Alfred's Group Piano

This Deutsche Grammophon release captures an exceptional group of live performances from New York's Alice Tully Hall in early 2015. It was recorded well, mastered, and, remarkably, on sale by the end of April of that year. That's what the old major labels need more of: the agility to spot something good that's happening and follow through on it. The listener's eye may be drawn first to the name of Mahler on an album of piano quartets.

"Doll's House Story" composed 1985 for the Amadinda Percussion Group. "Pebble Playing In A Pot" composed 1978. "Second Construction" composed 1940. "Piano Phase" composed 1967. Digitally recorded in1986. Performing on a wide array of percussion instruments, including Polynesian log drums, Chinese gongs, tin cans, bicycle wheels, and frying pans, the Budapest-based Amadinda Percussion Group skillfully combine the masterpieces of percussion music, the work of contemporary Hungarian composers, and new compositions by bandmembers. Taking their name from an African-style instrument that they made themselves, the group continues to celebrate the joys of polyrhythmic music.

These two performances derive from a concert given at the 16th International Pharos Chamber Music Festival, Cyprus, in 2016. The performers involved clearly play together regularly, certainly at Pharos, apart from their impressive individual credentials. Some, like Yevgeny Sudbin and Alexander Chausian, have well established partnerships on record.

Berwald's is one of those names that lie on the fringes of our musical universe rather than in the centre: apart from the four symphonies, little of his music is much heard. I can't remember seeing either of the concertos in a public concert and his best-known orchestral piece, the Overture to Estrella de Soria, not included here, has also fallen from view in recent years. He is an unfailingly intelligent and original figure and his neglect is our loss.

Woldemar Bargiel - Trio Parnassus - Complete Piano Trios Vol. 1
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 260 MB | Full Artwork: 59 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Gold" # 303 0805-2 | Country/Year: Germany 1998
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Trio

"The Trio Parnassus has maintained a reputation as one of the finest piano trios in Germany from the latter-twentieth and early-twenty first centuries despite a fair number of personnel changes. The ensemble has developed a reputation for straddling two rather distinctive worlds in its repertory choices: while it plays standards from the Classical and Romantic periods, as well as many twentieth century and contemporary works, it has also devoted much time to the rediscovery of forgotten compositions by nineteenth century composers like Woldemar Bargiel, Joseph Rheinberger, Philipp Scharwenka, and several others…" ~allmusic