New Releases

[Maestro267]

Yeah, looking at the approximate timings listed on the (excellent) Sorabji Archive website, most of the rest of Nos. 84-99 are miniatures, none exceeding even 10 minutes.

[André]

So far nobody seems to have attempted to record the 24 preludes and fugues for piano of Niels Viggo Bentzon. The trouble is, he made 13 series of them (that's 312 p&f), each series lasting an hour.

[Mandryka]

Bach violin sonatas with organ, details here

http://www.encelade.net/index.php/en/hikashop-menu-for-products-listing-2/product/25873-js-bach-trios-for-keyboard-and-violin-by-odile-edouard-and-freddy-eichelberger

Lovely little organ, full of character, I don't know what it is, it's lithe enough to cope with the intricacy of the keyboard music in, for example, 1017/i. Odile Édouard makes a pure tone come out of her fiddle, it's an angel playing. Good recording too, with an ambiance. First impressions are very positive - with one reservation which could turn out to to be a serious problem - the sound seems maybe balanced to the violin part - maybe, I need more time to be sure.  It's may be a Spotify problem.

[prémont]

So far nobody seems to have attempted to record the 24 preludes and fugues for piano of Niels Viggo Bentzon. The trouble is, he made 13 series of them (that's 312 p&f), each series lasting an hour.

I suppose you are aware that he recorded the entire "Det tempererede klaver" himself, yes all 13 series. He was a most accomplished pianist. I own the set, but have only listened to the first three series. It's generally wild-growing quasi improvised music.

Accidentally I came across his second piano sonata played by Rolf Reinhardt. A nice experience. A "German" serious interpretation of the music which makes it weighty and listenable.

[prémont]

Lovely little organ, full of character, I don't know what it is, it's lithe enough to cope with the intricacy of the keyboard music in, for example, 1017/i. Odile Édouard makes a pure tone come out of her fiddle, it's an angel playing. Good recording too, with an ambiance. First impressions are very positive - with one reservation which could turn out to to be a serious problem - the sound seems maybe balanced to the violin part - maybe, I need more time to be sure.  It's may be a Spotify problem.

I would expect the use of organ to improve the balance, but if the organ is under-balanced it doesn't help. However, how would you compare it to Pierot/Gester?

[Todd]

[André]

I suppose you are aware that he recorded the entire "Det tempererede klaver" himself, yes all 13 series. He was a most accomplished pianist. I own the set, but have only listened to the first three series. It's generally wild-growing quasi improvised music.

Accidentally I came across his second piano sonata played by Rolf Reinhardt. A nice experience. A "German" serious interpretation of the music which makes it weighty and listenable.

I didn't know he had recorded them ! I suppose that distribution of this release must be quite limited. Certainly a collector's item  .

[MusicTurner]

I didn't know he had recorded them ! I suppose that distribution of this release must be quite limited. Certainly a collector's item  .

It's fairly commonly seen here in DK, also at second-hand sales. In general, I think the works of his earlier decades have a reputation for being more thought-through and well-crafted, say the first 200 opuses ... the early Passacaglia op.31 for piano, recorded on Odeon LP by Bengt Johnson, really needs a CD release, for example.

[prémont]

It's fairly commonly seen here in DK, also at second-hand sales. In general, I think the works of his earlier decades have a reputation for being more thought-through and well-crafted, say the first 200 opuses ... the early Passacaglia op.31 for piano, recorded on Odeon LP by Bengt Johnson, really needs a CD release, for example.

As far as I know the first series, which he recorded for Fona LP ca 1970, didn't make it to CD, and the complete 13 series he later made for Classico didn't include the older recording, but contained a new recording of the first series. Maybe you can confirm or correct this.

[André]

Interesting, thanks for that.

Last week I listened to his symphonies 5 and 7 multiple times. I was particularly fascinated by no 5. I have 2 other Dacapo discs of his symphonic music that I should revisit. But no piano or chamber music. He composed more works than WAM...

[Brian]

So far nobody seems to have attempted to record the 24 preludes and fugues for piano of Niels Viggo Bentzon. The trouble is, he made 13 series of them (that's 312 p&f), each series lasting an hour.

How did he have time for anything else?!

