Kaiser Quartet

Chilly Gonzales, Canadian pianist and entertainer, returns with his much anticipated follow-up to Solo Piano II: "Chambers".

Luxembourg has no longer been a tax haven for the nouveau rich or a dwarf state for quite some time. The President of the European Commission is currently from the Grand Duchy with its only 115, 000 citizens and also has one of the most vital jazz scenes in Europe. The multi-instrumentalist Pol Belardi plays a major role in this and also attracts international attention to the amazingly creative biotope that has developed there in the triangle between Germany, France and Belgium over the past 15 years. Belardi is representative of his fellow countrymen without any musical blinkers and his curious interest in all styles and influences, with which he was more or less predestined to see beyond his own horizon.

'The Artemis Quartet's technique is on par with the most virtuoso competitors - and their musicality surpasses that of all other ensembles!' Joachim Kaiser, Süddeutsche Zeitung The Berlin-based Artemis Quartet was founded in 1989 at the Musikhochschule Lübeck, and is recognised today as one of the foremost quartets in the world. Their mentors include Walter Levin, Alfred Brendel, the Alban Berg Quartet, the Juilliard Quartet and the Emerson Quartet.

The Camerata Köln is one of the world's most traditional chamber music ensembles for early music. A handful of music students founded this ensemble at the Cologne University of Music in 1979. Enthusiasm for the music of the 17th and 18th centuries, will and imagination for completely new sounds and forms of interpretation, artistic discussion and stage presence in combination with a proper degree of research and spontaneous desire to make music have shaped the work of the ensemble and its international concert activity since that time.

If the number of compositions written for a specific instrument is any indication of a predilection, then Ferdinand Ries did indeed have a soft place in his heart for the flute. He penned no fewer than six quartets for flute and string trio, a quintet for flute, violin, two violas, and violoncello, a trio for piano, flute and violoncello, and many works for flute and piano - more works than for any other wind instrument. His first Flute Quartet presents itself as a grand, imposing quartet in the affirmative key of C major and contains many surprising elements.

"Born in Oslo on 23rd August, Rypdal was already a star at home in his teens with pop-rock group The Vanguards. This was followed by the timely and inevitable passage through psychedelia with quartet The Dream, releasing their only album, Get Dreamy, in 1967. In 1968, still only 21 years old, Rypdal released Bleak House, the first, quite extraordinary album under his own name, fully showing what direction he was moving into. Min Bul, his trio with Bjornar Andresen and Espen Rud, followed with their only album two years later. Rypdal and fellow Norwegians Jan Garbarek, Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen were quickly picked up by Manfred Eicher, starting his ECM label.

It is our good fortune that Ferdinand Ries bequeathed to posterity six remarkably beautiful Quartets for Flute, Violin, Viola, and Violoncello. These compositions sparkle like gems in the early Romantic chamber literature including the flute. On the present CD, Vol. 2 of our complete recording, his Quartets in G major and E minor Op. 145, 2 as well as his remarkable String Trio in E minor are heard. On the one hand, conventional elements verging on practically Baroque sequential processes stand out in the trio. On the other hand, here we also find innovative musical surprises and full-fledged, motivationally organized development sections, above all in the fourth movement. The violin part is very exceptionally demanding. In any event, the young Ries was able to compose a work representing a highly expressive contribution to the not exactly large number of string trios. In the chamber compositions recorded here Ries once again presents himself as a composer who experienced musical classicism first-hand and adapted it but then increasingly pursued his own path and found a unique personal style marking the beginning of a new world view. Following the release of our Vol. 1, Heinz Braun enthusiastically wrote in klassik-heute.com: I freely concede that over the years I have become a glowing admirer of the Bonn master and have impatiently awaited each new release. In the present case too, the wait has been well worth it. The Ardinghello Ensemble with the flutist Karl Kaiser succeeds overall with its fine sense of sound, supported by Manuel Braun’s outstanding sound technique.