Kammerorchester Basel, Heinz Holliger – Schubert: Overtures and Orchestral Works (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Kammerorchester Basel, Heinz Holliger - Schubert: Overtures and Orchestral Works (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Kammerorchester Basel, Heinz Holliger – Schubert: Overtures and Orchestral Works (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:18:40 minutes | 1,36 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

All previously released recordings of Franz Schubert’s symphonies and orchestral works with the Kammerorchester Basel under the Swiss oboist, composer and conductor Heinz Holliger received brilliant reviews. Audio awarded 5 stars for music and sound: “With the first chords, a tremendous force unfolds. Adorable the finale!”, 5 Stars were also given in Fono Forum, “lucky Schubert – and lucky us… one of the finest recordings!” Gramophone judged, “a CD recorded with wonderful sound” in rbb Kultur and “This cycle is swinging to become something big” (5 stars) in stereo. With this sixth album, Heinz Holliger and the Kammerorchester Basel conclude the Schubert cycle with a particularly interesting repertoire of his orchestral works. Namely, the overture in D major, D. 12, as well as the Symphony in D major, D936a. The overture has both tender and great dramatic orchestral moments. Heinz Holliger says about her: “The doors open to a whole world of music, to the greatest thing that exists in music history at all.” The surviving fragments of the symphony in D major, arranged by the Swiss composer Roland Moser, appear as a world premiere recording and are an experiment between orchestral and chamber music . The album is complemented by the Grand Duo Sonata in C major, D. 812, originally a piano sonata, now arranged for nine instruments.
(more…)

Read more

Heinz Holliger, Anton Kernjak – Éventail (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Heinz Holliger, Anton Kernjak – Éventail (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:40 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ECM New Series

In his Eventail de musique francaise, Swiss oboist and composer Heinz Holliger traverses a broad selection of French works for oboe and piano in a multichromatic programme of early 20th century music. As Holliger states in his liner note, “the closeness of the oboe to the human voice inspired my idea of opening up the richly coloured fan of French music through the still far too little known collection of Vocalises-Etudes.” Contained in this wide-ranging recital are compositions by Ravel, Debussy, Milhaud, Saint-Saens, Casadesus as well as Koechlin, Jolivet and Messiaen – Holliger cultivated a personal relationship with several of the composers. On piano returns Anton Kernjak, who appeared on Holliger’s 2014 recording Aschenmusik, while French harpist Alice Belugou comes in to play on Andre Jovilet’s Controversia pour hautbois et harpe. The richness of the 20th century oboe-repertoire is on full display throughout and finds Holliger in engaging dialogues with piano and harp. Eventail follows the release of Heinz Holliger’s multiple awards-winning large-scale opera Lunea from 2022.

(more…)

Read more

WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Heinz Holliger – Schumann: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. VI (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Heinz Holliger – Schumann: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. VI (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:16:00 minutes | 750 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © audite Musikproduktion

Concluding audite’s Schumann edition, this CD combines the first symphony with the late overtures, whose compactness displays the composer’s symphonic mastery.

The overtures, all written after 1847, represent an essential complement to the symphonies: seen in relation to the symphonies, they take a similar position as do the Konzertstücke relative to the concertos. Schumann conceived them partly as preludes to operas, oratorios or incidental works, partly as independent pieces. On the one hand, they were intended to provide “an image of the whole”; on the other, their purpose was to introduce, leading into the drama. Beside larger- and smaller-scale vocal works, and alongside the poetic renewal of the symphony, they bear testimony to the great significance of literature in Schumann’s musical thought and style.

The overtures are supplemented with Schumann’s first symphony, the so-called “Zwickau”. It was the composer’s first attempt in the symphonic form to be performed publicly, even though the work remained incomplete.

