Airy, transparent, light as a feather – if any composer’s music answers to these attributes, then it is that of Maurice Ravel, including his Piano Trio, even if this work too has its more serious moments. On its newest Super Audio album the Vienna Piano Trio brings together this marvelously unique achievement and a very differently gripping trio by Ernest Chausson – a fascinating contrast and one most beautifully celebrated by our Vienna threesome. Chausson composed his trio as an act of defiance. He had abandoned his study of composition without a diploma and had recently retired to the countryside. As if he wanted to show all his critics and especially the jurors of the Prix de Rome what he could do: in the Piano Trio an impetuous artist assumes a revolutionary and romantic expressive stance. This begins already in the impassioned first movement, to whose themes he repeatedly returns during the course of the other parts, and reaches its high point in the great breadth and unforgettable melodiousness of the third movement.

-----

REVIEW:

The Trio's finely honed interpretation of the Ravel is charactized by finesse, maturity, and lucidity. Chausson’s Franck-inspired Trio makes a great pairing. There are some breathtakingly lyrical moments in the violin and cello here, and the rich piano figuration never feels laboured.

– Gramophone

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.

Max Bruch bequeathed three violin concertos to posterity - but only one of them continues to be present in today's concert halls. The composer himself regarded his op. 58 in D minor as much more finely composed than the popular G minor concerto. This benchmark recording by Andreas Krecher and the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra disappeared from the catalogue many years ago, but now the D minor concerto is being re-released in an attractive double box featuring orchestral works by Bruch. Along with it's rarities repertoire, the phenomenal acoustic dimensions of the historic Wuppertal Stadthalle and MDG's legendary natural sound make this double album a musical feast for the ears. "Schon Ellen," a heroic ballad to a text by Emanuel Geibel, was one of the most frequently sung choral works during the nineteenth century. Even though Bruch had no qualms about transferring the action from the Indian colony to the Scottish highlands, the dramatic appeal is absolutely irresistible. The 'Swedish Dances' are a genuine discovery. Bruch unfolds an overpowering widescreen spectacle with a Nordic atmosphere in the two suites; with highly imaginative instrumentations and musical magic he evokes magnificent soundscapes. Bruch's Symphony No. 2 rounds off this program of rarities. In it Schmalfuss presents the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra as an ensemble that produces a big sound and outstandingly captures the slightly melancholy tone of Bruch's music.

César Franck and Ernest Chausson: this MDG top-interest special edition presents chamber music by two French composers connected by much more than just the teacher-pupil relationship. The first release of their string quartets, Franck's Piano Quintet, and Chausson's Piano Quartet by the Belgian Spiegel String Quartet and the pianist Jan Michiels received an enthusiastic reception from music experts and the listening public alike. Chamber music did not have an easy time in France until Cesar Franck joined forces with like-minded individuals to establish the Societe nationale de musique in 1871. The society's declared goal was to break the dominance of German chamber music- which was also a political priority after France had come out on the losing side of the Franco-Prussian War. And so Frank developed a clear style of melodic emphasis with anticipations of the impressionist era. During the last decade of Franck's life he celebrated the greatest musical successes. Along with the two works recorded here, this period witnessed the composition of his famous Violin Sonata.

Carmen made Georges Bizet world famous, but he lived only a few months to enjoy the overwhelming success of this opera depicting love and jealousy among hot-blooded Spaniards. A swim in the cold Seine did him in. Today hardly anybody remembers that Bizet also composed piano music. To our good fortune, Johann Blanchard’s inventory of his rarities cabinet has yielded more new discoveries that will make the hearts of music lovers beat faster-while the lastest recording technology will have the same effect on those of audiophiles. Bizet was an outstanding pianist who already at the age of ten enjoyed the privilege of instruction at the Paris Conservatory- including lessons in composition. And so it is not surprising that his works for piano represent the very best of their times. Already the “Grande Valse de Concert” that the sixteen-year-old boldly labeled his Opus 1 and the “Premiere Nocturne” op. 2 composed during the same year display the genuinely orchestral design so typical of Bizet’s piano music.

