Regers "Cinq pieces pittoresques" sprudeln nur so vor geschliffenem Witz, in koketter Agogik pointiert dargeboten. Im orchestralen Satz von Rachmaninows Suite Op. 17 erreicht das Duo bewundernswerte Transparenz, besticht mit blitzender Präzision

Spannungsvolle Tempi, feinst ausgearbeiteter Klavieranschlag und Celloton und ein unbedingter Wille zum Dienst an der Musik ermöglichen zusammen mit hervorragender Aufnahmetechnik [...] Interpretationen, die besonders stark aufhorchen lassen.

La más reciente edición de los International Classical Music Awards (ICMA), fue celebrada el pasado 12 de abril en el Palau de la Música, de Valencia. Entre los ganadores destacó la casa audite, colaboradora de este sitio con una excelente grabación de las actuaciones del icónico Herbert von Karajan en el Festival de Lucerna entre 1952 y 1957.

Se trata de una compilación en 3 CD's que aborda la obra del conductor en el marco del más importante Festival de musica clásica del mundo en la época cumbre de su carrera, habiendo sido nombrado conductor principal de la Filarmónica de Berlin en 1956.

Durante 4 décadas von Karajan fue uno de los personajes imperdibles del festival. Esta compilación, nunca antes editada, rescata interpretaciones magistrales del conductor durante la época de reconstrucción de su carrera tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

En la compilación es posible encontrar, repartidos en 3CD, temas de grandes compositores como Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Bach o Honegger. Todos ejecutados con el brío, la maestría y el particular estilo del polémico director.

Como mencionaba al inicio de esta entrada, esta compilación ha sido galardonada por la prestigiosa International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) como mejor grabación histórica. La consideran una pieza fundamental para entender el elevado estatus que alcanzaría el Director en los años posteriores.

Para los seguidores de von Karajan y, de la música clásica en general, esta compilación será una pieza central de su colección.

Se encuentra disponible en formato CD y descarga digital a través de la web de audite.

Debussy's “Petite Suite”, here in wind quintet arrangement, drips with nostalgia – both explicitly in the idylls of the first movement 'En bateau', and implicitly in the final movements' Baroque flavours. The ARUNDOSquintett's mellow, insinuating playing brings these moods deliciously to life. Elsewhere, Nielsen's Wind Quintet finds the composer in gracious, almost Mozartean form, while in Kevin Beavers's Quintet the players tease out the woodwind family's more skittish qualities.

Just as the musical world has moved on from the polarity of authentic versus modern performance, here comes the A-word again. This recital's claim to authenticity is first and foremost based on Francois Dumont's 1891 Erard piano, from the Musee de la Musique in Paris, illustrated in glossy photos in the digital booklet; its sound is light and transparent but not heard to its best advantage, I fear. The notes also bring up Marc Coppey's cello-playing as a marker of authenticity. But here the argument is soggy, resting on the assertions of his 'fully engaging with the fluid rhetoric of Faure's musical language' and eschewing 'a perpetual espressivo, which would be stylistically incongruous'.

Well, it's true that Faure's scores are not burdened by excessive indications, but espressivo certainly appears regularly, not least in the First Sonata. And whatever the theory, the cello sound falls short in terms of charm, sophistication and eloquence. The shortcomings of the current disc are particularly apparent in comparison with existing recordings, of which there are more than might be expected and whose numbers may swell as the centenary year proceeds. Particularly short-changed are those pieces that balance poise with pathos, such as the famous Elégie. Compare here the austerity and dryness of Coppey and Dumont with the elegantly weighted sound world of Isserlis and Devoyon or the quiet wistfulness of Gagnepain and Dayez on period instruments.

