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Any attempt at a review of compositions devoted to the bassoon, will inevitably reveal how few of them there are, despite the fact that, in our century, greater exploration of the possibilites of this instrument has led to an increase ia a repertoire which is fundamentally very limited. On the other hand, the many technical improvements have resulted in the bassoon's icreased participation in ensemble chamber compositions, frequently accompanied by the piano. In addition to compositions originaly conceived for piano and bassoon, this release includes, in the second half, trascriptions of compositions originally written for variously formed ensemble, which have contributed to the extension of the repertoire, at the same time exploiting to the full many possibilites offered by these instruments. The works are performed here by Stefano Canuti and Massimo Somenzi, two of Italy's most sought-after bassonists.

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Classical Music

Classical Music

‘… a score truly inspired by a tragic event (9/11) and one that is likely to transcend it.’ – Peter G. Davis, New York Magazine Thus did a leading critic sum up the remarkable Concerto for Clarinet (chamber orchestra version) by Ellen Taafe Zwilich, one of America’s cutting-edge contemporary composers. And this is but one of this release’s four vibrant modern chamber works for clarinet and various chamber ensembles by major composers: music that greatly enriches the modern chamber repertoire. Filling out the fascinating program are Aaron Copland’s brisk and brainy Sextet for Clarinet, Piano and String Quartet, Stephen Hartke’s delightfully wacky The Horse with the Lavender Eye, and Aaron Jay Kernis’ richly evocative Trio in Red. The performers – all among the finest soloists and chamber artists anywhere – are drawn from the ranks of Chamber Music Northwest and its legendary director, renowned clarinet virtuoso David Shifrin.

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Classical Music

Virtuosi Ilya Gringolts, violin, and Dmitry Kouzov, cello, perform three great duos- two from the 20th century and one from the 21st. The graceful, expressive and witty Duo for Violin and Cello by Hanns Eisler, written when the composer was 26 years old, is a multifaceted work showcasing the composer’s brilliant intellect. Best-known for his long artistic association with playwright Bertolt Brecht, Eisler always took care to make a deep connection with his audience. In Jorg Widmannn’s 24 Duos for Violin and Cello, from 2008, the two instruments approach the sound of a string quartet at times. “They attract each other, reject each other, love and hate each other,” the composer writes. These performances are the world premiere recording of the entire set of both volumes of Widmann’s 24 Duos. The album concludes with Maurice Ravel’s great Sonata for Violin and Cello. Dedicated to the memory of Claude Debussy, the sonata is always a favorite with audiences. Gringolts and Kouzov form a superb duo. Both are highly sought-after soloists and consummate chamber musicians. They perform with precision and excitement, undaunted by challenging music.

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REVIEWS:

These gripping and beautifully played duos demand committed listening.

– The Strad

Gringolts and Kouzov are impressive, leaving their mark on all three works; warm, resonant, perfectly balanced, natural set-it-and-forget-it sound leaves one free to concentrate on the music.

– American Record Guide

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It doesn’t take much to image that the material on this album could be an initiative launched by Swiss diplomats: A Swiss guitar quartet playing compositions by a Cuban and a American. For many years, relations between Cuba and the USA were not particularly friendly – until Barack Obama opened a new era of diplomacy between the two nations in 2016. As a neutral country, Switzerland has often erved as an intermediary between the United States and other countries. But this is not about diplomacy. The Eos Guitar Quartet often performs works by Leo Brouwer and Ralph Townwe and has commissioned these artists to compose original music for the quartet. Everyone knows and appreciates each other. And as a highly specialized chamber music ensemble, the Eos Guitar Quartet naturally tries to help expand the repertoire for such a formation. This Performance of Gismontiana is a live recording of a concert featuring the Eos Guitar Quartet together with the Musikkollegium Winterthur conducted by composer Leo Brower. The Concert took place in the Stadthaus Winterthur, Switzerland.

