This reissue from Divine Arts brings together several short chamber works by Vyacheslav Artyomov. Each work has its own unique combination of instruments, and (in a way) its own aesthetic. The opening track, Star Wind, is a 1981 sextet featuring violin, cello, flute, French horn, piano, and glockenspiel. To me, it sounds like a very early […]
Chamber music
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Steve Elcock chamber music series celebrates an original talent
Toccata Classics has already released the first volume of Steve Elcock’s orchestral works. This collection of chamber music provides another facet to this composer’s intriguing music. As a composer, Elcock’s a recent discovery. For years he worked his day job, composing in his leisure time and filing his pieces away. Unaffected by the demands of […]
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Josef Elsner Chamber Music – Pre-Romantic Offerings from Poland
Who was Josef Elsner? Outside of Poland, he’s known (if at all) as Frederick Chopin’s teacher. In Poland, he’s best known as a composer of sacred music — his masses, oratorios, and cantatas are still frequently performed. Elsner, like Antonin Dvorak, fused native folk traditions with classical forms, creating a national classical music style. Profil’s […]
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Iván Eröd String Quartets – Finely Crafted
I’m always wary of liner notes that read like manifestos. Iván Eröd was a Hungarian composer who was inspired by Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly. His music incorporated some of their concepts while remaining primarily tonal. The booklet is full of things like, “[Eröd] broke with the dogmas of the then-prevalent avant-garde and also refused […]
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Marcy Rosen gives thoughtful performances of Grieg and Strauss
If you’re of a certain age, you may have fond memories of the Musical Heritage Society. The MHS was a record club that offered great music in strictly generic packaging. Originally the MHS licensed music from Erato and other classical labels. Eventually under their own label MusicMasters, they made their own recordings — like this […]
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Harry Partch Sonata Dementia – More, Please
I’ve always loved the music of Harry Partch. These new recordings by Bridge Records do a tremendous service to the world of music. Hearing the Partch ensemble perform with copies of Partch’s original hand-made instruments. That’s important because it means these instruments can really be played, not handled like irreplaceable museum pieces. And the Partch […]
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Carl Czerny Piano Trios Brilliantly Entertaining
Five piano trio receive their world recording premiers with this release. In a sense, it’s not that big a deal. Carl Czerny wrote over 1,000 works, over 800 of them published. There are still many, many Czerny works awaiting their first recording. The trios presented here are certainly worthy of attention. The 1830 Deux Trios […]
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Vyacheslav Artyomov Symphony of Elegies Inspires Anew
Divine Art continues their reissue of Vyacheslav Artyomov recordings with “A Symphony of Elegies.” Artyomov’s 1977 “A Symphony of Elegies” was written during a trip to the mountains of Dilijan, Armenia. To me, the work forms a fascinating contrast to the mountain-inspired symphonies of American/Armenian composer Alan Hovhaness. Both composers eschew the standard notion of […]
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Friedrich Gernsheim Piano Series Begins at Beginning
Friedrich Gernsheim was a talented pianist and composer with two strikes against him. He was a contemporary of Johannes Brahms, who overshadowed him during his lifetime. And he was a German Jew, so his legacy was (temporarily) erased by the Nazis. The 21st Century seems to be kinder to Gernsheim, given the number of recent […]