KONSTANTIA GOURZI Anájikon

 

ANÁJIKON

Nils Mönkemeyer / L'Arte del Mondo / Werner Ehrhardt VIVALDI - PAGANINI - TARTINI

 

VIVALDI - PAGANINI - TARTINI

 

Nils Mönkemeyer BAROQUE

Finally after all these years of reviews, I have a virtuosic viola album to review! The ‘King of Instruments’ (as it has been dubbed in certain circles), is often the considered the poor cousin to the violin but it has a beautifully resonant tone and this depth of sound makes it pleasing to the ears at all times. This beautiful collection of pieces from the Baroque era shows off the German virtuoso Nils Mönkemeyer’s technical and musical capabilities without ever making these difficult works sound even remotely challenging.

Many viola soloists can find it awkward to put together a full concert or album of works all originally written for viola so in the tradition of Bach himself, the J.S. Bach Cello Suite No. 5 has been rearranged for viola and theorbo. Now before you go running for the hills scared of what a theorbo is – it’s just a lovely sounding, though extremely complicated kind of guitar or lute.

The opening work is by the relatively unknown Robert de Visée (from the courts of French kings Louis XIV and XV), and is simply delightful! The three short movements start off with such French flair, that there is an interesting contrast to Bach’s now famous contrapuntal style (more than one melodic idea at the same time) which follows directly. Then another interlude of French Baroque, with some Michel Lambert (whose daughter went on to become the wife of the famous Jean-Baptiste Lully) before finishing with more Bach. Although Mönkemeyer has recorded a number of albums in the past, this is the first time that I have heard him perform and I will be searching through his back catalogue as I so enjoyed this lovely album. (Kate Rockstrom)

Nils Mönkemeyer / William Youn / Signum Quartett BRAHMS

These CDs feature performances by a Grand Old Man of the viola and one of the instrument’s most celebrated present advocates. Now in his seventies, Rainer Moog can look back on a career that started with a prize at the Munich Competition and included a stint as principal violist of the Berlin Philharmonic, followed by several decades of unassumingly successful work as a teacher in Cologne. Nils Mönkemeyer (b.1978) enjoyed a run of competition successes before inheriting his teacher’s position at the Munich Hochschule in 2011. Both players have made a number of recordings during their respective careers but not many of Moog’s are available on CD, making this, his second recording of the Brahms sonatas, all the more welcome.

Moog’s view of these pieces is the loving result of countless performances and long reflection on the music: his pacing and phrasing feel absolutely natural, and rubato sounds inevitably right. Moog relishes the music’s broad intervals with heartfelt portamentos. Although he keeps mostly to the higher, ‘clarinet’ version of both sonatas, he does make an exception for the beginning of the F minor piece – the warmth of the C and G strings is too good to lose! Moog’s tone may not be as immediately seductive as, say, William Primrose’s

or Yuri Bashmet’s but its sinewy quality fits the music’s autumnal mood like the proverbial glove. Hashiba is a thoughtful partner throughout.

In a booklet interview, Mönkemeyer claims to play the E flat major Sonata ‘from the clarinet part’ but of course he does no such thing: some telltale double-stops and the odd changed pitch point to the usual viola part, albeit restored (mostly) to the original, higher octave. Conversely, Mönkemeyer keeps to the traditional, ‘low’ version of the F minor Sonata, which suits the piece’s tragic hue but results in anticlimactic octave drops. Mönkemeyer’s tempos are consistently on the broad side and, combined with his suavely sweet trademark tone (and a more resonant acoustic than in Moog’s more closely balanced recording), they make for a very different, to my ears more mannered experience. Youn is a stimulatingly proactive collaborator. Mönkemeyer’s coupling of the Hungarian Dances is lightweight in comparison with Moog’s, who includes Fuchs’s very Brahmsian Sonata and Kiel’s rarely recorded Romances, redolent of late Schumann. (Carlos Maráa Solare)

Nils Mönkemeyer / Bamberger Symphoniker / Markus Poschner WILLIAM WALTON - MAX BRUCH - ARVO PÄRT

Artistic brilliance and innovative programming are the trademarks with which the Bremen native Nils Mönkemeyer has, in a short time, achieved international renown as a musician while drawing enormous new attention to the viola.

