Trau

Ein bisschen Freiheit für den Kopf: Gleich hinter Dresden, hinter dem südöstlichen Ende der sächsischen Landeshauptstadt, grenzt Heidenau. In den Annalen der Rock- und Popgeschichte taucht das sympathische Städtchen mit seinen rund 17.000 Einwohnern nicht weiter auf, sollte es aber. Denn hier fand am 22. Februar 1975 das allererste KARAT-Konzert statt.

Beatrice Egli, als erfolgreiche Schlagersängerin gekrönt mit zahlreichen Platin- & Goldenen Schallplatten, nahm sich eine Auszeit im fernen Australien, wo ihre Reise neue Geschichten - und Lieder schrieb.

Ein bisschen Freiheit für den Kopf: Gleich hinter Dresden, hinter dem südöstlichen Ende der sächsischen Landeshauptstadt, grenzt Heidenau. In den Annalen der Rock- und Popgeschichte taucht das sympathische Städtchen mit seinen rund 17.000 Einwohnern nicht weiter auf, sollte es aber. Denn hier fand am 22. Februar 1975 das allererste KARAT-Konzert statt.

Most music lovers have encountered George Frederick Handel through holiday-time renditions of the Messiah's "Hallelujah" chorus. And many of them know and love that oratorio on Christ's life, death, and resurrection, as well as a few other greatest hits like the orchestral Water Music and Royal Fireworks Music, and perhaps Judas Maccabeus or one of the other English oratorios. Yet his operas, for which he was widely known in his own time, are the province mainly of specialists in Baroque music, and the events of his life, even though they reflected some of the most important musical issues of the day, have never become as familiar as the careers of Bach or Mozart. Perhaps the single word that best describes his life and music is "cosmopolitan": he was a German composer, trained in Italy, who spent most of his life in England.

Swiss conductor Michel Corboz has devoted himself to directing the choral music of four centuries, bringing to it conviction and stylistic integrity (and a shrewd curiosity about the music of his own time). His performances of Bach are not universally liked, but that derives more from controversy over what constitutes authenticity than from lax interpretation. Corboz has addressed himself to Italian and French opera of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as well, achieving middle ground in stylistic matters while welcoming the presence of fuller solo voices in many key roles.

This stylishly devised programme juxtaposes cantatas by Rosenmüller, Krieger and Buxtehude with instrumental chorales and sonatas by Scheidemann, Praetorius, Tunder and Weckmann; most of these now known, if at all widely, as forerunners to Bach rather than as fine musicians in their own right as they deserve to be. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Hamburg became a leading commercial port where material and cultural goods circulated freely. Ensemble Méridien has chosen this city as the focal point of a fascinating musical journey through northern Germany, a journey that reveals different aspects of this artistic power. The port of Hamburg was also the driving force behind the north German organ school of the time. Churches were overflowing with magnificent organs, and their building and playing techniques reached extremely high standards, as is evident from the organ music included here. Though most of the music in this recital has been recorded before, it has only appeared on relatively obscure labels, and not in this imaginative context where one may more fully appreciate its dramatic as well as musical merits.

Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice - January 2017. Ich habe genug is a timeless, transcendental masterpiece: a profound expression of Christian faith at the very end of life. It demands artistry of a special order, and Iestyn Davies now joins the likes of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in the work’s distinguished discography. The couplings are equally ravishing performances of two other great solo cantatas, while the two orchestral sinfonias which complete the album will prove refreshingly familiar.

MEGAHERZ digging deeper into their inner world! More emotional than ever before! MEGAHERZ have lit their fractious fire over and over in the last 25 years! With "Komet" these five friends dig deeper into their inner world – more emotional than ever before. Massive Neue Deutsche Härte-riffs and colorful synth-melodies tumble into a vortex of pain and loss and the intangibility of society's ignorance. Less fantasy, more questioning: "Who makes the difference?" ["Wer macht den Unterschied?"], they ask in “Heldengrab” as they hunt for responsibility in times that are often grey.