Flow
Kinan Azmeh & NDR Bigband

works by Kinan Azmeh
arranged and conducted by Wolf Kerschek

catalog number 21134

I was the Damascene in New York and the New Yorker in Damascus.
I am now more interested in being the New Yorker in New York and the Damascene in Damascus...
Both cities with all their contrasting qualities are intellectually stimulating to me. Places, people, nature, tragedies and celebrations, all of these elements have found their way into the music I create. Being in a constant state of FLOW is now my new zone of comfort.”

Kinan Azmeh

All truly great orchestras always resemble fascinating mythological animals. They are living organisms capable of abducting you with their pervasive powers, enveloping you in their mighty sound. The hero who can tame such a "beast" with its dozens of heads is an adept Odysseus-like "master of schemes", more skilful than the most powerful sorcerer. In today´s show, we give you our own wizard-hero, the superb musician, composer and clarinet player, Kinan Azmeh. In his most recent project, "FLOW", Kinan's music is presented in prodigious arrangements by Wolf Kerschek. Azmeh takes on the masters of jazz improvisation, the fantastic musicians of the legendary NDR Bigband and comes out triumphant. Together they reveal Azmeh´s compelling music in a completely new light: a soundscape of inexhaustible nuances.  Maja Vasiljevic, Radio Clásica

Kinan Azmeh ist ein wunderbarer Improvisator, ein geistvoller Musiker und Komponist. In Flow schenkt er uns acht epische Erzählungen voller überraschender Wendungen; um es mit David Foster Wallace zu sagen: ein unendlicher Spaß.  Ralf Döring in Jazzthetik Magazine

With 'Flow' Kinan Azmeh adds another pearl on his already impressive string of very special recordings.   Henk Jansen in De Klarinet, The Netherlands

Gustav Mahler - Symphonies No 9 & 10 (fragment)

Hommage à Dinu Lipatti

Dinu Lipatti – even today this name immediately elicits a murmur of admiration from musicians. Dinu Lipatti, one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, whose interpretations, with their authenticity and clarity, have led to an admiration which borders on the mystical. “It was no longer piano playing, it was music, released from all earthly weight” (Herbert von Karajan). This CD leads us firstly from Lipatti, who was also a composer and whose two song cycles are the central works of this CD, to the Sept Chansons of his patron George Enescu. Secondly we come to Violeta Dinescu. Even today she is so fascinated by Lipatti’s playing and his “incredible richness of colours” that, in 2017 for his 100th birthday, she dedicated her Song Scene “Mein Auge ist zu allen sieben Sphären zurückgekehrt …” [My eyes returned through all the seven spheres …] to him. Thus, this CD, which comprises of works by these three Romanian composers, can be seen as a Hommage à Dinu Lipatti, whose fame as a pianist leads us easily to forget that he was also a notable composer.

Mevan Younes 
Ether

catalog number 21131

consord
works by Elnaz Seyedi, Brigitta Muntendorf, Gordon Kampe

Sergej Rachmaninow
The Bells / Études tableaux

Olesya Golovneva, soprano
Maxim Aksenov, tenor
Luke Stoker, bass
Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno
Dortmunder Philharmoniker
Gabriel Feltz

Catalog number 21124

 "Fulsome, luxurious and pacey, this live performance from 2019 recorded in the Dortmund Concert House is paired with a very fine, highly atmospheric interpretation of The Bells."  Hannah French, BBC 3

Nataša Mirković & Michel Godard
Risplendenti, riversi 

"TRANSFIGURED by creativity and soul, this everlasting music sounds wholly new and yet eternal. The resonance of Nataša´s voice is mesmerizing, it stops you in tour track, you simply must listen and delight! The musical partnership has never been fuller or more natural with Godard´s masterful playing of the serpent, the joy of Biondini´s accordion and the fantastic, reliable, pulse of Cagwin´s versatile percussion. This CD is a rare gem destined to become a classic."  Maja Vasiljevic. “Rumbo al este”, Radio Clásica. Spain

 

"One of the best albums this period. Bravissimo!"  Giorgos Markakis, Third Radio Channel of Greece

 

OLGA KONKOVA TRIO
Moscow Tears - live at bird's eye Basel

"Moscow Tears is dedicated to my old piano in Moscow, which I got in 1974.) Mom and my grandmother had to borrow lots of money from the bank to be able to buy it, and it took many years to finish the paying back. The instrument itself is called 'Red October' and I practiced on it every day for at least 15 years - Johann Sebastian Bach Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, Die Kunst der Fuge, Schubert, Rachmaninoff and so much more - and then later jazz in different styles. When I was visiting my mother in September 2014, two hours before travelling back to Norway, I opened the piano lid and started playing. It was a heartbreaking and very emotional moment, my old beloved instrument was absolutely not playable; some keys did not work at all and the rest completely out of tune. I burst into tears with nostalgia and started composing a tune, writing on a blank piece of paper, then completed the coposition in Norway the next day. I never changed a note or a chord of it, it came out like I felt that very moment.“ Olga Konkova

Paratum cor meum
Hommage à Anatolijus Šenderovas

3 CDs

Catalog number 21123

Anatolijus Šenderovas, one of the most interesting voices of Lithuanian music, died in 2019. This edition is an remarkable homage to the composer, who was awarded the European Composer Prize in 2002. The composer was a life-long friend of the cellist David Geringas, who appears here as a cellist and as conductor of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra.

Margit Kern - TWO

Works for accordion and electronics

catalog number  21055

Two, strangeness and oneness, togetherness and alone again. Accordion alone and together with ‘live electronic’ are the playing situations in TWO. The inner tension of the CD is to be found in the alternation between the pair. The solo works have a direct relationship to shadow, thus broach- ing the issue of “two” on a completely different level, since the shadow always needs that some- thing which throws the shadow. Loneliness, togetherness - symbiosis - alienation, oneness - this is the intellectual space of this sound constellation, the gravitational point for the tonal diversity which is opened up by both sit- uations. The solo works by Samir Odeh-Tamimi and Edison Denisov are dualistic because of their theme, shadows. “Tslalim” is an Arabian term. It means shadows. The word only exists in the plu- ral, it always means lots. “Des ténèbres à la lumière” - from the shadows to the light - is the grand compositional theme to which Denisov dedicated himself in his last works.

Edison Denisov - Des ténèbres  à la lumières (1995) 
premier recording

Ali Gorji - Flatterflügel (2006)
premier recording

Joachim Heintz - Schlagschatten (2006)
premier recording

Samir Odeh-Tamimi - Tslalim (2007)
premier recording  

Charlotte Seither - Inventaire de départ (2006)
premier recording

A co-production with Deutschlandfunk, Cologne

Bodek Janke - SONG2                                              

Shishani Vranckx, vocals 
Kristjan Randalu, piano 
Phil Donkin, bass
Bodek Janke, drums & percussion 

featuring

Bill Evans – soprano & tenor saxophones
Gilad Hekselman – electric guitar
Sebastian Studnitzky, trumpet
Atom String Quartet

The internationally acclaimed drummer and composer Bodek Janke has launched a cross-genre experiment with his new project SONG.

SONG is a modern and acoustic, 21st-century response to the world of singer-songwriters, pop music culture and its songs, - both from our current times and the 20th century. A heavy clash of contrasting music cultures paves the creative space towards new rhythmic, melodic and harmonic structures, surprising the listener with fresh and new but catchy sounds from an exceptional drummer, composer and arranger. 

