Richard Strauss

The Semperoper Edition is a documentary series jointly presented by Staatskapelle Dresden, MDR Figaro, Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv and Semperoper Dresden

Measha Brueggergosman and pianist Justus Zeyen interpret well- and little-known songs of Duparc, de Falla, Hahn, Liszt, Schubert, and others chosen for their soulful depth, variety, and beauty.

Measha Brueggergosman about Night and Dreams: “We wanted something that was languid, sexy, romantic, different. Also, it’s repertoire that gives me the chance to really let go.”

She projects drama, passion, comedy, or charm as needed in any of the languages she speaks, essential for a Lieder and chanson singer who must make words come alive with meaning, color, and esprit as well as vocal quality

The fervent response to her “triumphant DG debut recital” (Gramophone) makes this follow-up album a must for fans of this rising star.

Capriccio is universally recognised as one of the composer’s greatest and most subtle works.

The legendary record producer Walter Legge produced this landmark recording in London’s Kingsway Hall during 1957 and 1958, with his wife Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as the Countess.

She is accompanied by some of the finest singers of the day, including Eberhard Wächter, Nicolai Gedda, Dietrich Fischer- Dieskau, Christa Ludwig, and Hans Hotter, who had created the rôle of Olivier at the première.

So great are its musical merits that this mono recording has subsequently come to be recognised as a masterpiece in its own right.

Reissue Producer and Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn

Hillevi Martinpelto sings ten arias by a variety of composers from Verdi to Wagner. All of the arias have been performed by the soprano on various opera stages in Sweden, and here she showcases her favourites in a new disc for Swedish Society.

The nineteenth century was a golden age for choral singing in Germany and Austria. Beginning in 1810, singing clubs, and later on, choral societies, shot up all over this part of the world like mushrooms. You could join a Liedertafel, Liederkranz, or Männersangverein. Carl Friedrich Zelter, Mendelssohn’s teacher and the leader of the Berliner Singverein, was the first person to use the term “Liedertafel” in 1808. The term was used to indicate an informal meeting of poets, composers, and singers who came together to sing German partsongs.

In a letter addressed to Goethe, Zelter explained that the 25 members of his Liedertafel were accustomed to sit down at a well-furnished table for a sumptuous dinner followed by an evening of singing. Zelter’s group preferred original works, so freshly composed that the ink was still wet. The goal was stimulation and promotion of German poetry and music.

The Gents is unique All-male Dutch vocal ensemble that obtained in a very short period a prominent place within the international music world. The group of young singers is praised because of their special sound, the large degree of flexibility and the unequalled interpretation of the very divergent vocal repertoire. Whether it concerns religious music from the Renaissance, romantic English music, arrangements of contemporary jazz and pop songs or especially composed works for the ensemble, the concerts of The Gents are always an extraordinary experience. The concerts can count therefore on enthusiastic public and positive criticisms in the press.

Fabio Luisi and Staatskapelle Dresden return with another definitive recording of music by Richard Strauss. This album includes three of his great tone poems, Don Juan, Aus Italien and Don Quixote.

What Ein Heldenleben needs is not only a first-class orchestra but also a conductor with a clear sense of the work's underlying structure, a conductor, moreover, who is able to maintain the tension and respond quickly and consistently to the work's countless details.This is certainly how Andris Nelsons sees his task, a task which he realises magnificently in this, his second ORFEO recording with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.The orchestra and its music director allow the orchestral colours to gleam, and ensure that the individual sections which make up the score flow smoothly, sweeping the listener along with them.This reading of Ein Heldenleben has such stringency and rigour that many of the aesthetic objections to the work merely add to our pleasure at individual details, while never calling into question the piece's overall design. The fact that Nelsons is also a master of the art of transition in the music theatre and can achieve this on the concert platform, too, is clear from his recording of the Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, which under Nelsons' direction becomes spontaneously compelling and coherent, and in which the CBSO clearly take pleasure.

Stephen Maddock, the CBSO's chief executive, says: "At a time when record labels are reducing their commitment to the core symphonic repertoire, we're delighted to have found in Orfeo a partner who is showing this level of commitment to Andris and the CBSO. In this way we can bring what we are sure will be outstanding accounts of composers who are very close to Andris's heart - and who have mostly not featured until now in the CBSO's large discography - to the widest possible international audience".