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Classical Music

Although much of the repertoire on this disc was originally conceived for large orchestra, the chamber versions offered here shed new light on familiar territory. In 1918, Arnold Schoenberg founded his Verein fur musikalische Privatauffuhrungen (Society for Private Musical Performance), whose mission was to promote contemporary works. A great admirer of Mahler, Schoenberg created a chamber version of the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen for the Society, while his student Erwin Stein penned a reduction of Busoni's Berceuse diagiaque. Reiner Riehn, who completed Schoenberg's chamber version of Das Lied von der Erde, wrote this arrangement of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder for chamber orchestra. The disc is completed by Mahler's rarely heard Quartettsatz for piano and string quartet. Contralto Sara Mingardo is accompanied by Musica Aurei conducted by Luigi Piovano.

First Hand Records presents violinist Sasha Rozhdestvensky in the world premiere commercial recording of Shostakovich's unfinished Violin Sonata. This recording includes an extra 28 bars of a development section found in Shostakovich's original manuscript that does not appear in the published score, and is completed by an eleven-bar coda written by conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky. The work is coupled with the Violin Sonata Op. 43. The program also contains world premiere commercial recordings of Shostakovich's Andantino from the String Quartet No.4, his piano duet arrangement of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and his chamber transcription of Gaetano Braga's La Serenata.

These fabled works dating from 1960–1975 represent some of Shostakovich’s most bitterly frank, occasionally transcendental essays for the string quartet. At times poignant yet occasionally ribald, these performances have been called utterly compelling. Unique in this stunning survey is a fine performance of his “Unfinished” quartet, the first recording of what was originally to have been Shostakovich’s 9th Quartet, discovered and published in 2003. Additionally, listeners will find two more of Zakarias Grafilo’s extraordinary transcriptions of the 1950/51 Preludes and Fugues for Piano Op. 87.

Alexander String Quartet:
Zakarias Grafilo, Frederick Lifsitz: violins
Paul Yarbrough: viola
Sandy Wilson: cello

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Classical Music

• Rachmaninov's Two Suite's and the Symphonic Dances are crucial works in his oeuvre and major works in the two piano literature. • Pianist Frédéric D’Oria-Nicolas, noted for his sonorous piano sound and assured manner, has recorded several critically acclaimed albums for Fondamenta. • Pianist Alexander Kobrin concertizes internationally and recently joined the Artist Faculty of Steinhardt School for Piano Studies at New York University. • Booklet notes in French and English.

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The award-winning Alexander String Quartet joins with acclaimed mezzo soprano Kindra Scharich in this world premiere recording of some of Mahler’s great orchestral Lieder — transcribed for voice and string quartet by Zakarias Grafilo. Commissioned by Lieder Alive! these exquisite transcriptions combine the lushness of the orchestral versions with the intimacy of chamber music — and the result is transcendent. Kindra Scharich has performed more than 50 art songs in 10 languages and sung over 30 roles in the lyric mezzo opera repertoire. Recording projects include Beethoven, Schumann and the complete non-Portuguese song repertoire of the great Brazilian composer Alberto Nepomuceno. A dedicated recitalist with a deep love of chamber music, she has performed and premiered numerous works by living composers. The Alexander String Quartet’s discography includes major cycles by Bartok, Kodaly, Mozart, Shostakovich, and Beethoven. An important advocate of new music, with over 35 commissions and premieres, they have performed on five continents. Directors of the Instructional Program of the Morrison Chamber Music Center at San Francisco State University, ASQ is the subject of an award-winning documentary “Con Moto: The Alexander String Quartet.”

BARTÓK String Quartets No. 1–6. KODÁLY String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2 • Alexander Str Qrt • FOGHORN 2009 (3 CDs: 205:55)


This fascinating set combines the string quartets of two then-young professors of music in Hungary, Béla Bartók and Zoltan Kodály. It’s an interesting set even though Bartók wrote a half-dozen quartets, which have since become staples of string quartets around the world, whereas Kodály only wrote two which are not as frequently programmed. Nor are the Kodály quartets as frequently recorded: ArkivMusic lists only one other recording of the First Quartet, by the Kontra Quartet (BIS 564), and only seven other recordings of Kodály’s No. 2, of which three are historical performances (the Végh Quartet, 1951, on Orfeo 316931; the Hungarian Quartet, 1952, on Music & Arts; and the Hollywood String Quartet, 1958, on Testament). Bartók beat Kodály to his First Quartet by a matter of months, the premiere occurring on January 27, 1909. Both composers worked on their second quartets during the harsh period of the First World War, and both works also had their premieres in 1918. For whatever reason, Kodály stopped at this point, whereas Bartók wrote four more quartets.


