Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

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

Recording information: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal, Köln, Germany (01/21/2009-01/23/2009).

Director Franz Winter examines the life and works of Gustav Mahler through the filter of composer Uri Caine. The film traces his youth in Prague and Attersee and the performances of his work in Budapest and Europe. Traveling to the locations where these events played out, the documentary also delves into upon Mahler's personal life, his marriage to Alma, and his children.

It seems only yesterday when we did our first concert in the Royal academy of music. It was, in fact quite long ago in March 1974. The young Arditti Quartet was born at that point to stimulate composers and occasionally annoy some of the critics. I think it was quite a way back into the last century that Paul Griffiths entitle a review of one of our London concerts in teh Times newspaper as "These four must be stopped."...Why?...Stopped because we were rehearsing seriously and performing with commitment every single score that was put in front of us, transcending the composers notes and bring the music toa higher level." - Irvine Arditti This album celebrates the Arditti Quartet's 40th year together and contains fourteen special compositions, created solely for this album.

Werner Herzog: Eroberung des Nutzlosen

On this new release Stefan Winter and Mariko Takahashi present their personal, musical highlights from a journey into the heart of Havana. Especially the voice of Hermes FernAndez Salgado from the Trío Tesis, the unusual, touching, glittering musical interaction of the singer Roxana Brínguez with the guitarrist Manuel SuArez Silva, and the heartbreaking Dúo Cachibache wakes up the deep longings to bring alive these songs with a sapphire or diamond stylus on a 180g LP-Vinyl. Mariko Takahashi and Stefan Winter have created a seemingly simple and fascinating poetic treasure box of sounds which they found in the backyards, narrow streets and bars of Havana. The graphic designer Gunter Mattei captured with his colorful illustrations the memorable scenes and key moments from this musical journey in booklets normally used by Cuban people to get butter, bread and other essential things in life. This album — in a gatefold cover — stands out well from the usual styled Cuban releases. With "Cuadernos de La Habana“ the listener can enjoy with closed eyes a journey into a secret world of Havana and discover moving and touching sounds.

In 2007 the Zapico brothers created Concerto Zapico, their most personal project. Through it they reached a longed for aspiration: to be able to make chamber music together. The problem is that none of them play any melodic instrument, but rather instruments ideal for solo repertoire or for the realization of the basso continuo. But playing together? To achieve this they decided to take on the task of transcribing a selection of Italian and Spanish dances from the 17th and 18th centuries, creating a unique and personal language. Their first recording in this format was a huge success in 2010, and this one is sure to follow. The three brothers Pablo Daniel and Aaron Zapico are the heart of Forma Antiqva- one of the most fascinating Baroque Ensembles of the Spanish music scene. An extraordinarily versatile group, Forma Antiqva can adapt their size to form a chamber music ensemble to a full Baroque orchestra.

 

-------

Three brothers named Zapico -- Aarón, Pablo, and Daniel -- are part of the early music group Forma Antiqua (or, Antiqva); they appear here by themselves in a program of "Iberian-Italian" Baroque dance music, a genre whose influence stretched as far north as mid-Germany. The listener who samples this disc and wonders whether Baroque keyboard pieces ever actually had this much oomph can be assured that the recording falls purely into the not-even-speculative realm of using musical scores purely as a stimulus for further creative activity; keyboard music was something of a realm unto itself in the 17th century, and the booming guitar-and-theorbo arrangements heard here are purely the invention of the players. Indeed, they offer no justification other than that of wanting to play the music together. This said, the disc has the considerable virtue of reminding the listener that all of the patterns -- the fandangos, ciaccona, giga, folía, and so on heard here -- that made their way into Baroque music as ground basses were originally dances. The accompaniments devised by the Zapicos perhaps go beyond the intensity Baroque audiences would have recognized as appropriate (or perhaps they don't). But they're a great deal of fun, and they go together with the exciting group of releases that's defining the secular repertory exemplified by such composers as Santiago de Murcia, a repertory whose echoes have come down to the present day in both old and new worlds. Not "authentic," but if you don't tap your feet to a piece like Murcia's Folías gallegas (track 12), you'd better check for a pulse. - James Manheim (AllMusic.com)

Classical Music

Classical Music