NEW MUSIC AND VIDEO KLIP 2011

Heinrich Schütz
Matthäus-Passion
Akademia, Francoise Lasserre, Jan Van Elsacker
Zig Zag Territoires ZZT050402

No instrument is accepted for this passion. Such austery would be difficult to claim if it was not Jan van Elsacker, outstanding evangelist, desiring teller. We are hung to his word as to a tinny line between earth and heavan, with a hold back though moving emotion.

Tomaso Albinoni
Sinfonie a Cinque op. 2
Ensemble 415, Chiara Banchini

Zig Zag Territoires ZZT090202 colleague Vivaldi, so it makes an interesting change for Chiara Banchini's Ensemble 415 to home in on the relatively conservative five-part sinfonie from his Op 2 of 1700, a publication that interleaved those six works with half a dozen in the newer concerto style (not recorded here). But while the sinfonie are in the four-movement da chiesa mould of Corelli, with more than a few hints of the Roman's coolly classical language about them as well, they yet have character of their own, more melodically angular in places and with a greater sense of freedom. There is also considerable personal skill in the writing, not least in some finely wrought fugues and merrily lilting gigue-finales; Bach very probably knew these pieces, and it is hard not to smile and think of the Third Brandenburg Concerto, composed a few years later, when listening to the last movement of Albinoni's Sinfonia No 5.

Gramophone Magazine, July 2009

C.E.F. Weyse
Symphonies 1 & 7
Concerto Copenhagen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen
Classico CLASSCD 399

I listen to serious music of all periods, buy lots of it, read reviews and books about composers and traditions. I have no formal training to be a critic, but I know what I like. Of course I like the famous composers, essentially all of them. But I also sample (on Amazon listings) other composers and buy some that I had not heard of before. This is one of those. The composer is rather obscure. Even in Wikipedia there is not much about him. But these symphonies are awfully good. They are pleasant listening, very well put together with great skill. The performances seem flawless, and the recording is right up there with the best. I play mental games trying to figure out how some composers become famous and others sink into obscurity. I cannot find the answer easily especially when I listen to works such as these that deserve hearing. Maybe it is the lack of some immediately memorable theme? But other famous compositions are similar in this regard. Maybe it is just accident, politics, popularity, or whatever. In any case, I will listen to these symphonies and share them with others. They are different, fresh to my hearing, and I highly recommend this album.

Giovanni Battista Bononcini
La Nemica D'Amore Fatta Amante - Serenata à 3
Ensemble 415, Chiara Banchini
Zig Zag Territoires ZZT 030801

Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747) was a gifted cellist and a rival of Handel's; he wrote more than 30 operas and 300 cantatas. I approached this "serenata a tre" with trepidation, fearing something coy and intermezzo-like; in fact, it's simply beautiful. The not-riveting plot concerns soprano nymph Cloris' refusal of love for countertenor shepherd Tirsi, and her subsequent turnaround. Baritone Fileno, a satyr, loves her but convinces her that love is cruel because he is jealous of her love for Tirsi. In the end, Fileno vows vengeance and departs, and the lovers unite, praising fidelity and love. Bononcini manages to capture truly felt moments of love, anger, warmth, happiness, and heartbreak with minimal forces--just a few strings, all played stunningly (as usual) by Ensemble 415--and fine melodies. The prominent, delicately played theorbe in the opening sinfonia is a hint of niceties to come; a solo violin winds around Cloris' "Tortorella inamorata" and adds to its meaning. Throughout, Bononcini shows himself a master at setting words to suitable music for the deeper significance of both. The entire work is both moving and charming--and doesn't have an inelegant moment.

And the performances are excellent. In addition to the right-on playing, the three singers are well cast. Adriana Fernandez has a light, unaffected soprano, and she delivers the recitatives as honestly as she does the arias. Her simplicity keeps her in character throughout. Martin Oro's countertenor sound is diaphanous rather than either hooty or dramatic, and he matches his Cloris in innocence and sincerity. Their little duet--"For you I die, beautiful joy of my heart, my beloved treasure"--is a perfect gem. These are two fine musicians. Furio Zanasi, though possessing a light, "early-music" baritone, conveys wretchedness, resentment, and anger with great zeal. In short, this 68-minute miniature, which could have been a chore, is performed as if it were the only work ever written about nymphs and shepherds, and as such it seems an unhackneyed masterpiece. [3/25/2004]

Robert Levine, Classics Today

Niels Wilhelm Gade
Symphonies Vol.1
Danish NSO, Christopher Hogwood
Chandos CHAN 9862

If you like Mendelssohn and the Leipzig School in general, you'll like Gade. A gentle composer at heart, even when Gade says "con fuoco", as in the first movement of the Eighth Symphony, this isn't Tchaikovsky or even Schumann we're talking about here. Nor will you find much ethnic or "Nordic" character in his music, least of all in the overture In the Highlands. But enough of what his music is not. While conservative in form and harmony, it often offers considerable melodic appeal, and even when he's not at his best (as in the relatively placid Second Symphony), there's usually something ear-catching to hold your attention--in this case, for example, the interesting minor-key slow movement. Also, you always can count on Gade to score transparently, and one of the best things about Christopher Hogwood's performances is the way in which he consistently allows the winds to penetrate the textures in the scherzos and slow movements. He also secures real warmth and richness of tone from the brass in the Eighth Symphony's outer movements, and keeps the music moving along effectively with nicely inflected rhythms and a secure sense of each movement's architecture. In short, these are fine performances, very well recorded, not necessarily better than Schonwandt (Da Capo) or Järvi (BIS), but just as good in their way. More to the point, they demonstrate the positive direction in which Hogwood's career as a conductor of "normal" music seems to be evolving.

