Dieses Album begreift den Livemitschnitt des Konzerts, das Rafael Kubelik am 8. September 1968 an der Spitze des damals als New Philharmonia Orchestra firmierenden Londoner Ensembles in Luzern dirigierte.

Eine in den schnellen Sätzen sehr vitale, im Adagio etwas düstere Interpretation der 99. Symphonie von Joseph Haydn eröffnet das Konzert. Darauf folgt eine rhythmisch straffe, kraftvolle und insgesamt sehr spannende Aufführung des Klavierkonzerts von Arnold Schönberg mit dem britischen Pianisten John Ogdon (1937-1989).

Die zweite CD enthält eine hoch dramatische Darbietung von Tchaikovskys Vierter Symphonie. Zwischen den explosiven, vor Energie berstenden Passagen gibt es wunderschön warme und farbige Momente voller Zärtlichkeit, und diese spontane Kontrastierung lässt die Musik ungemein spannend werden. Hic et nunc. Da passiert wirklich etwas in diesem ersten Satz, und die wie gehetzt wirkende Coda lässt erahnen, was alles noch folgen wird.

Der zweite Satz ist ungewöhnlich atmosphärisch, sehr mitteilsam und suggestiv. Direkt gespenstisch beginnt das Pizzicato des Scherzos, wie ein Vorspiel zu der Szene in Verdis Rigoletto, in dem die Höflinge Gilda entführen. Und auch der Rest ist sehr ungewöhnlich, sehr gestisch, stark akzentuiert und grell, orgiastisch im Sinne eines Hexensabbats. Der Spuk ist nach schnellen 5’15 vorbei. Ich kenne keine andere Aufnahme, in der für den dritten Satz so wenig Zeit beansprucht wird. Und danach explodiert der vierte mit unerhörter Gewalt.

Auch hier schüren die Kontraste die Spannung zwischen Kampf und Ruhe. Stark empfundene Rubati, elektrisierende Steigerungen lassen das Allegro con fuoco ungewöhnlich expressiv brennen.

Inwiefern das brutale Niederschlagen des Prager Frühlings durch die Russen im August 1968, also kurze Zeit vor diesem Konzert, den tschechischen Exilmusiker Kubelik in diesem Konzert revoltierend befeuerte – im Booklet ist ausführlich die Rede davon – muss Spekulation bleiben. Dass Kubelik an diesem 8. September ein außergewöhnlich kraftvolles, packendes Konzert dirigierte, ist nicht zu leugnen, und in der nicht gerade armen Hinterlassenschaft Kubeliks im Tonträgerbereich ist dies eine wichtige Bereicherung des Bestands.


This album comprehends the live recording of the concert conducted by Rafael Kubelik in Lucerne on September 8, 1968, at the head of the London ensemble then known as the New Philharmonia Orchestra.

A very vital interpretation of Joseph Haydn’s 99th Symphony in the fast movements, somewhat somber in the Adagio, opens the concert. This is followed by a rhythmically tight, powerful and altogether very exciting performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto with British pianist John Ogdon (1937-1989).

The second CD contains a highly dramatic performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. In between explosive passages bursting with energy, there are beautifully warm and colorful moments full of tenderness, and this spontaneous contrasting makes the music immensely exciting. Hic et nunc. There is really something happening in this first movement, and the very fast coda foreshadows all that is to follow.

The second movement is unusually atmospheric, very communicative and suggestive. The pizzicato of the Scherzo is highly expressive, like a prelude to the scene in Verdi’s Rigoletto in which the courtiers kidnap Gilda. And the rest is also very unusual, very gestural, accented and garish, orgiastic in the sense of a witches’ Sabbath. The haunting is over after a quick 5’15. I know of no other recording in which so little time is taken for the third movement. And after that the fourth explodes with unheard-of violence.

Here, too, the contrasts fuel the tension between struggle and calm. Strongly felt rubati, electrifying climaxes make the Allegro con fuoco burn unusually expressively.

