Anton Bruckner
Requiem
RIAS Kammerchor Berlin
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Łukasz Borowicz, conductor
Johanna Winkel, soprano
Sophie Harmsen, mezzo-soprano
Michael Feyfar, tenor
Ludwig Mittelhammer, baritone
Anton Bruckner
Requiem
RIAS Kammerchor Berlin
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Łukasz Borowicz, conductor
Johanna Winkel, soprano
Sophie Harmsen, mezzo-soprano
Michael Feyfar, tenor
Ludwig Mittelhammer, baritone
J. S. Bach
Weihnachtsoratorium / Christmas Oratorio
Cantatas I – VI
BWV 248
Thomanerchor Leipzig
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Thomaskantor Gotthold Schwarz
Dorothee Mields, soprano
Elvira Bill, alto
Patrick Grahl, tenor (Evangelist)
Markus Schäfer, tenor (arias)
Klaus Häger, bass
Anton Bruckner
Symphony No. 1 (“Vienna” version)
Symphony No. 9
Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Claudio Abbado
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony No. 9 in D major
Bamberger Symphoniker
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Alexander Scriabin
Piano Sonata No. 6, Op. 62
Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 6
Piano Sonata No. 8, Op. 66
Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 53
Chen Yunjie, piano (more…)
Robert Schumann
Abegg Variations, Op. 1
Humoreske, Op. 20
Piano Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 11
Zhang Cheng, piano (more…)
Frédéric Chopin
Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35
Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op. 60
Four Mazurkas, Op. 24
Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27 No. 2
Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1
Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Opus posthume 04:20
Polonaise in A-flat major, op. 53
Chen Xue-Hong, piano (more…)
Violinist Judith Ingolfsson and pianist Vladimir Stoupel are both soloists with accomplished international concert careers. They have been equally successful since they began searching for new paths in chamber music together in 2006, and have devoted themselves to cultivating a set of unusual repertoire. This undertaking also includes their project “Concert-Centenaire.” It is dedicated to composers whose lives were influenced by, or lost during the First World War. This box set, complementing the Accentus Music Documentary Series “Music in Times of War and Revolution” that was just recently released on DVD, combines Volumes 1 – 3 in a single release.
Shen Ye
The Psalms of Taciturnity
Violin Concerto No. 1
He Zhanhao / Chen Gang
The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto
Zhi-Jong Wang
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Yang Yang, conductor
Two cantatas written by Johann Sebastian Bach for Michaelmas in 1726 and 1728/29 respectively build the framework of this recording. They tell of the Archangel Michael‘s victory over Satan. At the center of the cantata „Es erhub sich ein Streit“ is the tenor aria „Bleibt, ihr Engel“ (Stay, ye angels), which gives this recording its name.
World premiere recording
Mieczysław Weinberg
24 Preludes for Violoncello solo, Op.100
arranged for Violin solo by Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer, violin
Under the direction of its Chief Conductor Alexander Liebreich, the National Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio (NOSPR) is the leading ensemble in the country and is one of Europe’s major radio orchestras. As cultural ambassadors with a rich tradition, the orchestra has made its mark through performances of Polish composers, as is impressively documented in the three-part CD cycle that features works by Karol Szymanowski and Witold Lutoslawski and was released by Accentus Music between 2015 and 2017.
On this new recording, Karol Szymanowski‘s Violin Concerto, played by Finnish violin virtuoso Elina Vähälä, is paired with the impressive Lyric Symphony of Austrian composer and conductor Alexander von Zemlinsky that builds a bridge between lyric poetry and the grand orchestral symphonies. The excellent soloists of this recording are Johanna Winkel, soprano, and Michael Nagy, baritone.
“Dealing with the Bach cantatas is a lifelong and wonderful task and challenge. Despite decades of experience with the works, new aspects are being discovered every day,” says Gotthold Schwarz, 17th Thomaskantor after Johann Sebastian Bach. The cantatas on this first recording of the Thomanerchor Leipzig under the musical direction of Schwarz, speak about the human certainty of being secure in/with God (BWV 17: “How a father has mercy on his young children”) and the confidence that God will deliver man from all trouble (BWV 33: “I call on thee in whom I trust”). There is no better credo that the Thomanerchor Leipzig and their Thomaskantor could base their joint path on.
The Klenke Quartett, based in Berlin and Thuringia, was founded in 1991 at the Musikhochschule Weimar. Since then, and still in its original formation, it has enriched the concert life “as one of the most distinguished European ensembles.“ (Gewandhaus-Magazin). The quartet regularly plays with violist Harald Schoneweg. Their close artistic bond and homogeneity in interpretation makes this new complete recording of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Six String Quintets, released in a premium 3-CD box set, a recording with reference character, unveiling all the nuances between joy and contemplation, the distinct refinement and condensation, and most of all of all the soundscapes and compositional techniques in Mozart’s Quintets.
