Tag: Romantic

Chiaroscuro Quartet
58:06
Aparté AP092
K421 + op. 13

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]hiaroscuro is a period instrument quartet that is not frightened of its pianissimos. So many ensembles pay little attention to the full range of dynamics that are available on their instruments. These players, however, all emanating from the Royal College of Music in London but now in a residency in France, are able to immediately captivate the attention of the listener. Through their use of wide-ranging dynamics, the discreet use of rubato and impeccable intonation and attention to detail, they are able to convey the dramatic intensity of the fine D minor work’s first movement, as well as the skittishness of the minuet’s trio section and the last movement’s variations. The booklet notes relate ideas and compositional principles in Mendels-sohn’s second string quartet of 1827 to material from Beethoven’s late string quartets, but I would need a more careful study of the scores to see any but a general relationship. For those that, like me, only enjoy classical quartets on gut strings and with only the most sympathetic use of vibrato, this is an impressive CD, and I look forward to hearing more from these players.

Ian Graham-Jones

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Sinfonia in A Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens
61:39
cpo 777 208-2

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]andwiched between two lively symphonies, each equally deserving of a place in the repertoire of most orchestras looking to explore the music of Beethoven’s contemporaries, are the overtures to Hoffmann’s Undine and Aurora, considered by many as the first Romantic operas in German. In the case of the latter, Willens and his ever impressive band opt to resolve the final cadence that originally led into the work’s opening chorus into one of the marches from its closing pages. (On my equipment, that caused an extra track to appear, so the Witt was tracks 8-11). I was more often reminded of Haydn than Beethoven, but I imagine that is what one would expect; all credit to cpo and the Kölner Akademie for continuing to present us with “new” music that can only help to broaden our understanding of those composers in whose shadows the likes of Hoffmann and Witt have laboured for too long, and – in the case of this recording for one – provide an easy evening’s entertainment.

Brian Clark

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