To what extent the brutal suppression of the Prague Spring by the Russians in August 1968, i.e. shortly before this concert, revolted the Czech exile musician Kubelik – the booklet talks about it in detail – must remain speculation. That Kubelik conducted an exceptionally powerful, gripping concert on this September 8 is undeniable, and in Kubelik’s not exactly poor legacy of recordings, this is an important addition to the inventory.

In the small differences between Mussorgsky’s original piano score and Rimsky-Korsakov’s revision, Jimin Oh-Havenith sticks quite faithfully to the manuscript. That’s to say, ‘Bydlo’ begins ff (Rimsky suggests p poco a poco cresc) and stays that way until it fades away into the distance; the grace moves 21 bars before the end of ‘Baba-Yaga’ are omitted; though she does make a repeat (a la Rimsky) of the second section of ‘Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle’. The South Korean-born pianist, now resident in Germany, has made a careful study of the score. In fact care and caution are the watchwords here. A quaver rest in the right hand over a held minim in the left is duly and subtly observed. It’s all there – except this is more like Pictures in a Public Library. Exceptt for the opening of ‘Bydlo’, the viewer uptoes round the gallery, hardly daring to speak above a whisper. There seems little to engage the interest, for all the pictures are painted in the same range of beige and mottled green. Where are the vivid splashes of scarlet and ultramarine? ‘Tuileries’ is allegretto non troppo, but where is the caprice? Again, ‘Baba-Yaga’ is allegro con brio but hardly forace. Not, I’m afraid, a competitor against Richter, Andsnes, Diemer or Janis in their various personal responses to the exhibition.

Oh-Havenith makes a deeper impression with the four Scriabin items. Cool introspection seems to be her strongest card – I loved her handling of the two delicate Preludes and the B minor Prelude of Rachmaninov’s Op 32 – though in the C sharp minor Étude from Scriabin’s Op 42 set and in Rachmaninov’s B flat major Prelude from Op 23, she is comfortably at home delivering fiery passion with uninhibited élan. These are well played indeed, while in the final Rachmaninov Prelude in D flat Oh-Havenith has a vitality and range of colours almost entirely absent in the Mussorgsky. Enough to compensate for Pictures? Possibly, it depends if her programme appeals. Either way, superbly recorded in the Schafstall, Marienmünster, her chosen instrument, a sumptuously voiced Bösendorfer, is well worth hearing.

[...] Tchaikovsky ist wohl kaum je intensiver, in den Rubati und melodienseligen chiaroscuro-Stimmungen aufregender und persönlicher erklungen als damals in Luzern. [...] Wahrhafter kann Musik und deren Interpretation nicht sein. Ein Ereignis.

Das schön gestaltete und reich bebilderte Beiheft informiert über die Trost-Orgel und die lnterpretin und zeugt auch von der außergewöhnlichen Vielseitigkeit der Künstlerin

La prise de son dans une église berlinoise à l'acoustique ouverte, dispense un excellent relief sur les instruments.

