News
New CD Release
Johann Sebastian Bach
Partitas Part 2
BWV 827, 828, 829
Evgeni Koroliov, piano
CD (total playing time: 78:04)
Order no.: 0266-0
Barcode: 40 09850 026600
Inspiring Tube Sound
It's been a long time coming for this second part of Johann Sebastian Bach's partitas played by Evgeni Koroliov. The Steinway D grand piano from the first volume is now permanently installed in a beautiful church in Wernigerode. The recordings of Partitas 3 and 5 were made there.
Other issues also delayed progress, including the relocation of TACET's premises. And finally, we're all not getting any younger. Who could say otherwise? This takes its toll in the form of slower work.
Only a few things are timeless, and that includes the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The way in which Evgeni Koroliov immerses himself in this 'eternal' music, elevating it to a timeless presence, as if it were created in this very moment, changes my perception of time. I absorb its flow. I agree with its passing...
2024-10-22New CD Release
Gabriel Fauré
Complete Works for Violin and Piano
Matthias Lingenfelder, violin
Peter Orth, piano
CD (total playing time: 71:37)
Order no.: 0274-0
Barcode: 40 09850 027409
Inspiring Tube Sound
Out of curiosity, we asked the 'artificial intelligence' to write a press release for the latest new release. Question for the AI: Please write a press release for a CD with the complete works for violin and piano by Gabriel Fauré in a length of approx. 75 words. Matthias Lingenfelder, violin and Peter Orth, piano.
Answer from the KI: "On this CD Matthias Lingenfelder (violin) and Peter Orth (piano) interpret the complete works for violin and piano by Gabriel Fauré. The recording includes Fauré's impressive sonatas and miniatures, which shine in their full beauty thanks to the sensitive and virtuoso performance of the two artists. With great musical depth and subtle nuance, Lingenfelder and Orth capture the unique charm and emotional intensity of Fauré's music. A must for connoisseurs and lovers of classical music."
Not so bad at all. You can probably assume that most press releases will soon be written by KI. Can you as a reader make sense of this? Does it do justice to the special nature of this recording? I think not. After all, it is important to give the reader something personal, even if fragmentary and clumsy, so that he also takes a personal interest in the music on offer here.
Matthias Lingenfelder has always had a special affinity for French music due to his studies in Paris with Gérard Poulet, the son of Gaston, for whom Debussy wrote his violin sonata. Since 1995 at the latest, after the Auryn Quartet and Peter Orth had recorded the piano quintets of Gabriel Fauré, Primarius Matthias Lingenfelder and Peter dreamed of recording his works for violin and piano.
Many years passed, years full of other experiences. In 2022, the Auryn Quartet ended its concert activities and with it the long-standing exclusive contract between Auryn and TACET came to an end. Before that, I wanted one last recording with them for the label, as a farewell, no matter what. That didn't materialise. But Matthias still had the desire and energy. And so did Peter! So what could be more obvious than finally realising their long-cherished wish? The result is a serene, mature, confident, virtuoso, sensitive and loving performance of this unconventionally beautiful repertoire.
2024-09-03Cut or Uncut?
A first summary of the audience's reactions How wrong you can be. For various reasons, I began to doubt whether the current production practice of classical music is still up to date. Without question, a live concert offers a musical enjoyment that can hardly be surpassed by transmission via a technical medium. The ever-increasing technical effort that goes into technical reproduction does nothing to change this. Added to this is the dynamic of technical development, which will foreseeably lead to everything that "comes along digitally" being met with the utmost scepticism. What is fake and what is not? What can we still believe that is on the screen or coming out of the loudspeaker? It is becoming increasingly difficult to decide. In terms of music, the result will be that people will prefer to go to concerts again or even make music themselves. That's a good thing, isn't it? :-)
But now the reactions to the comparison of "Cut and Uncut". Initially only cautiously expressed, a clear preference in favour of the produced version is emerging - against my will, so to speak. It is not "uncut" but "cut" that is preferred by the majority of those who comment! And those who do express a preference have clever thoughts. One particular example is the review by Wojciech Pacula, the editor of the Polish website www.highfidelity.pl.
Please find the English translation here. Andreas SpreerCologne, 18.06.2024
2024-06-18New CD Release
Anton Bruckner
Cut or Uncut?
Symphony no. 7 in E major
Concerto Budapest, András Keller
2 CDs (total playing time 127:09)
Bestellnr. 0255-0
Barcode 40 09850 025504
2 CDs for the price of 1!
"Cut or Uncut"?
In 2024, Anton Bruckner would have turned 200 years old. Instead of promoting the 100th release for the Bruckner Year with flowery but ultimately helpless advertising slogans, we aim to stimulate reflection on production processes in classical music with a special release. What is the essence of a recording?
Anton Bruckner's 7th Symphony twice in full length, each on one CD. One is a live recording (Uncut), and the other is a produced, edited version (Cut), both under identical recording conditions. This means that your judgment will not be influenced by different circumstances during the recordings. Compare!
We are very happy that András Keller and Concerto Budapest, with whom we have enjoyed a fruitful collaboration for many years (this is already the 8th recording), agreed to make this project possible! What's more, this juxtaposition only came about through intensive dialogue after the recordings. More on this in the booklet.
András Keller follows an unbroken European tradition that stretches far into the past century, perhaps even back to Anton Bruckner. The way the strings play, the sensual melodic lines in all the instruments, the vocal quality even in furios passages are touchingly old-fashioned and yet timelessly modern. And the monumental arcs and crescendos in Anton Bruckner's music are tailor-made for each listener's question to themselves: What do I want from a recording? What moves me more, live or produced, cut or uncut?
You can find this production in TACET Real Surround Sound on audiofiles.tacet.de.
Compare the first few minutes of the first movement on YouTube!
2024-02-19New CD Release
Domenico Scarlatti
Complete piano sonatas vol. 9
Sonatas K. 296 - K. 325
Christoph Ullrich, piano
2 CDs (total playing time: 153:13)
Order no.: 0276-0
Barcode 40 09850 027607
2 CDs for the price of 1!
What is spontaneous creativity? I imagine a kind of spring, no, rather a waterfall. Something gushes forth, seemingly eternally, effortlessly and never running dry, from the pen of Domenico Scarlatti, from the fingers of Christoph Ullrich. An unimaginative person like me thinks: That's it now. He can't think of another sonata that doesn't repeat something long since invented. But yes, there's another one! New again, different again, freshly born again.
What do 555 sonatas mean? It means: an infinite number of sonatas, let anyone count them. This is exactly how Christoph Ullrich proceeds in the 12th of 17 episodes. Not only is every new Scarlatti sonata unique, but every version that Ullrich plays is also new. He cannot play such a unique piece the same way twice. He keeps telling me during the recordings: turn the tape back on, I'll try something else. Both like children at play, endlessly creative. Every version is bursting with ideas, every bar, every take. Every day, every second. All double unique! Domenico's Ullrich? Christoph's Scarlatti!
2023-11-28New SACD Release
Vox dilecti mei
The Voice of My Beloved
The Earliest Settings of the Song of Solomon (10th – 15th century)
Ensemble Peregrina, Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett
SACD (total playing time 66:51)
Order no.: 0270-4
Barcode 40 09850 027041
Inspiring Tube Sound, TACET Real Surround Sound (5.1), High Resolution Stereo (24 bit / 96 kHz) and CD-Layer (44.1 kHz)
Vox dilecti mei - The Voice of My Beloved
The Earliest Settings of the song of Solomon (10th - 15th century)
"We are very happy to present this collection of completely unknown yet outstanding pieces to the public. We hope that the charm of the Latin Song of Songs text together with the absolutely unique and elaborate musical settings we chose for this program will surprise and captivate you with its eternal beauty."
(Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett, founder and director of Ensemble Peregrina)
"Come, my beloved,
let us go forth into the fields
and lodge in the villages;
let us go out early to the vineyards;
let us see whether the vines have budded,
whether the flowers bear fruit,
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my breasts."
(Beginning of Regensburg Drama, Track 5)
Also this recording in the proven and multiple award-winning TACET Real Surround Sound.
2023-10-30
Antonin Dvořák
Symphony No. 9 in E minor
"From the New World"
Concerto Budapest
András Keller
LP, Vinyl 180g (total playing time: 42'31)
Order no.: 0250-1
Barcode: 40 09850 025016
Better little than toovyl * -
Vinyl. But what a vinyl!
Granted, you could have added a gold border and numbered it, but I honestly forgot, and between you and me - does that even matter with TACET? Everybody knows it already. Sound at its best, Inspiring Tube Sound, side 2 even in TACET Playbackwards mode, and then only the music! When the cellos start very softly, so softly and tenderly that you feel all the melancholy, all the homesickness of Dvorák in the New World for his homeland, if you want to turn up the volume, no no, don't do that, at least not toovyl, you will hear why - have fun!
* untranslatable German wordplay
2023-06-19New SACD Release
Béla Bartók
Hungarian Pictures, Concerto for Orchestra
Concerto Budapest, András Keller
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time 47:46)
Order no. 02624-4
Barcode 40 09850 026242
Inspiring Tube Sound, TACET Real Surround Sound (5.1), High Resolution Stereo (24 bit / 96 kHz) and CD-Layer (44.1 kHz)
"... They (Bartók and Kodály) wanted not only to put the Hungarian into the light, not to serve a mere colony of German music history, but to study folk music in all its manifestations, moreover - Bartók said in 1931 - to serve the fraternization of peoples. Later they explicitly aimed at "a synthesis of East and West". This very turn from the Hungarian to the global is nowhere more evident than in one of the last works, the Concerto for Orchestra, which outwardly echoes the Hungarian Pictures as they do the early period of folk music research..." (from the liner notes by Jan Reichow)
This recording (like the entire TACET catalog, by the way) not only captivates on first listen, but invites you to savor countless small details, each twist a treasure that András Keller and the musicians of Concerto Budapest bring out as knowledgeably as they do lovingly.
2023-04-27New SACD Release
Gustav Mahler
Symphony no. 9
Concerto Budapest, András Keller
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time 79:04)
Order no. 0254-4Barcode 40 09850 025443
TACET Real Surround Sound & stereo
This is not the ninth 5th, but still the fifth 9th symphony by András Keller with Concerto Budapest on TACET! After Bruckner, Dvořák, Shostakovich and Schubert (it now counts as the 8th), now Mahler. An impressive testament to the range of this unusual orchestra and its unique conductor.
Certainly there are countless other recordings, also very good, of these last finished symphonies of great composers. However, I find that Keller's interpretations, with his unconditional will to express in detail, can compete with any, even the best known. Recordings of that repertoire in TACET Real Surround Sound are completely new. They bring to light previously hidden beauties and place the listener in the middle of the music. This also allows you to hear these works in a completely new way.
2023-01-16New SACD Release
Franz Schubert
Symphony no. 8 in C major D 944
Concerto Budapest, András Keller
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time57:08)
Order no. 0249-4Barcode 40 09850 024941
TACET Real Surround Sound & stereo
A romantic horn melody from the distance is taken up by the woodwinds, continued by the cellos and violas, takes hold of the entire orchestra and leads into an exuberant, lively Allegro.
Seemingly so simple everything and yet highly complex. And also the interpretation seems effortless despite all finesses, hair-raising technical difficulties, despite all discussions about styles of interpretation. - Who cares? Without resistance we surrender to this flow of melodies, harmonies, coldness gives way to warmth, and willingly forget for an hour all struggle and cramp around us.
2022-12-07New CD release
Domenico Scarlatti
Complete piano sonatas vol. 8
Sonatas K. 266 - K. 295
Christoph Ullrich, piano
2 CDs (total playing time 115:56)
Order no. 0275-0Barcode 40 09850 027508
Sometimes time flies by. For example, when something stimulating happens all the time, as here with the new volume No. 8 of the complete recording of all 555 sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti. And not because of the two organ sonatas, which are actually played here on an organ, nor because of the acoustics at the new recording venue Marienmünster.
Once again, Christoph Ullrich is exclusively responsible for these stimuli, and he knows how to shape these gems, which seem to have been written for him, with such never-ending imagination, exuberant ideas, nuances that always seem spontaneous but are nevertheless carefully woven, that two hours go by like two shooting stars.
2022-11-02Vinyl exclusive
TACET's Beethoven Symphonies
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphonies Nos. 1 - 9
Complete Edition
Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Wojciech Rajski
9 Vinyl-LPs (180 g, with gold edging) in a high quality linen box
Order no.: 0974-1
Barcode: 40 09850 097419
Half Speed Mastering, 3x Play Backwards
Inspiring Tube Sound, Limited Edition
A Beethoven cycle that is fun from the first to the last note! Wojciech Rajski guides us through the sheer inexhaustible wealth of ideas energetically and sensitively, humorously and dance-like, with radiant elegance. And he brings to light details that have never been heard before. Pleasure without pathos. The highly acclaimed series was created between 2005 and 2015 in Sopot (Poland) and in St. John's Church in Gdansk. It has so far been released on CD, SACD, Bluray and also LP in individual editions.
But Rajski's Beethoven not only has musical qualities that go far beyond the "normal", it also sets recording standards. TACET's Inspiring Tube Sound, for example, continues to find new enthusiastic fans. That's why the series is now being released once again, as a limited LP box set for exclusive collectors. "Half-speed" mastered, the suitable sides in the legendary "play backwards" mode (also a TACET development), 180g pressings, in a particularly high-quality presentation with gold edging, in a linen-covered box and with serial numbers (total edition of 1000) as well as signed by the producer.
2022-06-30New SACD Release
Summary Vol. II
Miklós Perényi
Bartók, Debussy, Kodály, Martinu, Mendelssohn, Schumann
Miklós Perényi, violoncello / Dénes Várjon, piano / Concerto Budapest, András Keller
Order no.: 0268-4Barcode: 40 09850 026846
TACET Real Surround Sound & stereo
There are always musical child prodigies. Faster, more powerful, more perfect than previously imaginable. But there are also "senior prodigies". They reveal not only structure and inner sense of great works. At the same time they talk about themselves and their lives, where they come from or where they are going, on the basis of pieces that they have often carried around with them since youth. About their dreams, which are also those of youth.
"What would you most like to play?" I asked 74-year-old Miklós Perényi when we were thinking together about the programme for this recording. The result was an unusual recital, volume 2 of the TACET series "Summary".
Further episodes in preparation.
