Beethoven Philharmonie / Thomas Rösner VOICES

VOICES

Pina Napolitano TEMPO E TEMPI

TEMPO E TEMPI

Mariann Marczi PAST VISIONS

Following the success of her Odradek debut, Splinters, pianist Mariann Marczi pays tribute to the genius of Schubert.
With his Moments musicaux, Schubert set the standard for a whole genre: dancing, evocative miniatures, each offering a brief snapshot of some vignette or character, like a succession of colourful pictures in a slide show. Like Schubert, Hüttenbrenner studied with Salieri and was influenced by Beethoven; the theme from the slow movement of his String Quartet No. 1 is audibly related to the Allegretto from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. Schubert particularly loved that symphony, but chose his friend’s theme as the basis for his set of Variations on a theme by Hüttenbrenner.
Hungarian pianist Mariann Marczi relishes approaching Schubert’s music from different perspectives, ranging from Baroque nuances in some of Schubert’s Moments musicaux, to glorious Romanticism which anticipates Schumann’s music. Alongside Schubert’s captivating Moments musicaux and inventive Variations, we hear the contagious Grazer Waltzer. Schumann’s Waldszenen or Forest Scenes complete the release, taking the listener on an intriguing journey from idyllic pastoral landscapes to darker, more mysterious terrain.

ANDREA CASARRUBIOS Caminante

Caminante (2014) for cello and choir.

The text is from Antonio Machado's poem Caminante, which talks of someone who walks through a non-existing path, creating it by taking steps forward. The music is meditative, mystical, intuitive, welcoming the uncertainty of the future with humility but with confidence. Premiere: Spain 2015.

Speechless (2015) for percussion (vibraphone, cymbal, marimba) and cello. The work was dedicated and written for Ensemble ACJW (now known as Ensemble Connect).

The piece was born out of a question I have asked myself many times: “What does it mean to have a voice?” In the piece, the performers embark on a playful, yet desperate search. At its core, it is an experience based on a non-verbal discussion between the inner voices of one’s self.The premiere of this work was presented by Carnegie Hall at National Sawdust in New York City, on March 29, 2016. Garrett Arney, the percussionist for whom this piece was written for, premiered it with me.

Crisol: Improvisations on a theme by Haydn (2018) for piano.

Crisol is based on motives from the Sonata No. 39 in D major by J. Haydn. The improvisations begin with my own harmonic and textural language, to soon melt into a musical world from the Romantic era. The music walks through a jazz-like moment to then unveil the purity and simplicity of the Classicism, with the second movement of Haydn’s Sonata No. 39, which is harmonically linked to his last movement, the Finale.

Maktub (2013) for three cellos.

I wrote this trio while living in Los Angeles, for the VI Boccherini Festival in Spain. It is dedicated to my parents, who were there for the premiere in 2013. In America, along with musical trips to Asia and Europe, I met people from diverse backgrounds, people from whom I learned immensely, who opened up for me a wide range of knowledge, thoughts and sonorities. All of those new concepts coexisted with the classical music works that I was playing. In particular, there was a sonata by L.V. Beethoven which was the last piano piece I worked on in Los Angeles. It was Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 109. Maktub ends with a reference to the last movement of this sonata. 

La Libertad se levantó llorando (2017) for violin, cello, and pre-recorded text. 

The work was written for violinist Emily Daggett Smith, and premiered at National Sawdust in New York City on February 18th, 2018. The text is by Pablo Neruda, an excerpt about the Spanish Civil War. I used his words as resonance and inspiration for this piece: a cry for the never-ending fight for freedom and human rights still today, whether we deal with personal, societal or international issues. The words serve as perspective in time and history, and the music is filled with the strength and vulnerability of those words.

Carion Wind Quintet DREAMS OF FREEDOM

The award-winning Carion Wind Quintet returns with Dreams of Freedom, featuring the world-premiere recording of Borderless by Syrian refugee Moutaz Arian, alongside Mozart, Zemlinsky, Hindemith, Stravinsky and Pärt.
The rich variety of music on this album is unified by each composer’s ‘dream of freedom’. All of these composers experienced exile of one kind or another, travelling far from home in order to pursue their vocation. Mozart left the stifling confines of Salzburg for the cultural riches of Vienna. Stravinsky, Hindemith, Zemlinsky and Pärt all left unsympathetic or even hostile regimes, and Kurdish composer Moutaz Arian escaped Syria and now lives in China; he dedicated his piece, Borderless, to Carion. Yet despite the profound, sometimes painful origins of this music, this is an album full of joie de vivre: music full of hope, intellect and even humour.
Mozart’s delightful Serenade No.11 in E flat, KV 375, was his first known foray into the Viennese tradition of wind band music, and Stravinsky’s Suite No. 2, derived from earlier piano pieces, features a March, Waltz and Polka which are all wonderfully skewed takes on convention, while Stravinsky’s unmistakeable harmony, reminiscent of Petrushka, imbues the quirky Galop.

