The Ames Piano Quartet, the resident chamber music ensemble at Iowa State University, holds a unique position in the chamber music field as one of the few piano quartets in the world. The combination of their lush string sound, blended with the orchestral quality of the piano, produces an exquisite and rare sonority. The Washington Post aptly described it as “one of the most heavenly combinations of instruments around.”

The ensemble has toured throughout the United States, including concerts in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, San Diego, and Washington D.C. Internationally they have performed in Canada, Mexico, France, Austria, and the Far East. Most recently the Quartet spent a week concertizing and teaching in Havana, Cuba, the first American chamber music group to perform there in over forty years.

Its members, all present ISU Music Department faculty, include Mahlon Darlington, violinist; George Work, cellist: (Lawrence Bulkhalter violist - discs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8) Jonathan Sturm, violist; and William David, pianist. Since its formation in 1976, the ensemble has recorded eight compact discs, including six for the Dorian Recording label, all of which have received national and international critical acclaim.

Fanfare called its CD of the Dvorak quartets, “one of the best chamber music recordings of the century.”

The Los Angeles Times wrote of a recent Ames Piano Quartet concert, “The four generated nearly limitless excitement … arching lyricism, poetic eloquence, and great accuracy.”

The French magazine La Cote des Arts commented, “The Ames [Piano] Quartet has a full vigorous sound, which deeply touches the soul.”

Reviews of some of the original recordings that make up this set:

Strauss, Widor Quartets
The masterpieces for piano quartet can be counted on the fingers of two hands: two by Mozart, one by Schumann, three by Brahms, two by DvorAk and two by Faure. This record offers two that are certainly not masterpieces, and are probably unknown even to most chamber music players, by composers who made their mark in very different spheres and whose names are not normally associated with chamber music at all. The earlier of them is the one by Richard Strauss, composed in 1884, when, at the age of 20, he was already a precocious and highly professional musician (with almost all the chamber music he composed already behind him). Widor's quartet dates from 1891, when he was in his late forties and already an eminent organist and pedagogue and the composer of a piano trio and quintet, a sonata for cello and piano and numerous shorter pieces—not to mention the first eight of his ten symphonies for organ.

The Strauss is heavily indebted to Brahms, notably in the two expansive, opulent outer movements, but in both the unmemorable quality of the thematic material is stretched too far (nearly 12 minutes, even without the exposition repeat, in the first movement, nearly ten in the fourth) despite the assurance of the actual craftsmanship. Some relief is provided by the nimble Scherzo and the rather sugary Andante (which are listed in the wrong order in the accompanying booklet). In 1885 the quartet was awarded, by a far from unanimous vote, a prize given by the Berlin Tonkiinstler Verein, and when it was played at Meiningen in January 1886 it made such a favourable impression on the audience (which included Strauss's employer, Georg II, Duke of Sachsen-Meiningen, to whom the score was later dedicated) that Strauss was agreeably surprised, "considering," as he wrote to Hans von Billow, "that it is by no means a pleasing or ingratiating work". The Widor is, to my ears, a more original and appealing piece, with a noble, impassioned first movement and an inventive finale, framing a tender, rather elegiac Adagio and a playful Vivace.

The performances, by the Ames Piano Quartet (formed in 1976, and a 'resident' ensemble at Iowa State University), are of outstanding quality, as is the recording by the American company, Dorian; it will not be their fault if the hope expressed in the booklet, "that this release will begin the work of restoring both pieces to the standard repertoire", is not realized.

-- R.G., Gramophone

Czech Piano Quartets
Great Czech piano quartet performances come from Iowa, Ames, IA, to be precise, home of Iowa State University where the Ames Piano Quartet is the chamber music ensemble-in-residence. The group, one of the few full-time piano quartets in the world, has already released several excellent discs on Dorian: the mandatory couplings of quartets by Dvorák, Fauré, and Brahms, plus several ingenious couplings like a disc joining quartets to quartets by Strauss and Widor. This 2002 disc has one of the most fascinating programs yet, uniting three quartets by three different Czech composers: Josef Suk's A minor Quartet, Op. 1; Vitezslav Novák's C minor Quartet, Op. 7; and Bohuslav Martinu's Quartet written in 1942.

