Includes partita(s) by Einojuhani Rautavaara. Soloist: Rafael Aguirre Miñarro.
Includes work(s) for guitar by Joaquin Clerch. Soloist: Rafael Aguirre Miñarro.

Haydn’s Keyboard Trios possess a rich variety of themes and musical inventiveness, with strong demands on the pianist. The C major is dramatic and eventful. Patterns are varied in the E major where Haydn gives the violin major lyrical statements, whilst in the E flat major he uses all his wit and guile to launch the finale’s captivating and joyful dance finale. The E flat major Hob. XV: 30 is notable for is subtle thematic development and commanding drama. Volume 1 (8.572040) of this series has been greatly admired, not least by Gramophone which stated that the Kungsbacka Piano Trio had nothing to fear from any other account.

The first piece to be decided was Box Balaenae by George Crumb. This composition, embellished with theatrical elements that break down the boundaries between genres, has for some time now been part of Trio Wiek's repertoire and has therefore been made the cornerstone of this program. It is around this piece that all the other recordings are centered. As pianist Florian Wiek reports, it would be futile to search for a universal musicological term to sum up this selection. Indeed, "the repertoire for flute trio is limited" and - from an audience perspective, at least - there are few classics written for this highly unusual formation.

• Traditional Nordic folk music with Middle Ages roots meet three new compositions by Danish trio Gáman. • Drum songs from Greenland, chain-dances from the Faroe Islands, wedding music from Fanø island and brand new sounds enrichingly elucidate one another. • Gáman (the name refers to the old Norse word for “joy”), are three of Denmark’s most celebrated young classical musicians exploring their common musical passions. Gáman had their US debut at the Other Minds Festival, San Francisco in 2013.

McCormick Percussion Group: Music for Keyboard Percussions

Classical Music

Pierre Rode was one of the giants of the violin world. He was a performer of superb technique—he premièred Beethoven’s last Violin Sonata in Vienna—and wrote a large amount of music for his instrument, most prominently 13 concertos. They exhibit the highest qualities of the French School: grace, lyricism, fleetness and fluency. The Third is grandiose and brilliant, the Fourth is tauter and gloriously agile, whilst the Sixth is one of his greatest, most famous and complete statements in the concerto form. The first release in this series, (Concertos Nos. 7, 10 and 13 / 8.570469), earned Friedemann Eichhorn the highest plaudits: “sweetness of phrasing…with the delicacy of a caress—while skirting the technical minefields as if they didn’t exist.” (Fanfare)

Classical Music

The smallest fluctuations and nuances in Axel Borup-Jørgensen’s music can have the impact of an earthquake. It is a music born out of stillness. It is a quiet modernism, where the silences speak just as insistently as the few, but decisive, outbursts.The present recording provides an overview of Borup-Jørgensen’s small but highly distinctive oeuvre for organ. Borup- Jørgensen’s unique – and surprisingly numerous works for the “King of Instruments” set him apart from many of his contemporaries. In addition to writing highly individual solo works, six of the pieces recorded here call for additional musicians from Strophen (1962), an expressionistic setting of a text by Rainer Maria Rilke for voice and organ, to Portal for percussion and organ Opus 181 (2009), a work composed for concert in honor of his 85th birthday. Joining organist Jens E. Christensen on this sonic journey is percussionist Mathias Reumert, mezzo-soprano Pia Rose Hansen, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, bass-baritone Jakob Bloch Jespersen, and Lars Sømod, second organist on organo per due Opus 133.1 (1989). Christensen plays the historic organ at Vor Frelsers Church, Copenhagen, a glorious Baroque instrument built by the Botzen Brothers 1698-1700. Even silent, the instrument is an imposing structure, with over 4000 pipes, housed in an ornately decorated case sculpted by Christian Nerger, featuring a bust of King Christian V at the center.

The best of Classical Guitar accompanied by Northern Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Nicholas Ward bring such classics as Cavatina and Dance of the Miller to life.

