Genuin

Yvonne Smeulers, the internationally award-winning violinist, is releasing her second album on GENUIN: two milestones of the repertoire, the violin concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven and Alban Berg. GENUIN and the young Dutch virtuoso are thereby building on the success of their highly praised first partnership with works by Eugène Ysaÿe. The two violin concertos play a unique role in the repertoire, putting musical sense before virtuosity, content before external appearance. Beethoven and Berg combine improvisational lightness with depth. Yvonne Smeulers crosses broad horizons in her new recording, which is deeply serious, but also full of exuberant musical joy!

Yvonne Smeulers, the internationally award-winning violinist, is releasing her second album on GENUIN: two milestones of the repertoire, the violin concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven and Alban Berg.

"Die schöne Magelone" (The Fair Magelone) is the name of a wonderful lied cycle by Johannes Brahms, which the duo Tomas Kildišius (baritone) and Ani Ter-Martirosyan (piano) is releasing as a debut CD on GENUIN. Fortunately, they have linked the 15 Romances on texts by Ludwig Tieck with the poet's original prose fragments so listeners can experience Brahms' music in the context of the entire romantic and exotic story. With her young voice, actress Jannike Liebwerth provides the setting for the Brahms interpretations of the Armenian- Lithuanian duo, whose work has been characterized from the beginning by a shared love of lieder. This can be heard in the subtle soundscapes that bring to life the adventures of Count Peter of Provence and the fair Magelone.

The Trio Then-Bergh (violin), Wen-Sinn Yang (cello), and Michael Schäfer (piano) provide a cross-section of the golden age of Russian music in their new Genuin recording. These three exceptional musicians play masterpieces compiled and arranged by the composer Alexander Krein in the first half of the 20th century. Krein is a masterful arranger who makes the soul of each piece shine in the trio version. Works by Tchaikovsky (for example, from his String Serenade and The Seasons) and Rimsky-Korsakov (from The Golden Cockerel) are presented here, as well as wonderfully sentimental salon music from Glière to Tcherepnin.

For the 75th anniversary of the Detmold University of Music, Genuin is presenting a collection of lovingly restored recordings from the 1970s and 80s. As we gradually leaf through the booklet and listen through all these performances, we are treated to a veritable cornucopia: highly personal recordings by great musicians who played a significant role in shaping not only the history of the Detmold Institute, but also that of German post-war music history. The deeply stirring interpretations include works by Reger, Schoenberg, Brahms, and Beethoven, performed by Tibor Varga, André Navarra, Helmut Winschermann and many others!

“Jewels from five centuries” aptly describes this collection, featuring small pieces of great music, that the a cappella group Octavians presents on this Genuin recording: canzones, motets, folk songs, and pop songs to which the winners of the 2017 A Cappella Contest Leipzig give their own unique coloring. The spectrum ranges from an old Spanish hymn of praise to motherly love to lieder by Franz Schubert and celebrated songs of our time by Paul Simon and Sting. The charm exuded by the internationally successful gentlemen is fully the match of their vocal skills: a uniform sound, infectious groove, and sparkling clean intonation are the hallmarks of the Octavians – truly a “deluxe boy band”!

The Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie, Germany's youngest top orchestra, is releasing a new CD on GENUIN. Under the direction of Wolfgang Hentrich, the young musicians perform the wonderfully elegiac String Serenade by Antonín Dvořák and an energetic Marimba Concerto by the Brazilian Ney Rosauro with the fabulous Alexej Gerassimez. Moreover, the CD features the world premiere recording of a work by Dietrich Zöllner explicitly composed for the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie, which presents the orchestra's virtuosity, sonority, and, as it states in the booklet, the 'hidden talents' of its members in the most fitting way. Surprises are guaranteed!

Two experienced chamber musicians, who have already worked as soloists with the Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester, present a duo album on Genuin of works ranging from the late Romantic period to the 21st century. In this recording that crosses all boundaries, Eva-Christina Schönweiß (violin) and Kirsten Ecke (harp) have put together an exciting program featuring music of people in transit and in search of a home. In doing so, they wander through a wide variety of cultures, performing duos by the great masters of classical modernism such as Maurice Ravel and Astor Piazzolla, as well as contemporary music by Roman Ryterband, Thomas Rajna, Hooshyar Khayam and Jean-Michel Damase. The two instruments complement each other perfectly; the floating sounds of the harp and the sonorous warmth of the violin make for distinctive and exciting tonal blends.

This Genuin portrait of Martin Christoph Redel depicts a composer's life, encompassing a wide variety of genres and instrumentations. The composer himself made the selection of works dating from 1982 to 2020. From the Bruckner-Essay to fine piano music, the present album looks at Redel's oeuvre that integrates techniques and genres of the past without disavowing his contemporary tonal language. Some of the works by the trained percussionist and composer, who was rector of the Detmold University of Music from 1993 to 2001, have political references. They reveal a creator who does not see himself as an isolated artist in an ivory tower but as a human being in society. A rewarding voyage of discovery!