PAGANINI: String Quartets (Complete)

Der fliegende Holländer is considered to be the first 'true' Wagner opera. The story of the phantom ship and it's haunted master becomes a sensually charged drama with love and tragic sacrifice at it's heart, and this original 1841 version leaves the ultimate redemption of it's central characters unresolved. Wagner originally conceived the opera for Paris, so it is fitting that this production from the Theater an der Wien is driven by French director Olivier Py's unique vision, with a staging that dispels many of the misconceptions surrounding Wagner's art.

Includes qt(s) for gtr, vln, vla and cel by Niccolò Paganini. Ensemble: Paganini Ensemble.

Ida Haendel, Vol. 3: 1980 Toronto Recital (Live)

Classical Music

MARCELLO: Recorder Sonatas / Cello Sonatas

HVOSLEF Piano Trio. VALEN Piano Trio. EGGE Piano Trio • Valen Tr • LAWO 1037 (67:55)


The Valen Trio’s CD covers the music of three generations of Norwegian composers, two of whom wrote in the 20th century: Fartein Valen (1887–1952) and Klaus Egge (1906–1979). The third, Ketil Hvoslef (b. 1939), not only composed in the past century, but also continues his work today. Although their works are not in date order on the disc, at some point, you might want to listen to them that way in order to get a better understanding of the progression.


Born in Stavanger, Fartein Valen studied organ before moving to Berlin in the hope of studying with Max Bruch. There, he worked on tonal and atonal counterpoint that involved dissonance. His music eventually bore similarities to the works of Bach and Schoenberg. Glenn Gould, who admired Valen’s compositions, found them distinctive and said, “For the first time in many years I have found a looming personality in the 20th century’s music.” For those of us listening in 2014, Valen is an interesting way station on the musical timeline. The Valen Trio—composed of Ricardo Odriozola, violin; John Ehde, cello; and Einar Røttingen, piano—play his rhythmic, energetic music with love and great attention to detail. Their excellent rendition of the composer’s work transports us back to the first part of the previous century when his kind of writing was revolutionary. Egge, who wrote in the middle of the century, was first inspired by folk music and wrote in a tonal language for some years before he began to explore atonalism. Having become a student of Valen, he was present at the premiere of the latter’s Trio. His works show the progress of Norwegian music at this time and they are of both musical and historical importance. The Valen Trio plays his op. 14 Trio with the stylistic knowledge that comes from a serious study of the composer and knowledge of the culture in which he worked.


The most modern composer whose music is recorded on this disc is Ketil Hvoslef. His Trio was first heard in 2011. Like Valen, Hvoslef first studied organ in Norway. Later, he moved to Stockholm and then to London to study composition. His compositional style has often varied with the makeup of the group for which he was writing. Beginning as a neo-Classicist, he has developed a personal musical language that shows his rhythmic ingenuity. The Trio begins with sustained string tones and rhythmic incursions by the piano. It continues with a dialogue between the strings and the piano followed by a languid slow section. For the Finale, Hvoslef returns to rhythm and music that makes the listener want to dance. The sound on this recording is well balanced among the three instruments. The ambience will make the listener feel that he or she is sitting in an appropriately sized hall for chamber music while hearing the Valen Trio play this music. Since this CD takes the listener on a historic tour of Norwegian chamber music, it will probably be of greatest interest to lovers of trios and the music of Scandinavia.


FANFARE: Maria Nockin

Classical Music

Classical Music

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
Recording information: Ehem. Ackerhaus Abtei Marienmünster (09/25/2008-09/26/2008); Ehem. Ackerhaus Abtei Marienmünster (02/03/2009-02/04/2009).

The long, productive period of activity of the Neapolitan musician Raffaele Calace, because of its timing (1863-1934), fell into an era of great social and political transformations that also had important cultural consequences. A radical cultural renewal concentrated chiefly on a gradual increase of musical interest in instrumental production. These world premiere recordings introduce the listener to Mr. Calace’s Complete Works for Mandolin and Guitar, performed by the duo of Sergio Zigiotti and Fabiano Merlante, who also contribute the booklet text.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The first Brahms concerto is a touchstone for each and every pianist. Until now nobody had dared to record the concerto on a historical grand piano with an orchestra performing on historical instruments. On his solo recordings Hardy Rittner has already conquered the Brahms Olympus on various occasions. He is joined by the brilliantly arrayed l'arte del mondo orchestra under the conductor Werner Ehrhardt. The result: a great risk - in a live performance - has become a great recording.

