Goetz Piano

Hermann Goetz - Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 - Davide Cabassi, Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra (2016) {Naxos 8.573327}
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© 2016 Naxos | 8.573327
Classical / Concerto / Orchestral / Romantic

Hermann Goetz's lifespan was no longer than Mozart's, and though much admired by contemporaries, as a tragic genius his music became almost forgotten, and the domain of but a few connoisseurs such as Gustav Mahler. Goetz's style remained closer to schumann and Mendelssohn, preferring lyricism and clarity to the more radical approaches of Liszt and Wagner. The virtuoso First Piano Concerto was a student work, its lovely central adagio sharing a use of colorful wind parts with the freshly optimistic Second Piano Concerto composed six years later.

Hamish Milne makes a welcome return to the Romantic Piano Concerto series with two recherché delights from the nineteenth century.
Józef, ‘the other Wieniawski’ is the brother of the more famous violinist, Henryk. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire and had a wide-ranging and successful performing and composing career. His highly attractive Piano Concerto in G minor is in the mould of those by Chopin and Liszt, with the piano very much in the foreground. The Rondo finale demands a spectacular display of technique, living proof of Wieniawski’s own brand of virtuosity.

Ever since it was founded, the Swiss chamber ensemble Trio Fontane has consisted of Andrea Wiesli , Noëlle Grüebler and Jonas Kreienbühl. The trio was formed in 2002 and received instruction from Ulrich Koella and Stephan Goerner (Carmina Quartet) at the Musikhochschule in Zurich. The ensemble was judged the best piano trio at the 2007 Migros Culture Percentage chamber music competition and accepted into the “Young Musicians” artist exchange. The three performers received further support from the Thiébaud-Frey Foundation, the Hans Schaeuble Foundation and the International Herzogenberg Society.

Heiner Goebbels - La Jalousie, Red Run, Herakles 2, Befreiung - Ensemble Modern (1993) {ECM New Series 1483}
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© 1993 ECM Records | ECM New Series 1483
Classical / Electronic / Contemporary Classical / Modern Composition / Avant-Garde / Experimental

Sometimes music is so theatrical that it needs no stage or actors to enlighten its listeners. If such music comprised a genre in and of itself, composer Heiner Goebbels would be one of its most idiosyncratic masters. Along with Michael Mantler, Goebbels represents a theatrical strand in the ECM universe that challenges the reviewer attempting to describe it, yet which is perfectly clear once it reaches the ears. My first encounter came through Surrogate Cities, a dazzling piece of music theatre that remains the yardstick by which I’ve measured all Goebbels experiences since. That being said, the more I hear, the more I recognize the futility of such comparison, for in his decidedly textual sound there is equal room for any and all sentiments to frolic, dance, and weep.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was born in Hamburg in 1809 and died in Leipzig at the age of 38. He was very early musically gifted. Mendelssohn performed in public at the age of 9 and composed already from the age of 11. As a pupil of Friedrich Zelter, who was a friend of Goethe, Mendelssohn composed at the age of 17 his first masterpiece: the Overture to the Midsummer Night's Dream. This is included in the extensive CD box as well as a large number of other known or less known pieces by him. The String Quartet in F Minor Op. 80 - written in memory of his beloved sister Fanny - which was recorded in this collection by the Aurora String Quartet is undoubtedly one of his most beautiful works. The Gächinger Kantorei with Helmuth Rilling, the Bach Collegium Stuttgart, the Bartholdy Piano Quartet, the Heidelberger Sinfoniker with Thomas Fey, Ana-Marija Markovina and other renowned interpreters and orchestras can also be heard.

The sparkling overture to Leonard Bernstein's 1956 musical Candide immediately found a prominent place in concert programmes all over the world and is now one of his most frequently performed pieces. Many of Bernstein's best-loved works drew inspiration from the city of New York, and this is true both of the three sailors pursuing female conquest in the ballet Fancy Free, and of the rip-roaring swing rhythm and big tunes from the musical Wonderful Town. Bernstein celebrated his friends and family with his Anniversaries - piano vignettes heard here for the first time in colourfully expanded orchestrations. Marin Alsop's long association with Bernstein gives her unique insights into his music.

The Fabergé Quintet excels in the ravishing premiere recordings of the String Quintets Nos. 2 and 4 by the almost forgotten French composer Eugène Walckiers (1793-1866).