All three are three-movement works in the fast-slow-fast pattern, all three last a bit more than 20 minutes, and all three are interesting examples of specific aspects their composer's style. Suk's A minor Quartet, his 1891 graduation piece from Dvorák's composition class, is a passionate but well-crafted piece of ardent romanticism. Novák's C minor Quartet started life as a four-movement student work in 1894, which the composer completely rewrote in 1903, discarding three of the movements and replacing them with the two published outer movements. Martinu's Quartet was written while the composer was living in exile in Jamaica, Long Island, a refugee from war-torn Europe and shows his mature mastery at its height.

The Ames Piano Quartet performs every work with amazing strength and total dedication. With a tight but flexible ensemble, strong but agile technique, and big, passionate tone, the Ames has what these works need to succeed. Its Suk is fervent and sincere, its Novák bold but controlled, and its Martinu driven but lyrical. Though some listeners may find the string's tone a bit edgy, others will find this only adds intensity to the performances. Recorded in Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall in 2002, Dorian's digital sound here is big, close, and direct. It should also be noted that this appears to be the premiere recording of Novák's quartet.

-- James Leonard, All Music Guide

Russian Piano Quartets
orian's pairing of these two piano quartets is particularly apt for a number of reasons, not least of which is the relative rarity of works in this genre by Russian composers. Paul Juon was a student of Sergei Taneyev (himself a student of Tchaikovsky), and it is Juon's Rhapsody that opens the program. A troubled, yearning theme in the cello's lower register sets the course for the entire piece, whose exceptionally rich chromaticism (stopping just short of Scriabin) keeps the music awash in a late-romantic delirium. The drama of the big finale is capped by the return of the cello's theme near the end. It's passionate, Wuthering Heights-type stuff, and the Ames Piano Quartet really pours on the sauce (but not so much that it overruns the plate).


Though written in the same year as Juon's Rhapsody (1906), Taneyev's piano quartet sounds like an earlier work due to its greater reliance on traditional Russian harmonic techniques. It's only slightly less emotionally heated, and the high strings' singing of the first movement theme brings to mind Chausson's Concert for violin, piano, and string quartet. The second movement features a catchy tune that would make a great rock n' roll anthem today. Taneyev's finale is even bigger that Juon's, though it also employs a cyclic device, in this case bringing that fetching second movement theme back for another rendition. As if two big chamber works were not enough, the disc is packed with Borodin's Polovtsian Dances in a mostly satisfying arrangement (you might miss the oboe) by Geoffrey Wilcken. Again, the Ames Piano Quartet plays with power, sensitivity, and brilliance. Dorian's recording places the piano well to the rear, but the live acoustic perfectly balances it with the strings.
--Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com

Review of complete set:

While piano trios abound and string quartets are a dime a dozen, what's rare are extant, long-standing piano quartets. Compared to the former two ensembles, repertoire for the latter is less abundant but no less significant. Piano quartets are often performed by piano trios who add a viola or string quartets that sit out a member and add a pianist. The result, however, is a temporary ensemble that lacks the benefits of performing long term with the same musicians. The Ames Piano Quartet proves that not only can a piano quartet exist as its own entity, but that it can thrive. Originally formed in 1976 at the University of Iowa and now faculty artists at Iowa State University, the Ames Piano Quartet has made a name for itself as skilled interpreters of the standard popular repertoire as well as champions of new and lesser known works. The present eight-disc collection showcases the recordings the group made on the Dorian label from 1989 through 2009. Listeners will enjoy stunning, thoughtful interpretations of warhorses of the repertoire like the three Brahms quartets, two from Dvorák, and quartets from Schumann, Fauré, and Strauss, as well as enlightening performances of rarely performed quartets by Suk, Martinu, and Widor. Taken from recordings made across two decades, there is an understandable variability in recorded sound quality from disc to disc, and the Ames does not have the most spotless intonation in the world. What it does have that many others lack is a clear, singular, unified vision of the score. Every articulation, every phrase, every dynamic, and every nuance is perfectly matched across the four members. Balance within the ensemble is also pleasantly fluid, shifting to allow the melody to come to the fore without obscuring the inner voices. Adding to its polished playing and far-reaching repertoire is a very informative and well-written set of liner notes that make this collection one well worth checking out.

