GRECHANINOV String Quartets: in c, op. 75; in F , op. 124 ? Utrecht Str Qrt ? MDG 603 1388 (68: 40)


Grechaninov is commonly thought of as a composer whose works are somewhat conservative and hark back to the style of his teachers, above all Rimsky-Korsakov; but the two quartets given here amply demonstrate the extent to which he fell under modern Western influences. Debussy, Scriabin, Richard Strauss, and Wagner all left their subtle imprint upon the C-Minor Quartet, the fabric of which is a fine construct of emotion and restraint in which the influences are balanced by a clear understanding of form and structure. Iosif Raiskin?s fine booklet note aptly terms this ?New ideas in old words,? which goes some way to explain the compositional aims of Grechaninov in his later years. For all this, his own voice comes across as unfailingly vital and soulful within the music.


It is the Fourth String Quartet in F that most clearly articulates Grechaninov?s vision of what a string quartet might be. Composed at the age of 65 during his self-imposed exile in Paris, the work looks back with some clarity of vision to Borodin in particular, and Beethoven, too, in his quotation and metamorphosis of themes drawn from the latter?s Fifth Symphony. Grechaninov?s lyrical gifts are displayed to the full in the second movement, within which the central section is a notable aria for violin solo with trio accompaniment. The work is worth hearing for the sensitivity of this passage alone.


The Utrecht String Quartet?s performances project confidence, musical handling of individual lines and care with the shaping of phrases that never suggests an over-studying of the score, though these works have undoubtedly been lived with. Recorded with immediacy, the individual instruments relate well to each other and integrate pleasingly within the sound picture. There is a slight bias towards the bass register, which allows the 1680 Medard cello to project its rich tone with ample fullness, though the other three instruments also possess warmth of tone that in no small measure contributes to these enjoyable readings.


The third quartet receives a performance by the Dante Quartet on the Dutton label that was welcomed in Fanfare 28:3. With the only competing version of both works from the Moyzes Quartet on Marco Polo currently unavailable, the present release holds the field. A rewarding journey into all too-neglected repertoire.


FANFARE: Evan Dickerson

Classical Music

Performing the music of Mozart is like trying to tell a story everyone knows and has heard many times as if it were the very first time it has been told. It is a combination of musical pleasure and a wealth of variation in it's execution. The Concerto for violin nr. 3 in G major was composed in Salzburg in 1775, when Mozart was 19 years of age. We know from his letters that Mozart dreaded the first performance of the work by Concert Master Antonio Brunetti, who, according to Mozart was a blunt, reeking, mediocre violinist. He was however, greatly relieved when Frans Xaver Kolb performed the premiere instead. Kolb was a considerably more accomplished (and probably less offensive-smelling) violinist. The G major Concerto has always been a personal favorite of mine, and together with Rebaroque, I consider it a privilege to make it "ours," To tell, with our own eyes, ears and Jonas Dominique's fantastic wind arrangements, such a beautiful and moving story as this.

TELEMANN Violin Concertos: in G, TWV 51:G5; in Bb TWV 51:B2; in F, TWV 51:F3; in A, TWV 51:A3; in f#, TWV 51:fis1. Double Violin Concerto in e, TWV 52:e4. Concerto in A for 4 Violins, TWV 54:A1 • Elizabeth Wallfisch (vn, cond); The Wallfisch Band • CPO 777 550 (58:24)


The notes to Volume 5 of violinist and conductor Elizabeth Wallfisch’s collection of “Complete Violin Concertos” by Georg Philipp Telemann explain that all these works come from an early period in the composer’s production, in which he tried to break free from the Italian influence (thus, perhaps, the unvarying four-movement pattern of these works). Still, Vivaldi’s energy, channeled by typical Italian violin figuration, reappears in the Molto allegro of the Concerto in G Major, TWV 51:G5. Arcangelo Corelli’s sequences appear in the finale of that concerto, but the passages bounce with a helium-like buoyancy worlds removed from Corelli’s more stately elegance. The Concerto in Bb-Major, TWV 51:B2, begins with a slow movement that integrates the solo into the ensemble in a way that’s more Corellian than Vivaldian—but seems essentially Telemann’s own invention. The Concerto in F Major, TWV 51:F3, drapes a flowing violin solo over a bustling near-ostinato motive that maintains a lively demeanor throughout the movement. As the ensuing Allegro shows, Telemann’s idea of a concerto soloist, especially in the fast movements (and even in the slow ones) differs markedly from that of Vivaldi and Bach, allowing the solos to emerge from the texture as Corelli did in his Concerti grossi, op. 6, or Giuseppe Torelli did even in his solo concertos. That’s not to say that the works seem soporific from the violinistic point of view: The concerto’s finale, with its brusque, ruddy energy, never allows a listener’s attention to wander, even if the violinist isn’t spinning technical fantasies in the manner of Pietro Locatelli or Jean-Marie Leclair. In the Concerto in A Major, TWV 51: A3, Wallfisch and her ensemble effectively employ dynamic contrasts to create a bracing atmosphere. Here, as elsewhere, Wallfisch rises to a high soloistic profile when the music demands it—it’s clear from passages like these that she sinks the individual, when she does, for musical reasons rather than for any natural reticence or idea of soloistic integration. She and the ensemble play the chords in the brief, almost purely transitional, Adagio with attention-garnering freshness. In the finale, she once again strikes a more virtuosic attitude. The Concerto in F# Minor may be cast in an unusual key, but it’s hardly crabbed; and Wallfisch makes the double-stops of its slow movement sound at once mellifluous and commanding. Still, she’s able to lower her profile in the contrapuntal finale.