"This music should find a wide range of listeners, who are sure to enjoy its beauty, both within the circles of Jazz connoisseurs and beyond. Wholeheartedly and highly recommended!" Adam Baruch

"Bodek Janke is a master of more musical dialects than anyone I can think of (...) Bodek tells a joyous music story by combining the world's musics in a personal and sophisticated way."  John Riley, The Village Vanguard Orchestra/ New York City

Johann Sebastian Bach
Christmas Oratory

live recording

Agnieszka Tomaszweska
Manja Stephan

Catherine Wyn-Rogers
Clemens C. Löschmann
Phillip Langshaw

Bremer RathsChor / Neue Rathsphilharmonie Bremen

Wolfgang Helbich

catalog number 21047

a co-production with Radio Bremen
Programme tip, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Berlin

Qetiq. Rock from Taklamakan Desert 

catalog number 21077 

Dreyer.Gaido entdeckte die uigurische Band im Frühjahr 2010 in einer Bar in Urumqi, der Hauptstadt der Autonomen Uigurischen Provinz Xinjiang in Nordwest-China. Xinjiang, drei mal so groß wie Frankreich, ist die Heimat des Turkvolkes der Uiguren. Diese ethnische und religiöse Minderheit in China ist im Westen nahezu unbekannt.
Mit viel diplomatischen Geschick gelang es im Sommer 2010, die Band nach Deutschland zu Konzerten im Museum für Islamische Kunst Berlin (Pergamon-Museum) und zum Morgenland Festival Osnabrück einzuladen.
Bandleader der Band ist der Sänger Perhat Khaliq, der als Solist auch mit der NDR Bigband und dem Osnabrücker Symphonieorchester konzertierte.
Qetiqs Songs sind Eigenkompositionen und Bearbeitungen traditioneller kasachischer und uigurischer Musik, wie Dolan Muqam, eine jahrhundertealte Wüstenmusik Xinjiangs (Teil der Region ist die Wüste Taklamakan, nach der Sahara die zweitgrößte Sandwüste der Welt).
Die Aufnahmen zum ersten Studioalbum der Band entstanden in Osnabrück und Urumqi.
Entstanden ist eine äußerst abewechslungreiche Rockmusik-Produktion, die einen seltenen Einblick in die Musikwelt Xinjiangs erlaubt.

Balthasar Hens
Piecen for bass clarinet

Balthasar Hens, bass clarinet
Hsiao-Yen Chen, piano
Liliencron-Quartet

Works by Owen Elton, Eugène Bozza, Keith Ramon Cole, David Bennet,
Werner Heider, Edwin York Bowen

catalog number 21084

This recording collects pieces for the bass clarinet from the 20th century, which range in their diversity from the late romantic sound­ideal via the Broadway sound of the 1930’s, right up to contemporary, enthralling sound spectrums. Especially those pieces, which have become unjustly forgotten or which are unknown, have been tracked down here.

Yu Jung Yoon
plays Alexander Scriabin

24 Préludes Op.11
Sonate Nr.2 Op.19 ('Sonate-Fantaisie')
Sonate Nr.5 Op.53

catalog number 21080

Yu Jung Yoon was celebrated in her childhood as a child prodigy and won numerous competitions in her home country Korea. When aged 15 she became one of the youngest students ever at the renowned Conservatory in St. Petersburg. After seven years in St. Petersburg she moved – after a short intermezzo in Germany – to Paris. Her playing combines virtuosity with a deep natural musicality. On her debut CD she performs works by Alexander Scriabin whose music she describes as being her ‘musical home’, ever since she was in her teens.

About the Friedhelm Döhl Edition

"Edition of the year" - Tilmann Urbach, Fono Forum 12/2009

"Performances and supporting documentation are admirable."
Cambridge University Press

„Une voix des profondeurs dans le désert du présent“
Fred Audin/ ClassiqueInfo-Disque, 02/2009

Letters
Songs for Voice and Guitar

Scot Weir, tenor
Volker Niehusmann, guitar

catalog number  21078

This production of two of Benjamin Britten's most important song cycles for guitar and voice, 'Folksong Arrangements' and the 'Songs from the Chinese', is being released on the occasion of his 100th birthday. Britten wrote all these works for his long-time partner, Peter Pears, and the exceptionally talented guitarist Julian Bream. The works are amongst the most important compositions of the 20th Century for the combination voice/guitar and can be heard here in a superb interpretation on this recording.
The programme is completed with 'Letters from Composers' by the American composer Dominick Argento and John W. Duarte's 'Five Quiet Songs'.

Dreyer Gaido Musikproduktionen wurde 2001 von Michael Dreyer und Hugo Germán Gaido gegründet und ist im nordrhein-westfälischen Münster ansässig. Durch seine exquisiten Produktionen hat sich das Label einen ausgezeichneten Ruf in der Klassik- und Weltmusik-Szene erarbeitet und erhält von der Presse und seinen Hörern enthusiastische Kritiken.

»Hinter dem Namen des Labels stecken nicht nur kluge Köpfe, sondern zwei umtriebige, eigensinnige und freie Geister. Unter dem Dach des kleinen, aber feinen Labels mit Sitz in Münster treffen Naher und Ferner Osten auf Jazz und Klassik sowie neue Konzertmusik.« (Jazzthetik, März/April 2016)

Beethoven in Stalingrad. A Concert Tour

A film by Claudia and Günter Wallbrecht

Tabea Zimmermann, Viola
Lina Liu, Soprano | Almerija Delic, Alto
Sergej Grankwist, Tenor | Michael Kansanzew, Bariton
Choir of the Kalmückien Republic
Philharmonic Choir Volgograd
Boys’ Choir Volgograd
Osnabrück Symphony Orchestra
Wolgograder Akademisches Sinfonieorchester
Conducted by: Andreas Hotz / Edward SerovWolgograder Akademisches Sinfonieorchester

catalog number 21083 (DVD)

In January 2013 the Osnabrück Symphony Orchestra started off on a very special journey: to Volgograd, the former Stalingrad – the city which, because of the events of the winter of 1942/43, has become a symbol of the horrors of war.
70 years after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad Russian and German musicians want to perform a joint memorial concert. Will the very different cultures of remembrance come together in “Alle Menschen werden Brüder”? With great sensitivity the filmmakers Claudia and Günter Wallbrecht accompany the musicians of both orchestras on their fascinating path towards a common goal.

Ayshemgul Memet
The female voice of Uyghur muqam and folk songs

Ayshemgul Memet, vocals
Shohrat Tursun, tambur
Ilyar Ayup, percussion

catalog number 21067

Being one of the oldest cultures of Central Asia, Uyghur music has its special place among the Turkic nations of the mysterious Silk Road. Muqams, folksongs, religious songs are transmitted orally from generation to generation and have influenced (as well having been influenced by) different cultures around the area.
The Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group who live in North-Western China, in the region of Xinjiang which means 'New Territory' in Chinese. The Uyghurs are Muslims (Sunnites) but Shamanism, Buddhism and Manichaeism has had a marked influence on their culture. Belonging to Central Asia (although always forgotten to be mentioned as a part of Central Asia), Uyghurs share similar linguistic and cultural heritages with other Turkic nations such as Uzbeks, Kazakh and Kyrgyz.

Xinjiang is a mountainous and barren area with oases full of life. The old Silk Road attracted thousands of adventurers and tradesmen. Many traditional songs have swayed along the endless sandy tracks on journeys.
Music is an important part of Uyghur culture and Uyghur identity. From very early times Uyghur music has been mentioned in Chinese historical sources as a highly developed art. Uyghur music from the far west was considered by Chinese royal ensembles to be the most inspiring. Some musical instruments even traveled to the Tang dynasty and have been adopted in Chinese music. After its islamization, Uyghur music adopted the great tradition of Muqam (Maqâm, Mugham) and created a powerful musical heritage.

“I was 13 years old when I heard a Muqam for the first time. It was a short fragment from muqam Panjigah. The beauty of this music magnetized me. I knew that muqam was my destiny.”  Ayshemgul Memet

Friedhelm Döhl Edition, Volume 15
MEDEA. Opera in three acts

Brenda Roberts (Medea)
Mario Taghadossi
Roar Wik
Attila Kovács
Margaret Russel
Hans Georg Ahrens
Helen Centner
Philharmonic Orchestra and choirs, Kiel
Conducted by Klauspeter Seibel

catalog number 21062

Unfortunately there is no professional studio recording of Döhl’s ‘Medea’. This CD documentation is based on an in-house live recording of the premiere - which fortunately still exists - with all the acoustic disadvantages which this brings with it - such as audience coughs and noises from the stage, which result from the somewhat unmusical stage direction. On the other hand the live recording reflects some of the musical freshness and directness of the premiere, as Klauspeter Seibel, the conductor of the premiere - whom Döhl asked for his opinion (some 20 years later) - explicitly confirmed. This approbation by the conductor was important for the composer as it was one of his central works, or better, the central work; the culmination of much that had preceded it, and from which much of what followed was developed. The live recording which documents the world premiere on 17th June 1990 can therefore, despite all the mentioned acoustic shortcomings, not be left out of the ‘Edition Friedhelm Döhl’.

