The LaSalle Quartet was active from 1946-88; however, it's influence goes far beyond that. Violinist Walter Levine is still a vital, much sought out authority for string players. From their founding, the Quartet was devoted to the late 19th and 20th c repertoire. The works of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern were a significant part, as were the quartets of Schoenberg's teacher, Alexander Zemlinsky. This CD of studio recordings from 1965, 1968 and 1977 draws Zemlinsky together with Haydn and Brahms - a bold program for an ensemble specializing in modern to include some "early music".

Classical Music

The flourishing culture of the classical guitar in Japan is further revealed in the third volume of this admired series. The expressive nature of music for guitar and for the harmonica often represents the principles of Ma – the idea of space and time. Takemitsu’s contemporary arrangements of popular songs, where virtuosity fuses with flexible spirituality, are of extraordinary originality whilst melodic inventiveness is the hallmark of Hikaru Hayashi’s varied pieces. There are also examples from film scores and explorations of sound qualities, such as Yoshimatsu’s intensely evocative and masterful Forgetful Angel II.

Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Hedos Ensemble. Conductor: Bernhard Böhm.

ARSO Ensemble is made up of the leaders and soloists of the Podkarpacka Philharmonic Orchestra - Robert Nasciszewski and Orest Telwach (violin), Anna Nasciszewska (cello) and Slawomir Ujek (double-bass). The ensemble plays Rossini's lesser-known Six sonatas a quarttro, penned by Rossini in 1804 at the age of 12.

It's great to see this work, incomparably the most magnificent string trio ever written, getting increasing attention on disc. We recently welcomed a splendid new recording on BIS, and now here's another, equally fine. It seems that the music brings out the best in its performers, as well it must. Anyone attempting a nearly 50-minute-long string trio had better have the chops to carry it off. Perhaps the outstanding quality of this performance is its rhythmic thrust, combined with the ability of the players to characterize their musical lines in an independent but still effectively coordinated way.

I'm thinking in particular of cellist Christoph Richter's delightful, swooping comments at the end of the first-movement exposition, the almost "parlante" phrasing of the finale's principal rondo theme, and the generously lyrical phrasing of the grand second-movement Adagio. In music bursting with some of Mozart's catchiest tunes, there's never a moment that turns dull or static in this performance, and the sonics let the music breathe in a warm but ideally intimate setting. You really can't have too many versions of this piece, one of the glories of the chamber music literature. Let this be one of them.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

A member of the Society for Jewish Folk Music in St Petersburg, Russia, Leo Zeitlin (1884–1930) was known almost exclusively for Eli Zion, a classic of Jewish art-music. Zeitlin died only seven years after emigrating to New York, still a young man, and his reputation languished until the recent discovery of a trunk full of scores brought his music back to light. This album attempts to remedy decades of neglect, especially for his charismatic Yiddish song-settings for voice, strings and piano, powerful declamations of spoken Yiddish and Russian poetry underscored by Romantic piano music, all of which points to a once popular but now forgotten genre. The Festival musicians of the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival are the highest-caliber local professionals; players for the orchestral and chamber-music concerts include members of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Pittsburgh Opera and Ballet Orchestras, and university faculty members. In its eleven seasons since its founding by cellist Aron Zelkowicz the PJMS has programmed over 130 pieces of classical chamber and orchestral music inspired by Jewish traditions. The recordings on this CD series represent a six-year project devoted to the St Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music and its affiliated Russian composers.

REVIEW:

The performances of Leo Zeitlin’s music are first-rate from start to finish, as is the recorded sound. The liner notes by Paula Eisenstein Baker (a key figure in the resurrection of the Zeitlin’s music) and Robert S. Nelson provide detailed information on the composer’s life and the featured works. Original language texts (Cyrillic script for Russian, and transliterations for the Yiddish poems) and English translations are provided for each of the songs. While the repertoire on this disc may have a less broad appeal than the Stutschewsky release, I think anyone at all curious to explore the work of Leo Zeitlin will not be disappointed.

