Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38008
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
Variations sur un thème de Beethoven for 2 pianos, Op. 35 (1874)
Introduction et Rondo capriccioso for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 28 (1863) – version for 2 pianos by Claude Debussy (1889)
“Le Rouet d’Omphale”Symphonische Dichtung für Orchester, Op. 31 (1871) – version for 2 pianos (1877)
“Marche heroïque” für Orchester, Op. 34 (1871) – version fro 2 pianos (1871)
“Suite algérienne” for Orchestra, Op. 60 (1880) – version for piano 2 hands by Gabriel Faure (1880)
Scherzo in B major for 2 pianos, Op. 87 (1890)

Vilija Poskute & Tomas Daukantas
After getting the diplomas at the music academy in Vilnius the two Lithuanian pianists Vilija Poskute and Tomas Daukantas decided to continue their studies in Switzerland. Since 1999 they are living in Winterthur/Switzerland. At the college of music in Zurich/Winterthur they received their concert diplomas and afterwards the ensemble diploma with honour.
In 2000 the two pianists decided to work together as a piano duo on two pianos or one piano four hands. This cooperation was very successful, they won the following international competitions: 2001 – winners of the International Franz Schubert competition for piano duo in the Czech Republic, 2002 – winners of Concorso Palma d’Oro Liguria and 1st prize Concorso Internazionale di Musica Citta di Pavia and Concorso Internazionale Camillo Togni Brescia as well as Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Zurich, 2003 – winners of the International chamber music competition Verona promotion price ORPHEUS-concerts, 2004 – 1st prize Concorso Pianistico Internazionale Repubblica di San Marino. Both pianists visited master classes among others with Rudolf Buchbinder, Hans-Peter and Volker Stenzl, Yaara Tal and Andreas Groethuysen. Concerts in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Lithuania, and the USA.

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38009
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
“PEARL OF PASSION”
IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882 – 1971): Duo Concertant for Violin and Piano
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756 – 1791): Adagio KV 261
EFREM ZIMBALIST (1889 – 1985): Fantasie über “Der5 Goldene Hahn” von Rimski-Korsakov
PABLO DE SARASATE (1844 – 1908): Playera
RICHARD STRAUSS (1864 – 1949): Sonata in E flat major for Violin and Piano, Op. 18

Mira Tujakbajewa, violin

Nino Gurevich, piano

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38010
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
MAURICE RAVEL (1875 – 1937): Bolero for 4 pianos 16 hands (arr. Werner Genuit)
ARAM KHATCHATURIAN (1903 – 1978): Sabre Dance from “Gayaneh” for 2 pianos 8 hands (arr. Raffi Kharajanyan)
FRANZ LISZT (1811 – 1886): Grand Galop chromatique for 2 pianos 8 hands (arr. Johann van Vegh)
THOMAS TUREK: Thermal-Tango for 1 piano 8 hands
EDOUARD A. THUILLIER (1841 – 1913): Bolero-brillant for 1 pianos 6 hands
ALBERT LAVIGNAC (1846 – 1916): Galop-Marche for 1 piano 12 hands (arr. Christoph Sischka)
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PAGNONCELLI (1835 – 1906): Ballata e bizzaria for 2 pianos 12 hands
GABRIEL VAN CALT (late 19th cent.): Bolero-Fanfare for 1 piano 8 hands
PAOLO CANONICA (1846 – 1902): Polka concertata, Op. 190 for 2 piano 16 hands
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS (1835 – 1921): Introduction & Marche royale du Lion: Final (from Carnival of the Animals) for 2 pianos 12 hands
ALEXANDER YOSSIFOV (*1940): Danza archaiqua for 2 pianos 24 hands

