Frankfurt Kabuff

With a terrific cast including Maria Bengtsson and Katharina Magiera, and under the baton of Sebastian Weigle, OehmsClassics and Opera Frankfurt bring back to live a nearly forgotten jewel of comic opera in the 19th century. After the premiere at the Viennese Kärntnertortheater in 1847, Friedrich von Flotow’s Martha or The fair at Richmond became for nearly half a century one of the most popular operas in Europe. Full of charming melodies and with a plot as hilarious as racy, the story of bored Lady Harriet Durham and her friend Nancy, who disguised themselves as Martha and Julia and travel to the servant’s fair of Richmond, where they actually not only find a job, but also true love, is an enchanting example for the 1850’s civic opera and also Friedrich von Flotow’s wonderful light hearted music. After “Der Graf von Luxemburg” OehmsClassics is happy to continue the collaboration with Opera Frankfurt with this remarkable recording.

When Vilde Frang programs violin concertos in unexpected pairs, such as her 2010 coupling of Jean Sibelius' Violin Concerto in D minor with Sergey Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, or her 2012 disc of Carl Nielsen's Violin Concerto matched against Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major, the results are quite fascinating. For this 2016 release on Warner Classics, Frang plays the Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 of Erich Wolfgang Korngold and the Violin Concerto, Op. 15 of Benjamin Britten, and the works invite comparisons because they are so dramatically different.

Throughout the 19th century, the chamber music of Georges Onslow (1784-1853) was afforded the same respect as that of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. According to one source, “his work was admired by both Beethoven and Schubert, the latter modeling his own 2 cello quintet (D.956) on those of Onslow and not, as is so often claimed, on those of Boccherini.” While Onslow was known as “the French Beethoven,” his string quartets/quintets fit neatly within the 'quatuor brilliants' genre that arose from Louis Spohr. This type of string writing gives the first violin freer rein as a soloist; a concerto for violin and string quartet, in other words.