Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

This is not a historical recording. Yet mysteriously the music is performed in an interpretation which is historically authentic down to the last detail. The key to this mystery is: The original performer was present at the recent recording session, but not physically: The music is heard on a modern Steinway. Never has music stored in the Welte-Mignon system sounded so "right" or so good. Thanks to TACET's much-praised recording technique, and because the Welte-Mignon memory system and sound production mechanism have now been newly adjusted for the first time by the leading expert in the field - and are thus able to meet TACET's requirements. (Welte-Mignon was invented in 1904.) the Welte-Mignon mystery can now speak to US without distortion.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Even for true experts on the musical women's movement, it has until now been virtually impossible to experience works by Louise Farrenc except on paper. As so often, it is a small label which has taken the bold step of opposing the usual, so familiar repertoire and letting her D Minor Trio follow that of the better known Swedish composer, Franz Berwald. The Abeggs play the important piano trios entrancingly. Their interpretation is thoroughly well thought out and yet quite obviously with a love of novelty; this should become a test for any emulators. (Audio)

The Spring Sonata...receives a sunlit, unhurried account that I enjoy. However, the first movement starts nearer Allegretto than the marked Allegro and the artists then move forward in the vigorous second subject, slowing down again for the exposition repeat. Oddly enough, even the Scherzo is a bit held back, with elan firmly held in check. But this gentle performance is all of a piece and Zukerman's mastery is evident throughout... [T]his sensitive performance [of the Kreutzer Sonata] has much to offer...

-- Gramophone [3/1994]

Long live the tube! This newest release in the "transistor-free" series by Tacet is another musical jewel. The music that Tonmeister Andreas Spreer with his nostalgic, exquisite recording technique, using nothing but tube microphones and tube amplifiers, has conjured onto the disc boasts a naturalness, warmth and vividness we thought had disappeared forever and had almost forgotten. Here a violin still sounds like a violin.

Rihm: Dis-Kontur / Lichtzwang / Sub-Kontur

These large-scale performances make some of the movements sound as though they had been written twenty years later by Beethoven. The New York Philharmonic seems to be present in full strength, and many will think Dorati's versions, SDD482-4, 8/76) more in keeping with the period. And yet Haydn was commissioned to write these six symphonies for an unusually large orchestra; there were said to be forty violins available, and even if the writer meant forty string players that's still a large number even by today's standards. I have no doubt that it was with decibels in mind that Haydn planned the rather empty-looking passages near the start and right at the end of No. 86, and why not? Sheer volume can be very exciting, a thought that must have occurred to Beethoven when rounding off his Fifth Symphony.

Thus there are good arguments for Bernstein's approach, especially as the orchestra is so superbly competent. The strings play the quick finales with astonishing precision, and the woodwind (sometimes aided by the balance engineer) come through with unfailing clarity, their phrasing always polished, their staccato notes always slaccalissimo. Tunes on the lower strings are never drowned by the violins as they so often are in live performance, and one's admiration for such a balance is only slightly dimmed by one's awareness than others besides the conductor are giving it their attention (though no one gives much attention to the horns in Nos. 82 and 83).

Symphony No. 82, Bear, sounds the most Beethoven-like of the six, and in spite of its number it may have been written last. I think myself that the pounding accents and almost military exactitude are rather oppressive, but there is certainly excitement here. Bernstein has taken great care over details, and the first movement of No. 85 is mesmerically gripping (and the second surely too fast). Many movements are played with a sensitive expertise to which one cannot fail to respond. But there are some during which I lose sight of Haydn and see only the 'Great Conductor'. In No. 84 he suddenly slows down the tempo for the last six bars of the slow movement, which is the sort of trick conductors used to indulge in before the war but have grown out of since. In No. 86 the slow movement is much slower than usual and too much in the grand style, too much of an interpretation; nearly marvellous but just overdone. And strange things can happen in the trios of the minuets, over which Bernstein takes great trouble, as indeed did Haydn. Those in Nos. 82 and 83 are most delicately managed. But what is one to think of those in Nos. 85 and 86? He plays them slower than the minuets and with the extremes of rubato he would rightly bring to Ländler-type music in a Mahler symphony. It's beautifully done, but it's not Haydn.

I've mentioned the movements in which Bernstein's exaggerations worried me, but I must add that many will like these movements very much indeed; also that elsewhere there is very little exaggeration, just good playing. A resonant acoustic adds to the grandeur of these interpretations which are of their kind first-rate.

