u 577

Beethoven’s output for forte piano and violoncello is fascinating because it covers every period of his career, from early to late, with references to Bach in op.69 and op.102 no.2 and an especially innovative and amazingly modern musical language. For this complete set, which includes the variations on themes from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Nicolas Altstaedt was keen to record on an instrument with gut strings, a Guadagnini from Piacenza dated 1749, and using a Classical bow. Alexander Lonquich, his faithful recital partner – they been inseparable companions since the day Altstaedt replaced his teacher Boris Pergamenschikow for a concert of Beethoven sonatas with Lonquich at the Beethovenfest in Bonn in 2004 – here plays a Graf fortepiano of 1826.

Original Single Kollektion is the first compilation by Rammstein. The collection was released on 22 June 1998.
The collection came in just one format: a red book-like box containing all then released, six singles (Du riechst so gut, Seemann, Engel, Engel (Fan-Edition), Du hast and Das Modell) in their respective standard jewelcase edition. The box is stylized after the DDR Parteibuch (the book of the GDR national party).
Germany's biggest rock export, Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein burst onto the international radar in the late '90s with their breakthrough sophomore set, 1997's Sehnsucht, and its accompanying hit single "Du Hast." With their aggressive blend of heavy metal riffs, dramatic orchestration, and synth-forward electronic production, the band quickly evolved from a sonic novelty into a reliably hard-hitting machine that never shied away from controversy…

Over the course of the last 12 years Simon Preston has been recording Bach’s organ music for DG, and while some of these discs have been released individually during that time, many are appearing here for the first time. More than that, some of the earlier recordings have been rejected in favour of more recent ones: I’m glad that his 1992 recording of the ‘Schubler’ Chorales (6/92) has been substituted by an altogether more relaxed and elegant version, recorded in late 1999, in which he not only seems more in sympathy with the music but also feels less inclined to treat it as the latest Olympic athletics event; BWV645 takes the best part of a minute longer in this new recording and benefits enormously from it. A total of 10 organs has been used (every one, as they say, a winner) and the booklet includes adequate historic information, specifications and photographs (although none of Preston’s registrations is detailed), as well as brief, rather basic notes and a somewhat superficial interview with Preston himself.