Erno” Dohnányi is the least celebrated of the seminal triumvirate of twentieth-century Hungarian composers; Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók have become household names, yet Dohnányi’s posthumous fame hangs upon an unrepresentative handful of compositions. This recording brings together three of his finest chamber works; the two masterful yet hugely contrasting Piano Quintets, and his remarkable essay in that most underutilized of instrumental genres, the string 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
The young American pianist Claire Huangci, winner of the first prize and the Mozart prize at the 2018 Geza Anda Competition, continuously captivates audiences with her “radiant virtuosity, artistic sensitivity, keen interactive sense and subtle auditory dramaturgy” (Salzburger Nachrichten). With an irrepressible curiosity and penchant for unusual repertoire, she proves her versatility with a wide range in repertoire spanning from Bach and Scarlatti, to Bernstein, Gulda, and Corigliano.
Woldemar Bargiel was a German composer. Bargiel was the half brother of Clara Schumann. (…) Besides teaching and composing, Bargiel served with Brahms as co-editor of the complete editions of Schumann's and Chopin's works. While Bargiel did not write a lot of music, most of what he composed was well thought out and shows solid musical craftsmanship. His chamber music—he wrote four string quartets, a string octet and three piano trios—represents an important part of his output.
In her first chamber music album Claire Huangci- together with Solenne Païdassi, violin Adrien Boisseau, viola and Tristan Cornut, cello- devotes herself to two works by Maurice Ravel and Ernest Chausson. As the debut album of Trio Machiavelli and Adrien Bosseau as support for Chausson, this album is a calling card that is worth seeing. Claire Huangci, the young American pianist of Chinese descent and 2018 Geza Anda Competition first prize and Mozart prize winner, has succeeded in establishing herself as a highly respected artist, captivating audiences with her "radiant virtuosity, artistic sensitivity, keen interactive sense and subtle auditory dramaturgy" (Salzburger Nachrichten). Her unusually diverse repertoire, in which she also takes up rarely performed works, is illustrative of her remarkable versatility.
Ferenc Fricsay died at only 48 years of age – suffering a death from illness that was as tragic as it was untimely. Even though Fircsay’s career as a recording artist barely lasted 12 years, almost every connoisseur of Classical music considers him a legend, the epitome of the enlightened master conductor, who was good at everything he touched, a role model for figures like Abbado or Harnoncourt. The sleek and slender aspects of Ferenc Fricsay’s conductorial style paved the way for many facets of what we consider informed conducting today, especially in Mozart, and he still (almost) equalled Furtwängler in transcendental romanticism – when it suited the music.