Lawrence Power / BBC Philharmonic / Martyn Brabbins JAMES MacMILLAN Symphony No. 4 - Viola Concerto

SYMPHONY No, 4 - VIOLA CONCERTO

Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble VOICES OF ANGELS

VOICES OF ANGELS

Vilde Frang, Lawrence Power, Nicolas Altstaedt, Barnabás Kelemen, Katalin Kokas, Alexander Lonquich VERESS String Trio BARTÓK Piano Quintet

The Lockenhaus International Chamber Music Festival is regarded as one of Austria’s most prestigious festivals: it was created by the violinist Gidon Kremer to offer a new vision of chamber music and the opportunity to create musical exchanges in an intimate setting. The cellist Nicolas Altstaedt succeeded Gidon Kremer in 2012 and now continues the spirit of the festival. For this first recording in partnership with Lockenhaus, he is joined by experienced partners, including the Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang, the Hungarian violinist Barnabás Kelemen, the German pianist Alexander Lonquich – whose Schubert double album was recently released on Alpha (Alpha 433) – and the British violist Lawrence Power. Together they have selected two works, the Piano Quintet of Béla Bartók, a demanding composition, rarely performed even though it is considered an intensely personal work, and the String Trio of Sándor Veress, a former student of Bartók. Nicolas Altstaedt has joined Alpha for several recording projects that will illustrate the full range of his talents, in a highly eclectic range of music.

"What makes this CD unmissable is the Veress Trio, a masterpiece and a performance to match. I’ve already pencilled it in as a potential contender for next year’s Gramophone Awards."  Gramophone

Vilde Frang BARTÓK Violin Concerto No. 1 ENESCU Octet

Bela Bartók and George Enescu were born in same Year - 1881, Bartók in the Austrian-Hungarian city of Nagyszentmiklos (today Romania), Enescu in the Moldovian town of Liveni-Botosani (today Romania). 

Both pieces on this recording are youth works of theirs - 1900 (Enescu's Octet) and 1907 (Bartók's first violin concerto). Both works were neglected - Enescu's Octet for nearly a decade due to the challenges of the piece (being premiered in 1909) , and Bartók's concerto was neglected by its dedicatee, the violinist Stefi Geyer (who was also his young love), and was published only after her death, in 1956 (being premiered in 1958). Bartók and Enescu both died in self-chosen exile - Bartók 1945 in New York, Enescu 1955 in Paris - yet both were respected and admired for being contributors to the development of their countries’ culture and art, particularly as great ambassadors for the folk music.

Leopold String Trio BACH Goldberg Variations

The arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, for string trio by Russian violinist and composer Dmitry Sitkovetsky has taken on a life of its town, with multiple performances and even a sort of electronic remix by Karlheinz Essl. The appeal for string chamber groups longing to share in Bach's riches is obvious, and for audiences it appears to be another case of Bach's music standing up to whatever you do to it. Like most other annotators, Hyperion's Nigel Simeone tries to claim that the arrangement is on a par with the numerous transcriptions Bach made of his own works. It is no such thing; the string chamber texture by its nature adds expressive devices that were not of Bach's world, and he would have found Sitkovetsky's version bizarre. If you haven't heard it before, sample the eighth variation (track 9) of this recording by the Leopold String Trio, with its scooping cello attacks at the beginning. Sitkovetsky takes several approaches in breaking up Bach's polyphonic textures among the instruments of the string trio, and once you accept that the work is a sort of textural fantasia on Bach rather than the real thing, it's very enjoyable, and it's obvious that performers are having fun with it. Players have ranged from severe, viol consort-like textures (the Goldberg Trio's recording) to fluttery galant style. The Leopold String Trio comes in around the middle with a reading that keeps the characteristic string trio feel and is unabashedly emotive in the climactic variations, but nevertheless seems to be reacting to Bach's music itself. The recording benefits from lovely sonics, accomplished at that favorite haunt of Hyperion engineers, the Wyastone Estate concert hall, and the bottom line is that if you think hearing the Goldberg Variations played on strings will float your boat, this recording is a good pick. (James Manheim)

Takács Quartet / Lawrence Power BRAHMS String Quintets

The repertoire for string quintet with second viola isn’t extensive, but small as it is, it’s still a treasure chest. What a shame, then, that it’s only the more adventurous quartets—the ones with close viola associates—that are prepared to take them on. Here are two works that ought to be valued alongside Brahms’s Piano and Clarinet Quintets. The Second String Quintet, particularly, is one of his most admirable and lovable large-scale works. But it’s also as challenging interpretatively as any of the Symphonies. So when this Quintet is performed or recorded, it’s rarely with the depth of understanding it needs.

Fortunately, the Takács Quartet and Lawrence Power show every indication of having given a lot of thought to both works. Everything sounds as though it has been thought through extensively. The fascinatingly fluid slow-movement-plus-scherzo that forms the centrepiece of the First Quintet is beautifully conceived. The impassioned, long opening paragraph of the Second is a magnificent balance of rich tonal weight and soaring momentum (perfectly caught by the recording); the Adagio is darkly eloquent and the finale’s rhythms are clean-cut and full of springing vitality. What we don’t get are the Romantic shadows and elf-lights, or the tender, sensitive Brahms half-hidden behind the bluff assertion. The Second Quintet’s 'Un poco allegretto'—more ghostly waltz than scherzo or minuet—is finely wrought but lacking in subtler nuance. The Takács’s Brahms is like a superbly engineered road: we always know where we’re going, and the views can be magnificent, but there are some interesting contours hidden beneath the tarmac. (Stephen Johnson / BBC Music)