In the middle ages, the reverence for Saint Nicolas was not limited to the Christmas season, as it is today. It is unlikely that he would have become the patron saint of sailors and other professions, had this been the case. The ensemble Peregrina found a great number of songs on their search for Nicolas. In putting together this program it was of great advantage to have within the ECHO-awarded ensemble, and within its network of musicologists who know where to look, how to read and interpret the sources and how to perform the music.

In previous issues I've praised the Abegg Trio's radiant performances of Beethoven's piano trios. This convenient set of the Mendelssohn's works in this form - two by Felix and one by Fanny, composed the year after her brother's second trio - elicits comparable enthusiasm, thanks to the brilliance of the renditions, individually and collectively... The recorded sound is first-rate therein and throughout the two more familiar scores as well. As previously noted, too, a B�sendorfer Imperial piano, played with some restraint by Gerrit Zitterbart and admirably balanced in this CD, adds a measure of richness not often encountered among other practitioners of the art of piano-trio playing. That said, this Tacet CD sports an attractive lineup as well, and although there are many fine recorded performances of both of Felix's piano trios, these merit inclusion among the very best, due to the Abegg's superior playing, seasoned interpretations, and the splendid recorded sound. High. 4009850008101 TCET81.2 19542409 .00 23.99 .24 TACET RECORDS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 05/01/1999 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/0/5/2/7/1997250.jpg 0 1 N MOZART / VEREBICS KOMM LIEBER MAI: MOZART LIEDER With bright jubilation, with polished lines and wonderfully formed; elegant and yet with warm expression; the intonation is a clear as a bell; or to put it in a nutshell: Ibolya Verebics sings the Mozart lieder in perfectly natural way and is thus the ideal performer.... She is accompanied discreetly and competently by her fellow Hungarian Csaba Vegve�ri. (Neue Westfe�lische) 4009850001607 TCET16.2 07217395 .00 23.99 .25 TACET RECORDS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CLASSICAL VOCALS 05/23/2000 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/2/6/2/7/1997262.jpg 8 1 N GUARNIERI / NESCHLING / SAO PAULO SO SYMPHONY 1 / ABERTURA FESTIVA / SYMPHONY 4 7318590012901 BIS1290.2 09656277 .00 21.99 .25 BIS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 10/21/2003 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/3/8/3/3/2263383.jpg 0 1 N SIBELIUS / KUUSISTO / YLONEN / GRASBECK COMPLETE PIANO TRIOS 2 7318590012925 BIS1292.2 10063897 .00 21.99 .24 BIS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 06/29/2004 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/5/8/3/3/2263385.jpg 0 1 N TAKEMITSU / DUKES / BEZALY / OGAWA / OTAKA STRING AROUND AUTUMN 7318590013007 BIS1300.2 08993250 .00 21.99 .23 BIS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 11/26/2002 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/0/9/3/3/2263390.jpg 18 1 N HAYDN / BRAUTIGAM SEVEN LAST WORDS OF OUR SAVIOUR ON THE CROSS 7318590013250 BIS1325.2 10063941 .00 21.99 .24 BIS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 06/29/2004 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/0/1/4/3/2263410.jpg 2 1 N BACH / SUZUKI / BACH COLLEGIUM JAPAN COMPLETE CANTATAS 23 7318590013311 BIS1331.2 09833135 .00 21.99 .26 BIS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 02/24/2004 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/6/1/4/3/2263416.jpg 3 1 N BEETHOVEN / BRAUTIGAM COMPLETE WORKS FOR SOLO PIANO 1 7318599913629 BIS1362SACD 10500989 .00 21.99 .21 BIS SUPER-AUDIO CD CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 01/25/2005 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/0/4/4/3/2263440.jpg 3 1 N LONDON BAROQUE / LAURIN STRAVAGANZE NAPOLETANE 7318590013953 BIS1395.2 10344415 .00 21.99 .25 BIS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 10/26/2004 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/4/6/4/3/2263464.jpg 7 1 N DEBUSSY / 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BRITTEN / EMPORER QUARTET STRING QUARTETS 7318599915401 BIS1540SACD 15167484 .00 21.99 .42 BIS SUPER-AUDIO CD CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 07/27/2010 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/7/8/5/3/2263587.jpg 2 1 N SKALKOTTAS / RAMOU BALLET MUSIC FOR