Classical Music

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

Classical Music

Classical Music

GADE Piano Trio, op. 42. Piano Trio (1839): first movement. Novelettes, op. 29. Piano Quartet: Scherzo • Trio Parnassus; Thomas Selditz (va) • MDG 303 1665-2 (64: 06)


Gade’s works for piano trio are pragmatic, thorough, technically accomplished, and compact. Their reluctance to sprawl is an advantage as it allows one to concentrate on their salient features, which include romantic ardor, lyric profusion, and a confident sense of projection. The op. 42 Trio in F Major was written between February 1862 and December 1863, and the vibrant playing of Trio Parnassus and the excellent recording allow a full exploration of its Schumannesque elements. Pianist Chia Chou anchors the performance with considerable strength and finesse, while violinist Yamei Yu essays some effective slides. Michael Gross is the excellent cellist. They bring a fine corporate sense of buoyancy and lyricism to the second movement, an Allegro molto vivace. (However, I was able to go back to the first-ever recording of this movement, in a 1917 performance by Albert Sammons, W.H. Squire, and William Murdoch, and there you will find a far greater sense of characterization and intensity.) The Andantino is a rather lovely Lied, rich in legato, and the finale rings with an almost Mendelssohnian panache.


The 1854 Novelettes are possibly as well known as the trio. There are five miniatures in all, and one explicitly quotes Schumann. They’re played with genuine poise, with fine unisons, excellent soliloquies, and a judicious balance. The plangent elements of the Larghetto are as well explored as the more bucolic, folkloric elements of the central Moderato. The discarded finale to the Novelettes in the original 1853 version—Gade revised the work in 1854—is also included, and it’s a fiery and confident affair. The projected four-movement Piano Trio of 1839 never materialized and all that remains is the opening movement, a solid 12-and-a-half-minute affair opening with an Adagio section and moving on to the Allegro con fuoco . Sketches do exist of the inner movements, but nothing remains of the finale. It’s a very strongly programmatic movement, and fortunately Gade’s narrative has survived, a typically romantic one, reprinted in the liner note. But it’s not at all necessary to know this narrative to appreciate the slow, intense introduction and the extroverted Allegro replete with passionate declamation. The Scherzo for a piano quartet (1836) is a youthful, big-boned work strongly reflecting Gade’s absorption of Mendelssohn once again.


I referred earlier to the recording quality, which certainly enhances this traversal of the complete piano trio works materially and so too, obviously, the playing. There is a fine performance of the op. 42 and the Novelettes by the Abegg Trio on Tacet 112, but that is coupled with the Chopin Trio. So if your priority is wholly Gade, then this MDG fits the bill perfectly.


FANFARE: Jonathan Woolf

HOFMANN Octet. Serenade. Sextet • Berolina Ens • MDG 948 18086 (SACD: 78:03)


There are some 20 composers named Hofmann or Hofman or Hoffman or Hoffmann listed in ArkivMusic.com. This one is Heinrich Karl J. Hofmann (one “f,” two “n”s). I find only one other listing of a piece by this composer on ArkivMusic, and nothing in the Fanfare Archive. Hence, this 78-minute program of three substantial chamber works fills a need.


The music is conservatively romantic in style, coming from a composer (1842–1902) who lived through the ages of Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner, and early Mahler, seemingly without being touched by any of them. Does that mean Hofmann is not worth remembering? The extensive program notes by Michael Wittmann make a strong case for the composer, noting that music need not be “metaphysical” to be eminently enjoyable and worthy, and that Hofmann “was one of the most frequently performed German composers during his lifetime.” Wittmann goes on to make the almost unbelievable claims that the Symphony, op. 22, of 1874 was “for a time the most frequently performed symphony in the German empire,” and that “the cantata Märchen von der schönen Melusine was performed more than 1,500 times” between 1875 and 1895 in Germany, England, and the U.S.A.


Weber, Spohr, Reinecke, and Bruch are the names that come to mind when listening to Hofmann’s chamber music. It is invariably pleasant, easy-going, lyrical, and melodious without being remarkable. It does not reach out and grab you, but then neither does Beethoven’s Septet, which was one of that composer’s most popular works during his lifetime. As a measure of Hofmann’s standing in the U.S. in the late 19th century, it was the New York Philharmonic Club that commissioned his Serenade for Flute and Strings. The Serenade impresses not so much for its melodic ideas, but for the skill with which Hofmann handles his material. The addition of a double bass to the standard string quartet gives the music an almost symphonic weight. The sonata-form first movement is full of sparkle, the second has an elegiac quality, the scherzo makes its mark with unusual rhythmic patterns, and the energetic finale is imbued with strong dance-like impulses.


