Leif Ove Andsnes is a leading pianist of his time, known for his exceptional musicianship and subtil touch, his considerable technical flair being unfailingly put at the service of his interpretations. He was a pioneer for being the first home-trained superstar pianist to have emerged from Norway. This box is the story of a 20-year partnership that has yielded a rich seam of recorded treasures, first for Virgin and then for EMI. Running through this cornucopia of 34 albums (36 CDs), we find recurring themes: Grieg (Andsnes even recorded some Lyric Pieces on the composer's own piano at Troldhaugen), Nordic music in general, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Schubert.

C. SCHUMANN Piano Trio in g. SCHUBERT String Quartet No. 13 in a, “Rosamunde” . String Trio in B? • Gunilla Süssman (pn); Antje Weithaas, Christian Tetzlaff, Gergana Gergova (vn); Rachel Roberts, Wolkver Jacobsen (va); Alban Gerhardt (vc) • DEUTSCHLANDFUNK 8553294 (68:40)


Reading almost anything written about Clara Schumann, I am reminded somehow of Anne Brontë, a fine novelist who was the talented sister to two geniuses. Anne can’t win in the critical world, and Clara, who besides being reputedly one of the best pianists of her era was one of its better composers, can’t win either. The annotator to this collection of live performances from the Spannungen Chamber Festival virtually apologizes for Schumann as a good student who, sad to say, never learned “that rules are meant to be broken.” It strikes me that, living with Robert Schumann, and hearing his works, Clara Schumann had plenty of opportunities to realize that rules could be broken. Perhaps his pathology made her leery of going outside certain boundaries. Nonetheless, I find her Piano Trio a mostly pleasing work with touching themes that aren’t necessarily developed as compellingly as those of the greatest of her contemporaries. But the Finale is memorable and lively.


Schubert is the greater companion here. The String Quartet is played almost carefully, or at least to my mind with not the most desirable fervor. Lines meant to fade sensitively seem rather to peter out. I prefer my recordings by the Italian Quartet, the Guarneris and the Emerson Quartet. The playful String Trio is performed well, but still I would pick up this disc mainly for the Schumann.


FANFARE: Michael Ullman

HAYDN Piano Trio in Bb, Hob XV:20. ROSSINI Duo for Cello and Double Bass. SCHUBERT String Quartet No. 14, D 810, “Death and the Maiden” • Martin Helmchen (pn); Veronika Eberle, Antje Weithaas, Christian Tetzlaff (vn); Rachel Roberts (va); Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Tanja Tetzlaff (vc); Alois Posch (db) • AVI-MUSIC 8553259 (66:11) Live: Heimbach 6/6-10/2011


The three concert performances on this disc derive from an annual chamber music festival entitled “Tensions [ Spannungen ]: Music in the Heimbach Hydropower Station,” which does in fact take place in a functioning hydroelectric installation, built in 1904 in Art Nouveau style and located in Germany’s Eifel region. Lars Vogt, the festival’s artistic director, writes in his introductory notes that the title is “not only an allusion to the electric current normally produced in this…installation but also to the underlying musical tensions and contrasts in the festival’s music program.” Electricity, in the figurative sense, is certainly a feature of the excellent performances on this disc.


The Haydn Trio offered here, No. 20 according to Hoboken but No. 34 in the Landon listing, is a relatively late work, one of a group of three trios written in 1794, during the composer’s second visit to London. Its three movements total just over 13 minutes in this performance by violinist Veronika Eberle, cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, and pianist Martin Helmchen. Their rendition is excellent, predictably larger-scaled and more assertive than the fine period-instrument recordings by Trio 1790 (CPO) and by Patrick Cohen, Erich Höbarth, and Christophe Coin (Harmonia Mundi), achieving an ideal combination of energy, exuberance, precision, and elegance. The crystalline clarity of Helmchen’s pianism and the perfect intonation and burnished tone of the string players further contribute to the success of this performance.


Unlike his string sonatas, Rossini’s Duo for Cello and Double Bass is not an early work but rather dates from 1824, when the composer was already approaching the end of his operatic career. It was written for a well-known double bass virtuoso of the time, Domenico Dragonetti, who, according to the notes, lived from 1763 to 1841 but performed in the presence of Berlioz in 1845, making him one of several musicians who have been credited in print with performing after death. (Other sources indicate that his actual death date was 1846.) This instrumental combination might seem unpromising and be expected to yield a dull, boomy sound, but in Rossini’s hands it actually works quite well. Cellist Tanja Tetzlaff assumes the lead role that would go to a violin in a more conventional ensemble, but the playing of bassist Alois Posch is supple and euphonious. Together the instruments produce a warm, throbbing sonority, and this being Rossini, there is plenty of engaging melody in the three movements of the piece.