PIANO 7318590015643 BIS1564.2 12107551 .00 21.99 .26 BIS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL BALLET 02/27/2007 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/5/0/6/3/2263605.jpg 1 1 N DVORAK / TOGNETTI / NORDIC CHAMBER ORCH / LINDBERG VIOLIN CONCERTO 7318590017081 BIS1708.2 15008053 .00 21.99 .23 BIS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 04/27/2010 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/9/0/7/3/2263709.jpg 9 1 N DOWLAND / PURCELL / KIRKBY / LINDBERG ORPHEUS IN ENGLAND: SONGS & LUTE MUSIC 7318590017258 BIS1725.2 15429681 .00 21.99 .24 BIS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 01/25/2011 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/a/500/2/2/7/3/2263722.jpg 1 1 N HEIKKILA / LAHTI 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https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/5/1/8/3/2263815.jpg 4 1 N DVORAK / MPO / FLOR SYMPHONY NO. 7 7318599918969 BIS1896SACD 16547643 .00 21.99 .21 BIS SUPER-AUDIO CD CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 04/24/2012 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/8/4/8/3/2263848.jpg 1 1 N GLIERE / KOMSI / LAHTI SYM ORCH COLORATURA 7318599919621 BIS1962SACD 19357218 .00 21.99 .24 BIS SUPER-AUDIO CD CLASSICAL OPERA / OPERETTA / ORATORIO 10/30/2012 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/4/6/8/3/2263864.jpg 2 1 N PETTERSSON / NORRKOPING SYM ORCH / LINDBERG SYMPHONY NO 6 7318599919805 BIS1980SACD 19161853 .00 21.99 .25 BIS SUPER-AUDIO CD CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 09/25/2012 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/5/7/8/3/2263875.jpg 3 1 N LOCKWOOD,FRANCIS / LOCKWOOD,DIDIER BROTHERS Didier and Francis Lockwood have been fixtures of the French jazz scene for thirty years, but their Brothers album, originally recorded for the Ames label in 2008, featured them together for the first time. Francis Lockwood's piano and the violin of his brother Didier function together in perfect alchemy here, the only instruments present on the recording. The result is an intimate, delicate dive into a universe of their own design where their talents, complicity and connivance are shaped by the closeness of their relation as brothers. 3448960259224 FRAS592.2 25892741 .00 20.99 .25 FREMEAUX & ASSOC. FR COMPACT DISCS POP JAZZ 03/11/2014 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/4/8/8/6/2276884.jpg 5 1 N MAHLER / HAASS / GRIEG / REINECKE WELTE-MIGNON MYSTERY 15: MAHLER & REINECKE & GRIEG The Steinway used by TACET makes the three composers seem like contemporaries - that's how present and delicate this sound is. It fully meets the highest standards. How wonderful it is the way the grand piabno learns to sing under Mahler's and Reinecke's touch. It is for this reason, above all, that it is worth hearing this recording, even if one already knows the recording of the three composers from other productions: The sound speaks for itself.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Anton�n Dvor�k had a passion for chamber music; he liked playing it with friends, and perhaps soon came to realize how good a commercial commodity such pieces represented. He wrote the first of his two piano quartets at the age of 34, by which time many a publisher was interested in his works. The Czech media voiced their satisfaction that Dvor�k had moved beyond foreign influence, with the Slavic spirit having prevailed in his music. Cases in point include his Moravian Duets, Op. 20, and Serenades, Op. 22, created at the same time. The publisher Fritz Simrock bitterly regretted having rejected the first quartet, persistently reminding the composer: "I would gladly take a piano quartet, preferably even two". When in the summer of 1889 Dvor�k got down to writing his second quartet, he complained of having a "slow hand", yet stressed that he had plenty of ideas: "My head is full of it... I have finished three movements of a new quartet with piano, and the finale will be ready in a few days. It has gone smoothly beyond expectation, with the melodies rolling in to me." The sheer beauty of the piece was cogently described by the prominent Vienna-based critic Eduard Hanslick: "The quartet requires that the listener be considerably attentive and well informed, which, however, really pays off." The ensemble bearing the composer's name have linked up to the feted tradition of their great teachers - Ivan Moravec, Josef Vlach and Milan �kampa. They present Dvor�k at his finest, both conventional and sophisticated.

