Deutsche Radio Philharmonie / Pietari Inkinen ANTONÍN DVORÁK Symphony No. 6

SYMPHONY No. 6

Aleksandra Kurzak DESIRE

DESIRE

Albion Quartet DVORÁK String Quartets Nos. 8 & 10

STRING QUARTETS Nos. 8 & 10

Sandra Lied Haga / The State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia / Terje Mikkelsen TCHAIKOVSKY Rococo Variations DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto

ROCOCO VARIATIONS - CELLO CONCERTO

Augustin Hadelich BOHEMIAN TALES

                                                              BOHEMIAN TALES

Kristina Nouzovská Fialová / Petr Nouzovský HUMORESQUE

                                                                  HUMORESQUE

Natalya Romaniw / Lada Valešová ARION

                                                  VOYAGE OF A SLAVIC SOUL

Valentina Nafornita / Münchner Rundfunkorchester / Keri-Lynn Wilson ROMANCE

                                                                        ROMANCE

Khatia Buniatishvili MOTHERLAND

Khatia Buniatishvili has been described by The Independent as “the young Georgian firebrand”. At the age of only 26 years, this Tblisi-born pianist has already achieved an exceptional maturity of interpretation and a distinctive artistic approach that make her playing unmistakable. Khatia’s warm, sometimes sorrowful playing may reflect a close proximity to Georgian folk-music, which, she attests, has greatly influenced her musicality. Critics emphasize that her playing has an aura of elegant solitude and even melancholy, which she does not feel to be a negative attribute. “The piano is the blackest instrument,” she says, a “symbol of musical solitude… I have to be psychologically strong and forget the hall if I want to share it with the audience.” Khatia Buniatishvili speaks five languages and lives in Paris.

The CD is an intimate quest encompassing solo piano works from Bach to Pärt and from Brahms to Kancheli, in which the themes of longing for home, the merriment of a folk dance and the eternal cycle of growth and decay are apparent. Spanning a broad stylistic and historical range, the album celebrates the works that have accompanied Khatia Buniatschvili’s personal path in life, including pieces from her Georgian homeland. Motherland juxtaposes the happy lightness of a ‘Slavonic Dance’ by Dvorak and the melancholy of Grieg’s lyrical ‘Homesickness’, and contrasts the elegant gaiety of Mendelssohn’s ‘Song without Words’ (op. 67/2) with the graceful introspection of Liszt’s ‘Lullaby’. Classics of the Romantic piano repertoire such as Chopin’s Étude in C-sharp minor (op. 25/7) and Brahms ‘Intermezzo’ (op. 117/2) are embedded between Bach’s cantata ‘Sheep May Safely Graze’ and Arvo Pärt’s musical dedication ‘For Alina’. 

Wiener Philharmoniker / Gustavo Dudamel / Yuja Wang 2019 SUMMER NIGHT CONCERT

Central to the programme of the Vienna Philharmonic’s 2019 Summer Night Concert is a musical history of the United States of America: the works that are heard this year were composed in or for the USA, while also constituting links with the Viennese musical tradition. At the same time the concert venue – the historic park at Schönbrunn Palace – is celebrating a double jubilee this year. It was 450 years ago that the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II bought the land and the buildings on it and a century ago that Schönbrunn became the property of the newly founded Austrian Republic. This is the second time in the orchestra’s history that the Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel has been in charge of a Summer Night Concert – he first did the honours in 2012. The soloist is the Beijing-born pianist Yuja Wang, who is making her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic in Vienna – she has already appeared with the orchestra on tour.

Evgeny Kissin / Emerson String Quartet THE NEW YORK CONCERT

Grammy-winning musicians Evgeny Kissin and the Emerson String Quartet join forces for their debut collaborative album, captured live at a sold out Carnegie Hall concert, to be released on Deutsche Grammophon this Friday, April 12.

Capturing a rare performance of one of the world’s most acclaimed pianists as a chamber musician, this live album is a new gem in DG’s vast catalogue.