As with those discs, at the heart of Coppey and Dumont's programme are the two late sonatas. These are a far cry from the Fauré of sweet melodies and salon-music airiness. Darkly serious and densely textured, each sonata is a kaleidoscope of complex and unexpected harmonies and rhythmical patterns. The First, composed in 1917, clearly carries the scars of the Great War and its associated disillusionments; the jagged lines and a general feeling of unease of the first movement lead to a posttraumatic and elusive second and an impatiently flowing finale. Belonging to the period following Faure's resignation from the Conservatoire due to health issues, not least his incipient deafness, the Second Sonata is marked by greater inwardness and withdrawal, and even the playfulness of the dialogue of melodies in the first movement is now surrounded by a melancholic haziness. The second movement, echoing ' the Elégie, is a transcription of a funeral march composed for the centenary of Napoleon's death, to be performed at Les Invalides. Here again, I find Coppey and Dumont merely plodding, where Isserlis and Devoyon are majestic, and Gagnepain and Dayez are poetically mournful.

The interleaved shorter pieces return us to the Fauré of salon music, from the undulating melodies of the Sicilienne (originally incidental music to Moliere's Le bourgeois gentilhomme) to the sunlit, Catalan-tinted Sérénade (dedicated to Casals) and the rather insignificant but charming Morceau de lecture for two cellos (one of Fauré's conservatoire exam pieces). There is also the obligatory 'Après un rêve' in Casals's arrangement, here stark and direct rather than amorous and longing. The closing Berceuse from the Dolly suite in Coppey's arrangement is no match for the magical ending of Isserlis's disc, with its original version of the Op 67 Romance for cello and organ recorded in a church setting. If authenticity is still a thing, that fits the bill far more persuasively.

An illuminating contemporary illustration of English consort music is found in the beautifully produced album “On Byrd’s wings” (audite, issued 2023) by sopranos Dorothee Mields and Magdalene Harer, the Boreas Quartett Bremen, the Hathor Consort (of viola da gambas) and lutenist Ryosuke Sakamoto. Covering the music of Byrd (who dominates the album with nine pieces, both vocal and instrumental), Henry Lawes, Thomas Campion, Robert Johnson, Orlando Gibbons and Thomas Simpson, a demonstrative confessional and chronological range is provided to illustrate and colour an aural picture of post-Reformation English consort music. Recorded at St Cosmas and Damien church, Lunsen, the setting provides a somewhat provocative spatial reminder that this music was intended for intimate secular settings, softly furnished and with challenging acoustics, quite unlike the sharp enhancing quality of this church. Recording in this space helps to reveal the technical workings of the English consort music included on the album, in both the finely tuned and distinctive voice of two talented sopranos, and the expressive instrumentalists. The confident and concise liner notes, with text by Nike Keisinger, translated by Viola Scheffel, provide a valuable explanation of the themes and justification for the choice of music, recognizing the practical limitations and realities of the spatial context of early modern domestic music-making, and the intimate relationship this world exercised with the public world of theatre. These themes are drawn out in the recording, the clarity of the singers’ voices marking the distinction of the text, and emphasizing the significance of poetic-consort performance. Further discussion might have been provided regarding the melancholic themes of many of the pieces, particularly given their religious resonances with both Catholic and Protestant early modern minds. Nonetheless, the recording is produced to a high quality, and provides a timely reminder of Byrd’s poetic and dramatic connections, illustrating the point clearly that, unlike today, Byrd was just as well known and appreciated for his domestic consort music as he was for his church anthems.

Ab wie vielen Musikern braucht ein Ensemble eigentlich einen Dirigenten? Wie lange können die einzelnen Mitglieder den Gesamtklang noch unabhängig bewerten, wann ist ein akustischer, stilistischer Supervisor vonnöten? Nun, es geht nicht selten bis hoch zum Nonett. Und auch etliche Kammerorchester werden vom Konzertmeister-Pult geführt und klingen durchweg exzellent, ohne dass jemand von außen die Hörner zurückgepfiffen oder etwas mehr Vibrato bei den Violoncelli verlangt hätte.

Auch das Arundos-Bläserquintett greift auf externe Beratung vermutlich nur selten zurück, die fünf Mitglieder verfügen selbst über genügend interne Bewertungskompetenz. Das kann man auch von der neuen und zweiten CD des Ensembles mit Sicherheit sagen. Sie heißt „Saga“ (beim Label audite) und schickt den Hörer auf eine Erlebnis- und Fantasiereise, die von vier ungewöhnlich schönen, schillernden, sinnenfrohen Stücken animiert wird.

