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Catalogue


last updated: 02/07/2010

News

Franz Schmidt (1874-1939)
Symphony No. 4

Intermezzo from Notre Dame

Beethoven Orchester Bonn
Stefan Blunier

MDG 937 1631-6

Info

 

 

Franz Schmidt grew up as a musical child prodigy in Pressburg, which is today's Bratislava and the capital of Slovakia. His first piano teacher, Theodor Leschetitzky, urgently advised him not to pursue a career as a musician: "A man named Schmidt should not become an artist." The Schmidts moved to Vienna, and it was here that Franz received the training he needed at the Konservatorium der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and his first job as a cellist in the Vienna Court Opera Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic. At the age of twenty-two he composed his first symphony and was awarded the Beethoven Prize of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. His first opera, Notre Dame, was premiered in 1914. Hugo von Hofmannsthal was highly positive in his evaluation of the composition: "Not too long ago I heard an opera here by an unknown composer ... I cannot help myself; it made a very fine impression on me."

Christoph Graupner (1683-1760)
Orchestral Works Vol. 3

Nova Stravaganza
Siegbert Rampe

MDG 341 1628-2

Info

Siegbert Rampe and his Nova Stravaganza ensemble have paid homage to Christoph Graupner on two previous occasions, and each time these efforts have earned the musicians the Echo Klassik prize. Graupner was one of the leading composers of the baroque, and, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of his death, Rampe & Co. are presenting the recording premiere of some of the few chamber works by this Hessen-Darmstadt court musician on historical instruments.

Philip Glass (*1937)

How Now

Steffen Schleiermacher,
piano & organ


MDG 613 1600-2

Info

Always the same melody, forever the same rhythm... Philip Glass immediately sends his audiences into a trance, and Steffen Schleiermacher is the perfect interpreter of this composer's captivating will. This expert in the field of twentieth-century music is now for the third time presenting compositions by the American minimalist, and the selections from 1968 and 1969 include the famous How Now.

Theophil Laitenberger (1903-1996)

Organ Music

Andreas Sieling, Organ
Wolfgang Talirz, Viola
Luca Mariani, Oboe

MDG 606 1630-2

Info

Theophil Laitenberger dedicated thirty years of his life to music education and church music. It was not until his retirement years that he was able to give free rein to his creative energy and wrote a series of organ works including three sonatas, the Suite for Oboe and Organ, and the Variations for Viola and Organ. The Berlin cathedral organist Andreas Sieling has discovered these late works by Laitenberger and is now presenting their recording premiere.

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)

Clavier Music Vol. 2

Franz Raml, Organ and Harpsichord

MDG 614 1553-2

Info

Johann Pachelbel was one of the best organists of his time. He was second to none when it came to the creative blending of the Southern German/Italian and Central German styles and thus of the Catholic and Protestant liturgies. Franz Raml presents an up-to-date compositional overview featuring organ toccatas, chorale arrangements, and suites, and St. Peter's Church in Freiberg with its famous Silbermann organ and a harpsichord by Tucher supply the recording's brilliant sound color.