-- Mike D. Brownell, All Music Guide

The Zia Indians’ symbol for the sacred sun captures the adventurous spirit and global pulse of this CD from Sono Luminus and the award winning Del Sol String Quartet. The composers represented—Gabriela Lena Frank, Lou Harrison, José Evangelista, Reza Vali and Elena Kats-Chernin - draw on ancient and traditional folk music from four corners of the world and make it new by incorporating techniques such as inventive intonations or heterophony. = The San Francisco based Del Sol String Quartet has long made a practice of fostering contemporary music from throughout the entire Western Hemisphere. Critically acclaimed as “steeped in bravery and imagination” (James M. Keller, Chamber Music Magazine (February 2007), this quartet of master musicians explores new ways to interact with audiences, composers and artists across cultures and art forms.

After the success of the first fourteen reissues, which restored to the limelight some of the gems of the early music repertory in the catalogues of our labels, here are fourteen new titles to allow listeners to renew acquaintance with further treasures of the Renaissance and Baroque (and even a journey through time thanks to Raphaël Imbert’s album Bach Coltrane), performed by some of the leading interpreters of the genre; most of these discs won one or more awards on their first release. As with the first series, the artists have been asked to contribute to the booklets, in which, with a few years’ hindsight, they talk about their conception of the works and how they went about recording them. The photographers of the Magnum agency illustrate the covers of the series with their work; this time the common design element is the colour yellow.In addition to the 13 titles shown below, the album FIRENZE 161 by LE POEME HARMONIQUE, VINCENT DUMESTRE, will also be reissued.

PROKOFIEV Violin Sonatas: No. 2 in D; No. 1 in f. Five Mélodies, op. 35a • Isabelle van Keulen (vn); Ronald Brautigam (pn) • CHALLENGE 72580 (60: 59)


Violinist Isabelle van Keulen and her frequent duo partner, pianist Ronald Brautigam, present Prokofiev’s two violin sonatas in the order of their appearance. The Second Sonata originally appeared as a flute sonata; David Oistrakh, who heard the premiere, asked the composer to arrange it for violin and piano. Prokofiev left the piano part untouched and collaborated with Oistrakh on adapting the flute part to the violin. When once practicing the Sonata, I heard a flute player in the next room playing the flute version. We both emerged into the hallway to argue about the superiority of the one over the other—I championing the flute version, and she the one for violin. Apparently, Oistrakh and Prokofiev did their jobs well. In fact, though, I always thought that Oistrakh played the piece like a flute sonata, while Nathan Milstein played it like a violin sonata (I can’t think of any flute players who play it like a violin sonata).


Van Keulen digs so deeply into the strings in her aggressive statement of the two themes that she erases all vestiges of that flute version. Yet she adds a silvery sheen to some of the passagework that keeps the movement from sounding coarse or brutal. She or Brautigam occasionally releases an intense outburst that reveals the music’s bubbling hot core, however irenic Prokofiev himself thought the music to be overall; and they showcase the Scherzo’s quicksilver sprightliness, although van Keulen draws an almost hoarsely rich tone from the lower registers of her 1734 Guarneri del Gesù in the trio—a timbre that also suggests steamy sultriness in the outer portions of the third movement—to say nothing of its slinky middle section. Van Keulen sounds almost ferocious—as did Milstein—in the Finale’s opening theme. I remember Dmitry Sitkovetsky’s recording as suggesting high resolution but equalized tension (Virgin 7243 5 61887, Fanfare 25:2). The resolution’s all here in van Keulen’s reading, but not the equalized tension—at the very least, the dynamic interplay between the duo partners guarantees that and they sprint with breathtaking élan to the finish.