Diese Neuerscheinung lohnt sich auf jeden Fall anzuhören. Das junge Quintett wurde 2013 an der Musikhochschule Köln gegründet: Anna Saha (Flöte), Yoshihiko Shimo (Oboe), Christine Stemmler (Klarinette), Lisa Rogers (Horn) und Yuka Maehrle (Fagott). Der Titel ihrer Debut-CD Origin = Ursprung: ein vieldeutiges Wort, bedeutet Herkunft, Heimat, Quelle, Identität. Alle Komponisten der CD ebenso wie das Quintett betrachten in gewisser Weise Nordrhein-Westfalen als ihre Heimat. Das „älteste“ Werk der CD ist auch vom berühmtesten Komponisten der CD, aber es sei gleich hinzugefügt, die anderen Komponisten brauchen sich nicht vor ihm, nämlich György Ligeti, zu verstecken. Seine Sechs Bagatellen entstanden 1953, noch in Ungarn. Diese von Geist sprühende Musik wurde von den damals kommunistischen Machthabern als zu formalistisch betrachtet, bei der Uraufführung in Budapest durfte der 6. Satz sogar nicht gespielt werden. Das Werk kam als allerdings vermutlich neueste, in diesem Falle aber eher klassizistisch, folkloristisch eingefärbte Musik, nicht gut beim Publikum an. Heute zeigt sie Witz im Allegro con spirito, Melancholie im bartókisch gefärbten Lamentoso und Virtuosität im Allegro grazioso mit einer schönen Flötenmelodie – später im Horn – über einem bewegten Ostinato und damit schon großes Können des damals erst 30jährigen Ligeti. Großes Können muss auch dem Quintett bescheinigt werden. Das zweitälteste Werk ist die Sonata II für Bläserquintett (1991/95) von Manfred Trojahn. Sehr anders als Ligeti, aber in seiner, Trojahns auffallend eigenständigen Machart, seiner ausgesprochen schönen, schillernden Akkorde zu Beginn, besonders im sehr starken 1. Teil, der zur Eröffnung des Museums für Sepulkralkultur in Kassel entstand. Später wurden dem Werk noch zwei weitere Sätze hinzugefügt: ein farbig instrumentiertes Scherzo mit einem fetzigen Hornschluss und ein Molto adagio, dass die Geste des 1. Teils wieder aufnimmt.

Thomas Blomenkamp, geboren 1955, stellt mit seinen Sept desserts rhythmiques von 2006 abwechslungsreiche Miniaturen, kleine Charakterstücke vor, in denen alle Mitglieder des ARUNDOSquintetts brillieren können. Als ein weiteres sehr originelles Werk entpuppt sich NGOMA aus dem Jahre 2020 von dem jetzt 30jährigen Komponisten Maximilian Guth. Laut der umfangreichen Booklet-Einführung bezeichnet das Wort Ngoma im Swahili die Interaktion von Musik, Trance, Rhythmus und Tanz. Diese Idee wird staunenswerter Weise umgesetzt. Mit diesem außereuropäisch inspirierten Werk kommt noch eine neue, andersartige Dimension auf die CD. Diese CD lässt die Farbigkeit des Bläserquintettsatzes, auch durch die Ausführungsbrillanz wunderbar aufleuchten. Sehr empfehlenswert.

The interplay between the New Philharmonia strings, winds, and brass resounds in superb clarity of line, sober but impassioned, a testament to joie de vivre that political intimidation cannot quell. [...] Highly recommended, and turn up the speakers.

The publicity for this new release states; “finally, a compendium featuring the complete Impromptus for harp.” Although no expert at all on the harp in terms of its repertoire or the technique to play it, I did find that idea intriguing. As Sarah O’Brien points out in the very useful liner [in German and English only] – many non-specialists might know the works by Fauré and possibly Pierné but probably little or nothing else – well that was me described to a tee. So a one-stop-shop to hear all the other works written for harp in that form was definitely appealing. What has impressed me far more than I was expecting is just how fine all of these works are. Usually on a compendium-type recital such as this it is reasonable to expect some works to be “lesser” and others “greater”. The consistent level of musical interest here is a delight. Especially since O’Brien has sprinkled the various Impromptus across the disc’s generous 80 minute playing time and interspersed them with very diverse repertoire from arrangements of Scarlatti to the Hindemith Sonata. Again, such mixed programming can on occasion feel too diverse, too disparate but here it is a complete triumph – even if I have not yet quite worked out why!