BONPORTI EDITION, Vol. 4 - Inventions

A champion of Haydn', Mozart' and Beethoven' chamber music, Louis Spohr also made a considerable contribution to this genre, composing 36 string quartets and four double quartets, these latter unique in the repertoire.

A. RUBINSTEIN Theme and Variations, op. 88. Akrostichon No. 2, op. 114 • Joseph Banowetz (pn) • NAXOS 8.570941 (73:44)


Joseph Banowetz might easily be thought of as an Anton Rubinstein specialist. He has, after all, recorded all of Rubinstein’s works for piano and orchestra for Naxos’s sister label, Marco Polo, plus four other discs of Rubinstein’s solo piano music. This is a worthy task, for while there is a grand total of some 50 recordings of Rubinstein’s famous Melody in F, very few other works recorded make even two different versions. The sheer dedication of Banowetz is remarkable, and his fine reading of these two works (both world premiere recordings) implies strongly that it is time for a reappraisal of Anton Rubinstein (1829–94). Banowetz is a pianist of some strength—clearly, he is no shrinking violet, anyway, and this robust approach coupled with exemplary finger clarity lends itself superbly to this repertoire.


The Theme and Variations, op. 88, dates from 1871 and lasts some 47 minutes in this performance. It is therefore a major work, and Banowetz certainly treats it as such. His respect for Rubinstein’s talent is evident in every measure he plays. The music itself might well come as something of a revelation, for the invention flows confidently and appealingly from Rubinstein’s pen. Moments of mystery are honored (try the recitative-like ruminations of the fifth variation). Most importantly, Banowetz provides just the right amount of fantasy. The range of the variations is wide, moving from Schumannesque innigkeit (variation 7) to Handelian grandeur viewed through a decidedly romantic telescope (the very next variation). The climax is formed by the 12th and final variation, lasting some 10 minutes. Banowetz whips the music up to a fulfilling, summatory statement. The recording is a trifle shallow and dry, perhaps, but the ear adjusts quickly.


The Akrostichon , op. 2, of 1890, stands in stark contrast. A set of five salon pieces (which together add up in duration to around 27 minutes), the op. 2 counterbalances the Theme and Variations perfectly. There is a spring-like freshness to the second (Allegretto) that is most appealing. All five pieces make for compelling listening, not least the individual, evocative solo lines of the fourth piece (Adagio).


This constitutes Volume 1 of what is presumably intended to be a complete edition of Rubinstein’s piano works, and I note that ArkivMusic is already listing (and highlighting, at the time of writing) Volume 2 (which contains Akrostichon No. 1; Two Pieces, op. 26; Souvenir de Dresde , op. 118; Two Melodies, op. 3; and the Sérénade russe in B Minor). I hope to hear the next installment in due course; in the meantime, Volume 1 provides ample cause for celebration.


FANFARE: Colin Clarke

Classical Music

Lively, tonally varied performances … a very attractive sound.

This is volume two of the Naxos reissue of Lars Ulrik Mortensen’s Buxtehude series. It previously appeared on Dacapo. This particular volume was Dacapo 8.224117.

Mortensen is a fine musician, whose approach to Buxtehude is vivacious and dignified in equal proportions. His Buxtehude has both passion and seriousness - but not solemnity - of mind. Mortensen makes sparkling use of the resources of his instrument, a copy by Thomas Mandrup-Poulsen of an original by Ruckers. Though the notes to this present CD give no further details, it sounds like the beautifully-toned instrument, made in 1984, which Mortensen played on some of his Bach recordings (CPO 999 989-2) and Froberger (Kontrapunkt 32040). It sings delightfully – at least it does when played by Mortensen! The use of mean-tone tuning will surely disturb very few modern listeners.

