Soloists of the Spannungen Festival 2016, Wind Quintets by Various

Carl Nielsen, Sergei Prokofiev

Various

Soloists of the Spannungen Festival 2016, Wind Quintets

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: CAvi
UPC: 4260085533855
Catnr: AVI 8553385
Release date: 07 July 2017
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Label
CAvi

UPC
4260085533855

Catalogue number
AVI 8553385

Release date
07 July 2017

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

„Nielsen’s music sets itself apart from the prevailing bathos of Late Romanticism thanks to its linear melodies and overall transparency. In his compositional style he displayed skillful mastery of counterpoint and modern rhythm while incorporating elements of Gregorian chant and of folk music.

Accused at times of detached coolness, the composer once justified his approach with the following words: “Why do we have to go on proving ad nauseam that a beautifully sounding third is to be regarded as a gift of God, a fourth as a true experience, and a fifth as the utmost joy?”

Written in 1921/22, Nielsen’s Wind Quintet Op. 43 helps us partake in that very experience. Thinned down to the pure essentials, the scoring highlights the five instruments’ individual timbres. “At times they speak of one accord, then they irrupt into apparent disorder, then each one speaks for itself”, Nielsen explained. Certain instrumental combinations already sound almost exotic in the first movement.”

We likewise enter the circus ring with Sergey Prokofiev’s Quintet Op. 39 for the unusual combination of oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, and double bass. Prokofiev wrote this work in 1924 under the title “Trapeze” as a ballet for choreographer Boris Romanov and his itinerant dance troupe: music depicting “scenes from the circus life”. With its scoring reduced to the bare essentials, the work was designed to be readily performable in all sorts of circumstances and locations. Prokofiev, nevertheless, ended up composing a technically ambitious work, sporting a quirky character and “several rhythmic difficulties”, as he readily admitted himself.”( Excerpt from the liner notes by Matthias Corvin)

Artist(s)

Jean Johnson (clarinet)

Elisabeth Kufferath (violin)

„It is astonishing, the way Kufferath pivots between free and fragile, from heavenly chirping tenderness to bearing the earth’s burdens, how many colors and even more nuance her playing expresses.“ Die Welt A member of the Tetzlaff String Quartet since its inception in 1992, Elisabeth Kufferath has performed on the stages of some of the most auspicious halls in Europe and the United States, including Philharmonie Hall in Berlin, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein in Vienna, Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. In 2015 the Tetzlaff Quartet was awarded a Diapason d’Or de l’année for their recording of string quartets by Berg and Mendelssohn. Praised by conductor Heinz Hollinger as “unquestionably one of the most interesting and influential string players of her generation“,...

„It is astonishing, the way Kufferath pivots between free and fragile, from heavenly chirping tenderness to bearing the earth’s burdens, how many colors and even more nuance her playing expresses.“ Die Welt A member of the Tetzlaff String Quartet since its inception in 1992, Elisabeth Kufferath has performed on the stages of some of the most auspicious halls in Europe and the United States, including Philharmonie Hall in Berlin, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein in Vienna, Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. In 2015 the Tetzlaff Quartet was awarded a Diapason d’Or de l’année for their recording of string quartets by Berg and Mendelssohn.
Praised by conductor Heinz Hollinger as “unquestionably one of the most interesting and influential string players of her generation“, she is a player with a wide-ranging stylistic palette, and is coveted as both a chamber musician and soloist.
Elisabeth Kufferath’s repertoire is highlighted by contemporary works. She gave the world premiere of Jan Müller-Wieland’s Himmelfahrt, a work for solo viola written for and dedicated to her, as well as the German premiere of Elliott Carter’s Figment IV for viola. She recently collaborated with Thorsten Encke and Johannes X. Schachtner, who wrote works for solo violin and solo viola specifically for her. She has collaborated with composers including Moritz Eggert, Peter Eötvös, Zeynep Gedizlioglu, Helen Grime, Ling-Hsuan Huang, Libby Larsen, Georges Lentz, Manfred Trojahn, and Jörg Widmann.
As a soloist, she has appeared with orchestras including the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Münchener Kammerorchester, Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, Musica assoluta, Kammerakademie Potsdam, and the World Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has collaborated with conductors including Heinz Holliger, Christoph Poppen, Marcus Creed, Paul Goodwin, Alexander Rumpf and Gerard Schwarz.
Elisabeth Kufferath has been invited to perform at Berliner Festwochen, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Spannungen Heimbach, Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele, Helsinki Festival, Lucerne Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, and the Rosendal Festival in Norway. She has shared the stage with chamber music partners including Adrian Brendel, Kirill Gerstein, Gustav Rivinius, Lars Vogt and Tabea Zimmermann. She spent a season as the Artist in Residence at New Zealand’s Auckland University where she was featured in both recitals and masterclasses.
Elisabeth Kufferath‘s first solo CD Libero, fragile was released in 2017 on the GENUIN label. The disk features contemporary works for solo violin and viola. The recording was nominated for a prize from German Record Critics’ Award and was enthusastically received by the press.
Elisabeth Kufferath lives in Hannover, Germany with her family where she is professor of violin at the Hochschule for Music, Theater, and Media. Both her violin and viola were built by the German luthier Stefan-Peter Greiner.

