Florian Boesch

Bass-baritone Florian Boesch, top-class Lied-singer, blooms in a Schubert programme (finest orchestrations by Brahms and Webern) with the renowned Concentus Musicus, the Viennese orchestra now led by the talented Stefan Gottfried. Next to these sublimated pieces, the Concentus performs a finished version of the mysterious ‘Unfinished’ Symphony. A Scherzo by Schubert himself was completed by a composer (Nicola Samale) and a musicologist (Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs) so that the result is faithful to the musician special expression. And Rosamunde’s Overture concludes this re-enactment: a moving experience and a touching journey through time!

Published shortly after Franz Schubert's death in 1828, Schwanengesang is a collection of 14 lieder on seven texts by Ludwig Rellstab, six by Heinrich Heine, and one by Johann Gabriel Seidl, whose poem became Die Taubenpost, claimed to be Schubert's final song. Unlike most performances of Schwanengesang, which follow the published edition, baritone Florian Boesch's rearranged version on Onyx lacks Die Taubenpost, which was not included in Schubert's fair copy of the cycle. Instead, Boesch adds five songs on Sturm und Drang poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, making this recording somewhat controversial among purists.

Krenek’s wonderful travelogue is a real tour de force; a fusion of the remembrance of things past—the Schubertian landscape of Austria and its cultural history—with the music of the 1920s. The very special demands it makes of its performers are effortlessly negotiated by Florian Boesch and Roger Vignoles.

The ultimate song cycle performed by two of today’s foremost lieder interpreters; this release is destined to become the reference recording for anyone interested in the great German song tradition.

This major recording series, across which a host of renowned singers draw listeners, decade by decade, through a century of song, reaches its fourth volume. Each issue features a carefully planned, varied programme performed by household names, whilst the series overall creates a comprehensive survey of song through the entire nineteenth century – not only a joy for listeners, but also an invaluable teaching asset.

Giovanni Antonini has been recording the complete symphonies of Joseph Haydn with the Alpha label for more than five years. Now the series is enriched by another monument by the Austrian composer: Die Schöpfung (The Creation), recorded in 2019 with the Bavarian Radio Chorus and his own orchestra, Il Giardino Armonico. This great oratorio was inspired by those of Handel, which Haydn heard performed by very large forces during his visits to England. The Creation, composed between September 1796 and April 1798, demanded such a colossal effort of him that he even fell ill just after its first performance; but the work enjoyed immense success. The marriage between the Bavarian chorus, so familiar with this masterpiece, and the period-instrument musicians of Il Giardino Armonico works perfectly, with a vocal trio composed of leading soloists: Anna Lucia Richter, Maximilian Schmitt and Florian Boesch.