[…] 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.

On peut soupçonner l’album d’être construit autour de la » Totentanz « transportée à l’orgue par Anna-Victoria Baltrusch. Tour de force bluffant de la transcriptrice et de l’exécutante pour une pièce qui appelait si peu cet instrument et lui résiste dans les passages en notes répétées et en glissandos. L’orgue de la Hofkirche de Lucerne, avec ses jeux spatialement dispersés, lui fournit quelques effets métaorchestraux plaisants.

Moins plaisantes sont les trois pièces canoniques, présentées comme des showpieces de pure virtuosité, dans lesquelles les mêmes effets d’orchestration se retrouvent avec moins d’à-propos, assortis de contrastes faciles et de rubatos téléphonés. On pourra éventuellement dire que le décousu de » B.A.C.H. « renoue avec l’esprit rhapsodique de l’improvisation que fut sans doute, à l’origine, ce prélude et fugue si peu diptyque ; en revanche, il est difficile de justifier l’atomisation de la forme d’» Ad nos « et surtout de » Weinen, Klagen « en un défilé de clichés techniquement étincelants (sauf les fugues d’» Ad nos «, étonnamment dénervées) mais d’où toute poésie est radicalement bannie.

Pour rendre leur musique à ces trois chefs-d’œuvre, vous avez l’embarras du choix : la virtuosité de Pierre Labric (Solstice), l’intelligence analytique de Jean-Pierre Leguay (Festivo) ou bien le romantisme altier de Louis Robilliard (Festivo) sans oublier, pour » Ad nos «, le retour aux sources d’Yves Rechsteiner (Alpha) sur le somptueux Ladegast de Schwerin.

Neue CDs mit Alter Musik in SWR Kultur, mein Name ist Bettina Winkler. Als...

unpretentious music that reveals all its emotion to the listener in its purest form without ever overdoing it. On this album, the sound is also excellent.

Franziska Pietsch (Violine), Sophia Reuter (Viola) und Hila Karni (Violoncello) gelingt ihr Zusammenspiel so perfekt, dass man auf die Idee kommen könnte, die „Erfindung“ des Streichquartetts oder gar größerer Streicherbesetzungen wären schlicht überflüssig gewesen. Was die drei Streicherinnen hier auf die Bühne stellen, hat einfach alles: orchestrale Größe, klangliche Balance, lupenreine Linienführung, eine virtuose Dynamik und einen Drive, der im zentralen Vivace wirklich Staunen macht.

Die Triosonaten von Johann Sebastian Bach sind einzigartige Werke von großer Schönheit. Die drei selbstständigen Stimmen sind auf die rechte und die linke Hand sowie auf die Füße verteilt und die Werke sind von stupender Ausgewogenheit und besitzen wunderbare Melodien. Dies alles wird in der Interpretation von Martin Neu an der Ahrend-Orgel zu St. Otto von Herzogenaurach sehr deutlich. Vor allem besticht Neu durch ein Spiel, das ohne den üblichen Weihrauchgeruch auskommt und dem Hörer Bachs Musik nicht als religiöses Heiligtum, sondern als absolute Musik nahebringt. Dabei zögert Neu nicht, virtuos und sehr dynamisch vorzugehen, was Bachs Musik somit sehr lebendig und direkt wirken lässt. Das Klangbild ist erfreulich transparent, sensibel und hell, was die Durchsichtbarkeit fördert und diese 6 Triosonaten zu einem feinen Hörgenuss werden lässt.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s trio sonatas are unique works of great beauty. The three independent parts are divided between the right and left hands as well as the feet, and the works are stunningly balanced and have wonderful melodies. Martin Neu’s interpretation on the Ahrend organ at St. Otto’s in Herzogenaurach brings all this to the fore. Above all, Neu’s playing is captivating, without the usual smell of incense, and brings Bach’s music to the listener not as a religious shrine, but as absolute music. Neu does not hesitate to take a virtuoso and very dynamic approach, which makes Bach’s music seem very lively and direct. The sound is pleasantly transparent, sensitive and bright, which promotes transparency and makes these 6 trio sonatas a fine listening pleasure.

Er [Martin Neu] nähert sich dem Sechsteiler, der in scheinbar endloser Folge Melodien, Kontrapunkte und experimentelle Formen entwickelt, mit der Neugier eines Schülers und veredelt sie durch seltene Interpretationskunst und technische Meisterschaft.

Cet album est un bel hommage à Fauré ; il rappelle la place qu’occupe Marc Coppey sur la scène internationale du violoncelle et permet d’écouter la superbe sonorité de son Goffriller. Quant à la présence du piano Érard, que joue François Dumont avec souplesse, elle fait connaître un instrument de qualité, judicieusement sorti du musée.

Some 12 years have passed since my previous review of Bach’s Six Trio Sonatas for organ. On that occasion (1/12) I praised Robert Quinney’s ability to squeeze a wide variety of colours from the modest 22-stop 1965 Frobenius in The Queen’s College, Oxford. In this new recording for audite, Martin Neu has at his disposal the slightly larger two-manual newish Ahrend instrument in the church of St Otto in the Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach. One is immediately struck by the immediacy of the recorded sound, which is not so close that the listener is distracted by action noises (which are almost non-existent) or the individual speech of each pipe but which allows Bach’s inexhaustible invention and artful counterpoint to be enjoyed to the full.

Neu generally favours the use of 8ft diapason registers, especially in opening movements, keeping his mutations and upper work in reserve for the more emotionally charged Adagio and Largo movements. Sonata No 1 in E flat begins at a steady, almost dainty allegro, rhythmically incisive and well behaved. Syncopations bounce just as they should. The central Adagio is highly effective and beautifully contoured before we return to a sprightly finale with its almost balletic pedal part.

The Second Sonata in C minor is notable for its first movement’s sparkling runs and what must surely be one of Bach’s most satisfying ‘walking basses’. Did Jacques Loussier’s Trio ever record this? While Neu takes the middle movement too slowly, he more than makes up for this in the third movement, which has an almost plectral quality.

Other highlights include the middle Adagio e dolce of Sonata No 3, where every iota of chromatic feeling is savoured and lingered over. Similarly, the central movement of the Sonata No 4 is deliciously limpid and the use of a gentle tremulant in Sonata No 5 provides an attractive timbral contrast.

Needless to say that Neu’s performances are note-perfect with rock-steady tempos, judicious use of ornamentation and a thorough sense of balance.