The rehearsal and preparation process for the recording created space for a true meeting of minds, allowing Kissin and the Emersons to preserve their individual characteristics while revealing qualities unique to their collaboration. Ideas tested in the rehearsal room were subsequently forged in the heat of performance, unleashing elemental shifts between Classical heroism and Romantic introspection, and drawing out points of dramatic tension and release. Everything flowed, nothing became fixed as Kissin and the Emersons moved from one concert to the next. Last year’s performances “were the highlights of [their] season,” notes ESQ’s Eugene Drucker.

All of the musicians worked enthusiastically together to achieve a synthesis of views, from which emerged their dynamic interpretations of Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor K 478, Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor op. 15 and Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major op. 81. Their choice of repertoire also comprised two encore pieces, including the Scherzo from Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor op. 57.

The close mutual understanding established between the “ideally matched” (New York Times) pianist and quartet was apparent to all who witnessed it. Reviewing the Carnegie Hall concert, Bachtrack underlined the “palpable sense of communion.”

Ensemble Ouranos QUINTETTES À VENT

From the moment we first created Ensemble Ouranos, we were deeply convinced that we should forge our group's artistic identity through an engaged exploration of repertoire. This remains the predominant goal of our work to this day: that each member's language join in one breath to form the ensemble. The choice to bring these three pieces together in one album stems from two desires on our part. Firstly, our wish was to offer up the many facets of the wind quintet and the diversity of its musical languages. The wealth of possibilities is inherent to this ensemble makeup and the very nature of wind instruments, at once soloistic in their individual voices and deeply orchestral when one melds their particular sounds. Secondly, we also wanted to highlight the idea of folk material as an essential part of musical discourse. Upon inspection, this omnipresent and protean folklore appears clearly as a linking thread between these three works. It is fascinating to discover at which point each of the three composers transcends his national heritage to transmit, in his own way, his inner life.
(Ensemble Ouranos)

Orchestre du Centre National des Arts du Canada / Alexander Shelley NEW WORLDS

Themes of migration and crossing borders are as hot topics today as they ever were. This recording explores two works written in the so-called “New World” by composers from the “Old World”.

Ana Sokolović left war-torn Yugoslavia for a new home in Montréal, and her piece Golden slumbers kiss your eyes… looks back to European lullabies. It features Canadian-Korean counter-tenor David DQ Lee and several Ottawa choirs, and was commissioned by the NAC Orchestra in honour of its founding conductor, Mario Bernardi.

Antonín Dvořák wrote his famous symphony when he lived in North America, and there is still discussion about how much of the “New” and “Old” Worlds are to be found in it. It was taken to the moon, presumably because it contains some of the most recognizable and moving music ever written, and Neil Armstrong considered that the next “New World.” (Alexander Shelley)

Ensemble Schmuck FROM CLASSICAL TO TANGO

Since its founding in 2009, Ensemble Schmuck has been praised by audiences and the press for its charismatic performances. The ensemble appears in around 50 concerts across Germany every year, presenting attractive programmes in a way that is both original and skillful. The intriguing range of genres, from Classical and Romantic works through gripping tango arrangements to staged concert formats with drama, appeals to listeners of all generations, thanks in no small part to the adaptability of the trio’s formation, with three members able to switch effortlessly between violin and viola. Ensemble Schmuck is centered around clarinetist Sayaka Schmuck, who has gathered together a number of outstanding young artists in pursuit of the great passion they all share: chamber music. In the process, each musician contributes experiences, energy and ideas from his or her own musical practice, thus giving manifold impetus to the ensemble’s work in rehearsals and concerts and instilling color and flexibility into its performances.

