This is a very important recording, as it is the first time the original piano quartet version of the Eroica Symphony has been recorded. (it should not be confused with the arrangement by Ferdinand Ries published 50 years later). This anonymous arrangement was made at Beethoven's insistence (though he had requested a string quintet) and published in 1807, three years after the orchestral premiere. The writing is far superior to that of Ries in the later version, and this work stands as a fine and magisterial piano quartet in it's own right.
The viola does not play a leading role in the stereotyped notions of Hungarian music. Nor is the viola found in the "Gypsy music" still diligently practiced for tourists, in which violin and double bass are the leading instruments. The picture is not very different in classical music. Acting as a slight but necessary corrective, this disc of Hungarian viola music from composers including Liszt, Ferenc Farkas and Antal Dorati features Máté Szűcs, current first Principal Violist of the Berliner Philharmoniker who appears in concert throughout Europe as a soloist and chamber-music player.
To twist an old saw two ways: Familiarity breeds contempt of the unfamiliar; familiarity breeds comfort. The familiar G-Major piano and violin sonata was transcribed by contemporary violist Csaba Erdélyi for piano and viola, and was transposed to D in keeping with Brahms’s transposition to D for his piano and cello version of this sonata. Erdélyi reasoned that if it works for violin and for cello, then why not in between—for viola. To my ears, this music thus altered by Erdélyi flattens its appeal, ironically by adding a sharp. The problem is the lowered-by-a-fourth pitch, which relegates too much of the piano sound to the “bass-ment,” especially in the Adagio. The viola sonorities are also dulled. The conclusion of the Adagio suffers most where the beauty of the rising and falling piano figure is sharply diminished by the key shift down to B? from the original E?. Here, Erdélyi sharpens the pain, fittingly by deleting a flat. I have not heard Brahms’s cello version, and I might not like that either. ArkivMusic does not list Brahms’s cello transcription separately, but I did find a few cellists listed who have recorded it.
The clarinet is the focal instrument in Brahms’s last four chamber works: the A-Minor Trio (op. 114), the B-Minor Quintet (op. 115), and the two op. 120 sonatas. Clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld was the dedicatee of these four pieces. Brahms recognized that the viola could substitute for the clarinet in the two sonatas, therefore he published the sonatas for clarinet or viola. The clarinet version seems to have been rooted in tradition, but the viola version has recently taken a firm hold, especially with the growth of recorded music. Currently, ArkivMusic lists about 60 clarinet versions and close to 40 viola versions.
Now I confess my secret conversion. After growing up with the clarinet versions and, without ever listening, disdaining the viola versions, when I first heard the viola versions a few years ago, I became a convert (my “con-version”). The viola sound in these sonatas is much more satisfying to me than that of the clarinet, although I love both versions. With that prejudice on the table (or on the page, or on the screen), the opus 120 performances by these two artists are excellent in every respect. As to phrasing, dynamics, tone coloring, tempos—whatever qualities I can muster—these are performances that belong in everyone’s collection.
Jeremy Denk is a pianist of growing reputation, having appeared as soloist with several major orchestras throughout the world. Roberto Diaz is a noted violist. Formerly principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, he is now president and CEO of the Curtis Institute of Music. Their contribution to the Brahms opus 120 sonatas is most welcome.
