Label: FARAO CD 108056
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JOSEPH HAYDN (1732 – 1809): Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons)

Miriam Meyer, soprano; James Taylor, tenor; Ralf Lukas, bass

Chorgemeinschaft Neubeuern

KlangVerwaltung/Enoch zu Guttenberg

Recording: Bayreuth, October 2004
The orchestra KlangVerwaltung which Enoch zu Guttenberg has conducted since it was founded in 1997, presents us with all the nuances of a transparent and great orchestral sound. The Neubeuern Choral Society impresses listeners with its wonderful sound and clear diction. Coupled with well chosen soloists, this powerful work from Haydn’s late period made an exciting concert experience.

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 100201
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Magnetique Tango; Rom Tango; Tango Shibuya; Tango Malade; September Tango; Red Velvet; Firpo Tango; Rosamunde Tango; Tempest; Schieber; Lisboa; Fatique

Anja Lechner, cello; Peter Ludwig, piano

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 100202
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Cäsar der Hund; Tango Nuevo; Flockenballett; Paris; Tango obscur; Joshua; Samba; Tango c-Moll; Spannt die Bögen; Tango Triste; Itaparika; Chinawalzer; Nachts; Liber Tango (Arrangement after Astor Piazolla)

Anja Lechner, cello; Peter Ludwig, piano; Andreas Reiner, violin

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 100204
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Ach mein Seel, fang an zu singen; Maria durch ein Dornwald ging; Jodler; Lieb Nachtigall, wach auf; Jodler/Langsamer Landler; Der güldne Rosenkranz; Oh Maria, wie gefährlich; Freu Dich, o Tochter Zion; Maria ging übers Gebirge; O edle, liabreiche, erwünschteste Nacht; Halsbacher Stückl; Da draußen auf dem Berge; Es wird scho glei dumpa; Weihnachtsjodler; Still, still; O Jubel, o Freud; Heißa Buama; Weyarner Hirtenmusik; Geh Hansei; Es hat sich halt eröffnet; Ein Kindelein ist uns geboren; Schlaf mein Kindelein
FRANZ SCHUBERT: Landler in Ges-Dur

Chor und Spielmuskien der Chorgemeinschaft Neubeuern/Enoch zu Guttenberg
For music lovers and connoisseurs the name Neubeuern is inseparably connected with the now internationally celebrated choral society of that town. Both German and international press have commented on the achievments of this ensemble as "The Neubeuern phenomenon", "The Neubeuern miracle", "The authority on choral music". - One could go on quoting. Under the direction of Enoch zu Guttenberg this group from Neubeuern are now known as, one could almost say fanatical interpreters of the works of J.S. Bach: the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion, the B minor mass, as ardent Mozart admirers and as musicians very much at home with Beethoven, Stravinsky and Verdi. And the more famous the Neubeuern Choral society becomes and the more international their venues, the greater is the danger of forgetting who they actually are and where they really come from. They are, and wish to remain singers of folk-music in the best sense of the word; a society grown out of numerous folkmusic ensembles. They have never denied or broken from their origins. In "Neubeurer Advent Singing", the diversity, which is central to them becomes clear. The choir performs as one unit, but they open up to reveal in the Trio, three, four and five part singing, the whole spectrum of their talents. But for all this, the aim of the "Neubeurer Advent Singing" is to convey more than just musical diversity. The choir presents a musical and at the same time theological program. The story of the birth of Christ is related in both text and melody. Even the Passion,- the objective of the Holy Night, prevails. The old Bavarian carols reveal their poetry, their earthy, sometimes grim humor. But they also show the sombre gloomy side. The Advent Singing, therefore is no mere choral excursion into a folksy idyll. It reveals the roots from which Neubeuern's approach to interpretation grew.