Classical Music

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

Includes work(s) by various composers. Soloists: Ivan Paisov, Natalia Shcherbakova.

Classical Music

It is good to have Pinchas Zukerman returning to the Beethoven Violin Concerto. It was in the late 1970s that he made his earlier DG recording with Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a fine spacious reading, which I have unfortunately not had a chance to hear on CD format. The comparison with the LP brings home an extra depth in the new reading. If in the earlier version the characteristic warmth of Zukerman's tone marked the whole performance, this one brings greater emphasis on purity and refinement. The violin sound has less fat on it, and in this work that helps to convey an extra inner intensity. Such passages as the coda of the first movement are the more poignant in their seeming simplicity of expression, hushed to an extreme pianissimo. Zukerman is also stricter with himself over maintaining steady speeds, again purifying his concept. The result may be more disciplined, but it is never too rigid, with even the opening of the finale on the main rondo theme given a sense of gentle communing, not as outward-going as before. The recording helps, with the solo violin less forwardly balanced, and though the playing of the tuttis fails to match the soloist in intensity, the orchestra comes alive the moment he enters.

-- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone [11/1992]
reviewing the Violin Concerto, originally released as RCA 61219

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Collegium Aureum records are valuable as practical musicology, and it is irrelevant to say you prefer your Beethoven on modern instruments; this disc is a supplement, not a takeover bid. Badura-Skoda, who presumably directs the small band from the keyboard, plays a Broadwood Grand of 1816 and you soon get used to its tinny quality. Franzjosef Maier has his marvellous unmodernized Guarnerius of 1726, and like the excellent cellist he eschews vibrato. It is sometimes thought that when the balance fails in Beethoven the fault lies with our modern instruments but as this record shows this is not necessarily the case. Semiquavers in the bass of orchestral tuttis are still inaudible (as in the first climax of the first movement) and in the development when the soloists are all playing loud triplet quavers you can't hear the thematic fragments on the woodwind; you never can, and I suppose Beethoven is to blame. Old instruments can create as many problems as hey solve. This Broadwood Grand does not smother as much detail on other instruments as a modern piano, but it does not impinge on our consciousness as it should in its very first entry. One bonus is the sot/a race effect Beethoven asks for in the finale (modern instruments are never so self-effacing) and another is the proper sound of a Beethoven-period sustaining pedal being held through the last three bars. There is some very good playing from all three soloists in this finale. I suspected a slightly closer microphone was being used in the cadenza, but in general they have been under-emphasized by the recording engineers to help produce an early nineteenth-century sound. The whole disc provides a most rewarding experience.

-- Gramophone [8/1978]
reviewing the original LP release of the Triple Concerto

Ben van Oosten numbers among today's best-known organ virtuosos. His complete recordings of the organ works of Marcel Dupré, Louis Vierne, and Charles-Marie Widor are nothing short of legendary. It is thus not surprising that his invitation for a portrait of the grand Stahlhuth/Jann organ in Luxembourg's Dude-lange resulted in a "Festival of French Organ Music." This full CD program extending over almost eighty minutes captures a fascinating performance on a his-torical instrument of supreme tonal beauty.

LOUIS FERDINAND Andante with Variations, op. 4. Piano Quartet, op. 5. Larghetto with Variations, op. 11 • Tr Parnassus; Thomas Selditz (va); Stanislau Anishchanka (db) • MDG 303 1549 (71:49)


You might say that the Trio Parnassus owns the music of Prince Louis Ferdinand, at least his chamber music for small ensemble—piano trios, quartets, and one quintet (op. 11, listed above) with the same scoring as Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet. Titled “Complete Piano Trios, Vol. 3,” the present volume, in fact, has no trios at all; the “complete trios” is more accurately a compilation of most of his chamber music. At present, the Trio Parnassus appears to be alone in recording any of the rather small but worthy corpus of music composed by Louis Ferdinand. (The unfortunate Prince, killed in battle in 1805 at the age of 34, completed a total of just 13 opuses, of which 10 are chamber works with piano.)


The Trio Parnassus has made a vital contribution to the discovery and performance of many forgotten musical treasures from the 19th century, including works by Hummel, Bargiel, Scharwenka, and Rheinberger. Prince Louis Ferdinand, a highly talented and accomplished pianist/composer whose teacher was Jan Ladislav Dussek, certainly deserves inclusion in such a group. He was admired by none other than Beethoven, who, after hearing him play, called him a “true musician” and dedicated his Third Piano Concerto to him.