-- Fanfare

he music of the Stift Heiligenkreuz in the Vienna woods became known throughout the world a few years ago: the CD “Chant – Music for Paradise”, on which Cistercian monks from the monastery sang Gregorian chorals, became an international chart success. On this CD, the esoteric aspect of contemplative sacred vocal music is less prominent; the focus is rather on the power of the vocal and instrumental works of the baroque age that are linked liturgically. In fact, a brother of the monastery wrote some extremely important compositions as early as the 17th century; one of the places in which he published them was the collection “Cultus Harmonicus”. From the works of Father Alberich Mazak, the musical form of a baroque liturgical mass at the Stift Heiligenkreuz can also be reconstructed and this has been complemented on the CD by pieces from other composers of the 17th century. Leading the way here is the ensemble dolce risonanza, the founder and conductor of which, Florian Wieninger, reconstructed the vespers for Holy Cross Day (Exaltatione Sanctae Crucis, 14 September). The CD therefore offers a variety of ways of approaching the music: celebrate solemn vespers in the company of the dolce risonanza ensemble and the monks of the Stift Heiligenkreuz while you discover the works of an Austrian composer that were almost unknown until now and which have been preserved in the library of the Stift Heiligenkreuz.

Ned Rorem' clarity of emotional expression is perfectly suited to the 'breathy gold' of the flute.

The centerpiece of this program is the first ever recording of the Hiawatha Melodrama, a concert work for narrator and orchestra designed to show the kinship between Dvořák's New World Symphony and Longfellow’s poem The Song of Hiawatha, which Dvořák said had inspired him in the symphony. It takes music from the symphony, as well as passages from the American Suite and Violin Sonatina, and fuses them with the poem, which is recited by a bass-baritone. Also included is music by Arthur Farwell, who was influenced by Dvořák, and was a proponent of Native American music. This recording thus celebrates the crosscurrent of influences between the Czech composer and American music and culture.

A new recording of Erik Bosgraaf, one of the most original, versatile and innovative recorder players of the moment, winner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust. The dynamic range and emotional impact of his playing is phenomenal. The instrument in his hands is like an extension of the human voice, speaking and articulating the musical language.

Although Bach clearly felt at home composing for the recorder, featuring it in major works including the Brandenburg Concertos and several cantatas, he never composed a concerto for solo recorder – in fact, he only wrote original solo concertos for harpsichord and violin. However, an examination of Bach’s compositional practices reveals that it was customary during his era to adapt or reuse musical material in new compositions. Taking this into consideration, the creators of this recording have drawn on a range of sources to answer the question of how a solo recorder concerto by Bach might have sounded. The disc includes four full recorder concertos, based on material taken from existing harpsichord concertos and cantata movements, which Bach himself often reused or transcribed for different instrumentation. It closes with an organ prelude adapted for recorder and strings.

The recordings are accompanied by extensive booklet notes, which outline the sources used in the construction of this repertoire and reveal an interesting dimension of Bach’s compositional practice – his approach to reusing and adapting musical material. These recordings are brought to life by compelling performances from Erik Bosgraaf and Ensemble Cordevento, performed on a range of recorders and period instruments. Displaying an imaginative yet thorough approach to the repertoire, this disc is a fascinating examination of how Bach might have approached writing large-scale works for the recorder and is recommended to any listeners interested in his concertos.

Unique recorder adaptations of Bach’s concertos and cantata movements, performed on period instruments. Includes in-depth booklet notes.

REVIEWS:

Erik Bosgraaf's recorder-playing is fluent and lively in fast music, and his five colleagues (single strings and harpsichord) provide accompaniments that are lean, stylish and precise...Ensemble Cordevento's playing of fast music is joyful and accomplished.

-- Gramophone

Nearly all of Daniel Purcell’s surviving solo harpsichord music consists of arrangements, the only clear exception being the short Toccata, a brief essay in the style of the preludes from Henry Purcell’s harpsichord suites. The Suite is a simple but effective arrangement of movements from the composer’s own suite

Venetian musician and composer Antonio Caldara (1670-1736), unlike some of his contemporaries who today are quite famous but experienced little fame during their lifetimes, enjoyed enormous success, then faded inexplicably from music history. +Alongside a vast production of vocal music, his only significant instrumental works are two trio sonata collections published during his youth, as well as these “sonate a violoncello solo col basso”, composed in 1735, a year before his passing.

Following their critically acclaimed debut recording of the complete string trios of Hans Gál and Hans Krása, which garnered a Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Ensemble Epomeo turns to music by Eastern European and Russian composers written in the latter half of the 20th century. Each work bears a distinct personal compositional stamp, providing for captivating listening and enlightening contrasts: the Polish Penderecki’s dramatic and lyrical String Trio of 1990 – 91, the Russian compositional giant Schnittke’s String Trio of 1985, the haunting Trio of the increasingly recognised and respected Weinberg from 1950, and the ever-enigmatic Hungarian Kurtág, whose continuously evolving signs, games and messages represent a collection of highly individual miniatures.