With the violin concertos by Jean Sibelius and Igor Stravinsky, Zhi-Jong Wang and the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Sanderling, dedicate themselves to two works from the beginning of the 20th century. Although the two works were composed only thirty years apart from each other, they could not be any more contrasting: minor against major, dark, mystical and introverted against exciting, suspenseful and sometimes ironic. And yet, in the contrasts of these two concertos, the virtuoso and inspiring interpretation of the Chinese violinist reveals something amazingly unifying.
Recorded at the Abbey Road Studios in London,
July 2017 (more…)
Anton Bruckner
Missa Solemnis
RIAS Kammerchor
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Łukasz Borowicz, conductor
Johanna Winkel, soprano
Sophie Harmsen, mezzo-soprano
Sebastian Kohlhepp, tenor
Ludwig Mittelhammer, baritone (more…)
Salvatore Sciarrino (*1947)
6 Capricci
Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770)
Sonata V in G minor „The Devil‘s Trill Sonata“
Luciano Berio (1925-2003)
Sequenza VIII
Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840)
6 of the 24 Capricci op.1
“Blues, Blanc, Rouge”
There is one thing that all the three works here have in common: they stand out clearly from an entire French tradition of sonatas for violin and piano. Each, in its way, represents an affirmation of aesthetic independence as well as a fascinating and at times cruel or bitter reflection of its era. The sonatas of Poulenc, Ferroud and Ravel, without foregoing a lofty elegance, are freed from a certain number of rules and forms that had been long imposed. (more…)
Next to the big choral works like the Mass in B minor or the St. John and St. Matthew Passions as well as his a-cappella motets, Johann Sebastian Bach’s over 200 preserved cantatas represent the corpus of his sacred choral and orchestral music. Written in an almost weekly cycle for every Sunday of the Christian year, their musical diversity and beauty is astounding. (more…)
The new Beethoven cycle with Herbert Blomstedt
In celebration of Herbert Blomstedt’s 90th Birthday in July 2017, Accentus Music releases a new Beethoven cycle that captures the spirit of the long-standing partnership between the legendary conductor laureate and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. All nine symphonies, released in a box set containing five CDs, are live recordings made at the Leipzig Gewandhaus between May 2014 and March 2017. (more…)
“It is with children in mind that I recorded these French Suites, always having heartfelt simplicity and purity in their mind. Children see the world with hope, optimism, and cast in light – much like Miró sees the world. I find a childlike purity in him, similar to what I hear in the French Suites. There is a quote by Miró that touches me enormously and makes me think a lot whenever I play, as it reflects something that may be the most difficult aspect of musical interpretation – and of art in general: “To gain freedom is to gain simplicity.”
— Zhu Xiao-Mei
Johann Sebastian Bach
Goldberg Variationen, BWV 988
Zhu Xiao-Mei, piano
“In this work,” says Zhu Xiao-Mei, “Bach gave musical expression to life in all of its infinite facets.” The Chinese pianist’s name is inextricably linked to that of Johann Sebastian Bach. For Zhu Xiao-Mei the special quality of the Goldberg Variations lies in the fact that all human emotions and feelings find expression here. “I love them above all else, each day a little more, and I have always wanted to share this love with others…” (more…)
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Sonatas
No. 8, op. 17 („Pathétique“)
No. 14, op. 27/2 („Moonlight Sonata“)
No. 23, op. 57 („Appassionata“)
After his first CD featuring Beethoven’s piano sonatas No. 21 (“Waldstein”) and No. 29 (“Hammerklavier”), Sunwook Kim’s third solo CD with Accentus Music presents an impressive interpretation of Ludwig van Beethoven’s three most well-known piano sonatas: “Pathétique” (No. 8), “Moonlight Sonata” (No. 14), and “Appassionata” (No. 23).
Johann Sebastian Bach
Sonata in C major, BWV 1005
Béla Bartók
Sonata Sz. 117, BB 124
Pierre Boulez
Anthèmes I & II
Michael Barenboim’s first solo CD, conceived like a solo recital, comprises the works of three composers that have had a profound impact on his musical upbringing. At first glance, these works could not appear more different, but together they create an unexpected yet all the more exceptional listening experience. (more…)
Karol Szymanowski
Concert Overture in E major op.12
Witold Lutosławski
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
Symphony No.4
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Gautier Capuçon, cello
Alexander Liebreich, conductor
Under the direction of its Chief Conductor Alexander Liebreich, the National Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio (NOSPR) is the leading ensemble in the country and is one of Europe’s major radio orchestras. As cultural ambassadors with a rich tradition, the orchestra has made its mark through performances of Polish composers, as it is impressively seen on this CD that features works by Karol Szymanowski and Witold Lutoslawski. It is the final recording of a three-part cycle of works by these influential Polish composers.