Das ist zunächst die bezaubernde „Petite suite“ von Claude Debussy in einem Arrangement von Gordon Davies. Sodann das schmeichlerische, überhaupt nicht ungemütlich modern klingende Quintett von Kevin Beavers (1971 geboren), einer Auftragsarbeit der Arundos-Musiker. Das Quintett „La Nouvelle Orleans“ von Lalo Schifrin jongliert lasziv mit Mustern aus Blues und Ragtime. Und das „Kvintet“ des dänischen Komponisten Carl Nielsen ist eine herrliche Spielerei mit der Musikgeschichte, bei der man den Einfluss Mozarts vergnügt spürt. Alles lauter Musik also zur Steigerung des Wohlgefühls.

Die fünf Musiker sind erstklassig, jedes Instrument wird meisterlich betreut: Anna Sahas schwebend-leichte Flöte, Yoshihiko Shimos zauberische Oboe, Christine Stemmlers intensiv-schöne Klarinette, Lisa Rogers‘ virtuoses Horn, Yuka Maehrles famoses Fagott. Ihre Kommunikation funktioniert also ohne Dirigentenstöckchen, einzig durch wachen Blick, durch das gemeinsame Atmen – und durch wirklich faszinierende Musikalität.

[…] Bringing to light unfamiliar repertory remains high on the agenda of HIP ensembles. Though a finite resource, many works remain unrecorded and await the opportunity to reach wider audiences. Particularly welcome, therefore, is la festa musicale’s recording of Gregor Joseph Werner’s Requiem in C minor (1763)—the striking texture of two trombones bringing it into relevance in this review, in Gregor Joseph Werner: Vol.II: Requiem (audite 97808, issued 2022). As Joseph Haydn’s predecessor at the Esterházy court, Werner projects a powerful voice through his contrapuntal style and precedes many devices subsequently used in the requiems by Michael Haydn (1771) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1791), both of whom use the trombones to dramatic effect through the use of timbral doubling in the choir and more exposed passagework. One is left wondering how such a pioneering work has remained in the shadows for so long. la festa musicale’s control of shaping creates a poignant framework for beautiful dissonances, interwoven by Voktett Hannover and an impressive solo quartet. […]

What do these recordings tell us about the outlook for wind and brass in early music in the current climate? Firstly, they highlight the potential for new writing on old instruments in bringing people together and building a wider community; the crowd-funding approach for Northern Soul shows how a new work can revitalize and revisit old practices. Secondly, they demonstrate that new technical boundaries can be emulated and often broken—though performing artists of the 17th and 18th centuries reached the apogee of their crafts, one should not assume that the same accomplishments may not be achieved by performers today, despite the modern sound world within which we inhabit. Thirdly, they show the value of continued efforts to record unfamiliar repertory—Werner’s Requiem must, surely, be heard as an essential precursor to those by Michael Haydn and Mozart and deserves more attention on the concert platform. The foreboding use of trombones, executed with grace by Alexander Brungert and Cas Gevers, provides one of the most tragic timbres of 18th-century writing. I find it a tantalizing opportunity to inspire a new work—one can only wonder what possibilities could emerge for a 21st-century requiem for chorus with trombones. With motivation and commitment, there is tremendous potential for wind and brass projects in early music: rich horizons indeed.

[…] Creating a dialogue with new music is also a subtext running through the Boreas Quartett Bremen album, Between spheres (audite 97.784, issued 2023). I suspect that the recorder consort has one of the most longstanding relationships with contemporary music for an early music ensemble; indeed, in my experience the recorder is one of the instruments most commonly to be found juxtaposing old and new in recital programmes (a hunch that would benefit from an empirical study!). The Boreas Quartett Bremen sustain a broad-minded approach to their repertory, drawing upon a seemingly infinite range of colours to illuminate the counterpoint of their varied and provocative music. Most striking of their programme is the way in which works by Alessandro Poglietti (c.1600–83) and Markus Schönewolf (b.1977) interlace; despite some 300 years of distance, the music of these two composers for recorders creates a fitting pairing. The Boreas Quartett succeed in their mission ‘to invite the listener to join them on a musical journey which makes the centuries between the compositions fade away’. […]

