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Compositeur: NIELSEN, Carl ((1865-1931)) |
 | Son vie:
(Contributed by Søren Roug <smr
dc.dk>)
The son of a humble artisan, Nielsen was enabled by the help of friends to study at the Copenhagen Conservatory, and from his mid-twenties he was for fifteen years a second violinist in the Royal Orchestra, which introduced his First Symphony in 1892. This was to some extent influenced by Brahms but was nevertheless already a very personal work, embodying a tug-of-war between two keys which was to become habitual with him. He began to conduct his own works -- his now popular Second Symphony ("The Four Temperaments") in 1901. These temperaments are primarily concerned with human beings and their condition. They depict divergent personalities of the players for whom he wrote it. All Nielsen's six symphonies should not be regarded as in any sense programmatic.
It was only after his post at the Royal Orchestra that he was able to give himself more fully to composition. "Music, like life is inextinguishable", he declared, and this characteristically vigorous and positive attitude, besides giving the Fourth Symphony its title, imbues most of his work, in which a quirky sense of the grotesque is often to be founded. In the Flute Concerto, for example, the soloist is teased by vulgar intrusions by the bass trombone; the sterner Clarinet Concerto is all but disrupted by a freely aggressive side drum. This gratuitous introduction of an element of struggle is seen at its most violent in the Fourth Symphony, in whose finale two sets of timpani fight out a duel, and the two movement Fifth Symphony, whose existence at one point seems threatened by a militant side drum; but another aspect of it is the progressive tonality (an initial key being overcome by another) which Nielsen favoured.
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ID: CC0002
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Enregistrement historique
Subcollection: Music for ClarinetBrought together for the first time, the first commercial recordings of Nielsen's works featuring the clarinet. This historic recording gives a fascinating insight into playing from the 30s and 40s and will be coveted by those interested in Nielsen's masterpieces and historic performances.
A Grand Duo-The Clarinet and Early Romantics
The Clarinet Concerto played by Lois Cahuzac
The Wind Quintet played by the Royal Chapel Wind Quintet
The delightful Serenato in Vano
Both chamber works feature the playing of clarinettist Aage Oxenvad
C. Nielsen:
Clarinet Concerto Op. 57 (FS129)
Serenata in Vano (1914)
Wind Quintet, Op. 43 (FS 100) |
| 15.00 eur Buy |
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ID: CC2012
CDs: 2
Type: CD
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Collection:
Instrumental
Subcollection: OboeThe 24-page CD booklet has a 6,000 word programme note in English by the compiler Geoffrey Burgess with a description of each performer, each track, and many unusual photographs.
Introduction by compiler Geoffrey Burgess: It would be hard to claim the oboe as a main player in the rise of the phonograph in the early years of the twentieth century. In both contemporary literature and retrospective histories, oboists barely rate a mention alongside the Carusos, Melbas, Elgars and Kreislers, and the lack of a comprehensive discography or historic anthology backs this up. But why have early oboe recordings been silent for so long? It is time to discredit the popular belief that of the few recordings of oboists that have survived, most are worthless from a musical standpoint. While not featured as frequently as most other instruments, the oboe was not entirely silent in the recording studio: however, the problem lies much more in how and where to retrieve those distant echoes. Catalogues, reviews and the like cite specific recordings, but this is only a beginning. The next and harder step is to track down serviceable copies of this material which in most instances was considered of merely ephemeral value. We have to consider ourselves lucky with what has survived. Contrary to what we might think, the scarcity of oboe recordings is not a reflection of the difficulties encountered in capturing its tone. Even the earliest acoustic recordings demonstrate that, with the player projecting directly into the recording horn, the oboe sounded better than many other instruments. The reason for the scant presence of the oboe on disc has to do more with its musical and cultural persona. Just as now, the recording industry in the early decades of the twentieth century was dictated by popular taste. Not only did the Classical selections in gramophone catalogues constitute a small percentage of the total offerings, but they were dominated by operatic excerpts and rousing tunes performed by bands. In such a climate the oboe was not exactly a