Comparing the Emerson Quartet’s performances of the First and Third Bartók quartets to the Alexander’s (I really didn’t have time to do the entire set, but these two quartets provide a good basis, the First being from Bartók’s earlier period and the Third coming from 1927), I found interesting if subtle points of comparison. But my Fanfare colleague Art Lange, upon reviewing the Emerson set when it was reissued in 2007, went even further back, comparing it to the performances of the Hungarian Quartet, and noted the earlier group’s “looser, albeit dramatic approach” in which the Hungarians “take a few liberties with pauses and tempos” and “have a better feel for the folk elements,” though—and I stress this—the earlier group tended to lessen “the accumulated tension” and “exaggerate more of the mysterious and atmospheric passages.” This trend, then, is simply turned up a notch in intensity and continuity by the Alexander, bringing us a tad further forward from the folk style that Bartók used.


With the Third Quartet, Bartók’s most astringent, compact, and dense work of the six, the style of playing is virtually identical in the case of both the Emerson and the Alexander: sonorities are lean, attacks are sharp, and the musical contours angular. There aren’t many interpretive options in this particular piece. But in the First Quartet (as well as in the first movement of the Second, which I also compared), there are decided differences in approach and style. The Emerson employs particularly broad tempos in the opening movement of the First Quartet, taking a leisurely 9:16 compared to the Alexander’s 8: 30. There is also greater warmth in the Emerson’s sound: whether this is a condition of their actual timbres or simply advantageous microphone placement, I don’t know. Of course, the leaner, brighter quality of the Alexander’s recording is entirely appropriate to modern music, particularly the modern music that emerged after Bartók’s death, and even within the context of these six quartets their performances set a very high standard.


As an example, I felt that the Alexander’s performance of the First Quartet’s opening movement, though less leisurely in feeling, has a tensile quality that immerses the listener in Bartók’s unique sound world and holds your attention. It is almost as if the Alexander’s players had the entire score in their heads, could “see” the music progressing as one continuous flow from first note to last, and thus propelled it into the ether for the benefit of the microphones. They do not, thankfully, play mechanically, the music being produced with almost explosive energy and drama. Yet if one goes by timings, the evidence is not always in the Emerson’s favor. The Alexander nearly always takes the fast movements just as fast if not faster than the Emerson, whereas their slow movements are generally (but not always) more relaxed, an exception being the Lento Finale of the Second Quartet, which the Emerson explores in 9:18 while the Alexander gets it done in 7: 38. As I say, tempos do not always indicate phrasing, but a performance nearly two minutes shorter simply has to be taken faster. What’s interesting, however, is that by and large the Alexander’s performance only sounds a little faster, and once again it ties this movement into the overall fabric—the continuity—of the Quartet as a whole.


The Alexander also finds moments of repose within their forward momentum; it’s just that their moments of repose are subtler, less easily discernible as pauses in the music (comparing it to literature, one might say commas in the musical sentences). To a large extent, Bartók’s six quartets are the 20th-century equivalent of Beethoven’s late quartets, and one can most certainly make a generalization between the way earlier string quartets such as the Rosé played them—with a certain amount of gemütlich, more portamento than we are used to today, and more astringent string tone due to the musicians’ more frequent (but not constant) use of straight tone—and the way we’ve come to hear them since the days of the Budapest Quartet, surely the first “modern” string quartet in terms of tautness and ensemble virtuosity, and the Yale Quartet, whose 1961 recordings of these thorny works set new standards. We simply can’t go back to the Rosé Quartet and hear their performances of Beethoven as being within our conception of the music; yet both as a quartet leader and as concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic, Arnold Rosé’s artistry and integrity as a musician was utterly beyond question.