Asked to name an octet for the mixed ensemble of strings and winds, most music lovers would have no trouble citing Schubert’s. But beyond his, what else is there? Not counting those that include piano, I can come up with the paltry list of only Spohr, Rheinberger, Hindemith, Sigismund Neukomm, and now Hofmann. (I’ve probably missed an obvious one; perhaps some kind reader will send a letter to the editor.) Hofmann’s Octet is not for quite the same forces as Schubert’s (Hofmann has a flute, Schubert a double bass). Purely by coincidence, I would assume, Hofmann’s Octet opens with a subject that seems almost a clone of Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings. The movement breezes along in a most genial vein, and is followed a bucolic slow movement, a gavotte that will inevitably set faces smiling and feet tapping, and a finale that romps along with Brahmsian vigor.


The 11-member Berlin-based Berolina Ensemble is a first-class group that turns in committed performances full of vitality, dynamic contrast, and color. Hofmann may not be a composer on the order of a Schubert or a Weber, but the Berolinas make such a strong case for him that while listening one cannot but fully enjoy the experience. Excellent sound.


FANFARE: Robert Markow

In 1948 Hanns Eisler returned to Europe from exile in the United States, where he had found refuge from the National Socialist regime. On his return he found hardly any traces of the Germany he had left in 1937 and expressed his feelings of grief and loss in many choice songs – some of which Holger Falk and Steffen Schleiermacher have selected for the enthralling and exemplary program on this second volume of their Eisler edition. These songs lend expression to Eisler’s profound love for Germany- a passion hardly to have been expected from a committed communist. He even calls for praise of Germany in the Neue deutsche Volkslieder to texts by Johannes R. Becher, and employs the folk element to counteract the poet’s tone, which at times exceeds the proper limits of pathos, and produces a tender emotional picture.

Classical Music

Classical Music

The futurists noisily proclaimed their message in Italy prior to the outbreak of World War I. Manifesto followed on manifesto, every form of violence, including war, was glorified, and anarchism, misogyny, and the destruction of everything representing tradition was preached. A few composers were also among their ranks, but Steffen Schleiermacher’s latest discovery demonstrates that their works sometimes contrasted greatly with the literary pamphlets issued by this group. Great music nevertheless – or perhaps for this very reason – was the result. Things get underway with Francesco Balilla Pratella, the declared favorite of the furturist “top gun” Marinetti and the author of a futurist manifesto of his own. “Battle” from the trilogy “Expectation-Battle-Victory” could also stand for the program of futurist music, but things did not turn out this way. Already Gian Francesco Malipiero’s “Preludi autunnali” contain an autumn melancholy that sounds more like Debussy and Ravel than war and destruction. Alfredo Casella’s “A note alta” is the most extensive work on this album. True to its title, this work evokes all sorts of associations with a hot and sultry Mediterranean night, including the erotic adventure that Casella claims to have set to music- but the listener will decide! Alberto Savinio, today at most known as a poet or a painter, offers in “Les Chants de la Mi-Mort” a richly allusive, entertaining collage. Three short pieces of caricatural pomposity by Silvio Mix conclude the tour of Italy’s avant-garde. The legendary Manfred Burki Steinway concert grand piano from 1901 and Schleiermacher’s unerring feeling for fine nuances guarantee that tonal refinement gets its fair share along with all these surprising finds.

SAINT-SAËNS Piano Trios: in F, Op. 18; in e, Op. 92 • Vienna Pn Tr • MDG 9421763 (SACD: 64:07)


These are two of Saint-Saëns’s most engaging chamber works. Still an early effort, completed by the 29-year-old composer in 1864, the F-Major Trio seems to take its cue from Mendelssohn, though Saint-Saëns spins a somewhat lighter, airier confection, with a first movement that has a distinctively dance-like character. The second movement, said to be based on a folk tune from the Auvergne region of France, begins in a furtive, almost foreboding tone, claimed by note author Elisabeth Deckers to recall “similarly pallid movements by Schumann.” Mendelssohn makes a comeback in the brief Scherzo, while the last movement turns to Schumann once again, with a fugato episode reminiscent of the last movement of Schumann’s Piano Quintet.