"Today I finally had the chance to listen to the whole of ‘Medea’. I have just finished listening to it, and to say that I am intensely impressed by the piece, as well as the performance, is an understatement… Most of all I am astounded by the orchestra, because there is so much to be heard on the recording: colouring, atmosphere, dynamics, bravura etc. A lot of it sounds really good and I think we understood the music quite well at the time. It was very pleasing for me to be able to listen to it once again. I am very happy to give my permission for its publication. As you have mentioned, one has to emphasize that it is a live recording; but that is somehow also part of the live atmosphere."
Klauspeter Seibel in a letter to Friedhelm Döhl

KO KÛ
New music from Japan and China
for Recorder and Percussion

Gudula Rosa, recorders
Haruka Fujii, percussion

catalog number 21039

While many western composers have been fascinated and inspired by Asian music, their counterparts in Asia have adapted their musical language to the western modern and have tried to interfuse this with Asian sensations. “Asia” is present in contemporary music in many ways. The recordings on this CD combine works by renowned composers who have each, in their own way, determined the face of contemporary Asian music. The first work is by John Cage who founded and left a lasting impression on the western way of viewing Asian thinking and Asian aesthetics.

A co-production with Radio Bremen

What shall we remember?
Scot Weir & Jan Czajkowski

American songs by
André Previn, Jake Heggie, John Duke, Ricky Ian Gordon

Scot Weir, tenor

Jan Czajkowski, piano

catalog number 21038

A co-production with Radio Bremen

None of Döhl’s orchestral works is like any of the others. Each is individual, not adhering to any scheme, neither ‘absolute’ nor ‘programmatic’. Each work moves freely in a sort of in-between world: between ‘purely musical’ form-genesis and ‘extra-musical’ association. This quasi ‘intermediary’ ambivalence is referred to in the titles or sub-titles of the works, they being, in chronological order of composition: 'Melancolia', 'Zorch', 'Ikaros', 'like an attempt to regain speech', 'Tombeau', 'Passion', 'Winterreise, 'Sommerreise', 'Gesang der Frühe'.

"Döhls music represents a central aesthetic position of new art. To him, composing is asking questions of his 'self', music is a medium which he uses in his dealings with a world, whose brokenness and fragility is to be brought to light through art… The partial frugality of the angular contours, repetitive rhythms and glaring contrasts have a direct correlation to highly expressive cantability and dionysistic sound sensuality."
Wilfried Gruhn, in 'Metzlers Composers Lexicon'

About the Friedhelm Döhl Edition

"Edition of the year" - Tilmann Urbach, Fono Forum 12/2009

"Performances and supporting documentation are admirable."
Cambridge University Press

„Une voix des profondeurs dans le désert du présent“
Fred Audin/ ClassiqueInfo-Disque, 02/2009

Sergej Rachmaninoff: Die Totensinsel & Der Fels
Alexandre Skrjabin: Prométhée Le poème du feu

Andreas Boyde, Klavier
Stuttgarter Philharmoniker
Philharmonia Chor Stuttgart
Gabriel Feltz

catalog number: 21035

SACD, stereo & multichannel (Hybrid)

Press releases and audiences reactions are enthusiastic when talking about Alim Qasimov, the singer from Azerbaijan. This was also the case with the concert which this extraordinary musician gave at the Morgenland Festival Osnabrück, now available on this recording.
riental music between the Levant and northwest China is based on modes called maqam, shashmaqam, muqam or mugham according to the region.
There is no music more complicated and or requiring more virtuosity than the mugam of Azerbaijan. These mugam have also spread into jazz, opera and symphonic music, something quite unique.
Alim Qasimov is the most outstanding exponent of traditional mugham. For several years now he has been performing together with his daughter Fargana, who was also his pupil. Concerts with the Kronos Quartet and the cooperation with Yo Yo Ma on his Silk Road Project have brought Qasimov an increasing audience in the west.

"Very occasionally, very very occasionally, a recording arrives that so transfixes that work stopps and pleasure, enlightenment and education take over. Intimate dialogue is one of those.  ... If there is any finer vocal duo performing art music anywhere on the planet right now, please send the details to the usual address. Intimate dialogue is the sort of stuff to send shivers down your spine."
Ken Hunt in FolkRoots

"... and the results are spellbinding. ... what I heard on this CD really turned my head. Qasimov and his daughter perform with what devotees of flamenco often refer to as duende . (The English word “soul” approaches the meaning, but does not come close enough.) Both of these performers have remarkable voices - remarkable both in terms of range, flexibility, and expression - and when they get on a roll, it sounds as if their souls are being rent in two. Qasimov, a tenor by operatic standards, has an especially remarkable set of vocal cords. The highly melismatic vocal style might take some getting used to, but stick with it, and I think you will have a listening experience unlike any you have had before. ... The booklet notes tell you everything you need to know, and the English translations of the lyrics are blessedly provided. The live recording is atmospheric, and will involve you even more deeply in the performances."
Raymond Tuttle in Fanfarre Magazine 

"It is the dark side of the Romantic era which is above all invoked by the ‘Symphony for Cello and Orchestra’. Döhl writes strong and expressive music. The piano concerto ‘Sommerreise’ is much lighter and has a rather happy, rhythmically-pointed quality. The virtuoso-playful character of the first movement is in stark contrast to the richly-coloured sounds with which the second and third movements open. Döhl himself speaks in this context of a summer sky-scape."
Martin Demmler in Fono Forum

"Döhls music represents a central aesthetic position of new art. To him, composing is asking questions of his 'self', music is a medium which he uses in his dealings with a world, whose brokenness and fragility is to be brought to light through art… The partial frugality of the angular contours, repetitive rhythms and glaring contrasts have a direct correlation to highly expressive cantability and dionysistic sound sensuality."
Wilfried Gruhn, in 'Metzlers Composers Lexicon'

About the Friedhelm Döhl Edition

"Edition of the year" - Tilmann Urbach, Fono Forum 12/2009

"Performances and supporting documentation are admirable."
Cambridge University Press

"Une voix des profondeurs dans le désert du présent"
Fred Audin/ ClassiqueInfo-Disque, 02/2009

Luigi Nono
Intolleranza 1960
One-act opera in two parts
German translation by Alfred Andersch

Libretto with texts of Angelo Maria Rippelino, Julius Fucik, Jean-Paul Sartre, Paul Eluard, Wladimir Majakowskij, Henri Alleg and Bertolt Brecht

Wolfgang Neumann
Maria Kowollik
Judy Berry
Ina Schlingensiepen
Armin Kolarczyk
Bartholomeus Driessen
Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra
Bremen Theatre Choir
Conducted by Gabriel Feltz

Intolleranza 1960 was Luigi Nono's first work for the opera stage and is a flaming protest against intolerance and oppression and the violation of human dignity. The year in the title refers to the time of the work's origin. It was commissioned for the 1969 Venice Biennale by its director Mario Labroca. The first performance was conducted by Bruno Maderna on 13 April 1961 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. The premiere was disrupted by neo-fascists, who shouted "Viva la polizia" during the torture scene. Nono's opponents accused him of poisoning Italian music.

A co-production with Radio Bremen

Diapason d'Or

Richard Strauss - Eine Alpensinfonie
Mikolajus Konstantinas Ciurlionis - Im Wald

Philharmonic Orchestra Altenburg - Gera
Gabriel Feltz

catalog number 21027

Robert Schumann - Herbstempfindungen
Lieder from 1850 

Scot Weir, Tenor
Rainer Hoffmann, Klavier

catalog number 21025

Drei Lieder op. 83
Sechs Lieder op. 89
Fünf Lieder op. 96
Sieben Lieder op. 90
Des Sennen Abschied op. 79/23  

During his last creative period from 1849 to 1852 Robert Schumann felt compelled to explore the boundaries of the relationship between words and music. Vocal compositions of whatever type became the centre of his attention and outweighed his interest even for his main instrument, the piano, as well as for symphonic compositions. Schumann’s vocal works from his final period were influenced by two divergent movements: on the one hand they were expansive and ranged from Piano-Lieder, opera, oratorio and choral works to melodrama, to piano-accompanied recitation of the poetic word; on the other, the relationship between word and music, which for Schumann, as an intellectual and man of letters, had been decisive from his younger days, now became extremely intensive and intimate, as can be noted by the declamatory style, whereby the literary conscience is equally as important as the musical. This fine-polishing of declamation, which is manifested in the oratorio-like “Scene from Goethe’s Faust”, as in the works for double choir and the Piano-Lieder, coincides remarkably with the tendencies of Schumann’s compatriot and antipode Richard Wagner and anticipates the overly-sensitive, richly thoughtful and allusive treatment of the words by Hugo Wolf, or even the speech-rhythm of Berg’s “Wozzeck”.