David Hurwitz, Classics Today.com

Guillaume de Machaut
Messe de Nostre Dame
Diabolus in Musica, Antoine Guerber
Alpha 132

Part Four - Due to lack of respons and feedback this will also be the final part of this well ment project.

Leos Janacek
Pieces for Piano
Hélène Couvert
Zig Zag Territoires ZZT 091008

Hélène Couvert, a young French pianist, presents an outstanding Janáček album full of poetry, style, and musical refinement.

Biography
(from The Official Igudesman & Joo website)

Aleksey Igudesman and Richard Hyung-ki Joo are two classical musicians who have taken the world by storm with their unique and hilarious theatrical shows, which combine comedy with classical music and popular culture. Their clips on YouTube, to date, have gathered over 15 million hits, and they have appeared live on television in several countries, including an exclusive interview for CNN. Equally comfortable performing in classical concert halls, as well as in stadiums in front of crowds of 18,000, their unified dream is to make classical music accessible to a wider and younger audience.

Aleksey and Hyung-ki met at the age of twelve, at the Yehudi Menuhin School, in England, and since then, have remained strong friends and writing partners. In 2004, following in the footsteps of luminaries such as Victor Borge and Dudley Moore, they created their first groundbreaking show, "A Little Nightmare Music". Since then, they have performed with major symphony orchestras around the world and have played at some of the world's biggest stages and festivals.

Biography

Many of classical music's biggest names, such as Emanuel Ax, Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky, Viktoria Mullova, and Julian Rachlin, have joined them in their zany musical sketches, and recently, they performed exclusively for one of classical music's greatest conductors, Bernard Haitink, who thereafter said, "Igudesman and Joo played at my 80th birthday celebrations. I nearly died laughing. I'd like to invite them back for my 85th, but that might be considered reckless...Great musicians, great fun."

Their performances reach well outside of the classical field and last year they toured Europe with legends of the pop world such as Robin Gibb (Bee Gees), Midge Ure (Ultravox), co-creator of Live Aid and Band Aid, Tears for Fears, Simple Minds, and Kim Wilde.

Individually, Aleksey Igudesman has worked with musicians ranging from Academy® Award winning Hollywood composer, Hans Zimmer, to multi Grammy® Award winning vocalist, Bobby McFerrin. Richard Hyung-ki Joo, has worked with Academy® Award winning composer, Vangelis, and was chosen by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Billy Joel, to arrange and record Joel's classical compositions on a CD, which reached no.1 on the Billboard Charts. Aleksey and Hyung-ki have also collaborated with the actor, Roger Moore, on several occasions for UNICEF.

Later this year, the German TV Broadcasting Channel, ZDF, will air a documentary, or rather "Mockumentary" on the Igudesman & Joo story.

ALEKSEY IGUDESMAN
Aleksey Igudesman was born in Leningrad at a very young age. He has never won any competitions, mainly because he has never entered any. During his studies at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School, he read the entire plays of Bernhard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and Anton Chekhov, which didn't improve his violin playing (incidentally, he is a violinist) but made him feel foolishly somewhat superior to other less intellectually endowed, yet harder practising, colleagues.

After studying with Boris Kuschnir at the Vienna Conservatoire and being told many times by many people that they were rather worried about his future, he embarked on a successful career playing, composing, and arranging for his string trio, "Triology". They recorded several CD's for BMG, worked in Hollywood with Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer, and performed with Bobby McFerrin, Julian Rachlin, Janine Jansen, and other people who are less famous, but just as great.

Aleksey Igudesman writes a lot of music. Often he goes to bed writing and gets up writing. He sometimes feels a little insecure about his music, although it is published by Universal Edition, and tries to compensate for it by being rather extrovert. In fact, his psychiatrist tells him that he is insecure about a lot of things. Aleksey is not so sure about that.

Back at school he met his "IGUDESMAN & JOO" partner, Richard Hyung-ki Joo. After a few initial small differences, resulting in several people holding them both back from smashing chairs and music stands on each other's heads, Joo offered Igudesman some fish and chips, which he simply could not refuse. This in turn led to collaboration over many years, which culminated in the creation of "A Little Nightmare Music", a show they tour together making people laugh.

After Gidon Kremer heard them several times, he wanted to join in the fun, so to speak, and asked them if they would like to do something together. The answer was obvious and "Being Gidon Kremer" was born.
Ever since then, Igudesman & Joo have been writing and re-writing the script for the show a million times and are rather glad to have finally settled on something they all seem to like. (Well, until the next time Gidon comes up with 10 new ideas of how to turn everything upside down!)