Saint-Saëns was by no means old when he composed his Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor in 1892, but almost 30 years had passed since its older sibling had been born. Saint-Saëns was surely one of music’s more outré personalities. They say that as we grow older we regret the things we didn’t do more than the things we did. Saint-Saëns, I think, was a man who had no regrets. Writing to a friend about his new piano trio, he said, “I am working quietly away at a trio which I hope will drive to despair all those unlucky enough to hear it. I shall need the whole summer to perpetrate this atrocity; one must have a little fun somehow.”


The “atrocity” turned out to be a work in five movements, which exhibits a greater complexity and sophistication than are found in the earlier trio. Two fairly substantial outer movements frame three relatively short inner ones. The dark and somewhat brooding first movement is thought to have been inspired by Tchaikovsky’s A-Minor Trio—the two composers had been friends since the 1870s—while the second and fourth movements are characteristic of Schubert’s German and Viennese dances. Schumann makes another appearance in the brief Andante , while the last movement, unusual for Saint-Saëns, seems to nod in the direction of Brahms.


The catalog is not exactly overfull with recordings of these two trios, but the ones listed are very, very good. In 29:3, I reviewed and strongly recommended the Trio Wanderer’s version for Harmonia Mundi, and a subsequent release by the Florestan Trio, reviewed in 30:1, made a choice between the two difficult. With the arrival of this latest version by the Vienna Piano Trio, choice becomes even more difficult, for not only do the performances by this estimable ensemble match the excellent playing of the Wanderer and Florestan Trios, but MDG offers an extra incentive with its outstanding SACD recording. All else being equal, I’d have to say that if presented with these three recordings side by side, this new one with the Vienna Piano Trio is the one I’d choose.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Classical Music

When orchestras became larger and larger, instrumentations more and more refined, and sound impressions louder and louder, Robert Fuchs composed . . . string quartets. Working in what is certainly the most intellectual musical genre, he had ears for intimate personal statements, while the music business had eyes mostly for showy spectacles. The Minguet Quartet, now a sought-after ensemble, once rescued Fuchs’s four quartets from decades of neglect when it was as aspiring young formation; the newly released special edition even today makes for true listening pleasure. The namesake of the Quartet is Pablo Minguet, a Spanish philosopher of the 18th century who attempted, in his writings, to facilitate access to the fine arts for all sectors of the population – and this idea is a chief artistic concern of the Minguet Quartet particularly while touring for concerts around the whole world. The passionate and intelligent interpretations of the Minguet Quartet always ensure inspiring listening experiences – “for the joy in sound and expression with which the ensemble makes the works speak enlivens even the smallest detail”. (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

t was billed as a battle of titans. Franz Liszt had invited the leading pianists of his time to compose variations on Bellini's "March of the Huguenots." The international keyboard stars Chopin, Thalberg, Pixis, Czerny, and Herz had agreed to compete, but they never actually performed together in Princess Beliojoso's Paris salon. Claudius Tanski has now recreated this event with his master pupils. Unlike Liszt 175 years ago, he collaborates on equal terms with this circle of brilliant young stars emulating their immortal models with sovereignty and grandeur.

C. P. E. BACH Symphonies, Wq 174–75, 178–81 • Christian Zacharias, cond; CO de Lausanne • MDG 9401824 (SACD: 68:49)


Students and fans of C. P. E. Bach will rejoice in this recording of six of his short but feisty and innovative symphonies from the late 1700s. Although the performances aren’t quite as dynamic or lively as those by Hartmut Haenchen with the C. P. E. Bach Chamber Orchestra (Berlin Classics) or Gustav Leonhardt with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Virgin), they are certainly beautifully phrased and well articulated. The Andante and Largo movements, in particular, have a lovely sense of repose that Haenchen does not always achieve.


