W.A. Mozart’s timeless masterpiece at the Salzburg Festival is always an event! Especially when Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) receives such a ‘spectacular and virtuosic staging’ (Le Figaro) by director Lydia Steier. Steier introduces the role of the grandfather, a narrator reading the opera like a fairy tale to his three grandchildren, performed by the famous actor Klaus Maria Brandauer (Out of Africa, James Bond). This ‘trick’ in combination with the gigantic moveable sets by stage designer Katharina Schlipf, allows new views on Mozart’s magical opera, with its different worlds. Thanks to conductor Constantinos Carydis, who ‘seems to breath with the music’ (Tagesspiegel), there is a new Mozart to be heard too: Carydis draws ‘precise phrasing and plenty of crisp articulation’ (Financial Times) from ‘the musicians of the great Vienna Philharmonic’ (New York Times).

The Boston Symphony Orchestra and their music director Andris Nelsons announce their upcoming album, on which they present their acclaimed Shostakovich symphony cycle to mark the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death in 1975.

Born in Tallinn in 1962, Paavo Järvi is renowned for his dynamic interpretations and innovative programming. He has held prominent positions with leading orchestras, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, or the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich more recently. Paavo Järvi's approach combines technical precision with expressive depth, making him a favourite among musicians and audiences alike.

The German bass-baritone brings near-Wagnerian intensity to Schumann's two great cycles of 1840, yet he and Andsnes are at their most spellbinding in the introspective songs.

‘Goerne’s way with phrasing is quite admirable. He does not carve, he sculpts. One listens to Schubert’s phrases as one would stroke polished marble. Never an intonation for the sake of effect, never a superfluous accent’ (Sylvain Fort, Diapason). After the first volume of the Matthias Goerne Schubert Edition, this double album speaks of death, of the ‘Wanderer’, and of the relationship between Schubert and his poets . . . For this occasion the singer has called on two travelling companions who have left a lasting artistic impression on the world of the lied.

The baritone Matthias Goerne, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Mikko Franck launch a trilogy of Shostakovich’s works for baritone and orchestra with a recording of Symphony No.14. This will be followed by Symphony no.13 (Babi Yar) and the Suite on poems by Michelangelo Buonarroti. The soprano Asmik Grigorian joins Matthias Goerne for this monumental yet highly subtle symphony setting poems by García Lorca, Apollinaire, Küchelbecker and Rilke.

Christoph Eschenbach conducts this generous survey of the sumptuous, hyper-Romantic music of Austrian composer Franz Schreker. Not only was he the pre-eminent opera composer of his generation, he also, says Eschenbach, “took Mahler’s symphonic writing to a whole new level”. The album includes the ecstatic “Nachtstück” from Der ferne Klang, the exquisite Chamber Symphony and some ravishing orchestral songs, featuring Chen Reiss and Matthias Goerne.

Matthias Goerne marks a notable first with his latest album. He departs from the familiar territory of Schubert’s songs with piano accompaniment to perform a selection of pieces freshly arranged for voice and orchestra by his long-standing recital partner Alexander Schmalcz. Exploring this new terrain with Goerne are the musicians of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Schubert Revisited is released today.

Matthias Goerne, one of the most high-profile Schubertians of his generation, has recorded a selection of Schubert’s songs not in their original versions with piano but in orchestral arrangements by Alexander Schmalcz, Goerne’s accompanist of many years’ standing. Goerne says about Alexander Schmalcz’s arrangements: “His creativity in adapting these songs for the orchestra is enormous, while his stylistic sensibilities and his subtle approach in deploying the right instruments at the right moment are truly astonishing.” “Schubert’s ability to empathize makes him one of the most important composers in the whole of human history. (…) He created “a perfect balance between intellectuality and the greatest naturalness. With Schubert, even the most complicated melodies and forms sound entirely natural.” (Goerne)

The baritone Matthias Goerne, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Mikko Franck launch a trilogy of Shostakovich’s works for baritone and orchestra with a recording of Symphony No.14. This will be followed by Symphony no.13 (Babi Yar ) and the Suite on poems by Michelangelo Buonarroti . The soprano Asmik Grigorian joins Matthias Goerne for this monumental yet highly subtle symphony setting poems by García Lorca, Apollinaire, Küchelbecker and Rilke.

You might guess from the disc’s title (“Loneliness”), not to mention from the cover art, that isn't going to be the most cheerful of recitals; but in fact it isn't the least bit morose. Matthias Goerne has used his time with Harmonia Mundi to show that he is one of the most distinguished baritones singing Schubert today (review), and here he gives us his first Schumann recital, which proves to be every bit as distinguished; perhaps even more so, because since recording the Schubert series Goerne’s voice has darkened into an instrument that is even better suited for exploring the world of Schumann’s melancholy.

After his critically-acclaimed and award-winning 'lieder albums' with pianists Jan Lisiecki (Diapason D'Or, Edison Klassiek Winner) and Seong-Jin Cho (Limelight's 2021 Vocal Recording of the Year) baritone Matthias Goerne concludes his DG lieder trilogy with DG exclusive artist Daniil Trifonov. With this album, Matthias Goerne explores the art song from a metaphysical perspective. In these visionary meditations by Brahms, Wolf, Berg, Schumann and Shostakovich, Goerne and Trifonov's intense, intuitive partnership opens our ears to the awe-inspiring yet consoling voice of the prophets. 'Goerne's forceful vocal stature offers a potent counterpart to Trifonov's elegant flexibility. A great occasion in which two strong individualists interacted with total unanimity.' (Spiegel recital review)

It's the late Vier ernste Gesänge, Op. 121, that get the big print on the cover of this release by the awe-inspiring baritone Matthias Goerne, but actually the music on the album falls into a neat early-middle-late classification scheme. The group of middle-period settings of poetry by Heinrich Heine doesn't even get graphics on the cover, but these are fascinating. Brahms wrote a lot of songs, but you couldn't do better than the selection and performances here for a cornerstone collection item. Beyond the sheer beauty of Goerne's voice is an ability to shift gears to match how Brahms' style evolved. If you want to hear his real slashing, operatic high notes, check out the Lieder und Gesänge, Op. 32, settings of poems by the minor poets Georg Friedrich Daumer and Karl August Graf von Platen. These rather overwrought texts add up to a kind of slimmed-down Winterreise, and they catch the spirit of the still-young Brahms with his strong passions, elegantly controlled. The Heine settings, which come from several different sets of lieder, are not that often heard and are in some ways the most compelling of the group here.