Rhapsodie Espagnole (compilation of five Impressionist works)

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio espagnol, op. 34
Maurice Ravel: Rhapsodie espagnole
Emmanuel Chabrier: España
Claude Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Paul Dukas: L’Apprenti-Sorcier

Budapest Symphony Orchestra
György Lehel, conductor

for the Chabrier:
Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra
Rouslan Raichev, conductor

Some of the greatest values in orchestral recordings during the 1970s and ’80s came out of Eastern Europe, which had yet to be contaminated by Madison Avenue. Every city in the Communist Bloc had an orchestra of first-rate musicians and their conductors spent more time in rehearsal than they did with publicity agents. Their performances, as a result, tended to be polished and tasteful even while their Free World counterparts were at pains to see just how quirky and individualistic they could make theirs after a bare minimum of rehearsals.

Because the Eastern European orchestras did not use advertising departments, their reputations did not travel very far and they did not command high performance fees. The most cost-conscious marketers in Los Angeles and New York City would buy the rights to Eastern European recordings very cheaply and sell them in the United States usually without liner notes or other amenities.

How this particular compilation came to be is a mystery. It includes four pieces recorded in Hungary and one in Bulgaria. The sound and ensemble are excellent throughout; the program of apparently disparate pieces is unified by the similarity of their instrumental textures.


Rhapsodie Espagnole and four other pieces
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Alfred Schnittke: Requiem

Requiem, music to Schiller's drama “Don Carlos” for soloists, mixed chorus, and instrumental ensemble In fourteen movements, op. 101 (1975)

Helga Therme and Gisela Burghardt, sopranos
Heidi Riess, mezzo-soprano
Albrecht Lepetit, tenor
Hermann Christian Polster, bass
Dresden Kreuzchor and Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir
Martin Flämig, conductor

live performance 26 May 1982 in the Dresden Kreuzkirche
Dresden Festival 1982

Toward the end of his life, Schnittke was lionized by the West, partly because his style was more Western than Soviet.

aircheck 29 January 1983, 2000–2037h, KUSC-FM Los Angeles
(Por si la palabra «aircheck» no se traduce bien, sabed que significa una grabación sacada de la radio, a veces de un evento difundido en vivo, más comúnmente de un evento grabado en vivo para emitirse otro día. De costumbre los airchecks se identifican por las siglas de la radiodifusora y la fecha de emisión.)


Schnittke Requiem
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Brahms-Schoenberg: Piano Quartet

Johannes Brahms: Piano Quartet in g, op. 25, as orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg
Allegro
Intermezzo: Allegro ma non troppo
Andante con moto
Rondo all’Zingarese: Presto

Los Angeles Philharmonic
Simon Rattle, conductor

Schoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’s chamber work exaggerates the inherent romanticism, filling the piece with denser harmonies and stranger timbres. Rattle manages not only to keep the piece from becoming slapstick but also brings out melodies hidden among the many instruments.

aircheck 27 February 1983, 1300–1400h, KUSC-FM Los Angeles
(Por si la palabra «aircheck» no se traduce bien, sabed que significa una grabación sacada de la radio, a veces de un evento difundido en vivo, más comúnmente de un evento grabado en vivo para emitirse otro día. De costumbre los airchecks se identifican por las siglas de la radiodifusora y la fecha de emisión.)


Rattle conducts the Brahms-Schoenberg
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Richard Wagner: Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey (Götterdämmerung)

Minnesota Orchestra
Neville Marriner, conductor

This performace dates from when Marriner, as the music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, began venturing deeply into Romantic repertoire. The precision and moderation that made his reputation with Baroque and Classical pieces work surprisingly well with Wagner.

aircheck 20 February 1983, 1330–1400h, KUSC-FM Los Angeles
(Por si la palabra «aircheck» no se traduce bien, sabed que significa una grabación sacada de la radio, a veces de un evento difundido en vivo, más comúnmente de un evento grabado en vivo para emitirse otro día. De costumbre los airchecks se identifican por las siglas de la radiodifusora y la fecha de emisión.)


Wagner by Marriner
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Nicolet plays Devienne

Aurèle Nicolet, flute
Christiane Nicolet, second flute
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra
Antoni Ros-Marbá, condutor

François Devienne: Symphonie Concertante in G for two flutes, op. 76
Devienne: Flute Concerto No. 7 in e minor

Back when Jean-Pierre Rampal was breaking all known speed records, Aurèle Nicolet was calmly setting the standard for musicianship. His performances were never less than perfect. Here he gives us a couple of works by France’s most celebrated flute virtuoso of the latter eighteenth century.