Classical Music

Classical Music

A little less than half of Chopin’s complete surviving Mazurkas make up this 2009 release, ordered not according to opus number but for the purpose of an effective program that can sustain one’s interest for 80 minutes. The Mazurkas hold up under many different interpretive game plans, from Ignaz Friedman’s robust, epic statements to the perfumed intimacy of Maryla Jonas and Guiomar Novaes, not to mention Arthur Rubinstein’s three very different complete Mazurka cycles. Koroliov evokes Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli’s lapidarian finger work, wide dynamic range, and subjective poetry. You hear this in Op. 6 No. 1’s fastidious voicing of the central section’s leaps, although Michelangeli’s monumental left-hand droning fifths in Op. 56 No. 2 never lilted like Koroliov’s do here.

The pianist lends interest to the rather uneventful Op. 24 No. 1 by slightly accenting the dissonances, while his gentle way with the implicitly boisterous Op. 7 No. 1 is offset by striking phrase elongations and cross-rhythmic interplay in the deliciously modal Trio. Similarly, Op. 24 No. 2’s pared down outer sections contrast to the surprisingly rolled, loud A-flat major chords announcing its Trio. In fact, Koroliov is not averse to arpeggiating chords at will, or playing the left hand slightly before the right, dead pianist style, yet he employs these devices wisely. Deft polyphonic control justifies Koroliov’s admittedly pulled-about Op. 24 No. 4 and Op. 56 No. 3, while his mesmerizing legato control in the A minor “Émile Gaillard” Mazurka similarly convinces you that his unorthodox slow tempo is a plausible alternative.

Koroliov’s Chopin Mazurkas aren’t so much dances as distinct and diversified dramas, and he brings off his conceptions without a trace of ambiguity, whether or not you agree with the pianist’s every step. Tacet provides superb engineering and fulsome, high-handed annotations.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

N/A. MUSICA BOHEMICA; JAROSLAV KRCEK, ARTISTIC LEADER. CZECH FOLK SONGS.Â?Â?Â?Â?Â?Â?Â?Â?Â?Â?Â?Â?Â?Â?Â?

Classical Music

Before the First World War, especially for the famous ballet ensemble "Les Ballets Russes", one of the most important dance companies of the 20th century, and its impresario Sergei Diaghilev, Igor Stravinsky composed the first three of his great ballet music works for large orchestra, indeed, the most important of his ballets in general: "L'oiseau de feu" (The Firebird) in 1910, "Petrushka" in 1911, and "Le sacre du printemps" (The Rite of Spring) in 1913. The first of these ranks as a pioneering work of the early 20th century – and the third, regarded as a key work of 20th-century music due to its extraordinary rhythmic and tonal structures, can both be experienced on this new release from BR-KLASSIK - in live recordings with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under its chief conductor Mariss Jansons, and in masterly interpretations. Diaghilev, a formative figure in 20th-century ballet, had founded the Ballets Russes ensemble in 1909 in Paris, where it first performed before moving to Monte Carlo in 1911. The first performance of Stravinsky's "Firebird" took place on June 25, 1910 at the Paris Opera House, and "Le sacre du printemps" premiered on May 29, 1913 in the newly-built Théâtre des Champs-Élysées - a day that went down in history as one of the great artistic scandals of the 20th century. The furious protests from the Parisian public combined with the highly negative critical reviews all ended up making Stravinsky famous. His truly futuristic music has now established itself internationally and is an integral part of concert programs, and one can still hear why it so enraged audiences over 100 years ago. (“The Firebird" can be heard in Stravinsky’s ballet version of 1945.)

