![Flex Ensemble – Inside Eroica (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2023/02/03/bas0mdtvdzb8b_600.md.jpg)
Flex Ensemble – Inside Eroica (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]
The second album on CAvi-music with the Dutch/French/German group Flex Ensemble contains the new discovery of the arrangement from Beethoven’s pupil and friend Ferdinand Ries of Beethoven’s Third Symphony, “Eroica” for piano quartet. Known for their musically refined and highly energetic performances, the Flex Ensemble has been thrilling audiences with programs ranging from Classical and Romantic piano quartet repertoire to modern presentations featuring work by preeminent composers of our time, including Marton Illes and Gerard Pesson.
![Feininger Trio – Brahms & Korngold (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/11/27/wrqu16f9918zb_600.md.jpg)
Feininger Trio – Brahms & Korngold (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]
This is the fifth album from the Feininger Trio, members of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra. This is volume two of three albums to come and shows the relationship between Brahms and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
In its recording cycle, the Feininger Trio is pairing each of the three piano trios written by Brahmswith a work by another Viennese composer: Alexander Zemlinsky, Ernst Krenek, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, respectively. Brahms’s three piano trios are among the genre’s crowning achievements, and the members of the Feininger Trio were interested in exploring how the piano trio genre developed in the master’s wake.
![Feininger Trio – Suk, Dvorak & Smetana: Piano Trios (2013) [FLAC 24 bit, 44,1 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2023/01/30/4260085532933_600.md.jpg)
Feininger Trio – Suk, Dvorak & Smetana: Piano Trios (2013) [FLAC 24 bit, 44,1 kHz]
The works by Smetana, Dvořák and Suk featured on this album are characteristic examples of how the Czech late-19th century national style was reflected in the area of chamber music.
![Franziska Hoelscher, Severin Von Eckardstein – Sequenza (2019) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2023/02/06/vcuqa7unu54db_600.md.jpg)
Franziska Hoelscher, Severin Von Eckardstein – Sequenza (2019) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]
“Young violinist Franziska Hölscher presents her debut album Sequenza on CAvi. In Schumann’s Violin Sonata No. 2 Franziska Hölscher and the pianist Severin von Eckardstein prove to be a well-rehearsed duo that knows how to perform Schumann’s music with a lively, communicative and often very intimist playing. This is a highly interesting and above all very honest interpretation of this sonata. Inspired and inspiring performances of works by Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Salvatore Sciarrino and Luciano Berio complete the program. Hölscher’s playing technique is outstanding. Every note, every phrasing arises from a deep and very natural understanding of the music.”
![Feininger Trio – Ravel & Debussy (2017) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2023/01/30/4260085536382_600.md.jpg)
Feininger Trio – Ravel & Debussy (2017) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]
Founded in 2005, the Feininger Trio has dedicated itself to the intense, prolonged study of the piano trio. This release finds the ensemble navigating the works of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, two figures intimately associated with musical impressionism. Debussy wrote his Piano Trio in G Major at the young age of 18, and the piece abounds with the sonic surprises and experimentations indicative of a blossoming composer. In contrast, Ravel’s Piano Trio in A Minor demonstrates the artful considerations of sonority and balance of a composer well into his career. Also included in this release is Debussy’s playful Petite Suite for 4 Hand Piano, arranged for piano trio by David Riniker.
![Elena Bashkirova – Mozart: Sonatas & Fantasies (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2023/01/11/vbiza52tzwj5b_600.md.jpg)
Elena Bashkirova – Mozart: Sonatas & Fantasies (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]
The Russian-born Israeli pianist Elena Bashkirova once said, “Chamber music is music’s soul,” and this belief is evident in her work as a soloist, accompanist, ensemble musician, and program planner. Her approach to all aspects of music is one of empathetic collaboration and communication.
Her delightful interpretations are featured on this programme of Mozart’s Sonatas & Fantasies, presented by Deutsche Grammophon!
![Elena Bashkirova – Dvořák: Poetic Tone Pictures (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2023/01/05/oz0js5sxtt0ib_600.md.jpg)
Elena Bashkirova – Dvořák: Poetic Tone Pictures (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]
“This time, I am not only an absolute musician, but also a poet”, wrote Dvorak regarding the Poetic Tone Pictures, Op. 85, his most extended cycle of lyric character pieces for piano. Concluded in April/May 1889 at his summer residence in Vysoka, the Poetic Tone Pictures introduced a new tendency in Dvorak’s output: from then on, he started to “poeticize” his musical style. As he wrote to his publisher Fritz Simrock: “Each piece will have its own title and is meant to express something: thus, as it were, this is program music!” This new tendency culminated in 1896-1898 with the five symphonic poems The Water Goblin Op. 107, The Noon Witch Op. 108, The Golden Spinning Wheel Op. 109, The Wild Dove Op. 110, and A Hero’s Song Op. 111.