To conclude the program, violinists Antje Weithaas and Christian Tetzlaff, violist Rachel Roberts, and cellist Tanja Tetzlaff deliver a performance of Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” Quartet that is of astonishing power and intensity, with urgent tempos, forceful attacks, strong dynamic contrasts, and explosive climaxes. In taking the lengthy exposition repeat, unlike most competitors, these players prolong the first movement to over 15 minutes, which may not sit well with those who feel Schubert goes on for too long, but that is not a viewpoint I share, and in any case the performance is so gripping that no one is likely to complain of monotony. Although their treatment of tempo is not rigid, the Heimbach musicians, unlike many ensembles, relax only slightly in the more lyrical portions of the movement. Their urgency and vehemence continue into the Andante con moto second movement, where most ensembles opt for a more relaxed, lyrical approach. An unusually forceful and angry Scherzo is followed by a headlong and vehement finale. Technically, the playing is of a high standard in terms of intonation, articulation, and tone quality, although it is not note perfect, as is understandable given the live concert setting and the extremely intense, highly charged nature of the interpretation. Also notable is the unusually open and detailed texture of this performance, in which the contribution of each instrument can be heard distinctly.


There are many fine recordings of “Death and the Maiden,” but I do not know of another that matches this one for intensity and dramatic power. In contrast, that of the Alban Berg Quartet (EMI) flows smoothly and mellifluously, with a blended sonority. The Budapest Quartet (in its 1953 Columbia recording, available from ArkivMusic) is also comparatively genial and lyrical. The Emerson Quartet (DG) and the Juilliard Quartet (in its 1959 RCA recording, reissued by Testament) get a bit closer to the Heimbach approach but still do not match its relentless drive, towering climaxes, and searing passion. The Heimbach performance is greeted with thunderous applause and foot-stamping at the end, as it should be.


In addition to the quality of its performances, this disc benefits from excellent, realistic sound that positions the musicians precisely in a spacious acoustic and is vivid, well balanced, and free from harshness. The concert audience is very quiet, except for its enthusiastic applause after the performances, although faint background noise may be heard during silences and in quiet portions of the Schubert. This is an outstanding release, and I strongly recommend it to all lovers of chamber music.


FANFARE: Daniel Morrison

Classical Music

Classical Music

Award-winning violinist Christian Tetzlaff continues his highly successful series of chamber music recordings on Ondine continues with a new recording of Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (BWV1001–1006) by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas have an iconic status in the violin repertoire. Yet, little is known about the background of these fascinating works. Bach’s autograph manuscript is dated in Köthen in 1720, and it is commonly considered as the year when the cycle was completed. In his booklet notes Christian Tetzlaff offers fascinating perspectives to these masterpieces. Christian Tetzlaff is considered one of the world’s leading international violinists and maintains a most extensive performing schedule. Musical America named him ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ in 2005 and his recording of the violin concertos by Mendelssohn and Schumann, released on Ondine in 2011 (ODE 1195-2), received the ‘Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik’. Gramophone Magazine was choosing the recording of the Schumann Violin Sonatas with Lars Vogt (ODE 1205-2) as ‘Disc of the Month’ in January 2014. In addition, in 2015 ICMA awarded Christian Tetzlaff as the ‘Artist of the Year’. His recordings on Ondine with Brahms’ Trios (ODE 1271-2D) and Violin Concertos by DvorAk and Suk (1279-5) released in 2015 and 2016 earned GRAMMY nominations.

When lockdown was imposed in 2020 many artists began streaming performances from their own homes. In response, pianist Francesco Piemontesi and director Jan Schmidt-Garre launched a concert series to showcase artists living in Berlin, given in the renowned Schinkel Pavillon with an expert technical team assembled at short notice. Fourteen concerts were held, without audiences, under the name Home Music Berlin featuring some of the world’s leading instrumentalists and singers. In addition, a documentary film captured rehearsals and private backstage scenes. This collection of performances is a testament to the resilience and solidarity of these artists during the pandemic.

Josef Suk is the successor of Dvorák, and aside from Leoš Janácek, he is considered the most important composer of the Czech modernism that began with him. Starting from the influence of his famous mentor, Suk finally found his way from late romanticism to a very independent and complex late style. On this recording one can hear his Piano Quintet in G minor op. 8 and Zivotem a Snem, which consists of ten pieces for piano. The pieces are presented by Kiveli Dörken. Kiveli Dörken was born in 1995 in Duesseldorf, Germany. She has been playing piano since the age of five. Her first music teacher was Marina Kheifets. In 2003, at the age of eight, she was the youngest candidate ever to pass the entrance exam for the early studies program for gifted children at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien (HMTM) in Hannover (class of Professor Karl-Heinz Kämmerling). Following her professor’s death in 2012 she continues her studies in HMTM under Lars Vogt.