Ivan Repušić made his debut as Chief Conductor of the Münchner Rundfunkorchester on September 24, 2017 at the city’s Prinzregententheater with a concert performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Luisa Miller". The Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka – the orchestra’s Artist in Residence during the 2017/18 season – was successfully engaged for the title role of the tragic opera, based on Friedrich Schiller's "Kabale und Liebe". This highlight of the Munich music scene has now been released by BR-KLASSIK. Verdi's masterpiece was written during the year 1849 in Paris and Busseto, completed in Naples, and first performed there on December 8, 1849 at the city's Teatro San Carlo. Schiller's tragedy tells the story of the calamitous love of the nobleman Ferdinand for the musician's daughter Luisa Miller, who falls victim to a terrible court intrigue that ultimately drives both to their deaths. To turn the play into an opera Verdi worked intensively with his librettist Salvadore Cammarano; both men were fascinated by Schiller's tableau-like dramaturgy, which matched their own ideas of an "epic drama". The tragedy was given three acts, entitled "Amore" (Love), "Intrigo" (Intrigue) and "Veleno" (Poison). After its successful premiere, the work soon established itself and has remained a fixed part of the international opera repertoire to this day. In this concert performance at Munich’s Prinzregententheater, Marina Rebeka made her role debut as Luisa Miller. Marina Rebeka sings the challenging role with technical perfection, giving it a sparkling vocal splendor.

REVIEW:

This recording can’t quite oust my personal favorite recording, Fausto Cleva’s RCA set with Moffo and Bergonzi, but Marina Rebeka is a much more dramatic Luisa and the recording is worth hearing for her contribution alone—and there is so much more to admire. Inveterate Verdians should definitely lend their ears to this latest Luisa Miller, and those contemplating their first recording of this hidden away masterpiece could do much worse than starting here.

–MusicWeb International

Not only violinists are eternally grateful to Antonio Vivaldi for the sheer abundance of concert works he bequeathed. The instrument he wrote for with the second greatest frequency is the bassoon, for which he created about forty concertos. Two of the most celebrated bookend Václav Vonášek’s debut recording and are supplemented by pieces by other 18th-century masters.

ORGAN MUSIC FROM OTTOBEUREN

Launching his Mozart debut recorded with the Czech Philharmonic and Jir� Belohl�vek, Jan Barto� drew to himself a lot of critical attention on an international scale. Those who reviewed the album especially appreciated his rare ability to combine thorough understanding both of the musical architecture and the deep emotionality of the works (a quality possessed also by the pianist's tutors Ivan Moravec and Alfred Brendel). From the early "Haydn-like" Sonata No. 3 in C major to the highly dramatic "Appassionata" to the transcendent last Sonata No. 32 in C minor, which gives an impression of the composer parting with this world, the pianist facilitates to us the amazing integrity and colorfulness of Beethoven's piano work. During the thirty years separating his first and last piano opus, the composer tried out numberless experiments, and yet some crucial themes come up again and again; the imprint of his unique musical DNA is discernible from his very first opuses. In the hands of Jan Barto�, Beethoven whispers, sings and thunders. We encounter a world full of contrasts, an image whose colors remain impressed in our memory for a long time.

All Mahler scholars have agreed from the very start that Gustav Mahler embarked on an entirely new path with his Fifth Symphony. Even for his immediate contemporaries, such as the conductor Bruno Walter or the music critic Paul Bekker, the Fifth marked the beginning of a new creative phase, and Mahler himself was also keenly aware of this – which is why he was all the more upset by the fact that his work was not understood at its premiere in Cologne in October 1904 and, even later, met with a largely negative reception. In 1905, following an unsuccessful performance in Hamburg, the composer complained: "The Fifth is an accursed work. No-one understands it.” It was only after Mahler’s death in May 1911 that people slowly began to appreciate the piece. The Fifth ranks today as one of Mahler's most popular symphonies. This is due in part to Luchino Visconti's 1971 film adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella "Death in Venice", which used the symphony’s world-famous Adagietto to great effect: the movement enjoyed unanimous approval from the very start, and has now advanced to become Mahler's “greatest hit” and the most famous work in his entire oeuvre. In its structure, the symphony does not follow the classic four-movement form, but presents us with five movements in three sections. Conceptually, Mahler relies on methods he had already tried and tested in the work’s great predecessors, the Second and Third Symphonies. The centerpiece of the work is a lengthy scherzo full of grotesque humour, inspired by Jean Paul, while its resting-point is the Adagietto, which certainly bears many of the hallmarks of Mahler's slow movements. The harsher sound of this symphony ushered in a new creative phase for Mahler – one that he developed further in the Sixth. The maximum use he makes of the tonal means available already clearly anticipates the Ninth, in which he begins to abandon tonality altogether and encompass the transcendental aspect of the music. This Munich concert event of March 2016, now released as a CD by BR KLASSIK, is an outstanding interpretation of one of the most important compositions of the international symphonic repertoire of the early 20th century. „Gustav Mahler himself feared that the „chaos!“ In his Fifth Symphony would deeply unsettle his audiences. The work has long since become popular, and the Adagietto has even become Mahler’s "greatest hit."