When a CD bears the title 'Fantasia' for Viol and Piano, it is perhaps surprising that no less than two of the four recorded works correspond to the clearly defined form of the sonata. However, fantasia is not the designation of a musical genre, but rather expresses a basic intellectual attitude, a program. This does not mean that it is 'program music' in the proper sense - none of the four works display clear content-related links to a given program. Yet while listening one can easily get the impression that stories are being told. Not stories with a heroine or hero, or victors and losers, but atmospheric and emotional stories. The dark, soft sound of the viol is a wonderful transport medium for this.

Classical Music

The violin-accordion Duo ViA! (Sinn Yang and Harald Oeler) made their debut in 2009 with the program Seasons at the Heidelberg Spring Festival. + At that time, it required a great deal of courage to present to the public, in a sold-out hall, one of the most popular and most frequently played classical works, Vivaldi’s I quattro stagioni in combination with Astor Piazzolla’s Las cuatro portenas. + For the Duo, the program Seasons was and still is both an experiment and a daring feat.

This 3CD collection highlights past releases by the young renowned recorder and blockflöte virtuoso, early music specialist and OehmsClassics artist Stefan Temmingh. CD1, ‘Corelli À la Mode’, features, among other works, the groundbreaking op. 5 sonatas in world premiere recordings of the 18th c. ornamented versions. CD2, ‘The Gentleman’s Flute, follows on with works by Handel and the last disc features select excerpts from the French and English works by J.S. Bach and other Bach miscellany.

Classical Music

Max Reger has remained a controversial composer, in a way perhaps comparable to Wagner, Hindemith and Shostakovich. Even today, the presence of his oeuvre is by no means a matter of course in concert life or on recordings. There are still numberous musicians, including serious ones, who reject Reger's work, at times with good reason. Even a trained, experienced listener may find his works difficult to grasp, let alone comprehend. This release does a great deal to compensate for the gap in knowledge of Max Reger.

Decades before World Music became an established category, Béla Bartók was roaming the Eastern European countryside, collecting folk tunes with fellow composer Zoltan Kodaly. He snapped up songs from his native Hungary, but also toted his phonograph on tune-gathering trips to Romania, Slovakia and Turkey. He spent much of 1943 on a research fellowship at Columbia University transcribing Serbo-Croatian folk songs.

As violinist James Ehnes and pianist Andrew Armstrong demonstrate on this new recording, Bartók fashioned some vibrant and colorful arrangements from his folk journeys.

Ehnes has been a familiar face in New York lately; last summer, he performed on a New York Philharmonic broadcast from Van Cortlandt Park and also made a stop for a WQXR Café Concert. He’s been busy in the recording studio too; this wraps a three-part Bartók cycle.

The three sets of folk songs on this recording illustrate how Bartók embraced the tangy exotic modes and wild irregular rhythms of the countryside, which freed him from "the tyranny of major and minor scales," as he put it. Two sets of Hungarian Folks Songs features some jaunty dialogues with the piano and some added effects – pizzicato, harmonics – to make a splash. The Romanian Folk Dances ratchet up the momentum further, particularly in the final “Polka” and the rollicking “Fast Dance.”

The sonatas offer a striking contrast but there's much to admire here too. A Bach-like grandeur underscores the unaccompanied Sonata (1944), written in the in the final months of Bartók's life for Yehudi Menuhin, and yet more traces of Hungarian folk melodies turn up in the Violin Sonata in E minor, written a half-century earlier.

-- WQXR, Album of the Week [1/20/2013]

Composed between 1897 and 1905, this collection of Respighi’s earliest music for violin and piano, some from his student days, is notable for its openness to influences as diverse as German Romanticism, Russian Nationalism and the French school, as if he were trying out different styles in the search for his own personal idiom. No less evident are Respighi’s technical mastery of instrumentation and form as well as his delight in vocally inflected melodic lines. This is the first of two volumes of Respighi’s complete works for violin and piano. Emy Bernecoli and Massimo Giuseppe Bianchi have been acclaimed for their “impassioned, technically polished and rhythmically rock-solid interpretations”. (Gramophone on 8.572828 / Ghedini)

Music for William Shakespeare. Music from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries composed for Shakespeare's plays or to celebrate his work. A wide range of instrumental sounds and some splendid singing create a fascinating programme of dynamic and cheerful English music, performed by one of Britain's leading ensembles.

Classical Music