The American String Quartet AMERICAN ROMANTICS

These recorded performances (16 March 2011; the Dvorak 5 June 2017) mean to celebrate the 45^th anniversary of the American String Quartet—Peter Winograd and Laurie Carney, violins; Daniel Avshalomov, viola; Wolfram Koessel, cello—specifically by featuring works that embrace the “national” experience as Dvorak had defined it for our composers, to avoid the imitation of European models. The so-called “American” Quartet in F Major (1893) came to quick fruition in the course of seventy-two hours in Spillville, Iowa. The use of pentatonic scales, Native American rhythmic motives, and the particular color of the viola make the first movement Allegro, ma non troppo immediately gripping.  In the momentum of its lyric and vivid energies, Dvorak finds room for some strict counterpoint in the development. The famous Lento has the violin in a melody set above an undulating bass line. The cello assumes the duties of poignant lyricism. The pulsations and mixed colors combine to create an extremely affecting moment in chamber music literature. The melody has tremolando effects to accompany its last page. The Molto vivace scherzo utilizes Dvorak’s patented contrast between the major and minor modes of F. A lively dance in rondo form, the music pays homage to a scarlet tanager which had made a nest outside of Dvorak’s home window. The Finale: Vivace, ma non troppo exploits another rondo form, this time built upon both a folk dance and a chorale that recalls a Czech hymn, the latter’s giving some sense of Dvorak’s potent homesickness. The sonic image, captured by vivid microphone placement from Judith Sherman, endows the performance with gracious “presence.”

Busch Trio / Maria Milstein / Miguel da Silva DVORÁK Piano Quintets - Bagatelles

After two earlier Dvořák releases, the Trios nos.3 and 4 (Dumky) and the two Piano Quartets, Omri Epstein, Mathieu van Bellen and Ori Epstein are joined by one of their teachers at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, the violist Miguel da Silva (founder member of the famous Quatuor Ysaÿe) and the violinist Maria Milstein, who was also an artist in residence at the Music Chapel from 2011 to 2014. Together they continue this recording of the Czech composer’s complete chamber music with keyboard, this time in the two Piano Quintets and the Bagatelles. There is an obvious close rapport between these musicians, who share with us their passion for this repertory and their enjoyment of playing together. A gap of fifteen years separates Dvořák’s two Piano Quintets, which have few features in common except a shared home key: the First marks the debut of a youthful composer, while the Second shows him at the peak of his art. The Bagatelles, originally scored for two violins, cello and harmonium, are among his bestknown short pieces. A recording scheduled for release in autumn 2018 will complete this quadriptych of Dvořák’s piano trios, quartets and quintets.

Tetzlaff / Hornung / Dörken / Weithaas / Powell / Helmchen DVORÄK Trio SUK Quartet

Antje Weithaas and friends perform Dvorak's Piano Trio in G minor, Op.26 and Suk's Quartet, Op.1 in live recordings from the Spannungen festival, 2017.

In 1876, Dvorak composed the Trio in G Minor, op. 26 in a mere 16 days. Certain traits in this trio already seem to reveal Dvorak's profound affinity with Brahms on an instinctive level. Gradually emerging from a series of brief motifs, the first movement's main theme is subjected to thematic treatment throughout. This movement is also the longest, lasting a total of twelve minutes. It's sombre mood does not yet reflect the true personal style of he who would soon write the Slavonic Dances. Notwithstanding, certain cello cantilenas in the slow movement and towards the end of the sombre, violent scherzo offer a foretaste of the great melodic gifts that Dvorak would soon reveal to the world. 

The composition Suk submitted for the final exam is none other than the Piano Quartet in A Minor, op. 1. The first movement's disarming impetuousness engulfs the listener like a shock wave, betraying not only the influence of Brahms, the true doyen of Late Romantic chamber music, but also that of Dvorak, his own teacher. More significantly, however, a personal style already becomes noticeable in this work. The energetic introductory movement is followed by a clear contrast: a muted, nocturne-like, melodically intense Adagio that sets in with a warm cello cantilena. The second movement's expressive middle section exudes a fairy-tale-like atmosphere, similar to the one in the incidental music that Suk would later compose for the play Raduz and Mahulena. The final movement begins with a march-like main theme that is alternated with contrasting episodes, thus giving the general structural impression of a rondo. (Pedro Obiera) 

