It’s music of international stature. Smetana’s orchestral work Vltava (Moldau) from the cycle Má vlast (My fatherland) is played by orchestras throughout the world and much loved by audiences. Now this famous work is available in an authoritative edition reflecting the latest research.

(5.6.2014) Manfred Trojahn has immersed himself in some major literary texts for two of his new works: he has set Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Terzinen über Vergänglichkeit as orchestral songs for Marlis Petersen. These will be premiered on 18 June at the Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen by the Munich Radio Orchestra conducted by Ulf Schirmer. The Aix-en-Provence Festival is devoting a composer portrait to Trojahn with vocal and chamber music, including a first performance: Trois morceaux de “Quitter” to poetry by René Char will be premiered by Sabine Devieilhe (soprano) and the Ensemble Modern conducted by Franck Ollu on 13 July. A month before, Ungewisses Licht. 4 Fragmente für Chor receives its premiere in a portrait concert in the “Musik am 13.” concert series in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt.

(6.6.2014) The “vertical poetry” of the Argentinian poet Roberto Juarroz is the model for three orchestral songs by Philipp Maintz. His tríptico vertical will be premiered in Munich by soprano Marisol Montalvo and the Munich Philharmonic conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. The music and poetry are explorations of the unknown and portray with forceful images the dimensions of endlessness, glancing into the vertical in the abyss. Performances are on 25, 26 and 28 June 2014.

Die Quellenlage zu Beethovens 3. Klavierkonzert c-Moll op. 37 ist schwierig, weil das Autograph der Klavierstimme nicht erhalten ist. Jonathan Del Mar legt eine überzeugende Neuedition vor, bei der er jedoch in Details um Abwägungen nicht herumkommt.

Solomon, Handel’s late oratorio in English, sparkles not only because of its stirring plot, but also through musical tableaus of great variety. Now this major work has been published as part of the Handel Complete Edition.

The first volume of the New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition contains the “Linz Version” of his 1st Symphony, based on the latest evaluation of the sources. The work will be performed using this edition for the first time at the Salzburg Festival.

(21.3.2014) Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck’s orchestral output is comparatively small. Conductor Andreas Delfs, who is extremely familiar with Schoeck’s major music-theatre work Penthesilea, has added to his output with a 25-minute long Suite. In this, extended orchestral excerpts have been sensitively brought together to create a continuous short instrumental version of the opera. Delfs has also modified the unusual original instrumentation to make the work more performable, without sacrificing the characteristic tonal idiom. Mario Venzago conducts the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker in the first German performance of this Suite on 30 May, and on 1 and 2 June at the Schumann Festival.