Duo Biao 2008

Undoubtedly our interest and passion for the works composed throughout the 20th century have informed the choice of repertoire proposed in this record – the result of a long period of study and artistic collaboration. This repertoire has been part of our concert programmes for many years and represents four major milestones of the chamber music repertoire for the flute and guitar. Each work proposes a different compositional style – peculiar musical grammars and language with a varied and contrasting artistic vision delivered by each composer.

Now the famous and successful Genova & Dimitrov Piano Duo turns to the American composer Amy Beach. Her compositional oeuvre marks a high point within the great phase of consolidation experienced by art music in the United States between the Civil War and World War I. Amy Beach was not the first American woman who composed or the first America woman who earned money with her compositions; but she created a stir in the music world by forging ahead into genres in which previously only men had distinguished themselves. However, it was above all the piano that was Amy Beach’s lifelong companion. She honored her instrument with solo compositions in a total of twenty-six opus numbers distributed equally over her entire compositional career from the 1880s to the 1930s. Even though her music for piano four hands or for two pianos is limited to a few compositions, they just as positively attest to their author’s talent as do her works for two hands.

Duo Kallos presents to the audience its first studio album entitled Conversations, which is a reference to the eponymous composition by Paul Patterson performed by the artists on this CD. In addition to Patterson's composition, on the album we will find the wonderful Sonata, Op. 28 by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, Three Miniatures for Clarinet and Piano by Krzysztof Penderecki and Krzysztof Grzybowski's original transcription of the Flute (Violin) Sonata, Op. 94 (bis) by Sergei Prokofiev.

Duo Dialog consists of guitarist Magnus Grönlund and clarinettist Dan Larsson. They have for a long time developed repertoire and interplay for the clarinet and guitar. A real favorite is the Argentine tango master Astor Piazzolla. Piazzolla is of course one of the most important composers in modern history and well represented on many albums, but when it comes to performances on clarinet and guitar, his music is not so commonly used. To Duo Dialog, which is one of Sweden's most diligent chamber ensembles, the combination of clarinet and guitar is a fantastic and obvious way to present Piazzolla's chamber music. The guitar with it's wealth of colors and tones and the clarinet with it's great dynamic possibilities, together they have the opportunity to present Piazzolla's music in the best way. This release contains Piazzolla's chamber music in it's original as well as in transcribed forms. Great effort has been put into correct transcriptions from the original instruments to clarinet and guitar. Of course the guitar has an obvious place in this repertoire, but in order to be able to use the clarinet in the best way and be faithful to the original, several different clarinets have been used; A-clarinet, Bb-clarinet, C-clarinet and basset clarinet.

Active through four decades, Danish duo known most for their descriptively titled "Sunshine Reggae" and its electro-funk B-side, "White Horse." As Laid Back, Copenhagen, Denmark-based duo Tim Stahl and John Guldberg are known most for a handful of stylistically disparate hits that spanned the 1980s. The duo had met the previous decade with the Starbox Band, discovered that they worked well together, and within a short period of time landed a contract as Laid Back on Teldec subsidiary Ultraphone. Their first single, "Maybe I'm Crazy," was released in 1980, preceding their self-titled debut album released the following year. Two years later, they signed with the Medley label and scored a hit in their homeland and abroad with the descriptively titled "Sunshine Reggae," released in support of their second album, Keep Smiling.

For his latest recording directing Le Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet has revived Sémélé by Marin Marais – the final opera by one of the leading composers from the reign of Louis XIV. Known above all for his compositions for the viola da gamba, Marais the composer was at the same time the author of a number of tragédies lyriques which he wrote for the Académie royale de Musique. Even to this day it has only been Alcyone which has attracted the attention of music lovers and musicians. Yet Sémélé – first performed in 1709 – arrives now full of music to charm and seduce the listener: a sparkling prologue honouring Bacchus, a set of arias with a freshly-minted appeal, a marvellously inventive diabolical scene, divertissements rich in character; all this leading up to an earthquake scene memorably anticipating the later work of Rameau.

Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 is one of classical music’s all-time greatest hits. It was composed and premiered in New York in 1893, which is why – but not only why – it is known as the “New World Symphony.” On this recording, which also includes the first cycle of the equally popular Slavonic Dances, the Piano Duo Trenkner / Speidel once again demonstrates the great advantages and fascinating rhythmic verve offered by reductions for piano four hands. Trimmed of the comfortable and sumptuous sound of the large orchestra, Dvořák’s genial treatment of motives of Bohemian folk character shines in even greater glory.

The Anderson & Roe piano duo’s debut release on the Steinway & Sons label is a showstopper captured in spectacular audiophile-quality sound by multi-Grammy-winning producer Steven Epstein. Featuring original four-handed arrangements of music ranging from Vivaldi, Rachmaninov, and Schubert to Michael Jackson, Radiohead, and Coldplay.

The figure of Ferdinand Ries (1784–1838) enjoys a peripheral familiarity among music-lovers as the friend and amanuensis of Beethoven. A bond had formed when Ries’s father Franz taught Beethoven in Bonn. While Beethoven doubtless cast his eye over his friend and student’s pieces from time to time, he sent Ries to his own teacher Johann Albrechtsberger for lessons in composition.

Why ‘Geister Duo’? The question often came up during the concerts. The name comes from Robert Schumann’s last piano work, the Geistervariationen, whose theme Johannes Brahms, a close friend of the Schumanns, used to compose his own Variations op. 23 for piano four hands.