Hänssler Profil kicked off the new year 2009 with a number of pioneering innovations. PROFIL has always had a good name for innovative concepts, and so both of the cooperative ventures agreed this spring should set the tone in a record and music market that is more fiercely fought for than ever.

BOOST MARKET POWER - USE SYNERGISTIC EFFECTS

On May 1, 2009, the Swiss CD label DIVOX entrusted its complete international sales and distribution operation to PROFIL Edition Günter Hänssler. As "Head of Distribution", PROFIL will develop and implement sales and marketing activities. And there are synergies to be utilized, such as the logistics of the NGL depot in Munich (Naxos Global Logistic) and joint promotion.

While DIVOX will in future reinforce its own core skills in the A & R field, PROFIL is looking forward to a valuable programme expansion in chamber music and expects an enhanced market presence for both labels.
DIVOX is celebrating its 25th birthday this year; their recordings of early music in high-quality sound in particular have enjoyed international recognition.


Günter Hänssler and Wolfram Burgert of DIVOX signing the contract.

Another highly promising collaboration is beginning promptly on June 1,2009: on June 1, 2009, the CD label telos music records will likewise be handing over its complete international sales and distribution to PROFIL Edition Günter Hänssler. As with DIVOX, Profil will be "Head of Distribution", developing and implementing new sales and marketing activities. The existing infrastructure offers the ideal platform for even more successful market positioning in future.
The telos music records catalogue includes recordings with highly regarded artists such as Ingolf Turban, Diana Damrau and Carolin Widmann. Many of its recordings are world premieres.


Joachim Krist of Telos and Günter Hänssler celebrate the start of a shared future that has just taken its first steps.

LOHENGRIN CLEANS UP IN ENGLAND ...

The specialist press in England is in no doubt. The release of Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin" in the new recording under Semyon Bychkov (Order No. PH 09004) has pulled off another major success for PROFIL. With Johan Botha in the title role as Lohengrin, Adrianne Pieczonka as Elsa von Brabant, Petra Lang as Ortrud and Falk Struckmann as Telramund, a fresh, unspoilt ensemble is ably backed by the WDR Symphony Orchestra of Cologne under the baton of the outgoing WDR Principal Conductor Semyon Bychkov.

OPERA magazine named the Lohengrin recording "Disc of The Month". The GUARDIAN awarded it five stars and described the recording as "a gloriously played and sung account of Wagner's first unqualified masterpiece" and concluded its review "you have to go back quite a few years to find a new Lohengrin as accomplished as this on disc."

Back at the end of April, the SUNDAY TIMES made it "CD Of The Week" and observed: "This studio version ranks with the best released on disc".

NEW CDS IN THE EDITION STAATSKAPELLE DRESDEN SERIES

Two new volumes of the Edition Staatskapelle Dresden, which now enjoys cult status among music-lovers around the world, will be released in June.

Conductor Rudolf Kempe adds a new name to this CD series. PROFIL presents one of his concerts recorded live in March 1974. The programme of this memorable concert, taped at the time by East German radio, comprised "Ein Heldenleben" by Richard Strauss, "Prélude a l'après-midi d'un faune" by Claude Debussy and Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto with the late Malcolm Frager as soloist (Order No.: PH 08053)

Another historic release, the complete recording of Carl Maria von Weber's opera "Der Freischütz", is also ready. For the first time since it was staged in 1944, in the last complete year of the war, this memorable recording is available in full digitally-remastered quality, fully restored and at the correct playback speed: Lorenz Fehenberger as Max, Margarete Teschemacher as Agathe, Elfride Trötschel as Aennchen and Kurt Böhme as Kaspar — the key artists of the Dresden Staatsoper ensemble with the Staatskapelle Dresden under Karl Elmendorff ensure a recording that has lost nothing of its musical validity in the past sixty-five years (Order No.: PH 07060).

Two more musical rarities round off PROFIL's programme of releases this spring: Wolfgang Brunner and Salzburger Hofmusik have laid down a complete recording of the Haydn opera "Philemon & Baucis". It is another important musical enhancement to this Haydn bicentennial year of 2009. The composer had originally designed his work for performance in a puppet theatre. Order No.: PH09038

Mendelssohn songs feature on the first solo CD by the young soprano Gudrun Sidonie Otto. This new disc fills a gap in the repertoire on the international music market. At the same time, the CD is a brilliantly successful debut for Gudrun Sidonie Otto, whetting the appetite for more releases from her. Order No.: PH 09045

EDITION GÜNTER WAND DUE FOR SPECTACULAR NEW RELEASES THIS AUTUMN

A new box of Günter Wand recordings will be appearing in the autumn, of works he performed with Berlin's German Symphony Orchestra (DSO), whose honorary conductor he was. All of these recordings have hitherto been under lock and key and are now released in a high-quality "digitally remastered" version. Our next newsletter will go into greater detail about the new releases.

The year 2009 will prove varied, exciting and forward-looking both for PROFIL and its partners old and new!

Translation: Janet and Michael Berridge