Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Two great organists on two famous organs - and then Bach! Leo van Doeselaar and Erin Wiersinga approach the Saxon master in an interesting and original way, and the fact that the two titular organists at their Martinikerk in Groningen have at their disposal one of the most important baroque organs from the workshop of the jubilarian Arp Schnitgers makes this new publication a current as well as exciting experience. Arrangements are on the program. And arrangements of arrangements, because Bach himself was not afraid to adapt his own works and those of his colleagues for his own purposes. The famous prelude to the Partita in E major for solo violin thus turned into a festive cantata overture- including timpani and trumpets. This baroque splendor of sound almost calls for implementation on the Great Organ of the Martinikerk, which houses Schnitger's only surviving, powerful 32' principal register in the mighty pedal towers. Four handed, both titularists present the monumental opening chorus of the cantata "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott," whose strict contrapuntal structure is most advantageously accentuated in Sybolt de Jong's arrangement. Gustav Leonhardt's harpsichord version of the famous Ciaccona for solo violin, which Doeselaar extends on the one-manual baroque choir organ, is a perfect example of this. Vivaldi's lively Concerto in B minor for four violins reshaped Bach for four harpsichords. Wiersinga plays Guy Bovet's organ version of this unusual transcription- and thus shows not least the outstanding quality of an instrument whose beginnings date back to the middle of the 15th century.

It lives on! Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Gdansk composer, organist, and ensemble director Andrzej Szadejko, the lavishly reconstructed organ in Gdanks’s Trinity Church experienced its rededication last year. This opulent instrument by the Wegschneider Company in Dresden has forty-one stops on three manuals and a double pedal unit and represents the state of development that it had reached around the middle of the eighteenth century. In addition, the meticulous registration of works by Theophil Andreas Volckmar and Daniel Magnus Gronau lends special authenticity to the revival of the Late Baroque Baltic-Hanseatic tonal splendor. Volckmar himself worked for many years at Trinity Church in Gdansk. His efforts to obtain the much more prestigious organist’s post at St. Mary’s Church remained without success; this virtuoso in quest of recognition was too innovative for the Protestant city council members. His spectacular sonatas dauntlessly entrusting the pedal with breathtaking solos quickly convey the message that here we have somebody who could only with difficulty be integrated into the pious devotion of Lutheran religious services. The fact that the self-aware Volckmar dedicated the sonatas directly to the Polish king, bypassing the required participation of the city council, shows that he was an uncompromising artistic personality who was far ahead of his times – in more ways that just musical ones. Daniel Magnus Gronau’s organ works are in several respects a discovery. The detailed instructions for registration are particularly unique for the eighteenth century and form the most extensive source of this kind in Europe. On the new/old Gdansk organ the result is a colorful organ sound questioning traditional ideas in Northern German Baroque church music. This Super Audio album is a top-quality three-dimensional production offering listeners the opportunity to experience the magnificent acoustics of Gdansk’s mighty Trinity Church as if they too were there. While performing with two hands simultaneously on three manuals and employing the large and small pedals in keeping with historical prescriptions, Szadejko breathtakingly reveals a neglected chapter of music history.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Ferdinand Ries must have made a strong impression as a pianist. Beethoven, a gifted pianist in his own right, even entrusted the premiere of his Piano Concerto No. 3 to Ries. The two had known each other since their days together in Bonn, when Ries’s parents took the half-orphan Ludwig into their family. Ries was Beethoven’s right-hand man in Vienna, and what he learned from his great model, who was fourteen years his senior, is impressively demonstrated by the Franz Ensemble on its debut album: brilliant virtuosity meets Classical form, and tradition appears in new guise – for a very special anticipation of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth! Ries delights in experimentation in his Sextet and surprises us with his original instrumental combinations. The solo piano is joined by the harp, which also has to rise to the highest challenges, while the clarinet, horn, and bassoon form an accompaniment of orchestral character over the double bass foundation. The pianist also has the opportunity to shine as a soloist in the Octet- which amounts to a piano concerto en miniature. It recalls Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5. Unknown music in unusual combinations- that is the specialty of the Franz Ensemble. The young musicians around the clarinetist Maximilian Krome are not afraid to test new material.

Classical Music

The prolific Leipzig String Quartet completes Joseph Haydn's Opus 17 with the Quartets Nos. 2, 4, and 6 on what is now the twelfth volume of an extraordinary quartet cycle. Once again historically informed playing meets world-class quartet culture, and once again the Leipzig four demonstrate that Haydn's quartets were masterfully conceived from the very beginning and continue to deserve only the very best treatment. "Reduction as a Principle" would be a good title for Opus 17. But what richness! Haydn concentrates on only a very few themes and motifs; even in the first movements there is only one of them. How this then is elaborated is proof of the finest geniality. Here we find fragmentations, variations, omissions, and ramifications, and when Haydn develops the theme polyphonically and contrapuntally with itself in the first movement of No. 2, the composer almost grinningly presents his credentials as a genuine master in his field. This does not keep him from doing plenty of playing with the expectations of his listeners - for example, with the insertion of an uneven number of measures in an otherwise traditional minuet. The fact that the usual period of dance steps is brought to stumbling by the witty composer may startled listeners of his times out of their comfortability, but today not only experts delight in the Esterh�zy court composer's original ideas. For their Haydn edition the members of the Leipzig String Quartet use bows from the period during which the works were composed. This is noticeable in the smooth tonal delineation and supple articulation that may be said to make these fine works speak and shine. Once again a new chance for us to escape from modern restlessness for a few choice moments!

Jin Ju's displays an even broader spectrum of expressive means on her latest release on MDG. Beethoven's Appassionata demands the greatest virtuosity and musical stringency, Czerney's Ricordanza Variations require sophisticatedly placed, sparkling figuration, and Schubert's Sonata in C minor lavishes in a whiting style relying very much on cantability.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music