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Le Musée
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18 EUR |
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"Le Musée"
French guitar music by Claude Engel
Birgit Schwab, guitar
Content:
-Valse cacochyme et valétudinaire N° 1-3
-L'oiseau et l'aube
-Fuego
-Chanson marmelade n° 1
-Le musée des vieilles mécaniques
-Variations sur une chanson populaire lettonne
For our CD "Nowhere left to go" we had already recorded three pieces for mandolin and guitar by Claude Engel. When we first found Claude and got to know his music, we also discovered his fantastic solo music for guitar. Most of these composition had neither been recorded nor even premiered, and we were so enthusiastic about the music that very soon first ideas about a new project arose, which led to this recording. This way, Birgit Schwab can finally present herself as a soloist, and Claude's guitar music is being introduced to a bigger audience.
First, we had to go through a difficult process of choosing, as for reasons of time not all compositions would fit onto one CD. The result is giving a good impression of the many different styles and richness of the music by this French composer.
Valses cacochymes et valétudinaires
These three waltzes were written in 2001 and are dedicated to Birgit Schwab. The title is difficult to translate but it suggests that the music is sickly, fragile, rather old and very peculiar. Besides the charm that is so typical of Claude Engel's music, they have an aura of scurrility and hypochondria.
L'oiseau et l'aube (The bird and the dawn)
This 1976 composition and the Variations are the earliest compositions on this recording. In particular, the very freely written first part (L'éveil - Awakening), which seems almost like an improvisation, differs from the other compositions. The second part (L'envol - Taking flight) is a twirly moto perpetuo with impressive syncopated accents and arpeggios.
Chanson marmelade n° 1
This composition was written in 2000 and its subtitle "À la claire fontaine" refers to a chanson of that name. The theme of the song, originally from 17th century France, is introduced after a short opening and then serves as the basis for variations.
Fuego
Fuego is subtitled "hommage à Astor Piazzolla". It was written in 1992 after Piazzolla had passed away and is very hard to distinguish from an original Piazzolla piece. Claude Engel and Astor Piazzolla worked together in the past, so Fuego is a goodbye and a deep bow to the great master of Tango Nuevo.
Le musée des vieilles mécaniques et autres bizarreries cinétiques et hétéroclites...
This piece, the centre and highlight of this recording, was written in 1999. It is a very extensive work for guitar. In its conception and different sound-picture movements, it is reminiscent of Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" for piano. The "museum" has been recorded in its entirety for this CD.
Variations sur une chanson populaire lettonne
These variations of 1976 are subtitled in Latvian "Kur tu tezi galiti man" ("Where are you going, my rooster?"). They are based on the melody of a lullaby which Claude Engel's mother used to sing to him when he was a boy.
"She (Birgit Schwab) convinces with her powerful well accentuated playing, dynamic width and brillant technique."
concertino, 1/2009
You will find further information about Claude Engel on his website http://www.claude-engel.com.
The CD is published by "Antes".
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Mandala
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15 EUR |
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Mandala:
solo and small chamber works by Lawrence Axelrod
Content:
-Mandala No.1 for guitar
-Mandala No.3 for double bass
-Remembered Harps for Harfe
-Five Hundred Nights for Mezzo-soprano, flute, viola and harp
-Mandala No.2 for piano
-Mandala No.4 mandolin and guitar
-Three Homages for brass-quintet
"Mandala" includes solo- and chambermusic by the US composer Lawrence Axelrod. In 2001 Lawrence Axelrod has dedicated his forth Mandala to us, and we have recorded it for this CD.
Lawrence Axelrod (*1960) studied at the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern University. He is working as a composer, teacher, conductor and pianist all over the world.
Visit the composers website: http://www.lawrenceaxelrod.com/
"Mandala"
"These four works take their name from the sacred circular artwork found throughout the Buddhist and Hindu worlds. Using the concept of concentric circles of symbols and colours as a basis, the pieces begin with a bar of simple figurs. This measure is repeated over and over again, yet with each repetition a note value is extended, a rest added or a new note (or a very few notes) are inserted. Tus, each repetition is only slightly different from that which precedes it, simulating the way the eye is intended to move around a mandala toward the center in meditation. By the end of the piece, however, long arching phrases with varied rhythms and dynamics have emerged from the original bar of simple even pitches.
Though I didn't intend to produce a series of works when I began writing the first piece for solo guitar, the compositional process involved is comfortable and still feels quite rich to me. Each of the Mandala pieces is a gentle, flowing, expansive exploration of a specific developmental technique and each instrument's colour and capability."