A coproduction with Radio Bremen

Friedhelm Döhl Edition Vol. 4
Lieder

„...wenn aber“ / 9 Hölderlin-Fragments
Trakl-Lieder
7 Haiku
Unterwegs
7 Stationen
Itke Songs

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Aribert Reimann, piano

Eva Csapò, soprano
Mario Venzago, piano

Friedhelm Döhl, accordion

catalog number 21023

"Döhls music represents a central aesthetic position of new art. To him, composing is asking questions of his 'self', music is a medium which he uses in his dealings with a world, whose brokenness and fragility is to be brought to light through art… The partial frugality of the angular contours, repetitive rhythms and glaring contrasts have a direct correlation to highly expressive cantability and dionysistic sound sensuality."

Wilfried Gruhn, in 'Metzlers Composers Lexicon'

About Friedhelm Döhl Edition

"Edition of the year" - Tilmann Urbach, Fono Forum 12/2009

"Performances and supporting documentation are admirable."
Cambridge University Press

„Une voix des profondeurs dans le désert du présent“
Fred Audin/ ClassiqueInfo-Disque, 02/2009

MEDEA-MONOLOG

SZENE ÜBER EINEN KLEINEN TOD’

A & O / Mikrodrama II

ANNA K
‚AUF SCHMALEM GRAT’ / Requiem for 6 voices

FRAGMENT SYBILLE after Hölderlin

"Döhls music represents a central aesthetic position of new art. To him, composing is asking questions of his 'self', music is a medium which he uses in his dealings with a world, whose brokenness and fragility is to be brought to light through art… The partial frugality of the angular contours, repetitive rhythms and glaring contrasts have a direct correlation to highly expressive cantability and dionysistic sound sensuality."
Wilfried Gruhn, in 'Metzlers Composers Lexicon'

About the Friedhelm Döhl Edition

"Edition of the year" - Tilmann Urbach, Fono Forum 12/2009

"Performances and supporting documentation are admirable."
Cambridge University Press

"Une voix des profondeurs dans le désert du présent"
Fred Audin/ ClassiqueInfo-Disque, 02/2009

Rudolf Hindemith Edition Vol. 2
Piano music and chamber music

Seven preludes and fugues
Sonatinas Nr. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6
Waltz of the opera „Des Kaisers Neue Kleider”
Sextett (Serenade) for clarinet, string quartet and double bass

Mariangela Granata, piano
Ludger Maxsein, piano
Eduard Brunner, clarinet
Alfred Schopper, violin
Miwako Ninomiya, violin
Rhoda Lee Rhea, viola
Rudolf Hindemith, violoncello
Rudolf Knerer, double bass

catalog number 21018

The work was a triumph and was awarded a prize for the best first performance at the Young Euro Classic Festival. The composer received the European Composer Prize 2002.

The 'Concerto in Do' was commissioned by Young Euro Classic for the European Music Summer 2002 and is dedicated to the cellist David Geringas. ("Do" is not only the key of the piece [i.e. "C"], it is also the name by which the cellist is known to his close friends and relatives.)

The artistic cooperation between David Geringas and Anatolijus Šenderovas goes back a long way. As far back as 1972 Šenderovas composed the Sonata for Cello and Percussion, and shortly after that, Four Pieces for Cello and Piano. Both works are dedicated to Geringas and are a standard part of his repertoire.

In 1975 the recording studio in Vilnius recorded these works for an LP production. As was standard practice at the time, the recording was sent to Moscow where it was to be endorsed by the "Arts Council" (in other words, the censors!).

On 21st July 1975 the recording was endorsed. However, it then became known that David Geringas, after winning the 4th International Tchaikovsky Competition and after many restrictions and prohibitions which made normal artistic activity almost impossible, had decided to emigrate.

He had departed on 17th July 1975.

For this reason, on 22nd July 1975, one day after it had been endorsed, the endorsement was rescinded. The word "endorsed" was crossed out and replaced by "recording rejected" and two illegible signatures…

That meant that the recording and the cover with the inscriptions should be destroyed. The original master-tape was indeed demagnetised. However, a good fairy, the editor Zinutė Nutatutaitė gave the cover back to the composer and managed to persuade the sound engineer Rimas Pupeikis (who is now director of the studio) to make a copy of the recording. This tape and the cover were kept in Anatolijus Šenderovas archives for 27 years….

This CD presents, for the first time, that historic archive recording which had not been made available to the public in soviet times. The restoration of the recording was done by Giedrius Litvenas of the "Lithuanian Recording Studio MA“.

LIEDER
Brahms & Schubert

Hidenori Komatsu, baritone,
Jörg Demus, piano

catalog number 21007

Live recorded at Musikhalle Hamburg, 2002

La Bellina

Silke Meyer, recorder
Claudia Krawietz, harpsichord

catalog number 21006

Works by Pandolfi Mealli, Francois Couperin, Anne Dancian Philidor, Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, Louis Couperin, Angelo Berardi


Eternal Love
Şimdi Ensemble
Michel Godard 

catalog number  21095

Şimdi reflects this approach by embracing the traditional repertoire of Sufi music as well as the music composed by band members. Whether composed hymns, songs or instrumental works. Amazing French tuba and serpent player Michel Godard is joing this Simdi ensemble on its first recording.
 
"Recording with Simdi Ensemble was nothing less than a whirl of pleasure."  Michel Godard

East Drive & Tamara Lukasheva
Savka i Griška 
A Journey to an Eastern European Childhood

Catalog number 21101

Childhood is place of myths. A place full of miracles, fairy tales and adventures. The heritage of Eastern European childrens´ songs provides a sheer inexhaustible source of graceful, imaginative, mystical and humorous stories, of which East Drive collected the most beautiful ones to present in a new way on Savka i Griška, featuring the outstanding Ucrainian singer Tamara Lukasheva.

"'Savka i Griška' is an album dedicated to East European children's songs from Russia, Poland or the Balkans; songs which oscillate between childish gaiety and Slavic melancholy. Lukasheva, with her wonderful voice, obviously has great fun and approaches them with impulsive verve and delightfully exuberant improvisations. And East Drive open up new worlds of sound in the 13 songs, at times accompanied by a string quartet."  

Rolf Thomas in Jazzthing

Rudolf Hindemith Edition, Vol. 1

Five Piano Pieces / Sonatina Nr. 7
Theme and Variations on „Ich hab’ die Nacht geträumet“
Der Spiegel for string quartet
Sextett – Serenade
Suite for piano and orchestra

Jutta Müller-Vornehm, piano (Five Piano Pieces, Sonatina)
Kolja Lessing, piano (Suite)
Members of Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Bremen (String Quartet, Serenade)
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Bremen
George Alexander Albrecht

Catalog number 21009 

„Kolja Lessing as the soloist and Alexander Albrecht as conductor present the Suite for Piano and Orchestra as a very entertaining composition, …, which betrays the influence of Spanish folk music and jazz and is characterised in all its differing types of genre and movements by a laconic shortness. Rudolf Hindemith reveals a quite amazing originality and bubbly temperament.”

NEUE MUSIKZEITUNG

Bronius Kutavicius
The Gates of Jerusalem

St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra/ Aidija Chamber Choir
/ Donatas Katkus

Catalog number 21003

In this work the Lithuanian composer Bronius Kutavicius, sometimes ironically called the “last pagan composer”, presents a geographical panorama of religious rites from various parts of the world, taking as his starting point the cultural influences on the city of Jerusalem, which has three city gates on each of its four sides.

