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   with Strings: May 2008 Archives

Right Through The Bone

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RCA 15837

Julius Röntgen
(1855-1932)

Quintet for Piano & Strings Op. 100 (1927)
Trio for Clarinet, Viola & Piano (1921)
Sonata for Viola & Piano in C Minor (1924)
Sextet in G Major (1931)

ARC Ensemble
Artists of the Royal Conservatory (Canada)
RCA Red Seal 88697-15837-2 73:12

Ask a string player to free-associate on the word "octet" and you will hear "Mendelssohn". Ask a string player about the word "sextet" and you will most likely evoke the name "Brahms". Julius Röntgen's string sextet is a glorious addition to the repertoire. Although it was written in 1931, it is absolutely in the tradition and style of Brahms as are the other fine chamber works on this CD. They are all performed with excellence by the ARC ensemble, Artists of the Royal Conservatory. ARC is led by Simon Wynberg and is made up of faculty members of the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

The title "Right Through The Bone" was inspired by Edvard Grieg's remark about his good friend Julius Röntgen and his distant relative, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen. Wilhelm Röntgen's x-rays only went up to the bone and stopped. But Julius Röntgen's music went right through the bone and directly to the heart!

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

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

Shipboard Impressions

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Timpani 1066

Jean Cras
(1879-1932)

Quintet for Piano and Strings (1922)
String Quartet (1909)

Alain Jacquon, piano
Quartet Louvigny
Timpani 1C1066 74:33

Jean Cras was an officer in the French Navy, and an extremely talented musical autodidact. He was tutored for a short but intensive period by Henri Duparc, and he spoke fluently the language of Debussy, Ravel, and the Impressionists.

Cras' Quintet for piano and strings was planned as a musical shipboard adventure. The four movements are marked "Clear and Joyful, Calm and Peaceful, Alert and Decisive, Passionate and Proud" and there are program notes to go along with them. As you listen, you can hear the influence of his native Brittany's sea shanties, the hints of the foreign ports of call, the exotic scales of Arabic and Asian music, and in the last movement – about three and a half minutes into the movement) – you can hear an imitation of a Chinese stringed instrument (erhu). All are woven seamlessly into the fabric of the music.

Ordinarily I don't like having "programs" imposed upon my listening, but there is enough good music here for you to write your own adventure. The constant motion is IN the music; the swells of sound could really be the sea!

There is another composition of Cras' that will thrill those who hunger for more ocean voyages: His Ship's Log (Journal de bard) can be found on Timpani 2C2037 in an excellent 2CD set of Cras' orchestral music. However I found that with just a piano and four strings Cras could provide me with the emotions and colors of my own cruise on a luxury liner.

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

Molique's Quartets, Volume 1

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CPO 777149

Bernhard Molique
(1801-1869)

String Quartet #1, Op. 18 #1
String Quartet #2, Op. 18 #2

Mannheim String Quartet
cpo 777149-2 58:29

Molique was this German composer's preferred French version of his name. Ludwig van Beethoven looms large over these quartets published in 1834. The first, like Beethoven's, is in F Major, Op 18 #1 which is probably no coincidence. The second, in A minor, is somewhat darker and has some of the character of a Felix Mendelssohn quartet.

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