2022-04-19New CD release
Domenico Scarlatti
Complete piano sonatas vol. 7
Sonatas K. 236 - K. 251
Christoph Ullrich, piano
2 CDs (total playing time 139:36)
Order no. 0271-0Barcode 40 09850 027102
All 555 sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, part 7
At the beginning of 2021, a gap was found in the renovations at the church, where the previous volumes of the complete recording of all 555 of Domenico Scarlatti's piano sonatas, with the exception of number 6, were recorded. The present 7th publication with the sonatas K. 236 to K. 265 was thus surprisingly made in the familiar surroundings again.
Is it perhaps the finest set to date? We ask ourselves and you, dear listener. Help us!
2022-02-15Multichannel-Download-Shop opened
TACET is one of the most dedicated and interesting labels in the world when it comes to multichannel. The demand for our multichannel recordings in TACET Real Surround Sound is constantly growing. That's why we have created a multichannel download store in addition to the physical recordings. It is hereby opened! Here you can buy our multichannel recordings - only multichannel, not stereo! - as a file in Flac format. There are now 30 of the 80 recordings available, the list will be completed quickly.
https://audiofiles.tacet.deAs a special treat, there is one production for free to try out. "More power and ideas - for your surround system" helps to set up the system correctly and to get the right taste! Right on the home page.
2021-12-02New SACD Release
Mare Balticum Vol. 4
Pomerania
Music from northern Germany and Poland (14th– 15th century)
Ensemble Peregrina
Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time 78:14)
Order no. 0273-4Barcode 40 09850 027348
TACET Real Surround Sound & stereo
The fourth and final recording of Agnieszka Budzinska-Bennett's "Mare Balticum" project with and about music from the Baltic region, the first of which has already received the coveted ICMA, is perhaps the most beautiful. One-part melodies sung by four women in their own rhythm and yet in complete unison transport us to the bygone world of the Middle Ages. Solo songs bring us even closer to that time. For instance, when - this is just one example - Lorenza Donadini as Mary laments the death of Jesus, we hear the grief of a living mother over the death of her own child.
What a pity that this excursion into the past lasts only 79 minutes!
2021-11-09New CD release
Domenico Scarlatti
Complete piano sonatas vol. 6
Sonatas K. 206 - K. 235
Christoph Ullrich, piano
2 CDs (total playing time 155:30)
Order no. 0269-0Barcode 40 09850 026907
All 555 sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, part 6
In 2020 the Scarlatti boat was sailing the high seas when suddenly it hit the rocks. :-(
And so for the 30 sonatas of part 6, the crew fled like rats from a sinking ship onto dry land and into the back of beyond - where it's too boring even for Corona. Between a stack of grand pianos stored vertically, upright pianos, and in unimaginably dry acoustics, Christoph Ullrich, playing Gerd Finkenstein's familiar and beautiful grand piano, shifted time and space into a bygone world. A world that is perhaps not so distant from our own time as we might think. There were serious diseases everywhere then. Just like nowadays, that didn't stop people from caring about equally important things, such as cheering up a melancholy King! Among other things, this is what Scarlatti was employed for.
Dear reader! You are the king who, in the face of the world's crises, threatens to sink into depression. Listen to this double CD (for the price of one), full of an endless variety of cheerful, but also often of reflective pieces, and allow it to take your mind off things!
2021-10-15New CD release
The Welte Mignon Mystery Vol. XXIII
Ferrucio Busoni
today playing all his 1905 / 1907 interpretations
Works by Bach-Busoni, Chopin and Liszt
2 CDs (total playing time 106:02)
Order no. 0244-0
Barcode 40 09850 024408
For the last time, we dive deep into the 19th century as part of our benchmark collection of Welte recordings. Born in 1866, pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni was recommended by Johannes Brahms as a student and was acquainted with countless musicians from Grieg to Tchaikovsky. Today he is best known for his arrangements or interpretations of Bach, Chopin and Liszt. All of Busoni's Welte recordings can be found on this double CD (for the price of one).
This concludes the TACET series "The Welte Mignon Mystery."
All 26 CDs of the series on www.tacet.de (search the catalog for keyword "Welte")
2021-09-15In times when everyone can write their own music review on social media or, if necessary, a company can praise their own publications under a pseudonym, it is a pleasure to receive two well-founded reviews in one day from serious critics and established music magazines!
Supersonic by Uwe Krusch in "Pizzicato" for the recently published CD 258:
--> review see here
Rainer W. Janka in "Klassik-heute" for SACD 259:
Real "surround", that is, an encompassing spatial sound, develops when - as can be seen on the back CD cover - the musicians of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra sit in a circle during the recording. You can hear that this is not just a gag: the result is excellent transparency, transparency of the overall sound with simultaneous instrumental fanning out of the orchestral sound, extremely balanced balance between strings and winds and the organic embedding of the timpani. "Embedding" is almost literally true: you almost never hear the kettledrum so soft as a bed, so variable in the "touch" (as you would say with a pianist), so in the serve and so supportive of the interpretation. (...)
A philosophical game
The play of the musicians, led by the violinist Gordan Nikolić, is conclusive. The violins in particular bring life to the problem that the musicologist and conductor Peter Gülke wrote about the beginning of the E-flat major symphony ("Triumph of the new art of music. Mozart's late symphonies and their environment"): "Belongs to the paradox of every beginning that he, hovering between the absence and presence of the object, has to reflect the weight of the thing that begins there, but not the thing itself. "In other words, do I start or do I start something? When I start, I always start something at the same time. There "premonitions, allusions and other forms of musical not-yet-come-in,"
continues Gülke. This is offered by the searching and erring violins right after the pathetic full E-flat major sound, which culminate in a sharpened seventh chord: the beginning as the beginning of everything. Almost like the beginning of a world. And doesn't the beginning of the world begin in Wagner's Rheingold with a deep Ur-E-flat major surge?
(...)
--> complete review (in German)
2021-06-24New CD release
Johann Sebastian Bach
Sonatas for violin and harpsichord BWV 1014 – 1019
Daniel Gaede, violin
Raphael Alpermann, harpsichord
2 CDs (total playing time 83:20)
Order-no. 0258-0Barcode: 40 09850 025801
The 6 sonatas for violin and harpsichord obbligato rank amongst the most beautiful chamber music that Bach wrote. They are overshadowed by the solo sonatas. This despite the fact that they are masterpieces in their own right, only without the aura of a magnum opus. The slow movements display a range of moods, from desolate and lonely to radiantly festive. Meanwhile, the fast movements are a mixture of high-spirited instrumental music and contrapuntal mastery. There are canons, fugues, chorale preludes and much more: practically a compendium of options. Daniel Gaede and Raphael Alpermann guide us through this treasure trove of curiosities with virtuosity and sensitivity. Once again: 2 CDs for the price of one.
2021-05-26New SACD release
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphonies KV 543 "No. 39", KV 551 "Jupiter"
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Gordan Nikolić, violin
TACET Real Surround Sound, Inspiring Tube Sound
Hybrid SACD (total playing time: 76:02)
Order no. 0259-4
Barcode 40 09850 025948
Yoopy! - there is a new recording of Mozart opus 551 - oops, KV 551 - and KV 543! - Some reviewers shake their heads. "Yet another one!". - Well ("Hey, guys" Gordan Nikolić always says), I'm sorry, that's the way it is with TACET, again and again known works. You have to get through there. Fortunately, these two are so devilishly good that centuries after their creation they still knock people who have an antenna for it off their feet.
