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Bach - Gambensonaten / Stadtfeld, Vogler
Sony Masterworks
CD
$11.98
Mar 30, 2010
BACH Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Basso: in G, BWV 1027 ; in D, BWV 1028 ; in g, BWV 1029 . Chorale Preludes from the Orgelbüchlein: “Jesu meine Freude,” BWV 610; “Vom Himmel hoch,” BWV 606; “Gottes Sohn is kommen,” BWV 600; “In dir ist Freude,” BWV 615; “Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich,” BWV 605; “Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes Sohn,” BWV 601; “Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schar,” BWV 607; “Herr Gott, nun schleufz den Himmel auf,” BWV 617 • Jan Vogler (vc); Martin Stadtfeld (pn) • SONY 88697575192 (54:27)
The three sonatas for viola da gamba and basso composed by Johann Sebastian Bach probably during the last year or so he spent in Weimar are repertoire staples, both for early-music practitioners and for performers on modern instruments, such as the viola or the cello. As such they are almost required repertoire and there is a plethora of recordings, both on period instruments and modern, available in the catalog. This particular rendition introduces cellist Jan Vogler and pianist Martin Stadtfeld in another of those attempts to reenvision these venerable works in an unusual and perhaps even unique way. As the rather perfunctory booklet notes state: “Performing these three works on the cello and piano has long since become established as an alternative that combines knowledge of performing practice in Bach’s time with the striving for tonal expression that has analytical clarity [that] benefits the dialogue character of these sonatas.” All right, one supposes, as a generic goal, but it is clear that this particular recording seems more the result of a discussion between the two performers than one more attempt to find a unique reconfiguration of conventional and well-known pieces. Since the three works are short, the two chose a selection of chorale preludes from Bach’s Orgelbüchlein to fill out the disc. And of course, having these performed by the cello/piano duo presents another take on the short practical pieces that Bach attempted to write for the entire liturgical year (he only finalized 46 out of an intended 164 chorales). As they say, they were “taking up the challenge of reproducing on their instruments Bach’s compositional technique that varies between festive splendor and intimate melancholy.” I suppose that is enough to link these various pieces to the gamba sonatas, but to my ear they come off more like encores than the sort of experiment proposed.
I’ve always considered the gamba sonatas to be good if typical representatives of the early 17th-century German style. Two of the works are in the typical four-movement format, while the last, BWV 1029 in G Minor, reflects a more modern three-movement pattern typical of the Italian secular style just coming into vogue. Bach is quite adept at the intricate spinning out of his main themes in the fast movements, altering the motives just enough to provide interest and weaving the continuo and solo lines in subtle ways that avoid mechanical repetition. One hears echoes of the short didactic works from the Anna Magdalena Notebook in the second movement of the G Major, while the Andante of the D Major could have come straight out of a Vivaldi concerto. (It is interesting to note that around this time Bach was angling for another position at Cöthen and studying Vivaldi intensely.) The first movement of the G Minor could almost be a replacement for Brandenburg 6, with close thematic similarities abounding. In short, these are solidly composed and well worth having in one’s collection of Baroque chamber music.
The issue that surrounds this disc is really that it is yet another recording on modern instruments, when so many fine examples of the works on period instruments can be found. I don’t propose to reopen what has to be a real can of worms here, but let me state right out that while idiomatic performances do bring out much of the sound world Bach originally created in these sonatas, he at least would not have particularly objected to their being performed on whatever was available at the time. Moreover, from the benefit of almost three centuries of instrumental development, these still resonate, whether on period instruments or modern. Both Vogler and Stadtfelt are fine performers. Their execution of the sonatas is clean and finely nuanced. Yes, there is more than a little bit of modern vibrato and resonant tone, but because they are rather equally matched, this gives their performance a rounded sound that brings out some of the technical subtleties of the composition. Sometimes they do miss an occasional beat; for example, in the Adagio of the G-Minor Sonata the cello mezza di voce is bland, not at all the resonant increasing vibrato that the sustained tone calls for, but by and large these are decent performances. The only rather weak areas are the chorale preludes. These, unfortunately, do not “vary between festive splendor and intimate melancholy,” but rather sound sort of like background music one might find in a romance film. They are universally romantic in their performance, and neither of the players really has a sense of what these things were supposed to do in real life. They would be good encores after particularly rousing applause, but they don’t really belong with the gamba sonatas. The final word on this disc is that these are all right, especially if you are a budding cellist who has contemplated your own performance of the sonatas. Period-instrument devotees will find this yet another anathema, but if you take it in the spirit of presenting a collaboration between two relatively new names in the field, then you might want to add this to your collection.
