Svam Orchester

Dmitry Shostakovich’s Symphonies are arguably the most impressive symphonic cycle of the 20th century – certainly, if you don’t count Gustav Mahler. The depth and variety of these 15 Symphonies, so closely tied to Shostakovich’s personality and the times he lived in, make it particularly rewarding to listen to different interpretations. Dmitrij Kitajenko’s survey, recorded between 2002 and 2004, has found its place among the great cycles, both for its artistic merits and its reference sonics, the wide dynamic range and the impassioned playing of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne that the native Leningrad native Dmitrij Kitajenko obtains from his musicians. 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death.

Scots-born composer Eugen d'Albert established his career in Germany, considered himself a German composer, and his 21 operas (written in German) are saturated with the musical language of Germanic post-Romanticism. Der Golem (1926) came from late in his career, and while its Frankfurt premiere was considered a success, it has not held the stage. This MDG recording comes from a first-rate production at Theater Bonn in 2010. The opera is skillfully written, but the recording confirms the judgment of history: Der Golem is just not an especially compelling piece, either musically or dramatically.

Verdi was on a war footing with the Catholic Church from a very early age. It is true that he was brought up to believe in God, as was usual in Italy at that time, and it is no less true that his first music teacher, Ferdinando Provesi, was the organist at the Church of San Bartolomeo in Busseto, but when the then sixteen-year-old composer applied for the post of church musician in the town in 1829, his application was rejected – not because his musical abilities were in any way deficient but because he was regarded as a protégé of Antonio Barezzi, a local businessman with a reputation for his anti-clerical views. He fared little better when he submitted his first sacred works – a Laudate pueri, a Qui tollis and two settings of the Tantum ergo – in the early 1830s, when the Church authorities complained that the music sounded “theatrical, lascivious, bellicose and indecorous” . In short, it was hardly calculated to foster a sense of piety and devotion.

Dmitry Shostakovich’s Symphonies are arguably the most impressive symphonic cycle of the 20th century – certainly, if you don’t count Gustav Mahler. The depth and variety of these 15 Symphonies, so closely tied to Shostakovich’s personality and the times he lived in, make it particularly rewarding to listen to different interpretations. Dmitrij Kitajenko’s survey, recorded between 2002 and 2004, has found its place among the great cycles, both for its artistic merits and its reference sonics, the wide dynamic range and the impassioned playing of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne that the native Leningrad native Dmitrij Kitajenko obtains from his musicians. 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death.

"In this second volume of "Legends of the Saints", the Orchester Wiener Akademie, under the direction of conductor and organist Martin Haselböck, continues its recording of Liszt's mystical works. During the frequent religious periods of his life, the composer turned his attention to the lives of great martyrs and saints, who provided him with an entire body of work. These works, including two previously unreleased recordings of Jeanne d'arc au bûcher, Die heilige Caecilia and the Salve Polonia from the oratorio St Stanislaus, are performed here by the Wiener Akademie and a magnificent vocal cast (Sunhae Im, Stephanie Houtzeel and Sofia Vinnik as well as Thomas Hampson), whose timbres blend with the organ, harmonium, piano and harp to reveal the inexhaustible genius of Liszt's work."

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.

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.

Markus Stenz and the Gürzenich Orchestra Köln have demonstrated a special aptitude for performing large scale post-Romantic works, notably the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, which they recorded for Oehms Classics as a series of hybrid SACDs. They have followed that impressive cycle with what is probably the most Mahlerian work Arnold Schoenberg ever composed, the massive Gurrelieder for solo voices, multiple choruses, and large orchestra. This 2015 Hyperion release is impressive in its crisp details, vibrant tone colors, and startling clarity, all of which are evident in the opening instrumental passages in the Prelude, and which continue through the nearly operatic vocal parts, which have remarkable presence in the face of an orchestra that exceeds Wagnerian proportions. The recording is presented on two CDs that offer extraordinary sound for digital stereo, and the only disappointment is that this wasn't released as a multichannel recording. Listeners who find Schoenberg's modernist music difficult may be more receptive to this cantata, which is his most openly Romantic score and strongly reminiscent of Wagner's music dramas. Highly recommended.