Frank Peter Zimmermann, Bamberger Symphoniker, Jakub Hrůša MARTINŮ Violin Concertos 1 & 2 BARTÓK Solo Sonata

VIOLIN CONCERTOS 1 & 2 - SOLO SONATA

 

Bamberger Symphoniker / Robert Trevino MAX BRUCH Symphonies 1 - 3

SYMPHONIES 1 - 3

Bamberger Symphoniker / Herbert Blomstedt MAHLER IX

For Gustav Mahler, composing his early symphonies meant „building a world”. His Ninth, however, seems more concerned with the deconstruction of this world – a look back, a long farewell. In the draft of his score, he noted words like „O youth! Vanished! O love! Blown away!“. In 1909, his idyllic world was destroyed, having been diagnosed with a heart valve defect two years earlier – a disease that would ultimately lead to his death.

While his last completed symphony still contains some folksy elements, Mahler composed a heartbreaking Adagio as its Finale. Herbert Blomstedt, honorary conductor of the
Bamberger Symphoniker, guides the orchestra through this rollercoaster of emotions, ranging between deep sadness, comfort and melancholia. This exceptional recording is the first CD release with the Bamberger Symphoniker and their honorary conductor Herbert Blomstedt!

Albrecht Mayer / Bamberger Symphoniker / Jakub Hrůša LONGING FOR PARADISE

Albrecht Mayer’s first encounter with music was as a member of the Cathedral Choir in his home city of Bamberg, an early experience which is perhaps partly responsible for the warm, singing quality of his oboe-playing. His artistry invites superlatives: people talk of a “divine spark” and how he has elevated the “miraculous oboe” to become an “instrument of seduction”.

"Longing for Paradise" Inspired by the many composers who lived and wrote during wartime, Albrecht Mayer releases Longing for Paradise, featuring Richard Strauss' notoriously difficult Oboe Concerto, written by the octogenarian composer at the end of WWII, with lesser-known masterworks by Elgar and Goosens and a new arrangement for oboe and orchestra of Ravel's yearning Le Tombeau de Couperin.

Nils Mönkemeyer / Bamberger Symphoniker / Markus Poschner WILLIAM WALTON - MAX BRUCH - ARVO PÄRT

Artistic brilliance and innovative programming are the trademarks with which the Bremen native Nils Mönkemeyer has, in a short time, achieved international renown as a musician while drawing enormous new attention to the viola.

As an exclusive Sony Classical artist, he has brought out several critically acclaimed, award-winning CDs in the last years, all of which have made their way into the German classical charts. The programmes of this and Mönkemeyer’s previous recordings encompass discoveries and first recordings of original viola literature ranging from the 18th century to modern pieces, as well as his own transcriptions. 2017 will mark the release of the newest recording with works by Walton, Bruch and Pärt and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Markus Poschner.

Nils Mönkemeyer has collaborated with such conductors as Sylvain Cambreling, Elias Grandy, Christopher Hogwood, Cornelius Meister, Mark Minkowski, Michael Sanderling, Clemens Schuldt, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Markus Stenz, Mario Venzago and Simone Young, including orchestras like the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Helsinki Philharmonic, Musiciens du Louvre, Berne Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, Staatskapelle Weimar, Bremen and Hamburg Philharmonic, Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra, MDR and NDR Radio Orchestras and the Berlin Baroque Soloists.

In the season 2017/18 he will appear as soloist at major international concert venues like the Musikverein Vienna, Salzburg, Helsinki Music Center, Liechtenstein, at the Philharmonie Berlin and Cologne, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Gasteig in Munich and the Alte Oper Frankfurt.g in Munich and the Alte Oper Frankfurt.

Christiane Karg / David Afkham / Bamberger Symphoniker PARFUM

Christiane Karg is one of the most-sought-after lyric sopranos of the present day, acclaimed for her embodiment of operatic roles and as a lieder, concert and oratorio singer. She can be seen and heard all around the world: at lieder recitals in New York’s Carnegie Hall and in the Vienna Konzerthaus, at La Scala in Milan with her 2016 debut in “Der Rosenkavalier”, at regular guest appearances at the Munich State Opera and the Chicago Lyric Opera House, at the Salzburg Festival and at the Royal Opera House London. At the end of 017 she will give her debut at the famous MET Opera in New York (The Marriage of Figaro) and the Vienna State Opera.

David Afkham is Principal Conductor of the Spanish National Orchestra and Chorus. He is in high demand as a guest conductor with some of the world’s finest orchestras and opera houses The Bamberg Symphony – Bavarian State Philharmonic has always enjoyed a special status in the music world.

This album is pure poetry – taking its spark from Christiane Karg’s engagement with the poetical works of Charles Baudelaire, Leconte de Lisle, Paul Verlaine, Tristan Klingsor and Victor Hugo. A poetry in diction that has a wonderful affinity with Impressionist music at the turn from the 19th to the 20th century. Christiane Karg finally decided upon works by Duparc, Koechlin, Debussy and Ravel for her new album. Her selection also includes an early composition by Benjamin Britten, which in its turn was inspired by Debussy and Ravel. Christiane Karg’s voice wafts this poetic scent, these colours in sound, aloft.

Poetry and music, words and voice blend into “Parfum”! (Presto Classical)