“Concert-Centenaire” Vol. III
Judith Ingolfsson, violin
Vladimir Stoupel, piano
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in A major, Op. 13
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in E minor, Op. 108
Violinist Judith Ingolfsson and pianist Vladimir Stoupel are both accomplished soloists with international concert careers. In 2006, they began a successful collaboration, searching for new paths in chamber music and devoting themselves to the cultivation of an uncommon repertoire. One of their projects is “Concert-Centenaire,” dedicated to composers whose lives were influenced by the First World War.
“Concert-Centenaire” Vol. II
Judith Ingolfsson, violin
Vladimir Stoupel, piano
Rebecca Li, violin
Stefan Fehlandt, viola
Stephan Forck, cello
Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, Op. 23
Piano Quintet in C minor, Op. 42
Violinist Judith Ingolfsson and pianist Vladimir Stoupel are both accomplished soloists with international concert careers. In 2006, they began a successful collaboration, searching for new paths in chamber music and devoting themselves to the cultivation of an uncommon repertoire. One of their projects is “Concert-Centenaire,” dedicated to composers whose lives were influenced by the First World War. (more…)
Felix Mendelssohn – Elias
op. 70, MWV A 25
RIAS Kammerchor
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Hans-Christoph Rademann, conductor
Marlis Petersen (soprano), Lioba Braun (mezzo – soprano)
Maximilian Schmitt (tenor), Thomas Oliemans (baritone)
“Never was there a more complete triumph – never a more thorough and speedy recognition of a great work of art.” This was the response of the critic in the London Times to the wildly successful premiere of Felix Mendelssohn’s Elias in 1846. Hans-Christoph Rademann began his tenure as Principal Conductor of the RIAS Chamber Choir with this groundbreaking oratorio. After eight productive and successful years, his final concert in July 2015 also featured the work. It was a “Farewell Performance with Furor” (Der Tagesspiegel), not least because of the impressive performers involved: the RIAS Chamber Choir, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, and the soloists Marlis Petersen, Lioba Braun, Maximilian Schmitt, and Thomas Oliemans. (more…)
César Franck
Prélude, Choral et Fugue
Johannes Brahms
Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, op. 5
Sunwook Kim, piano
Korean pianist Sunwook Kim came to international recognition when he won the prestigious “Leeds International Piano Competition” in 2006 aged just 18, becoming the competition’s youngest winner for 40 years, as well as its first Asian winner. Since then, he has established a reputation as one of the finest pianists of his generation, appearing as a concerto soloist in the subscription series of many of the world’s foremost orchestras and giving recitals in leading concert halls. In this second Accentus Music recording Sunwook Kim compares and contrasts César Franck’s Prélude, Choral et Fugue of 1884 and Johannes Brahms’s Third Piano Sonata in F minor op. 5 of 1853.
“Concert-Centenaire” Vol. I
Judith Ingolfsson, violin
Vladimir Stoupel, piano
Rudi Stephan (1887-1915)
“Groteske” for Violin and Piano (1911)
Albéric Magnard (1865-1914)
Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major, op. 13 (1901)
Violinist Judith Ingolfsson and pianist Vladimir Stoupel are both accomplished soloists with international concert careers. In 2006, they began a successful collaboration, searching for new paths in chamber music and devoting themselves to the cultivation of an uncommon repertoire. One of their projects is “Concert-Centenaire,” dedicated to composers whose lives were influenced by the First World War. (more…)
Zhu Xiao-Mei, piano
Johann Sebastian Bach
Inventions and Sinfonias
When Bach composed them, in his last years in Köthen, those pivotal years that were to lead him to Leipzig, he already had an incredible number of masterpieces behind him. He took the trouble to make a beautiful fair copy of this work. It’s a product of his maturity. But since these pieces serve as a basic tool for learning the piano, they’re inevitably overshadowed by the larger cycles, like The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Goldberg Variations, The Art of Fugue and so on. But that’s a mistake, because there’s an extraordinary density of music in the Inventions and Sinfonias. Zhu Xiao-Mei (more…)
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Liebreich, Conductor
Karol Szymanowski
Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, op. 19 (1909)
Witold Lutosławski
Livre pour Orchestre (1968)
Musique funèbre à la mémoire de Béla Bartók (1958)
The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra is the country’s leading performing ensemble and one of Europe’s finest broadcasting orchestras. Building on a long tradition, the group performs throughout the world as a musical ambassador for Poland, often featuring works by Polish composers – as the pieces by Karol Szymanowski and Witold Lutosławski on this CD impressively demonstrate. This is the orchestra’s second album with their Principal Conductor Alexander Liebreich. Their first CD together, also with compositions by Szymanowski and Lutosławski, is already cited as a reference recording, with “thrilling, technically brilliant performances.” (Der Tagesspiegel) (more…)
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Sonatas
No. 21, Op. 53 “Waldstein”
No. 29, Op. 106 “Hammerklavier”
Sunwook Kim, piano
Sunwook Kim lives in London, and came to international recognition when he won the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006, aged just 18, becoming the competition’s youngest winner for 40 years, as well as its first Asian winner. His performance of Brahms’s Concerto No.1 with the Hallé Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder in the competition’s finals attracted unanimous praise from the press. Since then, he has established a reputation as one of the finest pianists of his generation, appearing as a concerto soloist in the subscription series of some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra (Gardiner, Harding), Concertgebouw Orchestra (Chung), Berlin Radio Symphony (Janowski), NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Finnish Radio Symphony (Oramo, Manze, Sokhiev), Philharmonia Orchestra (Ashkenazy, Valcuha, Gardner), London Philharmonic (Sinaisky), Radio-France Philharmonic (Chung), NHK Symphony (Steffens), Hallé Orchestra (Elder), and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for his BBC Proms debut in Summer 2014.