Wait a minute, antennas, did they already exist back then? Anyway, you know what I mean. Silly? Yeah, silly. Who would say that Mozart wasn't occasionally silly? Here too? And bold, cheeky! The way he quasi throws down the last movement of the Jupiter symphony like a gauntlet at the feet of his contemporaries is inimitable. Unfortunately, you can't see it on this SACD when the bassoons and cellos laugh up their sleeves, but you can hear it all the better. What contrasts! After the bright beginning with timpani and trumpets, the second movement comes from a completely different world. "Con sordino", seductively and gently Gordan Nikolić and the girls and guys of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra caress the ears. And so it goes on and on. Same with the E flat major symphony.
Yes, but aren't there already many wonderful recordings of these works? Yes there are. But as is the case with Mozart, the most famous interpreters can fail and the least known can hit the mark. Decide yourself. Also with sound there is always headroom upwards just as on the Richter scale, upwardly open. Speaking of sound, during the recording the orchestra sat in a circle around Mozart, similar to the other symphonies in this series. Native TACET Real Surround Sound. Sit down with him, right in the middle!
2021-03-31New CD and SACD release
CD-version: 
Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony no. 9 op. 70
Symphony no. 5 op. 47
Concerto Budapest
András Keller
CD (total playing time 66:19)
Order no. 0253-0
Barcode 40 09850 025306
Inspiring Tube Sound
SACD-version:
Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony no. 9 op. 70
Symphony no. 5 op. 47
Concerto Budapest
András Keller
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time 66:19):
Contains CD-layer (playable in every CD-player),
hi-res DSD stereo layer and 5.1 multi channel DSD layer
Order no. 0253-4
Barcode 40 09850 025344
Inspiring Tube Sound
Pictures while listening to symphony no. 9: A joyful, almost boisterous opening movement. A dreamy, contemplative second followed by a sparkling presto. And then this short fourth movement, the helpless lament of a lonely bassoon, still showing signs of vitality against the stark, unbending, unison brass. A small, tormented individual under brutal state power. Nevertheless, still it laments. The dictator repeats his demand. But the bassoon does not totally lose heart. It starts the last movement with a shy, slightly mischievous dance that becomes gradually more light-hearted. Somewhere along the line, the timpani and horns give the signal to rise up, initially very softly. This is the announcement to the dictator: watch out, Stalin, this is it, now I'll make you think with pen and ink! The furious ascent peaks with a grotesque triumphal march that sounds like liberated laughter. The powerless one makes fun of the all-powerful – and then whistles in his face! Looking back, the question arises: who is the one lying as heavy as cold sheet metal in an eternal bottomless pit and who is the one who remains laughing in history? Judging by the music, by the 9th symphony Shostakovich had put the worst of times behind him. Quite different from in the 5th, but that's another story. Another story, by the way, that you can also find in this cinema.
Is that just my idea? Or does it come from the fact that the Concerto Budapest and András Keller tell the story in such a straightforward manner? It almost seems as if there are people playing here who are marked by the aftermath of those times.
2021-01-19
2 years ago 1 nomination, 1 year ago 2 nominations, this year 4 for the well-known "International Classical Music Awards" (ICMA)!
The Auryn Series
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
String Quartet in C major KV 465
String Quartet in B flat major KV 458
Frédéric Chopin
feuilles nocturnes
Evgeni Koroliov, piano
Domenico Scarlatti
Complete piano sonatas vol. 4
Christoph Ullrich, piano
Mare Balticum Vol. III
Wizlav von Rügen
13th - 14th century
Complete Songs
Ensemble Peregrina. Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett
Congratulation to the artists! We look forward to the final winner anouncement.
2020-11-27New CD release
Domenico Scarlatti
Complete piano sonatas vol. 5
Sonatas K. 177 - K. 205
+ Bonus-Track with Ib Hausmann, clarinet
Christoph Ullrich, piano
2 CDs (total playing time 139:16)
Order no. 0267-0Barcode 40 09850 026709
+++ Breaking News +++ Christoph Ullrich tested positive for Scarlatti
The pianist Christoph Ullrich has tested positive for Scarlatti and is quarantining at home for three months to prepare for the next wave. The Scarlatti virus is extremely infectious. A person infected with it can easily infect up to 100 other people. Previous releases from TACET’s complete edition of Scarlatti are regarded as particularly dangerous superspreader events. Symptoms include continuous listening to these recordings, sleeplessness and a good mood. The producer is said even to have shown signs of mental confusion.
Gerd Finkenstein knows this material intimately and has been present at all the recording sessions in this TACET series with his concert grand. Even such a large instrument does not offer sufficient protection: Finkenstein has also tested positive. He said, "I can no longer sleep at night, I toss and turn from one side to the other and keep waking up in a good mood."
The illness originates not in China, as many maintain, but from Italy, either from Parma or Venice, maybe even both cities, according to Thomas Seedorf, chief virologist of the TACET series. He advices sticking rigidly to the H-F-S (“Hands-Face-Space”) rules better known as "Hear - Frequently - Scarlatti!". Thomas Seedorf: “Don’t read this information! It’s incendiary. Thomas Seedorf: “Don’t read this information! It’s incendiary. If you have already read it, contact the Ministry for Musical Health and follow the instructions you are given.” Here is the link to the Ministry.
2020-11-26New CD release
The Koroliov Series Vol. XXIII
Johann Sebastian Bach
Partitas Part 1
BWV 825, 826, 830
Evgeni Koroliov, piano
2 CDs (total playing time: 81:55)
Order no. 0265-0Barcode: 40 09850 026501
There is one cycle of Johann Sebastian Bach’s keyboard works that Evgeni Koroliov has not yet recorded and that’s the Partitas. Part 1 is out now with BWV 825, 826 und 830. Because Koroliov takes his time, they don’t fit onto one CD, but that’s no real loss for the listener. As is often the case with TACET, you pay for one CD but get 2.
Composers such as Ligeti and Kurtág have praised Koroliov’s Bach interpretations, as have many reviewers the world over as well as countless listeners. At a time when many people have to live in isolation, separated from family and friends, this music is refreshing to the soul. No tinkling on the keyboard, no drama; instead, reflection and immersion in the beauty of the detail and of the whole. You enter into an intimate dialogue with Bach through the medium of Koroliov and you become completely absorbed in the interaction between these two artists. There’s no better way to pass the time.
2020-11-18New SACD Release
Mare Balticum Vol. 3
Wizlav von Rügen
13./14. Jahrhundert
Sämtliche Lieder und Sprüche
Complete Songs
Ensemble Peregrina
Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time 75:29)
Order no. 0261-4Barcode 40 09850 026143
TACET Real Surround Sound & stereo
The modern man seems to have more in common with his middle age ancestors than might be welcome to him. But don't look at this only negatively. There was more than pest and cholera at that time.
Volume 3 of the already famous TACET Mare Balticum series pays homage to fairy-tale Wizlav von Rügen. Following his songs the emotional life of that time must have been very similar to ours today. What witty linguistic ideas he was inspired to by love! Sorry for having no photo of him. First complete recording!