As the liner notes explain, the three-movement concert symphony began in Crown Prince Frederick’s small court orchestra. What the notes don’t explain is that it was essentially an outgrowth of the tripartite “overture” style developed by both French and German composers. This may explain C. P. E. Bach’s penchant for linking movements, something that was certainly ahead of its time, but it’s interesting to note that when other composers such as Haydn and Mozart began to emulate this style, they usually wrote three completely separate movements, thus un-linking the music. But, of course, there’s a lot more to Bach’s music here than just linked movements. The harmonic audacity (for its time), angular melodic structure ( far ahead of its time), and quirky pauses in the flow of the music (copied to some extent by Haydn, but largely unique to him) make his music much more than museum pieces. One example among many of his audacity and originality: listen to the agitated string figures in the first movement of the Symphony Wq 178, with their frequent and audacious upward key changes. They sound almost identical to the music with which Gluck introduces his “storm” music in the first scene of Iphigénie en Tauride. To be honest, I’m surprised that C. P. E. Bach’s music isn’t programmed more often in modern-day symphony concerts. It certainly holds up well and, in fact, makes a better complement to any 20th-century works that may also be in the same concert.


This is one of those cases where saying little about a disc actually says a lot. Any attempt to over-analyze this music or over-praise the performances would be futile, since this is primarily an auditory experience. Nevertheless, as I have tried to make clear, these are very good performances of some truly outstanding music.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

Heinrich Baermann is quite well known today as Carl Maria von Weber's source of inspiration. The famous virtuoso, for whom Weber personally created his clarinet concertos, repeatedly took up the pen on his own - and did so with great success. Several dozen works by Baermann have been transmitted to us. Here Rita Karin Meier and the Belenus Quartet turn to his three quintets for clarinet and strings and with them very outstandingly bring back to life his much-acclaimed cantabile playing as well as his legendary virtuosic capabilities. Especially in the Quintet in F minor, Op. 22 Baermann's closeness to Weber cannot be missed. The tempestuous beginning, in which the strings introduce the yearning and urgency of the Allegro non troppo, is pure romanticism from the very start. The magnificent opera scene in the second movement offers Rita Karin Meier outstanding opportunities to display her wonderfully warm tone in all sorts of different shadings. The Adagio of the Quintet Op. 23, which even today is quite frequently performed, acquired unsual fame. After its rediscovery in 1922 it was initially regarded as a work by Richard Wagner - which absolutely certifies its high quality!

Steffen Schleiermacher has often fascinated his public with works by Morton Feldman. Along with Christian Giger, the solo cellist in the famous Gewandhaus Orchestra, he is now presenting Patterns in a Chromatic Field - an extensive composition showing us the minimalist master's more entertaining side. Here, highly virtuosic passages alternate with petrified soundscapes; now the instruments seem to melt, now their contrasting nature becomes the point of reference. While avoiding any sort of developmental idea, a tonal process of great suggestive power is produced over the course of some eighty minutes. -- MD&G

-----

REVIEW:

This is very satisfying and musically highly refined. There is a balance to be struck between enigmatic modernity and romantic affection for an abstract tradition which is in line with both Mark Rothko’s New York and Beethoven’s Vienna, and this is beautifully struck by these musicians. If you are a Feldman fan then this will be a very satisfying addition to your collection. Feldman newbies might find an 80 minute duo for cello and piano on a single CD track more than a little daunting, but, as with his other extended works, if you allow the piece its own space and inhabit it as you would an art gallery, then you will gradually sense your cells and synapses aligning themselves to something rather special.

– MusicWeb International

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

Classical Music

Some compositions are so good that we wish we could have two of the same. The early Piano Trio in B major op. 8 by Johannes Brahms is one such work and one of music history’s greatest cases of good fortune: it has been transmitted in two versions. As we know, the overly self-critical Brahms otherwise completely destroyed all the early versions, sketches, and drafts of his works. The Vienna Piano Trio’s new Brahms edition in superior Super Audio sound on MDG opens with the late version of this work from the composer’s youth and then confronts it with his mature op. 87.

The piano part is of extraordinary difficulty – which is hardly surprising since the gifted pianist wrote it around the time of his Piano Concerto No. 2. The haunting scherzo in particular has what it takes and is a rewarding task for Stefan Mendl, who with his Viennese colleagues celebrates the spirit world on a venerable “Manfred Bürki” Steinway D.