winner, rather it was considered a novelty, of interest to the refined connoisseur. It’s not needles, but the records themselves that need hunting down in the haystacks of archival repositaries and collectors’ attics. Artists’ names and instruments were given only rarely on the discs. Manufacturers’ catalogues can help but it is often necessary to resort to intelligent guesswork. According to the renowned audiofile Melvin Harris, it was Louis Gaudard who made the earliest oboe recording in 1899, but this claim is still to be substantiated. The oldest surviving recordings date from the first decade of the 20th century, with showy solos of ephemeral appeal usually accompanied by band, orchestra or, more rarely, piano. Despite the scant examples, we are blessed with multiple recordings of some favorites such as Une Soirée prčs du lac and standard orchestral repertoire like the overture to Guillaume Tell. These multiple versions allow direct comparison between different oboists, although it should always be borne in mind that the different settings and the recording process contributed in no small measure to the total sonic record. This anthology spans the acoustic and electric eras and all recordings are monoaural. Léon Goossens was the most widely recorded oboist of the first half of the 20th century, but otherwise, all of the oboists featured in this anthology were active before the rise of the oboe “heroes” still familiar today - André Lardrot, Pierre Pierlot, Heinz Holliger, etc. Many were celebrated in their own day, but most are now forgotten. We have intentionally avoided duplicating the already copious quantity of re-released material. Oboists like Roger Lamorlette, who can be heard playing Poulenc’s trio for oboe, bassoon and piano with the composer, have been omitted, and well known players like Goossens and Tabuteau whose work is already widely available, are represented only by noteworthy selections hitherto unavailable. There is no natural terminus ad quem for this anthology. Stylistic changes in oboe playing tended to overlap advances in recording technology in complex ways. Still, it seems appropriate to draw the line at the mid century with the dawn of the LP era with the Viennese recording of Beethoven’s variations on La ci darem (CD II track 21). Direct contact with these remarkable performances from the past is still hampered by the limitations of the available recording technology and the state of preservation of this delicate material. Most of the original recordings used here are in an exceptionally fragile state and the audio quality of many is quite simply deplorable. Any wax cylinder or shellac disc that has miraculously survived the junk yard inevitably bears the signs of abuse - damaged through overuse, poor storage conditions, or the jostle of the flea market before falling into the hands of a responsible collector. Every effort has been made to locate clean copies, but in some cases there was simply no choice. To understand these vestiges of players from the past, we have to learn to listen “through” the recording technology. Most early recordings have what today would be an unacceptable signal-to-noise ratio. The distraction of surface noise and crackles and limited frequency response and can hinder drawing conclusions on individual players’ tone. Most acoustic recordings registered a relatively narrow band of frequencies from 1000-3000Hz. With the introduction of microphones this was expanded to 200-6000Hz, but this is still far short of present standards which were set in the stereo LP era at 20Hz-20KHz. To those used to digital stereo, the monoaural configuration of early recordings may seem one-dimensional and, particularly in the case of acoustic recordings, the insensitivity of the technology to dynamics often obliterated nuance, and can also give a false sense of balance. At the same time we must listen “with” the technology. That is, we must learn to respond to what the technology could register faithfully - tempo, intonation, vibrato and questions of ensemble - always mindful that, once in the recording studio, players may have had to make adjustments from their regular practices. Up to the use of magnetic tape in the recording process in the 1940s, all recordings were “live” in the sense that virtually no editing was possible. Realizing that durations of 2 to 4 minutes (the length of a side of a disc) were recorded as complete takes makes it easier to forgive occasional slips - indeed, it should enhance our admiration for these players. It is always dangerous to draw general conclusions from limited data, so rather than viewing these recordings as documents of the essential characteristics of each oboist, it is wiser to treat them as “snapshots” of unique performances. Out-of-focus or underdeveloped due to the shortcomings of the recording apparatus, these passing glimpses are the closest we can get