There are so very many recordings of Haydn’s two cello concertos, both recent and older, that any cellist who dares to add their own contribution to the pile must find it almost impossible to do so without the disturbing mental image of a chorus of critics demanding that they explain themselves. It can’t be easy, and I must admit to mixed feelings myself when a new one lands on my desk; on the one hand there’s pleasure, as no amount of listening can weary me of these jewels of the cello repertoire, but there’s also an element of trepidation. Will the hours to come leave me delighted afresh or merely inspired to go scuttling back to previous favourites once the review is written?

As it happens, Marc Coppey and the Zagreb Soloists have left me somewhere betwixt and between with this recording, but more as a result of the third concerto on the disc, CPE Bach’s slightly earlier A major Cello Concerto, than because of the two Haydn concertos, which are in fact hugely enjoyable. Let’s take the Haydn pair first, these are elegant, winsomely tender performances, Coppey’s beautifully spun long lines accentuated further by his comparatively legato delivery and singing tone. The virtuosity never feels forced either, helped by the infallible, bang-on accuracy of his intonation and articulation. Moving on to the Bach, all those same qualities are there to be enjoyed in Coppey’s playing, matched by a crisp, glowing, joyful performance from the orchestra, and yet Bach’s music is capable of more dancing lightness than we hear from the cello here.
An element of this sturdiness no doubt springs in part from the amalgam of ‘historically informed’ and modern performance practices used: we’re at modern pitch (A=442kHz), Coppey is playing his 1711 gut-strung Matteo Goffriller with a modern bow, while the orchestra are on gut-strung modern instruments but using natural horns. Still, I suspect it’s largely down to Coppey, and in fact the recording’s overall balance and blend are very satisfying, helped further by the subtly supportive acoustic of Zagreb’s Lisinsku Small Hall.

« La reine des violoncellistes », tel est le titre que l’on attribuait à...

Beethoven’s five works for string trio were all written before his Op. 18 Quartets, so many commentators have seen them as preparatory works for the great quartets to follow. Such a judgement, though, doesn’t do justice to the charm and freshness of these pieces. No one will argue these works to be superior to mature Beethoven (Op. 59 and later); but Thayer, for one, favored the Op. 9 Trios over the Op. 18 Quartets. Furthermore the five works are not cast in the same mold. The first two (Opp. 3 & 8) have six movements and are similar to a divertimento (Op. 8 is titled Serenade), while the last three from Op. 9 are shorter works in the standard four-movement format that would characterize most of the later quartets. One can see why Beethoven (and others) have preferred the added flexibility of a fourth instrument, but these trios show a surprising richness and variety of texture and expressive qualities. In other words you may dismiss them if you prefer later Beethoven, but don’t dismiss them because they’re one instrument short of a quartet. Better yet: don’t dismiss them at all.

The Thibaud Trio, named for the legendary French violinist, was founded in 1994, though violinist Burkhard Maiss is the only original player still with the group. His colleagues are violist Hannah Strijbos and cellist Bogdan Jianu. An earlier Thibaud Trio (different violist) recorded the Op. 9 trios more than a decade ago (J/F 2005). These performances are very fast in the quicker movements (and faster than the earlier Op. 9) with wonderfully nimble passagework from violinist Maiss. Slow movements are nice as well, with no sense of impatience. Their extroverted playing is tempered by lovely soft playing, e.g. in the minuet to Op. 9:2. A delightful release, then, worthy to join earlier recommended recordings by the Leopold and Grumiaux Trios.

This series has been good except where there is formidable competition. This program is, by that standard, mixed. Certainly the Norwegian Dances here can’t compete with Jarvi on DG (Gothenburg Symphony). Note also that Grieg never orchestrated these dances; they were written for two pianos. The two pieces from Peer Gynt are available in complete recordings—just not in the suites. But most of one piece (Act I Prelude) is just ‘Solveig’s Song’ for orchestra, and we have that on dozens of recordings. The other piece takes less than 2 minutes. The Opus 68 Lyric Pieces are seldom heard in orchestrated form. The only Lyric Pieces that have been recorded often by orchestras are the Opus 54 set. (But there is a Naxos that has Opus 68: 572403.)

I don’t like ‘The Mountain Thrall’, a six-minute piece for baritone and orchestra.

That leaves the six orchestral songs. Three of them are familiar: the two Solveig songs from Peer Gynt and ‘The Last Spring’. To those are added ‘From Monte Pincio’, ‘A Swan’, and ‘Henrik Wergeland’. I know no better recording of the six songs, though of course there are better ones of the Solveig songs in sets of Peer Gynt. (Eileen Farrell did one of them with Fiedler.)

Tempos are slower than in any other recording I know. The singer never sounds “operatic” but has a sweet folk simplicity combined with a lovely, well-trained voice. There’s a Norwegian melancholy here that often fails to show up.

The six songs take 27 minutes (Inger Dam-Jensen on Naxos takes 24 minutes). Add the 8 minutes of the two Lyric Pieces, and there is 35 minutes of music here that can’t be beat elsewhere. Sound is excellent.

Stravinsky composed his great orchestral work, Le Sacre du Printemps, originally for piano 4-hands, before its orchestration and scandalous public premiere in May of 1913. The piano version was first performed in private by the composer and Debussy in June of 1912, then published in 1913. The piano version is far more than a ballet rehearsal score. It makes full use of all the sounds two pianists can bring forth. Many who prefer the orchestral version would agree that it also sounds appropriate on the piano. Different aspects of the music become clearer when it is limited to the black and white palette of the piano. It is by far the most often performed work for two pianists that I have reviewed over the past few years.

