Unser neuer Gesamtkatalog

Meanwhile, Benjamin Schmid can look back at a considerable number of internationally highly acclaimed recordings. The have been given awards such as “editor’s choice” in London and Australia, “Cinque Diapason” in France, “Prize of the German record Critics”, „Audiophile Reference“, and others. “As ingenious as once Fritz Kreisler” wrote the Wiener Zeitung in 1996, after a Goldmark concerto, and this is the way he has hence followed.

Ramon Jaffé

Classic is his love – flamenco his passion.

This motto characterizes not only Ramon Jaffé’s artistic career, but simultaneously documents his inspired biography as well.

Born in Riga, Latvia in 1962, the Jaffé family emigrated to Israel in 1971 before moving to Germany in 1974. Ramon Jaffé took his first cello instruction from his father Don Jaffé, who accompanied him until he completed his concert exam with B. Pergamenschikov in 1988. In addition to D. Geringas, with whom he also studied, D. Schafran and S. Végh served him as important musical guides. Especially noteworthy is that Ramon Jaffé was Sandor Végh’s chamber music partner during Végh’s last major appearance as violinist in the Salzburger Mozarteum. Under the aegis of these masters, Ramon Jaffé took the international competition scene by storm early in his career, including the Deutsche Musikwettbewerb (1984) and the Casals Competition in Budapest (1985). His calling as a soloist began during his conservatory years, taking him early on to major venues in Berlin, Leipzig, Vienna, Munich, London and Cologne. Parallel to his activities as a soloist, he has also dedicated himself to chamber music, both as a member of the “Belcanto Strings” trio and the Mendelssohn Trio Berlin (formerly “Salzburg Piano Trio”). Additional chamber music partners include I. Vermillion, Y. Bronfman, F. Leleux, V. Mendelssohn, J. Rachlin, W. Fuchs, M. P. Langlamet, B. Schmid, E. Baschkirowa, G. Causse, N. Znaider.

He is also the founder and artistic director of the Hopfgarten/Tyrol chamber music festival.

Ramon Jaffé has worked with a number of orchestras, including the DSO & BSO Berlin, Camerata Academica Salzburg, Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and Stuttgart Kammerorchester. In 2004, he appeared with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. He has also concertized with such conductors as A. Boreyko, L. Segerstam, St. Blunier, Ralf Weikert, as well as jazz singer Bobby McFerrin. He has also appeared with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester under R. Abbado, M. Viotti and L. Foster. An appearance he made at the Vienna Musikverein during the Vienna Festwochen with the RSO Vienna was broadcast in radio and television a number of times.

Many international festivals, including the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Rheingau- Festival, Würzburger Mozartfest, Open Chamber Music Prussia Cove (GB), Schubertiade Roskilde (DK), Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival, Stuttgarter Bachtage, Steirischer Herbst Graz, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finnland), Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, Salzburger Kulturwochen, Expo 1992 and Biennale in Sevilla, Middelburg Festival (NL), MIDEM in Cannes and the Ludwigsburger Festspiele have all invited Ramon Jaffé as a guest. One of Ramon Jaffé’s artistically most exciting encounters was with flamenco guitarist Pedro Bacan, who died in 1997. Bacan initiated Ramon Jaffé into the secrets of the fascinating world of flamenco. Jaffé has continued this artistic collaboration, which spanned many years and culminated in appearances at all important Spanish and French flamenco festivals, with renowned guitarist Stephan Schmidt.

Ramon Jaffé currently teaches at the C. M. v. Weber Conservatory in Dresden.

Witold Lutoslawski
Philharmonic in Wroclaw

The Witold Lutoslawski Philharmonic in Wroclaw, Poland, is the inheritor of its home city’s rich music traditions. In Wroclaw music life began thriving in the second half of the 19th century, when such preeminent composers and virtuosos as Richard Wagner, Johannes Brahms, Edward Grieg, Gustav Mahler, Max Bruch, Ignacy Paderewski, Pablo Sarasate, and Eugène Ysaÿe came to visit the city.

The W. Lutoslawski Philharmonic was founded in 1954 by Adam Kopycinski and Radomir Reszke. The directors of the W. Lutoslawski Philharmonic were wellknown musicians, holding the office of first conductor as well: Jozef Karol Lasocki (1954–1958), Adam Kopycinski (1958–1961), Radomir Reszke (1961–1963), Wlodzimierz Ormicki (1963–1965), Andrzej Markowski (1965–1968), Tadeusz Strugala (1968–1980) and Marek Pijarowski (1980–2001).

