Maria Bengtsson

Richard Strauss composed a career total of more than two hundred songs, most of them for a high female voice. The master repeatedly was inspired by sopranos, and the fact that he married one of these ladies, Pauline de Ahna, is proof of his intimate association with this wonderful art. Maria Bengtsson’s fine selection from all his compositional periods demonstrates the versatility of Straussian composition, and in Sarah Tysman she has a piano partner whose subtle interpretations far transcend mere accompaniment. Maria Bengtsson meets these challenges with the natural magnificence of a virtuoso also schooled on Strauss’s theatrical oeuvre.

With a terrific cast including Maria Bengtsson and Katharina Magiera, and under the baton of Sebastian Weigle, OehmsClassics and Opera Frankfurt bring back to live a nearly forgotten jewel of comic opera in the 19th century. After the premiere at the Viennese Kärntnertortheater in 1847, Friedrich von Flotow’s Martha or The fair at Richmond became for nearly half a century one of the most popular operas in Europe. Full of charming melodies and with a plot as hilarious as racy, the story of bored Lady Harriet Durham and her friend Nancy, who disguised themselves as Martha and Julia and travel to the servant’s fair of Richmond, where they actually not only find a job, but also true love, is an enchanting example for the 1850’s civic opera and also Friedrich von Flotow’s wonderful light hearted music. After “Der Graf von Luxemburg” OehmsClassics is happy to continue the collaboration with Opera Frankfurt with this remarkable recording.

Detlev Glanert (b. 1960) is a contemporary German composer who found early success with his opera Der Spiegel des großen Kaisers (‘The Big Emperor’s Mirror’), which won the Rolf Liebermann Opera Award in 1995. His newest stage work, Oceane, was premiered on April 28, 2019 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. It enthused both the audience and critics and was hailed as “one of the most exciting new operas of recent times” by the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel. Glanert and the writer Hans- Ulrich Treichel conceived the libretto loosely according to Theodor Fontane's fragment Oceane von Parceval. It tells the story of Oceane, a mystical female creature of the sea, that comes to land in search of the ability to feel emotions.

The Kammerakademie Potsdam and the conductor Antonello Manacorda have already been honoured with an ECHO Klassik as Ensemble of the Year for the recording of all Schubert symphonies.

In the spring of 2018, Ketil Bjornstad realized that it was only a scarce year before 50 years had passed since he debuted as a pianist with the Philharmonic in the University's Aula on January 10, 1969. On that day this year, the celebration of what is Bjornstad's year began. 2019 started with a nice new release of "Rainbow Sessions" in a limited 4cd-boxset. "The World I Used To Know" is recorded at one of the world's most famous studios - Abbey Road in London, more specifically in Studio Two where, among others, The Beatles recorded their material. The album is released not only on cd and double-vinyl, but also as a magnificent box consisting of five cd's. The box contains the recordings from Abbey Road, but also three cd's of music from his entire career with various guest vocalists, and one complete new album recorded at Rainbow Studio in Oslo.