Chamber music occupies the largest part of Camillo Schumann' extensive compositional output, his admiration of Brahms, Liszt and Rachmaninov evident at every turn.

Gaubert: Works for Flute, Vol. 3

Enrique Granados performed extensively in Spain, France and the United States, collaborating with many of the leading artists of his day. His first masterpiece was the collection of 12 Danzas españolas, refined and expressive evocations of the richness of Spain’s regions and dances, which gained high praise by composers as diverse as Massenet, Saint-Saëns, Grieg and Cui. By turns vivacious, melancholy and hypnotic, they are as fresh as his poetic Improvisation on the Valencian Jota, heard here in a transcription from a piano roll recording made by Granados himself.

The young French guitarist Gabriel Bianco adds First Prize in the 2008 GFA International Solo Competition to an impressive list of previous awards from international competitions.

Despite a sonic soundstage that places the orchestra and soloist in a position akin to viewing celestial beings from the wrong end of a telescope, these are simply fabulous performances. It's good to have the Third Concerto in its conjectural three-movement manifestation (Tchaikovsky completed a first movement, which consigned it to a stand-alone composition, while Tanyev reconstructed a second and third movement from outlines Tchaikovsky had sketched for an ultimately rejected symphony), especially in a reading full of enough sweep and passion to outdistance Peter Donohoe's fine EMI traversal. Konstantin Scherbakov's sparkling, assured fingerwork in the cadenzas alone is a selling point--and the First concerto is a keeper, no doubt about it! It's fast, it's fluid, and it's utterly without airs, mannerisms, and pretentions.


Unlike other pianists who milk the lyrical unaccompanied sections out of shape, or dive into the octave sequences as if they were sporting events, Scherbakov's organic feeling for tempo relationships and musicianly virtuosity binds everything together, and the Russian Philharmonic musicians play their hearts out under Dmitry Yablonsky's uplifting direction. For superior sound, sophisticated orchestral execution, and soloistic individuality, it's worth spending the extra cost for Argerich/Abbado (DG) or Volodos/Ozawa (Sony). But give this release a try, and don't be surprised if you return to it more often than you've anticipated. [6/9/2004]
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

BUXTEHUDE: Chamber Music (Complete), Vol. 1 - 7 Sonatas, Op.

Canadian-born Michael Unger is a multi-award winner, including First Prize in the 2008 Sixth International Organ Competition Musashino-Tokyo, Japan, and First and Audience Prize in the 2008 American Guild of Organists' National Young Artists Competition.

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7, 'Leningrad'

Handel’s violin sonatas have been staples of the repertoire for generations, but there has been considerable confusion about their authenticity. Early editorial practice saw to it that several authentic works were published for instruments such as flute and oboe, but more recent scholarship has established that originally they were written for the violin. All the sonatas are full of Handel’s dashing bravura and his gift for expressive slow movements, providing a series of beautifully proportioned masterpieces. Ariadne Daskalakis’s recording of the Tartini Violin Concertos (8.570222) was welcomed with acclaim for its ‘grace and lyrical poetry’. (MusicWeb International)

Core band repertoire, worth exploring.

The Naxos Wind Band Classics series seeks here to plug some pretty significant holes in its catalog. With nearly two dozen entries in the series, the works on this disc had yet to make an appearance. The Holst and Grainger, in particular, are the band world’s “Beethoven 5” and “Brahms 1,” or something like that, so this disc seems guaranteed to sell copies to both the curious listener who doesn’t usually listen to band music and to the devoted band fan who could use another copy of these works at the attractive Naxos price.

The Holst is an extremely well-crafted three movement work, with the opening motif unifying the whole piece. It has a special place in the band repertoire as one of the first substantial pieces of music written for wind band by an established composer. A good high school band can play the piece well, but a band of this caliber can also play it and not feel like they’re playing “easy music” - it’s got a quality of deceptive simplicity which makes it easy to enjoy for both performer and listener. The Grainger has a similar melodic appeal, at times, but is much more complex, and is regarded by many Grainger aficionados as his single finest work in any medium. It was also probably the first piece in the band repertoire to deserve being described as an unqualified masterpiece. Its six movements chart a very satisfying emotional journey, and if this disc helps bring it to a wider audience, it will have done much good.