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 100206
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Tracks: E; Hawai; Café Banlieue; Dezember Tango; L’après-midi; Smalls; Just a dream; A.G.Mius; Reims rouge; Milonga; Barbara Bossa; Le petit; La Belge; Lisboa

Artists: Arben spahiu, violin; Peter Wopke, cello; Peter Ludwig, piano/composer/arranger
Tango - a mix of powerful feelings, great passion, deep melancholy…Wonderfully emotional music, which, in the hands of "Tango à trois", is a real experience, even without the dancing. The new CD is a charming mixture of heavy-hearted Argentinean, and wing-footed European tango; of Bossa Nova, cool jazz and classic chamber music. In 1983, together with Anja Lechner, Peter Ludwig, a tango addict for over thirty years now, founded the legendary ensemble "Tango Mortale". Countless engagements at home and abroad confirm their huge success. As a composer and arranger, Peter Ludwig performs the tango in very much his own style. His tangos are not of the exclusively "gloomy, depressive and low-spirited" type, which we know from Argentina. His instrumental arrangements characterise his inspired strength of mind, which takes us on excursions into realms of fantasy, and tells us stories of life, love and misfortune with each piece of music. In the trio "Tango à trois", which was formed in 2005, Peter Ludwig has hit upon congenial and supremely proficient interpreters of his own compositions.

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 100207
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Lasst uns heut vor Freuden singen (Chor); Menuett aus Weißenbach (Geignmusi und Saitnmusi); Vor mir brauchst di net fürchtn (Männer-Dreigsang); Andante aus der Sammlung Horak (Saitnmusi); Es hat der Kaiser Augustus (Chor); Maria wollte wandern (Chor); Gegrüßt seist du, o Maria (Frauen-Dreigsang); O edle, liebreiche, herzguldene Nacht (Chor); Wer lasst uns eini in sein Haus (gemischter Dreigsang); Zwei Menuette von Weinmüller (Geignmusi); Es mag net finster werdn (Frauenchor); Jetzt fangen wir zum Singen an (Männer-Dreigsang); Achtaler Walzer (Klarinettenmusi); Auf, auf, es kommt der Tag (Chor); Frohlocket, ihr Menschen (Chor); Bayrisch Polka in a-Moll (Saitnmusi); Es hat sich halt eröffnet (Chor); Boarischer “Der Dritte” (Geignmusi); Still, still, weils Kindlein schlafen will (Chor); Es wird scho glei dumpa (Chor); Menuett (Harfe solo); Schlaf wohl, du Himmelsknabe du (Chor); Da drinnen im Stalle (Frauen-Dreigsang); Landler in “G” (Geignmusi); Was is des zum Plunda (Männer-Zwoagsang); Lippei sollst gschwind aufstehn (Chor); Alpbacher Boarischer (Klarinettenmusi); Auf, auf, es is scho Tag (gemischter Dreigsang); Landler (Klarinettenmusi); Die heilign Drei König san hochgeborn (Chor)

Chorgemeinschaft Neubeuern/Enoch zu Guttenberg
Traditional Advent and Christmas carols enjoy a special status within the musical accompaniment of Christmas. Here, a combination of folk and sophisticated music, such as the Chorgemeinschaft Neubeuern has been practicing for decades, offers an ideal constellation. Even though its repertoire, featuring works from Early Baroque to the 20th century, is highly successful at home and abroad, the choir, founded in 1967 by Enoch zu Guttenberg, and its over 100 members stay true to their roots and preserve the custom of alpine Christmas carols. With the new album Weihnachtssingen, the Neubeurer present a high level of musical diversity and talent. Apart from the choral works, they perform vocal duets and trios, music for strings and clarinets, as well as harp solos. The particular, very special interpretation of the traditional songs from Bavaria, Tyrol, Salzburg, and Styria is what gives the Chorgemeinschaft that distinctive acoustic color. They don’t merely sing because of the beautiful sounds, but rather because making music is a matter close to their heart. And the listener can sense it! This is their secret of over 40 years of success.

