Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38017
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Heilendes Wasser (“Am Bach die Nachtigall”, “Wasser zu Wein”, “Heilendes Wasser”, “Rhenus fluvius” & “Vögel am Jordan”
Orgelsinfonie „Der Lobende“ (2005), über das Lied „Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren“ von Joachim Neander (1650-1680): Der Daktylus, Auf Adelers Fittichen, In wieviel Not, Mit Strömen der Liebe & Mit Abrahams Samen
Holy Tango II

Martin Schmeding, organ (Europa-Orgel Felix Mendelssohn Auferstehungskirche zu Düsseldorf-Oberkassel)

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38075
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OPERA FANTASIES FROM SHADOWLANDS
ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD (1897 – 1957): Große Fantasie aus der Oper “Die tote Stadt”
RICHARD STRAUSS (1864 – 1949): Große Fantasie aus der Oper “Ariadne auf Naxos”
HEINRICH MARSCHNER (1795 – 1861): Ouverture aus der Oper “Der Vampyr”
JACQUES OFFENBACH (1819 – 1880): Ouverture zur Opéra bouffe “Orphee aux Enters”
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770 – 1827): Adagio from Piano Sonata No. 14
GIACOMO MEYERBEER (1791 – 1864): Fantasie über Motive aus der Oper ‘Robert le Diable’

Le Quatuor Romantique: Vassili Voronin, violin; Edward John Semon, cello; Joachim Diessner, harmonium; Markus Märkl, piano
Le Quatuor Romantique consists of violinist Vassili Voronin, cellist Edward John Semon, Markus Märkl, piano, and its founder Joachim Diessner at the harmonium. Diessner is also a collector of his instrument; he seeks to contribute to the harmonium’s rediscovery and to revive its repertoire.
He founded the ensemble Le Quatuor Romantique with the aim to breathe new life into the varied and rich music repertoire from the avantgardist salons of the late 19th Century.
Shadowlands is the ensemble’s debut CD on the ARS Produktion label. Quatuor Romantique selected the works for this recording not in order to present a kaleidoscope of works, but rather in search for evidence – evidence of both the historicity and the timelessness of dark romanticism, and evidence of its classical forms and many intersections with the art of the 20th Century. One key element is the instrumentation used for the recording – violin, violoncello, piano and harmonium – which emphasizes sonic sensuality and the discursive element of the music over a mere technical transcription. This particular combination was common in the literary salons of the early 20th Century.

Label: BIS SACD 1512
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BULL's eye (2003) for violin solo and double orchestra; Please Accept my Ears (1981) for violin and piano; Cantabile (Etyde-cadenza) (1995) for solo violin

Peter Herresthal, violin; Gonzalo Moreno, piano
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra/Rolf Gupta
Norwegian composer Olav Anton Thommessen describes BULL's eye as 'a symphonic wrapping' of Ole Bull's first violin concerto from 1834. A leading figure in Norwegian musical life, Thommessen has often in his later works explored the history of music, using the heritage of classical music as a 'supply-room' of musical building components. For BULL's eye, his starting point was an incomplete score by the great Norwegian violin virtuoso, a score where long stretches of the solo part was missing. Struck by Bull's melodic, Italianate themes and the examples of his virtuosic violin technique, evident in the extant passages of the violin part, Thommessen was inspired to borrow components from Ole Bull's themes, harmony, rhythm, orchestration and virtuosity, put them under scrutiny and then confront them with his own material. The result is a fascinating work where one can never be sure which concerto one is hearing: Bull's or Thommessen's. For the soloist the challenges are greater than usual, due to the need to change between styles of playing - on the one hand Bull's Paganini-inspired alternation between virtuosity and melodic charm, and on the other Thommessen's virile and violent eruptions. The solo violin also has to fight against both Thommessen's monumental orchestra and Bull's more classical scoring in order to impose himself. The work was written for Peter Herresthal, whose previous release on BIS (Arne Nordheim - the music for violin, BIS-CD-1212) was received with great acclaim, and who again gives a congenial interpretation, greatly aided by Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Rolf Gupta. The 35 minute concerto is followed by two other violin works by Olav Anton Thommessen: Please Accept my Ears for violin and piano and Cantabile (Etyde-cadenza) for solo violin.