Of course a major “why” is the stunning playing of harpist Sarah O’Brien caught in rich and full sound by the Audite engineers. Although this is offered in just standard CD format (O’Brien’s previous Audite disc I see was a SACD) this is of demonstration class with the tonal and dynamic range of O’Brien’s playing quite beautifully caught. I must admit I expected this to be a “dip-into” disc – with individual pieces attractive and interesting but perhaps becoming a little wearing to experience in a single sitting. Not so at all – the sheer range and juxtapositions of musical styles makes for a compelling listen with the totality of the recital adding to the stature of individual works. The programming is intelligent and satisfying. The two ‘famous’ Impromptus are used to bookend the disc opening with the Pierné Impromptu-Caprice Op 9 and closing with Fauré’s Impromptu in D-flat major Op 86. In the liner – which takes the form of a “conversation” between O’Brien and Dr. Florian Hauser – Ms O’Brien makes the point that Fauré was helped by harpist Micheline Kahn to ensure that the piece was idiomatic and effective for the instrument. Elsewhere in the recital Ms O’Brien points to the influence of Italian harpist Clelia Gatti Aldrovandi who offered similar help to Hindemith, Mortari and Rota and without whom, she believes, Hindemith would not have been able to write the work he did. Wonderful though these two Impromptus are, a major part of the delight in this disc is the range of musical expression it contains. These two famous works have become a kind of aural shorthand for how a harp sounds with the music arabesquing away with arpeggios and hazy glissandi. Of course this is deeply characteristic and very beautiful but through her playing and her choice of repertoire O’Brien shows there is so much more muscle and sinew in harp playing as well alongside grace and elegance.

The Nino Rota Sarabanda e Toccata [tracks 14-15] and the Mortari Sonatina prodigio [16-18] are just two cases in point. The former opens with a neo-classical bardic sarabande with wonderfully rich and full chords and a stately elegance before the flowing toccata provides an attractive contrast. The Mortari follows similar neo-baroque lines with the opening Gagliarda reminiscent of Respighi in Ancient Airs and Dances mode. Intriguingly there appears to be almost no music by Virgilio Mortari in the recorded music catalogue [another version of this sonatina appears on the tactus label and a third performance on Naxos] although I do have sheet music of a rather nice arrangement for string quartet by him of Corelli’s La Follia. These modern reinterpretations of a baroque aesthetic sit very well alongside O’Brien’s own arrangements of baroque keyboard pieces. One – Rameau’s La poule [track 6] is instantly familiar in Repsighi’s orchestral garb as part of his suite The Birds. Another – track 2 – is Couperin’s charming Le Tic-Toc-Choc which bubbles along like a latter-day musical box quite delightfully. Apart from any musical merits, this piece shows the remarkable poise and control of O’Brien’s playing. The balance between the leading melody line and the gentle filigree of the accompaniment is stunningly achieved. In the liner/conversation O’Brien makes the point that she plays all the music in this recital on the same instrument and that the tonal range she achieves is down to technique and a profound understanding of how to manipulate the sound from the instrument. I emailed audite to query the instrument used because it sounds so beautiful and received the following reply from Ms O’Brien herself; “The harp is a concert grand harp (so only slightly smaller than a nowadays concert grand harp) but not smaller than a concert harp. In other words: The harp is an old Lyon&Healy style 17, made in Chicago. Harps in those days were slightly smaller (in height) than the harps made today.” All I can add to that is that it sounds magnificent throughout.

The placement of this Couperin work after the Pierné and before the two Jean Cras Impromptus is a good example of how skilful programming adds an intangible value to the entire disc. The crystalline beauty of the Couperin can be thought of as cleansing the aural palette before the impressionistic warmth and richness of the Cras. In recent years Jean Cras has been one of my most cherished composer discoveries but I had not yet encountered these two Impromptus and they are a pair of absolute gems. Enhanced no question by O’Brien’s poised and poetic playing. The first is marked Lent and this is very much in the tradition of the kind of French Impressionism that typifies this style of music as indeed does the companion Animé. Apparently these works are now being performed as ‘standards’ after years of neglect which does not surprise me at all.

