Future Releases

Completed in 1891 and 1895 respectively, the Piano Concerto No.1 and the D minor Symphony were Sergei Rachmaninov’s first large-scale orchestral compositions, written by a young man still in his early 20s. The composer, whose self-critical vein was evident from the start, almost immediately decided to revise the concerto, even though he did choose to perform it in its original form when he made his London début as a pianist in 1899. Two years earlier, the symphony had been premièred, an event which has become notorious as one of music’s great disasters: the rehearsal time had been completely inadequate, and Glazunov, who conducted the work, was less than sympathetic to it – and may also have been drunk during the performance. The scathing reception caused Rachmaninov to doubt not only the quality of the work, but his own gifts as a composer, and he didn’t write anything of importance for three years. In 1917, he did revise the piano concerto, making use of the experience gained from having in the meantime composed the immensely successful 2nd and 3rd piano concertos and performing them numerous times himself. Rachmaninov also repeatedly expressed the wish to return to his first symphony, but the score was lost in the upheavals of the Russian revolution and the composer's move to the USA. Not until after his death in 1943 was a set of the original orchestral parts rediscovered. That Rachmaninov never forgot the work is however proven by the fact that he quoted it in his very last orchestral composition, the Symphonic Dances from 1940. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Lan Shui have previously impressed critics worldwide with their performances of Rachmaninovs Second and Third Symphony, and are once again joined by the piano soloist Yevgeny Sudbin, with whom the team recently recorded what the reviewer in American Record Guide described as 'the most stunning performance of the Rhapsody [on a theme of Paganini] I’ve ever heard.'

Paul Hindemith’s first instrument was the violin, and so thoroughly did he master it that he rose to become leader of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra at the age of 19. Even if his focus soon shifted to the viola and to composing, he continued to play and to write for the violin, creating a series of works that fascinatingly mirror the various stages in the development of his musical language, from the vocabulary of late romanticism to the monumental, revivified Baroque idiom of his maturity. In a generous selection of these works, the eminent violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, who in 2010 was awarded the international Paul Hindemith Prize of the City of Hanau, makes an eloquent case for them, from the Sonata in E flat, composed in 1918 while Hindemith was still serving in the German army on the Western Front, to the strikingly emotional Violin Concerto of 1939, written during his first year of exile from Nazi Germany. Besides the masterly Sonata in C, composed shortly before the Concerto, and the tuneful 1935 Sonata in E, Zimmermann also includes the Solo Sonata, Op.31 No.2, with its final movement a set of variations on a Mozart song. In the accompanied sonatas Zimmermann enjoys the support of a regular chamber music partner, the pianist Enrico Pace, whereas in the concerto he teams up with Paavo Järvi, another recipient of the Paul Hindemith Prize and principal conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Together they convey an unusually colourful, shimmering and passionate image of Paul Hindemith, in a commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the composer.

Although two of the works on this disc were composed for weddings, they are completely different in character. Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten is a charming and gracious garland of recitatives and arias for soprano solo in which Spring, Flora, Apollo and Amor are all invoked in a blessing of the newly wedded couple and their union. The Quodlibet (Latin for ‘what pleases’) on the other hand, is an altogether unceremonious composition which was probably intended for a private function in Bach’s own circle or family. All we have is a fragment of the work – in Bach’s own hand – and the beginning and ending of the piece, including the title page, are missing. It is therefore not even certain that it is Bach’s own work, but may have been a collaboration between several of the wedding guests. Compositions of this kind belong to a tradition which combines quotations from songs, toasts, market traders’ calls, proverbs and puns, and were especially popular at weddings – where they frequently got out of hand! The third disc in Bach Collegium Japan’s series of secular cantatas also includes a birthday cantata composed in the honour of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen, Bach’s employer during years 1717–23. Durchlauchtster Leopold (‘Most illustrious Leopold’) celebrates the ‘propitious day’ while extolling the ruler’s ‘excellent attributes’ and ‘princely renown’. Two duets in minuet form lend the work the character of a courtly serenade, which didn’t stop Bach from reusing it, with a new text, as a church cantata a few years later. The name of the recipient of Schwingt freudig euch empor, another congratulatory cantata, is no longer known, but the text tells us that he was a teacher of high standing and of an advanced age. Once again Bach, who must have been attached to the work, reused it as a church cantata, but also, with the new title Steigt freudig in die Luft, as a birthday tribute to Charlotte Friederike of Anhalt-Köthen, the wife of Prince Leopold.

The city of Prague was a cultural hotspot in the 1920s and 30s. From 1918 to 1935 the country's president was the European-minded and remarkably liberal philosopher Thomas Masaryk, and his successor Edvard Benes was a kindred spirit.

The three population groups, enriched by emigrants from Russia, the Ukraine, Germany and Austria, competed with one another but also inspired each other. This was the Prague in which the composers on this CD were involved. In their music we hear the old and the new, tradition and renewal, but above all, imagination and talent.

When the border between East and West opened up in 1991, their music had hardly been heard in the West for some fifty years, having been suppressed first by the Nazis and then by suffocating communist rule. With the exception of Ullmann, even today these composers have hardly reached our concert halls.

Under its principal conductor Jac van Steen, the Dortmund Philharmonic long ago secured its place in the first ranks of German orchestras. Its intensive occupation with Richard Wagner’s oeuvre was excellent preparation for this highly welcome new recording.

The Evelinde Trenkner/Sontraud Speidel Piano Duo has recorded numerous great symphonic works in piano versions for four hands on MDG. The symbiotic team effort of these two pianists on a magnificent Steinway D of big symphonic sound (built in 1901) illuminates these masterful compositions in a new way.

MDG reissues some of the wonderful recordings of Christian Zacharias performing Mozart’s Piano Concertos. The original recordings received various review awards, including a Repertoire 10 from the French magazine.

MDG reissues some of the wonderful recordings of Christian Zacharias performing Mozart’s Piano Concertos. The original recordings received various review awards, including a Repertoire 10 from the French magazine.

Hofmann’s chamber music is of special interest. The instrumentation itself is often original; we look in vain for string quartets in his oeuvre. At first glance the Octet for Flute, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon, Two Violins, Viola, and Violoncello reminds us of the classical serenade, but at the same time it has a deeply felt romantic tone and is very original in its formal design. The Serenade for Flute and String Quintet marked by the fascinating contrast between virtuoso flute parts and intimate string parts is enchanting.

This is the penultimate release in PentaTone’s Bruckner Symphonies cycle with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

The last instalment (Symphony No. 4) will be released in October 2013.