Berlioz: Harold In Italy; Paganini: Sonata Per La Grand Viola / Carpenter, Ashkenazy
Ondine
CD
$18.99Aug 30, 2011
This is one of those programs that adds up to more than the sum of its parts. David Aaron Carpenter plays a sensational viola, and he’s very capably accompanied by Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Helsinki Philharmonic. This would be a very recommendable version of Harold in Italy on its own, even in a quite crowded field. The two central movements have plenty of character and color, and the concluding Orgy of Brigands lacks nothing in fire or excitement. However, there are two specific factors that make this release more than ordinarily interesting. First, Carpenter has restored Berlioz’s original viola part to the first statement of Harold’s main theme. This was presumably a concession to Paganini, who of course wanted a virtuoso piece. It’s no surprise that Paganini wasn’t impressed by this scant minute of barely audible arpeggiation, and that Berlioz replaced it with the more songful, canonic version that we all know and love, but it’s good to hear for a change. Second, and more importantly, Carpenter and Ashkenazy include the work the Paganini wrote for himself instead, and which presumably better represents what he really had in mind. The Sonata per la Gran Viola e Orchestra lasts about thirteen minutes. It consists of an introduction followed by a recitative, a cantabile, and a concluding theme and variations. It is tuneful, splashy, and effectively virtuosic. What stands out particularly, though, is not its obvious bel canto qualities, but the fact that Paganini calls the work a “sonata” in the first place. Many have wondered how he could have asked Berlioz to write a piece for viola at all, given the huge disparity between what Paganini expected and what Berlioz actually produced. We’ll never know exactly what discussions passed between the two men, save that it seems on his own evidence that Paganini was not looking for a typical concerto, but for “something else.” Well, that’s certainly what he got! Harold, of course, offers no opportunity for the soloist to display his virtuoso chops. He’s basically just along for the ride. So it’s good to be able to report that Carpenter isn’t fazed at all by Paganini’s typically ridiculous demands. The work constitutes a fabulous encore to Harold, while the disc-opening Overture to Béatrice et Bénédict makes this release a perfect program for continuous listening. The whole production is excellently engineered, especially when it comes to the tricky issue of balancing the soloist against the larger ensemble. It’s just great when a program is as smartly assembled as it is musically brilliant. -- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
Loewe: Grand Trio; Duo Espagnôla; Schottische Bilder / Lucius, Kratz, Eckels, Kuchenbuch, Seibold
CPO
CD
$18.99May 03, 2019
Our gigantic edition of Carl Loewe’s complete song and ballad oeuvre proved to be a great success and revealed a genuine cosmos of great dramatic works and enthralling genre miniatures. However, it is known only to a few that Loewe not only composed some six hundred songs and ballads but also produced chamber music. In 1831 the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung described his Piano Trio or Grand Trio op. 12 as “magnificent, finely invented, sustained, and intelligently developed.” Robert Schumann expressed himself in a similar vein: “It is perhaps one of the most fundamentally genuine and most imaginative works by Loewe, one of those worthiest of the best master. Every trio circle must have it.” In his last instrumental work, the Duo Espagnôla for viola and piano, the composer once again ventured onto national terrain and took with him the viola as a special expressive means conveying the Spanish character. The work is melodious throughout and shows both instruments in their best light. The Scottish Pictures for clarinet and piano from Loewe’s late period are demanding genre scenes inspired by the composer’s interest in the Scottish landscape and the country’s vicissitudinous history. At the time enthusiasm for the wild north of the British Isles was very fashionable.
Ondine proudly presents a release featuring violist David Aaron Carpenter, “the hottest violist of the 21st century” according to Norman Lebrecht, and “stunningly talented” by The New Yorker, and member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Dreamtime features the titular solo viola work by Robert Mann (1920). Frank Bridge (1879–1941) is one of the most outstanding composers for viola. The longest work on the disc is Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet Op. 114 in the version for viola and string quartet.
Principal Harpist of the Philadelphia Orchestra Elizabeth Hainen's first release for AVIE spanned three centuries of Harp Concertos (AV 2221). Her new Kickstarter-funded release, Les Amis, features a rare pairing of works by Claude Debussy and André Caplet, exploring the composers' friendship through their respective works Danse sacrée and Danse profane, and the evocative Masque of the Red Death, with Michael Stern and the IRIS Orchestra. Rounding out the recording, Elizabeth solos with a transcription of Debussy's Petite Suite, originally for solo piano, and Caplet's Divertissements, and is joined by her own amis, fellow Philadelphia Orchestra principal flautist Jeffrey Khaner and violist Roberto Diaz, President of the Curtis Institute, in Debussy's Trio Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp. critical acclaim for Elizabeth Hainen's Harp Concertos (AV 2221) "The entire production has class and great aural resonance, a real delight to add to an otherwise neglected body of music." ¬- Audiophile Audition "Hainen plays with impressive virtuosity." - Fanfare "The tonal range of Hainen's playing, coupled with her technical finesse and sense of style, bring allure to the entire disc." - The Daily Telegraph
The viola works on this recording fuse lyricism with virtuosity, and sometimes invoke folkloric moments as well as more rhapsodic flights. Martinu' 1955 Sonata plays on elements of folk music and rhapsody, as well as a toccata-like intensity.
Undeservedly overshadowed by his two string quartets and piano trios, the small pieces for violin or cello and piano are among the best of their genre from the “Moscow School”, differing mainly by having partly salonesque titles and a more intimate expression. The Quintet in D major Op. 51 (1900) for piano, two violins, viola and cello exemplifies the 40-year-old composer’s mature style, its cyclic elements and formal density heralding a new departure. The priority given to the piano and the variation movement suggest the influence of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A minor Op. 50.