The collection includes two concertos for multiple soloists. The first of these, the Concerto in E Minor for Two Violins, TWV 52:E4, blends the soloists seamlessly in the first movement. In this work, violinist Evan Few joins Wallfisch. They don’t engage in the second movement in simple parallel motion, as Torelli might lead them in a similarly crafted work; but they do alternate passages in which they answer each other with others in which they run side-by-side. In the Concerto for Four Violins in A Major, TWV 54:A1, violinists Gabrielle Wunsch and Susan Carpenter Jacobs join Wallfisch. If, as Wolfgang Hirschmann’s notes point out, the textures hardly suggest a concerto for four soloists (with two of them melded into the orchestral texture), the resulting sonorities still seem rich and thick in this performance.


If every one of these concertos might strike listeners as a candidate for the standard repertoire, not one of them has yet entered it. Perhaps this release may start the process of admission. Like the earlier volumes in the series, this fifth volume deserves a heartfelt commendation.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham

G. SCHUMANN Symphony in b. Serenade for Large Orchestra, Op. 34 • Christoph Gedschold, cond; Munich RO • CPO 777464 (73:32)


Having struck pay dirt with another of its exhumations, Georg Schumann—see review of his piano trios in 35: 5—CPO, label of the Long Lost Composers Society—here resurrects Schumann’s Symphony in B Minor and his Serenade, op. 34. Georg Alfred Schumann (1866–1952) is yet another composer that can be added to the list of blue-ribbon winners produced under Carl Reinecke’s tutelage at the Leipzig Conservatory, and the term “blue-ribbon” is not used metaphorically. In 1886, still a student at the conservatory, Schumann composed this B-Minor Symphony, and when he entered it in an orchestral composition competition two years later it took first prize out of 57 entries. It’s doubtful that the award so swelled his head that he actually appended the subtitle, “Prize-winning Symphony” to his score, but CPO does, treating it as if it were a cognomen like “Pathétique” or “The Inextinguishable.” “Oh, have you heard my Symphony in B Minor, the ‘Prize-winning?’”


Schumann’s symphony lends itself to easy description; it’s the Sixth Symphony Mendelssohn might have written had he lived. No disparagement is meant by that. Mendelssohn is the score’s model and its main influence; as much is admitted by the liner note. Even though Mendelssohn was long dead by the time Georg Schumann came to compose his symphony, it’s no surprise that the young composer would pay tribute to the deceased master. It’s both a reflection of Schumann’s youth and the conservative musical training and values fostered by Reinecke and the Leipzig Conservatory, not to mention the reverence accorded Mendelssohn in the very halls of the conservatory he had founded.


While there’s little originality in its pages, Schumann’s symphony is a beautifully written score; its four conventionally laid out movements are filled with tuneful melodies and a mastery of harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration that confirm it as a composition of consummate craft, if not necessarily one of great art. Certainly it can give pleasure and be appreciated by anyone who enjoys mid-19-century Romantic period orchestral works.


The Serenade for Large Orchestra, written around the turn of the century—it was premiered in 1902—is, unsurprisingly, more venturesome in style and musical vocabulary. It’s also unusual in that while more or less adhering to the formal layout of a serenade, the piece is actually a tone poem in five movements, each movement depicting a tableau in the tale of a rejected lover. But if this leads you to expect music of a forlorn, downcast mien, you’re in for a surprise. Schumann’s model now seems to be Richard Strauss’s tone poems. The score is filled with what Schumann describes as “opponents” and “ridiculers” who chirp and chatter away apparently scolding and mocking the lover for whatever he did that got him booted out of the boudoir. The musical effect is not dissimilar to, though nowhere near as barbed as the carping critics in, Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben . Schumann was probably familiar with Strauss’s tone poems, but neither his talent nor his ambition rose to Strauss’s levels of orchestral extravagance and exhibitionism.


