Korngold Stadt

“Contemplation has enabled a powerful introspection within me, etching a path to my innermost self. It is with great anticipation that I now reveal this path, in the hope of forging a heartfelt connection with you. I present this to you, imbued with the sincerity of my emotion, and extend an invitation for you to accompany me on this journey.” – Huw Montague Rendall

The figure of the clown has always had associations with the carnivalesque, masks and madness. The ability of Pierrot to be melancholic yet murderous, a trickster yet romantic can easily be traced back to the commedia del arte tradition of the 17th century. However, more interesting still is the older tradition of Carnival. Pierrot's ability to rape, steal, commit bigamy and suicide while simultaneously offering protestations of love or playing practical jokes is understood clearly within the context of carnival, that medieval Feast of Fools replete with drunken orgies on the altar table, indecent gestures, disrobing. The festival upends order. Fools become kings, appetites, both sexual and gormandising replace restraint. Pierrot represents human vice, he is outside of the law, and thus outside of sin. He makes us dream of a life which is purely sensual and freed from the yoke of conscience. Claire Booth and Ensemble 360 explore the fascination with the multi-faceted Pierrot by composers as diverse as Thea Musgrave, Debussy, Korngold, Amy Beach and, of course Schoenberg's groundbreaking Pierrot Lunaire.

Jonas dedicates his new album to the golden era of German music which flourished in Berlin between 1925 & 1935. He shows an undeniable mastery of this demanding repertoire, which was written for the leading tenors of the time.

Closing the distance between classical music and Broadway, between the old world and the new, this album is born out of a stunning encounter between two performers. Kate Lindsey is an opera star whose career is skyrocketing. She has stunned audiences with her performances of Mozart and Purcell. Baptiste Trotignon is a multi award-winning jazz pianist who plays with big names like Brad Mehldau or Tom Harrell, but who has a long-held interest in classical music, even composing a piano concerto for Nicholas Angelich. Together, they have produced a rich and varied programme around the songs of Kurt Weill, from Nanna’s Lied to Trouble Man, and classics from The Threepenny Opera and Lost in the Stars.

The figure of the clown has always had associations with the carnivalesque, masks and madness. The ability of Pierrot to be melancholic yet murderous, a trickster yet romantic can easily be traced back to the commedia del arte tradition of the 17th century. However, more interesting still is the older tradition of Carnival. Pierrot's ability to rape, steal, commit bigamy and suicide while simultaneously offering protestations of love or playing practical jokes is understood clearly within the context of carnival, that medieval Feast of Fools replete with drunken orgies on the altar table, indecent gestures, disrobing. The festival upends order. Fools become kings, appetites, both sexual and gormandising replace restraint. Pierrot represents human vice, he is outside of the law, and thus outside of sin. He makes us dream of a life which is purely sensual and freed from the yoke of conscience. Claire Booth and Ensemble 360 explore the fascination with the multi-faceted Pierrot by composers as diverse as Thea Musgrave, Debussy, Korngold, Amy Beach and, of course Schoenberg's groundbreaking Pierrot Lunaire.

One hot summer day, I headed due south from London and crossed France and Spain on my road bike. Challenging it was, yet beautiful, emotional and colourful all at once - while pedaling thousands of kilometers, the journey brought me closer to my innermost core.

Markus Poschner studierte an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater München bei Hermann Michael. Zu seinen Mentoren und Förderern gehörten Roger Norrington, Colin Davis und Jorma Panula.

As the grandson of operetta composer Walter Kollo (1878 - 1940) and the son of Willi Kollo, likewise a composer of light music, René Kollo began his career as a pop singer and operetta tenor. He made the transition to concert and opera in 1965, at Brunswick, singing the title role in Stravinsky's Oedipus rex. In 1969, he attracted international attention at Bayreuth as the Steersman in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, and in 1970 debuted at La Scala as Matteo in Richard Strauss' Arabella.

This 6 CD set contains 100 tracks of sensual music from the catalogs of EMI Classics and Virgin Classics performed by some of the world's finest artists. Each one of the pieces evokes a sensual feeling, from the gentle melodies of the Chants d'Auvergne to the full-blooded passion of Ravel's Bolero. This veritable treasure house of evocative music creates an atmosphere of sensual pleasure.