2020-07-22New SACD release
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sinfonia concertante KV 364
Version with the scordatura viola
Symphony in G minor KV 550
Version with clarinets
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra
Gordan Nikolić, violin
Richard Wolfe, viola
TACET Real Surround Sound
Inspiring Tube Sound
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time 68:04):
contains CD layer, playable in every player,
DSD stereo layer and 5.1 multi channel layer
order no. 0236-4
Barcode 40 09850 023647
The first time I heard "the" G Minor Symphony as "on-hold" music on the telephone, I thought, "Oh dear, another piece spoilt forever." You're wanting to complain to your telephone provider about your last bill and you hear this racket!
But there is a remedy. You just need to listen a little further than the clip from the on-hold music. There are so many different moods: melancholy, grief, rage, consolation. And everything is woven together with such ingenuity and originality!
It may seem strange at first to combine this with the blissful togetherness of the Sinfonia Concertante, but on reflection it makes sense. Whilst the slow movement of the G Minor Symphony (in the same key as the Sinfonia Concertante) brightens the mood of the other movements, the melancholic slow movement of the Sinfonia Concertante casts a shade over the lightness of the outer movements. It's not all difficult, nor is it all straightforward. Just like real life.
Gordan "the philosopher" Nikolić (musical director and solo violin), Richard Wolfe (solo viola) and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra take on this fragile co-existence with impeccable assurance.
2020-04-23
New CD release
The Koroliov Series Vol. XXII
feuilles nocturnes
Nocturnes, waltzes, études and mazurkas by Frédéric Chopin
Evgeni Koroliov, piano
CD (total playing time 74:46)
Order no. 0257-0
Barcode 40 09850 025702
In a sense, this new recording from Evgeni Koroliov, of pieces by Frédéric Chopin that he played in his youth, continues on from his last one (Intermezzi by Johannes Brahms TACET 256).
Contemplative, intimate music that reaches out calmly and fondly to the listener, allowing him/her to breathe deeply, forgetting the concerns and worries of the world outside.
2020-03-26
New Scarlatti Release
Domenico Scarlatti
Complete Piano Sonatas Vol. 4
Sonatas K. 147 - K. 176
Christoph Ullrich, piano
2 CDs (total playing time 127:33)
Order no. 0263-0
Barcode 40 09850 026303
You know this phenomenon? You impose restrictions on yourself and watch a thing or do an operation within these limits, and as a result you extend the horizon and find a new world seeming bigger than the whole. It is like a magnifier showing new details hidden under the roughness of the surface.
Welcome in the world of 555 Domenico Scarlatti piano sonatas! Most of them have only one movement with one double bar in the middle and two repetitions. In his self-created cosmos Scarlatti moves totally spontaneous, confident and unsystematical. Inside the system he breaks nearly all rules such as 4 bar scheme, style, rhythms, colours, playful like a child that does not know if there are any limits and where they are. However you have to take the magnifier, otherwise you stay outside on the surface.
This is exactly what Christoph Ullrich does. He looks for every sonata and its character in detail and lives all the playfulness of Scarlatti with enthousiasm. Volume 4, seventh release of the 17 part complete edition shows another chaotic solar system of the Scarlatti universe. Fascinating, weird, glittering and beautiful
2020-02-24New SACD release
The Auryn Series
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
String Quartet in C major KV 465 "Dissonance"
String Quartet in B flat major KV 458 "The Hunt"
Auryn Quartet
Inspiring Tube Sound
TACET Real Surround Sound & stereo
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time 72:45):
contains CD layer, playable in every player,
DSD stereo layer and 5.1 multi channel layer
order no. 0235-4
Barcode 40 09850 023548
Herewith the Auryn Quartet says goodbye to the record market. The stereo version was praised in Spiegel, Audio, Klassik-heute, CD hot list and many other magazines. The multi-channel of this SACD adds another dimension.
Our catalogue lists not less than 67 releases of the Auryns, including complete recordings of Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann plus Mozart, Dvorák, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Britten and other recordings from the past 30 years. MatthiasLingenfelder, Jens Oppermann, Stewart Eaton und Andreas Arndt always felt connected with the tradition of Amadeus and Guarneri Quartet. Many ensembles change members from time to time. Not the Auryn Quartet. Rather they invited somebody as fifth member, in our catalogue for quintets by Mozart, Schubert, Brahms and Schumann.
"A sound of silk and gold" (Heinz Gelking in Image HiFi)
Time goes by. Today younger, also very good ensembles dominate the concert halls who bring along a totally different view of the music. Which is a good thing. But for the moment there is no quartet that embodies an as long and homogeneous tradition like this. With Auryn Quartet an unrivalled history comes to its end. Chapeau!
(Concerts will go on until August 2021.)
2020-01-29New EigenArt-Production
Edition EigenArt
Hommage à Wolfgang Jacobi
The complete works for free bass accordion
Daniela Grenz - Accordion
CD (total playing time 70:41)
Order no. 1057-0Barcode 40 09850 105701
Due to the jewish origin of his father Wolfgang Jacobi (1894 - 1972) was appointed professor at the Musikhochschule Munich only after the war. Different to some other younger artists, who made brilliant careers after the war, persecuted people as Jacobi first had to overcome the stigma of missing succes which often did not work completely. Jacobi choose his own, very original way, e. g. with works for accordion. This instrument struggled to maintain recognition for other reasons... Complex harmonies and unconventional rhythms combined with polyphonic use of the whole accordion are challenging for every player. Daniela Grenz masters the task perfectly and elegantly and works out many joyful musical details like dance elements.
The instrument of Daniela Grenz is a single-unit production by Massimo Pigini made for her in 1995. It has no linked chords like a common accordion. The single tone left manual enables polyphonic playing of both hands.
2019-12-11New SACD Release
Ludwig van Beethoven
Violin Concerto op. 61
String Trio op. 3
Daniel Gaede, violin
Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Wojciech Rajski
3 Gaede
TACET Real Surround Sound
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time85:22)
Order no. 0246-4Barcode 40 09850 024644
TACET Real Surround Sound & stereo
A soft knock at the door. Who is it? Could it be? - Hopefully it is! - Hidden feelings, longings arise, a sense of who and what it could be, and then the door opens, and it's him – rather than crashing in he enters cautiously, and the reality is even sweeter and more beautiful than imagined -
Please excuse me giving rein to such unrestrained romanticism, but these are pretty much the associations running through my mind as I listen to this recording. The tapping motif in the timpani and the singing lover are as one: Beethoven's Violin Concerto is chamber music. Daniel Gaede plays unaffectedly without any soloistic pretensions and on the same wavelength as the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra under Wojciech Rajski.
As a prelude rather than an encore, the three brothers in spirit, Daniel, Thomas and Sebastian Gaede play the Serenade op. 3.
2019-12-05New Production available as CD and SACD
Wolfgang Amadé Mozart
Stadler Quintet K. 581, Clarinet concerto K. 622,
Aria K. 523 & 524
Dirk Altmann, Kei Shirai,
Masato Suzuki, Ludwig Chamber Players
CD-version:
Total playing time 68:10
Order no. 0252-0
Barcode 40 09850 025207
SACD-version:
Total playing time 38:10
TACET Real Surround Sound
Contains CD-layer (playable in every CD-player), hi-res (DSD) stereo layer and 5.1 multi channel (DSD) layer
Order no. 0252-4
Barcode 40 09850 025245
The clarinet player uses his instrument as billard cue. This little provocation on the cover indicates what is going on. Its common knowledge that Mozart composed these pieces not long before his death. But for Dirk Altmann (and booklet author Katharina Eickhoff) they are not the creations of an angel on the way to heaven but where written in a very earthly environment a part of which was playing billard with his friend and clarinet player Anton Stadler. What happens when the clarinet concerto is played exempt of romantic, nearly religious enhancement? We hear the inspirations of a joyful genius. Surely you want to know more...