In the First Sonata, van Keulen deploys a tone of great strength—modern textile armor wrapped around steel—which lends a hard edge to the first movement; and Brautigam delivers the already grim musical message with intimidating intensity, spreading the terror from the “wind in the graveyard” passages throughout the entire movement. The second movement begins with a snarl; and van Keulen’s very strength—a strength that occasionally causes her violinistic voice to crack, principally the first time it’s heard—lends a somewhat different musical meaning to the lyrical second theme from that which many listeners may have come to expect. She adopts a somewhat kinder and gentler manner in the more introspective third movement, but the duo gives the Finale a topsy-turvy sense of hurling jagged fragments.


The program ends with the Five Melodies . Once again a violinist, this time Paul Kochanski, helped Prokofiev arrange the part for violin. In Joseph Szigeti’s reading of these pieces with Carlo Bussotti, they retained a quirkiness that they lack in van Keulen’s and Brautigam’s version; but since van Keulen and Brautigam play passages like the middle of the second with joyous energy, and bring an almost searing intensity to the opening of the third, they can hardly be accused of pruning the pieces emotionally.


For those seeking a view of these works more recent than those of the first performers, van Keulen and Brautigam certainly provide an almost comparable musical understanding combined with, arguably, an equally ample technical command and, not at all arguably, superior recorded sound. Very strongly recommended.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham

The Austrian composer Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944) and the German composer Sigmund Schul (1916-44), both Jewish (Ullmann the child of Roman Catholic converts, Schul the child assimilated parents) were also both WWII concentration camp victims (Ullman perished in Auschwitz, Schul in Terezin). Schul's work featured on concert programs Ullmann hosted in the camps. Recorded in 2004, this Centaur release features three of Ullmann's orchestral works coupled with two of Schul's chamber pieces, both scores, sadly, incomplete due to obvious and most unfortunate circumstances.

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite - Weber: Invitation to the

The Virtuoso French Horn

Mathew Arnold observed: “It always seems to me that the right sphere for Shelley’s genius was the sphere of music, not of poetry”. Certainly, music was both a major influence on Shelley’s work, and a frequent subject of that poetry. In turn, his work has repeatedly attracted the attention of composers. Amongst English composers there are fine settings by, amongst many others, Geoffrey Bush, Roger Quilter, Vaughan Williams, Granville Bantock, Delius and Tippett; a less expected English setting can be found (‘Adonais’) on the B-side of The Cure’s 1996 single ‘The 13th’! Amongst modern American composers, there are intriguing settings by David Diamond and Ned Rorem. The number of settings, indeed, is such as to justify the publication in 1974 of Burton R. Pollin’s Music for Shelley’s Poetry: an annotated bibliography of musical settings of Shelley’s Poetry (New York, Da Capo Press).

Of immediate relevance to this particular CD, Italian composers attracted to Shelley’s work include Giorgio Ghedini, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – and Ottorino Respighi. Respighi set several poems by Shelley, in Italian translations. Amongst them is the gorgeous Il Tramonto, which sets a translation by Roberto Ascoli of Shelley’s early poem ‘The Sunset’ (written in 1816). A minor masterpiece which belongs in a sound-world compounded of, say, Mahler and Zemlinsky, Strauss and Puccini, Respighi’s music beautifully complements and articulates Shelley’s poem of love and death, of “gentleness and patience and sad smiles” and “wisdom-working grief”, of “passionless calm and silence unreproved”. The vocal line is exquisitely handled by Stella Doufexis, her voice at times floating raptly where “lines of gold / Hung on the ashen clouds” and at times unbearably pained in evocation of the bereaved woman’s death-in-life. There are other fine recordings, including performances by Magdalena Kozena with the Henschel Quartet (Deutsche Grammophon 4715812) and Anne Sofie von Otter with the Brodsky Quartet (Vanguard Classics 99216). Kozena’s performance is part of a recital of songs by Ravel, Shostakovich, Schuloff and Britten; von Otter’s performance is part of an all Respighi programme along with the Quartet in D major and the Quartetto Dorico. Doufexis and the New Hellenic Quartet are not seriously disadvantaged by comparison with such big names – this is a dignified, moving performance, which refuses excessive melodrama.

