On May 5th the Gerd Schaller’s new album will be released. After the great success of his arrangement of Anton Bruckner's ninth symphony for organ, which was even nominated for a Grammy Award in 2022, Gerd Schaller's new album picks up there again and offers a new organ arrangement of a popular Bruckner symphony.
This time it is the Fifth Symphony, which, according to Gerd Schaller's own words, is particularly well suited for an arrangement for the organ because it already contains a particularly large number of contrapuntal passages in the orchestral writing that are reminiscent of the sound of the organ.
The album, which, as usual, is published in high-quality edition by the label PROFIL Edition Günter Hänssler, can already be pre-ordered everywhere at retailers worldwide and can also be pre-ordered via the concert office of the Ebracher Musiksommer and obtained directly from there:
Digital music enjoyment no longer works only via CDs. In the age of music streaming, other forms of use have gained in importance. A younger audience in particular is using playlists from music streaming providers these days.
The streaming provider with the most users worldwide is Spotify. Now, Gerd Schaller's recordings are also available on Spotify as a playlist and can thus attract new listener groups.
The Spotify playlist "This is Gerd Schaller" comprises almost six hours of music and is regularly supplemented by new releases. By using the playlist, listeners not only get a cross-section of Gerd Schaller's catalog of recordings to date, but the goal is also to arouse curiosity about the full composition based on the selected excerpts.
The playlist is available for direct music listening at this link:
Since his youth, Gerd Schaller has been interested in the sacred buildings in his hometown of Schlüsselfeld. Now the conductor has also worked on art history and has written a book about these gems set in a dreamy landscape which was published by Vier-Türme-Verlag Münsterschwarzach.
Did you know, for example, that the Schlüsselfeld parish church houses a significant work of art with the high altar painting by Oswald Onghers – or that the Marienkapelle contains a true-to-the-original copy of the altar of grace in the famous pilgrimage town of Mariazell?
Gerd Schaller dives into the history of the churches and chapels in Schlüsselfeld and also publishes his research results on the so-called “Schlüsselfelder Altar”.
At the same time, the excellent photographs by the architectural photographer Uwe Gaasch make this book a wonderful illustrated book – a journey of discovery for those interested in art and for connoisseurs.
Gerd Schaller
Kirchen und Kapellen der Pfarrei Schlüsselfeld
Vier-Türme-Verlag Münsterschwarzach
ISBN 978-3-89680-613-0
157 pages, 22.5 x 28.5 cm, with numerous illustrations, high-quality edition with gold embossing and dust jacket
Price: 24,00 € plus shipping charges
Available in all bookstores
and at the Ebrach Summer Music Festival:
E-Mail:
Phone: +49 9552 5904 999 10
Profil Edition Hänssler has released the Second Symphony by Johannes Brahms with Gerd Schaller and the Philharmonie Festiva.
Remy Franck writes: Gerd Schaller conducts Johannes Brahms’ Second Symphony in a healthy alternation of relaxation and powerful musical flow. …Throughout, Schaller allows the wonderful woodwinds and horns of the Philharmonie Festiva to flourish, giving the movement just the tension, the passion in the cantando that has sometimes been missed in other interpretations.
Guy Engesl notes: “Blue skies, trickling springs, sunshine and cool, green shadows,” wrote a Brahms friend about this second symphony. One senses much of this in Schaller’s interpretation, except that at no moment does it sound kitschy, dreary or sentimental.
The organ is Bruckner's instrument, which stayed with him all his life. Bruckner was already celebrated by his contemporaries as a great organ soloist. So what could be more natural than to arrange his phantastic Ninth Symphony for the organ and thus reveal the essence of the work?!
Gerd Schaller had already supplemented and completed Bruckner's Ninth based on original sources. Now he has arranged the completed Ninth for organ and also recorded it himself on the main organ of the former Cistercian abbey church in Ebrach. The recording was made by the Bavarian Radio Studio Franken. The double CD has been published by Profil Edition Hänssler, the organ sheet music has been published by Musikverlag Ries & Erler, Berlin.
CDs and organ sheet music available at:
Ebracher Musiksommer
Phone: +49 9552 9319300
E-Mail:
Anton Bruckner's string quintet is one of the unknown works of the composer. Wrong, according to Gerd Schaller - who has now edited the piece for a large orchestra and recorded it on CD with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Anton Bruckner's last, his Ninth Symphony, remained unfinished, for the composer died during the work on the 4th movement - to which, however, numerous sketches have been preserved. Gerd Schaller reviewed this material and recently presented his own complete set of this final movement, which was recorded in July 2018 with the Philharmonie Festiva on CD. The score has been published by Ries & Erler, Berlin.