Piano Trios from America by Altenberg Trio Wien

Altenberg Trio Wien

Piano Trios from America

Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917200324
Catnr: CC 72003
Release date: 03 April 2001

1 CD

Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917200324

Catalogue number
CC 72003

Release date
03 April 2001

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

Charles Ives wrote his only piano trio between 1904 - 1911, claiming that most of the work was done on the trio during the first year and that it was revised in 1911. This trio is a perfect example of the musical characteristics that set Ives leagues apart from virtually every other composer in the classical music world. Perhaps the most distinguishing element of Ives' work is his unique ability to use well-known American folk tunes, anthems, and church hymns, transforming them through various methods into creations that are unmistakably his own. Countless musical phrases and familiar melodic fragments emerge from the three movements that comprise the trio.
The first movement begins in an atypical way -- rather than all three instruments combining from the start (as most piano trios would), the piano duos with cello and then with violin. The piano part sounds disjointed, leaping around and creating dissonance with the somber, lyrical melodies in the strings. There is no obvious time signature in either part and the parts do not necessarily match up rhythmically. This creative use of meter and rhythm is another defining characteristic of Ives' work. After some time, all three parts combine, each playing their own distinct material, and the result is intense and dark although the ending chord in this movement is perfectly harmonious, a major triad.
The title of the second movement is "TSIAJ," an acronym meaning "This scherzo is a joke." It is romping and playful, built on many popular tunes of the day, including fiddle tunes, Long, Long Ago (a folk tune), My Old Kentucky Home by Stephen Foster, fragments of Dixieland, and virtually countless more tunes. These tunes are cleverly layered on top of one another, existing simultaneously in various keys, time signatures, and rhythms. The end result is a cacophonous and boisterous hysteria through which, amazingly, one can actually distinguish the various familiar tunes.
The final movement of the trio is a moderato like the first movement, although the musical content is quite different. The melodies are lyrical and expressive, but not nearly as somber as those in the first movement. The melodies often sound more classically influenced here than in the other movements. The cello melody at the beginning, which recurs throughout the piece, sounds almost like a hybrid of two melodies from the Chopin and Mendelssohn (D major) cello sonatas. The three instruments complement each other well in this movement despite the composer's combination of various melodies. There are, predictably, sections of discord (thanks to Ives' frequent use of polytonality), and in the end the piece resolves with the hymn Rock of Ages. This beautiful melody is introduced by the cello then picked up by the violin, with a piano accompaniment that, because of its key, creates chords against the melody that almost sound like the beginning of a Gershwin prelude. The piece ends quietly, bringing a surprisingly tranquil close to a piece that is anything but tranquil.

Aaron Copland's piano trio Vitebsk (1928) is a powerful, challenging work that dates from the early "austere" period of the composer's development, which saw the creation of sparse, often strident works like the Piano Variations (1930) and the Symphonic Ode (1927 - 29). Unusually for Copland, Vitebsk incorporates quarter tones into its fabric and, further, represents the only instance in which the composer makes direct use of musical materials that reflect his Jewish heritage. Copland's goal was to portray Jewish life in the shtetl (village) amid relentlessly harsh conditions; accordingly, the harmony and texture have a gruff, spiky quality that gives the work its distinctive sound.
The opening section poses quarter-tone passages in the strings against stark, unyielding piano chords in an evocation of the shofar, the ceremonial ram's horn blown in Jewish services, notably during the Days of Awe. Eventually, the cello introduces a folk theme that originated in Vitebsk, the White Russian home town of the playwright Shmuel Ansky. (Copland later noted that he had heard this tune in a New York performance of Ansky's play The Dybbuk.) The violin and piano imitate some of the tune's motives in harsh, uncompromising statements, after which the opening shofar evocation returns. The tempo eventually quickens to a fast, frenetically driven dance featuring virtuosic runs and further motivic development. As the work draws to an end, the tempo reverts to that of the opening as the strings and piano answer one another in passionate melodic declamations. The opening shofar figures return, along with a final statement of the folk song theme.

