Since their revival in the latter portion of the twentieth century, these pieces have been performed a number of times. This particular recording, however, stands apart from the rest due to its impeccable attention to the performance practices of Mendelssohn’s time. These works are performed on a replica of an 1815 six-octave Streicher grand piano, which is very close to what was actually used by the young child prodigy. These musicians also follow Mendelssohn’s practice of utilizing the keyboard in the concerto tuttis as well as the solo part. The orchestra plays on gut strings with Tourte-style bows. The Piano Concerto in A minor was written for Mendelssohn’s sister, Fanny in 1822. The Sextet was written two years later, and is the first foreshadowing of the vigorous energy and shimmering textures which would soon mark Mendelssohn’s unique personal style.

Jacques Paisible (c. 1656-1721) seems to have had a real influence on musical life in London, even though his name is long forgotten. He spent about 40 years in the city and was a prolific composer of music for the theater. His main reputation as a performer was as a recorder virtuoso, and he published many works for the instrument in various combinations, including the Six Setts of Aires for two Flutes and a Bass performed here. Published in 1720, they provide good evidence for Paisible's talents both as a player and composer, which turns out to be craftsmanlike and idiomatic, with no virtuoso pretensions.

The English term "Sett" is analogous to the French "Suite", a form that included various traditional dance movements, and Paisible enhanced his minuets, sarabandes, and gavottes with an occasional rigadoon, march, or "Scotch Aire", spicing his lyrical melodic lines with an appealing sensuality. This music must have been perfect for theater intervals: it would offend no one, nor would it be too memorable to distract from the next scene.

The five members of Musica Barocca (recorders, viola da gamba, theorbo, harpsichord) all contribute excellent work here, making the most out of Paisible's pleasing melodies and sturdy, serviceable bass lines. The sound is ideal for these instruments--clear, warm, and detailed, with no dryness or harshness.

--David Preiser, ClassicsToday.com

Includes work(s) for piano by Manuel de Falla. Soloist: Daniel Ligorio.

MUFFAT: Concerti Grossi Nos. 1 - 6

SPOHR: String Quintet No. 7 / String Sextet, Op. 140 / Potpo

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Throughout his musical career, Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera artfully incorporated the folk music and dance forms of his native land into increasingly modernist creations. From the populist to the avant-garde, his work was created using an architectural approach that effectively set his music apart. Ginastera: One Hundred is released in celebration of the centennial anniversary of Ginastera’s birth. The work serves as a musical ‘thank you’ from world-renowned harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, whose career has been heavily influenced by Ginastera. She has performed his Harp Concerto nearly 200 times. Alongside the Harp Concerto is Danzas Argentinas, with its themes that evoke Argentinean history and culture juxtaposed with modernist structures. This is the work which catapulted Ginastera into fame in his home country. Finally, Pampeana No. 1 shows influences from Aaron Copland, with whom Ginastera studied, and Sonata for Guitar, which is the composer’s only work for Argentina’s national instrument.

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.

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ORCHESTRAL WORKS

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UN BALLO IN MASCHERA: MIALNOV-

Despite meeting with success upon its premiere in 1836, Gaetano Donizetti himself considered his Belisario to be a step below his finest effort, 1835s Lucia di Lammermoor. Composed in a style befitting its elevated, heroic and noble subject matter (high declamation, monological rather than dialogue driven, highly symphonic in style, etc…), it nonetheless worked in the theater and testifies to Donizetti’s superior inventiveness and theatrical sense. Recorded live at the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo, Italy in 2012, this Bongiovanni release marks the opera’s first appearance on DVD.

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Jesus Guridi was one of a number of composers born in the last quarter of the 19th century, who also included Joaquin Turina and Manuel de Falla, driven by a desire to create and promote Spanish music with a genuinely national identity. With their authentic folk-tinged atmosphere, Guridi's two string quartets follow his foremost philosophical concern of creating beautiful works of art, with their moments of modal serenity and richly diverse sophistication. Guridi's masterpiece Ten Basque Melodies can be heard on Naxos 8.557110, his zarzuela El caserioon 8.557632, the Sinfonia pirenaica on 8.557631, and his opera Amaya on Marco Polo 8.225084-85.

Classical Music

Franz Xaver Gebel was born in Furstenau near Breslau in 1787 and received his musical education in Vienna, as did many of his Silesian peers. His list of teachers included Abbe Vogler and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. In Vienna, Gebel was engaged at first as the director of music at the Theater in Leopoldstadt and published some compositions including the Great Sonata for pianoforte and violoncello. After working as a director of music in Vienna, Pest, Hermannstadt, and Lemberg, he ended up in Moscow in 1817, where he spent the rest of his life and gave private lessons for piano and compositions. Subscribers to Gebel’s evenings of chamber music had purchased tickets to what was probably the first public chamber concerts in Moscow, where they heard sophisticated pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven as well as quartets and quintets by Gebel himself. Almost 20 years after Gebel’s death, the String Quintet No. 8 and the Double Quintet Op. 28 were published at the Julius Schuberth publishing house in Leipzig. This release is a world premiere recording of the String Quintet No. 8 and the Cello Sonata.

Frederic Chopin’s Piano Trio op. 8 is one of his fully fledged masterpieces, even though the composer completed it at the young age of 19. Chopin wrote it between 1828-1829, during his studies at The Royal University of Warsaw under the aegis of his instructor for composition, Joseph Elsner. As the musicologist Maciej Galub remarked, Chopin felt he had to face three challenges as debuting composer: Appropriating the great form, then contending with the “brilliant” style of the piano compositions by his contemporaries Hummel, Weber or Ries, and finally establishing a national Polish musical idiom, for instance by using folk dances. In his piano trio, Chopin overcame these three challenges masterfully. The Piano Trio in B-flat major by Joseph Elsner, which is included on this release, was published in Vienna under the title “Grande Sonate pour le Clavecin ou Forte-piano avec Accompagnement d’un Violon et Violoncelle oblige.” Formally it corresponds to the model with three movements for the piano trios from Haydn and Mozart. The first movement is an energetic sonata allegro. This is followed by a melodic imaginative larghetto. The finale consists of a bright rondo, whose theme has folk-like features.

Nelli Shkolnikova, Vol. 1: Mendelssohn & Tchaikovsky Violin

Erica Morini, Vol. 1: Wieniawski, Mozart & Sarasate