Nicolet plays Devienne
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Oboe concerti performed by Heinz Holliger

Heinz Holliger, oboe
Christiane Jaccottet, harpsichord
Camerata Bern
Alexander van Wijnkoop, concertmaster

Johann Gottlieb Graun: Concerto in g minor for oboe
Graun: Concerto in c minor for oboe
Johann Ludwig Krebs: Concerto in b minor for harpsichord and oboe

Holliger was the top oboist of his day (later to be joined by Alan Vogel), equally at home in the Baroque and the late twentieth century. Jaccottet was known for her precise and stylish Bach. The Camerata Bern was the breeding ground for early music in Switzerland. Recorded in Berne, Switzerland, by Polydor Archiv in 1978.


Holliger plays Graun and Krebs
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Steve Reich: Tehillim (orchestral version)

Julianne Baird, Cheryl Bensman, Jane Bryden, sopranos
Kimball Wheeler, mezzo-soprano
New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Zubin Mehta, conductor

The name of the work is Hebrew for “psalms” or “praises”. Its lyrics are drawn from Psalms 19, 34, 18, and 150. One of Reich’s more lyrical works; he manages to achieve his signature beat-frequency effects by playing five similar voices off one another.

world première performance of the orchestral version
recorded live 16 September 1982
Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, New York City

aircheck 12 February 1983 1230–1300h, KUSC-FM Los Angeles
(Por si la palabra «aircheck» no se traduce bien, sabed que significa una grabación sacada de la radio, a veces de un evento difundido en vivo, más comúnmente de un evento grabado en vivo para emitirse otro día. De costumbre los airchecks se identifican por las siglas de la radiodifusora y la fecha de emisión.)


Reich Tehillim orchestral première
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The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, live 1982

The Emerson Quartet
Walter Trampler, second viola

Wolfgang Mozart: String Quintet in g, K. 516
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in C, op. 59/3, “Rasumovsky”
George Crumb: Vox balaenae (Voice of the Whale)

For many decades now, the CMSLC has been a somewhat fluid group of musicians, originally all members of the New York Philharmonic, that the Lincoln Center draws from each season to perform chamber works involving a wide range of instruments. This evening, most likely from the 1982 season, assembled five strings, a flute, and a piano to present one piece each from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, all surprisingly well suited to each other.

aircheck 27 April 1983 2100h KUSC-FM, Los Angeles
(Por si la palabra «aircheck» no se traduce bien, sabed que significa una grabación sacada de la radio, a veces de un evento difundido en vivo, más comúnmente de un evento grabado en vivo para emitirse otro día. De costumbre los airchecks se identifican por las siglas de la radiodifusora y la fecha de emisión.)


Emerson Quartet at Lincoln Center
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Antonio Vivaldi: sacred music for countertenor, strings, and continuo

Gérard Lesne, countertenor
Ensemble Il Seminario musicale

Motetto «Vestro Principi Divino», RV 633
Stabat Mater, RV 621
Introduzione al Miserere «Filiae Maestae Jerusalem», RV 638
Salmo 126, «Nisi Dominus», RV 608

Vivaldi wrote a small number of religious pieces for solo contralto voice with chamber accompaniment. This CD contains about half of them. French digital production from 1988.


Vivaldi sacred music for countertenor
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Joseph Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross

The Kuijken String Quartet live 31 March 1994

Sigiswald Kuijken, violin
François Fernández, violin
Marleen Thiers, viola
Wieland Kuijken, cello

Introduzione
Sonata I: Pater, dimitte illis, quia nesciunt quid faciunt.
Sonata II: Hodie mecum eris in Paradiso.
Sonata III: Mulier, ecce filius tuus.
Sonata IV: Deus meus, Deus meus, ut quid dereliquisti me?
Sonata V: Sitio.
Sonata VI: Consummatum est.
Sonata VII: In manus tuas, Domine, commendo Spiritum meum.
Il terremoto

The Kuijkens have always had an unerring sense of repertoire. This unusual piece, seventy-eight minutes long, is more than some overgrown string quartet and more than sacred program music; true to its subject, the work is both somber and mystical. A brilliant performance at the Dorking Halls in Dorking, Surrey. Recorded by the BBC.


Haydn: The Seven Last Words
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The Kuijken Trio live 15 November 1993

Wieland Kuijken, viola da gamba
Barthold Kuijken, flauto traverso
Robert Kohnen, harpsichord

Jean-Marie Leclair: Trio Sonata in D (Deuxième Livre)
François Couperin: Concert Royal nº 1
Jean-Philippe Rameau: Premier concert (Pièces de clavecin en concert)
Georg Philipp Telemann: Fantasias nº 7 in D major and nº 3 in b minor
Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonata in g for viola da gamba and continuo
Johann Gottfried Müthel: Sonata in D
unidentified encore

Live digital recording of their performance at the First Methodist Church of Seattle, Washington. This was recorded for National Public Radio but appears not to have been edited for broadcast.

If anyone can identify the encore, please leave a comment here.