What do these recordings tell us about the outlook for wind and brass in early music in the current climate? Firstly, they highlight the potential for new writing on old instruments in bringing people together and building a wider community; the crowd-funding approach for Northern Soul shows how a new work can revitalize and revisit old practices. Secondly, they demonstrate that new technical boundaries can be emulated and often broken—though performing artists of the 17th and 18th centuries reached the apogee of their crafts, one should not assume that the same accomplishments may not be achieved by performers today, despite the modern sound world within which we inhabit. Thirdly, they show the value of continued efforts to record unfamiliar repertory—Werner’s Requiem must, surely, be heard as an essential precursor to those by Michael Haydn and Mozart and deserves more attention on the concert platform. The foreboding use of trombones, executed with grace by Alexander Brungert and Cas Gevers, provides one of the most tragic timbres of 18th-century writing. I find it a tantalizing opportunity to inspire a new work—one can only wonder what possibilities could emerge for a 21st-century requiem for chorus with trombones. With motivation and commitment, there is tremendous potential for wind and brass projects in early music: rich horizons indeed.

This is the Klavierduo Neeb’s second release; their first disc featured works with percussion (audite 97.813) but here sister and brother Sophie and Vincent go it alone. They open with Schubert’s delightful Variations on an original theme, written in the summer of 1824 when the composer was briefly distracted from the reality of his declining health by his engagement to teach the Princesses Maria and Caroline Esterházy at the Esterházy country residence in what was then Hungary. The sunny nature of these variations is just one expression of his secret feelings for the Princess Caroline; I say sunny but the jaunty little march theme is bittersweet at times and this continues into the variations. Though these include standard variation fare – triplets in the first and seventh, semiquaver runs in the second and fourth and a minor key variation that hints at the slow movement of Beethoven’s seventh symphony – the craft and imaginative writing is a far cry from the note-spinning fluff that was the fashion of the age. I love the youthful liveliness of the Neeb’s playing who bring glorious buoyancy to the rhythms and wonderful clarity in their interplay.

On the first disc they included their own transcription of the allegro from Mozart’s C major Piano Concert K.467 and they continue with Vincent’s arrangement of Bach’s Concerto for two keyboards and strings BWV 1062, itself an arrangement by Bach of his concerto for two violins in D minor. Its clean lines and sparkling rhythms are captured marvellously by the duo in their unfussy performance. They skip forward to a composer who greatly admired and was influenced by Bach, Max Reger and his pièces pittoresques. These five pieces were written at Reger’s parents’ house where he was recovering from the debilitating toll that military service and alcohol had had upon him and the time spent there must have done him a power of good if these engaging and humorous pieces are anything to go by. Like most of his early works for four hand these are dances and exuberant ones at that; Reger’s characteristically rich texture, rather Brahmsian at times, does nothing to dampen their high spirits and rambunctious nature. The first is a rollicking burlesque with a comic, almost drunken, tripping gait that the Neeb siblings respond to magnificently as they do in the fast symphonic waltz, no. 2, the scherzo-like no. 3, the enigmatic slow waltz and swirling fast waltz of no. 4 that combine toward the end and the dazzling fireworks of the final piece that for all its complex virtuosity ends in tranquillity. These are doubtless the least familiar pieces in this recital and I was very happy to make their acquaintance.

They end on two pianos once more with Rachmaninov’s second suite, composed in that fertile period that also produced the C minor Piano Concerto and the Cello Sonata. Although the March isn’t as driven as it is often heard it is still vigorous the duo bring plenty of light and shade. The winners here for me are the Romance, Rachmaninov’s early and passionate love duet and the Tarantelle finale that is muscular and dazzling, full of rhythmic snap but with space to breathe in its more lyrical moments.

The recorded sound here is excellent and the program is well thought out. The optimistic music of composers emerging from darker times is a nice connecting theme and if the Bach connection is mainly to Reger it is also a personal one to the duo themselves through the transcription. The programme is titled Sparks of Spirit and spirit is clear in every note of the playing, oozing with joy and character. A lovely recital.