Classical Music

„A quartet for string orchestra! This will sound strange to you. I already know all objections that will be raised: the destruction of intimacy, of individuality. But this would be mistaken. What I intend is nothing but an ideal representation of the quartet.“ (Gustav Mahler, 1899)

This release is the start of a new program line out of the CuGate Classics archives, the GOLDEN FLEECE CLASSICS. It is dedicated to the Georgian recordings the company made in the Nineties of the last century using already High Tech equipment for 24 bit /96 khz recordings. The Golden Fleece Logo with the galley refers to the saga of Jason and the Argonauts, which took place in the antique region of Kolchis, which is today’s Georgia. Our album comes on the occasion of the 50 years’ jubilee of the Georgian State String Quartet. It appears to be today’s oldest Quartet formation, whose members did not change.

CUGATE CLASSICS is pleased to release the complete symphonic works of the Georgian composer GIYA KANCHELI plus “Light Sorrow” and “Mourned By The Wind”, all in newly remastered versions. Conducted by DJANSUG KAKHIDZE. GIYA KANCHELI (1935 – 2019) was and still is the best-known Georgian composer, celebrated for his mastery of silence and his (deceptive) simplicity. KANCHELI’s career as classical composer started in the 1960s after first attempts with chansons and popular songs, his first symphony was accomplished and premiered in 1967 in Tbilisi, conducted by DJANSUG KAKHIDZE.

The Stahlhammer Klezmer Band, consisting of Semmy′s grandfather and uncles, was founded 1920 in the Lublin area in Poland. The orchestra gave concerts and played at parties until 1939. In the old picture the musicians are seen with mandolins, guitars and balalaikas, but they also played violin, cello, bass, harmonica, trumpet and drums. The ensemble played traditional Jewish Eastern European party music, what we today call klezmer, but they also played music that was popular at the time and whatever they liked.

Reminiscence of the famous Georgian conductor Djansug Kakhidze on the occasion of his 80th anniversary. He belonged to the small but highly prestigious group of East European conductors who set up a cultural counterdraft to the political conflicts in the times of cold war. He conducted almost every A class symphony orchestra of his hemisphere and became a much-vaunted advocate of late romantic orchestral repertoire.