Bernstein composed the trio opus 2 in 1937. The first movement (Adagio non troppo - Più mosso) is a polyphonic fantasy, which has a brass band-like seventh interval characterised fugatotheme (the "idée fixe" of the whole work) that is introduced and accompanied by two lyric subthemes. Between the fuge parts are overconfident-chatty homophonic parts, which give the movement a burlesque tone as a consequence of the contrast between the melancholy of the subthemes and the heroics of the main theme.
This burlesque sound blooms completely in the next Scherzo (Tempo di marcia). The intentional blending of american, spanish, prussian to a grotesque march parody reminds of the musical impudence of the twenties like Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Casella. The modern city seems to reflect itself in cosmopolitan and nonchalant clownerie.
The last movement (Largo - Allegro vivo e molto ritmico) starts with a slow introduction, where the fugatotheme of the first movement reappears. In the main part the coloristic eclecticism of the second movement reappears and is developed: very prominently appears a russian chorus theme with typical odd bars. Also the iberian mask from the march reappears, this time not rhapsodic anymore as there, but with the dancing emphasized, archetypical game of 3/4 and 6/8 bars. Two subthemes complete this rich movement, in which the exposition immediately and totally without a shortened reprise with new themes order follows. In the coda remains now the "spanish" ostinato-rhythm, so that the cello is able to lead the fugato brass band to victory the loneliness. The spanish people give way, become silent ... There falls the supposed victor from his horse - and the impudent dancers have the last laugh.

Bevlogen pianotrio’s van drie Amerikaanse componisten
Op dit album speelt het Altenberg Trio Wien, pianotrio’s van de Amerikaanse componisten Charles Ives, Aaron Copland en Leonard Bernstein. De muziek van de 3 componisten is gevarieerd, er valt heel wat te genieten. Folklore, kracht, passie, burleske en groteske klanken, het komt allemaal voorbij. Dit alles voorbeeldig uitgevoerd door een van de meest gewaagde en consistente ensembles op het gebied van kamermuziek.

Pianotrio's zijn muziekstukken, speciaal gecomponeerd voor een kamermuziekensemble, dat bestaat uit een piano en 2 andere instrumenten, meestal viool en cello. Het Altenberg Trio Wien is zo'n ensemble, opgericht in Wenen in1994 en in Europa een van de bekendste piano trio's van deze tijd.

Organist en componist Charles Edward Ives (1874-1954), tijdens zijn leven miskend, wordt nu gezien als de 1e Amerikaanse moderne componist van internationale betekenis. Hij paste vernieuwing toe, eerder dan welke componist ook. Ives bracht in zijn muziek de Amerikaanse geest tot uitdrukking en veranderde bekende volksliederen en hymnes in eigen creaties. In zijn enige pianotrio ooit, zitten talloze bekende fragmenten verstopt.

Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was componist, muziekpedagoog, dirigent en pianist en belangrijkste vertegenwoordiger van de 'Amerikaanse modernen'. Aan het eind van zijn leven was hij zelfs de 'grand old man' van de Amerikaanse muziek. Leonard Bernstein zette zich erg in voor zijn muziek. Copland's pianotrio het krachtige en gepassioneerde Vitebsk (stadje in Wit-Rusland), is het enige werk waarin hij gebruikmaakt van muzikaal materiaal, dat zijn Joodse afkomst weerspiegelt en waarin hij het harde leven in de 'shtetl' (dorp) portretteert.

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) was componist, dirigent, pianist en muziekpedagoog. Hij zorgde als eerste voor uitvoeringen van symfonieën van Charles Ives en brak internationaal door met zijn musical West Side Story. Hij was eerste dirigent en artistiek leider van de New York Philharmonic en dirigeerde regelmatig het Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest. Bernstein was de icoon van de klassieke muziek in Amerika, en als eerste musicus gelijkwaardig aan de Europese topmusici. Hij overschreed de grenzen tussen klassieke muziek en andere muziekgenres. Zijn trio opus 2 op dit album kent meerstemmigheid, burleske klanken en een groteske mars.