An imaginative player offers an outstanding reading of the violin's 'old testament'

Christian Tetzlaff, always one of the most thoughtful, imaginative violinists, has obviously found Bach’s solo works a stimulating and rewarding challenge. Technically, he’s most impressive: using a modern bow, he can achieve, with each phrase, the kind of subtle give and take that’s normally the preserve of the best Baroque violinists. His chord playing, too, shows wonderful control; in the more densely polyphonic pieces – the Chaconne and the fugues in the three sonatas – it seems there’s often little choice between aggressive accentuation and rhythmic distortion caused by spreading the chords. Tetzlaff, however, manages to avoid both pitfalls, with varied arpeggiation that never fails to take account of the music’s rhythmic requirements.

The performances have a remarkable air of spontaneity, the result of a pervasive rubato especially notable in the ornamented opening movements of the first two sonatas, and in the freer sections of the Chaconne. There’s a sense of line and balance that ensures that each departure from metronomic regularity sounds entirely natural, unlocking the music’s expressive potential. I felt this even when, in a few movements in the partitas, the dance character suggests a more regular, metrical pulse. Apart from this, it’s notable how Tetzlaff realises the virtuosity of Bach’s violin writing – the moto perpetuo finales of the sonatas sound truly thrilling, full of temperament and fire. Even if you’ve fallen for Julia Fischer’s beautifully stylish, polished accounts, or the expressive richness of Richard Tognetti’s gut-strung Guadagnini, I’d urge you to investigate this outstanding set.

-- Duncan Druce, Gramophone [8/2007]

Star-violinist Christian Tetzlaff, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor John Storgards present in this album two major British violin concertos written between a century, in 1910 and 2005. Elgar's passionate violin concerto, completed in 1910, is a classical-romantic violin concerto in three movements. This huge and highly emotional work was in the wake of modernism neglected for several decades before entering into standard concerto repertoire. Here Christian Tetzlaff follows the model of the early recordings of Elgar's concerto with substantially quicker tempos compared to most modern recordings, and having a great influence on the impact of the piece. Ades' violin concerto 'Concentric Paths', is already a modern classic and no doubt one of the most important concertos written during this century. With it's very demanding violin part the work has all the elements of a true concerto, allowing the soloist to sing with his instrument. The beauty of this music lies that everything is written so clearly.

Conductor Nicholas Collon's second Sibelius album together with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra focuses on works written by Sibelius just before World War I, and culminating in the 5th Symphony, one of the composer's symphonic key works. Two opuses for violin and orchestra, Two Serenades and Two Serious Melodies, one of Sibelius' most religious works, are featuring star violinist Christian Tetzlaff. Sibelius' music for Strindberg's Symbolistic play Swanwhite is a rarely performed gem with interesting thematic connections to other works included on this album, including the 5th Symphony.

This album of two piano quartets by Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) captures pianist Lars Vogt’s last recordings. Before his premature death and between treatments, Lars Vogt was able to record a multi-award-winning album of piano chamber music works by Schubert together with Christian Tetzlaff and Tanja Tetzlaff, as well as albums of Mozart’s and Mendelssohn’s piano concertos. However, a project to record Brahms’ complete piano quartets was left unfinished after the studio recording of Piano Quartet No. 2 was completed. With the help of recording producer Christoph Franke, we are now able to offer this recording together with Piano Quartet No. 3 from a live concert performance in connection with the studio recording. Combined, these make up Lars Vogt’s last recordings. Violinist Christian Tetzlaff, violist Barbara Buntrock and cellist Tanja Tetzlaff offer stellar performances in these landmark recordings and fulfill Lars Vogt’s late wish to have these performances released.

REVIEW:

The final recordings of pianist Lars Vogt have offered many riches, but this one is arguably the most profound of all. This may be the most intense recording of the C minor quartet on recordings. In both works, the coordination among the players evinces a joy that characterizes the highest ideals of chamber music.

— AllMusic.com (James Manheim)

This new album continues Ondine’s award-winning series of orchestral works by Witold Lutosławski (1913–1994) together with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The series has gathered several accolades, including a Grammy nomination, a BBC Music Magazine Awards nomination, and several recording of the month awards and best recordings of the year nominations. This album includes the composer’s early hit, his folklorish masterpiece Concerto for Orchestra, which is among his most performed compositions.

The album also includes Partita for Violin and Orchestra (with Christian Tetzlaff as soloist), a virtuosic 5-movement work which in its orchestral version is not short of a Violin Concerto. The rarity in the album is Lutosławski’s Novelette from 1979, which, although fragmentary, is already pointing toward the ideas of his 3rd Symphony.

REVIEW:

This illuminating program constitutes an ideal introduction as well as a must for the composer’s admirers. In the early Concerto for Orchestra, the orchestra plays with surging vitality, but also great delicacy. In the later works on the program, the playing is again incisive rather than heavy. This is a recording to cherish.