(more…)

Read more

Heinz Holliger, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne – Arnold Schönberg : Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 – Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 38 (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Heinz Holliger, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne – Arnold Schönberg : Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 – Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 38 (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:03:26 minutes | 1,02 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Zig-Zag Territoires

For this release from Zig-Zag Territoires, Heinz Holliger leads the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne in two works of Arnold Schoenberg, the string orchestra version of Verklärte Nacht, and the Chamber Symphony No. 2, followed by Anton Webern’s Langsamer Satz, also arranged for string orchestra. All three pieces are tonal, predating the development of atonality and the later twelve-tone system, with which these composers are most strongly associated. Yet they also show a pushing of the boundaries of tonality, revealing the need both men felt for liberating harmonies and keys from the strictures of 19th century common practice. Verklärte Nacht is clearly in the key of D minor, though it’s intense chromaticism makes it unstable and restless, rather in the style of Wagner’s Prelude to Tristan und Isolde. The Chamber Symphony No. 2, rendered in neo-Classical style, clearly has a tonal orientation, but the quartal progressions and angular counterpoint create ambiguity and harmonic resolution is consistently avoided. Webern’s movement, originally written for string quartet, is similar to Verklärte Nacht in its unstable chromatic harmonies, though it conveys much warmer post-Romantic expressions. Holliger and his musicians give these pieces clear, concise readings that focus the pieces and make them comprehensible, even in their densest passages. Zig-Zag’s sound is exceptional in its presence and depth, and the transparent separation of parts is especially helpful for listeners following scores.
Review by Blair Sanderson

(more…)

Read more

WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Heinz Holliger – Schumann: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. III (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Heinz Holliger – Schumann: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. III (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 52:56 minutes | 485 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © audite Musikproduktion

Featuring the Cello Concerto and the second version of the D minor Symphony, this CD presents two major works that Schumann composed and revised during his time as music director in Düsseldorf. In both works, the movements of the classical model merge into one another without interruption. By transforming themes and musical codes he creates a stream of thought and coherence akin to the course of a narration or abstract theatre. His original version of the D minor Symphony of 1841 was pioneering in its literarisation of musical form. When he began revising it in 1851, the first Symphonic Poems of Franz Liszt had been performed: they aspired to a greater fusion of music and literature. In his revision of the D minor Symphony, Schumann discreetly reinforced the traditional symphonic elements of the work. The obvious references to Mendelssohn in his Cello Concerto suggest that he regarded multi-part forms as “narrations without words”, or as “bigger siblings” of the “songs without words”. According to Schumann, neither genre required explanation via a literary programme.

The original version of the D minor Symphony is included in the first volume of this series. Both versions, whose relationship remains an object of divisive discussion to the present day, can therefore be compared to one another.

Holliger’s interpretations draw on a life-long study of Schumann’s oeuvre, thought, personality and fate. Holliger’s approach imparts lightness and lucidity to these opulent scores thanks to a hierarchical balance of parts, delicately graded dynamics and invigorating tempi. The widespread image of this romantic composer as a weak orchestrator is thus refreshingly rectified.

(more…)

Read more

WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Heinz Holliger – Schumann: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. II (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Heinz Holliger – Schumann: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. II (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:06:48 minutes | 674 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © audite Musikproduktion

With this CD, audite is presenting the second volume of the complete recording of Robert Schumann’s orchestral works. The series includes all the symphonies (with both versions of the Fourth) as well as all the overtures and concertos.

The Second and Third Symphonies, according to the usual numbering, passed through contrasting histories of reception. Whereas the ‘Rhenish’ remained relatively popular, the C major Symphony was received by contemporaries as trend-setting, but receded into the background from the late nineteenth century onwards. At this time, criticism was primarily levelled at its instrumentation, which had still been praised after its premiere. Heinz Holliger and the WDR Symphony Orchestra have recorded the works with an orchestra of the same size that was available to Schumann. In so doing, they not only uncover the sonic ideal of the composer, but also its consistent and convincing realisation.

Holliger’s performances draw on a lifetime study of Schumann’s music, thought, personality and fate. His approach imparts lightness and lucidity to these opulent scores through a hierarchical balance of parts, delicately gradated dynamics and invigorating tempos. The widespread image of this romantic composer as a weak orchestrator receives a refreshing and well-grounded correction.

(more…)

Read more

WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Heinz Holliger – Schumann: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. I (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Heinz Holliger – Schumann: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. I (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:12:07 minutes | 704 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © audite Musikproduktion

This CD launches a complete series of recordings of Robert Schumann’s orchestral works, performed by the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Heinz Holliger. The series will contain all the symphonies (including both versions of the Fourth) as well as all the overtures and concertos. Holliger’s performances draw on a lifetime study of Schumann’s music, thought, personality and fate. His approach imparts lightness and lucidity to these opulent scores through a hierarchical balance of parts, delicately gradated dynamics and invigorating tempos. The widespread image of this romantic composer as a weak orchestrator receives a refreshing and well-grounded correction.

