Phoenix Edition is dedicated to the rediscovery of works by almost-forgotten composers as well as high-quality recordings of pieces written by well-known composers.  Below you will find the Phoenix Edition titles that are available on July 29.

This set of 2 CDs contains recordings of music conducted by Gary Bertini when he was chief conductor of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Cologne of the West-German Radio Corporation Cologne (WDR). He cast first class soloists for the music he chose, namely Mozart’s two most important spiritual vocal works. In the Mass in c Minor, the first soprano part is full of virtuoso technical difficulties-especially in the famous “Et incarnatus est” passage-legendary soprano Arleen Augér interprets it in a fabulously exemplary manner. The bass voice in the Requiem is no other than young Thomas Quasthoff, whose voice already possessed the sonorous, unique timbre that so quickly secured him a place among the world’s best singers. Other famous singers perform the other solo parts, among them Doris Soffel, Thomas Moser, Robert Swensen and Krisztina Laki; and thus we encounter some truly exemplary recordings conducted by the experienced Gary Bertini.

 
An archive of inestimable value: Generally, the year 1498, during the reign of Maximilian I, is considered to be the founding year of the Wiener Hofkapelle, even though we know today that its roots stretch back deep into the 13th century, as “Hofkapelle der Habsburger.” A multitude of composers left their musical imprints behind in the form of commissioned works for ecclesiastical celebrations, coronation ceremonies, lyrical dramas, operas or simple and courtly light music. In the epoch of Viennese Classical music it was no less than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri who assisted the Wiener Hofkapelle to their eminence.
For this, the first redressment has been made: then, in addition to famous names such as Franz Schubert or Michael Haydn, it is the today unfairly forgotten “minor masters” like Joseph Leopold von Eybler, Johann von Herbeck or Benedict Randhartinger who, with their impressive and richly orchestrated sacral works, provide for surprises. An impressive programme in the capable hands of Helmuth Froschauer, himself conductor of the Wiener Hofkapelle and thus an expert for this repertoire.

Franz Vinzenz Krommer, born in Trebice in 1759, three years after Mozart, and deceased in Vienna in 1831, three years after Beethoven, he is something like the prototype of the classical composer. With unborrowed ideas, wit and fire he is, in his early works, closest to Haydn and Mozart, jokingly winking like Joseph Haydn, as lazily elegant as was composed only in Vienna. In his later years he approached the musical language of Beethoven and, on occasion, his stylistic devices extend into the world of expression associated with romanticism. The string trio also belongs to the later profound works, with which he invoked in part the dramatics of Beethoven, in part the yearning of Schubert.

 
Phoenix can offer yet another first class ensemble from the realm of Baroque and Early Music: the L’Orfeo Baroque Orchestra under Michi Gaigg. The orchestra is one of the leading ensembles for historically informed performance practice and has been awarded international prizes for its recordings such as Diapason, Pizzicato (Supersonic Award), Choc du Monde de la Musique and Radio Österreich 1 (Pasticcio-Prize).
Jean-Féry Rebel’s dance symphony Les élémens from 1737/38 is about chaos. All the notes in the opening key are in a “cluster” of dissonance. The bass represents the earth; the run of flutes, the course of water; the air is painted with restrained notes, followed by cadences of small flutes, and fire with the help of the dexterous runs of the violins. The suite describes the state of nature before man’s arrival as seen very much through the eyes of the French late Baroque.

Joseph Haydn named him as “one of the greatest geniuses that I have known.” The Mozart contemporary Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792) has for a long time now no longer been regarded as a “lesser master.” This is above all to be ascribed to the unremitting commitment of Werner Ehrhardt, who for many years has assertively promoted the music. On this new SACD a “summit meeting” takes place with Simone Kermes, the young and exceptional soprano.
Together with the ensemble L’arte Del Mondo the pair have dug out the four cantatas La Scusa (1777) VB 43, La Pesca (1779) VB 44, LaGelosia (1780) VB 46 and La Primavera (1790) VB 47.

Tags: Alexander Puliaev, Arleen Augér, Christian Goosses, Doris Soffel, Fux, Gary Bertini, Haydn, Jean-Féry Rebel, Joseph Martin Kraus, Krisztina Laki, Krommer, L'arte Del Mondo, L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, La Pesca (1779) VB 44, La Primavera (1790) VB 47, La Scusa (1777) VB 43, LaGelosia (1780) VB 46, Les élémens, Mass in C minor, Michi Gaigg, Mozart, Mozart's Requiem, Music of the Viennese Court Chapel, Radio Symphony Orchestra Cologne of the West-German Rad, Robert Swensen, Salieri, Schubert, Simone Kermes, Sylvie Kraus, Thomas Moser, Thomas Quasthoff, von Eybler, Werner Matzke