to the artistry of these lost musicians. Despite this material’s limitations, it’s revelations are manifold. The recordings of Georges Gillet CD I track 2) and his pupils (Gaudard, CD 1 track7; Mercier, CD I track 8; Brun, CD I track 9; Longy, CD I track 11; and Bleuzet, CD II tracks 5-8) show that prior to World War II French players did not all cultivate the bright tone typical of the younger players of the Paris Conservatoire school. We can appreciate why Tabuteau praised Bruno Labate (CD I track 16), and why Goossens could not have failed to have been impressed by Henri de Busscher’s playing (CD II tracks 13-15). The different performances of the J.C. Bach Sinfonia, Brahms’ Violin Concerto and the Beethoven Variations provide invaluable comparisons of different schools of oboe playing. |
| 29.00 eur Temporarily out of stock |
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ID: DK0040
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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| 15.00 eur Buy |
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ID: GD348
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subcollection: GuitarKalli Kastori graduated at the Athens Conservatory and furthered her studies with the great guitar masters: Leo Brouwer, R. Aussel, H. Kappel, David Russel in Vienna and Milano. She has given concerts as a soloist in Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Romania, Egypt and Denmark and often performs in chamber ensembles. She conducts master classes in Greece, Denmark, Bulgaria. Kalli Kastori is well-known to the Bulgarian audience with her concerts and her participation in the release for Gega New playing duo with the guitarist Finn Svit from Denmark (GD 185). |
| 15.00 eur Temporarily out of stock |
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ID: RCO8005
CDs: 14
Type: SACD
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Collection:
Orchestral Works
Subcollection: Voices and OrchestraThe Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a transcription in sound of the concert-giving history of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, based upon radio recordings from the archives of Dutch Radio and Radio Netherlands World Service. Six decades of the 20th century are put under the spotlight in six boxes, each containing 14 CDs. We have chosen not only legendary performances under chief conductors of the KCO but also concerts led by countless guest conductors of both greater and lesser renown. Famous soloists make their debuts with the orchestra alongside world premieres of works that have since become classics of the repertoire. This fifth volume of the Anthology features the radio recordings made by the orchestra in the 1980s, presenting an overview on 14 CDs of the orchestra's artistic development under various conductors during that period. |
| 80.00 eur Buy |
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ID: RRC1208
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Saeka Matsuyama - violin. |
| 15.00 eur Buy |
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ID: RRC2046
CDs: 2
Type: CD
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with 8pp booklet / Soloists (Sym.3) Gomez, Rayner-Cook (144' 19"s). |
| 25.00 eur Buy |
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ID: RRC6002
CDs: 6
Type: CD
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Subcollection: OrchestreLondon Symphony Orchestra Ole Schmidt Odense Symphony Orchestra Tamas Veto / Jan Wagner University Choir 'Little Muko' New Philharmonia / Leppard Scottish Chamber Orchestra / Bedford Saeka Matsuyama, violin John McCaw, Clarinet Jennifer Stinton, Flute |
| 42.00 eur Buy |
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ID: SIGCD390
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subcollection: ClarinetMozart & Nielsen Clarinet Concertos
Julian Bliss, Royal Northern Sinfonia
Julian Bliss clarinet
Royal Northern Sinfonia
Mario Venzago conductor
Julian Bliss performs the Clarinet Concertos of Mozart and Nielsen - often thought of as the two greatest such works in the repertoire: twin examples of what can be achieved by composers who have been truly inspired to write for the clarinet, using its uniquely expressive qualities to produce enduring and comprehensively masterly compositions.
Clarinet Concerto: I. Allegretto un poco
Clarinet Concerto: II. Poco adagio
Clarinet Concerto: III. Allegro un poco
Clarinet Concerto: IV. Allegro vivace
Non che non sei capace, K. 419 (arr. Julian Bliss)
Der Liebe himmlisches Gefuhl, K. 119 (arr. Julian Bliss)
Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622: I. Allegro
Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622: II. Adagio
Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622: III. Rondo - Allegro |
| 18.00 eur Temporarily out of stock |
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