Senka Brankovic - The Lay of Love & Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Austrian pianist Senka Brankovic graduated from the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where Hans Leygraf, Hans Petermandl and Heinz Medjimorec were among her teachers; she also holds teaching positions at the Berlin University of Arts as well as the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. Her upcoming solo album focuses on the cosmos of Johannes Brahms. In addition to the 7 Fantasien, Op. 116 and 4 Klavierstücke, Op. 119, Brankovic presents the Brahms-Variations Op. 57, written by composer Ivan Eröd, who is of Hungarian descent. Composed in 1990 and dedicated to his compatriot the pianist Andras Schiff, the work takes on a theme from the Intermezzo Op. 116 / No. VI and develops it into 13 stylistically diverse variations. Numerous other citations and nods to other composers are also here to be discovered, as movement headings like Inch(... The bird Arnold as prophet...)Inch or InchTempo di 'Radetzky Marsch'Inch indicate.

Today, the Gotenburg Wind Orchestra represents one of Sweden's few remaining professional wind ensembles and carries an international reputation. And There Was Music includes a beautiful folk music suite with tunes from the Swedish jazz pianist Jan Johansson's famous record InchJazz p+Ñ svenskaInch and Hoagy Carmichael's InchStardust,Inch InchLa Paloma,Inch and InchRiverdance,Inch and conductor Alexander Hanson is one of the most requested conductors in Sweden. Since 2005, he is the artistic leader and chief conductor of GWO.

The year 2017 marked the 140th anniversary of the birthday and the 70th anniversary of the death of Feliks Nowowiejski and the present has been developed under a programme commemorating this very interesting, yet somewhat forgotten composer. Nowowiejski, a highly versatile composer, was, in the first place, an organist and he achieved genuine mastery in playing this instrument. This proficiency is perfectly rendered by the excellent interpretation of Elzbieta Karolak, which the listeners of this recording can enjoy. The characteristic practice of organ improvisation is reflected in three compositions which directly refer to Christmas by quotations from Polish Christmas carols, as well as in the colorful, illustrative music of the Organ Symphony No. 3.