Respighi played both violin and viola. While studying with Rimsky-Korsakov he played viola in the orchestra of the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg; in Italy played viola in the Mugellini Quartet from 1903-1908. Not surprisingly, his writing for string quartet is clearly founded in secure knowledge of instrumental possibilities. The Quartet in D minor is perhaps not especially individual in idiom, but is thoroughly well made. The opening allegro is full of rich harmonies and warm humanity; the second movement – marked lentamente con tristezza – is steeped in romantic yearning, with some long melancholy melodic lines; the third movement is neatly made, a model of balance, with some attractively lyrical episodes; the finale sparking with controlled energy. A satisfying piece which deserves to be heard more often.

The Quartetto Dorico – written some fifteen years later – is, however, an altogether more distinctive work. It was written at about the time when Respighi – in part because of the influence of his wife, the singer and composer Elsa Olivieri-Sangiacomo – was reshaping his musical thought in the light of his study of Gregorian chant – an interest also reflected in such compositions as the Concerto gregoriano (1921) and the Concerto in modo misolidio (1925). The quartet is written as a single long movement, though made up of clearly distinct sections. There are passages indebted to folk materials; there are alternations between contrapuntal and homophonic writing; there is much fine writing for the viola, in particular. There is suggestion of subdued passion in much of the writing, a sense of passion reflected upon and contained, its sources and outcomes only hinted at in the insistent returns to a single theme. The whole has a strange beauty, simultaneously – somehow – both lush and austere.

In both quartets the New Hellenic Quartet play with commitment, intelligence and instrumental assurance. Their work resonates with honesty and freshness. The singing of Stella Doufexis is of a similarly high standard – any listener wanting to explore Respighi beyond the familiar orchestral works could do a great deal worse than start here.

-- MusicWeb International (Glyn Pursglove)

Classical Music

Classical Music

This is a great gift to all interested in music of the recent past. Iannis Xenakis conceived of a multimedia installation in 1976–78, which consisted of a pre-recorded electroacoustic score, titled La légende d’Eer, and a structure in which it would unfold, called the “Polytope.” The latter was constructed on the plaza in front of the newly opened Pompidou Arts Center in Paris; it is a fluid series of intersecting parabolic forms, in essence, a tent that is a predecessor of the more sophisticated structures of Frank Gehry and other contemporary constructivist architects. It also hearkens back to Xenakis’s original training as an architect, and his work as Le Corbusier’s assistant in the famous Phillips Pavilion of the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair, for which Varèse wrote the Poème électronique. Inside, hundreds of flashing lights and mirrors, and four lasers were coordinated by computer into a constantly mutating series of “constellations.” The effect seems to have been one of a sort of transcendent sensory overload, a confrontation with the overwhelming scope and force of the universe (I heard the composer lecture once on the piece, and showing a picture of the Polytope, he quipped, “Here you see many people going in, and a few coming out.”)

Disques Montaigne has already released the original tape piece on MO 782058. This DVD is the first chance we have to experience something of the full piece, through the visuals of Bruno Rastoin. I say “somewhat,” because alas (and amazingly) no video walk-through of the work was ever made (though admittedly the technology at that point would be quite primitive by current standards). Instead, hundreds of slides of the piece in progress were made, and Rastoin has essentially arranged them into a Powerpoint presentation, flowing from one to another in conjunction with the music. There’s no indication whether the sequence of images corresponds to the original sequence of the piece (or even if that sequence was set in a predetermined loop, or more random). While hardly ideal, working with what was available, this at least gives some sense of a visionary project.

