Sophie Dervaux, Munich Chamber Orchestra – J.C. Bach & J.M. Haydn (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 59:08 minutes | 1,07 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Berlin Classics
With her new album, Sophie Dervaux brings to the fore two composers who have received less attention so far – despite their great surnames Bach and Haydn. For it is not works by “our old favorites” Johann Sebastian and Joseph that the bassoonist has chosen for her third recording on Berlin Classics, but rather Bach’s youngest son – Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782) – and Johann Michael Haydn (1737-1806), Joseph Haydn’s younger brother. Sophie Dervaux has been principal bassoonist of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra since 2015. Previously, she was principal contrabassoonist of the Berlin Philharmonic. As an ambassador for her instrument, she is committed to expanding the repertoire for bassoon by rediscovering works or commissioning new ones. She has been a “Püchner Artist” since 2014 and is passionate about making her instrument even better known.
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Sebastian Bohren, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Sergej Bolkhovets, Münchener Kammerorchester – In Evening Light: Vasks • Schubert (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:04 minutes | 1,21 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © AVIE Records
Sebastian Bohren’s world-premiere recording of “In Evening Light”, the second violin concerto by Peteris Vasks, comes 25 years after the celebrated Latvian composer’s first, “Distant Light”, one of the most successful, oft-performed and recorded concertos by a living a composer. “In Evening Light” seems certain to follow in its forebearer’s footsteps, destined to become another modern classic.
“In Evening Light” – a three-movement, 38-minute work – is beautiful and contemplative, evoking a twilit world immersed in muted colours and permeated with deep shadows and dramatic contrasts. The album ends as it begins, with another atmospheric Vasks work. “Lonely Angel” is an homage to his late mother who lived through practically the whole of the 20th century. The composer explains, “This piece is the vision of an angel flying alone above humankind, filled with grief at how cruel and aggressive we are to each other. Like a guardian angel he touches the earth with his wings and in that way offers us comfort and healing.”
Sandwiched in between is the contrasting, classical era Rondo in B minor by Franz Schubert, arranged for violin and strings. Preceding Vasks’ works by nearly two centuries, Schubert similarly revels in exploring ambiance and spaciousness.
Read moreChristian Poltéra & Munich Chamber Orchestra – Haydn & Hindemith: Cello Works (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:56 minutes | 1,13 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS
Joseph Haydn once remarked: ‘I was not a magician on any instrument, but I knew the power and effect of all of them.’ This knowledge he used to good effect in his cello concertos, composed some twenty years apart for two different cellists in ‘his’ orchestra at the court of Prince Esterhazy. Both works are firmly established in the concert repertoire, but this has not always been the case.
Read moreArabella Steinbacher & Munich Chamber Orchestra – Four Seasons (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:16 minutes | 1,22 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
Star violinist Arabella Steinbacher presents Antonio Vivaldi’s world-famous Four Seasons alongside Astor Piazzolla’s Cuatro estaciones porteñas, creating a lively combination of baroque and tango. The enormous popularity of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons tends to make us forget the original and ground-breaking nature of these violin concertos. Coupling them with Piazzolla’s tango-inspired Four Seasons of Buenos Aires makes both pieces sound fresher than ever before, thanks to Steinbacher’s personal engagement with the repertoire and the inspired accompaniment of the Münchener Kammerorchester. Piazzolla’s music is performed here in a new arrangement for violin and string orchestra by Peter von Wienhardt, whose Strauss song arrangements on Steinbacher’s previous album Aber der Richtige … (2018) were extensively praised by the press.
Read moreAlexander Liebreich, Munich Chamber Orchestra – Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream & Symphony No. 4 (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:09:38 minutes | 646 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Herrlich klar und dynamisch! Der Komponist schuf mit seiner Musik zu William Shakespeares bunter Komödie voller Feen, Elfen und Kobolde ist die wohl populärste Vertonung des ‘Sommernachtstraums’. Werke wie der wunderbare ‘Hochzeitsmarsch’ zählen bis heute zu den berühmtesten der Musikgeschichte. Wunderbar intoniert vom Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, dem Münchener Kammerorchester unter dem Dirigat von Alexander Liebreich.
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