Genuin

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!

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.

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!

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.

Frivolous young ladies, sisters with suicidal desires, crows, a depressed wanderer, and many other strange characters meet in colorful musical garb on this Genuin debut recording of the lied duo Alice Lackner (mezzo soprano) and Imke Lichtwark (piano). Music by Schönberg and Zemlinsky, written for the legendary Überbrettl cabaret in Berlin, is combined with contemporary music by Sven Daigger, two of which were written specifically for this recording. Lackner and Lichtwark approach the art songs straddling all genres with seriousness and extraordinary lightness. Listeners can expect sharp character sketches ranging from passionate love to honky-tonk and the dark abysses of the soul.

As a servant to his craft, Heinz Rögner was influenced by the musical traditions of his hometown of Leipzig. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his death, Genuin together with MDR, is dedicating a significant box set to the great conductor, featuring concert recordings from the Gewandhaus from 1994 to 2001. Originally from a humble background, the musician worked predominantly in Berlin and Leipzig but was also exceptionally well-known and popular in Japan. This box provides us with superb recordings of Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Franz Schubert and Anton Bruckner, as well as Reger's Mozart Variations and Gershwin's An American in Paris. The MDR Symphony Orchestra and the MDR Chamber Philharmonic perform at their best!

Passions, emotions, affects: they are at the heart of the study of harpsichord music of the "Grand Siècle" in France, which produced composers such as Louis Couperin, Henry Du Mont and Jean-Henri D'Anglebert. In his first Genuin solo album, the young, first-rate harpsichordist Andreas Gilger relies on the perfect combination of a high-quality copy of a historical instrument and a room of ideal dimensions. In the Golden Hall of the Castle of Oettingen, he plays vibrant, passionate, surprising music of the 17th century, including a Suite by Jean-Nicolas Geoffroy, recorded for the first time. This is differentiated and rhetorically lucid harpsichord playing, which brings out the modernity and topicality of this music!

Combo CAM presents a recording full of rarities: music from all over the world, from Peru to Sephardic Spain, and from Frescobaldi to Purcell. The early music ensemble's instrumentation, with its richly colored percussion, plucked instruments, recorders, and voice, is unusual; the tailor-made arrangements are unique! An added extra of the production is Doris Meeresbüchner, the "soul" of Combo CAM, who guides listeners and readers of the booklet through the program in her characteristic style.