Artist(s)

Altenberg Trio Wien

The Altenberg Trio of Vienna came into being when Claus-Christian Schuster and Martin Hornstein, members of the Vienna Schubert Trio and Amiram Ganz, the initiator and violinist of the Shostakovitch Trio joined forces in January 1994. All three musicians had earned critical acclaim and world wide recognition with their performances in the world's most important chamber music venues for many years prior to the formation of the Altenberg Trio. Since its debut at the 1994 Salzburg Mozart Week, the Altenberg Trio has enjoyed great success with performances in the United States, Canada and Europe. The ensemble regularly appears in such distinguished venues as London, Wigmore Hall and was invited to perform at the Prague Spring Festival and the Orlando Festival. In Australia the trio performs often at the Salzburg Mozarteum and presents a regular concert at Vienna's famed "Musikverein".
The "Viennese Touch", for which the Altenberg Trio has often been commended, is not simply a question of musical technique - phrasing, vibrato or portamento, dynamic or agogic accents, although these are a part of it. The Viennese style represents a specific artistic orientation, rooted in a city that was the center of an empire and the crossroads of many distinctive cultures in the 18th and 19th centuries. This style may be best-known outside of Austria through the city's music, because that is the art, whose stylistic refinements have made the strongest international impression. But it is also reflected in literature, painting (Klimt), architecture, psychology (Freud), philosophy (Wittgenstein) and even cuisines. That is one reason why it makes sense, for a pianist, violinist and cellist to form a trio named after a poet. Peter Altenberg (1859-1919), whose life and works reflect the spirit of an era when literature, science, art and music were closely interactive.

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Composer(s)

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was an American composer, pianist, conductor and music pedagogue, who is regarded as the most important representative of the American modern composers, who are known for their preference for theatre music. Critics and peers referred to him as ‘the Dean of American Composers’.
During the 1920s Copland studied three years with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Her total grasp of classical music became his most important influence, and led him to compose music in various genres and numerous settings, including opera, ballet, music for film, theatre, orchestra, piano and small ensemble. During his studies in Paris Copland encountered the music of Ravel, Satie, and the members of Les Six, which impressed him. However, his greatest hero and favorite 20th-century composer was not French: it was the Russian Igor Stravinsky. Copland admired him for his typically Russian music, and wanted to express the music of his native country in his compositions just like him. For that purpose he drew inspiration from jazz, which rhythms and harmonies can be found in his early compositions.
During the 1930s and 1940s, when Copland had returned to America, the jazz gave way to (Latin) American folk tunes, which he arranged in a number of accessible compositions , which made him well-known to a wide audience: the ballets Billy the Kid, Rodeo and Appalachian Spring, the Third Symphony, El Salón México and the Fanfare for the Common Man. These are Copland’s best known works, which are still regularly performed and recorded.
During the 1950s Copland distanced himself from the popular tendencies in his compositions, and began to use serialist and twelve-tone techniques in his music in an attempt to join the modern composers.
From the 1960s onwards Copland began to focus on conducting, since he did not have any new ideas for compositions. He became a frequent guest conductor of orchestras in the United States and made a series of recordings of his music.

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Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein was one of the most iconic American composers and conductors of the 20th century, and was among the first American musicians who gained worldwide recognition.
He actually made his breakthrough as a conductor by chance, when he suddenly had to stand in for the ailing Bruno Walter for a concert by the New York Philharmonic in 1943. The concert, which was broadcast live on radio, received critical acclaim from the press. Bernstein would soon become a sought-after guest conductor.
From 1958 till 1969, Bernstein was principal conductor of the New York Philharmonic, with which he performed amongst others the complete symphonies of Mahler, which sparked a renewed interest in the music of the Austrian composer in the United States. He was also an advocate of the music of American composers, in particular that of his close friend Aaron Copland. Bernstein recorded nearly all of his orchestral works, and paid much attention to his music in his popular television series Young People’s Concerts, in which he introduced a young audience to classical music.
As a composer, Bernstein is primarily known for his accessible theatre works such as Wonderful Town, Candide and The West Side Story, which still is his most popular work. He also composed three symphonies and several shorter chamber works. In his music he fused elements of Jewish music, theatre music and jazz with those of composers like Copland, Stravinsky and Gershwin.

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Joseph Haydn

(Franz) Joseph Haydn was a prolific Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio and his contributions to musical form have earned him the epithets 'Father of the Symphony' and 'Father of the String Quartet'. Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their remote estate. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, 'forced to become original'. Yet his music circulated widely and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe. He was a friend and mentor of Mozart,...

(Franz) Joseph Haydn was a prolific Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio and his contributions to musical form have earned him the epithets "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet".
Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their remote estate. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, "forced to become original". Yet his music circulated widely and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe.
He was a friend and mentor of Mozart, a teacher of Beethoven, with whom he formed the First Viennese School. He was also the older brother of composer Michael Haydn.

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