Classical Music

Mahler initially had a hard time of it. A few compositional attempts from his youth did not turn out to his liking and were destroyed. When Das klagende Lied finally met with his own critical favor, he stated, "My first work in which I have found myself as 'Mahler'!" Here it is heard in colorful contrast to the fragment from his last symphony and the "Blumine" andante originally intended for the first symphony. The Beethoven Orchestra of Bonn under its resourceful conductor Stefan Blunier is in top form on this fascinatingly detailed look at Mahler's compositional workshop.

GATTI Serenata a più stromenti di Concerto. Sestetto • Calamus Ens • MDG 603 1589-2 (63:01)


Yet another forgotten contemporary of the great classicists, Luigi Gatti (1740–1817) was born in Italy’s lake district; studied in nearby Mantua, where he also became a priest; and established himself as a singer, conductor, and composer of note. In the latter capacity his esteem was such that his works were accepted for performance at Milan’s La Scala. In 1783 he was appointed music director of the court of Archbishop Hiermonymus Colloredo in Salzburg, where he served for the remainder of his life. The best-known of the musicians under his supervision there was music’s most famous doting parent, Leopold Mozart, his celebrated son Wolfgang having since departed for Vienna. After the younger Mozart’s demise, Gatti helped his sister, Nannerl, find and preserve some of the scores that had been left in the court’s archives. Gatti himself left a legacy of more than 150 works, ranging from operas, of course, to service music, but also including occasional music, two samples of which are here recorded. These are substantial works. The 34-minute Serenata consists of four movements in symphonic sequence (Allegro, Adagio alla Romanza, Menuetto, Allegro). The Sextet, with a five-movement configuration more typical of a divertimento, has a healthy running time of 29 minutes. Of the two the Serenata may have more staying power, but both are tuneful and obviously the work of a skilled craftsman and clearly not the model for Mozart’s Musical Joke . While one could not make a case for the elevation of Gatti to the pantheon on the basis of these two genial works, both probably fulfilled their function as entertainments at the court. I suspect that this disc came my way because of the scoring: The Serenata calls for oboe, bassoon, two horns, and string quintet; the Sextet for English horn, bassoon, and strings. MDG’s notes indicate that the oboe was Gatti’s wind of choice in his compositions—not at all surprising, since neither the flute nor the clarinet were fully established members of 18th-century orchestras. The double reeds here are not the center of attention, but serve instead as foils to the characteristically dominant first violin, as one might expect in a typical serenade of the period. This release is for the curious and/or adventurous. The performances could not be better.


FANFARE: George Chien

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Classical Music

Classical Music

The Belgian organist Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens (1823-81) was key player (all puns intended) in the 19th century French Organ School, whose students included Alexandre Guilmant and Charles-Marie Widor. His performances, teachings, and writings laid the foundation for French symphonic organ style that prevailed in the late 1800s. Stylistically speaking, Lemmens' well-crafted compositions chart calm, conservative waters à la Mendelssohn, without rocking any boats, so to speak. The E-flat Prelude, for instance, is a veritable Song without Words. Of Lemmens' three organ sonatas, No. 2 in E minor contains the strongest writing within its three contrasting movements. Conversely, if you find the First Sonata's chest-beating "Marche Pontificale" banal, you'll cringe at its profoundly insipid fugue. The 1874 Schyen/Van Beyer organ is ideally suited to these works, and van Oosten's full-throttle climaxes resonate without a trace of bombast. MDG's engineering goes for overall effect rather than close-up detail, capturing the organ as one might perceive its sound from the pews in the church of Notre-Dame de Laeken in Belgium. --Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Luise Adolpha Le Beau was a celebrated pianist who scored successes with compositions of her own, prevailing against all the feelings of resentment working against women composers during the middle of the nineteenth century. The three young musicians Bartek Niziol, Denis Severin, and Tatiana Korsunskaya have dedicated themselves to the chamber music of this composer who is practically forgotten today in what is a thrilling debut making us eager to hear more.