The music itself is spectacular, one of the great landmarks of “pure” electroacoustic music. Lasting 47 minutes, the piece moves through a series of overwhelming climaxes. Some are shatteringly ugly, but all are bracing in their uncompromising power. (I heard the piece at the above-mentioned lecture, which was at the International Computer Music Conference, with one of the most knowledgeable audiences in the world for such. Even here a large portion of the audience fled, perhaps because of the sonic onslaught, perhaps out of aesthetic disagreement, probably a combination of both.) This DVD claims to have restored about three minutes to the original tape, and I honestly don’t know where, but it’s welcome and doesn’t change overall the impact any would know from earlier encounters.

Finally, there’s a 67-minute interview with Xenakis in 1995 at his Paris center CCMIX, conducted by Harry Halbreich, one of the most knowledgeable, imaginative, and enthusiastic of European musicologists devoted to contemporary music. The production quality of the document is very poor—an unstable camera, variable focus, moments of blackout—but it remains important nonetheless. Xenakis eventually would suffer the tragedy of dementia in his last years, but in this, six years before his death, there’s almost no sign of any mental decay, and amazingly enough, the whole interview is conducted in English, in which both participants are fluent. One only laments that if one-tenth the resources devoted to a VH-1 documentary on a washed-up 1970s band could be given to chronicling the life and ideas of one of the great revolutionary musical geniuses of the century, this video product would be at least 10 times better. But we deal with what we’ve got, and I’m very grateful for it.

It may seem I have quibbles here, but this really does have my highest recommendation. Mode is carving out an exceptional catalog of new music DVDs (I already know their Carter and Cage releases), and this one is a heroic rescue operation, a treasure. Bravo to all concerned.

Robert Carl, FANFARE

After completing a quintet for wind instruments in 1922 that would become one of his most celebrated works, Carl Nielsen hit upon the ideas of writing a full orchestral concerto for each of the instruments included in that quintet. Nielsen certainly unlocked something in those five individual instruments that few composers had before him o rindeed would after. "Now I think on the basis of instruments themselves...in a way I creep into them" he wrote around the time of the quintet; "it can surely be said that instruments have a soul". The two concertos of the planned five that did materialize - for flute and clarinet - certainly echo those sentiments. The Philharmonia Orchestra is one fo the world's great orchestras. Widely acknowledged for its pioneering approach to the role of an orchestra in the 21st century, the Philharmonia leads the field for the quality of its playing and its innovative work with residencies, music education, audience development and the use of new technology to reach a global audience.

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REVIEW:

Paavo Järvi presides over a splendidly stylish and invigorating Nielsen anthology featuring the Philharmonia at the top of its game throughout. Both concerto performances deserve the widest plaudits. First-rate annotations and production values add to the attractions of a thoroughly recommendable release.

– Gramophone

Los Angeles based string quartet The Calder Quartet releases an album of works by Thomas Adès, including the British composer’s first ever work for string quartet, Arcadiana; The Four Quarters (World Premiere Recording) and Ade?s’s single movement Piano Quintet with Adès himself at the piano.

"***** A series of ingenious and alluring snapshots. The Calder Quartet perform all three with energy and sensitivity. Highly recommended." – Financial Times

NORGARD: Works for Harp and Ensemble

I had the good fortune, last week, to see someone buy this CD in my local music shop. She studied the back of it for some time, scratched her head, and tentatively handed over her credit card to pay for it. The man at the counter said. “You won’t regret this; it is lovely,” to which the lady buying it responded, “I hope so.” I hoped so, too: It promises so much with that glossy front cover.

It is quite a comprehensive anthology of overtures. There are 17 of them in total. The range of composers is also satisfying, from Albioni to Ziani. Music ranges from the outré and the slapstick, to the coy and simple. Alexander Pope, in his large epic The Dunciad, once called Italian opera a “harlot form, with mincing step and languid eye,” which is a witticism amply revealed here in the range of aural tricks. As overtures, they are designed to arrest, and like Pope’s “harlot form” the overture has enough to cover the subject, but little enough to remain interesting. We flit between composers, works, time periods, tones, methodologies, keys and characters throughout the course of CD, and it is a genuine pleasure to be thrown hither and thither. A highlight, for me, was Bononcini’s sad and threatening Cefalo, which is full of a cello player’s sense of darkness.