Familiar to the harp fraternity but less well-known outside of it is the aforementioned Hindemith Sonata for Harp [tracks 7-9]. At a total playing time just short of eleven minutes this is the longest work on the disc and another work completely new to me but it proves to be an impressive and wholly convincing work. O’Brien points out that the Hindemith, Mortari and Rota works were all written around World War II and she suggests that their use of older musical forms (the Hindemith references an 18th century poem) was “an expression of longing for a past, purportedly idyllic world”. I wonder whether another consideration are the two main “limitations” of the modern harp; the fact that only eight fingers can be used at any one time and also that even with the most dextrous pedalling the rate of achievable harmonic change is slower than on other instantly chromatic instruments. Clarity of texture and relative harmonic stability are characteristics of classical and neo-classical music that are more aligned with the practicalities of harp playing. In the liner Ms O’Brien makes it clear that in her own arrangements of baroque music – the Scarlatti Sonata in E major K.380 is another unexpected delight – she is not seeking to simply emulate a harpsichord. Clearly the two instruments share the basic principle of plucked strings but the range of tone and timbral contrasts achieved here on the harp is way beyond that of a harpsichord and O’Brien’s control of that expressive range and her subtle use of rubato throughout the entire disc is of the very highest calibre.

The remaining works in the programme are a group of less well-known works even when the composers themselves are familiar names. Roussel’s work is the best known of these and dates from a period of rich and original creativity. The opus number of 21 places it after the unique Padmâvatî and the quirky Le festin de l'araignée but before Pour une fête de printemps or the Symphony No 2. It has quite bare textures and harmonies but shares the improvisational quality that O’Brien sees as a defining characteristic of the harp impromptu. Again the sheer lightness and clarity of articulation here is a joy. I must admit to enjoying Reinhold Glière’s Impromptu a lot. This is an unashamedly diatonic and song-like work that I suspect was warmly approved of by the Soviet State given its rather old-fashioned character for its 1947 composition date. The sheer depth of tone achieved on this recording is a wonder. The final Impromptus come from Guy Ropartz and Joaquin Rodrigo. Two works I had never heard but both again very attractive. Do not expect many/any Iberian influences in the Rodrigo – an innocent ear would have trouble placing this work’s nationality but that does not detract from its appeal. Likewise the Ropartz which was published in 1927 is very much in the tradition of the preceding French works. As an aside, I wonder why no British composers wrote any harp Impromptus?

As should be clear by now, this is a disc and a recital that has impressed me in every respect; wonderful music intelligently programmed played with sovereign technique and musical insight, beautifully recorded and attractively presented. I will leave the last word to Ms O’Brien who says in the liner; “I want to show the harp is not just a harp or a “cliché” but a fabulous instrument” – to which I would just add fabulously played. An unexpected contender for one of my recordings of the year.

A Bach disc recorded on one of the Bach area’s best preserved 18th century organs always piques the interest. Here, Bach’s music is coupled, slightly incongruously, with music from the Hanseatic north by Reincken and Scheidemann, and more promisingly, with music by the performer. Ann-Helena Schlüter is active as a pianist, organist, poet and composer, and the most interesting material here is perhaps her own work, which reveals creative use of the historic instrument within a modernist musical jacket. Some programme notes would have been welcome. Bach’s D minor trio sonata reveals just how appropriate Trost’s wealth of 8ft colour seems for chamber music textures. However, all is not well with Schlüter’s Bach playing more broadly, not least thanks to a general instability of pulse, punctuated by more fundamental and bizarre changes of underlying tempo. BWV 652, for example, commits the cardinal sin of collapsing at the ‘Alleluia’ (bar 187). The D minor Fugue BWV 565 dies an even more dramatic death from a seriously unwise crochet = c.115 to crochet = c.90 at the demi-semiquaver scales (bar 85). The Passacaglia, meanwhile is fatally compromised by the rallentandi inserted at the end of each variation., the sudden accelerando at bar 80, etc. In addition, Schlüter’s over-active and inconsistent articulation is incompatible with the dry acoustic and frequently leads to over accenting. Recording a Bach disc on this most significant of historic organs calls for a level of experience and musical maturity Ann-Helena Schlüter is, as yet, unable to master.

Koor, solisten, strijkersen bazuinen geven de dodenmis een waardige aura en veel variatie.