Classical Music

A. SCARLATTI Cantatas: Perchè tacete; Bella dama di nome Santa. Sonatas: in a; in F. D. SCARLATTI Cantata: Doppo lungo servire. F. SCARLATTI Cantata: O come in un’istante • Kai Wessel (ct); Danya Segal (rcr); Musica Alta Ripa (period instruments) • MDG 30906322 (76:51)


There is no doubt that the Scarlatti family was prolific and extremely musical, providing composers for several generations. Today, one mostly hears only of Alessandro Scarlatti and his son Domenico, both of whom have certainly earned their places in music history. There were, however, a number of others, including Alessandro’s brother Francesco (c.1666–1742), who is represented on this disc by one of his cantatas. Francesco, it seems, had a checkered career, first as a violinist in Naples and then as maestro di capella in Palermo, the Scarlatti family hometown. Apparently this did not work out, and towards the end of his life he appears to have migrated to Dublin, which is just about as far away from Italy as one can get, where at a ripe old age he was reduced to a bedridden and impoverished state. All three of these men whose works appear on this disc of chamber cantatas—interspersed with a couple of recorder sonatas by Alessandro—wrote large numbers of compositions, with the last named being known as one of the main proponents of the solo cantata, having written over 200 of them.


What strikes me most about this disc is that it presents a good selection of works that gives a nice taste of the talent of all three men. Generally, the eldest Scarlatti’s cantatas are the most expansive, the first of which has no fewer than four arias, each preceded by a recitative and an introductory Sinfonia to boot. The second reduces the sung numbers in half, but prefaces it with a nicely pastoral Lento alla francese , a lilting movement in which the solo recorder sounds at times like an organ stop. It is a rather nice effect, though one may note that it seems to imply bucolic simplicity rather than a complex and dramatic tale. This is emphasized in the first aria, “Dal nome tuo credei,” in which the opening recorder line is supported by the violin acting as a bass line. As the voice enters, the thin texture is maintained, resulting in quite an intimate sound. In the aria “Alla mano che dotta” of the first cantata, Perchè tacete , the lines are crisp and precise, almost at a marching tempo with the voice and bass in lock step, while the violins add discrete ritornellos at various intervals. The second aria is a lively triple meter dance, and in the Finale, “Deh pensieri,” the voice and strings scurry about in a virtuoso fashion; here we finally get to the vocal fireworks one usually associates with Scarlatti’s operas. In contrast, Domenico’s cantata seems rather tame, even old-fashioned. The second aria, for instance, “Io lò sò che una pena tiranna,” features voice and continuo, moving about each other in a slow and mysterious dance, while the last aria has a gentle rocking motion beginning with the first word “Cara” suspended in space. Francesco’s Cantata could have been written by Francesco Cavalli, with expansive lines that move about in rather nicely compact sequences. The final aria, “Contento all’or sarò,” is wonderfully expressive, even though it too is a spare continuo aria.


The two sonatas are varied in terms of content and tone. The first, in A Minor, is clearly from Alessandro’s earlier years, with an opening movement that is reminiscent of Henry Purcell’s “Wondrous Machine” in its tick-tock accompaniment. The middle of the five movements is a somewhat intricate fugue based upon an ascending chromatic line, and it is here that I would suspect a use for the church. The second sonata is busy and quite virtuoso, with scurrying lines bandied about between the violin and recorder. It would not be out of place in Georg Philipp Telemann’s oeuvre , for it seems more north German than Italian in style.


Countertenor Kai Wessel performs the cantatas with a nice sense of phrasing and moves through the parts with decided ease. He knows how to blend with his instruments and yet bring out the text clearly and expressively. The accompaniment of the Musica Alta Ripa, particularly recorder player Danya Segal, blends well together, with a nice choice of ornamentation and a precision that makes each and every line clear. The violins are wonderfully discrete, as noted earlier, meaning that they know how to support and not compete with the voice.