I mention this in connection to these performances because it is not only an interesting artistic topic, but also valid in evaluating the evolution of musical performances in the 20th century and beyond. Bartók’s Fourth Quartet, composed in 1928, was in fact dedicated to the Pro Arte Quartet. I daresay that only diehard collectors of vintage performances will be familiar with Pro Arte’s style (they recorded an extensive series of Haydn quartets for HMV in the 1930s, a project ended by the onset of war, and also performed frequently both on and off records with pianist Artur Schnabel), but they were somewhere between the Rosé and the Budapest Quartets. There is a more consistent vibrato, fine and rapid but still discernible, in their playing than in the case of the Rosé, but also a slightly more relaxed rhythmic feel, a bit more give-and-take, than we hear in the playing of the Budapest and the many quartets that followed them. (I should point out that I heard the Hungarian Quartet in person playing Beethoven in 1970, but this was a later edition of this famous group and their style, too, had evolved into a more consistent forward momentum by then, not like their style of the 1950s.)


Checking on the artists’ own website (foghornclassics.com), I was startled to read in a review by Lisa Hirsch of the San Francisco Classical Voice that the Alexander’s live performance of one of the Bartók quartets was “introverted,” without “neglecting the work’s varying moods.” Introverted is not a word I’d apply to these explosive performances. They are indeed fantastic, although I would caution that Bartók’s continual intensity, as well as the extraordinarily dense harmonies and counterpoint, make listening to all six quartets in one sitting a tough go. I would suggest hearing two quartets at a time, separated by either periods of silence or less challenging music. Listening to even three of these works in one session is rather like listening to a full 70-minute CD of Art Tatum. The concentrated complexity of the music that unfolds can tire even a seasoned listener like myself out.


Then we turn to the Kodály quartets, less familiar works surely (this was the first time I had ever heard them), but once again we can make certain generalizations regarding the Alexander’s performances of them as based on the details and style one hears in their Bartók. Even the earlier Quartet No. 1 is given a taut, clean reading, bringing it close in style to Bartók’s own work. Of course, Kodály was his own man: although he assisted Bartók in recording and cataloguing Magyar folk melodies, and used some of their features in his own work, he was more consistent in writing longer, less sharply angular melodies. In short, Kodály’s music sings more, a factor that surely attracted more conductors of his time to perform his music during the 1920s and 1930s than was often Bartók’s fate. In this respect, Kodály’s quartets are a bit closer in general conception (but not exact details) to Janá?ek, whose quartets actually “sing” more than his operas. Listen particularly to the slow movements here: Kodály’s music, and the Alexander’s playing of it, are exceptionally lovely and moving in addition to being musically clean. Once again, as in their Bartók, the Alexander has found a way of bringing out the music’s tender side when tenderness is called for—which is more frequently in these Kodály works.


The list price of this set is $29.96, which breaks down to $9.93 per CD, a very reasonable price in this modern era, but the Alexander’s website indicates that Allegro Music is selling the set for $23.97 (which you can order directly from them), which breaks down to $7.99 per disc, bringing it into line with a budget label such as Naxos. I still like the Emerson’s recordings of the Bartók, but as a total package this one is irresistible. If you’ve put off buying a set of the Bartók quartets until now, and/or don’t have any recordings of the Kodály, you can’t go wrong with this collection. It is, quite simply, terrific.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

With its reputation for technical excellence, it was only a matter of time before the Academy Chamber Choir of Uppsala recorded one of the most testing choral works in the a cappella repertory: Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil. With his beloved Russian homeland in turmoil in 1915, Rachmaninoff turned inward: to his deep personal faith and to his country’s glorious sacred music tradition. The result was one of the composer’s most honest and moving works, an aggregation of the Orthodox offices of Vespers, Matins and First Hour that moves from confession to celebration. Nine of Rachmaninoff’s movements are based on traditional orthodox chant; the rest are freer in form but imbued with the same scented spirituality that lies at the heart of the Russian Orthodox choral sound. Rachmaninoff’s work is reflective and deeply moving. It offers praise, meditation, penitence and proclamation. Like the composer, the Academy Chamber Choir of Uppsala – founded by Eric Ericson in 1957 and now under the stewardship of Stefan Parkman – take the text as their starting point. Captured in atmospheric sound at Bälinge Church in Sweden, the choir brings exceptional bend and balance to the score with a rich tutti sound and beautifully plaintive solos from Annika Hudak and Patrik Wallin. Footprint is proud to release this wholly distinctive and devotional interpretation of Rachmaninoff’s masterpiece on record, the first from a Scandinavian choir for many years.