As the court music director in Zerbst, Johann Friedrich Fasch had to deal directly with current religious trends and was obliged to occupy himself with Pietism. After all, from the beginning of his tenure there his duties had included the composition of the church music for every court religious service and for all the church feast days. Fasch had a special mission in mind when he penned his cantatas: he was very much interested in having hislisteners not remain indifferent to the texts that were sung. And so he employed all sorts of compositional tricks to capture their attention and to emphasize words of special importance to him. This procedure is impressively revealed already at the beginning of the cantata »Ich danke dem Herrn vom ganzen Herzen.« After a short instrumental introduction the opening Biblical text is presented not as usual by the choir but initially by the solo soprano. Then in the Missa in G major almost all the facets of Fasch’s musical talent are shown; from arias with obbligato solo instruments to grandly dimensioned chorale fugues placing the greatest demands both on the singers and the instrumentalists, it was composed in its entirety for the entertainment and edification of his noble employer and to the glory of God. One of Fasch’s overture suites of extraordinary quality rounds off this album. In his autobiography he acknowledged : "On this occasion I cannot avoid publicly acknowledging that I then learned mostly everything from the beautiful work of my most revered and beloved friend, Mr. Music Director Telemann, by constantly taking the same as a model for me, especially in the overtures".

A radically systematic logic stunningly manifested itself quite early in the music of Richard Strauss. He avoided the instrumental genres, was attracted to the tone poem right from the very start, and worked toward the goal of making the opera his central focus. And yet his beginnings lay in chamber music, a fact demonstrated on this release with two examples in new recordings. The Piano Trio No. 2 is lengthier than its predecessor and very ambitious both in its tonal register and execution. The formal norms – sonata form, song form, scherzo, and then another sonata movement – are upheld with completeness and elegance. The piano trio had a long line of tradition going back to Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, but the composer who set standards in the middle of the nineteenth century is particularly clearly recognizable here in a model function: Mendelssohn. Only about seven years passed between this trio and Strauss’s only Piano Quartet, but in 1885 too he was still a very young composer. The quartet displays impressive advances in technique; now Strauss apparently could draw on all the compositional resources then available, and the higher virtuosic demands on the instrumentalists are also quite evident. Strauss attracted the greatest attention with his large-format op. 13 lasting almost forty minutes, a work that even brought him a prize from the Berliner Tonkünstlerverein.

This album continues the complete edition of the chamber works by Marco Enrico Bossi, featuring a collection of instrumental works for piano and various instruments: viola violin, flute, bassoon, oboe, harp, cello, double bass and harmonium. Unexpected and surprising writing mastery by Bossi (until a few years ago only known for being one of the greatest organ performers in the history of music), this anthology pays tribute to the composer through the different facets he manages to characterize each of these instruments in their own timbre and expressive peculiarity. The SchuberTrio (Giulio Giurato, piano, Andrea Noferini, cello and Roberto Noferini, violin) - already awarded by critics for the previous albums of the Bossi Trios and the music for violin, cello and piano, is joined by Anna Noferini at the viola, Paolo dal Moro at the historical flute, Paolo Pollastri at the oboe, Roberto Giaccaglia at the bassoon, Roberto Rubini at the double bass, Emanuela Degli Esposti at the harp, and Claudio Brizi at the harmonium d 'art.