Label: CYBELE SACD 361301
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De Stad for Ensemble (2003)
Stadsgeschiedenis, Electro acoustic Montage from “de Stad”

Ensemble Gelber Klang:

Michael Kiedaisch, percussion; Merima Kljuco, accordion; Jürgen Kruse, piano; Michael Peuser, trombone; Holger Philipsen, double bass; Thomas Reil, bass clarinet; Scott Roller, violoncello; Ulrike Stortz, violin; Marlene Svoboda, viola

Oscar van Dillen, conductor
When the exhibition on the history of Rotterdam was assembled, it was clear from the beginning that it could not take place without music being an important factor. Music and sound are at least as important for the collective memory of a city as pictures and texts. The use of music in an exhibition can turn it into a moving experience. And that is precisely what we wanted.
This history of Rotterdam begins in 1880 – at that moment when a grand expansion of the city was being planned. “This should have an effect on the visitors like an allegro vivace.” The extension of the city and the port led to an increasing number of people moving to Rotterdam from the south of the Netherlands. “The city resounds with a choir of dialects.” The culture of consumption in the city changed after the Passage was opened in 1879. People were attracted by the sounds of an orchestra playing light music.
The construction of the new city hall on Coolsingel Boulevard spelled the end of folkloric music coming from the pubs of the Zandstraat Quarter which had inspired the singers Louis Davids and Koos Speenhof to their popular songs.
On Coolsingel Street, the rhythmic hammering of typewriters and telegraphs could be heard from the new offices, interrupted by the piercing noise of the trams. Around Hofplein Square, swinging rhythms of entertainment prevailed. All of this was suddenly halted when the whistling and roaring of the bombardment began; the crackling of the fires led to a requiem about the gloom during this era. However, after World War II, the roaring of the machines used for reconstruction work was heard immediately.
Our intention of letting music play a great role, and the wish to tell the story in film shots resulted in the decision to design the exhibition in the form of a director’s theatre, with objects, photos, film fragments, spoken quotes and music forming an integrated whole.
Composer Oscar van Dillen met our question about a “Symphony of the City” with great interest. We quickly found the right note together, and Oscar van Dillen enthusiastically started to work on his commissioned composition. He was fast and clear in his selection of instruments and the ensemble, he talked of suspense curves and timbres. He presented his score exactly on the day we had agreed upon and called his composition de Stad – a name that refers to one of the important sources of inspiration for this exhibition: the book Stad by Ben Stroman.

Label: NEOS JAZZ SACD 40809
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JOMO
Tracks: bedtime story; jomo; mojo; monkey; night sweets; scordatura: parts 1 – 3; 2 a.m.; closed doors; down sun

Artists: Mary Oliver, violin & viola; Johanna Varner, cello
All compositions by Mary Oliver and Johanna Varner
The cellist Johanna Varner is a recipient of a grant from the City of Munich and has initiated several concert series in the Bavarian capital. For her part, the American Mary Oliver holds a PhD (Doctor in Philosophy) in Music Theory, is a member of the ICP Orkest, and plays both viola and violin. In 2008 they founded the duo JOMO.
‘Extra-territorial’ playing techniques are brought to bear on the phonation of each sound, the beauty of the arabesque and a feel for inculcating sonic inner life leading to new content.
And, as Johanna Varner and Mary Oliver encourage their instruments to speak in such a masterly way, they seem to chirp, to tweet, to twitter and to cheep, engaging in subtle intrigues and amusements, suffering and pleasuring themselves, nay rejoicing in coquettish and warbling display. Occasionally they are forced to reflect, and interpret the temperature perceived, the morals of mankind as it were. They present both pro and contra – something one has never experienced before.

Label: NEOS SACD 10907/8
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2 CD Set

OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908 – 1992) – COMPLETE WORKS FOR PIANO SOLO, VOLUME 1
Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus (1944)

Markus Bellheim, piano
Markus Bellheim opens the present recording of the piano works of Olivier Messiaen with a major piece, one in which various key elements of the composer’s later music come well to the fore: a French sense of mysticism, synesthesia, the ascetic, the love of the voices of nature, and the notion that our senses may be honed if we listen in to foreign musical cultures with their rich hoard of melody and rhythm. In “Regard des prophètes, des bergers et des Mages” exotic colours dominate. And in “Regard de l’Esprit de Joie” the Oriental source of Gregorian chant is immediately recognizable. The Vingt regards were written in 1944 in Paris, in the months before the city was freed. They are a document of expectation, of contemporaneity, and are an expression of an unruly era in which life would be defined anew and where a hunger for the future was to exist.

Label: STERLING RECORDS SACD 1086
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OLE OLSEN (1850 – 1927)
Asgaardsreien, symphonic tone picture, Op. 10
Symphony in G major, Op. 5
Suite for string orchestra, Op. 60

Latvian National Symphony Orchestra/Terje Mikkelsen
At the age of 29, in 1879 Ole Olsen went on his first international tour, conducting his music in Leipzig, Colone and Paris. The main work on this tour was Op.10 Asgaardsreien (The ride of Asgaard) which was wary well received. This encouraged him to extend his traveling for another two years touring Vienna and during this time made useful contacts with Liszt, Brahms and Goldmark. His catalogue includes music for a wide variety of occasions and instrument combinations. His Symphony in G is the only symphony but he composed a lot of songs and cantatas and a number of occasional pieces.

WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING!!!