The combination of violin and guitar as well as classical playing styles and jazz has been on everyone's lips since the inimitable duo Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhard. An equally deep musical friendship exists between the Viennese violinist Rudi Berger and the Brazilian guitarist Toninho Horta, whose new album Belo Horizonte received the Latin Grammy Award for "Best Brazilian Album of the Year" in 2020. Their first collaborations started in 1988 in the United States, since then the two extraordinary musicians have played over 500 joint appearances to date. This album by the title "Rudi Berger featuring Toninho Horta" presents a cross-section of these years of musical life together, with recordings from Austria, New York City and Rio de Janeiro, from duo to 9-member formation. The compositions by Berger and Horta always transcend genre boundaries and incorporate influences from bossa nova, jazz, but also classical and folk music.
Berger & Holland were two of the first Europeans to find musical homes for themselves deep in American free jazz, and these improvised duets from 1976 show just how comfortable they were. Berger plays piano, vibraphone & balafon, while Holland plays bass. The compositions are tonal, and as the title insists, it's all about time. It's roots go deep, all the way to Africa, and the overlapping of rhythms suggest the minimalism of Reich, Riley & Glass. Berger's forte is rhythmic dialogue, and the subtle time shifts that are often a music's undercurrent are fore-grounded here.
HINDEMITH: Works for Cello and Piano, Vol. 2 - Cello Sonata
Wergo
CD
$20.99Mar 01, 1990
In Paul Hindemith's collected works the compositions for violoncello and piano occupy a significant position. They range from solo sonata to concerto with large orchestra. The large number of compositions for cello is perhaps surprising when one recalls that Hindemith first attracted public attention as a violist and that many of his works were written especially for his own concert performances. However Hindemith was always surrounded by cellists - in his private life as well as in the circle of friendly colleagues - who performed his works. Julius Berger: Violoncello / Siegfried Mauser: piano.
This Wergo recording features two of Sofia Gubaidulina's works from the late 1970s/early 1980s that see her establishing a mature style after years of journeyman efforts. The titles of the works point to the Russian composer's deep religious belief, and while there is no text in these purely instrumental works, the spirit of contemplation and wrestling with spiritual questions persists throughout. The pieces are centered around cello and accordion, played here by Julius Berger and Stefan Hussong respectively. "In Croce" was originally written in 1979 as a piece for organ and cello, but it is represented here in a 1991 arrangement for cello and accordion by Elsbeth Moser which Gubaidulina has approved. As it's title suggests, this is an exploration of "vertical" music (the organ or accordion) intersected by the "horizontal" (cello). The work is a steady slow of eerie chords from the accordion with the sinuous, yearning voice of the cello threading through them. While the first half of the work offers a feeling of stasis with the occasional outburst, the second half offers a suspenseful, gradually rising development. The work draws to a close with the cello playing harmonics by which the music seems to evaporate. The Kammerorchester Diagonal conducted by Florian Rosensteiner joins in for the next piece. "Sieben Worte (Seven Words)" for cello, bayan, and strings is a depiction of Jesus' death on the cross in the venerable classical tradition started by Heinrich Schütz (whom Gubaidulina subtly quotes at one point). Gubaidulina was attracted to writing for the accordion because it has a very living quality to it, it "breathes", and here the instrument depicts the gradual dying of breath. This is one of Gubaidulina's best pieces, the seven movements offering a variety of textures - even a tragic subject like the crucifixion can still be painted in many shares.
One of the towering figures of American music, Cherry was part of the revolutionary free-bop quartet led by Coleman, an ensemble that helped shift the conversation about jazz from chord changes and swing to freedom and energy. By the late '60s, the pocket-cornet player was living in Sweden, with his wife Karlsson, playing with Swedish musicians from all backgrounds, seeking out exciting partners in a somewhat hippie-like atmosphere. It was in this milieu, in the summers of '71 and '72 that Cherry recorded the tracks for his legendary double LP, Organic Music Society, which was released on Caprice and is now reissued for the first time on CD. The sessions that comprise Organic Music Society are varied and represent several directions in Cherry's oeuvre.
Piazzolla: Le Grand Tango / Gallardo, Berger, Eichhorn
SWR
CD
$9.99Aug 10, 2018
This release features key works by Astor Piazzolla, the king of composed tango, performed by three outstanding musicians. Shifting between fiery and melancholic, the tango nuevo is just irresistible. Born in 1971 in Münster, Germany, Friedemann Eichhorn studied violin with Prof. Valery Gradow in Mannheim, Alberto Lysy at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland and with Margaret Pardee at the Juilliard School New York. He regularly performs with orchestras such as St. Petersburg Philharmonic or the SWR-Radio-Orchestra and has concertized with Yuri Bashmet, Saschko Gawriloff, Gidon Kremer, Yehudi Menuhin and Igor Oistrakh. The German cellist Julius Berger studied at the Musikhochschule of Munich, Germany under Walter Reichardt and Fritz Kiskalt. Later, he studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria under Antonio Janigro and at the University of Cincinnati under Zara Nelsova. When he was just 28 years old he was appointed to the Musikhochschule Wuerzburg and was one of the youngest Professors in Germany. A native of Buenos Aires, José Gallardo started piano lessons at the age of five, at first at the Conservatory in Buenos Aires, later continuing his studies with Poldi Mildner in the Faculty of Music at the University of Mainz, where he completed his diploma in 1997. Since autumn 2008 he has been teaching at the Leopold Mozart Centre at the University of Augsburg.