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Edicson Ruiz (double bass)

Sharon Kam (clarinet)

Juliette Bausor (flute)

Widely recognised as one of Britain’s leading flute players, Juliette Bausor began her studies with Anna Pope at the junior department of the Royal Academy of Music and Purcell School of Music, before going on to study with Philippa Davies, Paul Edmund Davies and Samuel Coles at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She continued her tuition at the Conservatoire Nationale Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, with Sophie Cherrier and Vincent Lucas. Following international success in competitions, including early recognition in reaching the televised Concerto Final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year and winning the Gold Medal in both the Shell LSO Competition and the Royal Over-Seas League Competition, Juliette has appeared as a concerto soloist...

Following international success in competitions, including early recognition in reaching the televised Concerto Final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year and winning the Gold Medal in both the Shell LSO Competition and the Royal Over-Seas League Competition, Juliette has appeared as a concerto soloist with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Academy of St Martins in the Fields, European Union Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and London Mozart Players, with conductors including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Thomas Zehetmair, Mario Venzago and Sir Neville Marriner. Success on an international scale is reflected in tours around Europe and beyond, to Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Australia and New Zealand.

In 2014 Juliette Bausor was selected by the European Concert Hall Organisation as an ECHO Rising Star. Juliette has since been invited to perform as a soloist in some of Europe’s most prestigious concert venues, including Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Bozar in Brussels, Town Hall Birmingham, Palace of Arts in Budapest, Vienna Musikverein, Stockholm Konserthus, L’Auditori in Barcelona, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Sage Gateshead and the Barbican Centre in London.

Also highly regarded as a chamber musician, Juliette is a member of the celebrated chamber group Ensemble 360, resident at the Crucible in Sheffield. In addition to the Ensemble’s busy concert schedule, Juliette is regularly invited to give recitals at major venues and festivals throughout the UK, including frequent Wigmore Hall and South Bank appearances, and performances at the Edinburgh, Cheltenham and Aldeburgh International Festivals and BBC Proms. Juliette has collaborated with many other leading chamber musicians, including Thomas Zehetmair (violin), Alasdair Beatson and Llyr Williams (piano), Kate Royal (soprano), Anneleen Lenaerts and Catrin Finch (harp), as well as the Coull, Elias, Badke, Carducci and Edinburgh String Quartets amongst others. Recent chamber recital highlights include a concert with the wind principals of Royal Northern Sinfonia and Christian Blackshaw (piano) as part of the BBC Proms 2015, as well as performances at the Presteigne Festival, with Sally Pryce (harp), and at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival alongside Katharine Dain (soprano), Lise Berthaud (viola) and Cliona Doris (harp).

Juliette is principal flute with both Royal Northern Sinfonia and London Mozart Players, and frequently appears as guest principal flute with orchestras all over Britain, notably with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Britten Sinfonia.

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Maya Meron (viola)

Steven Hudson (oboe)

Theo Plat (bassoon)

Kristian Katzenberger (horn)

Composer(s)

Carl Nielsen

Carl Nielsen was a Danish musician, conductor and violinist, widely recognized as his country's most prominent composer.
Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age. He initially played in a military band before attending the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen from 1884 until December 1886. He premiered his Op. 1, Suite for Strings, in 1888, at the age of 23. The following year, Nielsen began a 16-year stint as a second violinist in the prestigious Royal Danish Orchestra under the conductor Johan Svendsen. In 1916, he took a post teaching at the Royal Academy and continued to work there until his death.
Although his symphonies, concertos and choral music are now internationally acclaimed, Nielsen's career and personal life were marked by many difficulties, often reflected in his music. The works he composed between 1897 and 1904 are sometimes ascribed to his "psychological" period, resulting mainly from a turbulent marriage with the sculptor Anne Marie Brodersen. Nielsen is especially noted for his six symphonies, his Wind Quintet and his concertos for violin, flute and clarinet. In Denmark, his opera Maskarade and many of his songs have become an integral part of the national heritage. His early music was inspired by composers such as Brahms and Grieg, but he soon developed his own style, first experimenting with progressive tonality and later diverging even more radically from the standards of composition still common at the time. Nielsen's sixth and final symphony, Sinfonia semplice, was written in 1924–25. He died from a heart attack six years later, and is buried in Vestre Cemetery, Copenhagen.

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Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Prokofiev was born in the countryside of Ukraine. He studied from 1903 at the conservatory of St Petersburg, under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Anatoli Liadov among others. He was educated as a composer, pianist and conductor. Initially, he made a name for himself as a pianist. In 1918, he left the Soviet Union for the USA, but wasn't able to succeed, and he decided to move to Paris in 1920. His concert tours brought him back to the Soviet Union in 1927, who lured him back for good in 1936. Prokofiev died in march 1953, on the same day as Joseph Stalin.
Prokofiev is considered as one of the greatest Russian composers of the twentieth century, even though he wasn't a great innovator. He generally applied the strict classical forms and structures to his works and focused on a classical tonality, with a few exceptions of expressive dissonants and incidental bitonality. Yet, he is only explicitly neoclassicistic in his popular 'Classical Symphony', his first symphony composed in 1917. Many of his works show his humour, while his later works presented his darker, more serious side. One of his best known works is the musical fairytale Peter and the Wolf, which is popular among children all over the world.

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