Marius Constant, who had an intimate knowledge of DeBussy's Pell�as et M�lisande, published Impressions de Pell�as, published in 1992 an abridged version for six singers and two pianists. In an intense flow of music, he telescopes the five acts with great finesse, removing a few scenes and making a fair number of cuts and a few minimal adjustments to the musical material. For the scenography, he suggested, "We are in an early twentieth-century salon." This reflects the fact that during the genesis of Pell�as, DeBussy regularly played fragments of it for his circle of friends. In this version, both listeners and performers are involuntarily swept towards the origin and essence of DeBussy's masterpiece: a "music of the soul" in which we can all recognize our own M�lisande, Pell�as, Arkel, Genevi�ve, Yniold and Golaud. This chamber version of the opera is completed by the Pr�lude � l'apr�s-midi d'un faune in DeBussy's own transcription for two pianos and the suite en blanc et noir. The two pianos used are the new straight-strung instruments built in Belgium by Chris Maene at the request of Daniel Barenboim.

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Ever since the memorable Václav Talich recording in the Fifties, Josef Suk's (1874-1935) Asraël symphony has never really benefited from a reference recording. Yet this symphony, of a dimension worthy of Mahler, written a century ago by a man crucified by pain, is slowly finding its way into the limelight. Walter Weller grew up between Vienna and Prague, at a time when Talich was still active, and has known Czech music since the cradle. With the Belgian National Orchestra, he leads us into an intimate comprehension of this partition, written after the death of Suk's father-in-law - Dvorák - and for part of the work, struck by the death of his young wife, Otilie. Asraël (Angel of Death) is a unique reflection upon death, where sadness, anger, resignation and the overcoming of pain form an extraordinary storyline, a combination of intimacy and remarkable fullness of sound. Extremely rare in discography, the complementary work will be of interest to all the amateurs of Czech music and of works inspired by the war: Legend of the Dead Victors is Suk's tribute to the Czech soldiers who died during World War I; an extraordinary short piece suggesting another vision of how to overcome death.

This fruitful "encounter" between Leonard Bernstein and Maurice Ravel juxtaposes Bernstein's intensity and rhythmic vitality with the melancholy refinement of Ravel's colors, while also highlighting the composers' commonalities, such as a shared tonal language and masterful incorporation of jazz idioms. Our purpose, however, is not only to appreciate an artistic cross-exchange but also to build upon it. This is what Trio Zadig and Benjamin Attahir seek in Asfar, a new work that springs from the creative nexus of these 20th-century giants and continues the conversation. The Zadig Trio came together when two childhood friends from France, Boris Borgolotto and Marc Girard Garcia, met American pianist, Ian Barber. Already, they have been awarded 11 international prizes at international competitions in France, Italy, Austria and USA. With depth and passion they play a repertoire that goes from Haydn to contemporary composers.

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In residence at Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth with the Artemis quartet, the Dali trio is a French ensemble of an exceptional level, rewarded with numerous prizes in Japan, Germany and the Unites-States in 2008. Amandine Savary, Vineta Sareika and Christian-Pierre La Marca, adding to their intense solo schedule, devote a large part of their wonderful energy to make up the trio, which is already leading them to the four corners of the world. By capturing the brilliance of their youthfulness, the subtleties of their tones, and their apparently endless quest for perfection, Fuga Libera and Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth have cooperated to make known one of tomorrow's great trios, in a repertoire comprising three summits of Maurice Ravel's production.

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