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 100208
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Tracks: Berlin; Cat; Capverden; Bar Andalú; Gare de l’est; Rossio; Tango Zizim; Veuve Clicquot; Valse dramatique; Séparée; Zirkus; Amour fou; Timbaud Tango; Miss You

Artists: Tango à Trois: Arben Spahiu, violin; Peter Wöpke, cello; Peter Ludwig, piano
After their successful debut CD Café Banlieue, the trio Tango à trois starts into the second round, full of passion and highly concentrated, with expressiveness and sensuality. The result is the album Amour fou. Peter Ludwig is obsessed with tango. He is relentlessly searching for familiar and exotic sounds. After over three decades of tango passion, he is still full of creative ideas, keeps finding fresh forms of expression and always gives his works an illustrative character. His great enthusiasm for performing with his two partners is directly transmitted to the audience. Arben Spahiu has tango in his veins. He plays like somebody who has grown up with tango. Peter Wöpke knows how to shine with his cello’s versatility. The three artists inspire each other and present their music with great seriousness and even greater enthusiasm. The latest CD fascinates with features such as different rhythms, foreign influences apart from the tango, jazzy ballads, dreamy, nostalgic music, in reminiscence of the Viennese melancholy and Parisian world-weariness. There’s always a hint of South America. A kaleidoscope of sound telling stories about life, lust and blazing passion, about tears and laughter.

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 108003
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CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS (1835 - 1921): The Swan, Romance, Op. 36; ERIK SATIE (1866 - 1925): Gymnopedie I; CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862 - 1918): Reverie, Le petiti berger; GABRIEL FAURE (1845 - 1924): Berceuse, Op. 16; MARC BERTHOMIEU (1906 - 1991): Cinq Nuances; JACQUES IBERT (1890 - 1962): Entr’acte; MARCEL TOURNIER (1879 - 1951): Deux Preludes Romantique

Hermann Rid, saxophone; Martina Holler, harp
The partnership between saxophone and harp is unusual and calls for an explanation. But the fact that it is unusual is exactly why it is so appealing. There is no need explaining something common as, in this case, a partnership between harp and flute. But that’s the very reason why that which is common always finds itself under the suspicion of being boring and is deemed to be uninteresting. The duo formed by harp and saxophone resembles two people who were not discouraged by their considerable age difference and got married. Hence, the compositions featured here are artefacts times two. Originally intended for different instrumentations, they were subsequently rearranged for an instrumentation for which they might well have been written for, as the following demonstration will show.

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 108006
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Malin Hartelius, soprano; Dietrich Henschel, baritone
Orchestra and Choir of the State Philharmonic Brno/Enoch zu Guttenberg
"Ein deutsches Requiem" is the work of an artist, who decidedly stood apart from the belief into the hereafter, and thus also apart from the Christian creeds. And yet, it is the most original work ever to be written for Protestantism in German language. More than any other, it takes the same liberty as once Luther did to found its Credo on the Bible itself.

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 108010
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Ann Murray; Christopher Robson; Yvonne Kenny; Julie Kaufmann; Umberto Chiummo
Bavarian State Opera/Ivor Bolton
Complete LIVE recording from the National Theatre in Munich, in April 1997
Of all the operas written by George Frederick Handel none surprised his contemporaries, or indeed posterity, none has caused such displeasure and happiness as has his dramma per musica Serse. And that is quite a considerable claim to fame, considering the fact that Handel wrote more than forty operas, not all of which have, however, survived. There are, naturally, various reasons for this fact, the most important of which, for a start, was the time at which the opera was written. Handel wrote Serse in 1737/38 and subsequently wrote only two more operas, Imeneo and Deidamia, before concentrating exclusively on composing oratorios from 1741 onwards. (3 CD)

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 108011
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CARL BOEHM: Quintett in F major; WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Adagio in F major KV 580a; JOHANNES BRAHMS: Ungarischer Tanz Nr. 5; JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: Air – from Suite No. 3 in D major; GYORGY ORBAN: Quintetto – Tempo di Tango; ISAAC ALBENIZ: Tango; GEORG FRIEDRICH HANDEL: “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba; “Lascia ch’io pianga” from Rinaldo; DANIEL DORFF: It Takes Four To Tango; WILLIAM BYRD: Pavane; KENNETH A. WILSON: Variationen über ein Thema von Paganini; GEORGE GERSHWIN: Oh, Lady be Good; JOZSEF BALOGH: “Episodes from the Cresent Moon”

