audible. 

“An outstanding listening experience.”

Tracklist

Eos Guitar Quartet – Live

Title: “Live”

Catalogue No.: 234200-12

Release: 09.02.2018

Description

It doesn’t take much to image that the material on this CD could be an initiative launched by Swiss diplomats. A Swiss guitar quartet playing compositions by a Cuban and a American. For many years, relations between Cuba and the USA were not particularly friendly – until Barack Obama opened a new era of diplomacy between the two nations in 2016. As a neutral country, Switzerland has often erved as an intermediary between the United States and other countries.

But this is not about diplomacy. The Eos Guitar Quartet often performs works by Leo Brouwer and Ralph Towner and has commissioned these artists to compose original music for the quartet. Everyone knows and appreciates each other. And as a highly specialized chamber music ensemble, the Eos Guitar Quartet naturally tries to help expand the repertoire for such a formation.
This Performance of Gismontiana is a live recording of a concert featuring the Eos Guitar Quartet together with the Musikkollegium Winterthur conducted by composer Leo Brower. The Concert took place in the Stadthaus Winterthur, Switzerland.

Tracklist

Gismontiana Egberto Gismonti (*1947)/Leo Brouwer (*1939)
1 Frevo 5’18” Egberto Gismonti/Leo Brouwer
2 Água e Vinho 6’41” Egberto Gismonti/Leo Brouwer
3 Baião Malandro 5’23” Egberto Gismonti/Leo Brouwer
4 A Fala da Paixão 7’20” Egberto Gismonti/Leo Brouwer
5 Cadenza 4’09” Egberto Gismonti/Leo Brouwer
6 Loro 5’37” Egberto Gismonti/Leo Brouwer
Confluence Ralph Towner (*1940)
7 Waltz 7’30” Ralph Towner
8 Slow 5’18” Ralph Towner
9 Allegro 7’32” Ralph Towner

Ensemble Raro – Rhapsodie Roumaine

Artists: Ensemble Raro

Title: Rhapsodie Roumaine

Catalogue No.: SM277

Release: 26.01.2018

Description

Rhapsodie Roumaine is a musical canvas for the imagination.

This recording features two emblematic works by the Romanian Grandmaster George Enescu. The Romanian Rhapsody No.1 is presented in a new Piano Quartet arrangement by Thomas Wally, commissioned by the Ensemble Raro. The enigmatic violinist Gilles Apap together with the pianist Diana Ketler perform arguably Enescu’s greatest masterpiece, the Third Sonata for Violin and Piano „dans le caractère populaire roumain“, a work of extreme beauty and intensity.

Béla Bartók’s ever popular Six Romanian Dances for Violin and Piano and a selection from his Violin Duos, performed here on two violas, capture the unique and compelling spirit of the Romanian traditional folk music.
Enescu’s recently rediscovered Nocturne Ville d’Avrayen for Piano Quartet is a souvenir of the composer’s lifelong friendship with his student, the great Yehudy Menuhin.

The violinists Gilles Apap and Alexander Sitkovetsky, the violists Razvan Popovici and Christian Nas, the cellist Bernhard Naoki Hedenborg and the pianist Diana Ketler transport the listener to the multi-layered world of the Romanian musical landscape, where joy and melancholy are inseparable and heaven is to be found both under the feet and over the head.

Tracklist

Rhapsodie Roumaine No. 1 in A major, Op.11 Ensemble Raro
1 Rhapsodie Roumaine No. 1 in A major, Op.11 12:51
An Evening in the Village for Violin and Piano Diana Ketler, Gilles Apap
2 An Evening in the Village for Violin and Piano 2:42
Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op.25 “dans le caractère populaire roumain” Diana Ketler, Gilles Apap
3 Moderato malinconico 8:10
4 Andante sostenuto e misterioso 8:01
5 Allegro con brio, ma non troppo mosso 7:54
From 44 Duos for Two Violins, Sz.98, arranged for two Violas by Peter Bartók Ensemble Raro
6 21. Colinda I / New Year’s Greeting I 2:07
7 44. Ardeleana / Transylvanian Dance 1:46
8 7. Dans Valah I / Walachian Dance I 0:46
9 40. Dans Valah II / Walachian Dance II 0:45
10 32. Dans maramuresean / Dance from Maramures 0:39
11 38. Invârtita batrânilor / Romanian Whirling Dance 0:42
12 29. Colinda II / New Year’s Greeting II 0:42
13 31. Colinda III / New Year’s Greeting III 0:41
Romanian Folk Dances, Sz.56  arranged for Violin and Piano Diana Ketler, Gilles Apap
14 I. Joc cu bata. Allegro moderato 1:28
15 II. Braul. Allegro 0:40
16 III. Pê-loc. Andante 1:31
17 IV. Buciumeana. Moderato 1:39
18 V. Poarga romaneasca. Allegro 0:28
19 VI. Maruntel. Allegro 0:56
Nocturne Ville d’Avrayen for Piano Quartet Ensemble Raro
20 Nocturne Ville d’Avrayen for Piano Quartet 5:56