“Bronius Kutavicius is gradually winning a group of fans in the centre of Europe.”
Martin Demmler in FonoForum:

“The artistic interpretation of these “echoes of the ancient world cultures” by the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra and the Aidija Chamber Choir from Vilnius has a high degree of authenticity.”
Lutz Lesle in NEUE ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR MUSIK

Fatum
Roman Viazovskiy, guitar

Catalog number 21001

Works by: Konstantin Vassiliev , Leo Brouwer, Antonio José, Egberto Gismonti

“… Certainly Fatum is one of the best recordings I have reviewed over recent years, the playing is immaculate, the programme has no low points: what more could one ask for? The undoubted highlights for the reviewer are the two works by Konstantin Vassiliev. … This is wonderful writing for the instrument – some of the best of our times. Highly recommended.”

Steve Marsh in Classical Guitar Magazine

...cette ville étrange
a re-imagination of Claude Vivier's
"...et je reverrai cette ville étrange…"

Ensemble Constantinople & Guests
Sandeep Bhagwati

catalog number 21119

In 2014, ten Montréal musicians, each from another tradition, came together to re-imagine an iconic work by Claude Vivier.
They re-arranged Vivier's score, rendered his melodies in their own manner, improvised around his music, remembered their own traditional music through Vivier's composition.
This album is a composite selection of live recordings from various concerts of this project since 2015. 

From Land of Fire 
Chamber Music works by Khadija Zeynalova

Ensemble Bridge of Sound

Catalog number 21117

A Co-production with Deutschlandfunk

"Many of my chamber music compositions are inspired by nature and, often hostile, forces of nature of my homeland Azerbaijan, without embodying 'tone-painting' in the true sense of the word. Myths often form the background of my works, myths that at the same time build an obvious bridge between the Caucasus region and Central Europe". Khadija Zeynalova

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 2 c-minor  / ”Resurrection Symphony"
live recording

Chen Reiss, Soprano
Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, Mezzosoprano
Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno 
Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra
Gabriel Feltz

catalog number 21116

The ouevre of Gustav Mahler has been a focal point of the ten year cooperation between the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra and Gabriel Feltz (2003 - 2013). The last recording made during this period is Mahler’s “Resurrection Symphony”.

“the most unusual and controversial cycle of the last few years.“
infodad.com

Dima Orsho
Hidwa. Lullabies for Troubled Times 
 
Dima Orsho, voice
Jasser Haj Youssef, violin & viola d'amore
Manfred Leuchter, accordion
Salman Gambarov, piano
Robert Landfermann, double bass
Bodek Janke, drums & percussion, tabla

catalog number 21115

"These songs are more than lullabies to calm children and put them to sleep...  they are songs to put an anxious mind at ease ...lullabies for our troubled times." Dima Orsho

"Dima Orsho paints a dreamlike soundscape out of this world with a voice full of serene passion." Maja Vasiljevic, Radio Clásica

”Her singing is the most beautiful thing human vocal cords can produce."  Hamburger Abendblatt

Kinan Azmeh - Uneven Sky

Kinan Azmeh, clarinet
Yo-Yo Ma, violoncello
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Manuel Nawri
Works by Kinan Azmeh, Kareem Roustom, Zaid Jabri, Dia Succari

catalog number 21114

"Uneven Sky is about home, the multitudes of homes, and it was made with lots of optimism and love. Syria may not be on the cover of this album but it is present in every detail of the music, and certainly in my heart." Kinan Azmeh

"Home is ever-present and elusive. There and here. Then and now. Lost and found. Listening to this album, we find both the search for home and home itself." Ara Guzelimian

OPUS KLASSIK 2019 - Best instrumental concerto recording

CD-Tip of the month - Fono Forum

"Absolutely one of the best albums of the last years!" - RAI Radio

Sandeep Bhagwati
Miyagi Haikus

Gabriel Dharmoo/ Jieun Kang/  Matthias Bauer
Peter Evans/ Dave Taylor/ Felix Del Tredici 
Vincent Royer 
Felix Borel/ Scott Roller/ Michael Kiedaisch/ Jürgen Kruse 
Martin Losert 

catalog number: 21113

The catastrophe of Fukushima in March 2011 prompted Sandeep Bhagwati to spontaneously write 17 haiku compositions as musical elegies - in memory of the victims, but also as a "meditation on the thin skin of our civilization on this restless planet" (Bhagwati). 
This edition presents 5 complete versions of the Miyagi Haikus in different instrumentations.
It includes 5 cycles of poems by Yoko Tawada, Yang Lian, Monika Rinck, Ranjit Hoskote, and Christian Filips written in response to these recordings.

Reinhold Glière
Sinfonie No. 3 - Ilya Murometz
Beogradska filharmonija
Gabriel Feltz

Multilayer SACD 

catalog number 21112

The world premiere of Reinhold Glière's monumental third symphony in March 1912 was a culture-political event of the utmost importance in Russia. abriel Feltz presents this remarkable work in cooperation with the Beogradska filharmonija and makes it clear that this most interesting late-romantic composer is well worth a closer look.

Bodek Janke
Song

Melissa Mary Ahern, vocals
Kristjan Randalu, piano
Philip Donkin bass
Bodek Janke, drums & percussion
with
Sebastian Studnitzky, trumpet
Kinan Azmeh, clarinet
Andy Stack, guitar
Alexey Malakhau, saxophone
Atom String Quartet

catalog number 21111

Bodek Janke is one of the most interesting and versatile jazz drummers and percussionists of our time. Together with the American singer and songwriter Melissa Mary Ahern, an album was created which contains both her own pieces and cover versions. Thanks to the artist's extraordinary voice and the fantastic instrumentalist ensemble this recording has become an enchanting song album.

Omaggio a Francesco
West-Eastern Reflections on Landini 

MIXTURA 
Katharina Bäuml, shawms 
Margit Kern, accordion 

Guests
Ehsan Ebrahimi, Santur 
Arsalan Abedian, Santur

catalog number  21109

Since their first joint CD project in 2011 Katharina Bäuml (shawm) and Margit Kern (accordion), as the ensemble Mixtura, have developed programmes, which combine music of the Middle Ages or the Renaissance with specially commissioned pieces of New Music. Their precept is the examination of one certain starting point, which, in the course of the programme, combines both musical fields with each another. Their present album looks at a musical icon of the Trecento and examines to what extent the themes of the 14th century are compatible with today’s attitudes and aesthetics.

New Goldberg Variations

David Geringas, violoncello
Ian Fountain, piano

Works by Bach, Corigliano, Danielpour, Lieberson, Busoni, Rouse,  Frazelle, Schickele 

catalog number 21108

David Geringas heard about the existence of the New Goldberg Variations in 1997, shortly after the first performance, and integrated into his project ‘Bach Plus’ excerpts from John Corigliano’s Fancy on a Bach Air as an introduction to Bach’s Cello Suite Nr. 1. In 2014, while planning a CD with works by American composers, he remembered about the New Goldberg Variations, and in 2015 he performed the piece, which is exactly the length a one half of a recital, in Parma, Italy, together with the pianist Ian Fountain, who is also the pianist on this recording. One year later, while being interviewed for his 70th birthday, he concretized the idea for this CD.

Des cloches sonores

Catalin Serban

George Enescu - Suite No. 2 D major op. 10
Franz Schubert - Sonata G major op. 78, D 894
Alexander Scriabin - Sonata No. 5 op. 53

catalog number 21107

"While looking for exciting correlations and comparisons of works and composers who, for a long time, have touched and inspired me, I discovered these three compositions – stylistically completely different, and yet united by their bell-like motifs and sounds. George Enescu’s Suite op. 10 No. 2 even has the title “Des cloches sonores” (Eng. “Sonorous Bells”), and the bell sounds are unmistakeably audible in all four movements of the Suite, albeit in very differing dynamics and atmospheric sound colours. The G major Sonata op. 78 D 894 by Franz Schubert is a piece with which I have a long and close association. What greatly influenced my interpretation of the famous first movement was my contemplation of the long, expansive chords – these sound as if they are produced by a faraway bell in a quiet, profound landscape. The impressive ending and the highlight of the Sonata No. 5 op. 53 by Alexander Scriabin uses the very gentle harmonies and individual notes of the beginning, which develop from distant tolling bell to become an overpowering, mighty peal of bells." Catalin Serban

Alois Bröder
The wives of the dead
Oper in zwei Versionen nach einer Erzählung von Nathaniel Hawthorne

