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Echo: Schubert, Loewe, Schumann & Wolf

Georg Nigl

Classical - Released May 5, 2023 | Alpha Classics

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 4F de Télérama
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Transcriptions (Vol. I & II)

Accentus, Laurence Equilbey

Classical - Released January 28, 2003 | naïve

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Voyage intime

Sandrine Piau

Classical - Released February 3, 2023 | Alpha Classics

Hi-Res Booklet
No one can accuse soprano Sandrine Piau of ever resting on her laurels, and with this 2023 release, she began, in her late fifties, a new partnership with accompanist David Kadouch. It is a bit hard to tell what the theme is supposed to be all about. Only some of the songs are "intimes," and many are not about voyages; Piau also notes that some of the songs are about "the theme of people being snatched away from the land of the living," not an especially intimate concept. Best just to listen and take the songs one by one, and this will reveal not only strong performances but organizational principles the performers don't mention. The first part of the program is devoted to German lieder, the second to French mélodies (before a final return to Schubert), with one piano piece in each set. Piau is arguably the greatest French interpreter of German song, and her Schubert Erlkönig, D. 328, has nothing trite about it as she inhabits but doesn't make opera characters out of the three characters in the piece. Another "theme" is that Piau really makes songs by women her own. There is a group by Clara Schumann, with an excellent setting of Heine's Lorelei that owes something to Erlkönig but is in no way a knockoff, and a fine group by Lili Boulanger that fits Piau beautifully. Sample Si tout ceci n'est qu'un pauvre rêve. Perhaps the Mignon songs do not fit her quite so well at this late date, but the heftier numbers by Liszt and Wolf more than make up for this. Yet another theme is that these are all songs that give the pianist a great deal to do, and Piau's interactions with Kadouch are sensitive and detailed enough to make one eagerly anticipate future collaborations. Superbly recorded by Alpha at the Teldex Studio in Berlin, the album made classical best-seller charts in early 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Accentus: The a capella Recordings

Accentus

Classical - Released December 9, 2016 | naïve classique

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The Complete Recitals on Warner Classics

Christa Ludwig

Classical - Released March 9, 2018 | Warner Classics

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or
This eleven hour box set marks the 90th birthday of German mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, whose phenomenal career, which ran from 1950 to 1990, still inspires admiration in her colleagues (of course) and a growing number of music fans. She has collaborated with the greatest musicians of her age, most notably Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and Otto Klemperer. She also shone in the genre of the Lied, with a brilliance comparable to Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's or Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's – and of course she regularly performed with both – and these recordings with Gerald Moore and Geoffrey Parsons bear witness to her talents. A note on the brand-new releases that form part of this edition: some performances are published here for the first time*: these are Lieder with orchestra by Alban Berg (tracks 144 to 146), Max Reger (track 137) and Richard Wagner (track 124) as well as Lieder with piano by Hugo Wolf (track 14), Franz Schubert (tracks 15 and 16, 62 to 66) and Stille Nacht (track 89), which were left aside when they were first recorded, either because of the limits of the 33rpm format, or just because of a decision by the artistic director. This collection also sees some pieces re-published for the first time since their release on LP, such as the piece by Gluck (track 88), several of Brahms' Lieder (tracks 15 to 19, tracks 104 and 107). The recital of Brahms which Christa Ludwig would record alongside Walter Berry appears here in its entirety for the first time since it was first released (from track 67 to track 89, see above). © Qobuz
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Transcriptions I

Accentus, Laurence Equilbey

Classical - Released January 28, 2003 | naïve classique

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Transcriptions

Accentus, Laurence Equilbey

Classical - Released February 15, 2010 | naïve

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Accentus

Accentus, Laurence Equilbey

Classical - Released December 13, 2010 | naïve

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Lieder von Schubert, Brahms, Schumann

Vesselina Kasarova

Classical - Released April 5, 1999 | RCA Red Seal

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Operetta Arias

Fritz Wunderlich

Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released September 8, 2017 | SWR Classic

Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or

Mörike: Auf ein altes Bild (Reclam Hörbuch)

Reclam Hörbücher

Comedy/Other - Released January 1, 2004 | Sony Music Catalog

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Wolf, H.: Gedichte Von Eduard Morike (Excerpts)

Mitsuko Shirai

Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released January 1, 1998 | CapriccioNR

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Telemann: A Christmas Oratorio