Melanie Bähr, Dina El-Leisy, Noriko Ishikawa-Kratzer, Raffi Kharajanyan, Manfred Kratzer, Nora Novik, Aki Oya-Pampus, Christoph Sischka, Eriko Takezawa, Marc Tritschler, Thomas Turek, Gisela Wilcken, pianists
Bolero Night – the theme for a very special concert event taking place on May 22nd, 2004: The 12 Pianists played Boleros and other dances in the Kurhaus Bad Herrenalb simultaneously on up to four grand pianos, while the pieces to be played on only one or two pianos demanded an intricate choreography of the 12 “key artists”. The present SACD gives you the chance to enjoy a unique sound experience at home along with photographs illustrating the visual part of the event.
Experiences with extraordinary concert events we have had in abundance, as the year 2005 will witness the already 5th International Piano Duo Festival in Bad Herrenalb. Since 2000, the Black Forest Town has seen not less than 36 piano duos representing so to speak a “Who’s who” of the piano scene. Moreover, several piano ensembles joined in and the “ordinary” four hands were supported by up to 20 more hands on these occasions.
The 12 Pianists date back to a formation of 1989 from which emerged the steady ensemble Piano4te. With the assistance of guest artists they formed a group of twelve with changing line-up. Starting-point was the arrangement of Albert Lavignac’s Galop-Marche for twelve pianists at one piano by Christoph Sischka, resulting in an entry in Guinness World Records 2002 (German Edition). The record attempt took place during the 1st International Piano Duo Festival in Bad Herrenalb. Besides assembling “most pianists at one piano”, the same concert saw the performance of the longest piece for four grand pianos, eight hands and was also mentioned in the book.

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38011
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
Studies for the Pedal piano, Op.56
Sketches the Pedal piano, Op.58
Six Fugues on the Name BACH, Op.60
Canon D major, Op.124/2

Martin Schmeding, pedal piano (historical instrument by Pleyel)
The year 1844 marked a turning-point in Schumann’s life: a severe mental crisis, together with a complete physical breakdown, temporarily brought his creativity to a standstill. He abandoned, after ten years of activity, the editorial post of the “Neue Zeitschrift für Musik”, which he had created, and moved with his family from Leipzig to Dresden. During the following year, in his new abode, his health only gradually improved. The fact that Schumann, at that time, together with his wife Clara, dedicated himself with genuine enthusiasm to contrapuntal studies, might indeed be viewed as a special measure of self-therapy, a method of mental discipline. The products of this “fugue passion" as he himself called it, were a series of works in austere style, which also testify to his deep veneration for Johann Sebastian Bach, a veneration certainly dating from the early years when he analysed the “Well-tempered Clavier” or copied out the “Art of fugue” for studying purposes. The pieces presented on this CD, besides the “Four fugues” op. 72 for piano, belong to this series of works: the “Six Fugues on the name of BACH” for the piano or the organ op. 60, the “Studies” op. 56 and the “Sketches” op. 58.
The first recording of all these works on a pedal piano made by Pleyel solves most of the acoustic problems which forcibly arise from the now frequently practised interpretation of op. 56 and 58 on the organ. It also lets the BACH fugues, originally conceived for the organ, appear in a new light. The unique significance of these three works, which blend the spirit of Bach with the advanced tonal language of the romantic period in an ideal way, without any historicizing academic strictness or boredom, will thus perhaps be more clearly discernible.

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38012
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
Chaconne in C sharp minor
Four Short Chorale Preludes
Variations & Fugue on an Original Theme in D major

Martin Schmeding, organ (Sauer organ of St Petri Cathedral, Bremen)
Martin Schmeding, born 1975 in Minden/Westphalia, studied at the College of Music and Drama in Hanover, at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and at the Robert-Schumann-Hochschule in Düsseldorf. His organ teachers included Ulrich Bremsteller, Lajos Rovatkay and Jean Boyer, and he also attended master classes with Ludger Lohmann, Martin Haselböck, Andrea Marcon, Hans-Ola Ericsson, Michael Radulescu and Harald Vogel. He won a scholarship in 1995 from the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. After eight first prizes at national level in the German young people's competition "Jugend musiziert" he went on to win prizes at many other competitions, including the following: Mendelssohn Bartholdy (Berlin), Pachelbel (Nürnberg), Böhm (Lüneburg), Deutscher Musikwettbewerb (Berlin), European Young Organists (Ljubljana) and Musica Antiqua (Bruges). He was a finalist in the 1999 ARD Competition in Munich. 1999 also saw the Land of Lower Saxony award him its Bursary for Arts and Culture. He was Kantor and organist of the Nazareth-Kirche in Hanover from 1997 to 1999, leaving Hanover to succeed Oswald Gottlieb Blarr as Church Music Director of the Neanderkirche in Düsseldorf.

