Gurn's Classical Corner

[Gurn Blanston]

I listened to the Bassoon Quartets, Op. 73 by Francois Devienne last night.  A recording on the Centaur label by an all female PI group called island (no capital letter in the name).  (The Amazon picture is too small to be worth showing.)  My copy was from a used CD store;  availability on Amazon is somewhere between none and next to none (it was released over a decade ago).  Devienne was a bassoon player and specialized in concertos and sonatas for wind instruments, apparently.  Based on what I heard, you would probably enjoy him as well.

I have that disk too, and quite agree with you. Nicely played. Although I am a sucker for bassoon quartets anyway...

[SonicMan46]

Hi Jeffery - actually I love Devienne's wind music and own about 8 discs, included 1 each of bassoon sonatas, quartets, & concertos; also have a great 3-CD set of the Flute Concertos (image inserted below at bottom) - that oboe disc is also wonderful which I posted in this thread almost a year ago.  For 'wind lovers', Devienne is certainly worth exploring - Dave

I listened to the Bassoon Quartets, Op. 73 by Francois Devienne last night.  A recording on the Centaur label by an all female PI group called island (no capital letter in the name).  (The Amazon picture is too small to be worth showing.)  My copy was from a used CD store;  availability on Amazon is somewhere between none and next to none (it was released over a decade ago).  Devienne was a bassoon player and specialized in concertos and sonatas for wind instruments, apparently.  Based on what I heard, you would probably enjoy him as well.

Devienne, Francois (1759-1803) - Oboe Sonatas w/ Glaetzner on oboe, Schornsheim on fortepiano, and Pank on cello - my 3rd disc of this Parisian composer/performer/professor - if interested, checkout my 'non-visited' thread HERE started a year ago - 

 

[Leo K.]

Fritz, Gaspard (1716-1783) - Swiss composer who studied in Turin (hence his first name in the Fanfare review is Gasparo but the comments did prompt me to want this recording; downloaded from Amazon so no liner notes); however, for those interested check out the two reviews reprinted HERE). This composer is completely NEW to me but now listening to my MP3 download (on my iPod) over my den stereo system - beautifully integrated recording and agree w/ the two reviewers.

Flute Sonatas, Op. 2 published in the mid-18th century and pretty much of the galant style (attention LEO if you like 'flute trios') - stated from the reviews to be on 'period instruments' but cannot provide any details on the flute used, hopefully a reproduction from the period?  The flautist is Claire Genewein (below, right); born in Munich and studied in Salzburg.

Bottom line - delightful chamber music (BTW, other instruments are harpsichord & cello) and recommended to flute lovers who want to 'beam' themselves back to the mid-18th century, sitting in a musical salon and wearing a powdered wig and silk stockings!    Dave


 

Dave, thanks for the heads up on this! This composer is totally new to me 

[Leo K.]

Leo - thanks for the information above, but my CD does not list the thematic catalogue B. numbers - however, I was curious as to the person putting together the catalogue - actually a musicologist named Dr. Rita Benton (1918-1980; her picture inserted above).  Her listing of Pleyel's compositions can be reviewed HERE; numbers range from B. 101 to B. 827 (w/ some numbers missing but an amazing output for such a busy guy!).

Unfortunately corresponding Opus numbers are not included in that linked table and a number of the keyboard trios are in the same key, so I could match just one up, i.e. Grand Trio in D Major Op. 29 (B. 461).  Currently, I own just 5 discs of this composer's music - just so much out there that is probably wonderful and undiscovered and/or un-recorded.  I could not find the Wien recording on Amazon USA but will keep looking - there is a CPO recording w/ a favorite group of mine (Trio 1790) that I'll take a look at and compare!  Dave

Also, thanks for checking up on this! 

[Leo K.]

Speaking of Devienne, I have been listening to this recently (funny how we on this board are in synch):



Wonderful, wonderful bassoon concertos!

[Gurn Blanston]

Speaking of Devienne, I have been listening to this recently (funny how we on this board are in synch):



Wonderful, wonderful bassoon concertos!

Yeah, I've had that disk on my wish list for a long time. If Haydn will ever give me permission to take a little break, I will have to scoop that up.

[Leo K.]

Yeah, I've had that disk on my wish list for a long time. If Haydn will ever give me permission to take a little break, I will have to scoop that up.

It may be awhile, he he  I know the feeling, especially when I start in on haydn's quartets, sonatas or masses! Help!

[Gurn Blanston]

It may be awhile, he he  I know the feeling, especially when I start in on haydn's quartets, sonatas or masses! Help!