2019-10-30New SACD release
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Violin Concertos KV 207 & KV 219
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra
Gordan Nikolić, violin
Inspiring Tube Sound
TACET Real Surround Sound
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time 52:35): contains CD layer, playable in any CD player, Hi-res (DSD) stereo and 5.1 multi-channel(DSD)
Order no. 0231-4Barcode 40 09850 023142
TACET Real Surround Sound & stereo
You can imagine already when listening in stereo: The orchester including the soloist sits in a big circle around the microphones. Of course the multi-channel version in TACET Real Surround Sound is much clearer. What a fun for all of the musicians! Gordan Nikolić, soloist and leader of the recording, infects everyone. He feels entirely at home with Mozart and he has a love for the crazy things in the music. While in the fast movements climbing and clambering around on the strings like a child at the playground in the slow ones he caresses his violin like... - a cuddly?
Please also watch this video:Video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pTFXBzz6WE.
Further releases with Gordan Nikolić please refer to order no. 0207-4, 0214-0 und 0230-4.
2019-09-25New SACD release
Mare Balticum Vol. 2
Medieval Finland and Sweden
14th - 16th century
Ensemble Peregrina
Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time63:44)
Bestellnr. 0248-4EAN 40 09850 024842
TACET Real Surround Sound & stereo
Mare Balticum Vol. 2 - Finland and Sweden
The first recording of the 4 part series „Mare Balticum“ including medieval music from countries around the baltic sea just received the ICMA (International Classical Music Award). With volume 1 presenting music from Denmark volume 2 is dedicated to 14th – 16th Finland and Sweden.
Such excellent editorial and artistical achievements need special, inventive characters. Agnieszka Budzinska-Bennett creates astonishing and persuasive ideas like the one of this series. She digs out works where others do not even know what to dig for. She makes them playable. And as a musician thoroughly she presents these pieces with her colleagues as a feast for the ears. And the whole in TACET Real Surround Sound!
2019-08-28
New CD release
Domenico Scarlatti
Complete Piano Sonatas
Sonatas K. 98 - K. 146
Christoph Ullrich, piano
3 CDs (total playing time 223:41)
Order no. 0247-0
EAN 40 09850 024705
Our Scarlatti boat has been sailing the high seas for some time now. Storms, shallows, sea monsters all lie behind us. But today the weather is set fair. The sun is blazing down and there’s no wind. We let our feet dangle in the water and have a little snooze. Before us, sonatas stretch as far as the eye can see. When did we set sail from Berlin? 2012? – What is the prime factorisation of 555 anyway? 3 x 5 x 37... Suddenly! A shark made up of two parts appears! His teeth are asymmetrical. And over there! An octopus with 37 tentacles. He tries to cross all his legs at once and gets hopelessly tangled up. - Swarms of small, colourful trill fish wriggle with their fins, shimmering and glistening in the sun. - What is that? A huge, misshapen, sluggish monster! Probably the Spanish king! No, just seaweed. - What was the captain's first name again, Christoph or Ullrich, or Christopher?... Grab it now! 3 barrels, brim-full of sonatas, for the bargain price of 40 cents each!
2019-07-24
New CD release
The Koroliov Series Vol. XXI
Johannes Brahms
Complete Intermezzi
Evgeni Koroliov, piano
2 CDs (total playing time 81:30)
Order no. 0256-0
EAN 40 09850 025603
No. 21, the 21st recording of Evgeni Koroliov for the TACET label is available! What I particularly love in the playing of Koroliov: his ability to work out under a veil of objectivity, faithfulness to the text and modesty details of such sensibility and expressivity that make me believe listening for the first time to that piece of music. The 19 Intermezzi by Johannes Brahms offer plenty of opportunity for that.
2019-07-17New Releases
CD-version: 
Antonín Dvořák
Symphony no. 9 in E minor "From the New Word"
and other works
Concerto Budapest, András Keller
Miklós Perényi, violoncello
Inspiring Tube Sound
CD (total playing time 69:39)
Order no. 0250-0
Barcode 40 09850 025009
SACD-version:
Antonín Dvořák
Symphony no. 9 in E minor "From the New Word"
and other works
Concerto Budapest, András Keller
Miklós Perényi, violoncello
Inspiring Tube Sound
TACET Real Surround Sound
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time 69:39):
contains CD-layer, playable in every CD-player, hi-res (DSD6) stereo layer and 5.1 multi channel (DSD) layer
Order no. 0250-4
Barcode 40 09850 025047
Dvořák's 9th symphony paints the town red, for sure. But that's not all! The strings of András Keller are able to blossom like flowers. They don't play uniformly but with a seemingly congenital naturalness as if it were easy for 14 violins to sound as homogenously and at the same time as individually as a single violin. Also for the wind it is not the high performance that counts but the sensitivity and the flowing of the music, e. g. the English horn solo in the second movement. The brass: no power play but rich and gentle, always sensitive chords. – The tempi, the transitions, everything flows organically and invites you to go along. That is the great art of legato. Old-fashioned to some people, in fact timeless beautiful. No surprise that one role model for András Keller is Wilhelm Furtwängler.
After that and without any showing off the loved by many cellist Miklós Perényi gently carries you off into the mysterious world of the rondo op 68/8 and “Klid” (silent wood) op. 95. Three slavonic dances from op. 46 round off the program.
The ("Klassik-heute") recommendation of Guido Krawinkel in the latest review of another TACET recording was: “... Keep your eyes and listen.” That’s what we suggest here also.Edition EigenArt
Gesänge der Nacht
Lieder von Jan Koetsier, Adolf Busch und Otto Jochum
HAHN-TRIO
Heidrun Maria Hahn, Sopran
Martin Hahn, Viola alta
Wolfgang Heinz, Klavier
CD (Gesamtspielzeit 44:54)
Bestellnr. 1058-0
EAN 40 09850 105800
This EigenArt CD is ideal not only for lovers of vocals and singing but for lovers of unusual viola repertoire as well. The Hahn Trio – Heidrun Maria Hahn, soprano, Martin Hahn, viola alto and Wolfgang Heinz, piano – offer a program around “Night” including several first recordings of songs for voice, viola and piano.
2019-06-05
On May 10 the ICMA award ceremony took place in the KKL Lucerne/Switzerland. Agnieszka Budzinska-Bennett from Ensemble Peregrina together with Andreas Spreer (TACET) received the top international award from Andrea Meuli (Musik&Theater).
(ICMA)
Mare Balticum Vol. I
Music in medieval Denmark
2019-05-13Happy Birthday TACET!
A customer called us today and wished a happy birthday for 30 years of TACET. Uups - did we forget that? Yes: Exactly today 30 years ago TACET was founded. - Thank you, Mrs. Memory! :-)
2019-04-02New SACD Release
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
String Quartet in E flat major KV 428
String Quartet in A major KV 464
Auryn Quartet
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time 74:07):
contains CD layer, playable in every player,
hi-res (DSD) stereo layer and 5.1 multi channel (DSD) layer
Order no. 0234-4
Inspiring Tube Sound
TACET Real Surround Sound
This is vol. 2 of the "Haydn Quartets" by W. A. Mozart, played by Auryn Quartet and in the guise of TACET Real Surround Sound. After strong recommendations for the previous Auryn/Imai Mozart string quintets recording (Audiophile Highlight in Stereo, klassik-heute recommendation, nomination for ICMA) and lots of praise for the CD version of this recording there is not a lot to say. Except maybe that once again TACET Real Surround Sound musically reaches far beyond normal stereo. Every magical detail of the interaction between Matthias Lingenfelder, Jens Oppermann, Stewart Eaton und Andreas Arndt becomes clear. An ambitious multichannel recording is no high tech version of stereo, for many listeners it is equal to a live concert.
