Akif Felix

Horn player Felix Klieser loves snow and the freezing cold, even if he doesn't get much of it at home in Hanover. Ever since he was a child, winter has been his favorite season of the year - and not just for climatic reasons: "Even today, I'm an absolute Christmas fan and can't imagine anything better than coming back from a walk in the snow to a warm house and slowly warming up again with a cup of hot chocolate. Little lights, trays full of cookies, a visit to the Christmas market - this time is definitely my highlight of the year!" says the horn player enthusiastically.

Bernd Alois Zimmermann's "Monologues" initiate a dialog between composers and works full of creative power and musical joy. Inspired by this, the piano duo Neeb developed their debut program, which - expanded by the sonic possibilities of the percussion - conjures up the world of the "spontaneous, associative, dreamlike and even trance-like" (B. A. Z.).

Felix Klieser, on his new album Beyond Words, focuses on the language of music, the stories that it tells – all without any words at all. He places the emphasis on the images that arise before our mind’s eye when listening to the music, on the emotions triggered by the music. For Beyond Words the hornist has chosen various arias by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel and Gluck, each of which describes the various, self-contained musical worlds they encompass in a very individual manner.

The paths of the soloist can often be lonely, especially for one of the most outstanding instrumental soloists like Felix Klieser. All the greater is the joy when closer artistic and human connections are formed through many years of playing together. Felix Klieser's concerts with the Prague based Zemlinsky Quartet are therefore his favourite of the year, because after countless performances together, the five have long since bonded more than a purely musical community. “I have played a lot with the Zemlinsky Quartet and we really wanted to record a programme together. ”What could be better suited for this than Mozart and Haydn? With arrangements of Haydn's horn concertos, Mozart's horn quintet and four Mozart arias, Felix Klieser and the Zemlinsky Quartet present a varied and rousing programme.

This album by the young ensemble Salaputia Brass is dedicated to works by composers from England. The English tradition with the different brass formations meets here on the one hand arranged classical works by Gutsav Holst, an original work by Arthur Butterworth, through arranged pieces by Anthony Holborne to the cross-genre themes from James Bond to the Beatles: All you need is Brass!

As an educator Peter Feuchtwanger left his mark on several generations of pianists. With his individual technique based on uncompromising naturalness, he helped the young Martha Argerich to achieve her breakthrough. Very much interested in Far Eastern and Indian culture, Feuchtwanger also repeatedly composed for unusual instrumental
combinations and wrote “Dhun,” a work commissioned by the unforgettable Yehudi Menuhin, who premiered it with Ravi Shankar.