As an exclusive Sony Classical artist, he has brought out several critically acclaimed, award-winning CDs in the last years, all of which have made their way into the German classical charts. The programmes of this and Mönkemeyer’s previous recordings encompass discoveries and first recordings of original viola literature ranging from the 18th century to modern pieces, as well as his own transcriptions. 2017 will mark the release of the newest recording with works by Walton, Bruch and Pärt and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Markus Poschner.

Nils Mönkemeyer has collaborated with such conductors as Sylvain Cambreling, Elias Grandy, Christopher Hogwood, Cornelius Meister, Mark Minkowski, Michael Sanderling, Clemens Schuldt, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Markus Stenz, Mario Venzago and Simone Young, including orchestras like the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Helsinki Philharmonic, Musiciens du Louvre, Berne Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, Staatskapelle Weimar, Bremen and Hamburg Philharmonic, Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra, MDR and NDR Radio Orchestras and the Berlin Baroque Soloists.

In the season 2017/18 he will appear as soloist at major international concert venues like the Musikverein Vienna, Salzburg, Helsinki Music Center, Liechtenstein, at the Philharmonie Berlin and Cologne, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Gasteig in Munich and the Alte Oper Frankfurt.g in Munich and the Alte Oper Frankfurt.

Nils Mönkemeyer / Julia Fischer / Sabine Meyer / William Youn MOZART WITH FRIENDS

Artistic brilliance and innovative programming are the trademarks with which Nils Mönkemeyer has rapidly made his name as one of the 'most internationally successful violists' (Harald Eggebrecht, Süddeutsche Zeitung), and dramatically raised the profile of his instrument.

Under his exclusive contract with Sony Classical, Mönkemeyer has released numerous CDs over the past years, all of which have won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. His programmes run the gamut from rediscoveries and first recordings of original 18th century viola literature, to contemporary repertoire and arrangements of his own.

Mönkemeyer has been a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich since 2011 - the same institution at which he himself studied with Hariolf Schlichtig. Previous tenures include a two-year professorship at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden, and an assistant professorship at the Reina Sofia College of Music in Madrid.

Nils Mönkemeyer works together with conductors such as Mario Venzago, Markus Stenz, Sylvain Cambreling, Mark Minkowski, Michail Jurowski, Christopher Hogwood, Michael Sanderling, Karl-Heinz Steffens and Simone Young, performing internationally in London's Wigmore Hall, Vienna's Musikverein, Brussel's Bozar, Berlin and Cologne Philharmonie, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Hamburg Laeiszhalle, Frankfurt Alte Oper, and in concert halls in Munich, Dresden, Baden-Baden, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Bremen, not to mention countless festival venues. He is currently a '360º artist' at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and artist in residence of both the Echternach International Festival and the Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra.

In the 2015/2016 season Mönkemeyer will perform with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Musiciens du Louvre, the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover, the Weimar Staatskapelle, the Hamburg Philharmonic, the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Barocksolisten.
His various chamber ensembles, such as his trio with Sabine Meyer and William Youn, the Julia Fischer Quartet, his duo with William Youn and his Barroco Español project, are guests at numerous festivals this season: Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Mozartwoche Salzburg, Schubertiade Hohenems, Heidelberger Frühling, Kissinger Sommer, Musikfest Stuttgart, Audi Sommerkonzerte, Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival, and the Festspiele Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Further chamber concerts will take him to Taiwan, Korea and Benelux, and to concert halls such as the Bremen Glocke, Dusseldorf Tonhalle, Gothenburg Konserthuset, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Zurich Tonhalle and Berlin Philharmonie.