In 2001 the offices of general director and artistic director were separated, and Lidia Geringer d’Oedenberg, General Director of “Wratislavia Cantans” – one of the largest and most important music festivals in this part of Europe, was appointed general director of the W. Lutoslawski Philharmonic. In the years 2002–2004 season Mrs. Geringer d’Oedenberg entrusted the post of artistic director to Mariusz Smolij. With the beginning of the 2004–2005 season the artistic director is Jan Latham-Koenig.

The W. Lutoslawski Philharmonic Orchestra performs a highly versatile repertoire from baroque to contemporary, encompassing chamber music, e. g. by W. A. Mozart, as well as great works requiring a wide array of instruments, such as pieces by Olivier Messiaen, Gustav Mahler, Richard Wagner or Richard Strauss. It gives regular concerts, performing about 120 different programs a season. It is constantly invited to play at the most important European festivals, such as the “Wratislavia Cantans” International Festival, “Warsaw Autumn”, “Janác.ku°v maj” (Czech Republic), and the Rheingau Musik Festival (Germany). It has also gone on international tours, visiting almost all European countries. Recently the orchestra has most frequently performed in Germany (Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt), Holland and the Czech Republic, also under the baton of its permanent guest conductor Daniel Raiskin.

The orchestra makes radio and TV recordings. It also issues CDs. It cooperates with prominent conductors, such as Leon Botstein, Pierre Colombo, Riccardo Frizza, Paul Goodwin, Peter Guelke, Jacek Kaspszyk, Jan Krenz, Kyrill Kondrashin, Kazimierz Kord, Jan Latham-Koenig, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Carlos Paita, Witold Rowicki, Doron Salomon, Lior Shambadal and Carlo Zecchi as well as with excellent virtuosos, including Martha Argerich, Midori, Elzbieta Chojnacka, Kaja Danczowska, Stanislaw Drzewiecki, Juan Diego Flórez, Greg Giannascoli, Ramon Jaffé, Krzysztof Jakowicz, Ilya Kaler, Konstanty A. Kulka, Adam Makowicz, Witold Malcuzynski, David Oistrakh, Igor Oistrakh, Michael Ponti, Alexander Rudin, Benjamin Schmid, Grigory Sokolov, Daniel Stabrawa, Radoslaw Szulc, William VerMeulen, Wanda Wilkomirska, and Krystian Zimerman.

In the season of 2004-2005, celebrating the 50 years of the W. Lutoslawski Philharmonic, the following maestros have confirmed their participation in the anniversary concerts: Leon Botstein, Tadeusz Strugala, Kazimierz Kord, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Marek Pijarowski, Grzegorz Nowak, Riccardo Frizza, Jacek Kaspszyk, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Jan Latham-Koenig, the new artistic director of the W. Lutoslawski Philharmonic. Great soloists will also grace the Wroclaw audience on this occasion, and among them Krzysztof Jakowicz, Bartlomiej Niziol, Olga Pasiecznik, Krzysztof Jablonski, Kaja Danczowska, Benjamin Schmid, Ramon Jaffé, Adam Makowicz, Janusz Olejniczak, Piotr Paleczny, Konstanty A. Kulka, Waldemar Malicki, and Eugene Indjic.

Daniel Rasikin

Daniel Raiskin ranks among the most versatile musicians of his generation and has established himself as one of the leading European Violists before embarking on a career of a Conductor.

Born 1970 in St. Petersburg and trained in the best Russian-European musical tradition he has studied Viola with D. Meerovich and O. Balabin in St. Petersburg and Kim Kashkashian in Freiburg. At the same time Mr. Raiskin has studied Orchestral Conducting with Lev Savich in St. Petersburg and at various master classes with Neeme Järvi, Mariss Jansons, Milan Horvat and Jorma Panula among others.

His international career brought him to such major venues as Musikverein Vienna, Berlin Philharmonie, Berlin Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Cologne Philharmonie, Munich Philharmonie, St. Petersburg Philharmonie, Victoria Hall Geneva, Sala Verdi del Conservatorio Milano, Mozarteum Salzburg as well as the New York’s Lincoln Center.