Aleksey Igudesman plays on a Santo Seraphin violin from the year 1717, which is kindly loaned to him by ERSTE BANK, (the nicest, sweetest, most charming, and best-looking bank in the world) since he doesn't have the cash to buy his own and they don't mind him doing a bit of advertising for them.

ALEKSEY IGUDESMAN

RICHARD HYUNG-KI JOO
Richard Hyung-ki Joo was born. He is British, but looks Korean, or the other way around, or both. He showed his first signs of a sense of comedy whilst nappy-changing and shortly thereafter, showed his love for music when his parents would find him at the record store listening for hours to everything from Mozart to Bee Gees. (Although the two are never to be confused, Hyung-ki is often heard singing "Don Giovanni" in the style of Barry Gibb).

He started piano lessons at the age of eight and a half and two years later won a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School. There, he discovered that he was among geniuses and child prodigies and was convinced he would be kicked out of school, year after year. In fact, he was not kicked "out" but kicked "around" by teachers and fellow students, such as Aleksey Igudesman. After these painful experiences, Joo invented a new type of piano playing known as "Karate Piano". No matter how difficult his years at the school may have been, it only strengthened his love of music, and he also realised that the world of classical music had little to do with the spirit in which the music was created and began dreaming of a way to bring this great music to a wider and newer audience- a dream which has recently been realised through his show: "A Little Nightmare Music".

Hyung-ki, spelt R-I-C-H-A-R-D, and pronounced "Dick", is the only Korean Jew, (spelt J-O-O) in the world. He has performed at the White House, in a red house, and sadly not with Bernhard Greenhouse. However, Reachhard Yankee Jew, has performed with luminaries as diverse as Larry Adler, Gidon Kremer, Yehudi Menuhin, Yoko Ono, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Gershwin (after Gershwin's death), Arturo Toscanini (with a Music Minus One CD), and Nicolo Paganini (during a dream which then changed into a scene from an Indiana Jones Movie, as dreams do).

Hyung-ki has small hands and therefore finds some piano repertoire quite difficult to play, such as the music of Rachmaninov, who had Big Hands, (HK:"BUT ONLY HANDS SMALL!"). Anyway, even with this small hindrance, he loves to perform chamber music with fellow artists such as Renaud Capucon, Thomas Carroll, Michael Collins, Janine Jansen, Mischa Maisky, and Julian Rachlin, and happily performs recitals and also concertos with orchestras that include the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Warsaw Sinfonia, and the "Con-fessional" Orchestra. He also has a passion for teaching and has taught at institutions that include the Yehudi Menuhin School and Guildhall School of Music, although his passion does sometimes lead to screaming in an unintelligible language.

Hyzjxiiung%key's other achievements include: unofficial world record for "Fastest Tooth-brusher", watching the movie "Mission Impossible" 8 times in a row within 23 hours, and possessing a spectrum of over 500 different types of laughter which he hopes to record one day for a famous recording company.

"Stunning to hear in concert- he is a virtuoso" PAUL SIMON

Niels Wilhelm Gade
Symphonies Vol.3
Danish NSO, Christopher Hogwood
Chandos CHAN 9795

Niels Gade may not have been a particularly original personality, but his music is well made and though conservative, gives hints of more interesting things to come. For example, both the relaxed third movement of his Third Symphony and its rugged counterpart in the Sixth strikingly anticipate the "non-scherzos" of Nielsen's Second and Third Symphonies, respectively. Symphony No. 6 begins and ends in a minor key--very unexpected at any period--and its wild finale should put to rest rumors of Gade's invariable tameness. The same holds true of the Third Symphony's opening movement, which was completely replaced on revision. Christopher Hogwood's thoughtful inclusion of the composer's somewhat stodgy and repetitious first efforts show him successfully working to increase thematic interest, rhythmic tension, and dramatic flow (the final version is not only quicker, but arrives at a surprise ending, pizzicato, as in the opening movement of Sibelius' First Symphony).

In fact, the only work here that betrays any specifically "Nordic" coloring is the earliest piece of all, the overture Echoes of Ossian (Op. 1), which features some aptly "bardic" horn writing and a lovely harp part. Still, there's much more to these symphonies than "faux-Mendelssohn", and the credit for making this fact so evident goes entirely to Hogwood, who conducts really splendid performances. His period instrument work clearly puts him in good stead here, even as his stature as a conductor of music of all eras continues to impress. He has the timpanist use hard sticks and makes sure that wind and brass parts cut cleanly through the string textures (crucial in the outer movement especially), but he's not afraid to linger over a phrase now and again, as at the opening of the Third Symphony's very pretty Andante.

Unlike Järvi (BIS), who has a chamber orchestra, or the rhythmically mushier and less clearly recorded Schonwandt (Dacapo), Hogwood dispatches the music's neo-classical elements with the necessary verve while still leaving room for aptly rich string textures and the occasional rush of Romantic ardor. Excellent sonics round out a disc that, when all is said and done, offers the best versions currently available of these works. If you haven't taken to Gade, these performances might change your mind, and if you've been hesitating to take the plunge, then start here.

David Hurwitz, Classics Today.com