[MusicTurner]

As far as I know the first series, which he recorded for Fona LP ca 1970, didn't make it to CD, and the complete 13 series he later made for Classico didn't include the older recording, but contained a new recording of the first series. Maybe you can confirm or correct this.

I'm pretty sure it is a new set.
The old Fona LP recording is extremely rare, I've never seen it, through decades of collecting, whereas you quite often see his other LPs of Beethoven sonatas, or his own selected sonatas and piano works, Scriabin+Reger, etc.

[Mandryka]

I would expect the use of organ to improve the balance, but if the organ is under-balanced it doesn't help. However, how would you compare it to Pierot/Gester?

No it's a speaker thing I think, it sounds better balanced on my big system and with fresh ears this morning.

[Brian]

harpsichord, 81 minutes



A totally morbid program of the Bach/Busoni chaconne, Chopin Sonata 2, Liszt Funerailles and bagatelle sans tonalite, Hough's own Piano Sonata No. 4 "Vida Breve" (not Falla!), and as a hopeful encore, Gounod's meditation on Bach's Ave Maria. By the way: very stripey shirt.



Parry - first Suite for Strings
G. Jacob - Symphony for Strings
Elgar - NOT the introduction and allegro but the organ sonata!! arranged for strings by Hans Kunstovny

[Mandryka]

harpsichord, 81 minutes

Not just any harpsichord, an instrument inspired by an c18 German harpsichord with a 16' stop.

[Kontrapunctus]

Not just any harpsichord, an instrument inspired by an c18 German harpsichord with a 16' stop.

It's been available on Qobuz for several weeks. I like it very much--robust playing and excellent sound.

[Mandryka]

First impressions are extremely positive

From the elated dream to the bitter reality: to provide a proper rendering of Franz Schubert's music, with its enormous range of expressions including all the intermediate tones, the instrument of choice must be the Fortepiano, if only for its similitude to the pianos used during Schubert's lifetime. The model used in the present recording is based on the grand piano of the Viennese master Conrad Graf, an instrument that Schubert himself owned. Its six pedals allow Schubert's music to be played with multifaceted pliancy and depth. The skillful use of all these pedals, which in modern instruments have been reduced to two or three, opens up a multitude of sound facettes, similar to doors that open up to a multitude of rooms, each decorated in its own particular way and with its own particular style. There is, for example, the lute pedal, with which the sonic nuances mentioned in the Trios can be conjured, or the "janissary" pedal with timpani and cymbals , which in the rondo of the A minor sonata evokes a wind band parading in a martial procession. Although Schubert hardly specified the use of the pedals in his piano compositions, one can only assume that he made very good use of them in his own piano playing.
Because of the way it is constructed, the Fortepiano sounds very different to modern grand pianos, it has a richer overtone spectrum than today's instruments and also a much more vocal sound due to the typical reverberation of the strings.
A differentiated and subtle piano touch technique that enables to perform what could be described as "singing on the piano" is especially striking on the Fortepiano. How important this was for Schubert may not only be deduced from his above mentioned passion for the Lied: in a letter to his parents in July 1825, Franz Schubert wrote about the public's appreciation of his own piano playing on the occasion of the performance of his G major sonata: «The variations from my new sonata for two hands that I performed alone and not without luck were particularly appreciated, some people assuring me that the keys turned into singing voices under my touch, which, if true, makes me very happy because I cannot stand the accursed chopping that also excellent piano players have, it pleases neither the ear nor to the mind. »

[Que]

First impressions are extremely positive

A good period performance is always welcome. 

And we get more and more Schubert on fortepiano these days!

Q

[Mandryka]

Who could fail to be impressed by this use of morse code for metaphysical purposes?

The cover shows a long time-exposure of the ocean. The picture was exposed at night over a longer period of time, so that it defines neither space nor time, something the musicians of Ensemble Barockin particularly liked for this very special recording of this work by Bach. Music without space and time like a reverberation of the universe for this, it was added a Morse code to the text on the cover that makes the composers name sound through space like an echo: JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

The SQ is excellent. The performances seem pretty good too, on the basis of dipping in for about 20 minutes (but the fact that it's not 5 minutes is a good sign.)

[Que]

I guessed I missed volume I, but I will investigate.
I was impressed by Daskalikis in Biber, and Giacometti seems a good fit in Schubert.

Thanks, as always, for posting. 

Q