-- Gramophone [9/1976]

These 1967/68 recordings are not to be confused with the earlier Mozart cycle Lili Kraus made for the Haydn Society and recently reissued by Music & Arts. Close microphone placement yielded a bright, slightly flinty sonority that I remember from CBS/Odyssey's vinyl incarnation. Although I have not heard Sony's earlier CD reissue, the present edition's warmer, more rounded equalization unmasks subtleties of touch and nuance that showcase Kraus' pianism in more flattering, colorful light than before. In contrast to Joyce Hatto's operatic cultivation, Walter Gieseking's classical poise, and András Schiff's ornamental flair, Kraus is all passion and drama. An expressionist aesthetic governs her boldly contrasted dynamics, hard-hitting accents, and faster-than-common slow movements, along with angular phrasings and pedal effects that underline harmonic felicities and underplay barlines.

This approach best suits darker, more serious pieces such as the C minor Fantasy/Sonata K. 475/457 and the A minor K. 310 sonata. Similarly, Kraus' gaunt, stinging way with K. 331's famous first-movement variations and concluding Rondo Alla Turca liberates the music from decade's worth of interpretive cotton candy.

Perhaps the early sonatas, the bubbly D major Rondo, and "easy" C major K. 545 lack surface charm and elegance, largely due to Kraus' tendency to "think ahead" and push rapid passages slightly ahead of the beat (a habit of her one-time teacher Artur Schnabel), yet her nervous energy always enlivens rather than obliterates Mozart's intentions. I only wish that Kraus also had recorded the wonderful F major Sonata K. 533/494. It's good to have these invigorating, often provocative performances available again.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Haydn's trios are irresistible, and the artists have done everything to bring them to life.

The baryton is almost exclusively associated with Joseph Haydn. It was a much older instrument, though. Its origins go back as far as the early 17th century. In his liner-notes Jérôme Lejeune states that the descriptions of the instrument in its early stages widely differ and often have not that much in common with the baryton as we know it from Haydn's time. In the 18th century it was especially popular in southern Germany and Austria. Because Haydn's output for the baryton is so large, not that much is known about other composers' works for the instrument. What is known is that at least Johann Joseph Fux and Attilio Ariosti wrote arias with an obbligato part for the baryton.

Leopold Mozart gave this description in his Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule (1756): "This instrument has, like the gamba, six or seven strings. The neck is very wide, with the back surface hollowed out and open, under which run nine or ten brass and steel strings. These are plucked with the thumb, so that in fact whilst the main melodic line is played with the bow on the gut strings strung on the front of the instrument, the thumb simultaneously plays the bass line by plucking the strings under the neck. It is for this reason that the pieces need to be specifically composed. It is, incidentally, one of the most graceful of instruments." The German composer and author Friedrich August Weber (1753-1806) described the sound as a combination of viola da gamba and harp and wrote that its sound moved him to tears.

There is some difference of opinion about the abilities of Haydn's employer. Those are generally considered rather limited. But Jérôme Lejeune believes one shouldn't underestimate his skills. "Haydn does not hesitate to demand pizzicato playing of the sympathetic strings on a regular basis. The player is frequently required to play a melody line on the bowed strings and to accompany it with pizzicato notes; an excellent command of the instrument is clearly required".

Nikolaus continuously urged Haydn to compose music which he could play at his beloved instrument. The result is a huge corpus of more than 160 pieces for or with baryton. The largest part of this output comprises 126 trios for baryton, viola - or violin in a handful of trios - and cello. Almost all of them are in three movements: a slow movement, a fast movement and a menuet, mostly in that order. But Haydn would not be Haydn if he hadn't changed the order of movements now and then. Because of their character the trios rank among the genre of the divertimento. That was also their function: Prince Nikolaus played them for his own entertainment. That doesn't mean Haydn sticks to what one may expect from a divertimento. The slow movements are often quite expressive. And although the large majority of the trios are written in D, G or A, Haydn also has written some trios in other keys, even some in the minor, like the Trio in b minor (H XI,96). As a result it has a considerably darker colour than most trios and is the most 'serious' piece of this disc.