Great credit has to go to Charivari Agréable, the group whose technical proficiency has given life to a series of very obscure opera overtures. This CD is a worthy companion piece to other opera anthologies, both popular and obscure, since it nestles happily in the genre of “introductory” rather than “exhaustive”: an intention highlighted by the obvious fun the orchestra has with its solo moments and general camaraderie. As a window into the period, it makes one realise just how formulaic and repetitive the vogue for Italian opera could be, but it is also refreshingly representative of the variety and nuances composers could inject into the form. It is a confusing collection, in many ways: Scarlatti, Ariosti, Bononcini, Pasquini, and Ziani on one CD is a little baffling. But, I suggest, that is irrelevant, and that the CD is satisfying regardless.

– Dan Sperrin, Fanfare [5-6/2015]

Classical Music

KOPPEL / RASMUSSEN / BENTZON / OLSEN / LORENTZEN: Piano Trio

Composed by Bent Sørensen (b. 1955), the three works with the piano in focus, released here for the first time on CD, have been recorded by the English pianist Rolf Hind in collaboration with his regular duo partner, the violinist David Alberman, and accompanied by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Michael Schønwandt.

Contemporaries of the Strauss Family, Vol. 3

Classical Music

REVIEW:

Baroque chamber performers face the challenge of picking a program that makes sense from among the enormous body of small-ensemble music by Georg Philipp Telemann, and the multinational historical-instrument ensemble Rebel (pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable) surmounts this challenge. Telemann, like other composers of the first half of the 18th century, wrote lots of trio sonatas, but he also pursued the richer sonata à quattro and sonata à cinque. These are, in the main, flashier and more experimental pieces than the trio sonatas, and Rebel captures their daring qualities. Most of the movements are Italianate, but annotator John Moran (his notes are in English only) rightly points to the influence of Polish folk fiddling on Telemann's music here. Consider the Sonata Discortato à 4 in A major, TWV 43:A7 (tracks 5-8). "Discortato" means "untuned," and Telemann is thought to have derived the scordatura tuning here from Polish music he heard. The final movement is not a Polish dance but a French one, a bourrée, and it is miles away from Bach's treatments of this form; with its drones and plain melodic figures it sounds almost like a reproduction of an actual folk dance. This rustic style (explored in more detail on another Rebel disc devoted specifically to Telemann's Polish side) is balanced by flamboyant Italian sonata movements with pairs of violins and violas sounding off against each other in many combinations. It's a great deal of fun. Rebel here records in the U.S., in a church in Stamford, CT, that brings disagreeably live results, but this remains a colorful program that the Telemann aficionado will enjoy.

-- James Manheim, All Music Guide

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Praise cannot be too high for Cordaria. For me this is quite simply the best recording of this music I have ever heard... Their blend, sensitivity and recorded balance are always immaculate, beautiful and at times tear-jerking. Highly recommended.

The ‘Mystery Sonatas’ consist of 15 short suites for violin and continuo whose inspiration lies in the so-called 15 mysteries of the Virgin Mary; effectively 15 meditations which are sometimes directly programmatic and sometimes more elusive. They divide into three groups of five. The Joyful Mysteries are based on episodes in Jesus’s early life, the Nativity for example; the middle group are the Sorrowful Mysteries like ‘The Crown of Thorns’ etc; and the final group are the Glorious Mysteries which continue the story from the Resurrection to the Assumption and then to the Coronation of the Virgin. The whole work is capped off by a grand unaccompanied Passacaglia for Violin. The whole sequence lasts about two hours and a quarter and is therefore on two discs. Sadly the middle group of five has had to be divided, with the last one, the Crucifixion, on the second disc.