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38013
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
“COLOURS OF THE HARP”
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685 – 1750): Das Wohltemperierte Klavier I: Prelude No. 8 in E flat minor BWV 853
CARL PHILLIPP EMANUEL BACH (1714 – 1788): Sonata in G major Wq. 139 “Solo für die Harfe”
WILLIAM CROFT (1678 – 1727): Suite No. 3 in C minor: Ground
LOUIS SPOHR (1784 – 1859): Fantasie in C minor, Op. 35
MARCEL TOURNIER (1879 – 1951): “Trois Images”, Suite No. 1 Op. 29 (Clarie de lune sur I’étang du parc; Au seuil du temple; Lolita la danseuse)
GABRIEL FAURE (1845 – 1924): Impromptu, Op. 86
HENRIEETE RENIE (1875 – 1956): Contemplation; Ballade Fantastique

Anton Sie, harp

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38014
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
Messe Brève No. 7 in C major
Messe Brève in B flat major
Deuxième Messe in F major, Op. 1
Ave Maria

Martin Schmending, organ; Patrik Herget, soprano; Axel Werntges, contralto; Hartmut Roth, tenor; Philipp Tetzlaff, bass

Jungendkantorei Hösel/Toralf Hildebrandt
The Jugendkantorei Hösel is a school choir composed of pupils of the 4th to the 13th forms. The choir is responsible for the performance of church music at the Adolf Clarenbach Church in Ratingen-Hösel. Its repertoire covers all periods of musical history, although its main focus is the regular performance of Bach’s cantatas during the ecclesiastical year and the cultivation of musical literature for choir and organ. Radio and CD recordings, choral concerts and concert tours in Germany, Europe and Northern America complete the choir’s numerous activities. The choir has therefore given a great number of concerts in Germany (Saint-Thomas Church in Leipzig, etc.), in Switzerland (Zürich Cathedral, etc.), in Poland (Breslau Cathedral, etc.), In Italy (Saint-Ignatius Church in Rome, etc.), in the Czech Republic (Saint-Nicolas Church in Prague, etc.), as well as in Austria, Spain and Hungary and twice in the U.S.A. (in particular in Chicago and Washington). The choir is prize-winner of numerous national and international music competitions (it won for example the 2nd prize at the Palestrina Competition in Rome in 2000 and the 1st prize at the Musica Sacra Competition in Prague in 2001). Every singer who wishes to be a member of the choir must pass an entrance examination and must attend the daily rehearsals and singing lessons.

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38015
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
Sonata for Cello and Piano in E minor, Op. 38
Sonata for Cello and Piano in F major, Op. 99
Lieder in der Fassung für Violoncello und Klavier: Feldeinsamkeit, Op. 86/2; Wie Melodien zieht es mir, Op. 105/1; Von ewiger Liebe, Op.43/1; Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer, Op. 105/2; Sommerabend, Op. 85/1; Mondenschein, Op. 85/2

Friedrich Kleinhapl, cello

Andreas Woyke, piano

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38016
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
BERNHARD HENRIK CRUSELL (1775 – 1838) – CONCERTOS FOR CLARINET & ORCHESTRA
Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in F minor, Op. 5 (1815); Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in B flat major, Op. 11 (1822); Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in E flat major, Op. 1 (1811)

Eric Hoeprich, clarinet
Kölner Akademie/Michael Alexander Willens
By any standards, Bernhard Henrik Crusell had a remarkable life. Barn in rural Finland, san of a bookbinder he arrived in Stockholm at the age of 16 as an apprentice to a military band, and basically never looked back. Within two years, Crusell had joined the orchestra of the Hofkapelle, where he would later play the première performances of his clarinet concertos. By the end of his life, he had travelled throughout Europe, meeting some of the mast interesting and outstanding clarinettists and composers of his generation, and had established a reputation as a gifted clarinettist/composer and translator of opera libretti. For the latter, he was awarded the prestigious Gold Medal of the Swedish Academy in 1837. As for the former, he is best known today for his solo works for clarinet, among which we find the three concerti here, a set of variations for clarinet and orchestra (op. 12) and a Sinfonia concertante for clarinet, horn and bassoon (op. 3). His quartets for clarinet and string trio represent fine contributions to the genre, and the three clarinet duets are staples in any clarinet teacher’s musical diet.

