Der Spiegel 07 2014 (10.02.2014) Pdf

The stage name of German actress and musician Senta-Sofia Delliponti, Oonagh (the name is derived from a legendary faerie queen of Celtic origins) specializes in evocative, new age, Celtic-infused, fantasy dance-pop…

This compilation draws Christmas music from several recordings conducted by the late Herbert von Karajan, but emphasizes two of them, both from the 1960s: a collection of Baroque Christmas pieces in a mostly pastoral vein, and an LP on which he and the Vienna Philharmonic backed the great African American soprano Leontyne Price. Neither of these recordings is easy to obtain these days, and Karajan aficionados may well be pleased to have them in a single package. Beyond that, the Price pieces, from her heyday, are gorgeous.

Richard Wagner was one of the most revolutionary figures in the history of music, a composer who made pivotal contributions to the development of harmony and musical drama that reverberate even today. Indeed, though Wagner occasionally produced successful music written on a relatively modest scale, opera – the bigger, the better – was clearly his milieu, and his aesthetic is perhaps the most grandiose that Western music has ever known. Early in his career, Wagner learned both the elements and the practical, political realities of his craft by writing a handful of operas which were unenthusiastically, even angrily, received. © Rovi Staff /TiVo

This compilation draws Christmas music from several recordings conducted by the late Herbert von Karajan, but emphasizes two of them, both from the 1960s: a collection of Baroque Christmas pieces in a mostly pastoral vein, and an LP on which he and the Vienna Philharmonic backed the great African American soprano Leontyne Price. Neither of these recordings is easy to obtain these days, and Karajan aficionados may well be pleased to have them in a single package. Beyond that, the Price pieces, from her heyday, are gorgeous.

The Karajan Official Remastered Edition comprises 13 box sets containing official remasterings of the finest recordings the Austrian conductor made for EMI between 1946 and 1984, which are now a jewel of the Warner Classics catalog. This 10-CD box unites orchestral, choral, and operatic performances recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic in the immediate aftermath of World War II, when Karajan's talent was first nurtured by EMI's legendary producer Walter Legge. Gramophone has said that these recordings 'vividly capture their troubled times and transcend them.'

The overwhelming success of the Prague performance of Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) in December 1786, led to the commissioning of a new opera. Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte turned to the Don Juan theme, making this promising material the basis for their new opera. In the spring of 1787 Mozart began to compose it in Vienna, and was able to complete it in Prague by the autumn of the same year. Don Giovanni received its first performance, under the composer’s personal direction, on 20 October 1787 at Prague’s Count Nostitz National Theatre.

Various musical paternity charges have been levelled at the composer Franz Joseph Haydn. His career coincided with the development of Classical style and forms (the symphony, sonata, string quartet and other instrumental forms), in the moulding of which he played an important part. Born in Rohrau in 1732, the son of a wheelwright, he was trained as a chorister at St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, where he made his early living before his appointment to the small musical establishment of Count Morzin in 1759.

Brilliant Classics continues its fascinating survey of Pre‐Bachian keyboard music with a new recording of the complete organ works of Nicholas Bruhns. Bruhns, born into a musical dynasty, was organist, violist and violinist in Copenhagen, pupil of the famous Buxtehude, where he remained till his death, only 31 years old. Bruhn’s works make full use of the many newly developed possibilities of the organ in his days, and form a splendid display of keyboard (and pedal!) virtuosity, and intricate counterpoint. To complement Bruhns’ complete organ works this recording presents other works by Sweelinck (his famous Chromatic Fantasy), Scheidemann, Scheidt and Buxtehude. Adriano Falcioni is one of the foremost organists of this time, winner of many international competitions. He already made several organ recordings for Brilliant Classics (Franck, Muffat, Couperin, Duruflé). Includes liner notes by the artist and an artist biography. Contains specifications of the magnificent organ of the Chiesa di San Giorgio in Ferrara, Italy.