Genuin

Dorothee Eberhardt's fifth portrait on Genuin is made up of new and recent works for unusual instrument combinations. First-class ensembles and musicians such as the Monet Quintet, the Trio Tricolor (Korbinian Altenberger, violin, Christoph Eß, horn, and Boris Kusnezow, piano), Zoltán Kovács (clarinet) Axel Gremmelspacher (piano), and Catherina Lendle (violin) take part.

Dorothee Eberhardt's fifth portrait on Genuin is made up of new and recent works for unusual instrument combinations. First-class ensembles and musicians such as the Monet Quintet, the Trio Tricolor (Korbinian Altenberger, violin, Christoph Eß, horn, and Boris Kusnezow, piano), Zoltán Kovács (clarinet) Axel Gremmelspacher (piano), and Catherina Lendle (violin) take part.

On their new GENUIN release, the internationally award-winning flutist Atsuko Koga and her fellow musicians Georgiy Lomakov (cello) and Radoslaw Kurek (piano) bring together music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Gabriel Fauré, and Charles Martin Loeffler. The trio's airy, free sound with its unusual combination of instruments is a perfect match for the three works, which represent the piano trio genre in completely different ways: Beethoven's Gassenhauer Trio as an amusing and witty play on stereotypes of its time, Fauré's late work as a detached and intimate meditation, and finally Loeffler's misty impressionistic poems an absolute discovery!

The internationally sought-after cellist Michael Heupel and his pianist Mario Häring, who has also won several awards, enter into an exciting dialogue with the past. On their new GENUIN CD, they present works related to early music. Gaspar Cassado composes a sonata in the "old Spanish style," and Igor Stravinsky sets off into the world of commedia dell'arte. Zoltán Kodály explores Johann Sebastian Bach, and Alfred Schnittke serves up sugar-sweet, baroque-inspired gems, holding up at times a miniature distorting mirror. A virtuosically played, inspiring collection that transcends the past and future.

The very young violinist Lucie Bartholomäi from the Ore Mountains presents an extraordinary debut recital. For her first production with Genuin, she plays works written exclusively by great female composers. In addition to the romantic music of Amy Beach, Louise Farrenc, and Clara Schumann, the program includes sparkling miniatures by Rebecca Clarke. Bartholomäi and her piano partner Verena Louis devote themselves to this too seldom performed repertoire with great attention to detail, chamber music intimacy, and richness of color. A real voyage of discovery!

With its third CD on the GENUIN label, the dynamic chamber orchestra I TEMPI brings an unjustly forgotten Swiss composer into the limelight. Rudolf Moser, the pupil of Max Reger and teacher and artistic partner of Paul Sacher, created a manifold oeuvre in numerous genres. I TEMPI, an ensemble that performs each work using appropriate, authentic instruments, now presents works by Moser for strings, including pieces featuring the oboe and the harpsichord. Both combinations lead to distinctive timbres, and conductor Gevorg Gharabekyan leads his musicians with prudence and delicacy. Moreover, the orchestra has an equal partner and soloist with the young, multiple award-winning oboist Marc Lachat!

"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.

Pianist Swetlana Meermann-Muret takes us on a journey through the heights and depths of the Russian soul in her new GENUIN CD. The prizewinner of international competitions devotes herself to gems of piano literature—the rarely recorded miniatures by Anatoly Lyadov and Anton Arensky. Lyadov's Préludes, in particular, are more than just precursors of well-known works by Rachmaninoff and Scriabin! Swetlana Meermann-Muret, a native Russian pianist, devotes herself to these treasures with an attention to detail and a warm sound. Moving testimonies of a lost culture!

World premiere recordings are brought together on this new GENUIN CD featuring works by the composer Christian Ridil: Renowned musicians from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, among others, play in formations ranging from brass quintet to flute and percussion to the exquisite combination of (chromatic) harmonica and harpsichord. The works of the Goethe University Frankfurt's former university music director are characterized by stylistic diversity, wit, charm, and virtuosity and yet bear Ridil's clear signature.

Just how much wonderful French music there is to discover from the period circa 1900 is revealed to us by Duo Avad on their new Genuin recital. Cellist Clemens Krieger and pianist Rieko Yoshizumi present original compositions and arrangements that reach far beyond the standard repertoire. The album features tiny treasures of little-known composers such as Gabriel Pierné and Louis Vierne as well as unknown works by the "greats" such as Debussy, Ravel and Fauré. Of particular note is the Soir triste by Lili Boulanger, who died much too early. Reconstructed by the ensemble, it is recorded here for the first time. This is intimate, impressionistic chamber music, elegantly and finely performed at the highest level.