The theme of the set of variations on More Palatino (not More Palantino as printed on the back cover) is a student drinking song, though the rather stately form in which Buxtehude presents it is not especially redolent of the tavern. Still, it is an attractive and melodically various set, Mortensen’s varying use of registration producing some charming effects and some insistently dancing rhythms. The same is true of a second set of variations played here, those on Courant Zimble – a title we might translate as ‘Simple Courante’, and aptly so, since it is an uncomplicated piece which invites – and gets – some direct and appealing variations from Buxtehude. Mortensen resists the temptation to over-inflate these or make any excessive claims for them.

Each of the two Suites is made up four movements, in the order Allemande-Courante-Sarabande-Gigue. In each work the allemande is the most substantial movement, considerably longer than any of the other three movements. The allemandes also tend to have a greater musical gravity, that which opens Bux WV 242 being particularly grand in manner and phrasing; the courantes have, by way of contrast, a rippling vitality, that in Bux WV 25 being full of pleasant twists and turns. Buxtehude’s sarabandes have a graceful simplicity about them, a quality heard to perfection in Mortensen’s performances of the two in these suites, especially that in the E minor suite, where the registration is beautifully judged and employed. The gigues of the two suites make more much use of counterpoint, especially in comparison to the simpler lines of the sarabandes which precede them. But these are by no means academic fugues and in both suites the final movements very forcefully remember the dance origins of the gigue.

All of the shorter pieces in this programme have their genuine attractions and all are well characterised by Mortensen. The chorale ‘Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren’ is more often heard on the organ, although it makes no requirements that the harpsichord can’t fulfil – as Mortensen persuasively demonstrates. Indeed there is a particular sprightliness to this reading that is distinct from anything that can be achieved on the baroque organ and which offers an alternative, equally valid, view of the music. Bux WV 170, 171 and 174 are pieces which survive amongst the manuscripts of Buxtehude’s organ music but which, again, are eminently playable on the harpsichord. The fugal writing here is more ‘correct’ than in the gigues of the suites, but don’t let that make you imagine that these are unduly staid pieces. Here they have the same vivacity which characterises this programme as a whole and they are played with the same loving care for the aptness of instrumental sound and tone.

Without wanting to claim Mortensen’s as the ‘best’ recordings of Buxtehude’s harpsichord works – if one had to pick I suppose the vote might go to Ton Koopman – there is not the slightest reason to feel in any way dissatisfied with this fine recital. If you don’t know Buxtehude’s writing for harpsichord – this is an excellent value-for-money place to start; if you are already an aficionado of this repertoire you will surely be just as keen to add this to your collection.

-- Glyn Pursglove, MusicWeb International

PAGANINI: Duets for Violin and Bassoon / Cantabile in D majo

THREE DUETS FOR VIOLIN AND VIO

Classical Music

STRING QUARTETS

• Gaetano Donizetti's Ugo, conte di Parigi, premièred at La Scala i1832 with, among other storied names in the history of Italian opera, Giuditta Pasta, the creator of Bellini's Norma. • The Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Donizetti is led here by conductor Gaetano Fogliani, currently teaching orchestral conducting at the Conservatory G. Tartini in Trieste. • “A vigorous, intense opera, broad and ornate, dramatic and intricate, full of alliances and clashes” – Piero Mioli

Giuseppe Tartini (1692 - 1770) had a considerable number of pupils, forming a veritable violin school, the most famous in 18th-century Europe. It was a largely international one and won him the name of “Master of the Nations”.

A LA GUERRE!

BACH Suite in a, BWV 818a. Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother, BWV 992. 3-Part Sinfonias, BWV 787–801. Prelude and Fugue in b, BWV 544 (arr. Liszt) • Jacob Katsnelson (pn) • QUARTZ 2084 (59:40)


At first I couldn’t place him, but I knew that somewhere I’d met Jacob Katsnelson before. Then it hit me. He was the pianist who accompanied Maxim Rysanov in a couple of numbers on a two-disc Onyx set of Brahms’s chamber works in viola transcriptions, reviewed in Fanfare 32: 5. Frankly, my focus was so centered on Rysanov that I didn’t pay much attention to Katsnelson at the time.


