Stefan Henneken Solid

Scots-born composer Eugen d'Albert established his career in Germany, considered himself a German composer, and his 21 operas (written in German) are saturated with the musical language of Germanic post-Romanticism. Der Golem (1926) came from late in his career, and while its Frankfurt premiere was considered a success, it has not held the stage. This MDG recording comes from a first-rate production at Theater Bonn in 2010. The opera is skillfully written, but the recording confirms the judgment of history: Der Golem is just not an especially compelling piece, either musically or dramatically.

Vivaldi was already a renowned opera composer in Venice and throughout Italy, but he gained exceptional notoriety throughout Europe when the concerti constituting his Quattro Stagioni were published in Amsterdam. These theme concertos, which embraced the imagination of Arcimboldo, gained top billing in private and public concerts. But their composition for solo violin has impressive virtuosity and expression: Stefan Plewniak becomes both unchained and sensual in them, not giving the Orchestre de l'Opera Royal any opportunity for respite in intensely sounding out these seasons that are so emblematic of Baroque Europe!

The Hungarian Failoni chamber orchestra was established in 1981. On this CD and its companion volume they give their interpretations of a representative sample of Vivaldi's oboe concertos (Vivaldi wrote about 20 concertos for oboe and strings, several more for two oboes and strings, in addition to concertos where oboe is combined with other solistic instruments). On volume one, three of the concertos are scored for two oboes. As with most other Naxos recordings of Vivaldi's concertos, the interpretations are lively and musical. Some of the concertos demand virtuosic skills from the players, which the two oboists here, Stefan Chilli and Diethelm Jonas, are able to fulfil with flags wawing.

Vivaldi's work is extraordinarily profuse, and from his “extraordinary fury of composition” resulted a collection of 12 concertos, preserved in Paris since then, genuine jewels of Vivaldian music! However, for whom were they composed? The French Ambassador in Venice, Jacques-Vincent Languet, who made numerous commissions to Vivaldi in the 1720s? Perhaps as a magnificent gift to a visiting French music lover… Or perhaps François-Etienne, Duke of Lorraine and Bar? A fine music lover and musician, who in 1745 became Emperor Francis I of Austria, gave early protection to Vivaldi, who introduced himself in 1731 as “maestro di cappella di S.A.R. il Serenissimo Sig. Duca di Lorena”.

Kraus' last and greatest works, the Symphonie funebre and Funeral Cantata for Gustav III, are fully able to stand with the best works in the forms of the period, as great as the late symphonies of Haydn and Mozart and, yes, even as great as the Requiem of Mozart. Written under the overwhelming personal and national tragedy of the assassination of the King of Sweden then at the peak of its cultural and national greatness, Kraus' funeral music is numb with shock and wild with grief, but always completely controlled, masterfully balanced, and profoundly moving. If there are only two works you ever listen to by Kraus, let them be these two works.

Neither Stefan Parkman nor Chandos could be accused of pandering to the masses in their choice of repertoire for this series of recordings by the Danish National Radio Choir. True, Reger's name may be more familiar than, say, Lidholm, Norgard, Pepping or Pizzetti (featured on previous discs), but only to the extent that the mere mention of Reger's a cappella music will send sensitive souls scurrying into the nearest Karaoke lounge. Visions of myriad notes covering the page would frighten most choirs away, but these singers are made of sterner stuff. For them complex contrapuntal structures, devious chromatic harmonies and textures so thick you need a forage knife to get through them, hold no terrors. Rather they not only weave their way through Reger's characteristically tangled scores without a moment's doubt, but illuminate the paths so clearly one hardly notices the dense musical undergrowth all around.

The Six Recorder Sonatas by George Frideric Handel are a compendium of the recorders original literature, and have an exceptional position because of their beauty. Theyre typically Handelian in character, in that the upper voice is very vocal, like his operas. The melodies are truly captivating and remarkable for their simplicity which demands far more virtuosity than simply moving the fingers quickly. The goal of Stefan Temmingh, one of Germanys most renowned recorder players of the younger generation, is to come as close as possible to the greatest of all instruments the human voice. The bass line makes an equal counterpart to the recorder part; its opulent, virtuosic and full of variety much more than in comparable pieces. Its executed without cello only by harpsichord, performed in an outstanding way by Wiebke Weidanz.

Bach and other Baroque composers often transcribed their music for new instrumental combinations as needed under the press of a busy schedule, and performers like South African-born recorder player Stefan Temmingh have taken this fact as carte blanche to create arrangements of Bach's music as desired. You can make various arguments pro or con in connection with this practice, and the procedure here, going from keyboard works to ensemble pieces, is in some ways the most problematical. So what you think of Temmingh's disc may depend on where you come down on the larger question.

The Thomaskantor position in Leipzig was one of the most important jobs for musicians in Germany in the 18th century; several important musicians applied to succeed Johann Kuhnau after his death in 1722. In the recruitment process, the Leipzig city council was able to choose from the most famous personalities of the time. The first choice was Georg Philipp Telemann, who declined however, after he had obtained a decent salary increase at his Hamburg post.