The booklet features a rather nice musicological essay by Wessel, which is both scholarly and readable. Unfortunately, even though the cover states that texts are enclosed, my copy had no texts or translations of the works, which can be annoying (and forces one to try and find them on the web site without any indications therein). If one can overlook this faux pas , then one will have at hand a delightful hour and a bit of nice, intimate chamber music from the Scarlatti family, performed in a highly musical manner. One could perhaps not ask for more. No one will be disappointed with this disc in their collection.


FANFARE: Bertil van Boer

An enjoyable and enterprising organ release.

Spanning the greater part of the 19th century, Franz Lachner could count Schubert’s Viennese circle as friends, met Beethoven, and as a conductor he performed and promoted Wagner’s operas. His connection with the organ would have begun as a child, with music lessons from his father Anton, who was church organist in Rain am Lech. It was however late in life that he embarked on his trilogy of organ sonatas, modelling these pieces to a certain extent on the examples of Felix Mendelssohn, whose six organ sonatas Op.65 had been published in 1845.

Rudolf Innig however, in his own detailed and informative booklet notes, points out the differences between Lachner and Mendelssohn. The stately ‘predilection for elegiac-melancholy movements in moderated tempos’ recalling more often the piano music of Schubert, even though the harmonic language is in no way as experimental or far-reaching. There is a deal of enharmonic shifting and modulatory exploration, but rarely with a huge ‘wow’ factor or element of surprise. More ambitious in structure than the Sonata Op.175 is the Sonata Op.176, whose second and third movements are fused to form a ‘Fantasia with Fugue’, something which would be adopted by Lachner’s pupil Joseph Rheinberger. There are some dramatic gestures and a more searching air of chromaticism in this Fantasia, but there remains a reluctance to part with that sustained, rather religious feel, and one feels that perhaps a little more bravura might be welcome by this point. The music is beautifully crafted however, and one can easily revel in this lambent glow of warmly expressive organ sounds.

This is a good point at which to describe the organ used for this recording. Built in 1911, the instrument preserves the ideal organ sound as sought from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th, reflecting that warmly romantic sound for which Eberhard Friedrich Walcker (1794-1872) received just recognition. This is combined with a large sixteen stop swell, which gives just enough added weight and expressive potential to approach something akin to French symphonic models. Franz Lachner’s organ works demand considerable dynamic variety, and this instrument is a very good choice – not bowling the listener over with sonic fireworks, but carrying the composer’s detailed intentions with elegance and appropriate seriousness.

The third Sonata Op.177 is the shortest of the three, but by no means the lightest in musical content. A funereal opening Adagio sets the tone, and with each movement having a thematic or character relationship, this sonata has quite an organic feel, leading up to a final Andante whose ten variations lead up to the closest one gets to an apotheosis in these works. The additional variety of preludes and fugues on this CD are technically interesting and highly effective, without being works which are likely to shake your world to its foundations.

This is an enjoyable disc of works otherwise unavailable on recordings as far as I have been able to discover. MDG’s recording is very good indeed as usual, and while there might be those who might ask a little more lightness of touch from Rudolf Innig it would be hard to point to many places where the player has the opportunity for such frivolity. There is a nice added touch in the final repeat performance of the Fugue in E minor, but this time without the electric motor – the bellows being blown by hand. Speaking from experience, this is a harder job than it might sound: one has to be prepared for the extra ‘oomph’ required by denser passages, and it is a precarious balance sometimes between glorious teamwork and the whole thing collapsing like a dying set of bagpipes – something from which, for that evening at least, neither the player, the pumper or the audience are likely ever to recover.

Franz Lachner is a composer whose star is might possibly be on the rise - comparatively, with a recent release of his Requiem also to be found in the current catalogues. On the strength of this release there is certainly a good deal of pleasant music to be found from this direction, albeit not music which is likely to alter our perceptions of 19th century creativity to any huge extent.

-- Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International

Includes work(s) by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Ensemble: Parnassus Trio.

”The playing throughout is delightful. Klöcker is always at his best when exploring musical byways. Bassoonist Hartmann plays with facility and matches Klöcker´s sense of musical humor. (Both have long been associated as members of the Consortium Classicum). ” (Fanfare)

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.



J. C. HERTEL Sinfonias: No. 1 in D for three trumpets; No. 2 in D for three trumpets. J. W. HERTEL Trumpet Concertos: No 1 in E?; No 2 in E?; No. 3 in D. Trumpet and Oboe Concerto • Wolfgang Bauer (tpt); cond; Christian Wetzel (ob); Württemberg CO Heilbronn • MDG 901 1499 (Hybrid multichannel SACD: 62:56)


Around 1742, Johann Christian Hertel (1697–1754) and his eldest son Johann Wilhelm Hertel (1727–89), with the assistance of composer Franz Benda, settled north of Berlin, where the father assumed the post of leader of the court orchestra. Pater’s duties were significant, crossing a wide range of activities required by the small but active court musical life. Indeed, it has been estimated that his composing work could have amounted to as many as 650 modest orchestral works per annum , according to the number of music paper sheets he was allotted each year (4,000). J. C specialized in music for the orchestra, whereas his son J. W.—who, like his father, played violin and harpsichord—assumed a position in the orchestra at the age of 17 in 1744 and began a career that would give more attention to vocal music.


Due to the cataracts that plagued his father, J. W. took over the leadership of the orchestra, and assumed a number of subsequent positions, landing at the court orchestra of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, a moderate-sized band where he actually became the secretary to Princess Ulrike Sophie. In 1770, he was appointed her privy counselor, the furthest anyone could advance who was not of the aristocracy, and enjoyed a privileged lifestyle aside from continuing his composing activities.


J. W.’s Trumpet Concerto No. 1 is about as close to entering the repertoire status as any; all three are actually worthy entrants that should enjoy even wider currency than they do today. They are in the traditional Italian model, with an important opening movement followed by a lyrical slower one, and ending with a dance-like finale. The trumpet parts are in the clarino register, high and brilliant, and cannot fail to please an audience. Equally interesting is the Double Concerto for Trumpet and Oboe, full of song-like melodies and carefully woven dialogue between the two instruments.


Dad J.C. likes larger effects, especially those of massed trumpets, as are found in these two sinfonias, each for three trumpets, timpani, two violins, viola, and continuo. They follow the same Italianate style, but are more flourishing and festive. This SACD has spectacular sound, and Wolfgang Bauer proves himself a true exponent of the style. For a good old-fashioned brass blowout, recommended.


FANFARE: Steven E. Ritter

Stopped horns with clarinets, string trills in pianissimo unison with muted brass instruments, then the vibraphone, the celesta, and two harps. Masao Tanibe is a guitar virtuoso who studied in Europe but has remained true to his cultural roots. The blending of Japanese composition and European orchestral tradition scores an exhilarating success with the Erzgebirge Philharmonic of Aue under its principal conductor Naoshi Takahashi.

Toru Takemitsu is a magician of instrumentation. A gigantic orchestra accompanies the tender tones of the solo guitar in "To the Edge of a Dream," performed on this richly colored SACD by the virtuoso Masao Tanibe. Combined with "Voyage IX ? Awakening" by Toshio Hosokawa and the concerto "Northern Sail" by Hikaru Hayashi, the result is a captivating audio depiction of today's leading generation of Japanese composers in the genre of the guitar concerto.

Masao Tanibe's flawlessly virtuosic guitar playing wonderfully harmonizes with the highly imaginative sound collages suggesting distant associations with Maurice Ravel or Claude Debussy in Takemitsu's score.