FANFARE: Bertil van Boer
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If Bach's viola da gamba and harpsichord sonatas played on the cello and piano hold appeal, then you'll very likely enjoy these direct, clear-lined, slightly dry, yet intelligently interactive and texturally contrasted performances. Jan Vogler applies vibrato discreetly, yet never sacrifices tonal values in the process. Vogler's haunting, alto-like timbre above the staff weaves aural magic in slower movements and in the chorale-prelude transcriptions that bookend the sonatas. With the ghost of Glenn Gould gently hovering above, Martin Stadtfeld's dry-point articulation, rhythmic incisiveness, and sparkling trills significantly contribute to the mix (incidentally, Sony ought to release Stadtfeld's excellent Goldberg Variations in the U.S.). The cover photo seems less worthy of Bach than of Saturday Night Fever.
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com
Stolzel: Quadri di Dresda e Bruxelles / Epoca Barocca
CPO
CD
$18.99
Jan 29, 2013
STÖLZEL Quadri di Dresda e Bruxelles • Epoca Barocca • CPO 777 764-2 (51: 09)
Back in 24:1 and 24:5, Brian Robins passionately took up the cudgels of advocacy for Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690–1749) in interviews with conductor Ludger Rémy, undertaken in conjunction with releases of two CDs comprising the composer’s Weihnachtsoratorium . Apart from that, there is still only one entry for the composer in the Fanfare Archive, for a single quartet from a baroque anthology disc. Finding listings of CDs of his works available domestically presents a serious challenge, as the search function on the normally reliable ArkivMusic website has something seriously askew in his case, alternately producing either only one entry, or else a list of 100 entries that are mostly for J. S. Bach instead, with the handful of genuine Stölzel items randomly intermixed. (For a proper list, visit my favorite European website, jpc.de). Apart from the five releases that Rémy has produced for CPO, the only other Stölzel CDs I can find in print are another version of the Weihnachtsoratorium on the MDG label, a disc of chamber music on the Ambitus label, and now this new CPO release of the composer’s Quadro Sonatas.
The continued obscurity of Stölzel is, at first sight, difficult to understand, given the considerable reputation he enjoyed in his own lifetime. Born in the small town of Grünstädtel, southeast of Zwickau and near the northwestern border of the modern Czech Republic, he came from humble circumstances; his father, the son of a miner, was the local schoolteacher and church organist. Although his parents gave him some musical training, they did not want him to pursue a career in that field, and upon graduation from secondary school in Gera he obediently enrolled as a student in theology at the University of Leipzig. However, once there he was soon entirely absorbed into the city’s thriving musical scene, becoming a copyist for Melchior Hofmann, a pupil of Emanuel Kegel, and a devoted friend of Johann Friedrich Fasch. By the time he moved to Breslau in 1710 he was composing his first opera in addition to some instrumental music. Shortly afterward he moved on to Halle and then, after rejecting offers of employment from the courts at Gera and Zeitz, went to Italy to further his musical education, where he met among others Antonio Vivaldi, Alessandro Marcello, Johann David Heinichen, and Domenico Scarlatti. Late in 1714 he went back north to Prague, and—after a brief stay in Bayreuth in 1717, plus rejection of a lucrative offer of employment at the electoral court in Dresden, probably because his strong Protestant convictions made a post at a Catholic establishment uncongenial—returned to Gera to become the court music director. In November 1719 he assumed what would prove to be a lifelong position as Kapellmeister for the ducal court in Gotha. Highly esteemed by his contemporaries, he was, for example, admitted to membership in the Correspondierende Societät der musicalischen Wissenschaften (Corresponding School of Musical Science) of the renowned Leipzig scholar Lorenz Christoph Mizler (1711–1778) several years before the application of J. S. Bach was accepted. Mizler also composed a funerary ode to Stölzel upon the latter’s death. For his part, Bach paid a minor tribute to Stölzel by including a Partita in G Minor by him (with the addition of a trio of Bach’s own devising) in his Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.