Zemlinsky represented an important link in the evolution of music from Brahms to Mahler to the Second Viennese School; dating from 1939, his Humoresque was one of the last pieces he wrote. Hindemith’s Kleine Kammermusik features a witty march followed by a wry waltz which parodies overly sentimental music. In the fourth movement each instrument enjoys cadenza-like passages before the demanding swagger of the finale. Arvo Pärt’s Quintettino dates from 1964, before his “holy minimalism” style emerged, and so represents a fascinating example of his earlier experiments in sound.

Moutaz Arian is a Kurdish composer from northern Syria who now lives in Beijing, performing his compositions in China and Japan. Arian’s Borderless is a powerfully pertinent and hugely topical work. He says of this piece that it expresses “our desire to live more freely in a world without the borders that separate us, not only borders of land, but physical and human barriers, too.”

Jesus Rodolfo TRANSFIXING METAMORPHOSIS

“Once upon a time, in a hidden part of France, a handsome young prince lived in a beautiful castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was selfish and unkind. He demanded that the village fill his castle with the most beautiful objects, and his parties with the most beautiful people...”

The magical music that accompanied the story of Beauty and the Beast was what aroused in me, aged 4, the love of music. From that moment, my life events had a soundtrack that would shift like a kaleidoscope. Nearly 30 years later, it feels like looking through the glass of that kaleidoscope again, and a new soundtrack plays in my head describing each of the three decades of my life. 

Just as it is when we go for a walk, Bach’s Adagio from his Solo Violin Sonata No. 3 builds, step by step, towards noble and divine harmonies. Like any prince, my childhood was spent chasing my dreams; in my case, learning the works of Bach, as well as conveying the beautiful message of faith through music. At this time of life, creativity is limitless, bold and innocent, and this sonata not only communicates that spirit but also delivers a message of hope for the future. 

Paul Hindemith was Germany’s “enfant fatale”, and although very conservatively rooted in Baroque techniques of composition, he strove for the more modern and avant-garde. When this Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 11, No. 5 was written, Hindemith was undergoing his final and definite transition to becoming a fully- edged viola player, establishing himself as the most famous violist and composer for viola in music history. In a similar way, my teens were a period of blossoming creatively, musically and personally. I felt like a warrior defending my identity and developing who I envisioned I wanted to be. 

My 20s were a time of extremes at every level: the biggest challenges and most fulfilling accomplishments. Ligeti’s Viola Sonata is also a work of extremes, renowned as the hardest solo sonata ever written for the instrument, encapsulating his compositional techniques in just one piece. And so, when I least expected it, the transformation happened. These experiences coalesced and, all of a sudden, I realised I was an adult. I am nothing but the result of what has been learned during those different phases of my life, paired with the beautiful dreams, experiences and wishes that brought about the metamorphosis of these reminiscences, producing who I am today, as an individual and as a musician.  (Jesus Rodolfo)

Colibrì Ensemble / Alexander Lonquich SCHUMANN - BURGMÜLLER

The lives of Robert Schumann and Norbert Burgmüller intersect in fascinating ways. Both were born in 1810, and both spent significant periods of their lives in Düsseldorf, which is how Schumann came to orchestrate the Scherzo of Burgmüller’s Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 11. Acclaimed pianist Alexander Lonquich has long been intrigued by the complex interrelationships between these two composers and their circle of influences. Lonquich brings his unique and scintillating insight to this performance of Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, a work which began life as a Phantasie for the composer’s wife, pianist Clara Schumann, but was later augmented to become an irresistible full-length work.
The conversational principles of the concerto’s first movement are taken even further in the central Intermezzo, in which Schumann creates a sense of intimate dialogue enhanced by the delicate, almost chamber-like treatment of his orchestral forces. We then tumble effortlessly into the finale, which is full of subtle touches that reveal a composer at the peak of his powers: there are no perfunctory finale fireworks, but rather a movement of quirky good humour and perfectly-judged invention.
Burgmüller’s Second Symphony unfolds with charming ease, undulating between genial lyricism and stormier interjections reminiscent of Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony. The work culminates in the Scherzo, a tussle between a refined dance, perhaps representing the civilised aspects of humanity, and sudden torrents of sound reflecting the irrepressible forces of Nature.
Alexander Lonquich is joined on this disc by The Colibrì Ensemble, a chamber orchestra which performs regularly in Pescara, Italy, where it has its own concert season. Founded in 2013 by Andrea Gallo, this vibrant collection of musicians has already forged strong relationships with a host of outstanding artists, including a special connection with Alexander Lonquich, who is now a regular guest each season.