![Ensemble Cristofori, Arthur Schoonderwoerd – Beethoven: Coriolan Overture & Eroica (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2023/01/10/dtigjew450h6a_600.md.jpg)
Ensemble Cristofori, Arthur Schoonderwoerd – Beethoven: Coriolan Overture & Eroica (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]
Tempo, accentuation, phrasing, or structural architecture are not the first thing that strikes us when we listen to Arthur Schoonderwoerd’s performances of Classical orchestra music for the first time. Instead, the first thing we notice is that the music sounds different. The orchestra is unusually small.
![Elnara Ismailova – Kara Karayev: Piano Works (2018) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2023/01/06/v50ebv8y6qj8a_600.md.jpg)
Elnara Ismailova – Kara Karayev: Piano Works (2018) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]
The Azerbedjanian composer Kara Karayev would turn 100 in 2018, his pieces are played by the Azerbedjanian pianist Elnara Ismailova.
Kara Karayev (in Azerbaijani: Qara Qaraev) is an outstanding composer of the 20th century whose legacy is acknowledged and acclaimed far beyond the borders of Azerbaijan, his native country. With melodies that sing while telling a story, his music’s moving, unforgettable expression is colored by modern, extremely expressive harmonies. All of this makes Karayev’s art exceptionally complex: he succeeds in creating a universe of sound that captivates the audience.
The national music of Azerbaijan is firmly rooted in the traditional modal genre of mugham, which has its own special musical language. When Karayev was still quite young, he profited from the teaching of composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov, the founder of classical Azerbaijani music (Hajibeyov used mugham in his 1908 opera Leyli and Majnun and wrote the book The Principles of Azerbaijani Folk Music).
![Daniel Raiskin, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie – Mahler: Symphony No. 3 (2015) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/12/04/4260085533251_600.md.jpg)
Daniel Raiskin, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie – Mahler: Symphony No. 3 (2015) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]
In making his first recording of a Mahler symphony, Daniel Raiskin has taken a big risk by choosing the Symphony No. 3 in D minor, the longest of the symphonies (indeed, the longest regularly performed symphony in the repertoire), and one of the toughest to hold together. Conducting the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie with a clear sense of the work’s massive length and variable moods, Raiskin doesn’t rush his musicians but takes a measured pace from the start and lets the symphony unfold one glorious section at a time. This requires considerable patience in the first movement, which runs close to 35 minutes, but the steady tempos and predominantly upbeat martial air give this opening section the right combination of cohesion and forward momentum to maintain interest. After this titanic movement, the rest of the symphony goes by with comparative ease, and Raiskin’s unhurried approach conditions listeners to accept the music on its own terms (in a sense, asking them to dally and smell the roses), so as the symphony’s deepening moods take over, feelings of reverence for nature and joy in small things become quite credible and not just the stuff of Mahler’s fantasies. Joined by alto Ewa Marciniec in the third movement, “O Mensch! Gib acht!”, and the women and boys of St. Martin’s Cathedral of Mainz in the jubilant fourth movement, Raiskin and the orchestra achieve a kind of serenity that makes the beatific Finale all the more compelling and moving. While this is not the most riveting performance of the Third on CD — and this may be because it was “based on a live recording,” suggesting careful editing with studio material — it has advantages in Raiskin’s close attention to details and his almost otherworldly sense of timelessness that makes it seem transcendent. Highly recommended.
![Dina Ugorskaja – The Well-Tempered Clavier, Vol. II (2016) [FLAC 24 bit, 44,1 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/12/20/yqufjla7phkbb_600.md.jpg)
Dina Ugorskaja – The Well-Tempered Clavier, Vol. II (2016) [FLAC 24 bit, 44,1 kHz]
Part II of the complete Cycle played on a modern Steinway with a great competence. When she was seven years old, Dina Ugorskaja gave her first public performance in the Philharmonic Hall of her home town of Leningrad (today renamed Saint Petersburg). Born in 1973, she received her first musical instruction from her father, Anatol Ugorski, and from Maria Mekler. She also took voice lessons specialising in early music.
![Feininger Trio – Debussy, Ravel (2017) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/12/11/4260085536382_600.md.jpg)
Feininger Trio – Debussy, Ravel (2017) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]
Founded in 2005, the Feininger Trio has dedicated itself to the intense, prolonged study of the piano trio. This release finds the ensemble navigating the works of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, two figures intimately associated with musical impressionism. Debussy wrote his Piano Trio in G Major at the young age of 18, and the piece abounds with the sonic surprises and experimentations indicative of a blossoming composer. In contrast, Ravel’s Piano Trio in A Minor demonstrates the artful considerations of sonority and balance of a composer well into his career. Also included in this release is Debussy’s playful Petite Suite for 4 Hand Piano, arranged for piano trio by David Riniker.