While Stölzel was a prolific composer of stage works, oratorios, masses, cantatas, and various instrumental works, little of his output has survived; for example, only 12 of his 85 known secular cantatas, and fragments from only 10 of his 442 sacred cantatas, are extant. At least 18 orchestral suites and over 90 vocal serenatas are completely lost. Part of this is due to the fact that his music quickly became unfashionable after his death; his successor at Gotha, Georg Benda, explicitly stated that he thought only select works of Stölzel’s compositional corpus were worth preserving, ones that he weeded out from what he termed “useless junk.” The rest was consigned to leaky attics, where depredations of weather and hungry rodents soon took their toll. In the case of the nine quadros presented on this CD, eight are taken from the musical archives in Dresden (assembled primarily by Georg Pisendel) and the ninth is preserved in an archive in Brussels. They are unusual not only for their inclusion of the horn, but also for using it as an equal partner at a time when, outside of music for hunting and martial occasions, it was usually assigned to a strictly subordinate role of reinforcing instrumental climaxes. The limitations of the valveless horn of that period necessitated that F Major be the predominant key of all of these quadros.
This is my first exposure to Stölzel’s music. Not having heard either the Weihnachtsoratorium or the Brockes-Passion that so roused the enthusiasm of my colleague Brian Robins, I have neither a basis nor desire to gainsay his highly positive judgment of those. However, I can say that, based on these works, I do not share his enthusiasm. Imagine, if you will, nine knock-offs of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 by a modestly talented pupil who lacks his master’s genius and artistry, and you will have the results presented here. They are pleasant and genial, and make for moderately enjoyable listening, but their commonplace thematic material prevents them from being anything more than that. I find no fault in either the sterling performances by Epoca Barocca, which presents these pieces in their best possible light, nor in CPO’s typically excellent recorded sound and lavish booklet notes. Based on this slender acquaintance, I am not about to make any general pronouncement on Stölzel’s merits as a whole; I will say that this disc is a purely discretionary rather than obligatory acquisition for the devotee of baroque instrumental music. If you choose to buy it, this disc will provide you with pleasure, but don’t expect it to bowl you over.
FANFARE: James A. Altena
BACH: ITALIAN CONCERTO - GOLD VINYL
VINYL PASSION
Vinyl
$21.99
Mar 20, 2026
A landmark recording by the legendary Glenn Gould, this LP showcases his brilliant interpretations of Bach's Italian Concerto in F Major, BWV 971 and the first two Partitas (BWV 825 & BWV 826). Recorded in New York City in 1959, these performances reflect Gould's signature clarity, precision, and emotional depth. From the lyrical Andante of the Italian Concerto to the spirited Capriccio of Partita No. 2, this is Bach reimagined by one of the 20th century's greatest pianists.
Hans Gal & Hans Krasa: Complete String Trios
Avie Records
CD
$19.99
Sep 01, 2012
GÁL Serenade in D, Op. 41. Trio in f?, Op. 104. KRÁSA Tanec (Dance). Passacaglia and Fugue • Ens Epomeo • AVIE 2259 (67:08)
Hans Gál has been receiving some well-deserved, if belated, attention on disc lately. Just a couple of issues back, I reviewed a must-have recording by cellist Antonio Meneses performing Gál’s very beautiful Cello Concerto. And now, here on the present release, we have what is advertised as the complete string trios of both Gál and his close contemporary Hans Krása. Though born only nine years apart— Gál in 1890 and Krása in 1899— Gál was fortunate to escape the advancing Nazi forces into Austria, fleeing to the U.K. in 1938 and eventually settling in Edinburgh, where he died in 1987. Krása was not so lucky. He was deported first to the Theresienstadt concentration camp and then transferred to Auschwitz where he was killed in 1944. Given Krása’s much shorter life, it’s understandable that his output is considerably less than Gál’s. Neither composer, however, apparently devoted much effort to the string trio, since the contents of this CD are said to be the extent of it.