Biber composed these works for Archbishop Max Gandolph. Peter Holman, who I am delighted to find writing programme notes for this disc as he has a proven track record of expertise in the field of 17th Century instrumental music, tells us that "Biber pointed out in his dedication that Max Gandolph was strongly in favour of the Rosary in Salzburg". Also we learn that "the cycle was used in the traditional Rosary devotions in September and October … and the faithful as they walked in procession would have listened to appropriate biblical passages and commentaries and to Biber’s music whilst meditating of their Rosaries". The manuscript also contains fifteen elegant roundels, which were relevant to the subject of each sonata. Nine of these have been reprinted in black and white and are scattered around the booklet. There is also a musical quotation from the Sonata XI and the violin tunings needed for each sonata are given. Some are quite extraordinary. But what makes these sonatas virtuoso compositions for the performer and (I am sure for the composer) is that once re-tuned the notation remains as usual, to correspond with the continuo harmony. This technique is called Scordatura and many violinists dread it. Walter Reiter appears undaunted and unflappable, more so than any other player I have ever heard. The reason for some of these tunings is quite obvious and indeed programmatic. For example the beautiful ‘Ascension’ sonata has a C major tuning, g-c-g-d. Contrast that with the 9th Sonata ‘Jesus carries his own cross’ in A minor, tuned to straining point c-e-a-e in other words raised a 4th giving a rather strangled effect.

Apart from these unique sets of tunings there are other programmatic elements in the music. The ‘Resurrection’ sonata is the only one in one continuous and untitled movement. It begins in total stillness - the dawn of Easter Morning. The free recitativic tempo gradually builds so that in the brightness of the morning sun [c.2’15"] the empty tomb is displayed. Then enters, at first quietly, the Easter Chorale melody ‘Surrexit Christus Hodie’. Incidentally the tuning in this sonata is so odd that the effect is literally unearthly. In the ‘Ascension’ sonata (number 12) the violinist is expected with his terrifically difficult double stoppings to imitate a choir of trumpets in the ‘Aria tubicinium’ [track 7].

In the ‘Crucifixion’ sonata the rending of the veil over ‘the holy of holies’ is vividly portrayed (track 4).

Most of the sonatas have several movements and several have dance titles. Some have Aria’s followed by Variations. Dances include ‘Allmans’ and ‘Correntes’ which are slipped curiously into movements like ‘The Visitation’ sonata and the ‘Nativity’ sonata. Presumably on the grounds of ‘why should the devil have the best tunes?’

Praise cannot be too high for Cordaria. For me this is quite simply the best recording of this music I have ever heard. Credit should go of course to Walter Reiter. Timothy Roberts on the chamber organ or harpsichord and Elizabeth Kenny on the theorbo along with Joanna Levine on the gamba with Frances Kelly, a very experienced influence, on the harp and Mark Levey on a Lirone make a ‘dream team’.

Their blend, sensitivity and recorded balance are always immaculate, beautiful and at times tear-jerking. Highly recommended.

-- Gary Higginson, MusicWeb International

With his Ravello release Embrace the Wind, composer Robert J. Martin communicates the wonder that humanity has for wind through a cycle of string quartets rooted in images and emotions played out across histories as diverse as ancient phoenicia and modern wind farms. The cycle uses contrasting sonorities and melodic material that range from thorny to lush to portray the influence of wind on culture and civilization, from the joy of a child's pinwheel to the power of giant wind turbines. Martin uses strings to portray wind in unique ways. The strings moan like wind, imitate mechanical toys, howl, bite, lull us with gentleness and show us the sweetness of our world.

American Neo-Romantic composer, David Del Tredici has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. His recent energetic output for piano solo is due partly to a close artistic collaboration with Marc Peloquin, resulting specifically in S/M Ballade, a “pianistic terror”. The finale of Gotham Glory is another virtuoso test, Del Tredici’s celebration of New York closing with a Grand Fantasy derived from a waltz by Emil Waldteufel. This is the first of three volumes of David Del Tredici’s complete piano music, with its generously rewarding combination of achingly expressive romanticism, subtle references and ever-present sense of covert and overt drama.