Here we meet Jörg Widmann as soloist, conductor and composer. With his piece Con brio, premiered in 2008, he pays a vibrant tribute to Beethoven in general and his Seventh Symphony in particular. At the head of the excellent Irish Chamber Orchestra, of which he is principal conductor, he has also recorded the aforementioned Symphony no.7, which occupies a special place among the most grandiose works of Beethoven; he himself considered the second movement to be one of his finest compositions! He wrote this symphony in 1812, when deafness was beginning to take its toll on him, the Napoleonic Wars were raging in Russia, and he met Goethe. Richard Strauss was in his twilight years when he composed his last instrumental work, the Duett-Concertino for clarinet and bassoon with string orchestra and harp, in 1947.

This is the 6th instalment of Haenssler’s critically acclaimed survey of Rihm’s orchestral music. Wolfgang Rihm celebrates his 60th birthday this year and this release is of two very melodic concertos. The works feature the phenomenally talented siblings Jörg and Carolin Widmann.

Two great artists, pianist András Schiff and composer/clarinettist Jörg Widmann, join forces for the first time on record, performing Brahms’s late masterpieces, the clarinet sonatas op. 120, written in 1894. In between the sonatas Schiff plays Widmann’s evocative Intermezzi for piano. As Jörg Widmann explains in a programme note, these are works inspired by his friendship with András Schiff and by a shared love of Brahms, to whom they pay tribute. The album was recorded at Neumarkt’s Historischer Reitstadel.