Kleine Konzert, Das

Classical - Released November 11, 2023 | CPO

Hi-Res Booklet
Georg Philipp Telemann never wrote a Christmas oratorio, but that hasn't stopped performers from assembling them out of holiday-season cantatas. The one here by veteran choral conductor Hermann Max and his instrumental group Das Kleine Konzert isn't the first one. It is not even the first one on the CPO label. There is no basis for objecting to this kind of creative repertory expansion, for Bach's Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248, was put together in basically the same way. Telemann isn't Bach, though most listeners will find satisfying listening here for the holiday season or any other time, and this album, in fact, made classical best-seller lists in early 2024. Max and company program five Telemann cantatas, unfailingly tuneful and well-made in the composer's characteristic way. One striking thing is that there are two quite late works from the 1750s and 1760s; the others are from earlier in Telemann's career, yet the style remains consistent. In some genres, Telemann caught on to the emerging light styles coming from Italy, but in church cantatas, he seems to have played it straighter. Max is not known as an adherent of the one-voice-per-part philosophy, yet here, his choruses are taken by the four soloists from his fine Rheinische Kantorei choir; there is no chorus. This is less than ideal. From what we know of Telemann's late occasional works, they were big, festive affairs. However, the decision was likely the result of COVID-era restrictions (the album was recorded in December of 2020), and in the airy acoustic of Cologne's Trinitatiskirche, one doesn't miss the choir much. Moreover, the choruses are mostly not simply chorales but are more complex polyphonic pieces; one quotes the old In dulci jubilo hymn, a pure Telemann move. The interpretations generally have Max's characteristic warmth, and the soloists (in the solos) are idiomatic and direct. Telemann lovers will enjoy this release.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Bach: Cantatas 54, 82 & 170 "Widerstehe", "Ich habe genug" & "Vergnügte Ruh"

Iestyn Davies

Classical - Released December 30, 2016 | Hyperion

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Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25

Bayerisches Staatsorchester

Classical - Released September 15, 2023 | Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Choc de Classica
The labels lately established by performing organizations have mostly been devoted to new releases, but there is a lot to be said for using them to resurrect historical performances and recordings. These tend to be ones that have hung in people's memories for years, well after newer recordings have become available. There couldn't be a better example than this, the first historical release from the Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings label. It reproduces a 1984 live performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah, Op. 70 (as Elias, in the original German) from the Nationaltheater München, with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Chor des städtischen Musikvereins zu Düsseldorf. (The latter got involved because the Bayerischer Staatsopernchor was unavailable, but the choir acquits itself very well, unsurprisingly inasmuch as Mendelssohn himself was one of its former directors.) Sawallisch was noted for his way with Mendelssohn, to which he brought a noble Germanic tinge that makes a nice contrast with the usual English performances. He never did better than here, and upon hearing that tapes of this performance had been preserved, he is said to have exclaimed, "Thank God they're safe!" The soloists, led by baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the title role and tenor Peter Schreier as Obadiah, are superb. Another attraction is the hardbound booklet, delving deep into Mendelssohn's philosophical place in German society (really philosophical -- Hegel and his dialectic come into it). The live sound from 1984 is impressive indeed, with crowd noise kept to an absolute minimum in a superb display of discipline. A wonderful historical reissue that catches the intense drama in Mendelssohn's oratorio.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Kinderlieder

Kinderlieder Hits

Children - Released May 29, 2018 | Lamp und Leute

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Mendelssohn: Elias

Philippe Herreweghe

Classical - Released August 30, 1993 | harmonia mundi

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Mendelssohn: Elias, Op. 70, MWV A25 (Live)

Thomas Oliemans

Classical - Released March 18, 2016 | Accentus Music

Hi-Res Booklet
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Rheinmädchen (Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wagner)

Raphaël Pichon

Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released March 18, 2016 | harmonia mundi

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason - 4 étoiles Classica - 5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik
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J.S. Bach : Johannes-Passion (St John Passion)

La Petite Bande

Classical - Released March 2, 2012 | Challenge Classics

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Veteran Dutch historical-instrument specialist Sigiswald Kuijken adopts a version of the one-voice-per-part procedure in this performance of Bach's St. John Passion, BWV 245, using four soloists and another quartet for the "ripieno" or choral passages. Refreshingly, he doesn't even try to claim historical authenticity for this in the interview-format notes, pointing instead to the "extremely natural balance with the instrumental ensemble" and the "textual expressivity his approach permits." He even concedes that for a major performance of this work, Bach would likely have had larger forces available. If you believe that the contrast between German Lutheran chorus and Italianate melody lies at the heart of Bach's appeal, forming a richness unparalleled since Albrecht Dürer infused Italian color into the severe German figures of his paintings, then look elsewhere. For the adherent of Kuijken's approach, however, this St. John Passion merits consideration, as much for the unexpected instrumental details emerging from Kuijken's La Petite Bande as for the work of the soloists; alto Petra Noskaiová is superb, but the others are a mixed bag. The sound, from Belgium's Academiezaal concert hall, is a major plus. © TiVo