— American Record Guide

This album by violinist Christian Tetzlaff and cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Paavo Järvi, is dedicated in the memory of their longtime artistic partner, pianist Lars Vogt (1970–2022). At the heart of this album is Brahms, one of Lars Vogt’s favorite composers, and his late orchestral masterpiece, the Double Concerto. Brahms himself had admired one of Viotti’s violin concertos so much that he included material from the violin concerto into his work. With Christian Tetzlaff’s recording of the violin concerto, this album finally brings these two works together. Also included is Dvorák’s beautiful Silent Woods for cello and orchestra, a work by another composer that was very close to Lars Vogt’s heart.

In this new concerto album one of the greatest violinists of his generation, Christian Tetzlaff, offers profound interpretations of two deeply dramatic and lyrical concertos – those of Brahms and Berg – together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Robin Ticciati.

“Reasons of substance justify the recording of the Violin Concertos of Johannes Brahms and Alban Berg on a single album: both works concern existential human states of being. For me, the concerto by Johannes Brahms is a work that in a violin concerto dares to address very dangerous, abysmal, and profound states of the soul. Here an enormous contrast between ecstasy and total lonely isolation is in evidence. (...) Brahms also has a lot to say about pain. That’s rare in violin concertos – and links the Brahms concerto to the one by Alban Berg. I’ve been playing both concertos for 40 years – and I’ve played both of them, taken together, much more than 300 times. Here it seems to me as though the experience of these pieces changes one’s own life.” (Christian Tetzlaff)

REVIEWS:

This is a master violinist at the height of his powers. Teztlaff's playing demonstrates the range of emotion that each work requires. Needless to say, he is wholly in command of the technical demands of each work. The balance between soloists and orchestra is good.

-- MusicWeb International

Tetzlaff’s performance of the Brahms Concerto is brisk, and his interpretation at times feels very much of the moment. The first movement’s second subject is deliciously languid, but always moving onwards, and he develops increasing excitement and momentum in the build-up to the great tutti.

-- The Strad

This new double-album by pianist Lars Vogt, violinist Christian Tetzlaff and cellist Tanja Tetzlaff includes some of Franz Schubert's greatest works of chamber music, including his Piano Trios and the Arpeggione Sonata in breath-taking interpretations. Pianist Lars Vogt tragically passed away on September 5, 2022 due to a serious illness before this album of Schubert’s chamber music was released. This album stands as a testament of his outstanding chamber musicianship together with his long-time chamber music partners Christian Tetzlaff and Tanja Tetzlaff. “If not much time remains, then it’s a worthy farewell. - - Incomprehensible. Such expression. Such fragility, such love.”

REVIEWS:

These are studio recordings made in separate sessions in 2021. Everything one could want in Schubert’s Piano Trios is present: rhythmic buoyancy, beautiful phrasing, united ensemble playing that still leaves room for individual voices, and inner joy in the music-making. There’s also the ineffable feeling of sympathy among three friends who feel free to be themselves without departing from the wholeness of a performance.

-- Fanfare

These 2020–2021 recordings containing the complete extant works for piano trio of Franz Schubert and featuring the well-known trio of cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, pianist Lars Vogt, and Tanja’s brother, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, are being released at this time partly in memory of Vogt’s untimely passing in September of last year. The recollections of both Tetzlaffs and their dignified expressions of sorrow for the loss of a longtime friend and collaborator who will certainly be very difficult to replace as the piano voice of the trio are most eloquent and moving.

In two well-filled CDs we are given all the music Schubert is known to have written for piano, violin and cello, including Piano Trios No. 1 in B-flat, D898 (Op. 99) and No. 2 in E-flat Major, D929 (Op. 100), the indescribably lovely Notturno in E-flat, D897, which was originally intended as the slow movement of Trio No. 1; a “Rondo brillant” in B Minor. D895; and a fine arrangement for cello and piano of the “Arpeggione” Sonata in A Minor, D821. The last-named gave new viability to a richly textured work originally written for a hybrid instrument that was soon considered strictly from Vaudeville and vanished from the musical scene.

All these works receive a stamp of excellence for the artistry Vogt and the Tetzlaffs apply here.

-- Audio Video Club of Atlanta (Phil Muse)

Lars Vogt (1970-2022) early recordings collected here provide a document of an artist who always remained authentic, both to himself and to music. Lars Vogt never sought absolute truth, but truthfulness instead meant all the more to him. The man and the artist were always very close, never currying favour and never detached from the world. He was, instead, open and natural. "It's incredibly gratifying when you notice that you can perhaps light a little spark, a little flame for music in people, and when music helps you to find the path to your own soul."

SONG OF THE NIGHT / SZYMANOWSKI: VIOLIN CTO NO 1