Svam Orchester

Might you have a reliable original edition of Modest Mussorgsky’s «Pictures at an Exhibition» for piano, that I could borrow? The request was made by Maurice Ravel in February 1922 to his friend «Calvo», full name Michel Dimitri Calvoressi, a Marseille-born British music critic and author with Greek roots. In the letter Ravel went so far as to underline the words «édition originale de Moussorgsky». So at least as far back as Ravel we have had this problem, one that Jun Märkl is even today all too aware of: the quest for the original Mussorgsky has always been difficult. Back then, Calvo was clearly unable to help the composer. Ravel, who had been delighted to receive a commission from the conductor Serge Koussevitzky for an instrumental arrangement of the piano cycle, had to content himself with the edition published in 1886, after Mussorgsky’s death, under the aegis of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – a version we now know to contain a number of corrections, typos and printing errors. The reasons for this can be found in the personal fate of the composer and in the well-meaning and in some cases essential retrospective editing of his oeuvre.

This is Zemlinsky before Richard Strauss' rich chromaticism and nascent Expressionism inflamed his imagination. Yet there's nothing wanting in the language here. Within the compass of Brahms' models, Zemlinsky's orchestral mastery is comprehensive and his expression and imagination have widest range. His orchestral palette is flavorful and incandescent within the parameters of traditional orchestration. There are some lovely colors here.

Four orchestral works by Jewish musicians from the years 1927 to 1929: From just three years as an excerpt on the great time line of cultural history, this CD publishes the first digital recordings of impressive and sometimes highly individual music. The thoughtful work of the conservatory director Bernhard Sekles, the fascinating musical cosmos of the Hebrew-influenced music of the great pianist Juliusz Wolfsohn, the brilliant colourfulness of the symphonic poem by Bohemian opera composer Jaromir Weinberger, and charming miniatures from the silent film practice by Werner Richard Heymann.

Signum Records present an exciting new collaboration and a debut recording with Leeds International Piano Competition Winner (2015), Anna Tsybuleva, of music by Johannes Brahms together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, conducted by Ruth Reinhardt.

Liszt’s predestination for sacred music doubtless stemmed from his childhood, when he had close ties to Catholicism through his father. He went on to compose many works expressing the virtues of various saints, and to those works Martin Haselböck and the Orchester Wiener Akademie are devoting a series of recordings.

Richard Strauss' dramatic Festival Prelude for organ and orchestra opens this 2017 MDG audiophile release, though the major work on the program is the Symphony No. 2 in E flat major of Franz Schmidt, the longest of his four symphonies and in many ways the most challenging to perform. The two works were written in 1913, and the celebratory mood of the Strauss piece, which was composed for the dedication of the Vienna Konzerthaus, adequately sets the stage for Schmidt's cheerful symphony. Listeners well acquainted with Strauss' post-Romantic style will find much of his influence in the latter work, both in terms of the lavish orchestration and the elaborate, multi-layered writing. Schmidt clearly absorbed Strauss' tone poems, and echoes of Don Juan, Ein Heldenleben, and Also sprach Zarathustra can be detected throughout the Symphony No. 2.

Start of the most comprehensive Bruckner Symphonies Edition incl. all available 19 versions. This release marks the start of a significant Capriccio project to record a new edition of the Bruckner symphonies, including all the alternative versions that are included in the new, comprehensive and authoritative Anton Bruckner Gesamtausgabe. The complete programme will be captured on some 18 hours of recording time, and the musical director throughout the project will be Markus Poschner, making this the first time that one conductor has been on the podium for all nineteen versions of the symphonies. Two of Austria‘s finest orchestras have been engaged for this cycle: the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. The project is due for completion in 2024, the year that marks the 200th anniversary of Bruckner‘s birth.

In this programme, Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich celebrate one of the most important composers of our time with works from different periods and citing a wide range of references, autobiographical or typically American. John Adams has assimilated numerous musical influences, and his personal style cannot be reduced to one of them: he is neither Minimalist, nor post-Minimalist, nor neo-Romantic. Some of his works can of course be said to belong to one or other of these movements, but he does not consider himself to be the representative of any particular tendency. If he refers to musical tradition in his works, it is always in a critical way and at the same time open to the influences of pop music, rock and jazz.

Like buds about to bloom, like the changing of the seasons from spring to summer, the Symphony No. 2 by Johannes Brahms is full of energy and vitality in quiet yet powerful transformation. As I started my sixth season with the Tonkunstler Orchestra, the recording we created together seems to symbolise our footsteps and friendship over the years. This recording was made during the extremely difficult period when Vienna was under lockdown because of Covid-19, but I‘m confident we managed to express in our sound our determination not to forget the joy of playing music, as well as the pain and prayer portrayed in the second movement. It is noble yet full of feelings, which is exactly the sound of my favourite orchestra.

As a Bach interpreter, Richter was almost unrivalled worldwide for many years and his Bach interpretations set standards. Karl Richter and his choir became the formative interpreters of the internationally renowned Bach Festival in Ansbach, a meeting place for the musical elite from all over the world. For almost two decades, the Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra has had the musical world from New York to Leningrad, from Tokyo to Paris at its feet, and many of its highly decorated recordings are among the best-selling recordings.