Schnabel

Artur Schnabel, identified above all with the music of Beethoven, was also a supreme interpreter of Schubert. Initially trained in Vienna, he played a crucial role in advocating the Austrian composer’s piano music at a time when such masterworks as the late sonatas enjoyed surprisingly little currency. By the time he started making these recordings, in the early 1930s, Schnabel was already a mature artist, and their essential lyricism is complemented by his characteristic rhythmic vitality and intellectual rigour. Newly remastered from original sources, these historic interpretations now benefit from audio quality of unprecedented truth and immediacy.

Artur Schnabel is remembered today by most as having been a great concert pianist who specialized in the music of Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann, the latter being the most "modern" composer to be performed by Schnabel; it might be assumed, therefore, that Schnabel's own music would be imspired by that of the classical period and that he avoided or disliked modernism. This was definitely not the case. Artur Schnabel was very reserved about his own music, hardly any of it being heard during his lifetime; he referred to himself as an "amateur composer" and to composing as a "sport" and due to the difficulty of most of his works, performances were relatively rare.

Artur Schnabel (1882-1951) was not only a gifted pianist, but also an accomplished composer who left behind three symphonies and five string quartets, among other works.

Das Ensemble setzt sich aus freischaffenden Musikern und Solisten diverser Schweizer Symphonieorchester zusammen. Seit 2009, anlässlich eines Gedenkkonzerts für Artur Schnabel in Schwyz, hat das Ensemble immer wieder die Kammerfassung von Mahlers 4. Symphonie aufgeführt. Die Musiker fühlen sich dabei in der Tradition der Gesellschaft für private Musikaufführungen, 1918 in Verbindung mit Arnold Schönbergs Kompositionsklasse gegründet. In der interessanten Kammerfassung von Klaus Simon wird das Werk auf genau die 14 Instrumente reduziert, die auch damals zur Verfügung standen – zuzüglich eines Solosoprans. Von besonderem Interesse sind auch die Lieder aus der Feder von Artur Schnabel, der ja eher als Pianist berühmt wurde.

Featuring chamber arrangements of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and a selection of Lieder by Schnabel, this is an unusual but charming release from the youthful Myrthen Ensemble with soprano Rachel Harnisch and conductor Graziella Contratto.

Italo-German composer Ferruccio Busoni was a titanic piano virtuoso and an architect of European modernism. Best known for his transcriptions of J.S. Bach and for his Piano Concerto, Fantasia Contrappuntistica, and opera Doktor Faust, Busoni revolutionized piano technique and opened up new harmonic concepts within boundaries of functional harmony. Busoni's idea of junge klassizität (renewed classicality) served as a building block for neo-classicism and his book remains influential. Busoni led a Berlin-based master class, training composers and pianists alike. Busoni was the son of an Italian clarinet virtuoso who was a harsh and demanding pedagogue.

Bien qu’il naquit Australien en 1882, le compositeur, pianiste et « arrangeur » Percy Grainger déroula la majeure partie de sa carrière en Europe jusqu’à la Première Guerre mondiale, puis aux États-Unis où il mourut en 1961. Il faut dire qu’à cette époque les grandes possibilités de carrière ne foisonnaient pas « Down Under » (expression anglo-saxonne utilisée pour désigner l'Australie et la Nouvelle-Zélande), alors que les grands centres musicaux se trouvaient à Berlin, Paris, Londres ou New York. Fortement influencé par Grieg dont il fut l’ami à la fin de la vie du maître norvégien, il se pencha sur bien des traditions nordiques et se fit le champion de la collecte de mélodies folkloriques scandinaves. Mais ce n’était là qu’un pan de sa carrière, puisqu’il fut aussi un pianiste virtuose très demandé, un accompagnateur apparemment génial, et un compositeur productif et inventif.