The piano arrangements of Le Sacre and Petrouchka were designated by the composer for piano 4-hands, but published as 4-hands at one or two pianos. Practically speaking, all of the notes written cannot be played by two people at one piano, and a number of duo piano teams choose to use two pianos. Using just one requires intricate choreography, especially between the lower player’s right hand and the upper player’s left. They are often right on top of each other. I find that many recordings are not perfectly clear about whether one or two pianos were used. Stravinsky regularly employs five music staves for all of the notes, and you can find plenty of examples where three are all playing in the same octave—talk about a traffic jam.

Two excellent pianists, with a love of this music and sufficient rehearsal time are capable of giving a good performance if they simply follow the printed score. Stravinsky may have put more there than it’s possible to play. No deep interpretive choices are required, so the variety of recordings available can be tough to sort through. I tend to prefer ones that generate visceral excitement contrasting with the mysterious sonorities. The Rite of Spring should never be background music. The other works included on a given disc could make your choice easy or even more difficult.

Duo Silver-Garburg make the logical choice of two ballets arranged by the composer for piano 4-hands. Petrouchka for full orchestra has a piano part large enough to get the pianist billed almost as if it were a concerto. It is not a coincidence that the most often performed solo piano work at the last Van Cliburn competition was Stravinsky’s highly virtuosic Trois Movements de Petrouchka . The composer’s arrangement of the full ballet for 4-hands works very well and makes a great companion to Le Sacre. The performances here show an upper part played noticeably louder than the lower in many instances. There is also a difference of attack and sustain between the pianists, even when they are playing the same musical gesture. The upper chords marked staccato or sharply accented are often so abbreviated that there is not enough duration to hear and absorb the harmonies. I would also like more volume and attack in the lower part, especially the bass drum thumps. Those criticisms aside, Duo Silver-Garburg (a husband-wife team) have as perfect an ensemble as I’ve ever heard. Nuances in tempo are always dead-on together and there is nary a smudged note.

Duo Koroliov (another husband-wife team) surrounds its in-concert recording of Rite of Spring with two sets of Easy Pieces for piano 3 and 4-hands, two solo piano pieces (‘Tango’ and ‘Piano-Rag-Music’) and a curiosity that has never come my way before, three pieces for string quartet arranged for piano 4-hands by the composer. The sound is noticeably different between the concert and studio recordings; the studio is brighter and more to my liking for this music. The two sets of easy pieces are played with disarming verve and panache—far more than would normally be expected in little trifles like this. They come off as legitimate, fully worked out short ideas that remind one of Petrouchka or other more significant works. The two solo works are played by Koroliov with great style, and the odd string quartet arrangements are certainly worth a few hearings. The Rite of Spring has more gusto and better balance than Silver-Garburg, but suffers from being a little too careful (slower) sometimes.

Duo Takahashi-Lehmann (no indication of a husband-wife team, but they have been performing together since 2009) are the best of the current lot. Audite’s sound and excellent booklet notes complement a stunning performance by this young duo. The amount of excitement they build at the climactic points in The Rite of Spring can leave you breathless. I also found a fascinating video clip on line of the two interviewed and playing excerpts (at one piano). The Concerto for 2 Pianos is a large four-movement work not heard often enough and rarely in as strong a performance as here. Conlon Nancarrow wrote his Sonatina for player piano, but it was arranged for piano 4 hands by Yvar Mikhashoff—explicitly approved by the composer. Arnulf Herrmann wrote his three-movement Hausmusik in deference to the styles and traditions of playing piano duets at home back in the 19th Century, but in a decidedly modern harmonic language. For variety, performance, sound, booklet, and uncovering new works, my choice this time around is Duo Takahashi-Lehmann.

Bach und Brahms sind die bindenden Glieder des vorliegenden CD-Programms. Sie dienten sowohl Max Reger als auch Adolf Busch als Vorbilder. Justus Weinreich war sogar ein Zeitgenosse von Brahms. Über diesen Karlsruher Komponisten ist wenig gewusst. Die hier eingespielten drei Viola-Suiten sind diskographische Weltpremieren. Die drei Komponisten stehen für die Renaissance der Solo-Suite, die sie mit ihrem musikalischen Vokabular neu beleben. Dazu gehört zunächst die Wahl der Viola, die somit zu unverhofften Ehren kommt.

Roland Glassl zeigt uns, welches Potenzial sich in diesem Instrument verbirgt. Er lässt seine Viola singen und tanzen, kostet mit viel Fantasie und Spielfreude jeden Farbtupfer, jede Nuance seines Instrumentes aus und schafft es mühelos, während des (doch langen) 80-minütigen Programms, Eintönigkeit und Einsilbigkeit zu vermeiden.

Roland Gassl plays colorfully and with a lot of fantasy. The Weinreich Suites are world premiere recordings.

Herb, mit ungeschöntem Zugriff, bis an die Grenze des Brutalen richtet Patricia Kopatchinskaja den Blick auf die klaffenden Wunden, die diese Partitur eben auch offenbart. Und der Finalsatz ist trotz des Sehnsuchtstons doch ein einziger Seelentaumel.

Ins hymnische Land der Schwärmerei lädt [...] das Konzertstück für vier Hörner ein – dank der vier Bravour-Hornisten des WDR Sinfonieorchesters Köln.

I haven’t heard any of the previous releases, but if the new Volume V Super Audio CD is anything to go by, then I’ve really been missing something. [...] Their playing here certainly bears that out, with a fine sense of shape and form never compromising the warmth and spontaneity of the playing.

Evidemment connu comme compositeur prolifique de musique de chambre, de...