By 1976 Fischer-Dieskau had been performing before the microphone for almost thirty years and was approaching the end of his vocal prime – he turned 51 that year. Yet his mastery of Wolf's intricate, concentrated, turn-on-a-dime idiom was at its height. You can buy any number of individual recitals by him that feature Wolf, and 175 songs on six CDs is a lot to absorb. Nonetheless, this budget repackaging is a must-listen. The singer got a new lease on his artistic life by taking up partnerships with noted pianists like Brendel, Richter, and Barenboim.
…The choir performed in honor of Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her State Visit to Germany in 1978, and at Pope John Paul II’s visit to Munich in 1980. They also gave a concert in Bonn for the state guests at the NATO summit in 1982 under the auspices of then German president Karl Carstens. In 2006 they gave a concert in the Vatican City for Pope Benedict XVI, the brother of the former Domkapellmeister Georg Ratzinger. The main purpose of the choir, however, remains the music in the liturgy of St Peter's, where the religious services of Holy Week constitute the prime event of the liturgical, and thus also the musical, year.
"Italian conductor and musicologist Alberto Zedda is widely recognized as one of the world's most prominent authorities on the operas of Gioachino Rossini. (…) Although his work on behalf of Rossini remains widely appreciated, Zedda's handling of early opera composers has drawn criticism, particularly as he eschews period instruments and prefers to devise modern orchestrations for seventeenth century operas.
"Italian conductor and musicologist Alberto Zedda is widely recognized as one of the world's most prominent authorities on the operas of Gioachino Rossini. (…) Although his work on behalf of Rossini remains widely appreciated, Zedda's handling of early opera composers has drawn criticism, particularly as he eschews period instruments and prefers to devise modern orchestrations for seventeenth century operas.
Dubbed by wags "the singing secondary schoolteacher" as a result of his often didactic lyrics, German rocker Heinz Rudolf Kunze enjoyed his greatest success in the mid-'80s via the smashes "Dein Ist Mein Ganzes Herz" and "Mit Leib und Seele." Kunze remained one of German rock's biggest stars throughout the remainder of the decade, scoring a series of hit singles including "Alles Was Sie," "Größer als Wir Beide," and "Heul mit den Wölfen."…
"Einer der besten Countertenöre unserer Tage" (Fono Forum) ist zweifellos Valer Sabadus. "Was der Countertenor Valer Sabadus bis in schwindelnde Höhen an Natürlichkeit und Koloratur leistet, ist einfach überwältigend", urteilte der Spiegel über seine letzten Aufnahmen. Auf seinem neuen Album präsentiert der Countertenor mit dem Kammerorchester Basel unter der Leitung von Julia Schröder zeitlose Arien aus Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach, aber auch selten zu hörende Arien aus Opernraritäten von Georg Philipp Telemann.