Nada Brahma Klang Behrendt

A countryman of Bela Bartók and a sometime teacher to both György Ligeti and György Kurtág, Sándor Veress emigrated to Switzerland from what was then part of Hungary in 1949. Settling in Bern, he collected various prizes and teaching posts while working in relative obscurity on who knows how many pieces–most of which have been unavailable. This collection is made up of a pithy trio of compositions dated 1938 (Six Csárdás), 1951 (Hommage à Paul Klee), and 1952 (Concerto for Piano, Strings, and Percussion), and they show what a deftly melodic force Veress was. He's thrilled by blustery string wafts, especially in the concerto, where the percussion adds drama and immediacy. But he also favors sweetly chipper string formations, which surprise the ear during the homage to Klee, especially given the dissonances fostered early on by the twin pianos. The closing piano miniatures of Six Csárdás are counterpoint-rich gems, played with sharp precision by András Schiff.

The Puhdys are a veteran German rock band, formed in Oranienburg (Brandenburg), GDR, in 1969, although by then they had been performing together—with various lineups—as the Puhdys since 1965. They continue to record and tour. Although they are especially popular in their native eastern Germany, the Puhdys enjoyed significant success outside the GDR, and were one of the first East German bands allowed to tour West Germany. They are one of the most successful German-language rock groups.

Just when you think you have all your Dall'Abacos in a row, they bring along a new one: Joseph-Marie-Clément Dall'Abaco was the son of famed cello virtuoso and composer Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco. His long lifespan witnessed an unimaginable measure of musical developments; born the year Vivaldi published L'estro armonico, the younger Dall'Abaco died the year Beethoven commenced work on his Fifth Symphony. For all that time on earth, Dall'Abaco's extant catalog of works, all for cello, is comparatively slim; about 40 sonatas and this set of 11 caprices, preserved only in a very bad manuscript copy made in the nineteenth century. Although these works defy dating, stylistically, they seem to belong to the late Baroque, probably composed before Joseph-Marie-Clément Dall'Abaco was made a baron by the court at Munich in 1759. Although he appeared there many times, Dall'Abaco was never a member of the court orchestra in Munich, and the honorific may have been bestowed as a retroactive gesture to the memory of his father, whose exalted reputation Dall'Abaco was never able to outgrow while he lived.

This collection of electro-acoustic music from the legendary studios of Cologne's electronic music features the works of some of the field's most seminal proponents, such as Herbert Eimert, whose "Glockenspiel" is here. Also here are early exploratory works by composers who scaled back their investigations in later years, like Gyorgy Ligeti, whose two monumental works from the '50s – "Glissandi" and "Articulation" – are included in the set. Also featured are Herbert Brun, Franco Evangelisti, and the obscure but no-less-important Bengt Hambrauuse and Karel Goeyvaerts. While these may be just names to others, these early pioneers using sine-wave generators; small, primitive sound oscillation systems; tape delay systems; and manual manipulation of speed, timbre, texture, and sonance offered the future something indispensable: they manipulated natural processes of auditory awareness and created a dimensionless area of exploration and discovery which goes on with far more elaborate technology and virtually reaches into the outer dimensions of space and back. This is one of the most important volumes in the series.

Gustav Mahler - Symphonie Nr. 5
Wiener Philharmoniker / Leonard Bernstein
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 334 MB | Full Artwork: 78 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Deutsche Grammophon # 423 608-2 GH | Country/Year: Germany 1988
Genre: Classical | Style: Late Romantic, Early 20th Century

Was für ein Spektakel! Mahlers populärste Sinfonie und am Pult der Großmeister der Mahler-Renaissance. Auch wenn Mahlers fünfte Sinfonie (1901/02) viele verhaltene Passagen enthält, ist sie doch von überbordender Emotionalität. Und Bernstein? Selbst hochgradig expressiv, sentimental, reizbar ' eine brisante Mischung! Nun, immerhin handelt es sich bei der vorliegenden Aufnahme um eine Einspielung aus dem Jahre 1987, so dass Bernstein seit seinen ersten heftigen Annäherungen an Mahlers Musik in den 1960er Jahren an Erfahrung, Reife und Differenziertheit gewinnen konnte. Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) hat diese Fassung gemeinsam mit den Wienern Philharmonikern eingespielt; auch das mag ein wenig zum Ausgleich der Temperamente gesorgt haben…