Marisca Mulder | Mireille Lebel | Marwan Shamiyeh 
Florian Götz | Opernchor des Theaters Erfurt
Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt | Johannes Pell

catalog number 21106 

 "Bröder manages to musically capture the ambiguity, which is the earmark of this piece, giving it atmospheric form. This is exactly as opera music should be: individual and autonomous, bang up to date, striking in its expressivity, but always orientated towards the goal of portraying a gripping story in a dramatically coherent way." Werner Häußner in Der neue Merker

Sergej Rachmaninoff
Symphony No. 3, a-minor op. 44

Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra
Gabriel Feltz

Catalog number 21105

"Rachmaninoff’s third symphony communicates, in a very moving way, the life-long struggle of one of Russia’s greatest musicians with this genre. The result is… absolutely magnificent: the musical inspiration is overflowing; the themes and melodies are, as always by Rachmaninoff, inimitable; but more especially, the many changes of mood, achieved by an extremely artistic instrumentation, are unique." Gabriel Feltz

TREATISES
on Trans-Traditional Aesthetics
Ensemble Extrakte
Sandeep Bhagwati

Sören Birke - Ravi Srinivasan
Cathy Milliken - Deniza Popova
Wu Wei - Ji-eun Kang
Hoo Yong - Farhan Sabbagh
Gregor Schulenburg - Klaus Janek
Sandeep Bhagwati

catalog number: 21104 

"Ensemble Extrakte – this name outlines a musical program. The thirteen treatises in this album are seismographic soundscapes of uncommon encounters. When we brought together the eleven musical polyglots of Ensemble Extrakte in music, they came from widely different musical backgrounds and cultures; some were virtuosos in more than one genre or tradition. To each of us, music meant something else, they made their music for different communities and contexts. But they all lived in Berlin – and our idea was to create a music that would truly reflect this new ensemble, its roots and its global aspirations." Sandeep Bhagwati

VON MÜTTERN UND TÖCHTERN

Dorothe Ingenfeld, mezzo soprano
Anita Keller, piano
Katrin Dasch, piano

catalog number 21103

"How did I come to make a CD just with songs about mothers and daughters? My daughter was away for three weeks during the summer holidays and I wanted to use the creatively to record a CD. I looked at my favourite songs and discovered that three of them had this thematic connection. The obvious thing to do was to take this as a theme, so I sat down with both of my pianists and we looked for other such songs. We found over thirty of them, from which we chose the most beautiful songs and those we thought the most fitting. It was to be the most poetic summer of my life! I devoured books on the subject, watched films and talked to mothers and daughters about this most enthralling of all relationships. It was a source of infinite joy for me to slip into the roles of all these mothers and daughters and I wish you just as much joy while listening!"  Dorothe Ingenfeld

Anatolijus Šenderovas
Music for Strings

Art Vio | FortVio
Ingrida Rupaitė-Petrikienė | Kristijonas Venslovas
Tomas Petrikis | Povilas Jacunskas 
Indrė Baikštytė 

Catalog number 21102

The CD Music for Strings of Anatolijus Šenderovas, one of the most prominent Lithuanian composers, the laureate of the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Art, embraces fifteen years (2000-2015) of his chamber oeuvre and reveals the most typical features of his music, i.e. profound emotionalism, temperate modernism and intense dramaturgy.
The recording offers the possibility to hear one of the most significant pieces of Lithuanian music of the recent years – the String Quartet No.3 by Šenderovas – and reflects the creative friendship of the composer with the noted ensembles established firmly in the Lithuanian music elite – the piano trio FortVio and string quartet Art Vio.
The CD also includes the versions of the two pieces dedicated to world-famous Lithuanian German cellist David Geringas to mark the extraordinary friendship and long-standing cooperation of these two artists.

Sergej Rachmaninow
Sinfonie Nr. 1 in d-moll

Dortmunder Philharmoniker
Gabriel Feltz

Catalog number  21100

Right up to the present day Sergei Rachmaninoff’s works are all too easily characterised as being “romantic salon music”. Especially just after the Second World War Rachmaninoff’s long melodic phrases and the voluptuous sound of his compositions were often regarded as being somewhat dubious. Even today many critics hold his music to be sentimental and ornate. These judgements and characterisations are, however, often made taking only a very small part of Rachmaninoff’s complete oeuvre into account. A large part of this is, even today, scarcely known in Germany. The First Symphony, which he composed at the age of 22, is one of these works. It gives us a completely new perspective on this supposedly well-known composer. 

 "This may well be the best performance yet.“  Steven Kruger in New York Arts

"Gabriel Feltz and his Dortmunders play as if the ink on the score were still wet.. .The playing is outstanding.“ Kal Rubinson in stereophile

Peter Gahn - Meinten Sie: RED

ensemble reflexion K
Conducted by Gerald Eckert

catalog number  21097

The multi-perspective art of cubism and Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s “pluralistic” compositional style were some of Peter Gahn’s earliest impressions. That he was also receptive for inspiration from other art forms is still a characteristic of his music today: Many of his works open themselves to visual arts, to architecture, literature, dance, theatre and film, which are often directly integrated into the performance. However, Peter Gahn also practices these changes of context and perspective within the internal musical structures: Within a work or in
groups of works whose individual parts can be simultaneously performed in differing constellations.
A co-production with Deutschlandfunk 

David Geringas
The Sound of Lithuania 

David Geringas, cello
Indrė Baikštytė | Justas Dvarionas
Petras Geniušas | Jurgis Karnavičius
Birutė Vainiūnaitė | Rokas Zubovas, piano

Works for Cello & Piano by
K. Banaitis - V. Bartulis - B. Budriūnas - M.K. Čiurlionis
B. Dvarionas - B. Gilin - V. Jakubėnas - J. Karnavičius
J. Karosas - B. Kutavičius - F. Latėnas - A. Šenderovas
E. Balsys - S. Vainiūnas

Catalog number 21099 

Lithuania is my home country. I was born and raised in Vilnius. But what does Lithuania sound like? This double CD is a recollection of the country and the sentiments of its people. Lithuania does not only sound in Lithuania, but everywhere where people remember Lithuania.
David Geringas

Bruchstücke
Eine Annäherung an den Komponisten Friedhelm Döhl

A film by 
Günter Wallbrecht, Hugo Germán Gaido und Michael Dreyer

Catalog number  21098

This is not a film biography - more an empathetic portrait of the restlessly productive, prolific composer and cultural initiator Friedhelm Döhl, embedded in the history of the German New Music movement over the past decades. Filmmaker Günter Wallbrecht and the two longtime producers, Michael Dreyer and Hugo Germán Gaido let not just companions of the composer from the worlds of music and politics have their say, but, above all, the composer himself. 

Eos Trio
Streichtrios von
Gideon Klein | Józef Koffler | Ernst Naumann

Elena Tsaur: Violin
Elen Guloyan: Viola
Verena Sennekamp: Violoncello

Catalog number 21091

The Moravian-born Jewish composer Gideon Klein (1919-45) composed his final work, the String Trio (1944) while interned in Theresienstadt. Quite a few of his works written there are based on Czech folksongs; his string trio falls into this category. Jewish composer Josef Koffler (1896-1944) suffered a similarly tragic fate as Klein. His Trio, op. 10 (1928) was written, however, when he was Prof. of Harmony and Atonal Composition in Lviv (Lemberg). The Trio in D Major by Ernst Neumann (1832-1910) is a work from 1883. The Eos Trio Frankfurt is keen to bring forgotten or unknown works back to audiences.