The Kuijken Trio, 15 November 1993
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The Kuijken Quartet live 11 November 1990

Barthold Kuijken, flute
Sigiswald Kuijken, violin
Wieland Kuijken, viola da gamba
Robert Kohnen, harpsichord

Marin Marais: Suite en trio in e minor
Jean-Philippe Rameau: Cinquième Concert (Pièces de clavecin en concert)
Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata in B-flat
J. S. Bach: Trio Sonata in c minor (A Musical Offering)

The Ks in their essential configuration playing works from their essential repertoire. Recorded live at East Hill Baptist Church, Tallahassee, Florida, for WFSU/WFSQ-FM.


Kuijken Quartet, 11 November 1990
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Wieland Kuijken and Robert Kohnen in recital 27 February 1977

Wieland Kuijken, viola da gamba
Robert Kohnen, harpsichord

Diego Ortiz: Three recercadas
Christopher Simpson: Divisions on a ground in e minor
J. S. Bach: Sonata #2 in D
Marin Marais: Couplets on “Les Folies d’Espagne” (Pièces de viole, 1681)
Marin Marais: [unidentified encore]

The Kuijken Quartet’s booking in Los Angeles obligated them contractually not to perform any other concert in the area, so this performance forty-seven miles east of Los Angeles was presented as a “lecture/recital” in which Wieland would offer a chronological overview of viola da gamba repertoire. He spoke for about twenty minutes between pieces but, since he refused his microphone, the recording of the lecture portion was not preserved when the original analogue recordings were digitized. Recorded surreptitiously in Mabel Shaw Bridges Hall of Music, Claremont, California.

If anyone can identify the encore, please leave a comment here.


Kuijken-Kohnen recital 27 February 1977
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Georg Philipp Telemann: Tafelmusik, Book III

Ensemble “Il Fondamento”
Paul Dombrecht, conductor

Concerto in E-flat for two horns, strings, and continuo
Trio in D for two transverse flutes and continuo
Solo in g for oboe and continuo
Conclusion in B for two oboes, strings, and continuo
Overture in B for two oboes, strings, and continuo
Quartet in e for transverse flute, violin, violoncello, and continuo

Il Fondamento did not record the other two books of Tafelmusik, but then Telemann never intended the works to be performed as a group. In spite of its Italianate name, this ensemble was based in Belgium. Dombrecht was its cynosure and he championed both period instruments and musicological underpinnings for their performance practice. Robert Kohnen was their harpsichordist. Recorded in Ghent during September 1986 and in Brussels during December 1987.


Telemann: Tafelmusik Book 3
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Works for cello by Boccherini, Sammartini, degli Antoni, and Gabrieli

Anner Bylsma, violoncello
Dijck Koster, second violoncello
Concerto Amsterdam
Gustav Leonhardt, harpsichord

Boccherini: Concerto in G for violoncello and string orchestra
Sammartini: Sonata III in a for two violoncelli
Boccherini: Sonata No. 7 in B-flat
degli Antoni: Ricercata VIII for violoncello solo
Domenico Gabrieli: Canon for two violoncelli

Although marketed as a Boccherini album, these recordings of 1968–69 are in fact much more interesting because they document the earliest violoncello repertoire and highlight the masterful work of Bylsma.


Bylsma plays early works for cello
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William Croft: songs and incidental music

The Parley of Instruments
David Thomas, bass

How charming is beauty
With Noise of Cannon (from Musicus apparatus academicus)
The Wanton Celia
Ayres in the Comedy call’d The Funeral
Ayres in the Comedy of Courtship Alamode
Ah how sweet
Cantata: Lost is my love

The real-life Lord Croft (who knows nothing of raiding tombs) aided in the preparation of this recording of the work of a kinsman from England’s Restoration period. William Croft (1678–1727) was a contemporary of Jeremiah Clarke (with whom he shared duties as organist for the Chapel Royal) and a student of John Blow and Henry Purcell. These songs and the incidental music to two plays bear strong resemblance to the work of Croft’s teachers. The Parley of Instruments was a group that specialized in early British music.


Works by William Croft
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Handel: trios, sonatas, and concerti for diverse instruments

The Aulos Ensemble plays
Concerto a quattro in d
Trio Sonata #5 in G
Sonata in G, op 1/5
Sonata in g, op 1/6
Sonata in C
Trio Sonata #2 in d
Concerto a quattro in D
Trio Sonata in e, op 5/3

The Aulos Ensemble took the original-instrument movement to the next logical step: what with original instruments being so scarce and generally in poor condition, they found that modern copies of the originals – “period instruments” – were not only more affordable but often better-sounding and still just as difficult to play. In this recording from 1982, a broad selection of Handel’s chamber music shows off the sound of half a dozen such instruments, all played very well indeed.


The Aulos Ensemble plays Handel
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