The Hindemith and Schwantner are altogether different. Both reward repeated listens, the Hindemith in particular, as its contrapuntal ingenuity becomes clearer with time. As with the Grainger, any fan of the composer would find much to admire in this wonderful piece. The Schwantner is arguably the least essential of these four works, but that is largely because it is the most contemporary composition here and has not had as long to become a repertoire staple. The colors explored, though, are rich and affecting, and it points a way forward to the explosion in wind band repertoire of the past thirty years or so.

So, for those who don’t know these pieces, it’s a fine way to gather four cornerstones of the repertoire. There are stronger performances of these four works elsewhere - the Eastman Wind Ensemble’s superlative “Live in Osaka” disc, available at a similar price, includes three of them - but these are certainly excellent performances. The band sounds great, and the straightforward interpretations and recorded sound allow the listener to hear every detail.

-- Benn Martin, MusicWeb International 

The booklet accompanying this release reproduces each of the Goya etchings that inspired the 24 individual pieces within Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's solo-guitar suite, 24 Caprichos de Goya. To my eyes and ears Goya's stylized grotesquerie and twisted expressive palette has little in common with Castelnuovo-Tedesco's gentle, conservative, and masterfully idiomatic guitar writing. To be sure, there are inspired moments, such as No. 17's dissonant rapid repeated notes and drum-roll imitations, or No. 22's harmonically sophisticated cascading arpeggios, but don't expect an epic, six-stringed equivalent to Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Had the composer bagged his Goya subtext and simply titled this suite "Guitar Moods", he would have been right on the money. In any event, Zoran Dukic's sense of color and textural variety, his seamless technique, and his lyrical disposition serve this music beautifully, as does Naxos' warm, spacious engineering.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

This collection of music from the Caucasus features Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani composers whose works have long deserved a wider hearing.

A highly enjoyable, and, thanks to the organ, rather remarkable release.

This is a good potpourri-style introduction to the organ works of Charles-Marie Widor. Too often he is of course only remembered for the infamous Toccata from the end of the fifth symphony, all too frequently so poorly played. Good then for the general music enthusiast to have a budget price introduction to some other corners of the Widor oeuvre many of which deserve to be better known than the Toccata. The implication however, that Naxos’s vast Organ Encyclopaedia isn’t going to include a complete Widor cycle strikes me as particularly unfortunate. This is especially true given that Naxos’s library does include a complete Rheinberger cycle.

The most interesting element of this disc though is the choice of instrument. I wrote in glowing terms here about Martin Pasi’s extraordinary dual-temperament instrument in Omaha in the context of Julia Brown’s Buxtehude recording. That was recorded – mostly, I think - in meantone using the 28 stops of the organ available in that temperament. Perhaps more of a challenge to these historically-informed super-eclectic American organs is how they handle repertoire such as that on the present recording. It makes for fascinating listening!

If I’m honest, some of the sounds here are not sounds one associates with the world of Widor. However only occasionally - the mixture at the beginning of track 2 for instance - does an aesthetic clash wander into one’s consciousness enough for it to be uncomfortable. Other idiosyncrasies - the flexible winding – surely there could be a more effective stabiliser for this sort of repertoire - and even the pure thirds in the well-tempered tuning - listen to those big C major chords in the Marche Pontificale! - maybe take a little getting used to, but I managed. The overriding impression of this disc is of an organ of simply enormous panache and personality. The warmth of the 8’ stops, the effectiveness of the swell box, the sheer grunt of the pedal reeds – all are extraordinary. Pasi’s organ doesn’t really evoke Rouen, but it is a work of sheer brilliance. To quote the late, great Stephen Bicknell: “the work of Brombaugh, Fritts, Pasi, Taylor and Boody and even Fritts-Richards operates at a level of artistic quality that simply does not apply in Europe any more, despite the beacons offered by, say, Ahrend and Aubertin.” He wasn’t wrong.

The organ seems to inspire Robert Delcamp to better performances than I’ve enjoyed on his previous Naxos discs - on much lesser instruments. Occasionally still a little ‘square’, his flair for French repertoire is undeniable, and I can therefore recommend this is as a highly enjoyable, and, thanks to the organ, rather remarkable release.

Chris Bragg, MusicWeb International

The recently discovered Guerra Manuscript is an anthology of the finest pieces heard in Madrid during the second half of the 17th Century and was probably prepared for a high-ranking noble or member of the Spanish royal family. It contains a hundred vocal pieces by leading composers including Juan Hidalgo, José Marín, Juan de Navas, Cristóbal Galán, Juan Del Vado and Matías Ruiz, as well as others whose authors remain anonymous. Isabel Monar has been acclaimed worldwide for her concert and operatic performances. Manuel Vilas has collaborated with numerous groups, including Les Musiciens du Louvre, Al Ayre Español and Musica Ficta.

Wallace was, from his youth, steeped in Irish and Scottish traditional music. In 1848, five years after his brilliant successes in New York as a virtuoso pianist, he published his first set of arrangements.

Josef Foerster was by all accounts a contented soul, and this shows in his music, which is generally open and optimistic in character. Certainly the Festive Overture and the tone poem Meine Jugend fall into this category: he sounds a bit like Richard Strauss without the danger or decadence. Symphony No. 4, subtitled "Easter Eve", strikes a deeper note, and it's a lovely work. There is no competition for the two shorter pieces, which are well played and conducted and make a very good impression. Foerster lived to the ripe old age of 91, and he wrote a ton of music, so who knows what other gems are out there waiting to be discovered.

In the symphony (Foerster's best-known piece along with the tone poem Cyrano de Bergerac) conductor Lance Friedel is about six minutes slower (out of 40-plus) than Smetácek on Supraphon, and some listeners will prefer the latter's livelier tempos. (There's also an historical recording under Kubelik that really isn't competitive on account of very dated sonics.) Questions of tempo aside, if you didn't know the Smetácek you'd surely not care at all, because Friedel has the measure of the piece and projects its gentle loveliness just as effectively. Also, the vivid engineering gives the organ-reinforced conclusion plenty of the necessary gravitas, and at the Naxos price you can hardly go wrong. This is well-made, attractive music that fans of late-Romanticism should certainly hear.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

As an internationally admired opera composer, William Vincent Wallace was perfectly placed to provide brilliant fantasies and paraphrases from the operatic repertoire, refashioned for the domestic piano market. He did not neglect his own works—there is an especially lovely aria from his opera Lurline, as well as an extensive fantasia on themes from Maritana, perhaps his best-known work. His instinct for the perfect transformation also included such favourites as Verdi’s Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves and Donizetti’s Una furtiva lagrima. Rosemary Tuck’s playing of Wallace has been acclaimed for her “ideally deft and scintillatingly assured performances.” (Gramophone). The legendary scholar and conductor Richard Bonynge performs at the piano on two of the tracks.

Gubaidulina emerged onto the international stage as Perestroika gradually liberated artists and ideas.

Born in the Tatar Republic she studied with Grigory Kogan in the Kazan Conservatory. Later she worked with composition professors Nikolai Peiko and the much older Vissarion Shebalin. For many years now she has been a cosmopolitan voice celebrated on disc, at music festivals, quickly published and multiply commissioned. Her keynote works, at least in terms of exposure, are the Violin Concerto Offertorium and the Symphony Stimmen.

The music is much taken with exotic mysteries, ideas and texts - somewhat in the manner of Tavener though her music differs. The two pieces recorded here are part of a not large but noteworthy stream of modern works written for the bayan - the folk derived accordion. Fachwerk is dedicated to the player featured here who also premiered it in Amsterdam in 2009. The single movement 37 minute span suggests a mercurial and lapidary fairy tale. The music is accessible enough with rumbling, cajoling, howling, ululating and balladeering from both bayan and orchestra. It's a virtuoso display in the manner of The Firebird - the latest manifestation of the Russian folktale. The music glitters and rings. Then comes the five movement Silenzio. This is more internalised and reflective, severe and less endearing.

Draugsvoll - a pupil of Mogens Ellegaard - proves himself a most subtly facetted artist whose collaborations with composers of the stature of Gubaidulina have yielded rewards for both himself and the composers.

Draugsvoll and Gubaidulina are by no means alone in the field of concert music for bayan. Another bayan player, Friedrich Lips has been active with symphonic works by Solotarjov, Podgaits, Bronner and Berinsky.

Gubaidulina's two works for bayan prove much more than curiosities.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

These works are so familiar--and so frequently successfully recorded--that a reviewer can almost admire the record buyer who already owns one or two versions (say, one on modern instruments and another on period) and doesn't have to sit and analyze another. Decisions, decisions: Gardiner (Philips) is just about ideal on period instruments, but Norrington (Virgin), also on period instruments, has more personality and offers some surprises from the brass. Charles Mackerras (Telarc), with modern instruments, is brightly colored. But enough about them.

Both works were composed for outdoor events--heaven knows what they sounded like. The Water Music (1715, 1717) was used to entertain royalty floating up and down the Thames; some of it may have been played indoors with supper. The Royal Fireworks Music dates from 1749 and was to be performed in Green Park to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle; the rehearsal, a week earlier, was attended by 12,000 people. At the performance itself, the fireworks were unimpressive, but one of the pavilions caught fire. Talk about excitement.

Kevin Mallon leads a Toronto-based, 34-person group of period instrumentalists called the Aradia Ensemble on this new, bargain issue, and it's a terrific, ear-opening show. The music is, above all, joyful, with dance movements galore and plenty of giddy pomp. Mallon has rethought the tempos, almost all of which, he feels, should be quicker than we're accustomed to hearing. If you listen to the Air, the fourth movement to Suite No. 1, you'll be surprised at how good it sounds played without the usual serious "aura" that drags it down. Mallon writes in the accompanying notes that he looked at an 18th-century score for the piece and discovered it was marked "presto".


These quick tempos work most of the time, and if, for example, you overlook the fact that the alla hornpipe of the Water Music Suite No. 2 and the Rigaudon of No. 3 could only have been danced by a dancer on speed, and just listen to how effortlessly entertaining the music is, you'll love it. Mallon is not rigid in his fleetness, however: the final movement of Suite No. 1 is relaxed, and he slows it down even further for its last few seconds, giving it the stature it requires.


Mallon also adds side-drum and tambourines to a couple of the movements, and they add jollity and jauntiness; only a whiner would object. There's a thin line in this music between too ostentatious and too mild, and by keeping his forces slim and his tempos original and suited to the music, he avoids being either. When the trumpets and horns ring out they don't blare, and in La Paix from the Royal Fireworks Music, when Mallon uses transverse flutes (as suggested in the original manuscript), the effect is magical rather than just mellow. Listen to the overture of the Royal Fireworks, brass blasting, drums being banged with wooden-headed sticks, all at a military tempo that implies forward propulsion rather than combative stodginess.


If I have one criticism of the performances, it's similar to how I feel about the same conductor's recent recording of Rinaldo: the strings tend to attack softly, and I prefer more snap. Maybe I'm looking for trouble, but those slashing attacks tend to make you sit up and listen even more attentively. But these performances are wonderfully peppery nonetheless, and Naxos' absolutely natural recording captures every sound and balances the instruments ideally. This is both a bargain and a terrific reading. Highly recommended, and right to the top of the list. [3/7/2006]
--Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

These are light, charming pieces. Only one, the sixth and last, spends any time in minor keys, and three of the sonatas consist of two movements each. That said, there are more than a few fully worked out movements, structurally speaking, and the music seems ideally suited to the intimate timbre of the clavichord (sort of like a harpsichord without the sharp “twang”). Susan Alexander-Max plays very well indeed, ornamenting the music liberally but never excessively, and stroking the keys with the kind of sensitivity that produces numerous instances of those dynamic subtleties that made this instrument so popular, despite its evident limitations. She is also very attractively recorded, with an absolute minimum of mechanical noise (some clavichord recordings feature more clicking and squeaking than musical tone). Definitely worth investigating.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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The decision by Naxos to record the six op. 5 sonatas of Johann Christian Bach on the clavichord is a brave one. Even more so than the harpsichord, the clavichord is likely to polarise listeners. In modern parlance its tone might be characterised as 'in-your-face' - neon strip-lighting against the natural daylight of a grand piano.
 
But one thing the soft action of the clavichord does ensure is a sense of intimacy, which is apt for these almost sensual sonatas. Recording quality here is generally good, despite the fact that the very nature of the mechanics of the clavichord makes its sound rather elusive. Probably for that reason it has been recorded quite closely. At least the church setting coaxes as much resonance out of the instrument as it is willing to give.
 
Background noise is minimal, except, strangely, in the final Sonata, where there is something very odd going on 'underneath' the recording, as it were. It’s a kind of eerily distorted feedback giving the impression of a neighbour's turned-up television set heard through a wall! Once noticed it is quite distracting, and frankly the producer needs to answer some questions.
 
Bach published these works in 1766 as Six Sonatas for the Harpsichord or the Fortepiano, Op. 5. These were the very first pieces published in London for the newly emergent piano, and Bach is also credited with the first piano recital in public. According to Susan Alexander-Max's liner-notes, dynamic markings, such as frequent piano and forte, indicate a distinct leaning towards the latter instrument of Bach's title. By this time he was already adopting the new square piano by manufacturers Zumpe as his keyboard instrument of preference. Pianists of the period would nevertheless still often have used a clavichord in the home for composition and practice. That is Alexander-Max's justification for performing these works on the clavichord, a 2006 model based on a 1785 instrument.
 
Mozart greatly admired Bach's music, and his own early works are clearly influenced by it. In fact, the young Mozart was so taken with Bach's op. 5 that he recomposed nos. 2, 3 and 4 into an early piano concerto, KV.107. The works are generally in three movements, though nos. 1 and 4 are in an old-school two. By this time Bach was well into his cosmopolitan galant period, as these elegant, nuanced works can testify. The opening theme of Sonata no.6 bears a brief but striking resemblance to the famous Russian folksong, "Dark Eyes". By the end of the movement it has morphed into a melancholy Neapolitan-like song of love lost. By this time the bizarre background noise is all too evident.
 
Alexander-Max's technique is superb on this unforgiving instrument, and she extracts considerable expressiveness from it in the service of Bach's suave, sophisticated music. 74 minutes is a long time to spend listening without a break to the clavichord. In smaller sessions of, say, two sonatas a go, the unique sonorities of this instrument, coupled with the brilliance and imagination of Bach's music, make this an almost irresistible bargain - were it not for the recording quality lapse.
 
-- Byzantion, MusicWeb International 

Distinguished in his day as a conductor and pianist, Reinecke is now remembered chiefly as the teacher of some of the leading composers of the later 19th century. He was, at the same time, an immensely prolific if relatively conventional composer.

RODE Violin Concertos: No. 7; No. 10; No. 13 • Friedemann Eichhorn (vn); Nicolás Pasquet, cond; Southwest German RO Kaiserlautern • NAXOS 8.570469 (58:00)


Pierre Rode (1774–1830) and Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766–1831) are well known to all serious students of the violin for their technique building exercises in the form of etudes and caprices. Of the same generation were Viotti (1755–1824) with his 29 violin concertos and Pierre Baillot (1771–1842) with his L’art du violon . But they were all outdone, if not undone, by their near contemporary from Genoa, Niccolò Paganini (1782–1840). These were the standard bearers of two competing schools of violin-playing and pedagogy, one Italian, the other Franco-Belgian. Kreutzer, despite his German-sounding name, and Rode were French, as was Baillot, and their approach to the instrument would lead to Vieuxtemps and through him to Wieniawski and thence to Ysaÿe. Paganini, on the other hand, was a tough act to follow. Other than Ernesto Camillo Sivori, Paganini’s sole pupil, the only violinist-composer of note to continue in the Italian’s footsteps was the Jewish Moravian Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1814–1865).


Not that casual acquaintance with the works of any of these violin wizards would reveal in any obvious way the more subtle differences in the application of their practices, for envelope-pushing, finger- and bow-bending, exhibitionistic virtuosity was the order of the day and the name of the game. The never-ending pursuit of one-upmanship superseded all else; the impossible was unplayable only until it was surpassed by the next even greater impossibility. An “I’ll show you,” attitude prevailed. Yet, for all its warping of musical values, the extension of the possible in violin technique opened the door to composers who were able to incorporate those technical advances into major, serious works. I doubt that the violin concertos of Mendelssohn, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, and others could have been written had these earlier 19th-century virtuosos not provided the necessary tools.


Though Rode studied with Viotti, he later worked with Kreutzer and Baillot at the Paris Conservatory, contributing to the school’s official Violin Method . The French “way” mitigated some of the less graceful aspects of the Italian approach by introducing a greater refinement of tone production through smoother bowing and phrasing techniques. Some insight into this can be gained from a rather unlikely source: Beethoven. Rode’s 1812–13 concert tour brought him to Vienna, and it was for the violinist’s appearances there that Beethoven composed his last violin sonata, the No. 10 in G-Major. During its composition, the composer was in contact with Rode regarding his preferred style of playing. We know this from a letter Beethoven wrote to Archduke Rudolph, complaining, “We like to have more surging passages in our finales, but R did not consent to that.” Unusual for Beethoven to yield to anyone in matters musical, but we have in this sonata a clear example of the more elegant, aristocratic style that Rode and the French school preferred.


In addition to his coauthorship of the aforementioned Violin Method and his 24 Caprices so well beloved (?) by students, Rode composed 13 violin concertos, none of which has found favor among present day players. In this, Rode has ceded the playing field to his teacher, Viotti, whose concertos—at least some of them—are performed and recorded with relative frequency. This recent Naxos CD is in fact the only recording currently listed of any of Rode’s concertos, and I sincerely hope that its release changes that, for the works on this disc are, in my opinion, more appealing and of greater musical substance than are any of Viotti’s concertos I’ve heard, and that includes his famous No. 22 in A Minor recorded many times over.


No one who listens to these Rode concertos will be disappointed by a lack of virtuoso fireworks. There’s enough double-stopping, rapid runs, and bowing tricks to satisfy even the most insatiable appetites for hire-wire circus acts. But there is also a depth and breadth to Rode’s muse, and a sophisticated air to his melodic invention that elicits a strong emotional response and strikes a genuine responsive chord. Simply put, there is some exquisitely beautiful music here. And Friedemann Eichhorn, who is new to me, plays with a sweetness of tone and expressiveness of phrasing that grace Rode’s exceptional lyricism with the delicacy of a caress, all the while skirting the technical minefields as if they didn’t exist. Nowhere does Eichhorn’s tone turn coarse or his bowing become labored, even in the most fiendishly difficult passages. This is violin-playing of a caliber to match this extraordinary music. In a single stroke, Eichhorn and Naxos have done for Rode (and for us) what should have been done long ago. It’s my fervent hope that they will see fit to give us Rode’s remaining 10 concertos.


No fancier of the violin should be without this disc. It may even show up on my 2009 Want List.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

A pupil of Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky, and a teacher of Rachmaninov and Scriabin, Sergey Taneyev was a monumental figure in Russian music of the second half of the nineteenth century.

Alfano' chamber music is receiving deserved recognition. The Violin Sonata is a powerful and impressive work, with elements of French impressionism, but essentially post-romantic in ethos. The Piano Quintet was Alfano' last chamber work, premiered in 1946.

This is a wonderful disc. Zina Schiff plays this music with exceptional passion and commitment, which is really what Bloch is all about. Her tempos in the outer movements of the concerto are a touch more relaxed than the competition, particularly the classic Szigeti/Mengelberg, but the performance has greater excitement than the (limited) modern recorded versions, not just because of the fine sound, but because Schiff really digs into the music and phrases with both spontaneity and unusual communicative depth. When the melodies have such strong character even the long first movement, which admittedly has a tendency to sprawl in less committed hands, sounds amazingly cogent. It's clear that Schiff really knows the music and has no inhibitions when it comes to delivering the emotional goods. This is such a lovely work--it's amazing that it gets played so infrequently.

In the shorter pieces Schiff is just as splendid. The final movement ("Rejoicing") of Baal Shem lives up to its title as in few other performances, while the Suite Hebraïque's opening Rapsodie is hypnotically intense. José Serebrier and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra provide ideally balanced, colorful accompaniments, and the engineering, as usual from this source, is terrific. If you're looking for an inexpensive single disc containing all of Bloch's major works for violin and orchestra, let this release be your choice. I wonder if Schiff also plays the viola? I'd love to hear these forces in Bloch's spectacular Viola Suite.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This album was nominated for the 2008 Grammy Award for "Best Small Ensemble Performance."

This recording is the first monograph devoted to the eminent composer SebastiAn Dur n, one of the most important musicians in Spain at the turn of the eighteenth century, who held the post of royal maestro de capilla at the Court of Charles II.

HAYDN Concertos for 2 Lire organizzate: in C, Hob VIIh:1; in G, Hob VIIh:2; in G, Hob VIIh:3; in F, Hob VIIh:4; in F, Hob VIIh:5 • Helmut Müller-Brühl, cond; Daniel Rothert (rcr); Philipp Spätling (rcr); Benoît Fromanger (fl); Ingo Nelken (fl); Christian Hommel (ob); Cologne CO • NAXOS 8.570481 (73:31)


This absolutely delightful disc includes all five surviving concertos that Haydn wrote in 1786 for King Ferdinand IV of Naples for the lira organizzata, an oddball instrument combining the qualities of a street hurdy-gurdy with a small chamber organ. Maverick that he was, Haydn refused to let the instrument’s limitations circumscribe his compositional style, but rather allowed his imagination full rein while producing music of lightness and humor combined with strict divertimento form. With lire organizzate being unavailable in other cities, Haydn simply adapted the music to be played by two recorders or flutes and an oboe, simulating the high, reedy sound of King Ferdinand’s instrument.


Technical description of the music would take too much space and would be, I feel, unnecessary to anyone familiar with Haydn’s style. Needless to say, Haydn was a composer who never cheated his audience by writing “down,” even when commissioned to tailor his style to a specific instrument or player. Thus, the solo parts, though technically undemanding, are musically clever, complementing the more complex music of the string and horn orchestra that accompanies them. Indeed, he liked this music so well that he used the second and third movements of the fifth concerto (in F, Hob. VIIh:5) as a basis for his Symphony No. 89 (1787). It’s also interesting to note that the opening theme of this concerto’s first movement bears a close resemblance to the last movement of Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony, and in turn is a development of the beginning of the last movement of Haydn’s own Symphony No. 13 of 1763. Its development here, of course, is entirely different, given the nature of the thematic material and the instrumental texture.


I cannot say enough good things about the playing of either soloists or orchestra here. They are lively, charming, boisterous, elegant, and humorous in turn as the music progresses. Photos and bios of all the soloists are, thankfully, given in the booklet, and they are a lively, racially diverse, and well-schooled lot. Germans Rothert and Spätling, the recorder-players, are pupils of Günther Höller of the Cologne Music School. Frenchman Fromanger and Dane Ingo Nelken both studied flute with Jean-Pierre Rampal, though their other teachers are quite different, while oboist Hommel studied with the superb Heinz Holliger. Müller-Brühl, a name unfortunately unknown to me, is the oldest of the lot, which makes sense since his conducting style is evidently from the same school as my faves of the 1950s and 1960s, Woldike, Leitner, Münchinger, Rilling, and Ristenpart. Under his direction, this music for lire organizzate breathes the air of the streets of Naples as much as the concert halls of Austria. This music may not add particularly to your appreciation of Haydn or his musical lexicon, but it will not be a background disc for dinner parties, either. Trust me, people will stop talking and eating and just listen, that’s how good it is.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

SCHUMANN, C.: Piano Concerto in A Minor / Piano Trio in G Mi

A couple of years ago, the Trio Campanella came out with a striking recording of Albeniz’s Iberia in an arrangement for three guitars. Although I did not review that recording, I have heard it many times and have found it one of the more enjoyable discs in my collection. With this recording of Goyescas, the trio, aided by Christophe Dejour’s marvelously idiomatic arrangements proves itself to be a musical force with which to be reckoned. To put it simply, this is the finest recording of music for guitars that I have ever heard.

To begin with, the material is beyond reproach. Granados’s musical renderings of Goya’s portraits of eighteenth century life in Madrid are amongst the finest compositions in the piano literature. Dejour has sensitively adapted the music for his ensemble, and none of the striking piano colors are lost. Too complicated for a single guitar, this ensemble idea fits the music like a glove, and the sound is divine.

Of equal importance is the quality of the playing. These three musicians play together with the perfection of a Swiss timepiece. The palette of tonal color that they achieve is almost orchestral.

Best yet, the recording is devoid of all the things that I hate in guitar recordings. There are no incessantly squeaking strings. I am told that guitarists often restring their instruments just before a recording session, and that the new strings tend to squawk with every change of hand position. Gone also is the maddening sniffing and snorting for which guitarists - and string quartets - are notorious.

What is left is a beautiful sound, warmly recorded and oh my, what splendid music! There are some purists who will fuss at the transcription idea, but there should be no reason to quibble here. The rich warm tone of the three guitars is perfectly suited to the vivid colors and sophisticated rhythms of the music. There is little to say other than “go buy this disc and enjoy it.” It makes me anxious to revisit their earlier recording of the Albeniz mentioned above (Naxos 8.557064), and anxiously to await what will come next from this outstanding ensemble.

-- Kevin Sutton, MusicWeb International