![Dina Ugorskaja – Schubert: Sonata, Moments musicaux, & 3 Klavierstücke (2019) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/12/20/p69smaik9qjkc_600.md.jpg)
Dina Ugorskaja – Schubert: Sonata, Moments musicaux, & 3 Klavierstücke (2019) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]
“Schubert and his “heavenly lengths” have accompanied me throughout my entire life. In this music, time occasionally seems to stand still: the state of lingering and resting seems to predominate above all others. We are overwhelmed with unbearable pain, with abysses of despair and hopelessness. How can it be that the confrontation with death – so immediately present in this music – dissolves all of a sudden into a floating, ethereal impermanence? Unexpected joy emerges, as if we were hearing the laughing of a child.
The child’s perspective, combined with unparalleled maturity, makes up the essence of Franz Schubert’s music as I see it. It reminds me of a passage from Schiller.
![Duisburger Philharmoniker, Axel Kober – Richard Wagner: Die Walküre (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/12/22/uh0hzpwhnv0hb_600.md.jpg)
Duisburger Philharmoniker, Axel Kober – Richard Wagner: Die Walküre (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]
After moving into Valhalla, Wotan has fathered nine Valkyries with various women, who recruit the fallen heroes from all battlefields into a powerful private army. With this he arms himself against Alberich, from whom he has elicited the Ring promising power, and who now wants to take revenge. Alberich also has a son, with whose help he wants to destroy the gods. The Stormy force of the “Valkyrie”prelude testifies to the time pressure Wotan is under. Only a new, blameless Generation can establish a new world order. Wotan relies on the love of the twin couple Siegmund and Sieglinde. But Wotan’s wife Fricka demands Siegmund’s death, because as the patroness of marriage and family she cannot tolerate adultery and incest. Scale of a new order.
![Daniel Heide – Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 12 “Funeral March”, 14 “Moonlight” & 15 “Pastorale” (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/11/20/onulnfxj0tzya_600.md.jpg)
Daniel Heide – Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 12 “Funeral March”, 14 “Moonlight” & 15 “Pastorale” (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]
When I first heard Beethoven’s Sonata No. 15 in D Major, op. 28, the “Pastoral”, it immediately conquered my heart. The swaying, deeply resounding, velvety bass notes and the tender theme in the right hand continue to produce a melodious sense of well-being in me to this day. A series of slow, melodious arches alternating with incisive, characteristic insertions create the general mood in the first movement.
![Daniel Heide, Katharina Konradi – Strauss, Mozart & Schubert: Liebende (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/12/04/aotz9kh32b1uc_600.md.jpg)
Daniel Heide, Katharina Konradi – Strauss, Mozart & Schubert: Liebende (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]
The debut album from soprano Katharina Konradi, co-produced by BBC 3 New Generation Artists, is a stunning collection of songs by Richard Strauss, Mozart and Schubert.
![Duisburger Philharmoniker, Axel Kober – Richard Wagner: Goetterdaemmerung (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/12/22/qk1wovs0mwxnb_600.md.jpg)
Duisburger Philharmoniker, Axel Kober – Richard Wagner: Goetterdaemmerung (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 48 kHz]
The Rhine is where Richard Wagner’s cycle of operas “Der Ring des Nibelungen” begins and ends – and it was beside the Rhine in 1851 that the composer first dreamed of this equally visionary and monumental work. Even if Wagner’s plans for a festival would ultimately be realised in an entirely different part of Germany, the performance of a “Ring on the Rhine” will always remain something very special.
![Dina Ugorskaja – Bach . Chopin (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 44,1 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/12/20/x0b2gzhfv1tpa_600.md.jpg)
Dina Ugorskaja – Bach . Chopin (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 44,1 kHz]
The very last release with Dina Ugorskaja, who passed away in September 2019 aged 46. The programme includes the 24 Preludes Op. 28 by Chopin and J.S. Bach’s Inventions.
![Daniel Heide, Patrick Grahl – Dichterliebe (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/12/04/l4tm074t1jxlc_600.md.jpg)
Daniel Heide, Patrick Grahl – Dichterliebe (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]
Even more than in Beethoven’s case, Mendelssohn’s Lieder were intended for performance in the salons of the prosperous bourgeoisie: a convivial circle of highly qualified connoisseurs who shared the same outlook, and often a similar financial status. Those members of the upper middle classes were the musical link and the sociological crossroads between Hausmusik and the concert hall. Mendelssohn often wrote songs as gifts for the friends he was visiting, frequently as settings of their own texts: the considerable technical challenges they contained still needed to be manageable for members of those circles.
![Duo Gurfinkel, Philharmonic State Orchestra Cottbus, Evan Alexis Christ – Duo Gurfinkel: Concertante (2018) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/12/23/t7btrzgj013ya_600.md.jpg)
Duo Gurfinkel, Philharmonic State Orchestra Cottbus, Evan Alexis Christ – Duo Gurfinkel: Concertante (2018) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]
“The idea to record our debut album emerged when we met Maestro Evan Christ in Ingolstadt, where we performed two concerts together. We were also honored to perform together with Evan in Israel. Thanks to his suggestion of making the recording with the Cottbus Philharmonic Orchestra, we are now privileged to hold our first album in our hands.