Les Vendredis is a collection of string quartets by several Russian composers, who played a key role at the famous Friday evening concerts organized by the music publisher Belaieff at the end of the 19th century. Alexander Glazunov, Anatoli Liadov and Rimsky-Korsakov are among the illustrious names that formed that musical society. Belaieff, son and heir of a wealthy wood trader, was a music enthusiast and an excellent violist. Thus, it was only natural that he hosted string quartet concerts in his house and commissioned composers for new string quartet works. Some of these works were published in 1899 by Belaieff’s own publishing house, which he had founded in the 1880s. The works of this collection continue to fascinate to this day, but are, unfortunately, only rarely performed. The Szymanowski Quartet, who are known for their exciting and cleverly compiled concert programmes, perform this repertoire with both pleasure and passion. Their technical perfection suits the musical challenges and their soulful performance highlights the lyrical emotions of these Russian musical treasures.

MAMLOK 5 Capriccios 3,6. Stray Birds. 1,2,11 Fantasy-Variations. 12 Panta Rhei. 7,9,10 5 Bagatelles. 4,8,10 String Quartet No. 2 13. Confluences. 4,7,8,10 Kontraste 3,5 • 1 Phyllis Bryn-Julson (sop); 2 Harvey Sollberger (fl); 3 Heinz Holliger (ob); 4 Helge Harding (cl); 5 Urusla Holliger (hp); 6 Anton Kernjak, 7 Heather O’Donnell (pn); 8 Kirsten Harms, 9 Susanne Zapf (vn); 10 Cosima Gerhardt, 11 Fred Sherry, 12 Jakob Spahn (vc); 13 Sonar Qrt • BRIDGE 9360 (72:45 Text and Translation)


This is the third disc from Bridge devoted to the music of Ursula Mamlok; I reviewed the second in Fanfare 34:6. Like its predecessor, it offers an attractive and varied conspectus of the music of this impressive composer. Again the works cover a wide span of time, here from Stray Birds (1963, written when the composer was 40) to Kontraste (2010). It is gratifying to hear no falling-off of quality; indeed, the consistently high level of inspiration and technique is a hallmark of this disc (if I may be so presumptuous). Also again, we have many multimovement works, here totalling 33 tracks. Most of the movements are short (less than two minutes) and this concision can be hard to take in at first.


It is interesting that seven of the eight works here contain one movement that is far longer than any of the others in the work. In the case of the Five Capriccios for oboe and piano (1968) that open the disc, the final movement, even though it is barely four minutes, is still longer than the other four combined. Curiously, there is no sense in which the structure of any of the works on this disc feels unbalanced, nor does one feel that the shorter movements are breathless, or cut short. Mamlok judges the structures perfectly. In the first of the capriccios, one may think the trick is going to be a limited amount of thematic material in each movement, but the second and fourth capriccios are impassioned and intense with diving and swooping melodic lines. All four create powerful little statements (really, with Mamlok’s music every note has an active, individual purpose) that are then elegantly and coolly meditated upon in the relatively extended finale. In this work each movement is merely given a metronome marking; in later works Mamlok was given to somewhat poetic names for these longer movements. They are typically marked “Still, with utmost simplicity,” “Still, as if suspended,” though there are also a Larghetto , a Molto tranquillo , and so on. It is as if the brisk movements collect the necessary ingredients to enable the slow movement, usually at or toward the end of the work, to happen.


The Five Bagatelles for clarinet, violin, and cello (1988) shows Mamlok’s style becoming somewhat more diatonic. At the same time, every note seems carefully chosen and weighed; the music is written with care and precision, so that even as simple an idea as the insistent oscillating minor third that runs through and characterizes the second movement appears fresh yet inevitable. The odd-numbered pieces are especially good at capturing gaiety and humor while the long penultimate bagatelle, poignant and drawn out, is a satisfying contrast. In the Second String Quartet, from 1998, one can hear Mamlok’s style has subtly shifted again. If in the earlier works discussed the instruments were sharply characterized individuals, always playing against each other—against in the sense of differentiated from, not in an antagonistic way—in the quartet there is, in addition, more concerted music (in the first movement, for example) and even (in the second) momentary deference of an instrument to the others by adopting an accompanying role (I’m thinking of the slow pizzicatos). And, in the third and last movement, real drama and tension, with some sharp shifts of tempo and mood, all in an event-packed four minutes. I think “concision” is probably an unhelpful word for a lot of Mamlok’s music; “compression” would be better. And if I pass over the remaining works on the disc, it is only through lack of space.