Qetiq. Rock 'n Ürümchi
The Discovery of Perhat Khaliq

A Film by Mukaddas Mijit

Catalog number  21093

Ürümchi - capital city of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China and home to the Turkic people, the Uyghurs, is the departure point for this film. The city, which is marked by the ambivalence between its Uyghur tradition and global modernity, is home to the musician Perhat, who like many other musicians from the region had no ideas about ever leaving the city.
Since his appearance in 'China the Voice‘ in 2014 Perhat Khaliq is a famous rock star in China and the first Uyghhur rock star touring big theaters in the country.
A film about music that, just like the city, is caught up in the tension between tradition and modernity, about friendship that needs no words and about boundless optimism, which made not just one dream come true.
Perhat is receiving the Prince Claus Award in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam in December 2015.
"His rich voice and poetic lyrics are making minority culture accessible to millions, while also conserving and expanding a unique cultural heritage.“ (Prince Claus Award)

Des Todes Tod
Song cycles of Mahler, Mussorgskij, Hindemith

Barbara Höfling 
Helian Quartett
Sophie Lücke
Amanda Anderson

Catalog number: 21092

"This CD is the most personal I have ever made.
Mahler's Kindertotenlieder have always been dear to my heart and I wanted to show how near the different composers are to each other while approaching the same subject from totally different angles. Death is always terrible and brutal, but at the same time releasing, comforting and even human. For me, by reducing these versions to chamber music, the songs obtain intimacy, which creates these very personal, fragile and moving moments." Barbara Höfling

Sergej Rachmaninow
Sinfonie No. 2 e-minor

Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra
Gabriel Feltz

Catalog number  21090

Rachmaninow at its finest!
With this brilliant recording of the 2nd Symphony the Dortmund Philharmonic, under its conductor Gabiel Feltz, has started off its recording cycle of all Rachmaninow’s symphonies.
In Gabriel Feltz, winner of the “Prix Rachmanonow”, the orchestra has a recognized authority on Rachamaninow’s music. The orchestra has put in a magnificent performance and the recording team from Tritonus has done fantastic work. A wonderful start, captured on SACD. Mr. Feltz's extensive discography continues to show him as one of the outstanding conductors of his

Ludwig van Beethoven
Sinfonie No. 3 „Eroica“ | Sinfonie No. 5
Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra | Gabriel Feltz

catalog number  21088

The Third and Fifth symphonies do not each include the discursive spirit so typical for Beethoven, moreover they seem, in some way, to communicate with one another. In the “Eroica” the four movements are all independent and very different, whereas the individual movements of the Fifth are connected by the ‘knocking motif’ which appears in differing form, but is always clear and meaningful. Looked at in this way both works represent two differing answers by Beethoven to the question which is posed in each musical epoch as to what actually constitutes a symphony.

Gustav Mahler
 Sinfonie No. 1

Stuttgarter Philharmonic Orchestra
Gabriel Feltz

catalog number 21082

Ottorino Respighi. Belkis, Queen of Sheba

Julia Jentsch: narratress
Stella Doufexis, mezzosopran
Metodi Morartzaliev, tenor
Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno
Gabriel Feltz

catalog number 21079 (DVD) / 21081 (BluRay Disc)

In June 2012 Ottorino Respighi’s ballet music “Belkis, Queen of Sheba” was given its German premiere in Stuttgart – this was only the second performance of the work ever, almost 80 years after its first performance at La Scala in Milan. It was one of Respighi’s last great works and the ballet was considered difficult to produce at the time it was written. Some 600 participants let one realize why the work had to wait more than half a century for a second chance. The Stuttgart Philharmonic helped bring the long-silent masterpiece to a triumphal come-back in a concert performance with Julia Jentsch as narratress, the mezzo-soprano Stella Doufexis and the Czech Philharmonic Choir, Brno. This is a unique music film, which goes way beyond the scope of the normal concert recording and tells the mythical story of the legendary Queen of Sheba. She undertook an arduous journey of many years through the desert and wastes to follows the call of King Solomon – a fairy-tale from a thousand and one nights, about beauty, power and wealth.

“This recording is wonderful. The multitude of emotions in this 14-part compilation … is as astonishing as it is enjoyable.
And that Gubaidulina takes Morgenstern so seriously is a further plus for this music, which should even delight those classic lovers not well versed in New Music.”
Aachener Zeitung

"The fact is that in Galgenlieder Gubaidulina is clearly playing games of her own. ... one probably needs a substantial amount of background knowledge to appreciate those games. (One might almost suggest that she has done for music what James Joyce did for literature.) On the other hand one can abandon that quest for knowledge and simply take Galgenlieder ... as an irresistible journey through the rhetorical powers of sonority that is almost independent of any semantic level being expressed through the rhetoric."
Stephen Smoliar. examiner.com

Ibrahim Keivo
The voice of ancient Syria

Ibrahim Keivo: vocals, baglama, buzok, oud, saz, al junbosh

Catalog number 21059

Ibrahim Keivo - The beholder of the ancient Syrian musical heritage
Ibrahim Keivo was born in 1966 in a small village in the region of Hassakeh, in Northern Syria. Son of an Armenian family who survived the genocide, he was raised in the land where ancient Syrian (Al-Jezireh, meaning ''the island''), Mesopotamian and Western Asian cultures meet and create one of the richest and most diverse societies in the region, in term of practiced religions, spoken languages and dialects, and verbal heritage. 

Since his early age, Keivo's mother introduced him to the Armenian hymns she carried with her from her motherland. She has also played a major role in familiarizing him with the Turkish, Kurdish and Mardalli (the Arabic dialect of Mardin) singing traditions of the region of Mardin – Southeastern Turkey – where many Armenians have stopped before finding shelter in other places all around the world.
Landing in Northern Syria brought other cultures to the family; in addition to the Bedouin tradition, Keivo found great inspiration in the ancient civilizations and religions that remained alive in this region: the Assyrian which main language is the Aramaic, the Syriac language and Christianity, and the Yezidism, an ancient Kurdish religion which most important holy place is Lalish temple in Mosul (old Nineveh in Iraq).
Jumana Al-Yasiri

Friedhelm Döhl Edition Vol. 11
Chamber Music - Lyric

HIOB  -  MISSA  -  POSAUNEN IM RAUM (Medea-Material)

catalog number 21046

If one looks through the works by Friedhelm Döhl, it is apparent that there is hardly any ‘sacred’ music in the narrowest sense of the word. There are many compositions where there is a sacred (spiritual) element, such as in some of the songs or ‘subcutaneously’ in some of the instrumental or orchestral works e.g. in ‘Melancolia’ , ‘Tombeau’, ‘Passion’, - and, above all, in ‘Requiem’, but even here this is not with reference to the traditional Christian liturgy, rather more as a query from the wings, as it were ‘extra muros’, moreover, it is an ‘inner dialogue’ between Celan and Nelly Sachs. The ‘Orgelmesse’ [Organ Mass] - with its movements Kyrie, Gloria, Offertorium, Agnus dei and Ite missa est, all composed over the space of 25 years - bears the subtitle ‘Fragment’, which expresses something breakable, where there are more unanswered questions than conclusive statements.

The works on this CD are in a way also ‘extra muros’, and yet each of them - in completely different ways - was originally conceived for the church, in the concrete external sense (Church building) as well as in the figurative spiritual sense. HIOB [engl. JOB] as the juxtaposition of lamentation and theodicy, MISSA as the ‘Passion’ of an ‘outcast’ (Medea) and POSAUNEN IM RAUM [engl. TROMBONES IN SPACE] (Medea-Material) as a sounding ‘cosmos’, archaic and ritualistic. - The 3 compositions are also conceivable outside the church, and have - in the case of ‘Missa’ and ‘Posaunen im Raum’ - been so performed many times.

Alois Bröder - Chamber music with guitar mit Gitarre

Christopher Brandt, guitar

Olaf Van Gonnissen, guitar

Eva Lebherz-Valentin, soprano

Martin Hummel, baritone

Friederike Richter, piano

Johannes Fischer, alto recorder

Linda Bangs, baritone saxophone

Christoph von Erffa, violoncello

catalog number  21043

Alois Bröder is a composer who knows how to bring together intellect and belly in his works. He writes pieces which have to be comprehended well for the open-minded listener. As a trained guitarist he has a faible for this instrument whose possibilities he exhausts. He revives the song accompanied with guitar (in the 19th century often usually), possibly in his both haiku cycles which were recorded with the soprano Eva Lebherz-Valentin, the baritone Martin Hummel and Christopher Brandt and published together with other works as Chamber Music with Guitar. 
Bröder writes fascinatingly for the respective instruments. The haiku songs are vocal in the disposition and also follow the meaning of the texts. The sounding of the instrumental music is enjoyed thoroughly in an ingenious way, and absorbing connections originate, possibly in the Abbozzi for guitar and piano, whereby the listener is astonished that both instruments fit so well. Similar happens in Drei Spiele for guitar, baritone saxophone and cello.
Heinz Zietsch
 (in: Darmstädter Echo, 23.07.2008)

About the Friedhelm Döhl Edition

"Edition of the year" - Tilmann Urbach, Fono Forum 12/2009

"Performances and supporting documentation are admirable." 
Cambridge University Press

„Une voix des profondeurs dans le désert du présent“
Fred Audin/ ClassiqueInfo-Disque, 02/2009

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 7

Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra
Gabriel Feltz

catalog number 21041

The seventh symphony somehow does not fit in with this commonly held view of the composer. The jubilant tone of the finale, the adulating and tender atmosphere of the nocturne and the modern scurrility of the scherzo seem to be something different and new among his works. “It is my best work and its character is mainly jovial”. This remark by Mahler about his seventh symphony should be seen in contrast to Theodor W. Adorno’s terse judgement of the finale, written in the year of the premiere (1908): “The movement is theatrical: only the canopy above the stage on the all too near fairground is that blue.” Taking Mahler’s optimism seriously? Is that possible?