Volume 1 of the series presents the First Symphony in B-flat major (Op. 38), Overture, Scherzo and Finale (Op. 52) and the original 1841 version of the Fourth Symphony in D minor (Op. 120).

(more…)

Read more

Dmitry Smirnov, Kammerorchester Basel, Heinz Holliger – Lalo: Violin Concertos, Op. 20 & Op. 29. “Concerto Russe” (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Dmitry Smirnov, Kammerorchester Basel, Heinz Holliger – Lalo: Violin Concertos, Op. 20 & Op. 29. “Concerto Russe” (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:18:21 minutes | 1,39 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Prospero Classical

This new album of the Basel Chamber Orchestra shows references between French and Russian music at the end of the 19th century. Dmitry Smirnov interprets the 1st and 4th violin concertos by Édouard Lalo. The latter is called “Concerto russe” because it contains songs from the folk song collection op. 24 by Rimsky-Korssakoff. Smirnov has now arranged these songs himself for chamber orchestra or for violin and orchestra. Presented in this context, the songs add an extremely interesting new note to the musical bridge-building. Musical direction: Heinz Holliger.

(more…)

Read more

Kammerorchester Basel & Heinz Holliger – Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 6 (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Kammerorchester Basel & Heinz Holliger – Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 6 (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:13:05 minutes | 1,25 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

Having been one of the most dazzling oboists of the 20th century, Heinz Holliger has decided to pursue a career as a conductor alongside his active role as a composer. He now continues his complete series of Schubert Symphonies here, paying great attention to detail and showcasing their composition and structure. There is no sadness in his version of Symphony No. 4 in C minor, despite having been given the title of “Tragic” by the young composer. It’s unknown why he did so, but it was probably because of its similarity to the main key in the Fifth Symphony and Beethoven’s “Corolian” Overture, which he greatly admired. Rather, the incredible openness and luminosity of the music reflects a care-free and light-hearted youth.

(more…)

Read more

Kammerorchester Basel & Heinz Holliger – Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Kammerorchester Basel & Heinz Holliger – Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:16:14 minutes | 1,35 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

This recording was made as part of the complete recording of Franz Schubert’s symphonies with the Basel Chamber Orchestra conducted by Heinz Holliger.

(more…)

Read more

Kammerorchester Basel & Heinz Holliger – Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5, Fierrabras Overture (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Kammerorchester Basel & Heinz Holliger – Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5, Fierrabras Overture (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:06:47 minutes | 1,21 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

Heinz Holliger, Meisteroboist, Komponist, Dirigent und eine der charismatischen Musikerpersönlichkeiten unserer Tage, kann am 21. Mai seinen 80. Geburtstag feiern. Passend zum Event erscheint Vol. II der kompletten Sinfonien von Franz Schubert, die das künstlerische Multitalent mit dem Kammerorchester Basel aufgenommen hat. Der Dirigent strebt bewusst einen eigenen Zugang zur Musik des österreichischen Romantikers an, eine Interpretation, die vermeintlich Angenehmes aufrauht und den Sinn für die gewagten Neuerungen in der Musik schärft. Die Presse war bei der Live-Aufführung der «großen» C-Dur-Sinfonie schon einmal begeistert: “Das Spiel der Noten geht in ein Spiel der Klangfarben über,” meinte die Basler Zeitung, und AZ-Online schrieb: “Heinz Holliger vermittelt am Dirigierpult seine Begeisterung für Schubert, und durch sein sehr genaues Quellenstudium gelingt es ihm, diese Musik mit einer ansteckenden Präsenz zu vermitteln”.

(more…)

Read more

Heinz Holliger & György Kurtág – Zwiegespräche (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Heinz Holliger & György Kurtág – Zwiegespräche (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:14:34 minutes | 1,23 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ECM New Series

“Zwiegespräche” is a meeting of spirits. “We compose the same way,” said György Kurtág to Heinz Holliger on hearing this recording, which emphasises works for oboe by these two major composers. Both of them reference the entire history of music in their pieces, both incorporate dedications and messages to friends and colleagues in the fabric of their work, and both draw upon literature as an inspirational source. Both, moreover, love the miniature as an expressive form; short pieces by Kurtág and Holliger are interwoven. Holliger’s sequence Airs (2015/6) is inspired by seven texts by Swiss poet Philippe Jaccottet, whose voice is heard here. The release of “Zwiegespräche” is timely. Heinz Holliger turns 80 on May 21, his creativity as composer and his resourcefulness as instrumentalist undimmed. The album concludes with Holliger’s Sonate für Oboe solo, composed in 1956, and still played by its author with absolute authority.