The artists have made a nice and imaginative choice from Haydn's large output. Fortunately they have largely avoided the most frequently recorded trios. Haydn's complete oeuvre with baryton has been recorded by the Esterházy Ensemble (Brilliant Classics). As good as Haydn's music and these performances are, many will find this too much of a good thing. For them this disc offers an excellent alternative. The playing is technically immaculate, and the interpretation goes to the heart of Haydn's music. There is no lack of expression in the slow movements, whereas the fast movements are playful and explore Haydn's subtleties. Although the recording was made in a church, it has the right atmosphere. The balance within the ensemble is optimal.

In the English translation of the liner notes Jérôme Lejeune writes about the Trio No. 107 which is remarkably written for baryton solo. "We have of course not been able to resist the temptation to add it to our programme". Apparently the artists had second thoughts: the trio has not been included, and the whole passage from the liner-notes is absent in the original French version and in the German translation. Maybe on a later disc?

Let's enjoy what is on offer here. Haydn's trios are irresistible, and the artists have done everything to bring them to life.

-- Johan van Veen, MusicWeb International

A discographical note: Volume 11 is actually the second installment issued in Christoph Ullrich’s projected complete Scarlatti sonata cycle. The pianist has sequenced each volume by sonata in numerical order. His initial release, Volume 1, contains sonatas 1 through 42; sonatas 358 through 387 are here on Volume 11; and Nos. 43 through 357 presumably will follow on Volumes 2 through 10.

The admirable qualities of Ullrich’s earlier Mozart and Schubert releases often inform his Scarlatti, starting with the rhythmic kick and well-turned ornaments in the two opening D major sonatas. Ullrich’s firm and deliberate F minor K. 365 proves equally rewarding alongside faster, lighter piano versions from Serge Babyan and Yevgeny Sudbin. However, Konstantin Scherbakov bests Ullrich’s K. 360 for linear independence.

Ullrich takes the E-flat K. 371 Allegro directive with a grain of salt, and employs changes of color and pace to illuminate the music’s unpredictable harmonic shifts, whereas Maurizio Baglini is fast, harder hitting, and just a few feet short of reckless. The adjacent B minor K. 376/377 pair are sensitively phrased, although Ullrich’s F major K. 378 seems a trifle prosaic next to Fou Ts’ong’s brighter, more unpredictably accented reading, while his relatively flat and generic K. 380 pales in comparison with individually gripping interpreters of this popular sonata such as Horowitz, Lipatti, and the unusually slow yet mesmerizing David Greilsammer.

Ullrich’s clear and shapely delineation of the F minor K. 386’s busy, toccata-like writing is perfectly fine on its own terms, but Christian Zacharias’ suppler touch elevates this approach to a higher level, albeit a few notches below Clara Haskil’s breathtakingly fast yet perfectly controlled 1950 Westminster recording. Though less striking on the surface than Mikhail Pletnev’s spiky, aggressive K. 387, Ullrich’s suaver, faster, and more graceful performance is easier to digest. In a nutshell, Ullrich’s Scarlatti is never less than good, if not so consistently outstanding as Carlo Grante’s ongoing Scarlatti cycle on Music & Arts.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

An homage to Erik Satie and Robert Desnos - A sensuous sound journey by the Ensemble European Music Project "Inside the Dream" evolved out of a live multimedia performance with a multichannel sound installation, voice, and an ensemble augmented by modern "club electronics." This CD presents the musical part of the performance. At it's center are several early songs by Erik Satie, along with his famous "Gnossiennes". Satie's compositions are flanked by Jürgen Grözinger's pieces, consciously written with a similar gesture, making the CD something of an homage to Satie, who was both a forefather of modern music and a close friend of the surrealists. Jürgen Görzinger is fascinated by the French surrealists and especially by Robert Desnos. "Inside the Dream" is an associative approach to and transformation of the atmosphere of longing, eroticism, passion, adventure, and melancholy which are presented in Desnos's poetry - all mixed with a touch of humor. The liner notes in German, English and French are illustrated with photographs by P.J. Boman from his book "Muse: Desire and Severance".

