De volle, warme, fluwelen en bronzen klank, de homogene alt en het fraai gedoseerde vibrato van Maureen Forrester zijn buitengewoon en maken haar tot één van de belangrijkste alten van de tweede helft van de 20e eeuw. De uitgave bevat een CD-boekje met een grondig en kundig essay van Heribert Henrich [...]

Lucchesini plays with brilliant deftness, while the Cremona Quartet demonstrate their trademark combination of Italianate flair and immaculate ensemble.

Nacido en una familia de banqueros cultos, los Franck de Breslau, Richard (1858-1938) gozó con la tradición señorial de una casa vi itada por Schumann, Chopin, Wagner, Heine y tantos otros protagonistas culturales del romanticismo. Su padre Eduard fue alumno de Mendelssohn y él compartió estudios, entre otros, con Reinecke. Destacó al piano, dando conciertos como solista y en conjuntos de cámara. Asimismo, subió al podio sinfónico.

Su obra recorre variedad de géneros pero el instrumento que fue su querencia ocupa en ella un lugar de privilegio, tanto solo como integrando conjuntos, tales los que aparecen en este compacto. Si hubiera que señalar una virtud decisiva en su música, habría que repetir la que hallaron en ella colegas y críticos: su sinceridad, su franqueza. Supo defenderse, por así decirlo, de las turbulencias estéticas que le tocó presenciar, cultivando una fidelidad destilada al tardío romanticismo de sus primeros años. Renunció, en cambio, a la repetición escolar y consabida de los grandes ejemplos. No faltó, como consecuencia, a su tarea, un elemento personal que se añade a la herencia del cuarteto para piano y arcos que luce en el siglo XIX (Schumann, Brahms, Dvorák, sin ir más lejos): su melodismo desenvuelto y fresco, que hace cantar, en alternancia, a los arcos y al teclado, sin alterar la estructura consabida de las obras. Aun en el llamado Cuarteto en un solo movimiento del opus 41, la forma cuatripartita, reducida y concentrada, se respeta de modo leal.

La obra de este Franck muestra cómo el talento imaginativo de un compositor puede valerse de utensilios reconocidos y heredados, sin perder por ello la libertad y la espontaneidad de sus ocurrencias.

Japanische Rezension siehe PDF!

Okay, let's go right up front here: I'm breaking my own rules. This is supposed to be a blog that reviews live arts performances, as the title clearly states. And this review is not of a live performance, but of a recording. But hey, if a fellow can't break his own rules, whose rules can he break?

My justification is that this recording features a Canadian ensemble, the Cheng²Duo, which I have reviewed four times in live performance, and in two cases playing music which is now included on this debut recording. That may be a thin rationale to some of my readers, but what truly intrigued me was the growth and development of the music over time and in the recording studio.

First, here are the links to the previous blog posts which reviewed the music involved in the CD, and included some comments about the development of the Duo's performance:

Travelling With Music
Germany, Russia and France with the Cheng²Duo

And so to the recording. This impressive CD debut, entitled Violoncelle français, presents a recital of music from France bridging across the last decades of the nineteenth century and the first of the twentieth century. The composers represented are Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Franck, and Debussy. The music is an intriguing mixture of small character pieces, which might be termed "salon music," one theatre piece, and two larger chamber works.

With such a blend of styles comes the need for varied styles of performance as well. The shorter character works, such as the Faure Sicilienne and Elegie, or the Swan of Saint-Saëns, receive performances in lush, rich sound that yet doesn't overpower the simpler character of the music.

Debussy's Sonata is given an interpretation of dramatic contrasts, as the music demands.

At the heart of the recording is the Franck Sonata in A Minor, and here was where I really noticed a difference from the two occasions when I heard the Cheng²Duo perform the work live. What a totally involving account of this wonderful score! The difference is a matter of quality which is not easy to define: an increase in intensity, a deeper digging into the essence of the music, a stronger sense of the drama of the music expressed in restraint rather than excess.

I'd be intrigued to know whether this comes from the closer observation of the microphones, or from the process of the work in studio with multiple takes interspersed with listening to playbacks and discussing the results before continuing.

What was quite clear, after multiple listenings, was that this is an interpretation of the Franck Sonata to live with, and to return to frequently. This one work alone would make the recording a worthwhile acquisition, and then there are such riches in the rest of the programme as well.

The recording from the German label Audite is impressive, with clear, present sound set in a believable acoustic so the instruments are neither too close nor too distant. The CD album comes with an impressive booklet of generously detailed programme notes.

I'll close with two footnotes. One was that I also pulled out my recording of the original violin version of the Sonata for comparison. Sad to say, it's been eclipsed. I now have to go shopping for another and better recording with violin.

The other footnote is that the next recording from the Cheng²Duo is going to be a recital of music from Spain. I have a real "thing" for Spanish music – maybe I was Spanish in a previous life – so it's going to be a long year to wait for that one to be issued!

Japanische Rezension siehe PDF!

2007 als Quintett gegründet, 2011 in eine Zehnerbesetzung erweitert, besteht ‘Salaputia Brass’ aus jungen Musikern, die hauptberuflich in bedeutenden Orchestern spielen, im Gewandhausorchester zu Leipzig, dem Gürzenichorchester Köln, dem Konzerthausorchester Berlin, oder dem Staatsorchester Hamburg…

Für ihre neue CD bei Audite haben sie sich etwas ganz Besonderes vorgenommen: sieben Auftragswerke, acht Uraufführungen und Ersteinspielungen bilden das anspruchsvolle Programm.

Die CD beginnt mit der verspielten 5-sätzigen ‘Brass Symphony’ des Schweizer Komponisten Daniel Schnyder. Das m.E. stärkste Stück der CD ist das fein differenzierte und raffiniert rhetorische ‘Brasserie Mediterrania’ des Katalanen Oriol Cruixent.

Peter Dörpinghaus, ein Mitglied des Ensembles, gibt ‘Salaputia’ in seinen ‘Bagatellen’ reichlich Gelegenheit, instrumental zu brillieren.

Von sprühendem musikalischem Humor ist ‘Airs and Atmospheres’ des Briten Derek Bourgeois, und beschlossen wird das abwechslungsreiche Programm mit einer reizvollen und virtuosen Fantasie über ‘I Got Rythm’, in der die Musiker einmal ihr Können brillant zur Schau stellen. Technisch wie musikalisch ist ‘Salaputia’ ein Spitzenensemble!

Here we have an ambitious program with first recordings of mostly commissioned works, committedly played by the technically and musically excellent ensemble Salaputia Brass.

Allein schon die Perfektion, mit der Ursula Fiedler das estländische Glöckchen-Lied singt, macht die CD zu einem Hörgenuss. Und zwar für jeden Tag des Jahres.

Accompagnée par de subtils pianistes : le légendaire Michael Raucheisen, Hertha Klust et Felix Schröder, on perçoit une nature musicale et fière de l’être, servie par une diction irréprochable, une technique quasi instrumentale parfaite et une voix aux sonorités riches admirablement maîtrisées.

Der vielseitige Musiker Heinz Holliger ist als Dirigent ein kenntnisreicher Schumann-Exeget, der zusammen mit dem Maßstäbe setzenden WDR-Orchester alles zum Leuchten, Glühen und Brillieren bringt, was der Komponist anstrebte: einfach schöne Musik aus dem Geist der pulsierenden und aktuellen Romantik, ungebrochen, aber nachhaltig reflektiert.