Legendary Treasures - Bach: 6 Suites For Cello / Fuchs
Doremi
CD
$40.99Feb 01, 2005
Lillian Fuchs (1903–1991) was considered the “first lady of the viola,” and enjoyed a very successful career as a performer, composer, and teacher. Her students at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music became the elite players of the viola in the US and her influence is still very much alive, 14 years after her death. The Bach suites that she recorded in the beginning of the 1950s were received with unanimous praise by her contemporaries, but since then they have disappeared from the market, and have become collectors’ items. So I was piqued to find out what the fuss was all about.
Yes, it is a dated performance in many senses. Fuchs plays with the kind of unrelenting legato that we would bash in any aspiring musician of today. Her interpretation is overly Romantic, phrases long, and breaths almost non-existent. Yet, I could not stop listening, and after the first CD ended, I was still curious to hear more. Why was that? Part of the reason is the lush, flexible sound produced by the artist, the interesting inflections, the unerring sense of direction, the overall technical achievement. Notable also is the very spare use of vibrato, pointing to a more “modern” conception (that is, one which is closer to our notions about authentic-performance practices) than was the norm at the time. But the main reason is that intangible charisma, the star quality that makes us follow every mood change, every nuance in dynamics, every twist in the musical plot.
...I was left with the sensation of having shared a unique moment, of the kind that transcends fashion or trends, and that can rightfully be called a legendary performance.
Kruger's music can manifest itself as compositions with an enormous variety of structures and instrumental combinations, as multisensory mixtures of sound, image, and movement, or as pure electronics, or... - an aesthetic range reflected, at least partially, in the program of this album. But in spite of this heterogeneity that defies conventional categorization, there are certain significant constants in Kruger's works. One of these is the physicality of their linguistic forms and a correspondingly close connection to the interpretive powers of their performers. He investigates and redefines sounds, exploring physiognomies and contexts that were not yet in his repertoire. The early organ piece "conTemp[s]lations" might seem to be out of place, but it's expansive microtonality and unconventional coloration foreshadow Kruger's later electronic works such as "rosebud". Everything in this contemplative sound continuum is geared toward flowing transformations of sound qualities and the relationships of timbral mixtures. The instrumental monologues and dialogues of "fuckin' A!", "renk", and "nun schauervoll einmalig blickt es mich an" are characterized by a high degree of density and kinetic energy. "rosebud", for dancer, motion sensors, and live electronics was created at the renowned IRCAM center in Paris in collaboration with dancer Victor Virnot, whose choreography is closely linked to the live electronic processes. During the development of the piece, each of the two levels was influenced, and even determined, by the other, until "rosebud" finally achieved it's final, definitive form. The dancer embodies, so to speak, an "extended" musician - a hybrid of man and machine.
The music of Artur Lemba has been strangely neglected, even in his native Estonia - although during his lifetime (1885-1963) he was held in high regard as pianist and teacher. That oversight is all the more surprising in view of the expansive, passionate lyricism of his writing - listeners who enjoy the music of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov are likely to warm to Lemba's full-blooded Romantic style. This second release in a pioneering series discovering his chamber music reveals three expansive, big-hearted works full of personality.
Pleyel: Hidden Gems, Vol. 2 / Loscher, Bauerstatter, Birnbaum, Camerata Pro Musica
Ars Produktion
SACD
$21.99Mar 25, 2016
The compositions of Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831) are frequently overlooked in favor of more popular works of the time. The works here are especially appealing as they are written in a very familiar style, but are full of surprises and unexpected turns. This is the second installment in the series of Pleyel’s works. Performing these pieces are violinist Cornelia Loscher, violist Robert Bauerstatter, and the Camerata Pro Musica under the direction of Christian Birnbaum.
Axel Borup- Jørgensen (1924-2012) was born in Denmark, but he grew up in Sweden where he was influenced by the incredible scenery and by the gloomy, introverted mood of Swedish poets and composers. The dark, unique tone of the viola fascinated Borup- Jørgensen, and throughout his composing career he utilized this instrument as an opulent resource for expression. The works on this album chronicle the development of Borup- Jørgensen as a composer. His Duo for Violin and Viola Op. 12 is lyrical and accessible, and contrasts Mobiles after Alexander Calder Op. 38 which displays more abstract tonalities. Finally, O Baume Lebens Op. 81 shows intense lyricism and extreme attention to detail.