Christoph Gedschold leads the Munich Radio Orchestra in convincing performances. I wouldn’t call either the symphony or the serenade a deathless masterpiece, but if you’ve grown a bit jaded listening to the same Romantic period symphonies and tone poems over and over again, here are two new additions to the recorded repertoire that will temporarily relieve your boredom. Recommended.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Best-selling American violinist Rachel Barton Pine, whose previous release went straight to #1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart, debuts on AVIE with a survey of Mozart’s complete Violin Concertos and the Sinfonia Concertante, in which she introduces the extraordinarily talented young violist Matthew Lipman. Her orchestra is none other than the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by their legendary founder, Sir Neville Marriner.

The Great Classics series from Naxos is the perfect introduction to myriad genres of classical music. Comprising both complete and compiled selections from the greatest works in the repertoire, the boxes are bursting with wonderful pieces of music, both recognizable and unfamiliar. The boxes take the listener on a thrilling tour of some of the world's most dramatic musical media, encompassing music from six centuries and featuring sensational performers. All boxes come with a fascinating booklet with detailed information on the genre itself, chronological placement of each work, and a comprehensive study of the music. A fitting celebration of 25 years of superb music from Naxos, the world's favourite classical label.

Siobhan Lamb is a classical musician with a background in jazz, making her particularly well-suited to explore and play with the boundaries between the two. A foot in both worlds makes for an evocative and explorative mix of different and distinctive sounds on this release. Allow this release, thoughtfully performed by the Suoni Ensemble under Gerard Presence, to help you meditate on the seam between the two genres, and perhaps to let it melt away.

"Record companies seem not, as yet, to have done very much to celebrate this year's 400th anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth I, so this delightful collection of music by her favorite lutenist deserves a particularly warm welcome....Since lute-players were strongly represented in the court musical establishment, to have earned the queen's special preference was no small distinction. It is clear from this selection of pieces for one or two lutes that Johnson fully merited it...The duets, in which Christopher Wilson is joined by Shirley Rumsey, include such attractive items as the Flat Pavan, with its distinctive melancholy flavour [sic], and sets of virtuoso variations on ground basses or popular songs, whose increasingly elaborate figurations are so perfectly coordinated that it is hard to believe that there are two players involved. Both here and in the solo pieces, however, the emphasis in these crisply elegant performances is not so much on virtuoso display as on creating an atmosphere of refined and courtly intimacy." - Elizabeth Roche, Daily Telegraph, 5/17/03

"With impressively executed divisions, charming music and a lustrous over-all ambience, this recording is a tonic to those who might otherwise think that lute music pre-Dowland is all hey nonny cuteness." - Anna Picard, The Independent, April 27, 2003

Classical Music

Michael Haydn, brother of Joseph, has been a special focus for the cpo label. Following the symphonies, cpo are now dedicating themselves to a group of five works for a quintet ensemble, entertaining court music on the highest level, consisting of two violins, two violas, and basso have come down to us. M. Haydn designated two of the quintets as divertimentos and then exceeded the classical number of four movements. The Haydn Quintet of Salzburg performs on historical instruments in a historical setting – the Kuenburg Palais in the heart of Salzburg.

PRAETORIUS: Dances from Terpsichore

Piano Quartets - Strauss, R. / Mahler, G. / Schnittke, A.

Sallinen, A.: String Quartets No. 1-5

6 Violin Sonatas, Op. 10b

“Petrenko and the RLPO have achieved a triumph. The orchestral playing is ripe, detailed, lithe, concentrated and intense.” – The Telegraph on Symphony No. 10

“The final instalment of Petrenko’s remarkable Liverpool Shostakovich cycle is a world-class achievement.” – The Sunday Times on Symphony No. 13

“This is a model of clarity… yet another Petrenko performance to join the greats.” – BBC Music Magazine on Symphony No. 8

Featuring the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra and Choir conducted by Vasily Petrenko
Additional featured choirs:
The Huddersfield Choral Society; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, male section.
Vocal soloists: Gal James, soprano; Alexander Vinogradov, bass.

Linnékvintetten has since 1986 been a dynamic element in the Swedish music scene. Ever since it's inception, the ensemble has gone in to renew the Swedish repertoire for brass quintet, which meant about 40 premieres of Swedish music. On this release of joyful and evocative music associated with Advent and Christmas in Sweden the listener will find 16th c. variations on the hymn 'There is a rose in flower' alongside carols, hymns and a new Swedish 'classic', the theme-music from the TV-program 'Karl-Bertil Jonssons Christmas'. Recorded in Hagby church February 2013 during a howling blizzard.

Classical Music

The world's first Blu-ray disc of chamber music featuring the Chamber Music Palisades Ensemble-one one of the oldest performing chamber music groups in LA. The music was recorded in REAL HD-Audio at 96 kHz/24-bit PCM... and is presented in DOLBY TrueHD. Users can select from 3 different audio mixes: 5.1 "Stage", 5.1 "Audience" & 2.0 Channel Stereo Disc contains bonus features including channel identification tones, a photo gallery, liner notes and musicians bios.

Classical Music

Classical Music

This selection is available for a limited time as a special import.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music