The Anton Rubinstein cello sonatas were originally released by Danacord as a DMM LP. Direct metal mastering ensured a high level of sonic accuracy. When this recording was released in 1986, it was the last word in analog high fidelity. Also included with this reissue is Rubinstein’s Piano Trio No. 5. This is the first […]
Romantic period
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Deutsche Radio Philharmonie and Hermann Baumer deliver with early Strauss
Both scores in this release were written in 1893. Richard Strauss was just nineteen, but already an experienced composer. Both also use Beethoven works as their models, and in some parts, their style. The concert piece uses the Coreolon overture. It’s considered the least successful of the two works. The structural flaws mentioned in the liner […]
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Dante Quartet finishes Stanford cycle with strong performances
This release completes the Dante Quartet’s traversal of Charles Villiers Stanford’s string quartets. Appropriately, it includes both his first and last quartet, the latter receiving its world recording premiere. Stanford’s music is sometimes characterized as “Brahms with an Irish accent.” That doesn’t seem to apply to the first two quartets. Stanford wrote the first quartet […]
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Solistes Européens deliver with Farrenc Symphony No. 1
Back in September 2018 I reviewed the debut release by the Solistes Européens, Luxembourg with conductor Christoph König. It was a release of Louise Farrenc’s second and third symphonies. I said, “The Solistes Européens has a fine ensemble blend. König leads them in fiery, committed performances. I would love to hear them perform Farrenc’s first symphony.” […]
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Friedrich Gernsheim string quartet cycle off to a solid start
The musical influences of Friedrich Gernshiem are easy to hear; Robert Schumann, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Johannes Brahms. The latter is perhaps the strongest. Gernsheim was a friend and colleague of the famous composer. Like Brahms, Gernsheim only wrote a handful of string quartets. The Diogenes Quartett launches a traversal of those five works with this […]
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Katarzyna Drogosz bring Franz Xaver Mozart out of father’s shadow
In his lifetime Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart was better known as a virtuoso pianist than a composer. And for good reason. As a performer, he was judged on the merits of his own talent. As a composer, he was always compared to his father, Wolfgang Amadeus. As a result, F.X. Mozart virtually ceased composing in […]
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Fritz Volbach Symphony lands between Brahms and Wagner
Fritz Volbach was a German composer and organist. Most of his important works were composed at the beginning of the 20th Century. Like many composers of the late Romantic era, he was pulled between the influences of Brahms and Wagner. Judging by the sound of these works, Volbach drew inspiration from both. The release opens […]
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Han Chen delivers pristine performances of Anton Rubinstein sonatas
Anton Rubinstein, both as a pianist and a composer, was wildly popular with the general public. His colleagues, though, had a different opinion. Russian musicians considered him too German (and Germans too Russian). Although he had tremendous technical ability, Franz Liszt remained unimpressed, calling him ‘a Pseudo-musician of the Future’. Shortly after his death, Rubinstein’s […]
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Georgy Catoire & Ignaz Friedman quintets – alike yet different
Russian composer Georgy Catoire remains relatively unknown. His self-effacing nature kept his music out of the spotlight, and himself out of the company of other composers. The 1914 Piano Quintet in G minor shows the effect of that isolation. While it’s a late-Romantic work, it’s also a forward-looking one. Catoire methodically lays out his themes and develops […]