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The Classical Explorer

Chamber Music: November 2008 Archives

Champion of Italian Instrumental Music

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Albany TROY191

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
(1895-1960)

Piano Trio #1, Op. 49 (1928)
Piano Quintet No 1, Op. 69 (1934)

The Arman Ensemble
Albany Records TROY191

These chamber works are like a big box of imported chocolates. Every movement seems different in character yet each of the works are perfectly integrated. There is clear influence of the fertile 1920's with strong suggestions of French and Spanish color. Each work is a fine example of chamber music that is both accessible immediately and worth many repeated hearings.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco studied with Pizzetti, who with several other Italian composers (Martucci, Casella, Malipiero, Respighi and others) founded societies for the propagation of modern Italian instrumental music. In Italy, Castelnuovo-Tedesco was in demand as a composer and as a critic and essayist. However, when the situation for Jews got much too dangerous, Italy's loss was America's gain. Castelnuovo-Tedesco left Italy in 1939 and became an American Citizen in 1946. He wrote over 200 film music projects, and for many years taught some of the brightest film composers including Henry Mancini, André Previn, Nelson Riddle and John Williams.

The Arman Ensemble members performing the trio are: Deniz Arman Gelenbe, piano; Fritz Gearhart, violin; Brian Manker, cello. The Quintet personnel are Deniz Arman Gelenbe, piano; Eric Prichard, violin; Hsiao-mei Ku, violin; Jonathan Bagg, viola; Fred Raimi, cello.

[ Available on CD: Amazon - UK - Germany - Canada - France - Japan - ArkivMusic - CD Universe ]

[ Sheet music by this composer: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com
   Score for the trio at Eastman School of Music, Sibley Library
   Score for the quintet at Michigan State University Library ]

Delightful Late Romantic String Quartets

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Pavane ADW7483

Joseph Jongen
(1873-1953)

String Quartet #1 in C minor, Op. 3 (1894)
String Quartet #2 in A Major, Op. 50 (1916)

The Gong Quartet
Pavane Records ADW7483 69:24

Think of the most delightful late Romantic string quartets you have ever heard, and then listen to Jongen's First String Quartet. You will not be disappointed. This prize-winning youthful work was very popular until the post-WWI rejection of lovely Mendelssohnian Romanticism. The Second String Quartet, also a very beautiful composition, but quite different from the first, will thrill listeners and performers alike. It sounds like an extension of Debussy's string quartet, voluptuous, mysterious, exciting and colorful.

These quartets are performed by the splendid Gong Quartet: Hanxiang Gong, Yinlai Chen, violins; Jean Christophe Michallek, viola; and Martin Hesselbein, cello.

Sheet music for both quartets can be found at Edition Silvertrust

[ Available on CD: Amazon - UK - Germany - Canada - France - Japan - ArkivMusic - CD Universe ]

[ Sheet music by this composer: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com ]

Chamber Music from Italy

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Chandos CHAN9962

Ottorino Respighi
(1879-1936)

Quintet for Piano & Strings in F minor, P. 35*
String Quartet in D minor "Ernst is das Leben heiter ist de Kunst", P. 91*
Six Pieces for Violin & Piano P. 31*

Ambache Ensemble
Chandos CHAN9962 76:42

Respighi was a part of the generation of Italian composers who wanted to show the world that Italy could produce not only great opera, but other serious classical instrumental music. His teacher, Martucci, was at the forefront of that movement. Respighi was not only a composer, but also a professional violinist and violist. While playing for two years with the Imperial orchestra in St. Petersburg, he also was a student of Rimsky-Korsakov and learned valuable orchestration techniques.

In Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chambermusic, Guido Gatti writes that in Respighi's early music, "echoes of heard music reverberated in his inner consciousness as in a seashell, and he reproduced them with the felicity of youth." There are loving nods towards Brahms in the Piano Quintet, not so much in the melodic material, but in the connective tissue. The String Quartet (in its premier recording!) bends more towards Ravel and Debussy. The mood of the string quartet is true to its Schiller sub-title: Life is serious, art is joyful. The beautiful Quartet's second movement could represent life, but the last movement is most certainly art.

The six violin pieces (1901-1905) are melodious, delicate pieces, with instant appeal. Altogether, this disc is a delight.

* Respighi Catalog by Potito Pedarra
[ Available on CD: Amazon - UK - Germany - Canada - France - Japan - ArkivMusic - CD Universe ]

[ Sheet music by this composer: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com ]

Melodious, Energetic and Emotionally Stirring

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CPO 999352-2

Ethel Mary Smyth
(1858-1944)

String Quartet in E minor (41:40)
String Quintet Op. 1 in E Major (26:28)

Joachim Griesheimer, cello
Mannheimer String Quartet
CPO 999352-2

This difficult-to-find disc is certainly worth searching for. Dame Ethyl Smyth was a very outspoken champion of women's rights and women composers. She studied with Herzogenberg and received encouragement from Brahms and Clara Schumann.

Smyth composed this powerful, mature and captivating string quartet in two time periods, the first two movements in 1902 and the rest in 1912. The form is classical; the sound is very Late Romantic, melodious, energetic and emotionally stirring. It is performed with excellence by the members of the Mannheimer String Quartet: Andreas Krecher and Claudia Hohorst, violins; Niklas Schwarz, viola; and Armin Fromm, violoncello.

[ Available on CD: Amazon - UK - Germany - Canada - France - Japan ]

[ Sheet music by this composer: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com ]

String Quartets from the Master Violinist

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Dynamic CDS134

Niccolò Paganini
(1782-1840)

String Quartet #1 in D minor
String Quartet #2 in E Flat Major
String Quartet #3 in A minor

Quartetto d'archi Paganini
Dynamic CDS134 64:55

These string quartets would be perfect candidates for "stump the listener" contests. They don't sound like what you'd expect to hear from Paganini. These pieces are not show pieces for violin with strange effects like bird trills, harmonics, left-hand pizzicato, and various spectacular fingering and bowing effects that are found in other works of Paganini. Instead, these quartets, dedicated to King Vittorio Emanuele I (c. 1815) could be mistaken for lost early Haydn quartets. They are charming, delicate, and would be perfect for the amusement of amateur chamber musicians and informal audiences. They are performed beautifully by the Quartetto d'archi Paganini (Bruno Pignata, violin; Gian Luca Allocco, violin; Ernest Braucher, viola; Dario De Stefano, cello.) The sound quality is excellent. (Also available as part of a 10CD set of "Complete Chamber Music" - Dynamic CDS553/1-10. You will also find guitar quartets, violin and cello duets, and even three duets for violin and bassoon in the ten-disc boxed set.)

[ Available on CD: Amazon - UK - Germany - Canada - France - Japan - ArkivMusic - CD Universe ]

[ Sheet music by this composer: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com ]
Trumpet