2019-03-15We are proud to announce that the "Ensemble Peregrina" is to receive a top-level international award!
The ICMA - International Classical Music Award - is presented once a year by 16 international, highly regarded, specialist magazines and radio stations.
In the category "Early Music", the vote this time went to Ensemble Peregrina for its production "Mare Balticum Vol. I, Music in medieval Denmark" (TACET 243).
The award ceremony will take place on May, 10th 2019 in Lucerne.
(ICMA)
Mare Balticum Vol. I
Music in medieval Denmark
2019-01-25Also this year, two of our productions have been nominated for the"International Classical Music Awards"! (ICMA)
The Auryn Series
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
String Quartet in G major KV 387
String Quartet in D minor KV 421
Mare Balticum Vol. I
Music in medieval Denmark
13th - 15th century
Ensemble Peregrina. Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett & Benjamin Bagby
We congratulate the participating artists for the nomination and are looking forward to the announcement of the award winners on January 17, 2019 in Lucerne.
2018-12-03New CD and SACD release
CD-version: 
Anton Bruckner
Symphony no. 9 in D minor
"Dem lieben Gott"
Concerto Budapest
András Keller
CD (total playing time 60:30)
Order no. 0245-0
Barcode 40 09850 024507
Inspiring Tube Sound
SACD-version:
Anton Bruckner
Symphony no. 9 in D minor
"Dem lieben Gott"
Concerto Budapest
András Keller
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time 60:30):
contains CD-layer, playable in every CD-player, hi-res (DSD) stereo layer and 5.1 multi channel (DSD) layer
Order no. 0245-4
Barcode 40 09850 024545
Inspiring Tube Sound
Here it comes - the first fruit of the cooperation between the conductor András Keller, Concerto Budapest and TACET. A production, no live recording. Further information here.
Until now András Keller was well-known as a violinist and member of the Keller Quartet.
All of us often hear too many words and promises. Sometimes even by those who are serious. Beware! Again somebody praises a recording of Bruckner 9. - The last Bruckner symphony talks about grandeur and nullity, about self-doubt and certainty, about life and death. Every listener has to find out on his own if András Keller and his musicians convey the message trustworthily. They tried honestly, that was obvious in every minute of these 5 recording days.
The liner notes by Wolfgang Wendel talk about the subject without preaching.
Péter Nádas, famous Hungarian writer kindly allowed us to use a personal photo.
Spectacular SACD multi-channel sound in TACET Real Surround Sound. Good reason enough for a new recording!
2018-11-15Today Domenico Scarlatti celebrates his 333rd birthday!
An age to be proud of and a very special reason to celebrate because he wrote 555 piano sonatas each more beautiful than the other. He ranks as the forefather of the piano sonata.
Christoph Ullrich, well-known and praised German pianist records all 555 Scarlatti piano sonatas within a period of 17 years for TACET, each with great care, love of detail, virtuosity and in particular empathy for the twilight zone between wit and melancholy.
One of Scarlatti’s jobs was to delight the mournful king of Spain. In comparison previous complete recordings seem like musical marathon races which impossibly are able to present all the uncountable small musical jewels appropriately.
Listen to this sample:
2018-10-26
New CD release
Edition EigenArt
Peter Barcaba
String quartet op. 22 Mariä Flucht nach Ägypten
String quartet op. 44
Das Hohelied op. 45
Jade Quartett, Yuko Kakuta-Lange, soprano
CD (total playing time 68:30)
Order no. 1056-0
Barcode 40 09850 10560 2
The string quartet universe always offers something new to discover!
Much attention was given to the first recording of the Taiwanese composer Jing Peng by the Jade Quartet. And again the Jade Quartet presents something unknown: string quartets by the Vienna composer Peter Barcaba.
Peter Barcaba planned to join the recording sessions but passed away a couple of days before in September 2017. Luckily before he was able to show the 4 Chinese, Korean and Polish musicians a lot of details how his music can be understood and how it can be played. The music is as artful in the way of composing as challenging for the players but it sounds understandable and emotional.
2018-10-15
New SACD release
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphonies KV 425 "Linz","
KV 385 "Haffner"
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra
Gordan Nikolić
Hybrid-SACD (total playing time 65'23)
TACET Real Surround Sound
Inspiring Tube Sound
Order no. 0230-4
Barcode 40 09850 023043
It is well-known that musicians very often sit in a circle in TACET's recordings. With this layout, they don't just hear each other, they can also see each other. This means that the musical exchanges between the musicians are simpler and better. And it is easier to achieve a natural-sounding recording, not only in TACET Real Surround Sound but also in stereo.
But is it even possible for an orchestral recording? And without a conductor? We were intrigued by the question and so decided to pursue it.
The answer? It does indeed work - in fact very well! Our video shows that very clearly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pTFXBzz6WE.
At the very least, a layout like this expresses the equality of all the participants. The Netherlands Chamber Orchestra puts down a spicy performance of two of Mozart's bubbliest symphonies: the "Prague" and the "Linz". A big thank you to the musicians of the NPhO and to Gordan Nikolic who took on this successful venture with great enthusiasm.
2018-09-10Special promotion
In September the new edition of the german high end magazine AUDIO has been released. The lead story “CD-Sensation” is accompanied by a special TACET CD with samples of the TACET Welte program. We support this by a special 10% webshop discount on all Welte Mignon Mystery releases! The prices are reduced in the webshop already and limited until November 30. Some items are almost sold out, please order soon. Have fun browsing in the cataloge (search string “Welte”)! 2018-09-04
TACET productions live on the love of detail.
For many years I almost exclusively focused on chamber music. It was such a great pleasure to record chamber music as tonmeister and producer of TACET and thus shape the profile of an unusual label. To follow each voice, each little figure in the score, to be taken by the musicians to always new things and to dive together into the beauty soul of a composition. And to be aware of the great arch in the music.
I would have loved to record larger orchestras much earlier. For this however the right partners were missing. Many big and famous orchestras would like to release recordings on our label. But this normally only works by recording 2 or 3 concerts, combine them and at best insert some bars from a short correction session. I never liked that. Working that way there is no time for immersing, exchange of opinions or requests. That does not lead to more than in the end always secondary concert substitutes. Instead a TACET production is a staging for a special medium such as LP or SACD.
Some day I met the excellent conductor Wojciech Rajski and his Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra and a friendship developed. We recorded Haydn, Mozart and the Beethoven symphonies. Furthermore there was an excursion to the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra with Carlo Rizzi. Long since our Bolero and La Valse are famous among audiophile connoisseurs. All that increased the appetite for more.
Now, near the end of my career, miraculously András Keller appeared. He is not only world-famous as a violinist and primarius of the Keller quartet, but an unique exception as conductor as well. We met in a Café near Munich main station in late 2016. He knowed and loved my label. He listened to my suggestion of recording some big works with “his” Concerto Budapest. But not 2 concerts plus minor corrections as usual, but recordings with a lot of time and hunger for something exceptional.