Zhu Xiao-Mei, piano
Johann Sebastian Bach
Die Kunst der Fuge
Johann Sebastian Bach plays a key role in her life – she is today one of the most significant interpreters of his music. The remarkable biography of this celebrated pianist gives her a unique position in the world of music. Her life has taken her from the re-education camps of the Chinese Cultural Revolution to Paris, where her international career as a pianist began rather late, but for that all the more successful. (more…)
Witold Lutosławski
Concerto for Orchestra (1954)
Karol Szymanowski
Three Fragments from Poems by Jan Kasprowicz Op. 5 (1902)
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Liebreich, conductor
Ewa Podleś, contralto
Since 2012, Alexander Liebreich, one of the most inspired conductors of his generation, has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. This orchestra, Poland’s cultural ambassador to the world and an European ensemble of great distinction, is particularly associated with the music of Polish composers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and is more familiar with the works of Lutosławski and Szymanowski than perhaps any other orchestra in the world. Witold Lutosławski’s opulent and stylistically eclectic Concerto for Orchestra was a triumphal success at its premiere in 1954 and remains his most popular work. (more…)
Konzertaufzeichnung aus der St. Marienkirche, Marienberg
Sächsische Bläserphilharmonie, Thomas Clamor (Dirigent)
Rundfunk – Jugendchor Wernigerode
Peter Habermann (Leitung), Ensemble Sonora
Ruth Ziesak (Sopran)
Modest Mussorgsky
“Pictures at an Exhibition” (arranged by Elgar Howarth)
“A Night on the Bare Mountain” (arranged by Andreas N. Tarkmann)
“Songs and Dances of Death” (arranged by Steven Verhaert)
Brass Ensemble of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
Lutz Köhler, conductor
2013, the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA celebrates its tenth anniversary, and this summer, the Brass Ensemble of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA also looks back over a decade of performing. In preparation for this anniversary, Accentus Music publishes the first CD of this internationally renowned Brass Ensemble, featuring works by Modest Mussorgsky.The disc brings together the “who’s who” of the Brass world: Every year, the Brass players of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, founded by Maestro Claudio Abbado and Michael Haefliger in 2003, join to form an exclusive chamber music ensemble.
Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 1 in C minor, WAB 101
„Vienna” version, 1891, edition by Günter Brosche
Claudio Abbado
Lucerne Festival Orchestra
“Abbado uncovered the radical nature of the work with its fascinating accumulations of intensity and abrupt interruptions … Long and enthusiastic standing ovations at the end for the conductor and orchestra.” (Die Welt) – The audience experienced Bruckner’s groundbreaking Symphony No. 1 in Lucerne’s new concert hall in a spectacular performance. This uncompromising interpretation of the First reveals the originality of the composer’s musical language.
Pierre Boulez
Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra
Anton Webern: Passacaglia for Orchestra, Op. 1
Anton Webern: Variations for Orchestra, Op. 30
Igor Stravinsky: Le Chant du Rossignol
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor
The LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY was founded in 2004 by Pierre Boulez in conjunction with the Festival’s executive director Michael Haefliger. Since then, some 130 highly gifted young musicians from all corners of the globe have gathered together every summer in Lucerne. Working together in daily rehearsals, workshops, and lessons, the participants are trained in basic skills for performing contemporary music. The teaching staff is made up of members of the Parisian Ensemble intercontemporain, one of the most celebrated ensembles in the field of modern music. (more…)