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ID: KAI0012912
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Kolektion: Opera CollectionIt's stretching the conventional, technical definition of the term to call Swiss composer Michael Jarrell's spoken monodrama "Cassandre" an opera, but that's the composer's description of it, and as such, it ought to be respected. It does consist of a musical narrative accompanying a verbal narrative, so even though it doesn't involve singing, it comes closer to standard opera than some pieces that are so designated. Also, the fact that it is so compelling as a unified musical and dramatic entity makes its definition seem less consequential; it's fully successful in using music and story to draw the listener into the protagonist's world. "Cassandre" has received numerous international performances since its 1994 premiere and has been translated into a variety of languages. In its form, popularity, subject matter (the protagonist's reflection on the trauma of war), emotional impact, and to some extent its musical style, it strongly resembles Marc Neikrug's haunting 1980 "music-drama" "Through Roses."
"Cassandre" is based on a text by Christa Wolf that actress Astrid Bas delivers with urgency and poignant dramatic restraint. Jarrell's score for chamber ensemble is notable for the evocative subtlety of its depiction of the Trojan prophet's state of mind as she recounts the horrors of the war. Jarrell avoids the obvious -- the big rhetorical gestures -- that would seem to be appropriate for such a dramatic and grim story, and instead creates a soundworld of gossamer, dream-like ethereality to underscore "Cassandre"'s intimate musings. His orchestration is incandescent, and the music is simply beautiful in its prismatically evolving textures. For a piece that rarely rises above a whisper, it makes a surprisingly visceral impact. IRCAM's Ensemble InterContemporain, led by Susanna Mälkki, plays the challenging score with exceptional grace and delicacy. Kairos' sound is immaculate, as is typical for its releases. Highly recommended for fans of new music.
Stephen Eddins, All Music Guide |
| 21.00 eur Buy |
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ID: KAI0012782
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Kolektion: Vocal Collection1 - Junge Deutsche Philharmonie - Lothar Zagrosek, conductor
2 - Claudia Barainsky, soprano / Gabriel Suovanen, baritone / Banchetto musicale, viola da gamba / Orchestre de la Suisse Romande - Marek Janowski, conductor
3 - Joan-Enric Lluna, clarinet / Orquesta Nacional de España - Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor
4 - hr-Sinfonieorchester - Pascal Rophé, conductor
5 - 7 hr-Sinfonieorchester - Peter Rundel, conductor
The five orchestral works on this CD communicate phenomenal colors and the intense sensuousness of mysterious formal progressions. Silence, shadows, absence: it is above all the darker neighborhoods of the human soul that captivate Sánchez-Verdú’s interest. Exploring marginal realms which, in their beauty and refinement of tone, contain both the brilliant light of Spain’s south and utter darkness: this is the art of composer José M. Sánchez-Verdú.
(Rainer Pöllmann)
Includes booklet with text by Rainer Pöllmann and Thorsten Palzhoff |
| 21.00 eur Buy |
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ID: KAI0012742
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Kolektion: Orchestral WorksSubkolektion: Orchester
Messiaen's last composition before he passed away, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra for its 150th anniversary, is a fantastic orchestral piece inspired by birds. This Kairos offering is a wonderful live recording by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, performed at Vienna's famous Musikverein. |
| 21.00 eur Buy |
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ID: KAI0012722
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Kolektion: Chamber MusicSubkolektion: Chamber Ensemble
Let us open wide the doors of the hothouse so that wind, rain and snow rush in. Maurice Maeterlinck’s image ideally fits Bruno Mantovani as well as the first impression one has of him. That impression is one of youthfulness and freshness, of an unexpected and at the same time encouraging simplicity and health in a world in which these characteristics are atypical, not to say suspect. (Christophe Ghristi)
Includes booklet with texts by Christophe Ghristi and Bruno Mantovani |
| 21.00 eur Buy |
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ID: KAI0012702
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Voices and Orchestra
Stadler Quartett:
Frank Stadler, violin / Izso Bajusz, violin / Predrag Katanic, viola / Peter Sigl, cello
The stadler quartet was founded in Salzburg in 1992 by the Mozarteum Orchestra´s current concert master, Frank Stadler. The quartet´s members (Frank Stadler, Izso Bajusz, Predrag Katanic, and Peter Sigl) are also members of the renowned Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik (oenm, or Austrian Ensemble for Contemporary Music).
