Dvorak Fischer

Absolutely yummy! Brahms orchestrated only a handful of his ever-popular Hungarian Dances. His friend Dvorák did a few more, and the rest exist in a variety of versions by a variety of arrangers. Conductor Iván Fischer has undertaken this job himself in several cases, with really impressive results. His solos and cadenzas for traditional instruments (Gypsy fiddle and cimbalom) sound perfectly idiomatic and tasteful, and his conducting manages to put some of the paprika back into the music without ever making it sound vulgar or mannered.

Arabella Steinbacher has previously released a number of recordings on the Orfeo label, with both Shostakovich concertos, and those by Berg, Beethoven, Khatchaturian and Milhaud already under her belt. She now appears on the SACD specialist Pentatone label, perhaps taking over the baton from Julia Fischer after her move to Decca.

Lars Vogt (1970-2022) early recordings collected here provide a document of an artist who always remained authentic, both to himself and to music. Lars Vogt never sought absolute truth, but truthfulness instead meant all the more to him. The man and the artist were always very close, never currying favour and never detached from the world. He was, instead, open and natural. / "It's incredibly gratifying when you notice that you can perhaps light a little spark, a little flame for music in people, and when music helps you to find the path to your own soul."

An extraordinary program for an extraordinary night: The Berliner Philharmoniker celebrates the final day of the 20th Century with Grand Finales in the first part and heralds the leap into the 21st Century with an explosion of sparkling music pieces in the second half of the program. For the Grand Finales, maestro Claudio Abbado conducts masterpieces including Beethoven's finale of the 7th symphony, excerpts from Stravinsky's "Feuervogel" and the final movement of Mahler's 5th Symphony. In the famous Finale of Arnold Sch+Ýnberg's "Gurrelieder", the internationally renowned actor Klaus Maria Brandauer plays a leading role.

In a scene where the recordings of young sopranos tend toward an extreme sameness, Austria's Anna Prohaska would deserve kudos simply for the ambition of this release of soldiers' songs. The idea, especially for a female singer, is original, and the music draws on a great variety of sources, from Scottish song to Wolfgang Rihm. Better still is the execution, which shows Prohaska's extreme versatility.