Well, he said, what about a series with ninth symphonies of Bruckner, Schubert, Dvorak, Schostakowitsch, Mahler? - Thus it happened. The recordings take place in the greatest calm and intensity, in the excellent acoustics of the Budapest Italian Institue, with the charme of TACET’s tube microphones and with an orchestra with a real artist on each chair, not only in the wood winds or brass, but also in the strings, up to the last desk! And with András Keller. All and everything work together. Every tiny little details is as important as the great arch. It makes me happy how all work together, how many individual suggestions enrich the whole. This comes from the common back ground: András Keller is a chamber music junky just like me.
Andreas Spreer
There are enough ninth symphonies by Bruckner, Dvorák or Schubert on the market. But I dare to say: not like this. For me this is the crowning end, another icing on the cake on the TACET program. Look forward with me to the first release in october: Bruckner 9th. In outstanding stereo and in unique TACET Real Surround Sound.
2018-07-21
The Best of TACET 2012
Greatest Classical Composers
in Exciting Sound Quality
played by the Best Artists
LP, Vinyl 180g (total playing time 51'49)
Order no. 0970-1
Barcode 40 09850 097013
Important for vinyl collectors of exiting recordings: The 1000 copies of limited LP editions "The Best of TACET 2008", "The Best of TACET 2009", "...2010", "...2011" were sold like hot cakes. These releases are compilations of the best TACET recordings, in precious presentation and with an interesting text. Again the new "The Best of TACET 2012", "...2013" and "...2016" are limited to 1000 copies. Phenomenal sound quality. Even before the publication two thirds of the production quantity have been sold. Make sure and grab your copy now!
The Best of TACET 2013
Greatest Classical Composers
in Exciting Sound Quality
played by the Best Artists
LP, Vinyl 180g (total playing time 51'21)
Order no. 0969-1
Barcode 40 09850 096917
The Best of TACET 2016
Greatest Classical Composers
in Exciting Sound Quality
played by the Best Artists
LP, Vinyl 180g (total playing time 50'51)
Order no. 0968-1
Barcode 40 09850 096818
2018-07-20
New SACD release
The Auryn Series
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
String Quartet in G major KV 387
String Quartet in D minor KV 421
Auryn Quartet
SACD (total playing time 68:10)
Order no. 0233-4
Barcode 40 09850 02334 0
After strong recommendations for the previous Auryn/Imai Mozart string quintets recording (Audiophile Highlight in Stereo, klassik-heute recommendation, nomination for ICMA) and lots of praise for the CD version of this recording there is not a lot to say. Except maybe that once again TACET Real Surround Sound musically reaches far beyond normal stereo. Every magical detail of the interaction between Matthias Lingenfelder, Jens Oppermann, Stewart Eaton und Andreas Arndt becomes clear. An ambitious multichannel recording is no high tech version of stereo, for many listeners it is equal to a live concert.
2018-05-15
New CD
Edition EigenArt
Johann Sebastian Bach
Musical Offering BWV 1079
Setting by Sebastian Gottschick
Ensemble Vintage Köln, Ariadne Daskalakis
CD (total playing time 57:49)
Order no. 1054-0
Barcode 40 09850 10540 4
Early music and contemporary music
This new release is a good example of the way how centuries-old music inspires people of today to make something new. J. S. Bach took the theme he was given by the Prussian king Frederick the Great as an opportunity for a compositional logical game. One line of notes is enough to build - together with the king theme - a whole piece of 2, 3 or 4 voices. The mathematical strength of this task and the timeless beautiful solution by J. S. Bach fascinates until today. The German composer Sebastian Gottschick arranged the pieces, added pizzicati to the slow movement of the trio sonata, he created two new pieces with the material of Bach and combined the pieces to a contemporary concert. - Ariadne Daskalakis and her Ensemble Vintage Cologne present the modern concert version by Sebastian Gottschick as well as the missing original versions by Bach. The musicians adapt perfectly to the particular stylistic context, they play originally and emotionally.
2018-05-14
New CD release
The Welte Mignon Mystery
Alfred Reisenauer
today playing his 1905 interpretations
Works by Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Schumann
CD (total playing time 66:31)
Order no. 0221-0
Barcode 40 09850 02210 7
The "Welte Mignon Mystery" series, now comprising 28 CDs on 24 separate releases, continues to grow! For some time, this series has stood out from the numerous attempts at transferring the Welte rolls, especially for the quality of calibration of the Welte equipment, but also for the integrity of the rolls and the sound of the recordings. More information on the topic of Welte and this mysterious pneumatic technology, to which many of the most famous pianists and composers at the beginning of the 20th century entrusted their performances, can be found here:
"What is Welte Mignon?"
All releases in the TACET series:
Welte Mignon Catalogue at TACET
And now to Alfred Reisenauer. Franz Liszt is supposed to have said of his pupil that his style was very similar to his own, "but without imitating him" (from the CD booklet). Reisenauer was born in 1863 in Königsberg and died in 1907 in a hotel in Latvia. In keeping with historical performance practice, which has long since been overtaken by Romanticism, this series also offers many original impressions of how people really played at that time in the 19th century: with recordings made long before recording technology had found its feet!
2018-04-15Without our input, a customer bought the vinyl record “oréloB” and created a short video. Less then 24h later more than 100000 views:
Note: This LP does work with tangential turntables, as long as the movement of the system is not controlled by a feed motor. Recently I made myself an A/D-transfer of a TACET backwards vinyl record on the high end turntable “The Statement” together with the tangential tonearm “TT1” (both of Clear Audio). The story appeared in the latest Stereoplay edition (4/2018, German language) together with a demonstrating CD.
This is the way to the record.
2018-03-19
New CD release
The Auryn Series
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
"Haydn Quartets"
String Quartets KV 387, 421, 428, 464, 465, 458
Auryn Quartet
3 CDs (total playing time 215:02)
Order no. 0972-0
Barcode 40 09850 097204
The 3 CD box of W. A. Mozart's 6 string quintets (TACET 217) has gained a companion set: a similar box set of the same great master's 6 "Haydn-Quartets".
String quartets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart without historical performance practice - is that even possible nowadays? -Of course it is! At the same time, there is probably no serious classical musician who has entirely escaped its influence in some shape or form. We are not just talking about diligence in choosing "urtext editions" or in the choice of instrument. The changes creep into the smallest details of phrasing which people simply can't do as they used to, even subconsciously. This is borne out by listening to many performances.
Of course the Auryn Quartet is also subject to these influences. If, despite this, their performances seem conventional, then it's deceptive as their playing style is no longer conventional when seen in the light of modern performance practice. They refer back to a playing style that could be termed "historical" in a wholly different way, namely that of a musical generation that has now died out. Their role models and teachers were the Amadeus Quartet and the Guarnieri Quartet. The members of the Auryn Quartet were musically "socialised" in a different era to younger musicians and they choose not to discard the aesthetic sensibilities acquired in their youth as though they were just old-fashioned garments. They love the beautiful "old" string sound and keep this tradition alive, but with the diligence expected of today's musicians. The result is timelessly beautiful music. The new recording of the 6 "Haydn Quartets" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart provides an impressive example of this.
2018-02-28