Braunfels / Banse / Weigle - Im Arm Der Liebe / Love's Embrace - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937), one of the most influential French organists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, jokingly referred to himself as the substitute organist of the church of St. Sulpice, Paris, despite his 64-year tenure there. While best known for his ten organ symphonies, Widor composed in a wide variety of sacred and secular genres chamber music, orchestral works, ballet, operatic music, works for piano, and most importantly for this recording, melodies. In his day, Widor won respect as a composer, organist, professor, and cultural ambassador of France. In 1890 he became Cesar Franck's immediate successor as Professor of Organ at the Paris Conservatoire, and, in 1896, he succeeded Theodore Dubois as Conservatoire Professor of Composition. Widor's students in organ and composition included such distinguished names as Marcel Dupre, Louis Vierne, Charles Tournemire, Darius Milhaud, Albert Schweitzer, and Edgard Varese. Widor composed over 100 songs which have been overshadowed by his immensely popular organ works. His genius with melody, comprehensive piano writing, and discerning poetic text settings distinguish him as a gifted song composer unusually sensitive to the capabilities of the voice. Throughout his extensive career, Widor was concerned with achieving the best possible musical result in his compositions and continually developed, revised, and republished his works. A publishing custom of the time was to group sets of six songs in a single opus number; however, the songs of each of Widor's sets are not necessarily related by poet or theme. The songs were not intended to be presented as a cohesive cycle. With that in mind, the songs in this recording are not presented by chronological opus numbers. Widor's melodies exhibit a wide variety of musical influences, from the works of the German lieder composers to French vocal genres, such as t

The title of this album translates to InchThey loved each other.Inch Cornelia Lanz sings Lieder by Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms that reflect on the love the composers shared with their significant others. German mezzo-soprano Cornelia Lanz has performed solistically at all of the largest opera houses in Europe, and has worked under conductors such as M. Honeck, A. Fischer, and T. Horn. She studied voice at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. She is currently in the studio of renowned singer Eva Randova. She is joined on this album by pianist Stefan Laux, who studied under Christoph Back, a pupil of Alfred Brendel. He was still a student when he began his extensive concert career as a song accompanist in Germany and abroad. His repertoire spans almost the entire song literature, from Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven through Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and Eisler, up to the modern day.

At the turn of the '80s, enigmatic would-be pop-star Gary Knight teamed up with enigmatic art-star Cameron Lindo, and theirs was a whispering, sweet, mysterious sound, like the warble of Casiotones in a cathedral - Coventry Cathedral to be precise. You could tell that these guys walked hand-in-hand with their girlfriends in the ruins at midnight, and even if that wasn't true it might as well have been, though a sudden attack of bongo-fury may have sometimes interrupted love's young dreamers - these things could and did happen. This inventive duo could sound vaster than a full-on band; their unorthodox instrumental versatility gave them a beautiful sonic palette, and their surprisingly erotically charged lyrics gave evidence that nice boys DID. And frequently too. Originally released in 1982, the duo's initial mini-LP, The Initial Caress, is now released on CD for the first time. This first-ever reissue was digitally remastered by original producer John A. Rivers and includes six previously unreleased bonus demos. Housed in card gatefold sleeve with 12-page booklet full of notes and pictures.