Lawrence Axelrod (Translation: Birgit Schwab)
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Nowhere left to go
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18 EUR |
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"Nowhere left to go"
Music for Mandoline and Guitar
Contents:
Claude Engel
-Minstrels
-Sonate
-Danse Bulgare
Thomas Schmidt-Kowalski
-Variationen ueber ein eigenes Thema op.92
Jürgen Meyer-Metzenthin
-Sphinx
Chris Rupert
-Nowhere left to go
Jeffrey Harrington
-Erg
Ivan Shekov
-Suite Mediteran op.77
A big part of our work is the co-operation with composers in order to constantly grow the repertoire for mandolin and guitar. Within the three years after our first recording Chilli con Tango with contemporary music we could already enthuse more than twenty further composers from Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, South-America and the USA about our duo. The result has surpassed our expectations: music of highest quality with a tremendously broad spectrum of styles. This recording represents a cross-section of the music that has been written for us during the last three years.
"Virtuosity, witful playing and rhythmical fire"
Akustik Gitarre, June 2004
"A really completely successful production, sensibly played on a high level, finely harmonized, perfect balance, very transparent and exciting. And this programme must enthuse all lovers of plucked chamber music."
Dieter Kreidler
Read a review on musicweb
international international.
This CD was supported by the "Sparkasse Bergkamen Boenen" and published by "Antes".
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Raffaele Calace
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14 EUR |
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Raffaele Calace: Works for Mandolin and Guitar
Content:
-DanseFantastique op.68
-Fantasia Poetica op.56
-Réverence op.19
-Racconto Strano op.93
-Rondo op.127
-Largo op.106
-Danza Spagnola op.105
-Elegia op.131
-Polonese op.36
-Mazurka da Concerto op.126
-Pavana op.54
-Danza dei Nani op.43
Raffaele Calace (1863-1934) excelled in every area of mandolin-activity - manufacture, performance, innovation and design, composition and orchestration - to such a degree that he must be regarded as the greatest single figure in the mandolin's four-hundred-year history and one of the most remarkable all-round musicians of the romantic era.
This recording in which Daniel Ahlert plays an instrument built by Raffaele Calace in 1924 does equally reveal the magic of masterly performed music for plucked instruments and Calace's multifarious repertoire.
"The music of Raffaele Calace is characterized by beautiful melodies, inventive composition, subtle instrumentation and variety of ideas.
Daniel Ahlert and Birgit Schwab deal with all aspects of that fascinating composers work. They play with sonorous tone, perfect instrumental technique, seamless and subtle team-work, ernormous virtuosity and great intimacy in calm passages. They make Calace's work flash up in all its diversity. A real pleasure!"
Frau Prof. Marga Wilden-Hüsgen
You can find another review here.
This CD was supported by "Stiftung Kunst und Kultur des Landes NRW" and published by "Musicom".
As a summer special, the CD is only 14,- Euro. There are only a few left!
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Sonaten von Weiss und Hoffmann
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10 EUR |
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Sonatas by Weiss and Hoffmann for lute and mandolin
Contents:
Silvius Leopold Weiss
-Sonata No.20, d-minor
-Sonata No.14, g-minor
Johann Hoffmann
-Sonata G-major
-Sonata d-minor
Having done several recordings of romantic and contemporary music we now present our first recording of baroque music. Together with the well-known label Naxos we have decided to record sonatas by Weiss and Hoffmann, the two most important musicians on their instruments in their time.
Silvius Leopold Weiss and Johann Hoffmann were at their living times known as the greatest virtuosos on their instruments. After Weiss the lute was being replaced by guitar, and after Hoffmann the kind of mandolin he used vanished. So, their music represents a zenith of lute and mandolin repertoires and has in this form been recorded for the first time.
We play copies of historical instruments. The six-course mandolin is a copy of an Ambrogio Maraffi original from about 1730 by Sebastian Nunez (Netherlands). The sonatas by Weiss are played on a 13-course baroque-lute (Martin Hoffmann), also by Sebastian Nunez. For the music by Hoffmann Birgit Schwab uses an archlute (Vendelio Venere) by Gerhard Soehne, Munich.
CD-revue
Here you'll find a revue of our CD in Italian. After its release in the US the CD made it into the top 50 bestseller list of amazon.com and has remained there ever since!
This CD was supported by the "GWK" and published by "Naxos".
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