The two Gál works are recorded here for the first time, and, in terms of scale, they’re both major additions to the literature, each lasting over 25 minutes. Written in 1932, before the serious trouble began, the Serenade lives up to its title, in name, if not strictly in form. The piece is in four movements in what I would describe as a nod to the Baroque and Classical periods as reflected through the lens of an easygoing, listener-friendly modernist style that teases and tickles the ear with fractured and fragmented references to familiar pieces. Throughout the first movement (Capriccioso), for example, you’ll hear the distinctive three-note pattern that permeates the first movement of Bach’s G-Major Brandenburg Concerto. While I wouldn’t want to push the analogy too far, I’d say that to a degree Gál’s Serenade reminds me of some of Hindemith’s Kleine Kammermusik pieces. Gál’s score is mostly busy, breezy, and boffo, perhaps more in the manner of a divertimento than a serenade.
Just as long, but in only three movements this time, the Trio in F?-Minor is a much later work, dating from 1971, when the trouble was long over. The piece was commissioned by the London Viola d’amore Society and originally scored for violin, viola d’amore, and cello, but Gál made this version for traditional string trio at the same time. The mood is now introspective, brooding, and perhaps a bit bereft. If there’s an analog here, I’d have to say that the Trio seems to look back to the highly chromatic, freely tonal style familiar from works of the late 19th- and early 20th-century Viennese composers before they succumbed to the siren of dodecaphonism. In other words, Gál’s Trio is a nostalgic soak in a muddy pond. But mud baths are supposed to be therapeutic, and this one left me with a nice, warm glow.
The Krása pieces are considerably shorter—six minutes for Tanec and just under 10 minutes for the Passacaglia and Fugue. Tanec, or Dance, was composed in the last year of Krása’s life. With its strong rhythmic thrust, ostinato figure in the cello, and Hungarian folk flavor, the music is at first suggestive of Bartók, but as Kenneth Woods’s note indicates, the piece is meant to be evocative of trains, with the obvious reference to the boxcars that transported Krása and the millions of others to the death camps. To quote Woods, “the atmosphere ranges from eerie nostalgia, to barely contained menace, to explicit violence,” and ends in a series of manic shrieks. Written later that same year (1944), the Passacaglia and Fugue is Krása’s last completed work. It’s difficult to describe this music of broken spirit and soul. Initially, Shostakovich comes to mind in a frozen soundscape benumbed by cruel and forbidding cold. But slowly, the music rises to a pitch of bickering and physical altercation.
The recording at hand represents the Ensemble Epomeo’s disc debut. Named for the Mediterranean volcano, Mt. Epomeo, the group was founded when the three players—Caroline Chin, violin; David Yang, viola; and Kenneth Woods, cello—came together at the Festivale di Musica da Camera d’Ischia in Italy in 2008. It’s always difficult to judge an ensemble in unfamiliar repertoire, but I think I can say that the Epomeo’s musicians are more than up to the technical task of their business and that they sound intensely engaged in the emotional worlds of these two composers and their music. I would now look forward to hearing the ensemble in something more familiar, like Mozart’s great Divertimento in E?-Major, K 563, or the Beethoven string trios. Meanwhile, this new, excellent recording is strongly recommended.
FANFARE: Jerry Dubins
EXPANSIONS
BLUE NOTE RECORDS
Vinyl
$43.49
Aug 06, 2021
Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. Pianist McCoy Tyner was an acknowledged force of nature. On the aptly named Expansions, Tyner fronts a remarkable band consisting of Woody Shaw, Wayne Shorter, Gary Bartz, Ron Carter, Herbie Lewis, and Freddie Waits. Standouts in a program of four Tyner originals and one standard include the masterpiece "Peresina" and the opening track "Vision." Blue Note Tone Poet Series features all-analog, remastered 180-gram vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging. Produced by Joe Harley. Mastered by Kevin Gray.