(more…)

Read more

Heinz Holliger, Andrea Bischoff, Marie-Lise Schüpbach – Wranitzky: Trio in C Major for 2 Oboes and Cor Anglais (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Heinz Holliger, Andrea Bischoff, Marie-Lise Schüpbach - Wranitzky:  Trio in C Major for 2 Oboes and Cor Anglais (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Heinz Holliger, Andrea Bischoff, Marie-Lise Schüpbach – Wranitzky: Trio in C Major for 2 Oboes and Cor Anglais (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 23:53 minutes | 456 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Prospero Classical

Quite amazing what astonishing musical colours and sound effects an ensemble of three reed instruments can achieve. To be heard on the new album with Swiss music legend Heinz Holliger. The title »Les Roseaux Chantants», the »singing reeds», refers to the double reed through which the oboe and cor anglais (and also the bassoon) are blown to set the air vibrating and produce sounds. Works by Ludwig van Beethoven, the Swiss composer Rudolph Ganz (1877-1972), Anton Wranitzky and Heinz Holliger. A fascinating sound and musical experience.
(more…)

Read more

Heinz Holliger – Les Roseaux Chantants: Works for 2 Oboes & Cor Anglais (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Heinz Holliger - Les Roseaux Chantants: Works for 2 Oboes & Cor Anglais (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Heinz Holliger – Les Roseaux Chantants: Works for 2 Oboes & Cor Anglais (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:06:30 minutes | 1,24 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Prospero Classical

Even at the age of 82, the Swiss oboist, composer and conductor Heinz Holliger is still bursting with verve, curiosity and the desire to make music. His latest album is called “Les Roseaux chantants”, an allusion to the double reed with which the notes on the oboe and English horn are made to sound. Works were chosen that were composed for the unusual combination of two oboes plus English horn. A tonally delightful sound and musical experience, as the works by Beethoven, Wranitzky, the Swiss composer Rudolph Ganz and, last but not least, Heinz Holliger himself, impressively demonstrate.
(more…)

Read more

Heinz Holliger, Camerata Bern, Alexander van Wijnkoop, Thomas Füri – Graun, Krebs, Telemann: Oboe Concertos (2004) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Heinz Holliger, Camerata Bern, Alexander van Wijnkoop, Thomas Füri – Graun, Krebs, Telemann: Oboe Concertos (2004)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:14:55 minutes | 1,36 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Archiv Produktion

In its time, the high Baroque oboe concerto was the ne plus ultra of the virtuoso, the sin qua non of the soulful, and the denier cri of the tuneful. But times change and for all but the most epicurean of the cognoscenti, the oboe concertos of Johann Gottlieb Graun, Johann Ludwig Krebs, and Georg Philipp Telemann are at best terra incognito and at worst nearly persona non grata. In his day, Heinz Holliger was the crème de la crème of oboe virtuosity, the apex, the acme, and the essence of the metaphysical quintessence of oboe virtuosity. So great was Holliger’s celebrity that, after he had finished recording the oboe concertos of Mozart, Bach, and Strauss, he was allowed to record the oboe concertos of Graun, Krebs, and Telemann.

Of course, Holliger’s performances are terrific. Beyond the fact that he is a supreme oboe virtuoso, Holliger is a supreme musician, and he makes the most convincing case possible for the music. And the music of Graun, Krebs, and Telemann is terrific, too, virtuosic, soulful, and wonderfully tuneful. The accompaniment by the Camerata Bern under both Alexander van Wijnkoop and Thomas Furi is attentive and supportive. In its time, Archiv’s late stereo sound was superlative and this digital remastering improves the superlative.

“the elegance and intelligence of his playing remain peerless, and the qualities that made him the greatest oboist of the 20th century are obvious as ever.” (The Guardian)

(more…)

Read more
%d bloggers like this: