Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

MOZART Piano Quartet in E?, K 452. HUMMEL Piano Quartet in G. BEETHOVEN Piano Quartet in E?, op. 16 • Ames Qrt • DORIAN DSL-92120 (70:03)


In addition to one decidedly less-familiar work, this CD presents two others of greater fame but in less familiar guises. Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds, K 452, was not published in its original version until 1799, 13 years after the composer’s death. However, five year prior, in 1794, the Artaria firm in Vienna issued the piece in the anonymous arrangement for piano quartet offered here; scholars disagree as to whether Mozart may have had any involvement with its preparation. By contrast, the arrangement of Beethoven’s op. 16 Quintet for Piano and Winds from 1796–97 for piano quartet was made by the composer himself, both versions being published simultaneously in 1801. While the Piano Quartet of Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778–1837) is originally scored for that ensemble, it is like the Mozart a posthumously published work, issued by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1839. Variously dated by different musicologists to about 1811 or after 1819, its unusual two-movement structure has led to speculation that either the composer never completed the work or that the opening movement has been lost. While not quite on the level of its companions here—its thematic and melodic materials are a bit foursquare—it is nonetheless an engaging piece that not only confirms that Hummel deserves the increased attention he has recently received, but also suggests that much worthwhile music from the era has been overshadowed by the dominance of Beethoven, Schubert, and Mendelssohn.


Aside from its potential interest to completists who want to have the Mozart and Beethoven pieces in these alternate versions, this disc is also most attractive on its own terms for the sheer enjoyment it provides. All three works are sunny, genial essays in bright major keys; they are well crafted with enticing melodies, and make no special intellectual demands on the listener’s attentions. The long-established and estimable Ames Quartet is at the top of its formidable game here, offering interpretations that are unabashedly cast in a big-boned romantic vein, with leisurely tempi and a deeply sonorous, lustrous instrumental sound. The Mozart is given a weighty Beethovenian interpretation that is the very antithesis of period-instrument practice. But then, Mozart’s marvelous music can blossom equally well under either approach, and one can embrace both without having to choose between them. The recorded sound is equally plush, and the booklet provides detailed and informative notes.


This is the only performance I can locate for this arrangement of the Mozart. While there are about 10 other performances of this version of the Beethoven presently in print, including such formidable competitors as the Nash Ensemble and the freelance frequent foursome of Isaac Stern, Jaime Laredo, Yo-Yo Ma, and Emmanuel Ax, this gorgeous rendition can hold its own against any of them. There is one competing performance of the Hummel, on a Naxos CD that pairs it with other chamber pieces by that composer and features a fortepiano rather than a modern instrument. However, unless collecting more Hummel is your priority, this disc simply can’t be beat for its pervasive sense of Gemütlichkeit, bonhomie , and joie de vivre ; highly recommended.


FANFARE: James A. Altena

Classical Music

Classical Music

This set includes a blu-ray audio CD playable on blu-ray players only and a standard CD playable on all CD players.

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Review:

These are altogether admirably warm performances, with the musicians' affection for the music everywhere in evidence. For hi-fi enthusiasts, a Blu-ray disc in uncompressed sound is included as a bonus.

– BBC Music Magazine

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Robert Schumann's three string quartets were all written in just a few weeks in the summer of 1842, and his writing for strings is, for better or worse, rather pianistic. It is unfortunate that some would dispatch the significance and beauty of these works so easily. Though there are passages and textures in the quartets that are clearly influenced by keyboard technique, this is glorious music. The imagination and wit, vitality and virtuosity, subtlety and nuance, and heartfelt yearning and emotion that are displayed throughout the quartets are enough to be as satisfying as any of Schumann’s music. Each one of them is a joy to perform.

Since all of the quartets were written in just a few short weeks, it is interesting to take them (Op. 41, Nos. 1, 2 and 3) as a set and consider the similarities and differences between each of the corresponding movements. For example, all three of the first movements are primarily gentle in nature and convey a sense of unfolding, though there are dynamic and energetic moments within. None of them begin with forceful, dramatic intensity to grab an audience; instead, Schumann uses an intimate quality and a sense of drawing the listener in to define the emotional world of these quartets. Two of the three first movements also end in a wonderfully quiet and peaceful way.

The Ying Quartet occupies a position of unique prominence in the classical music world, combining brilliantly communicative performances with a fearlessly imaginative view of chamber music in today’s world. Now in its second decade as a quartet, the Quartet has established itself as an ensemble of the highest musical qualifications in its tours across the United States and abroad. Their performances regularly take place in many of the world’s most important concert halls, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. At the same time, the Quartet’s belief that concert music can also be a meaningful part of everyday life has also drawn the foursome to perform in settings as diverse as the workplace, schools, juvenile prisons, and the White House. In fact, the Ying Quartet’s constant quest to explore the creative possibilities of the string quartet has led it to an unusually diverse array of musical projects and interests. As quartet-in-residence at the Eastman School of Music, the Ying Quartet maintains full time faculty positions in the String and Chamber Music Departments.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

REGER Sonatas for Unaccompanied Violin, op. 91: No. 1 in a; No. 2 in D; No. 3 in B?; No. 4 in b; No. 5 in e; No. 6 in G; No. 7 in a • Ulrike-Anima Mathé (vn) • DORIAN 90915 (2 CDs: 115:44)


Having just reviewed a recording of Reger’s suites for solo viola with Tabea Zimmermann for the previous issue, I was pleased to receive this sumptuously reconstituted set from Dorian of the composer’s complete op. 91 sonatas for solo violin. Max Reger, it seems, is beginning to attract more mainstream attention and more of an audience than has heretofore been the case.


Reger’s seven sonatas for solo violin are important additions to the repertoire, and choice in recorded versions is extremely limited. Therefore, I do not wish to be too critical of this retread, which was originally (and still is) available as two separate discs. But I must get one thing out of the way right off the bat. Once upon a time, Dorian was roundly criticized for recordings with such excessive reverberation that they sounded like they’d been made in an echo chamber. The company apparently took the criticism to heart, for their releases that followed were significantly less echoey. Unfortunately, these not-new recordings, made in the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, New York, in 1992 and 1994, come from a period during which Dorian’s engineers were pursuing their sinful ways. I’ve heard quite a few more recent recordings that emanate from this venue, so I can vouch for the fact that it’s a hall with superb acoustics that sound nothing like this. The impression one receives the instant Ulrike-Anima Mathé’s bow touches the strings is of a vast, cavernous space that makes her violin sound three times normal size and dimensionally distorted.


That being said, judgment of Mathé’s playing should not be based on what her makeup artists did to pump it up on steroids. She articulates Reger’s difficult double-stopping and string crossings cleanly and with exceptional incisiveness. Her left-hand work is equally deft, capable of delivering pitch-perfect intonation and invigorating velocity. And though it’s hard to judge her tone quality due to the souped-up sound, I suspect that it would be quite pleasing to hear in a normal setting.


Reger-phobia is unwarranted. Anyone who has ever read anything about Reger or had any exposure to his music knows that he was obsessive-compulsive when it came to writing fugues, and that he had a “thing” about Bach. That fixation, however, led to the creation of some fascinating and intellectually stimulating music. If you enjoy listening to Bach’s sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin, you are virtually guaranteed to enjoy Reger’s sonatas, for they are Bach revisited and reheard through 1905 ears.


The technical difficulties posed by Reger’s sonatas are similar to those posed by Bach’s works for unaccompanied violin. To produce the harmony and the effect of multiple voices engaged in contrapuntal interplay, it is necessary to notate miles of double- and triple-stops and awkward string crossings, something that is neither easy nor natural to play on an instrument better suited to producing a single-voiced melody. Thus, works of this type require a technical whiz of virtuoso caliber, but they are not virtuosic display pieces in the same way that Paganini’s, Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst’s, or Eugène Ysaÿe’s somewhat later works for solo violin are. Reger’s sonatas, however, are no more boring, academic exercises than are Bach’s sonatas and partitas. The initial appeal may be intellectual, but gradually the music grows on you and blossoms into something entirely satisfying on an emotional level.


At the time these recordings were made, Mathé showed every promise of being a rising star. I’m not quite sure what has happened to her since. I reviewed a cpo CD of Friedrich Kiel’s piano quartets in Fanfare 31:5 in which she played violin; but other than that, on record at least, it doesn’t appear that she’s been very active, which is too bad, because her playing here is exceptionally good. And, as mentioned above, recordings of Reger’s op. 91 complete are few and far between. The only other current listing I find is on Troubadisc with violinist Renate Eggebrecht-Kupsa. Her account of the sonatas may be very fine (she has way more recordings listed than does Mathé), but I haven’t heard it.


Reger’s sonatas need not appeal exclusively to listeners who have a special interest in music for solo violin. So, provisionally recommended, as long as you can adjust to the recorded sound. Otherwise, you might wish to explore Eggebrecht-Kupsa’s version, although it’s pricey. I suspect, though I don’t know for sure since it was not yet listed at the time of writing, that the Dorian set, being a repackaging job, may be sold as a twofer.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Classical Music

Guillou, J.: Organ Music (The Art of Improvisation)