Even though German-born composer Felix Mendelssohn began his musical education on the piano, some of his most brilliant compositions were written for strings. Many believe his inclination toward strings was largely due to the fact that he studied Beethoven's quartets during his teenage years in Berlin. Though some of Mendelssohn's string quartets show evidence of this influence, his string quintets have been said to be a clearer representation of "Mendelssohnian" music at its best.
On this album, the L'Archibudelli quartet paints a telling portrait of Mendelssohn's spontaneous temperament, as every instrument reflects the individualistic style Mendelssohn was known for. During the sprightly Quintet for Strings no 1, the violins and violas mingle nonchalantly, playing their parts as if every other note or short phrase was added on a whim.
Despite the free-spirited nature of the music, the members of the L'Archibudelli quintet are remarkably sensitive to changes in the music's timbre, as every player adjusts immediately every time there is an unexpected crescendo or subito piano. Though the Quintet for Strings No. 2 starts off with a little more conviction than the first, it possesses the same quality of melodic and harmonic creativity. With such a keen adaption of the composer's style, listeners may be led to think they are listening to Mendelssohn's exact sentiments instead of just a well-played recording of his music.

Wolfgang Riehm is a prominent figure in the European new music scene. Riehm's early work, combining contemporary techniques with the emotional volatility of Mahler and of Schoenberg's early expressionist period, was regarded by many as a revolt against the avant-garde generation of Boulez and Stockhausen (with whom he studied). This disc offers a portrait of Riehm's recent compositions, including the fascinating recorder concerto Au bord d'une source, which is loosely based on Franz Liszt's Années de Pèlerinage.

Of these four Mozart [Sony Legendary Interpretations] sets, pride of place must go to the Robert Casadesus recordings of the late piano concertos—Nos. 21-3, 24, 26 and 27 plus the Double Concerto in E flat, in which he is joined by Gaby Casadesus (Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia accompany here). The 1960 recording of the Double Concerto, made in New York's Manhattan Center, is rather dry and doesn't help the music-making to smile, although the playing itself undoubtedly has its insights. The solo concertos were recorded in Severance Hall, Cleveland between 1959 (No. 22) and 1962 (Nos. 26-7) and the venue adds enough ambience to the forward balance to make it convincing. Indeed, the piano integrates well, even if tuttis are on a larger scale than would be expected today. George Szell conducts accompaniments that are very polished and lively. The orchestral credit is shared between members of the Cleveland Orchestra (No. 21), the Columbia Symphony Orchestra (Nos. 22-3 and 26-7) and the 'full' Cleveland (No. 24).

Though the very brisk finale of No. 21 in C is performed with tremendous bravura and sparkle, Casadesus's style is seldom self-consciously extrovert; he lets Mozart speak for himself. The playing in the slow movements is exquisite; colours are delicately shaded, dynamics subtly handled. The same comment applies to the secondary material of first movements, where Szell's authority is also telling. Concerto No. 22 in E fiat is marvellously played and my own favourite, No. 23 in A, captures that special blend of brilliance and underlying nostalgia that is the hallmark of this work. The Corona/ion (No. 26 in D) and the last concerto (No. 27 in B flat) both bring really memorable performances, in fact among the finest in the catalogue. Altogether this set is an essential purchase for any Mozartian who has not already invested in the separate issues.

-- Gramophone [9/1991]

----------------------------------

The ravishing slow movement of K 467 has never sounded more magical than here...this is exquisite Mozart playing, beautifully paced and articulated.

-- Penguin Guide [2003/2004]

Classical Music

The 1967 performance of Schubert's "Trout" Quintet is the most fascinating offering, largely because the musicians play with great cohesion yet maintain distinctive parts without shaking the ensemble's equilibrium. Rudolf Serkin is clearly the leader, but his playing never upstages the sturdy quartet of Jaime Laredo, Philipp Naegele, Leslie Parnas, and Julius Levine, an enthusiastic group that rises to the work's challenges and Serkin's inspired promptings. Mozart's Clarinet Quintet, performed in 1968, is a little less engrossing, though it shares with the Schubert a similar balance of distinctive lines and bonded ensemble playing.

-- Blair Sanderson, AllMusic.com

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

This retrospective disc presents music composed by the late Elliott Carter over a period of more than 70 years. Unquestionably, the major work presented here is the late Charles Rosen’s performance of Carter’s Piano Concerto. Rosen, a great advocate of Carter’s music, had recorded most of Carter’s solo piano music over the course of his long career, though he never made a studio recording of Carter’s brilliant concerto. The release of this radio recording, featuring the superb Basel Sinfonietta, conducted by Joel Smirnoff, was one of Rosen’s last wishes. Volume 9 of Bridge’s ongoing Carter series opens with vocal works of Carter’s from the 30s and 40s, and proceeds to Steven Beck’s electrifying accounts of late solo piano music, and the Slowind Quintet’s performance of Carter’s quintet, Nine by Five, completed during the composer’s 101st year.