The string quartet receives a fine, committed performance from the Sonar Quartet, three of whose members—Kirsten Harms, Susanne Zapf, and Cosima Gerhardt—play in three other works on the discs. Apart from the two Holliger pieces and Stray Birds , the recordings here are a coproduction with German Radio Köln, and they are as fine and meticulous as are the performances and the music itself. The Holliger performances, which open and close the disc, and which are a little cooler in presentation, come from Zürich. Stray Birds is a reissue of a recording previously on CRI. Bridge has done the composer proud. I found it a long disc to review—not, I hasten to add, because I disliked the music, but because it demands and deserves the same attention from the listener that the composer evidently gave it. One didn’t really want to listen to this CD all the way through, preferring to savor a couple of pieces at a time. And, it’s true, I found I needed time to get into the music. But it richly repays the effort and I certainly feel my somewhat neutral response to the earlier disc must be reviewed. This is clearly music that should be heard, which will appeal to the heart as much as the head, and which will enrich as well as entertain.


FANFARE: Jeremy Marchant

RÖNTGEN Serenade (Wind Quintet). Serenade (Wind Septet). Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Bassoon • Linos Ens • CPO 777 127-2 (60:15)


As Jerry Dubins reviewed this disc at some length in Fanfare 36:1, I will make this relatively brief, wanting only to register some degree of dissent from his overall negative judgments. Basically, Dubins liked the rather Brahmsian early Serenade, op. 14, but dismissed the later wind quintet Serenade as a “frivolous, frothy fluff piece” and called the Trio “a work of modest means and even flimsier substance.” He concluded, “If you’re new to Röntgen ... I’d strongly suggest that you start with almost anything else by him than the disc at hand.” I must beg to differ with him regarding the latter two works. While these are indeed occasional pieces rather than major masterworks, they are all ingratiating and provide charming and rewarding listening. While the major influence on the late serenade is indeed, as Dubins notes, Richard Strauss—the clarinet at the opening is reminiscent of that in Till Eulenspiegel , and the end of the third movement sounds much like the music for the little Moorish servant boy from the final bars of Der Rosenkavalier —it also follows in the footsteps of Nielsen’s Quintet. Adjectives that spring to mind are saucy, insouciant, cheeky, and mischievous. It is constructed in a cyclic pattern with a return in the last movement to material from the first movement. The Trio is even closer to Nielsen’s ambit in the more craggy melodic contours and unexpected harmonic twists of its three brief movements. The connection is not surprising; not only was Röntgen an enthusiast for Scandinavian culture, who wrote a biography of his friend Edvard Grieg, but he also played in a string quartet with Carl Nielsen in 1892. It would be interesting to know of any further connections between them. I do admit to being less fond of this piece than of the two serenades, as the slow movement is uningratiating.


I do agree with Dubins regarding the high caliber of the playing of the Linos Ensemble, although in the Trio I do find the oboe to be a bit harsh and off in intonation (perhaps the instrument simply needed to be swabbed out). The recorded sound and booklet notes meet CPO’s usual excellent standards. For those who are particularly fond of the genre of wind serenades, this disc is a welcome addition to its not very sizeable repertoire.


FANFARE: James A. Altena

"The Sixteen's Palestrina cycle may just be a classic in the making." Harry Christophers and The Sixteen continue their exploration of Palestrina's great work with the fifth disc in their celebrated series. This album features a selection of Palestrina's music for Pentecost including his Missa Iam Christus astra ascenderat. Alongside the Mass are motets from the Song of Songs. The Song of Songs are among some of Palestrina's most sublime and expressive works and, as with previous disc in the series, this album includes three of them. Dedicated to Pope Gregory XIII, Palestrina's style of writing for these sensual texts demonstrates what variety and intensity of feeling can be conveyed with the simplest of means.