Dohnanyi Gulbamova

Webern's "Symphony" (op. 21) is like light passing through a slowly revolving prism, revealing irridescent hues you've never seen before. Following his "Passacaglia" (op. 1), which clarifies but doesn't break with the Romanticism of Brahms, Webern composed four masterful orchestral miniatures. "6 Pieces" (op. 6) and "5 Pieces" (op. 10) are incredibly brief, in the atonal style pioneered by Webern's teacher Schoenberg. They met with quite different fates – the "6 Pieces" provoked a "Le Sacre"-style riot at its Vienna premiere in 1913, and Webern fled into hiding. The "5 Pieces" wasn't publicly performed until 1924, at a festival in Zurich, 10 years after it was written. It was widely acclaimed, establishing Webern's international reputation.

Ernst von Dohnanyi (Ernő Dohnányi) was for many years a little known and unjustly neglected composer. Chandos' series of recordings of works performed by Matthias Bamert and the BBC Philharmonic significantly increased his profile, and are regarded as best examples of this repertoire.
2010 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Dohnanyi’s death. To commemorate this anniversary, Chandos has packaged the two Piano Concertos on one album, released on the Classics label.

Gaede Trio - Schubert / Matthus / Dohnányi
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 241 MB | Full Artwork: 97 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Tacet # TACET 72 | Country/Year: Germany 1998
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Classical Period, Contemporary

"…seldom has a string trio displayed such smooth tone and cultivated playing. Even more impressive are the apparent ease and balance; their early Schubert is calm but always so fresh and alert that it never sounds old-fashioned. This is a graceful, lilting performance; a few exaggerated phrases add colour without distorting the line (…) If this performance (Dohnanyi) fails to erase memories of the Heifetz-Primrose-Feuermann recording, it does replace that classic as the one I will listen to most often. It also reveals the Gaede's range: this could be three different ensembles, specialists in the Classical, Late-Romantic, and Expressionist repertoires." (Fanfare)

These are modern, big band, 21st-century readings of Brahms’s Second and Fourth Symphonies. Textures are clear and transparent, so that we hear details of inner voices and the felicities of the composer’s wind-writing for flutes and oboes. Timpani are also quite prominent. Tempos, especially in the Second Symphony’s first movement, strike me as a bit on the measured side, but still within the mainstream.

This is a grand, satisfying performance on almost every count. Its stature allows me for the moment to put aside the baggage of all earlier recordings and assess it on its own merits alone. In the first place, following on his successful Rheingold (Decca, 11/95), Dohnanyi conducts a well-paced, thought-through reading that at once creates dramatic excitement and attends to the longer view. From the opening storm right through to the Magic Fire Music there’s a welcome sense of forward movement everywhere, except in the middle of Act 2 where in places Dohnanyi slows down inordinately, allowing the score to become momentarily becalmed.

With all of Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, and Philips catalogs to choose from, why did producers pick for re-release Christoph von Dohnányi and the Cleveland Orchestra's recordings of Schumann's Second and Third symphonies? Among many others, they had Karajan and the Berlin, Solti with the Vienna, and Haitink with the Concertgebouw, so why pick Dohnányi and the Cleveland? Because they are digital recordings? Perhaps: the very word "digital" is still a potent talisman for listeners looking for a first and perhaps only recording.

The music of Hungarian composer Ernst von Dohnányi took a dive in concert program frequency after his death in the U.S. in 1960, when the fashion was for Bartók or still more progressive composers. It has been making a comeback, however, and this satisfying release by Britain's venerable Nash Ensemble, largely specialists in contemporary music, should only help it along. Dohnányi was classified as a conservative, and indeed there is a strong Brahmsian streak in his music.

Ernő Dohnányi (1877-1960) - Chamber Music Vol. I - Beethoven String Trio, Kocian Quartet (2007) {Praga PRD/DSD 250 237}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 375 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 175 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 45 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2007 Praga Digitals | PRD/DSD 250 237
Classical / Early 20th Century / Chamber Music

Brought together for the first time, this anthology of chamber music works ranges from the last flickers of neo-Germanic Romanticism to the nationalism of the early 20th century. Written by great Hungarian musician.

Another superb addition to Matthias Bamert's splendid series of recordings with the BBC Philharmonic of the orchestral music of Ernst von Dohnányi, this 2004 disc brings together three concerted works from the composer's early years in Tallahassee, FL. But although they were composed between 1946 and 1952, the Piano Concerto No. 2, the Violin Concerton No. 2, and the Concertino for harp and chamber orchestra all sound as if they could have been written between 1896 and 1914 in Budapest, Hungary: although war and fascism had driven Dohnányi from his place and time, it did not drive from him his place and time. Indeed, the works on this disc are just as tuneful and romantic as Dohnányi's earlier works and anyone who enjoyed them will enjoy these.