Together, they form the core of the versatile ensemble, which performs a wide range of music but is particularly committed to contemporary music. The stadler quartet has likewise made it their goal to devote themselves to the preparation and study of contemporary works, including the most recent compositions. Since its founding they premiered around 150 works, many dedicated to them.
The repertoire also includes the key works and the standard repertoire of the 20th-century. However, the basis of their music-making remains the great works of the classical and romantic string-quartet tradition. This diversity has earned the quartet an excellent reputation on the concert stage, well beyond specialist circles.
The quartet greatly values their on-going collaboration with contemporary composers, including George Crumb, Helmut Lachenmann, György Kurtág, Johannes Kalitzke, Peter Ruzicka, Jörg Widmann and Chaya Czernowin. The quartet´s appearance in the Salzburger Festival and their numerous concerts and concert series in Salzburg ("ASPEKTE" festival, among others) serve to demonstrate yet again the quality of the quartet and their esteem in the eyes of the public and music circles.
One of the highpoints in the stadler quartet's career was their spectacular execution of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Helicopter Quartet in the Salzburg Festival.
The Four have toured Holland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovenia, Norway, Italy, Japan, Korea and Brasil.
The stadler quartet received the prize for "Neues Hören" or "New Listening" from the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum .
In 2005, the stadler quartet interpretated (in image and sound) Steve Reich´s work "Different Trains" for a documentary film about Betty Freeman.
The “Four Islands of the Dead” are musical “over-paintings” of “Four Serious Songs” by Johannes Brahms; a work of his later years, songs of consolation for the growing certainty, increasingly personal, of his insight into the transient nature of earthly existence. These songs are like places on a shore made safe by biblical texts, from which one glimpses a dark space, the space of the here-and-now. The idea of a hereafter in the course of modern history, with its progressive centuries-long tendency to secularisation, has become more and more diffuse, so that the phenomenon of death at present is often now entirely repressed; a facade of outwardly life-affirming diversions displaces the view to that area outside one‘s personal experience of time. Böcklin‘s “Islands of the Dead” is a suitable comparison here: what lies hidden beyond the shores of the island, behind silence and darkness, is no longer a question of faith, but has come much more a matter of imagination, of fantasy. The essential subject-matter is invisible.
Includes booklet with text by Johannes Kalitzke |
| 21.00 eur Buy |
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ID: KAI0012682
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Kolektion: Chamber MusicSubkolektion: Chamber Ensemble
...it's hot, eight o'clock in the evening, i'm tired and thirsty. i've worked enough for today. i take a look at the television programme and the dj line-up for the night scene and decide to let the evening end in a bar. ispruce myself up, leave my apartment and head for the bar area. already from far away i hear the low bass of techno music. my steps quicken, i reach the bar and open the door. thick waves of smoke hit me in the face. it is dim,the glaring lights flicker to the rhythm of the music. i get myself a beer and let myself be dazed by the strong beat of the music and pulled on to the dance floor. a few hours and drinks later i leave the place elated. from far away i still hear the pulse of the music continuing and...
(from fluc`n`flex)
Includes booklet with texts by Daniel Ender, Axel Petri and Bernhard Gander |
| 21.00 eur Buy |
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ID: KAI0012662
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: String instruments
“The three quartets provide a commentary on each other and the time in which they were composed. Gran Torso has something of an investigation about it, of a broaching, of forays into critical new land. Reigen designates the sounds and techniques of two very different regions. Grido gains a new expressiveness- the land of music is freely praised and celebrated, although never without reflexive refraction or arousing disturbance. In the Choral at the end comes a sharp crack, a bark, before the music collapses.”
(Martin Kaltenecker)
Includes booklet with texts by Martin Kaltenecker |
| 21.00 eur Buy |
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