Norbert Taubl, clarinet; Manfred Preis, clarinet, bass clarinet; Jozsef Balogh, clarinet; Johannes Gleichweit, clarinet; Harald Harrer, clarinet

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 108014
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FRANZ SCHREKER: Kammersymphonie; ERNST KRENEK: Konzert für Violine und Orchester, Op. 29

Hanna Winmeister, violin
Musikkollegium Winterthur/Heinrich Schiff
Coupling works by Franz Schreker and Ernst Krenek on this CD brings together composers whose biographies have very much in common. This goes much further than the mere fact that, for certain periods between 1916 and 1923, Schreker was Krenek’s teacher; first at the Vienna Academy of Music and then at the Musikhochschule in Berlin. Both hailed from the time of Austro-Hungarian monarchy. They were both influenced by the taste for experimenting and the culture of renewal of the Viennese Schönberg circle (Schreker before the First World War, and Krenek in the late twenties.) Under the ideologies of art propounded by the National Socialists both of them were labeled as being “degraded”.

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 108015
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Weihnachtsoratorium (Christmas Oratorio) BWV 248 - Malin Hartelius, soprano; Melinda Paulsen, alto; Tom Allen, tenor; Dietrich Henschel, bass; Derstin Klein, echo-soprano; Hakan Hardenberger, trumpet; Michael Martin Kofler, flute; Jurgen Evers, oboe; Andreas Reiner, Ingried Friedrich, violin; Christian Brembeck, harpsichord; Anja Lechner, cello; Burkhart Mager, bass; Hubert Huber, organ; Orchester der KlangVerwaltung; Chorgemeinschaft Neubeuern; Enoch zu Guttenberg, conductor
The Orchestra of the KlangVerwaltung was founded by musicians who have worked with the conductor Enoch zu Guttenberg for many years in order to give uncompromising support to his musical ideas. The orchestra, based in Munich, is composed of players from the local orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Stuttgart State opera, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Cologne Radio Orchestra, well known soloists and chamber music players, as well as young prize winners and professors. (3 CDs for the price of 2)

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 108016
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P. I. TCHAIKOVSKY: Nutcracker Suite Arranged for saxophone trio by Marius Ruhland; W. A. MOZART: Arias from "Don Giovanni" Arranged by Rainer Schottstaedt; L. V. BEETHOVEN: Variations on "La ci darem la mano" from W.A.Mozart’s "Don Giovanni"Arranged for saxophone trio by: Sax Allemande; STEFAN ZORZOR: "Carmen ibericum" A Spanish story after Georges Bizet - Sax Allemande: Frank Schuessler; Arendt Hastedt; Markus Maier
We held good with our wager that with our saxophones we could at least keep up with the sufferings and passions of the heroes and prima donnas of the stage. With "Sax at the Opera" we would like to enrich the now centuries old tradition of variations, transcriptions and paraphrases by one saxophonistic notch. - Sax Allemande

Label: FARAO CLASSICS 108018
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VITTORIO MONTI: Csardas; ROBERT SCHUMANN: Traumerei; MALCOLM ARNOLD: Pre Goodman Rag; KURT WEILL (1900 – 1950): Die Dreigroschenoper (Selections); WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Adagio KV 411; Ave Verum Corpus; SERGEI PROKOFIEV: March from “Love For Three Oranges”; JOZSEF BALOGH: Radetzkiada; Gipsy Songs; Rhapsodia; GORDON LEWIN: La Copa – Samba; Fiesta Cubana – Rumba; NINO ROTA: 8 1/2

Norbert Taubl, clarinet; Manfred Preis, clarinet, bass clarinet; Jozsef Balogh, clarinet; Johannes Gleichweit, clarinet; Harald Harrer, clarinet
"…A comprehensive journey through different genres of music, from the earliest forms of classical music through to the latest forms of light music, including swing and Klezmer. Everything is done in such a masterly, noble and cheerful fashion, that you simply cannot get enough of it…" There is no better way to describe the music making of the group Interclarinet than Gerhard Pätzig’s write-up of their first CD in the German magazine Klassic Heute.