Genuin

Musical love letters, dedicated to the muses of their authors: the young Austrian harpist Elisabeth Plank, selected by the Wiener Konzerthaus as a "great talent" for the past two seasons, has collected more than a dozen of them for her new Genuin recording. In doing so, she focuses on the private sides of well-known and lesser-known composers. The recording includes three premiere recordings of works by Gustav Mahler, Alfred Zamara, and Elias Parish Alvars. The emotional scope of the works ranging from Sergei Prokofiev to Jan Dussek extends from fleeting impressions to deeply moving laments of love – presented in finely balanced interpretations with sparkling, richly colored harp tone and flawless phrasing. Genuine repertory discoveries!

As Richard Wagner penned in Das Rheingold, "Traulich und treu ist's nur in der Tiefe" (Tender and true 'tis but in the depths). This recording is a truly sensational debut full of dizzying depths, presented by the up-and-coming bass trombonist Lisa Hochwimmer on her debut Genuin recording together with the Kiel Philharmonic Orchestra. The program features fascinating compositions for the lustrous golden low-pitched instrument, which is rarely heard as a solo instrument with an orchestra. Lisa Hochwimmer embarks on wide-ranging musical expeditions, taking on powerful original repertoire by Derek Bourgeois, Alexej Lebedev, and Chris Brubeck, as well as imaginative arrangements of opera arias by Peter Tchaikovsky, Giuseppe Verdi, and Richard Wagner. And with this smoothness and depth, some of Walhalla's gods are guaranteed to be green with envy.

What could be more French than the silvery sound, dreamy arpeggios, and airy elegance of the flute? All the works on Atsuko Koga's new Genuin recording were composed in France and represent more than a century of flute history. All are also directly or indirectly connected to the tradition-rich Paris Conservatoire, where Eugène Bozza, André Caplet, and Gabriel Fauré studied and taught, as well as our two contemporaries, Fuminori Tanada and Rika Suzuki from Japan. The highly virtuosic pieces of these latter two composers – recorded here in world premiere recordings – were written for Atsuko Koga. They are as much a testament to her skill as the other Impressionist and early modern works.

It is often said that Elliott Carter is the most European of all American composers. Without a doubt, the New York-born composer is one of the most interesting personalities of the New Music scene in the USA. His wide-ranging compositional output is complex, filled with philosophical and poetic allusions that range from orchestral and chamber music, solo instrumental and vocal pieces to his first opera, which he first wrote at the age of 90. He wrote his compositions from his head, without using any instruments, and many of his works were only heard at the premiere. For his 100th birthday, the Sonatina for oboe and harpsichord was premiered by Heinz Holliger and Peter Salomon and has now been recorded for the first time on GENUIN. With this recording, the Swiss Chamber Soloists honors the rich oeuvre of Elliot Carter – music that is full of elegance and transparency.

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!

On this Genuin recording, these are the young clarinetist Joë Christophe and his piano partner Vincent Mussat on an emotional journey that passes through familiar and unfamiliar terrain and encounters sophistication, simplicity, passion, and tenderness. The prize-winning recording of the ARD Music Competition is also the duo's debut recording, which, in the selected works of the 20th and 21st centuries, proves to be highly versatile and rich in colors. In addition to music by Claude Debussy and Rebecca Clarke, the tracklist includes Mark Simpson's Three Pieces: A world premiere recording of the music written by the British composer as a commission for the ARD Music Competition.