Odradek Records 2023

Italian pianist Stefania Cafaro, a student of Michele Campanella, draws us into the intimate world of Schubert's piano music with with the Piano Sonata in A minor, D 845 (1825) and the Piano Sonata in A major, D 959 (1828).

On the occasion of the bicentenary of Pauline Viardot's birth in 2021, pianist Francisco Soriano set himself the task of making known one of the most interesting parts of Viardot's work: her Spanish-inspired songs in various languages, many of them unpublished. He was helped by his fellow artists on this recording, soprano Natalia Labourdette and mezzo-soprano Helena Ressurreicao, as well as researchers Nicholas Zekulin and Andres Moreno Mengibar and musicologist Miguel Lopez Fernandez. This album represents the fruit of those labours.

Baritone Joel Urch and pianist Sophie Sczepanek perform an intimate recital of songs by Beethoven, Robert Schumann and Ravel. Alongside the well-known concept of 'Wanderlust' - the purposeful desire for travel - they explore the less widespread expression 'Fernweh': a wistful longing for faraway places that cannot be reached.

Simon Gaudenz conducts the Jena Philharmonie in the second of a series of recordings of the complete Mahler Symphonies, interspersed with world-premiere recordings of pieces by Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini that reflect each symphony and pay homage to Mahler's soundworld. This second volume features Mahler's Second and Third Symphonies, the Second preceded by Scartazzini's orchestral Torso (2018) and Epitaph for choir and orchestra (2019) for soprano and orchestra, and the Third by Spirit (2019). The Jena Philharmonie is joined by a host of stellar artists: soprano Jana Baumeister, contraltos Evelyn Krahe and Ida Aldrian, and the Philharmonischer Chor der Jenaer Philharmonie Knabenchor der Jenaer Philharmonie, chorus master Berit Walther.

Simon Gaudenz conducts the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra in the first of a series of recordings of the complete Mahler Symphonies, interspersed with world-premiere recordings of pieces by Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini that reflect each symphony and pay homage to Mahler's soundworld. This first release features Mahler's Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, the Fourth preceded by Scartazzini'sIncantesimo (2020) for soprano and orchestra, and the Fifth byEinklang (2021).

Vittorio Forte continues his voyage of discovery through unusual and unjustly neglected piano repertoire with The Muse, an album devoted to the music of Nikolai Medtner.

Simon Gaudenz conducts the Jenaer Philharmonie in the third of a series of recordings of the complete Mahler Symphonies, interspersed with world-premiere recordings of pieces by Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini that reflect each symphony and pay homage to Mahler's soundworld. This third volume features Mahler's Sixth and Seventh Symphonies, the Sixth preceded by Scartazzini'sOmen (2023), and the Seventh byOrkus, both composed in 2023.

For acclaimed pianist Vittorio Forte, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach is a visionary who expanded the legacy of his father, J.S. Bach, offering his successors a blueprint for broadening music’s horizons. C.P.E. Bach’s music combines elements of J.S. Bach’s structural brilliance, Classical refinement, and Romantic emotional breadth, opening a door to a new musical era without turning its back on tradition. A “farewell” (Abschied) that does not deny the past, but rather draws deeply on this heritage.