Johann Wilhelm Wilms (1772-1847) only wrote two piano quartets (that we know of), and they conveniently fit on one CD. German-born Wilms was a major musical figure in the Netherlands As a contemporary of Beethoven, his fame remained more regional than international. A contemporary reviewer called Wilms a “practiced composer versed in compositional technique.” That’s […]
Romantic period
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Charles Villiers Stanford 1919 “Via Victix” still relevant
This is a world premiere recording — of a work that was completed in 1919. And, I think, it’s a work that deserves reevaluation. Charles Villiers Stanford composed his Mass “Via Victix 1914-1918” to mark the end of the Great War (now called World War I). The conflict had begun with stirring appeals to patriotism […]
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Tasmin Little Plays a Favorite
In a Violin Channel interview, Tasmin Little named Brahms as her favorite composer. I think that affection is evident in this release. There’s an easy familiarity in these performances I find quite appealing. The Violin Sonata No. 1 was developed from two earlier songs by Brahms. The lyrical nature of the material is at the […]
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Reinecke String Quartets – authentically Romantic
The five surviving string quartets of Carl Reinecke describe an arc. His two earliest quartets were discarded and lost, but his first published quartet appears in 1845 at the start of his career. The last was completed in 1909, a year before his death. Reinecke studied with both Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann. The influence […]
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Woldemar Bargiel – String Quartets Fall Between Mendelssohn and Brahms
Even in his lifetime, Woldemar Bargiel never quite escaped the shadow of his half-sister and his brother-in-law — Clara and Robert Schumann. At an early point in his career, Schumann rated Bargeil’s chamber music higher than that of newcomer Johannes Brahms. The rankings soon changed. Nevertheless, Bargiel was a talented composer, carefully crafting and refining […]
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Tasmin Little Plays Exceptional Music by Exceptional Women
Tasmin Little presents a solid program of late-Romantic violin works. As always, her performances let the emotional content of this music blossom forth in beauty. Little has done other outstanding recordings of this repertoire (her Brahms album springs to mind). She seems to have a natural affinity of the late-Romantic style. Oh – and all […]
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Shelest and Järvi make the most of Rubinstein concertos
In the 19th Century Russia, one composer towered over the rest. It wasn’t Tchaikovsky, any member of the Might Five. It was Anton Rubinstein. Rubinstein was prolific, and one of the first to assimilate Western musical tradition into Russian composition. Rubinstein was a piano virtuoso (among other talents), and his five piano concertos were the […]
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Karl Goldmark Symphonic Poems, Vol. 1 – Off to a good start
Before I received this release, I really only knew two works by Karl Goldmark – his Rustic Wedding Symphony, and his First Violin Concerto. CPO’s new series of Goldmark Symphonic Poems is a welcome addition. Goldmark was a friend of Brahms and an admirer of Wagner. Both those influences can be heard in this collection […]
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Julius Bittner Orchestral Works (with a a dash of Wagner)
The liner notes concede the obvious about Julius Bittner. He was heavily influenced by Richard Wagner. Bittner was a contemporary of Franz Schreker, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Franz Schmidt. And while his music shares the Viennese richness of his contemporaries, there’s still more than a hint of Wagner. As Brendan G. Carroll relates in the […]