He was born in Moscow in 1976, entered the Moscow Conservatory in 1993, and since 2001 has taught at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He has soloed throughout Russia, as well as in Austria, Germany, Spain, and France, done the competition thing, won prizes, participated in festivals, and yada yada. By now it’s an old and familiar story: Gifted youngster enters conservatory, wows competition judges and talent scout, lands recording contract, and makes it big on the international concert scene.


Sometimes, the big splash dissipates in receding ripples on the pond; other times, not. I can’t say what will happen with Katsnelson in the long term; I can only register my reaction to his playing in the here and now, and that reaction is overwhelmingly positive. This is one of the most satisfying Bach recitals on piano to come my way in a long time.


To begin with, as I’ve made clear in the past, when I listen to Bach on piano, I don’t want the artist to apologize for the instrument by playing it as if it were a harpsichord. There’s no hint of that with Katsnelson. He uses the full range of the piano’s dynamic, sustaining, and expressive potential. And his instrument, amusingly credited in the booklet as “a regular piano”—I presume to distinguish it from a fortepiano—is a concert grand, model E-272, from Bayreuth maker Steingraeber & Son, a magnificent specimen if I may say so.


Further research on the company’s website reveals a number of interesting details and specifications about this new instrument: “Unique features include the unusual shape of the sound-reflecting rims, the combined star-shaped and half-timbered braces, and the ‘incredibly agreeable’ (Cyprien Katsaris) touch. The most uncommon feature, however, is the shape of the soundboard in the treble. The resonating space was newly reconstructed, based on the classical relationship between [short] string length and resonating space. Steingraeber strings have 27 percent less wood mass to penetrate than comparable instruments by other piano builders! The result is a tone that is present and singing, even in softer passages.”


The part about softer passages is true. Katsnelson’s pianissimos diminuendo to a whisper. But there’s no compromise in fullness of tone, resonance, or raw power. The recording, made in 2009 at the Steingraeber studio, could serve as a standard against which recorded reproduction of piano sound is measured. Intimate, as in a private music room, yet acoustically alive and vibrant, every subtlety of the instrument’s complex palette is captured and projected with amazing lifelike presence. It stands to reason, of course, that a piano manufacturing firm would design and engineer a perfect acoustic space in which to conduct painstaking measurements and tests of its products. This is the high-tech world of attaching scopes and computers to the sounding board and of analyzing streams of ones and zeros. In this case, it worked wonders.


All would be for naught, of course, if Katsnelson didn’t know his way around Bach, but he does. There are some performance idiosyncrasies, like the tendency to roll chords at cadences, that purists may find objectionable, but in general Katsnelson’s approach is not of the romantic persuasion. He avoids grand ritards and other sins of exaggerated point-making. He does, however, as noted, make full use of the piano’s dynamic range and sustaining power, which means that he crescendos and decrescendos and applies pedals where it makes musical sense to do so. The result is a transparency of voicing that allows every strand of Bach’s counterpoint to be heard with pellucid precision.


For lack of a better term, I’d describe Katsnelson’s tempos as temperate. Fast movements are set within sane ranges of the metronome’s upper regions, an indication that Katnelson is not interested in promoting himself as a virtuosic marvel at the expense of Bach. And slow movements are not pondered and pestered to the point of prostration, an indication that Katnelson does not approach Bach with an attitude of affected reverence that can come across as so much pious posturing. No, Katsnelson’s Bach is refreshingly straightforward and superbly executed. This gets a very strong recommendation.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen has been one of the most striking composers from northern Europe over the past half century - a unique personality and a major figure in Danish musical life, even though he considered himself to be an outsider. In his early works, Gundmundsen-Holmgreen was inspired by figures such as Bartok and Stravinsky. He's considered extremely ambiguous and provocative.

Classical Music