Concert Koln

Salieri's own autograph work-list contains the following entry: 'Two concertos for the pianoforte, written for two ladies." Unfortunately we do not know who these two ladies were. All that we can say for certain is that they must both have been technically accomplished and trained to the highest musical standards. Salieri's demanding concertos are distinguished in the main by their middle movements, traditionally the genre's most fertile field of experimentation.

The bulk of the DVD is this Berlin concert of 6 November 1971. This is one of the last recorded concerts with this band, which disbanded totally later that month. It features Miles on electric trumpet, Keith Jarrett on electric piano and electric organ, Michael Henderson on electric bass, Leon Chancler on drums, and Mtume and Don Alias on percussion. This band is the last one that has direct links to the "Bitches Brew" era, with Gary Bartz still in the band and Jarrett having taken over the two keyboards when Chick Corea left the band in 1970.

The Köln concert shows us these positive vibrations marching through "the complete continuance of creative music", and on towards the next millennium. The "success of the future" is not a lost cause as long as there is music like this in the air.

Heinichen's Dresden Concertos created quite a stir when they were first released a couple of years ago, and for good reason. This is vital, colorful music scored for a large and varied ensemble. Like most composers of his day, Heinichen spent the majority of his compositional talent in the service of vocal music, for either the opera house or church. These pieces represent his only surviving set of concertos, and anyone who enjoys, for example, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos or the orchestral works of Zelenka will certainly want to hear these as well. These performances are simply the last word in style and virtuosity.

Camille Saint-Saëns - Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 5
Anna Malikova, Piano / WDR-Sinfonieorchester Köln / Thomas Sanderling
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 218 MB | Full Artwork: 28 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Audite # aud 10.012 | Country/Year: Germany 2007
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

"The five piano concertos of St.-Saens are not frequently heard and that is a shame in view of the endless repeats of the Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Schumann warhorses. They are all well-composed examples of the best of French instrumental music of the later 19th century and full of lovely melodies that would appeal greatly to concert audiences. I hadn’t enjoyed any of them for some time and it was a pleasure to have these two concertos in enveloping hi-res surround. … Orchestration is very colorful, with solos originating in the winds and strings." 4/5 ~audiophile-audition

French Baroque Concertos - Musica Antiqua Köln
Blavet - Boismortier - Buffardin - Corrette - Quentin
Classical, Baroque | 1 CD | EAC | FLAC, CUE, LOG | Scans | 406 MB
Recorded: 4/1981 (10-13) & 6/1982, Plenarsaal, München
Released: 1995 | Label: DG Archiv Masters 447 286-2 | TT: 73:10 | RS
Musica Antiqua Köln, Reinhard Goebel

With so much excellent work over the years from MAK, this relatively early jewel has often been overlooked. Music by minor masters this may be but Goebel and his high-powered team are at their persuasive best. (L. K., Gramophone, Sept. 2007)

In celebration of the 150th Anniversary this Album focus on still less-known but exceptional sensitive and impressive Choral Symphonic and Orchestra songs by Max Reger. With these works, Reger entirely adhered to the trend of the time; the large-scale idea, which would have had no place in the operas of the period, is transferred to the concert hall, so to speak, and is as far removed from the "simple" orchestral song as some of Mahler's Rückert-Lieder. The Hebbel Requiem, Op. 144b includes audible parallels with Johannes Brahms‘s German Requiem and was Reger’s memorial for the German soldiers killed in the war.