Daniel Raiskin has frequently performed with a great number of leading orchestras, including the: Wiener Symphoniker, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Beethovenhalle Orchestra Bonn, Orchestre National de Lille, Staatskapelle Weimar, Staatsphilharmonie Reinland-Pfalz, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Athens State Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Nacional do Porto, Geneva Chamber Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, Norddeutsche Philharmonie, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Sinfonietta, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and many others.

Together with violinist Benjamin Schmid Daniel Raiskin performs the German, Swiss, Dutch, Finnish, Belgian, Austrian, Israeli, Estonian, Danish, Swedish and Portuguese premier of Benjamin Britten’s Double Concerto for Violin, Viola & Orchestra.

Sharing stage with Gidon Kremer, in August 2002 Daniel Raiskin has performed in Gija Kancheli’s monographic concert in Riga’s Dom Cathedral. As from 2003 Daniel Raiskin is Permanent Guest Conductor of the Wroclaw State Philharmonic Orchestra “W. Lutoslawski”, which he has led on a highly acclaimed tour of Poland, Germany and The Netherlands in February 2003.

His recent and future conducting engagements include concerts with such orchestras as St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Nacional do Porto, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Holland Symfonia, Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin, Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, Kiev Chamber Orchestra, Oulu and Kuopio Symphony Orchestras, Ostrobotnian Chamber Orchestra, Gävle Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Norrland Opera as well as Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra Lodz.

From season 2004–2005 Daniel Raiskin will also assume the position of Principle Guest Conductor with the Ural State Philharmonic Orchestra in Russia’s third largest city Yekaterinburg.

In March 2004 a tour of Austria, Switzerland and Germany with Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra is an important part of his schedule.

In October the same year Daniel Raiskin will conduct Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg in his debut concert at the Große Festspielhaus Salzburg. He is already engaged to return to Salzburg in February 2006, when he will conduct 2 concerts with the Wroclaw State Philharmonic Orchestra as a part of an extended European tour.



The Age of Romanticism – the Spirit of Romanticism

The age of romanticism passed, so it would have appeared, with the close of the 19th century. The spirit of romanticism, however, and in particular its music – the most Romantic of the arts – remains eternal. It is not by mere chance that the vivid stylistic trend in contemporary music has been labelled “neo-romanticism”. It is of no mean significance that present-day interest in the age of romanticism covers a much wider scope than the undisputed masterpieces, ranging from works by Schubert and Liszt, Berlioz and Schumann to Wagner and Brahms. Musicians – and audiences in their wake – are now focussing intently on works from the Romantic school that have been undeservedly forgotten or which are rarely performed. There are many such pieces to be found among the creative legacy of the outstanding Hungarian composer Carl (Karoly) Goldmark (1830–1915).

Karoly Goldmark was born on 18 May 1830 in Keszthely, Hungary, into the large family of a notary and cantor at the local synagogue. The family was desperately poor: it was not until the age of twelve that Karoly began violin lessons, before which his musical impressions had been gleaned from singing at the synagogue and performing with village musicians. Two years of study at the music school in Sopron led him to Vienna, where he took lessons first from the renowned violinist and composer Leopold Jansa and then, in 1847–48, from Josef Böhm (violin) and Gottfried Preyer (harmony) at the Vienna Conservatoire. He played in theatre orchestras for ten years (1848–58) in cities throughout Austria-Hungary, discovering the works of Mozart, Rossini, Meyerbeer and Verdi…

This gifted musician taught himself the technique of counterpoint, instrumentation and how to play the piano; soon he was teaching piano in Sopron, Budapest and Vienna in addition to writing musical critique. Goldmark finally settled in the Austrian capital in 1859. Only at the age of 30 did he win acclaim as a composer. Success came with his First Quartet for Strings (1860), the overture Sakuntala (1865), the programmatic Rustic Wedding Symphony (1876) and The Queen of Sheba – the first and best of his six operas (1875). Goldmark’s works also include chamber ensembles, overtures, two symphonies, two violin concerti, operas based on subjects taken from Shakespeare (The Winter’s Tale), Goethe (Götz von Berlichingen) and Dickens (The Cricket on the Hearth) and choruses… If in his opera scores Goldmark, continuing the traditions of Meyerbeerian grand opera, felt the influence of Wagner (in his capacity as a music critic he proved himself to be a “Wagnerite”), then in his chamber and symphony music he was much closer to Brahms – evidence, if such were required, of the imaginary polarity of these two great Romantics. Goldmark had a long creative life; while remaining true to the ideals of his youth he kept pace with time: the clear imprint of Impressionist influences can be observed in piano music written in his later years. Towards the end of his life (Goldmark died on 2 January 1915) the composer had been made an honorary doctor at the University of Budapest, an honorary member of both the Vienna and New York Societies of the Friends of Music and of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