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38017
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
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 38018
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
Suite No. 1 in G major BWV 1007
Suite No. 3 in C major BWV 1009
Suite No. 5 in G major BWV 1011

Friedrich Kleinhapl, cello

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38019
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
FRANZ DANZI (1763 – 1826) – CONCERTOS FOR BASSOON & ORCHESTRA
Overture in E flat major (P32); Bassoon Concerto in G minor
Bassoon Concerto in C major; Bassoon Concerto in F major

Jane Gower, bassoon
Kölner Akademie/Michael Alexander Willens (on period instruments)
All three concertos have second movements marked Andante, suggesting o simple, cantabile style with an easily flawing tempo, never pressed but considerably faster than the often ponderous, overworked treatment Andantes are sometimes burdened with. In no way does it seek to compete with the weight of the first movement. Instead all three Andantes provide the bassoonist with opportunities to display the vocal lyricism of the tenor register as Danzi’s melodies unfurl. Entirely banishing the anxiety of the first g minor movement is a concluding Polacca (polonaise) a witty engaging dance-like piece very popular in solo concertos of the time. As in the F major Polacca, there are many chances for tongue-in-cheek jocularity lively dialogue, os well as some sparkling passagework. By way of introducing these bassoon concertos we hove added another lesser known work by Danzi, his Overture in E flat major (P32). This music was probably used as “Zwischenaktmusik” within a theatrical performance, similar in function to the incidental music Schubert wrote for Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern (d797).

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38020
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
VIENNA DOUBLE BASS CONCERTOS
WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS!
FRANZ ANTON HOFFMEISTER (1754 – 1812): Concerto in E flat major; WENCESLAV PICHL (1741 – 1805): Concerto in D major; JOHANN VANHAL (1739 – 1813): Concerto in E flat major

David Sinclair, double bass
Kölner Akademie/Michael Alexander Willens (on period instruments)
The works recorded here present examples of the Viennese bass concerto from its early period of the mid 1760’s to its heyday around 1785. All were written for the specially-tuned Viennese bass. While the Pichl and Hoffmeister concertos are premiere recordings, Vanhal’s well-known work is recorded here for the first time on a Viennese bass. The instrument used dates from 1729 and was made by Johann Christoph Leidolff (1690-1785). One of Vienna’s foremost violin makers, the Leidolff workshop was also responsible for keeping the instruments and bows of the Esterházykapelle in good repair.

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38021
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
JOHANN KUHNAU (1660­-1722): Biblische Sonate IV in C minor - "Der todtkranke und wieder gesunde Hiskias"
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685­-1750): Fantasie und Fuge in D minor from BWV 1001/BWV 539 (arr.: Otfried Büsing)
GOTTFRIED AUGUST HOMILIUS (1714­-1785): Choralvorspiel über "Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten"
JOHANN GOTTFRIED WALTHER (1684­-1748): Concerto in B minor from A. Vivaldi
JOHANN LUDWIG KREBS (1713­-1780): Trio in C mionr (Andante)
CHRISTIAN HEINRICH RINCK (1770­-1846): Flöten-Concert, Op. 55
FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY (1809­-1847): Sonata in B flat major, Op. 64,4
GUSTAV ADOLF MERKEL (1827­-1885): Introduktion und Passacaglia in B minor from Sonata VIII, Op. 178

Martin Schmeding, Silbermann organ of the Protestant church in Crostau
Gottfried Silbermann’s instruments captivated not only by their perfection in terms of craftsmanship; their musical power of expression inspired the interpretation and writing of composers and organists of various epochs. This recording’s program thus gathers works by composers of the 17th to 19th centuries whose art revolved around Silbermann and his organs. Gottfried Silbermann inspired countless organists, composers and organ builders with his instruments in the 20th century and continues to do so in ours. However, this topic could fill the pages of a separate article; this homage thus ends with the outgoing 19th century.

Label: ARS PRODUKTION SACD 38022
Our Price: $24.25
Quantity in Basket: none
Choral prelude “The saviour has arisen” (1934)
Four little Chorale preludes (1926)
Choral prelude to Joseph Haydn’s “God save Emperor Franz” (1933)

Martin Schmeding, organ
The majority of Franz Schmidt’s organ works is not religiously or liturgically inspired, like so many contemporary works. The premieres also took place mostly in concert halls such as the Musikvereinssaal in Vienna.
Nevertheless, time and again Schmidt was inspired by spiritual influences, such as for example in the “Four Little Chorale Preludes” (1926), both “large” chorale preludes about Josef Haydn’s “Gott erhalte” (“God Save Emperor Franz”) (1933) and “Der Heiland ist erstanden” (“The Saviour Has Arisen”) (1934) and the so-called Christmas prelude in A major (also known as “Pastorale”, 1934).