Starter Packs

Complete your collection with these curated titles, grouped at a special discount.

Shop Now
The World According to George Antheil / Kopatchinskaja, Ahonen
Alpha

The World According to George Antheil / Kopatchinskaja, Ahonen

$15.99
$20.99 Save 25%

Details

Composer
George Antheil, Ludwig van Beethoven, John Cage, Morton Feldman
Artist
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Joonas Ahonen
Format
CD
Label
Alpha
Released
May 13, 2022
Catalog #
ALPHA797
UPC
3760014197970

About

George Antheil called himself a ‘Pianist-Futurist’. A lover of speed, cars and airplanes, the American composer settled in the Paris of the Années Folles, where he frequented Picasso shows and Stravinsky concerts, and composed works such as the Sonate sauvage and Jazz Sonata, which caused a scandal: during a concert in Budapest, he even brandished a pistol to restore silence in the hall . . . He hero-worshipped Beethoven, whose pieces he played in the first part of his recitals before moving onto his own music. In 1933, he returned to the United States, where he met John Cage and Morton Feldman. Patricia Kopatschinskaja and the young Finnish pianist Joonas Ahonen – whom The Times, following what the journalist described as ‘one of those concerts you remember for ever’, presented as the violinist’s ‘doppelgänger’! – pay tribute to the self-proclaimed ‘Bad Boy of Music’.

Critical acclaim from the New York Times:

"George Antheil (1900-59) was a technophilic, self-declared bad boy of music; regardless of whether that’s true, he didn’t please his way into the canon. Here, however, this American composer gets a tribute that places him in a lineage of innovators from Beethoven to the mid-20th century — traced by the daredevil violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and an enthusiastic partner in the pianist Joonas Ahonen.

"...Antheil would perform his works alongside, say, something from a century earlier, and Kopatchinskaja and Ahonen do the same by programming Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 7 in C minor. It is a fiery and freely interpreted account reminiscent of Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich’s fearless, unpredictable, at times unwieldy recordings from the 1990s.

"Like the Beethoven, the Antheil is in four movements, but it blends traditional form with a thoroughly modern sound that, in this reading, bustles at a breakneck pace with percussive and metallic timbres. Looking beyond Antheil’s generation, the album also includes pieces by Morton Feldman and a nocturne by John Cage, works that subtly recall the sonatas but also stand alone as studies in sound-making and extremity — of strength and softness, of overtone-rich expanses. Executed with discipline that borders on mechanical, they couldn’t be better suited to a world according to George." --The New York Times (Joshua Barone)

Tracklist 11 tracks

  1. 1 Piece for Violin and Piano 01:54
    Track
    1
    Title
    Piece for Violin and Piano
    Duration
    01:54
    Composer
    Morton Feldman
    Performer
    Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Joonas Ahonen
  2. 2 I. Allegro con brio 07:34
    Track
    2
    Title
    I. Allegro con brio
    Duration
    07:34
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Performer
    Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Joonas Ahonen
  3. 3 II. Adagio cantabile 08:19
    Track
    3
    Title
    II. Adagio cantabile
    Duration
    08:19
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Performer
    Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Joonas Ahonen
  4. 4 III. Scherzo: Allegro 03:31
    Track
    4
    Title
    III. Scherzo: Allegro
    Duration
    03:31
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Performer
    Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Joonas Ahonen
  5. 5 IV. Finale: Allegro - Presto 05:01
    Track
    5
    Title
    IV. Finale: Allegro - Presto
    Duration
    05:01
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Performer
    Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Joonas Ahonen
  6. 6 Nocturne 03:43
    Track
    6
    Title
    Nocturne
    Duration
    03:43
    Composer
    John Cage
    Performer
    Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Joonas Ahonen
  7. 7 I. Allegro moderato 09:53
    Track
    7
    Title
    I. Allegro moderato
    Duration
    09:53
    Composer
    George Antheil
    Performer
    Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Joonas Ahonen
  8. 8 II. Andante moderato 03:01
    Track
    8
    Title
    II. Andante moderato
    Duration
    03:01
    Composer
    George Antheil
    Performer
    Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Joonas Ahonen
  9. 9 III. Funebre, lento espressivo 05:05
    Track
    9
    Title
    III. Funebre, lento espressivo
    Duration
    05:05
    Composer
    George Antheil
    Performer
    Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Joonas Ahonen
  10. 10 IV. Presto 06:45
    Track
    10
    Title
    IV. Presto
    Duration
    06:45
    Composer
    George Antheil
    Performer
    Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Joonas Ahonen
  11. 11 Extensions I 07:20
    Track
    11
    Title
    Extensions I
    Duration
    07:20
    Composer
    Morton Feldman
    Performer
    Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Joonas Ahonen