Louis Ferdinand had a gift for writing attractive melodies, and also a fertile imagination when it came to varying them. Variation movements are common in his œuvre, and although he follows the traditional style of variations—increasing rhythmic figuration and tempo, and including a minor key variation, e.g.—there are often surprises, especially since his harmonic writing at times anticipates the music of Schubert and Schumann. His music—especially the piano parts—is technically difficult and brilliant, no doubt intended to demonstrate the virtuosity of the composer.


The dedication of the Trio Parnassus, aided by excellent collaborators, is evident in the high quality of its performance. The ensemble is precise and the intonation of the strings is spot on. I have commented before on the outstanding work of the pianist, Chia Chou, who in addition to handling the demands of the virtuoso piano-writing with seeming ease, also knows when to fade into the background and leave the spotlight to his colleagues. His playing has polish and refinement as well as brilliance.


MDG once again demonstrates the success of its excellent technique in producing a recording using “the natural acoustics of specially chosen concert halls.” The balance among the instruments is perfect, and the sound is warm and vivid. In sum, this is most attractive music, put together with inspiration and skill. Strongly recommended.


FANFARE: Susan Kagan

BRUCKNER String Quintet. 1 String Quartet. Intermezzo in d. 1 Rondo in c • Fine Arts Qrt; Gil Sharon (va) 1 • NAXOS 8.570788 (78.50)


When the Bruckner revival was in full swing a few decades ago, this writer was never entirely smitten, and to this day I wince when he and Mahler are combined in casual conversation, since the style and quality of their music is so utterly different. Bruckner’s limited chamber music output hasn’t found much of a home in the repertoire of top-tier ensembles, but there is enough to make a cautious judgment, and the latest entry from Naxos might help some to examine this lonely corner of the repertoire.


Given my prejudices, I might not be expected to gush over this new disc of Bruckner’s Quintet in F Major and Quartet in C Minor by the Fine Arts Quartet, and I won’t. The performances are quite good and lovingly delivered, but the same qualities I have always considered weaknesses (utterly predictable phrase patterns and melodic sequences, unjustified repetitions, etc.) are in full bloom here as well, characteristics magnified by the absent splendor of a grand orchestra creating great masses of sonic beauty, which I believe too often masks a dearth of ideas and creative paths through the material. Despite my harsh minority view of the topic, I would not recommend relegating this disc to the garbage heap. In fact, there are intermittent pleasures here and there that might please the casual Bruckner listener and delight his more ardent admirers.


Posterity is certainly wise to give greater value to the mature Quintet over the youthful and rather thinly realized Quartet. Composed around the time of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies (1879), the Quintet sounds like one of his symphonic monuments, though it is a bit shorter and requires more nimble and intimate passagework from the performers, particularly the first violin. Some familiar harmonic patterns are present, and I detect some melodic snippets reminiscent of chamber works from Schumann (the “falling fifth,” for example). There is a fair amount of counterpoint, especially in the development section of the first movement. The Scherzo is one of the stronger movements on the disc, and is spun with a classical lightness that occasionally brings to mind Mendelssohn. There is even a touch of humor here and there, not an attribute Bruckner is known for. Not surprisingly for the über -revisionist Austrian, there is an alternative to the Scherzo, a rather pleasant Intermezzo, handily included on the disc for those inclined to judge for themselves.


The Adagio from the Quintet is sometimes heard in a transcription for string orchestra, a setting for which it seems more suited. Its lyrical, tender, and extended themes are among the composer’s finest, and there are occasions when the clarity of five players lends a touching intimacy not possible in massed strings.


The Quartet was discovered only in 1949 in a sketchbook of works from his student years. This is a much more reticent composer, content to remain well within the models of quartet composition inherited from his predecessors, a tendency most notable in the Scherzo. His attempts at Romantic-era duress seem strained, but there are some catchy tunes, especially in the supple and tender Andante.


I haven’t heard many of the dozen or so recordings of the Quintet, but you’re unlikely to find one much better than this finely executed and clearly recorded disc; doubly so for the far rarer Quartet. The Fine Arts Quartet gives a warmly expressive and carefully calibrated reading, joined by the fine violist Gil Sharon in the Quintet.


FANFARE: Michael Cameron

Classical Music

The Chinese composer and violinist Ma Sicong was born in Haifeng in Guangdong province in 1912, and was among the relatively few Chinese musicians of his generation to study abroad. He settled in America in 1967.