With the three quartets of Op. 55, the Leipzig String Quartet brings Haydn's mature genius vividly to life. These works capture the composer at the peak of the Classical era, blending elegance, wit, and profound musical insight. In the Quartet's hands, every nuance and flourish shines, offering listeners an unforgettable journey through Haydn's timeless artistry.
Some delightful piano works in the spirit of Haydn and Mozart.
This release marks another disc in the lengthening series of Kuhlau’s compositions on Naxos.
Kuhlau, born in 1786 to a musician with the German Army, began his musical education in Lüneburg with piano, and also began to compose at that time. Around 1800 he studied with C. F. G. Schwenke, the man who succeeded C. P. E. Bach in the position as Hamburg Stadtkantor. By 1804, Kuhlau was in the process of launching his career as a pianist in earnest. Blind in one eye since childhood, Kuhlau fled to Copenhagen under an alias to avoid mandatory military service; his half-blindness evidently did not compel the authorities to exempt him. He eventually became a naturalised citizen of Denmark and established his base there for the rest of his life.
Known to this reviewer primarily for his compositions for flute — various discs have been released recently of his flute sonatas and trios on Naxos and other labels. Kuhlau also produced a number of other pieces, primarily for chamber ensembles.
The works on offer on the present disc are short and charming, with most movements lasting no longer than three minutes. Jandó does right, I think, in keeping the performances simple and straightforward. The object of these pieces is not to impress or give a listener a good deal of food for thought. These are meant primarily to entertain. They are likely to be familiar to piano students worldwide. There isn’t much here that would surprise the listener, but there are a few moments of particular interest, such as the unexpected similarity of the opening movement of the Sonatina in A minor, Op. 88 No. 3 to Beethoven’s 1810 Für Elise. Another standout is the opening Allegro maestoso of the Op. 55 No. 6 Sonatina in C which, with its length of just over seven minutes, allows for a bit more mulling over of its thematic material.
The recording aesthetic for this disc is just what one would expect from Naxos: warm ambience without losing presence or definition. Jandó gives these pieces a clean and clear performance. Quite a pleasant disc for casual listening.
Elgar: Symphony No. 1, Op. 55 & In the South, Op. 50 "Alassi
ICA Classics
CD
$14.99Aug 26, 2016
This new release from ICA Classics presents the first recording of Antonio Pappano conducting Elgar with his Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. For this program, Elgar’s First Symphony is paired with his Concert Overture ‘In the South,’ which was inspired by the conposer’s holiday in Alassio during 1903-1904. Both of these works had been out of the orchestra’s repertoire for more than a century until Pappano stated that he was “on a mission to bring this music back to its place of birth,” knowing that his performers had “natural Italianate passion and lyricism,” which would be perfect for these works. Pappano’s 2012 London season opened with Elgar. Reviewers had only positive things to say: “…His surging striving account caught all the nervous energy of this elegia work… Now he should take the symphony… to his own orchestra [in Rome].”
The second subgroup of “Tost” quartets is my first acquaintance with this cycle, which is now at a well-advanced stage. That the Auryn is a class act is evident from the word go in No. 1 in A: alert, well focused, and tight-knit in ensemble. The first violin is often primus inter pares in these works, and his virtuoso flights are dispatched with shapely panache and a well-judged degree of soloistic freedom. The second-half repeat is observed (and consistently throughout the set). The Adagio is taken at a nicely flowing pace, its airy lyricism beautifully conveyed. The marvelous cadenza juggernaut at bars 61 ff. is impressively realized in its combination of slowly gathering weight with improvisatory freedom. The Minuet goes at a buoyant one to the bar, and the finale has an irresistible surging flow. Comparison with their former mentors, the Amadeus (DG), is intriguing: the old Anglicized Germans attack the first movement with a larger-than-life vibrancy that would be hard for anyone to match, and makes the Auryn sound a little pallid by comparison (although its response to dynamic nuances is keen, its deliberate underplaying of single fortes is occasionally overdone). The Amadeus displays an earthier richness in the Adagio, but its Minuet is heavier and its finale has less light and shade than its protégés.
No. 2 in F Minor (the celebrated “Razor” quartet, whose hoary old anecdote is debunked in the notes) struck me as less successful overall; the opening double variations are authoritatively dispatched, but with a tendency to a kind of gliding suaveness—very beautiful in its way, but I find myself craving more friction, or resistance, to the tone (especially the first violin in the major-mode variations). More rhythmic and tonal bite would again not go amiss in the second-movement Allegro, though its oppressively eerie atmosphere is well caught. But the strict contrapuntal “ars combinatorial” of the Minuet is excessively smoothed out, imparting an inappropriately tentative feeling. The performance finds perfect form, though, in an exciting account of the F-Major Presto finale, whose elusive character, alternately tensely conspiratorial and swashbuckling, is very well captured. By way of comparison, I prefer the greater rhythmic solidity and tonal weight of the Angeles Quartet (Philips) in three movements out of four, but its staid finale is no match for the Auryn.
The sinuous first movement of No. 3 in B? receives a subtle, nuanced performance, occasionally slightly over-ethereal in feeling (see the tense first violin/cello dialogue of the second theme—here the Auryn is the polar opposite of the Aeolian [Decca], which goes over the line to an unattractive grittiness; the Tatrai [Hungaroton] strikes a nice balance in its understated brand of deadpan rusticity). The slow movement is beautifully done, with wonderfully soaring flights from the first violin. Once again, its Presto finale finds the requisite headlong drive—truly exhilarating!
The recording is beautifully balanced and natural. All in all, an impressive release that will be self-recommending to collectors of the series, or to anyone wanting a single disc of these incomparable masterpieces.
Here (Jurowski) offers performances that are near ideal, the electric tension giving the illusion of live music-making. We have had some impressive recordings from this orchestra in the past but this one is among the finest. Tchaikovsky's Third Suite... Jurowski, maybe influenced by conducting opera and ballet, brings out the surging lyricism...'Elegie', the phrasing totally idiomatic. The rhythmic Waltz leads to a dazzling Scherzo, taken at a genuine presto, while the Variations have rarely seemed so attractive, with a thrilling build-up and conclusion. With exceptionally vivid sound, recorded by Dutch engineers in Moscow, this disc cannot be recommended too highly. (Gramophone)
Joseph Haydn: String Quartets, Vol. 14 Of 14 - Opp. 77, 103, 42
TACET Musikproduktion
Blu-Ray
$26.99Jan 28, 2014
• The Auryn Quartet perform Haydn's Op.55 quartets Nos. 1-3 (1788).
• In its 30-year existence, the Auryn Quartet has not had a single change of personnel.
• The Auryn Quartet have been exclusive Tacet recording artists since 2000.
• Since 2003 the quartet has maintained a teaching position at the Music Academy in Detmold, Germany, where they are professors for chamber-music.