Annette von Droste-Hülshoff

Da floss ihr grünes Blut. Gedichte

Carola von Seckendorff, concept and recitation

Juliane Ankele, violoncello and composition

catalog number  21040

Tehran Symphony Orchestra live in Osnabrück

Works by Hassan Riahi, Pjotr Tchaikovsky, Nader Mashayekhi 

Salar Aghili, voice
Harir Shariatzadeh, daf
Amir Sarraf, Klavier
Tehran Symphony Orchestra
Nader Mashayekhi

catalog number  21036

This Time The Dream's On Me

Scot Weir, tenor
Jan Czajkowski, piano

Catalog number 21034

Scot Weir has made a name for himself especially as a Lied and Oratorio singer. For this recording with the young pianist Jan Czajkowski he withdrew to his house in the Rocky Mountains and recorded American “classics” by Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Harold Arlen and Jerome Kern. The result is a very personal interpretation which shows Weir to be a wonderful performer of popular music as well.

“Jan Czaikowski was certainly not all too challenged as a piano accompanist on this CD. However the arrangements, which are all by him, serve to underline the compositional demands of such ‘entertaining’ pieces. Weir crowns them with the noblesse of a Lied singer, while at the same time giving the production a pronounced ‘American’ feel.“

La note d’or

Verena Rein
Ciurlionis Stringquartet, Vilnius

Sergej Okrusko

Catalog number  21031

Works of the Belle Époque (Ernest Chausson, Guillaume Lekeu, Maurice Ravel, Gabriel Fauré)
for soprano, string quartet and piano

“At the end of the 19th century the French Mélodie managed to break away from foreign, above all, German Lied role-models. French composers sought and found their own language of sound which is marked by a subtle balance and extreme differentiation. This recording with Vera Rein, the Lithuanian Čiurlionis-Quartet and the Ukrainian pianist Sergej Okruško presents all these characteristics of French song with temperament and passion. The vocal works by Chausson, Lekeu and Fauré are rounded off by Ravel’s String Quartet in F major. Just like the performances, the quality of the sound recording is at an exceedingly high level.”
klassika.info

Friedhelm Döhl Edition Vol. 3
Music for open grand piano

Catalog number 21021

CADENZA for 2 open grand pianos
ODRADEK for 2 open grand pianos
7 HAIKU for open grand piano
NACHTFAHRT for open grand piano and drums

Friedhelm Döhl,
Marianne Schroeder, piano

Janos Döhl, drums

Cover by Günther Uecker

 "Döhls music represents a central aesthetic position of new art. To him, composing is asking questions of his 'self', music is a medium which he uses in his dealings with a world, whose brokenness and fragility is to be brought to light through art… The partial frugality of the angular contours, repetitive rhythms and glaring contrasts have a direct correlation to highly expressive cantability and dionysistic sound sensuality." Wilfried Gruhn, in 'Metzlers Composers Lexicon'

About the Friedhelm Döhl Edition

"Edition of the year" - Tilmann Urbach, Fono Forum 12/2009

"Performances and supporting documentation are admirable."
Cambridge University Press

„Une voix des profondeurs dans le désert du présent“
Fred Audin/ ClassiqueInfo-Disque, 2/2009

L’invitation au voyage

Scot Weir, tenor
Karola Theill, piano

Catalog number  21020

Trivium
Hermann Hudde, guitar

Joaquin Turina: Garrotin y soleares; Rafaga
Rubén Riera: Melancolía, Monotonía, Nostalgia
Federico Mompou: Suite Compostelana
Reneé Eespere: Trivium for guitar, flute and violin

with
Burkhard Schmidt, violin
Gary Wolf, flute

Catalog number 21017

”Dear Mr. Hudde, you gave me an enormous surprise. You and your chamber music partners have wonderfully recorded my piece of music Trivium.

Rene Eespere”

”It’s nice to see the three pieces by Rubén’s late father, which I published with Universal Edition 19 (!) years ago. He is rarely remembered now, but as he was a modest man I don’t suppose he feels badly about it!. Minimalism is not my favourite musical idiom, but on hearing Trivium my worst fears proved groundless!. Trivium is a delightful piece with a contemplative stillness that is very north European - not least that of Finland. Sincerely, John Duarte”

... wie ein Cherub aus den Wolken


Hommage à Bettine von Arnim
Lieder and spoken texts (in German language)

Verena Rein, soprano
Axel Bauni, piano

Catalog number 21016

Friedhelm Döhl Edition Vol. 1
Chamber Music

Catalog number 21013

Sound of Sleat. String quartet
Winterreise. String quintet
Bruchstücke zur Winterreise for piano
Notturno for accordion and double bass

LaSalle-Quartet
, Auryn-Quartett, Boris Pergamenschikow, James Tocco, Hugo Noth, Ovidiu Badila

"Döhls music represents a central aesthetic position of new art. To him, composing is asking questions of his 'self', music is a medium which he uses in his dealings with a world, whose brokenness and fragility is to be brought to light through art… The partial frugality of the angular contours, repetitive rhythms and glaring contrasts have a direct correlation to highly expressive cantability and dionysistic sound sensuality." Wilfried Gruhn, in 'Metzlers Composers Lexicon'

About the Friedhelm Döhl Edition

"Edition of the year" - Tilmann Urbach, Fono Forum 12/2009

"Performances and supporting documentation are admirable."
Cambridge University Press

„Une voix des profondeurs dans le désert du présent“
Fred Audin/ ClassiqueInfo-Disque, 2/2009

David Geringas - My Recollections
Lithuanian contemporary music for cello and piano

David Geringas, violoncello
Tatjana Schatz-Geringas, piano
Petras Geniusas, piano

Catalog number  21012

Vytautas Barkauskas: Suite de concert, op.98 (1993)
Bronius Kutavicius: Rhythmus – Arhythmus (1993)
Anatolijus Senderovas: Due canti (1993)
Osvaldas Balakauskas: Dal vento (1999)
Mindaugas Urbaitis: Reminiscences (1999)

All recordings made under the supervision of the composer

"My Recolections is a collection of virtuoso show pieces and blissfully tuneful character pieces. These present a richly varied panorama of fine-sounding perspectives and are all marked by the memories of a common past which was corrupted by the political state of affairs." Die Welt

A co-production with the Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Centre

Edvard Grieg

Romanser. Lieder

Silke Schimkat, alto
Frank-Thomas Link, piano

Catalogue number 21011

Haugtussa op.67 and other Lieder

“As far as the subtlety of her presentation is concerned the contralto can very well compete with Anne Sofie von Otter’s prize winning CD of works by Grieg. … Schimkat’s intensive study of the Norwegian language as well as Franck-Thomas Link’s delicate sounding accompaniment are further plus factors of the production.”

A co-production with Sender Freies Berlin

Works for piano solo by female composers
Judith Pfeiffer, piano

Catalog number  21004

Marianne Martinéz: Sonata in E major
Josepha von Auernhammer: Six variations on a hungarian theme
Fanny Hensel: Notturno g minor
Clara Schumann: Ballade from Soirées musicales op. 6 & Variations on a theme of Robert Schumann, op. 20
Cécile Chaminade: L’Ondine, op. 101
Germaine Tailleferre: Partita
Lili Boulanger: D’un vieux jardin; D’un jardin clair, Cortège
Elena Firsova: Elegie, op. 21
Dorothee Eberhardt: Time changes I-III

“She (Judith Pfeifer) takes the pieces as seriously as they deserve to be taken, attunes herself exactly to the style required and enchants with her naturalness, whereby she lacks nothing in technical competence. She thus makes the rather supercilious world of men aware of composing women and also those who play the piano.”

Sebastian Loskant in Nordwestdeutsche Zeitung