Anne-Sophie Mutter / Berliner Philharmoniker / Manfred Honeck DVORÁK

Anne-Sophie Mutter is convinced that Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto exerted a particular influence on the structure of the movements of Dvořák’s concerto, too. “The directness of the violin’s first entry is unusual for this period, but this is just one aspect among many. The mini-recapitulation in the opening movement, followed immediately by the wonderful transition to the songlike Adagio, is very unusual but you find something similar in Mendelssohn. I genuinely hear in this work a kind of successor to Mendelssohn’s concerto, albeit an original piece that certainly does not obey classical concerto form in terms of its overall structure.” Why has Anne-Sophie Mutter waited until this relatively late date to record the Dvořák concerto? “There have been periods when I have been passionate about Dvořák, and the concerto has repeatedly been on my wish list, but other projects have got in the way. With many of the works that have been close to my heart since childhood – Mozart and Beethoven, above all – I now find that I have to a certain extent made my peace, and I should now like to devote myself to a repertory that is performed less often. The Dvořák concerto has become increasingly important to me in recent years. The time had come to record it, no doubt in part because of the Berlin Philharmonic and Manfred Honeck. They were ideal partners with whom to get to the heart of this splendid work. To make another recording with this orchestra after thirty years has stirred many wonderful memories. One cannot wish for more sensitive and at the same time more passionate musical partners – inspired by the wonderful conductor Manfred Honeck.” The element of Bohemian folk music is admittedly important with Dvořák, but Anne-Sophie Mutter has no wish to privilege it at the expense of other aspects. Rather, she sees a magnificent link not only with the Romance op. 11 that Dvořák completed in 1877 on the basis of the Andante from his String Quartet No. 5, but also with the striking Mazurek op. 49. “They embody two important elements in Dvořák’s output: the wonderfully cantabile Romance embodies the element of song, while the Mazurek represents the folk dance. These may be occasional works written on the spur of the moment, and there is no trace of the shadow of the composer’s great friend Brahms in either of them. Dvořák is entirely at home here in his very own musical language. (Oswald Beaujean)

Simon Rattle / Berliner Philharmoniker THE SOUND OF SIMON RATTLE

The Musical intoxication of a great era: on 7 September, 2002, Sir Simon Rattle was appointed new Principal Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, marking the start of a new and memorable era for the world of music. Rattle has opened up new repertoire channels for the musicians, endowed the tradition-steeped ensemble with a youthful image and established the inimitable 'Rattle Sound'. Great moments – brought together here for the first time on 3 CDs.

Katia & Marielle Labèque SISTERS

“Whether Mozart or Stravinsky, their musical line always sounds as if it’s being woven for the very first time... But the illusion of improvisation is the genius of their performances. In all their recordings there is a deceptive sprezzatura that is born of throwing the preparation to the winds and hanging onto each others ears.” The Times

Katia and Marielle Labèque are sibling pianists renowned for their ensemble of synchronicity and energy. Their musical ambitions started at an early age and they rose to international fame with their contemporary rendition of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (one of the first gold records in classical music) and have since developed a stunning career with performances worldwide.

Katia and Marielle Labèque also launched the KML Foundation, aimed at furthering research and developing awareness of the duo piano repertoire through meetings between artists of all fields. One of the Foundation latest projects is a concert around Moondog's music, in collaboration with Kings Place in London, in continuity to their work on Minimalist composers.

In May 2015 the show Love Stories with the new piece Star-Cross'd Lovers by David Chalmin was premiered at the Paris Philharmonie. This original composition for two pianos, electric guitar and drums is based on the Shakespearean drama Romeo and Juliet. The choreography for 7 dancers is created by world-renowned break-dancer Yaman Okur (Madonna, Cirque du Soleil). The show was also presented in Paris in June 2016 at Chatelet, and the European tour will last until October 2016.

A record audience of more then 100.000 attended the Vienna Summer Night Concert 2016 in Schönbrunn (now available on CD and DVD by Sony), where Katia and Marielle played with the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Semyon Bychkov. More then 1,5 Milliard viewer followed the event worldwide on the TV.

Labèque’s label KML Recordings joined in Summer 2016 the historical label Deutsche Grammophon. A 2 CDs re-edition of their album Minimalist Dream House follow their concert at the Philharmonie de Paris on the 25th of September together with the first recording of their project “Love Stories”.