Der Trommel

Hanns Eisler composed more than five hundred songs, and his very first extant compositions include songs with piano accompaniment. On the fourth and last volume of their selections from Eisler’s songs, Holger Falk and Steffen Schleiermacher focus on his early works and bring to light an absolutely astonishing discovery: the young Hanns was an autodidact who had an incredible feel for the song part, and his artistic aspirations are also evident in the piano part.

At around autumn 1809, the management of Vienna’s imperial Hofburg Theatre commissions Beethoven to compose the incidental music for Goethe’s play Egmont, which premiered in Mainz in 1789. The plot of this tragedy is very much in keeping with the patriotic trend: it is set in Brussels, which is threatened by Spanish troops, and focuses on resistance against oppression and foreign rule. The hero, Egmont, places too much trust in the common sense and discretion of those in power – and this is his tragic mistake. In good faith, he allows himself to be lured into a deadly trap by the sinister Duke Alba, to whom he even explains his ideals of freedom and just rule. His lover Klärchen fails to persuade the cowardly citizens of Brussels to take violent action to free him, and, in her desperation, she commits suicide. What remains is the vision of a future freedom and victory – one that appears to Egmont in the form of Klärchen as he awaits execution in his dungeon.

Marking the 80th birthday of Gundula Janowitz in August 2017, this box set celebrates her clear and honest soprano voice through a selection of her opera, oratorio and Lieder recordings. The favourite lyric soprano of Herbert von Karajan, Janowitz set the standard for sopranos with her legendary recordings of Mozart and R. Strauss which are still unsurpassed in the catalogue.

The French division of the massive EMI corporation has released a compendium called Les Introuvables de Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (EMI 68509, six CDs), and it contains so much outstanding material that one feels churlish complaining about what it lacks. But here we go. These six discs contain more than 125 lieder, ballads, cantatas and songs – primarily in German, but also in French, Italian, Latin and English – recorded mostly in the 1950s and '60s when Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's voice was one of the wonders of the musical universe.

The first comprehensive Edition of Beethoven's Complete Works! More than 700 works / 87 CDs for an incredible price! Qualitative excellent recordings (DDD) from 1987 - 2007. In a space saving and aesthetic casket.
This Edition with a total of 748 works was arranged based on the well-known “Beethoven-Compendium” of Barry Cooper (Thames & Hudson Ltd., London 1991).
The combination of this unique Beethoven Edition is definitely the extensive works of Beethoven which has ever exist.

The Berliner Philharmoniker elect their own conductor: after von Karajan’s death they chose Claudio Abbado. He rejuvenated the orchestra, expanded its repertoire, and created a less autocratic atmosphere, inspiring levels of commitment and communication from his musicians that resulted in performances and recordings that stand the test of time. Abbado’s tenure with the Berliner Philharmonic can be considered as one of the highlights in the orchestra’s history and many of their recording together still remain unsurpassed on record. DG celebrates this partnership with a 60-CD limited edition collection of their complete recordings – many classics right from the start.