A work that enjoyed immense popularity in the latter half of the 19th century, Goldmark’s Concerto No. 1 in A minor, op. 28 is arguably his best-known work today. The Concerto was written between 1875 and 1878, at almost one and the same time as concerti by Brahms and Tchaikovsky (premiered respectively one and three years later), a fact that doubtless affected the fate of Goldmark’s Concerto. Few violinists retained it in their repertoires along with other masterpieces; few, indeed, perform it today. It is, however, a delightful work that charms by both its elaborate melodics and capricious harmony, filled with Wagnerian chromaticism. Taken as a whole, the Concerto is stylistically reminiscent of Schumann, Mendelssohn and even of Spohr. The demands on the soloist are high, but this is virtuosity of the highest order: all the technical “tricks”, the highly complicated passages, are artistically justified and the violin coloratura is a natural continuation of the strong, bright melodic line.

The first movement Allegro moderato, in the form of a sonata, opens with an energetic orchestral introduction. The sharp, dotted rhythm is a unique dramatic “ferment” of the work’s later symphonic development. The contrasting lyrical images are presented as extensive “endless” violin melodies. In the centre of the development comes a fugato based on the theme of the introduction. Its culmination – a brief cadenza of the solo violin – leads to a recapitulation that allows us to revel once more in the captivating melodiousness of the Concerto. The final coda repeats the introduction in condensed form, crowning the crystal-clear form of the sonata allegro. The second movement (Andante), secondarily annotated as Air, is a sublime symphonic song in ternary form. Outer slow sections bracket the more lively central episode. The finale (Moderato. Allegretto) – a rondo-sonata – is an impetuous melodic flow, which enthrals through its dazzling virtuosity and variety of themes. One brief, fugal melodic section in particular stands out, recalling the first bars of the last Rondo of Beethoven’s violin concerto – a kind of “hidden quotation”. The dramatically tense cadenza of the soloist is followed by a general recapitulation and brief coda that concludes the Concerto. The Concerto was premiered in Nuremberg on 28 October 1878, Johann Lauterbach performing the solo, then again four days later in Vienna, also with Lauterbach.

Johannes Brahms’ (1833–1897) last orchestral work was his Double Concerto for violin and cello in A minor, op. 102. Written in the summer of 1887, it was premiered on 18 October the same year in Cologne (with Joseph Joachim and Robert Hausmann performing the solos and the composer himself conducting).

Brahms treated his instrumental concerti as symphonies with solo parts. But whereas in Piano Concerto No. 1 (1854–1859) we see before us an impassioned young man, in the Violin Concerto (1878) and Piano Concerto No. 2 (1881), written when he was approaching fifty, Brahms appears in full maturity, as before a fervent Romantic but setting his artistic temperament within a strict framework. Few composers resembled Brahms in his ability to combine majesty of tone and power of expression.

The Double Concerto shows Brahms the composer as even more austere and reserved than in his previous instrumental concerti. Here, however, the scheme of Piano Concerto No. 1 and the Violin Concerto is largely repeated: from the dramatically intense and the most symphonic first movement (Allegro) through the strophic, ballade-form of the meditative Andante to the temperamental genre finale (Vivace non troppo), as always with Brahms permeated with Hungarian gypsy accents. What was new with the Double Concerto was arguably its great severity of form and objectiveness of tone: not by mere chance did the ageing genius (the Concerto marked the start of what would be the last ten years of his life) turn to the devices and style of the concerto grosso. Brahms rejected supreme virtuoso solos (although Joachim, for example, convinced him to make some sections of the violin part more striking). In the words of musicologist Carl Geiringer, for the first time “the composer wanted to create not a symphony in disguise but a true concerto.” The baroque model can be observed both in the “equality” amongst the solo instruments, characteristic of the concerto grosso, and in one rather amusing detail: Brahms “inserted” a reminiscence (jokingly referred to as “contraband” by Geiringer) of Viotti’s Violin Concerto in A minor which he admired so much. Joachim, too, loved this Concerto dearly; it may have been a demonstrative gesture from Brahms: the composer extending the olive branch to Joachim following a disagreement that had clouded their friendship for many years.