Cpo

New Chamber Music by Louise Farrenc
Following the release of her symphonies, our ambitious Louis Farrenc Edition continues with more chamber music by this French composer. Shortly after her first symphony (1841) she composed her first piano trio and performed it herself as the pianist together with two fellow musicians in Paris.

Christoph Graupner - Das Leiden Jesu, Passion Cantatas IV - Florian Heyerick (2020) {cpo 555 348-2}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 255 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 138 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 15 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2020 Classic Produktion Osnabrück | cpo 555 348-2
Classical / Baroque / Sacred / Period Instruments

The present recording of Christoph Graupner’s Passion Cycle of 1741 concludes on Vol. 4 with the highly expressive cantata for Laetare Sunday GWV 1123-41. Laetare Sunday (‘Joy’ or ‘Refreshment’ Sunday), the fourth Lenten Sunday, actually assumes a certain special positive status with its central focus on God’s action, which alone can rid human beings of their failings. However, Johann Conrad Lichtenberg, the author of the text, had a different view: here the dominant theme is the inequity of the rulers and judges who pronounce on Jesus while he bears everything with patience.

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) - The Piano Music - Michael Korstick (2017) {CPO Official Digital Download 555 069-2}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (qobuz.com) -> 298 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 190 Mb
Full Artwork (pdf+jpg) -> 51 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2017 CPO | 555 069-2
Classical / Solo Piano

On his latest cpo CD Korstick dedicates himself to the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera with great passion and virtuosity. This CD, released on the hundredth anniversary of Ginastera’s birth comprises of the composer’s complete published piano oeuvre – apart from his Piano Sonata No. 2.

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari - Die Neugierigen Frauen - Ulf Schirmer (2015) {CPO 7777392 Official Digital Download rec 2011}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (prestoclassical.co.uk) -> 508 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 276 Mb
Full Artwork (jpg+pdf) -> 72 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2011, 2015 CPO | 777 7392-2
Classical / Early 20th Century / Comic Opera

Le Donne Curiose premiered in Munich in 1903, numbered among the greatest and earliest successes of the German-Italian composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari. Based on a comedy by Carlo Goldoni, this merry opera tells the story of the inquisitive wives who investigate the mysterious behaviour of their husbands and discover little more than their love of food! Typical figures of the Italian comedy appear in the score, here beautifully performed and recorded under the baton of Ulf Schirmer.

Christoph Graupner - Jesus ist und bleibt mein Leben: Solo & Dialogue Cantatas (2018) {CPO 555 215-2}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 457 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 222 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 15 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2018 CPO | cpo 555 215-2
Classical / Baroque / Vocal

On its brand-new second Graupner album the Kirchheimer BachConsort performs solo and dialogue cantatas by this composer who always met the highest standards of his times. Graupner sought opportunities for original expression and was open to the latest developments and to unfamiliar instruments. With his inexhaustible imagination he was able to create cantatas rich in contrasts and with variability, originality, diversified instrumentation, special tone color opulence, intelligent voice leading, and drama schooled on the opera as their hallmarks.

Robert Schumann - Symphonies - Simon Gaudenz & Odense Symphony Orchestra (2015) {2CD CPO 777 925-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 598 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 292 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 77 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2015 CPO | CPO 777 925-2
Classical / Romantic / Symphony

In this superb audiophile package of the four symphonies of Robert Schumann, Simon Gaudenz, and the Odense Symphony Orchestra give clear and focused performances that serve to clarify the often-criticized orchestration and to create a nearly chamber-like atmosphere in many passages. By avoiding the conventional homogenous orchestral blend, reducing vibrato in the strings, and emphasizing the distinctive timbres of the woodwinds and brass, Gaudenz brightens Schumann's timbral palette considerably and balances dynamics to make textures more transparent. Beyond this, Gaudenz keeps the tempos fleet and the rhythms spry, and opens up the music to let it breathe.

Carl Heinrich Graun - Polydorus - barockwerk hamburg, Ira Hochman (2020) {2CD Set, cpo 555 266-2}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 557 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 279 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2020 cpo | 555 266-2
Classical / Baroque / Opera / Period Instruments

The opera Polydorus penned 287 years ago last found a place in the performance program of the Gänsemarkt Opera in Hamburg in 1735. The libretto by Johann Samuel Müller depicts exchanges of identity, avaricious kings, queens bent on bloodthirsty revenge, and princes who despise their progenitors. The result is a retelling of the Polydorus legend combining Greek mythology and Shakespearean dramatic suspense. Carl Heinrich Graun, one of the best-known opera composers of the eighteenth century, wrote the emotionally moving music. The first performance in modern times by the barockwerk hamburg and the CD recording of this opera rarity now being released have once again uncovered this genuinely original work and following the ensembles successes in recent years once again guarantee you a very special listening experience.

"Viotti's A minor concerto is my very special rapture. It is a magnificent piece, from a strange booklet in the invention; as if he fantasizes, it sounds, and everything is masterfully thought and made. If people had a clue that they would get from us drop by drop what they could drink there to their heart's content"

Siegfried Wagner - Complete Overtures Vol. 1
Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz / Werner Andreas Albert
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 252 MB | Full Artwork: 128 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: CPO # 999 003-2 | Country/Year: Germany 1994
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Early 20th Century

Siegfried Wagner had the best musical pedigree that a composer could conceivably have: the son of Richard Wagner and the grandson of Franz Liszt (through Liszt's daughter Cosima). His ancestry proved to be a decidedly mixed blessing, however, as the younger Wagner – despite working in a different musical era – was never fully able to step outside of the long shadow cast by his father, even as he engendered the jealousy of musical rivals. (…) Following Siegfried Wagner's death, the family did its best to suppress performances of his music, casting its lot with the more popular and profitable works of Richard Wagner, and it was only with lapsing of various copyrights, and the formation of the Siegfried Wagner Society in 1972, that his music was made available again, first in concert editions and more recently in full performances.