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What's the latest from "Edition Günter Hänssler"?
An interesting and exciting 2007 is nearly over already. In good time for Christmas, PROFIL is again presenting a wealth of thrilling new releases. There have been prizes and awards, too, for a label that lives up to its slogan "The Fine Art of Classical Music" and consciously chooses to operate outside the classical mainstream.An "Echo" for the Edition Staatskapelle Dresden
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The highlight was undoubtedly the Echo Klassik award in the Gasteig Hall in Munich on October 20, 2007. Profil's EDITION STAATSKAPELLE DRESDEN received the ECHO AWARD for outstanding editorial achievement in 2007. "It is remarkable how a young label has succeeded in assembling such a complex work, now comprising over twenty volumes, and establishing it in the market," observed the jury. The ECHO award honours not only the label itself but all those who worked on the project, specially the STAATSKAPELLE DRESDEN, an orchestra rich in centuries of tradition and more than eight decades of documented sound that continues to set musical benchmarks all the time. |
Label head Günter Hänssler sees the ECHO too as an acknowledgement of his partner FIGARO, the arts radio programme of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. Without this strongly-based public arts channel and the team around music head Dr. Steffen Lieberwirth, who has assumed overall editorial control and personally plans and oversees each new instalment from mastering to booklet layout, the resonance would have been lost. "This series is a model of consummate teamwork between a German public broadcaster and an independent label," concludes Günter Hänssler.
The mood was correspondingly upbeat when the participants met at the ECHO ceremonies on October 21, 2007 at the Gasteig in Munich, and the latest release in the history of the Edition is of an appropriately high standard.
A Child Of Our Time
The 80th birthday of Sir Colin Davis has now been suitably honoured with the issue as Volume 25 of the EDITION STAATSKAPELLE DRESDEN of the oratorio "A Child of Our Time" by the English composer Sir Michael Tippett. Colin Davis himself judges this MDR recording as a highlight of his artistic career, and Profil is proud to be able to present him with this birthday present.The recording is accompanied by a booklet which in its turn is sure to set new standards in the field of CD artwork. Knowledgeable yet emotional, the commentary by the orchestra's former programme planner Eberhard Steindorf is illustrated with sensational images, made available exclusively for the first time by the Jewish community in Dresden. The politically committed oratorio tells the story of the young Jewish partisan Herschel Grynszpan, who shot dead a Nazi diplomat in Paris in 1938. The events triggered the reprisals taken in Kristallnacht, the "night of breaking glass" on November 9, 1938. "This CD is more than just a disc with music on it. The appearance of this work as part of the Edition Staatskapelle Dresden was of great importance to us. This CD is a political statement," says FIGARO music head Dr. Steffen Lieberwirth.
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EDITION STAATSKAPELLE DRESDEN , Vol. 25 Michael Tippett: "A Child of Our Time" - Oratorio in three parts for solo voices, choir and orchestra Soloists: Ute Selbig, Nora Gubisch, Jerry Hadley, Robert Holl Choir of the Dresden Staatsoper, rehearsed by Mathias Brauer Staatskapelle Dresden / Sir Colin Davis Order No. PH 07052 |
Staatskapelle history
Two further releases add precious historical recordings to the EDITION STAATSKAPELLE DRESDEN. After some problems with the original master tapes, which Profil restorer Holger Siedler of the THS-Studio in Dormagen eventually resolved with great success, the long awaited Volume 11 of the Edition is finally released, closing a gap in the series. It features the conductor Franz Konwitschny, who in 1953 and 1954 recorded Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony and D major Violin Concerto together with the legendary violinist David Oistrakh. Volume 22 of the Edition goes even further back, presenting the Staatskapelle under the baton of Karl Böhm in scenes from Wagner operas. The historical recordings from 1938 and 1939 document the consummate musicianship of the Staatskapelle, which has characterized it over the decades up to the present day. Thanks to Siedler's skills, these historical sound documents can now be heard on high-end systems and transport the music lover back almost seven decades, directly into the midst of music in the making.  |
EDITION STAATSKAPELLE DRESDEN, Volume 11 Johannes Brahms: Concerto for violin and orchestra in D major (David Oistrakh, violin) Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor Staatskapelle Dresden, cond. Franz Konwitschny Order No. PH 07005 |
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EDITION STAATSKAPELLE DRESDEN, Volume 22 Richard Wagner: Opera scenes from "Tannhäuser", "The Flying Dutchman","Lohengrin" and "The Mastersingers of Nuremberg" Opera choir of the Dresden Staatsoper, rehearsed by Ernst Hintze Soloists: Josef Herrmann (baritone) & Hans Hermann Nissen (baritone) Staatskapelle Dresden, cond. Karl Böhm Order No. PH 07058 |
Günter Wand - the Munich recordings in a lavishly appointed box
In good time for Christmas, PROFIL is issuing a no-expense-spared box set of outstanding recordings by Günter Wand and the Munich Philharmonic. This luxury edition comprises seven volumes, the first of them a double CD:
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Volumes 6 & 7 are being released on the German CD market for the first time as part of this box set, while Volumes 1, 3 and 5 have already been placed in the Best List for the German Record Reviewers' Prize. Volume 6 of the Edition is of particular significance. It documents the final performance of Bruckner's 6th Symphony with Wand conducting, at a time in 1999 when a recording with the Berlin Philharmonic had been planned - in vain - for the following year.
This live recording is an absolute rarity and gives Wand's interpretation of the Sixth, which as a matter of fact he played very rarely, as his very last word on the symphony.
It is noteworthy that Günter Wand was never in Munich other than as a guest conductor and that these live recordings were made solely as documentation. Expert opinion and an international jury have since judged these recordings to set absolute standards, which only goes to show the greatness and wisdom of maestro Günter Wand, not to mention the outstanding quality of the Munich Philharmonic.
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Günter Wand & Münchner Philharmoniker / The Munich Recordings 8-CD Box, Order No. PH 06013 |
And what is in store for 2008?
Hänssler Profil will be celebrating its fifth anniversary in the coming year. That will be fittingly celebrated at MIDEM in Cannes in January. We can confidently say that the past five years are nothing to be ashamed of. The year 2008 will be a year of looking back, then, but also - and principally - a year of looking forward. Our work has already been honoured with a Grammy nomination, with several Profil CDs on the jury lists. How the jury will decide remains to be seen. Till then, all present and future friends of Profil can do is keep their fingers crossed!- PROFIL MEDIEN GmbH -