This compelling collection of Arnold Schoenberg's choral music works well as a sampler of the composer's varied interests and changing methods, and provides clear examples from the early chromatic and atonal periods to the dodecaphony of the mature masterworks. The two versions of Friede auf Erden (the 1907 a cappella original and the 1911 version for choir and orchestra), the "Drei Volksliedsätze," and "Verbundenheit" from the Six Pieces for Male Chorus represent Schoenberg at his most accessible, while the works from the late Op. 50, Dreimal tausend Jahre and De Profundis, give a taste of Schoenberg's more challenging twelve-tone applications and arresting declamatory style. Certainly the strangest track, though, is Franck Krawczyk's transcription for double choir of "Farben" from Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra, an idea that seems workable in principle, but rather weak in execution; the monochromatic choral parts cannot hope to imitate the shifting wind and string timbres in the orchestral piece, and the forced inhalations and exhalations sound like melodramatic gasping. The chamber choir Accentus and the Ensemble InterContemporain, directed respectively by Laurence Equilbey and Jonathon Nott, deliver these works with marvelous control and technical polish, and Naïve provides fine reproduction, except for the boxy and sometimes noisy recording of the Kammersymphonie No. 1.

Heinz Holliger, oboe
Camerata Bern
Alexander van Wijnkoop, Thomas Füri (Telemann), conductors
“Archiv Blue” Series, Mid Price CD
Johann Gottlieb Graun: Oboe Concerto in C minor; Oboe Concerto in G minor
George Philip Telemann: Oboe Concerto in in E flat major; Oboe Concerto in B flat major
Johann Ludwig Krebs: Oboe Concerto in B minor
The ‘early music’ imprint of Deutsche Grammophon, Archiv Productions has a near legendary reputation for performances and recording of the highest technical and merit. Now the label presents the Archiv Blue range, featuring gems from this esteemed catalogue at mid price. The roster of artists includes such luminaries as Trevor Pinnock, Paul McCreesh, Reinhard Goebel and Marc Minkowski.
This is a beautiful collection of Baroque oboe concertos featuring the masterly Heinz Holliger. Three of the concertos (Telemann, Graun G minor) are new to CD.

On its new release, the Doric String Quartet turns to the music of Franz Schubert. It is the Quartet’s fifth release for Chandos, and the discography has gone from strength to strength. MusicWeb International said of the recent Korngold release (CHAN 10707): ‘The Doric Quartet seem to have a Midas touch, and any repertoire they commit to disc comes out sparkling.’ Their Schumann release (CHAN 10692) was ‘Recording of the Month’ in both Gramophone and BBC Music.
In March 1824, despite describing himself as ‘the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world’, Schubert completed not only the great Octet, but also the two String Quartets recorded here.
The String Quartet in D minor is considered the greatest of Schubert’s late quartets, mainly on account of its raw emotional honesty, which reaches an almost unendurable pitch in the second movement, a set of variations based on Schubert’s song Der Tod und das Mädchen. All four movements are driven by extensively repeated rhythmic figures, reminiscent of the musical style of Schubert’s great idol, Beethoven.
Full of Schubertian ambivalence, the String Quartet in A minor is a deeply intimate work. The opening, expressing brooding sadness, is played by the first violin over a restless accompaniment, subsequently interrupted by flurries of almost manic energy. In the second movement, Schubert ‘borrowed’ the main melody from the third Entr’acte of his incidental music to the play Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern (1823) by Wilhelmine von Chézy.

Firma Melodiya presents a boxed set titled “International Tchaikovsky Competition: Phonographic Documents (1958–1986)”.
The first ever Soviet music tournament instantly became one of the world’s most prestigious competitions. The piano jury was chaired by Emil Gilels for many years, while David Oistrakh and Mstislav Rostropovich headed the violin and cello juries, respectively. Alexander Sveshnikov, an outstanding choirmaster and chancellor of the Moscow Conservatory, was a chairman of the vocal jury.
For the fifty years of its existence, the Tchaikovsky Competition discovered numerous distinguished performers, such as Van Cliburn, Vladimir Ashkenasi, Grigory Sokolov, Eliso Virsaladze, John Lill, Michail Pletnev, Viktor Tretiakov, Gidon Kremer, Vladimir Spivakov, Oleg Kagan, Natalia Gutman, Elena Obraztsova, Maria Gulegina, Vladimir Atlantov, Yevgeny Nesterenko and Paata Burchuladze, to name but a few.
The set captures the brightest moments of eight Tchaikovsky Competitions in all categories. The recordings, including a number of never-before-released ones, were made immediately during the competition auditions and at the prize-winners’ recitals.
The release is dedicated to the 175th anniversary of the great Russian composer.

After Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and Die Entführung aus dem Serail this is the forth of DGs series of seven Mozart operas conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin, and initiated by Rolando Villazon, in collaboration with U-Live, Festspielhaus Baden Baden and with the generous support of ROLEX.
Recorded with a stellar cast with stars in every role, one of the brightest and most insightful conductors of our day and a specialist handpicked orchestra playing at their best in the stunning venue of Festspielhaus Baden-Baden (July 2015).
Yannick Nezet-Seguins completely gripping, high-contrast Figaro is a brilliant triumph, wrote Badische Zeitung of the July 2015 concert performance recorded here, while heaping praise on Luca Pisaronis thrilling Figaro, Thomas Hampsons Count illuminating every word, Sonya Yonchevas Countess recalling Callas vocal colours, Angela Browers fascinatingly delicate, sensitive Cherubino and Anne Sofie von Otters wonderfully perceptive, charming Marcellina, all in a performance crowned by Christiane Kargs enchanting Susanna and Rolando Villazon as Basilio, who had the audience at his feet.
The opera appears consistently among the top ten in the Operabase list of most frequently performed operas.