  Well, you know what I mean then, and I started in on the entire oeuvre!   Still, it has only been 3 years, it took a lot longer than that for him to write them.

[SonicMan46]

Yeah, I've had that disk on my wish list for a long time. If Haydn will ever give me permission to take a little break, I will have to scoop that up.

Now Gurn - you need to stop denying yourself -     Devienne's bassoon works are all worth consideration for one who loves that instrument featured!  Dave 

[Gurn Blanston]

Now Gurn - you need to stop denying yourself -     Devienne's bassoon works are all worth consideration for one who loves that instrument featured!  Dave 

Yeah, you're right, Dave. Other than his Sinfonia concertante, it is hard to think of any work of Haydn that features the bassoon. All the divertimentos do, of course, but only in a continuo capacity. Is it possible that I can say something against the man?    But I do miss my bassoon works though.

[karlhenning]

Yeah, you're right, Dave. Other than his Sinfonia concertante, it is hard to think of any work of Haydn that features the bassoon. All the divertimentos do, of course, but only in a continuo capacity. Is it possible that I can say something against the man?    But I do miss my bassoon works though.

It just warn't in his vocabillary.  For hot bassoon licks in the symphonic repertory, you want Shostakovich, Gurn 0 : )

[kishnevi]

It just warn't in his vocabillary.  For hot bassoon licks in the symphonic repertory, you want Shostakovich, Gurn 0 : )

Mozart wrote a few things.  (Listening to one now:  Gran Partita K. 361 Serenade K. 375( Orpheus Chamber Orchestra) with no less than two bassoons.

And the bassoon concerto, too.

[karlhenning]

A classic Haydn anecdote is that as he lay dying, he spoke to the effect of, "But I have only now learnt to write for the winds." That would have been partly a matter of learning from Mozart, to be sure. : )

[mc ukrneal]

Yeah, you're right, Dave. Other than his Sinfonia concertante, it is hard to think of any work of Haydn that features the bassoon. All the divertimentos do, of course, but only in a continuo capacity. Is it possible that I can say something against the man?    But I do miss my bassoon works though.

He had to leave something to his brother Michael. That may chase away the bassoon blues!

[SonicMan46]

Bach, JC - CPO's 5-CD box of Symphonies w/ Halstead & the Hanover Band - discussion below from a few pages back in this thread - starting w/ the first discs, i.e. Op. 3 (premiered in 1765) & Op. 6; both sets recorded in 1994.  The Op. 3 works were advertised by Bach under the heading of Overtures, of course arising out of the relationship to Italian opera overtures of the times.  The Op. 6 works have a confusing history, probably mentioned by Bach initially in 1767; later in 1770, an Amsterdam publisher named Johann Julius Hummel published a set of 6 Symphonies under the title of Op. 6 - these apparently are the works performed on this 2nd disc in the set.

All of these works are short (10 minutes or less) and in 3 movements w/ the usual slow second movement; the period instrument playing of the band is crisp and distinct; well recorded as expected by CPO - think that I'll be enjoying this box - now which other box(es) are available of this youngest son of Papa Bach?

I'm new to JC Bach in general, but his work continually lifts me to great heights. Right now I'm listening to this box of symphonies...in particular, those symphonies for double orchestras of Op.18. YES!

[Leo K.]

Bach, JC - CPO's 5-CD box of Symphonies w/ Halstead & the Hanover Band - discussion below from a few pages back in this thread - starting w/ the first discs, i.e. Op. 3 (premiered in 1765) & Op. 6; both sets recorded in 1994.  The Op. 3 works were advertised by Bach under the heading of Overtures, of course arising out of the relationship to Italian opera overtures of the times.  The Op. 6 works have a confusing history, probably mentioned by Bach initially in 1767; later in 1770, an Amsterdam publisher named Johann Julius Hummel published a set of 6 Symphonies under the title of Op. 6 - these apparently are the works performed on this 2nd disc in the set.

All of these works are short (10 minutes or less) and in 3 movements w/ the usual slow second movement; the period instrument playing of the band is crisp and distinct; well recorded as expected by CPO - think that I'll be enjoying this box - now which other box(es) are available of this youngest son of Papa Bach?

I absolutely love this JC Bach set. I'm also bowled over by the keyboard concerto box.  The recorded sound of the fortepiano is among my favorites of all my fortepiano recordings. So clear, so present, capturing the beautiful tone of this instrument

[Leo K.]

I am very excited over my two latest acquisitions!





I haven't heard these yet, but I've been particulary interested in hearing Kozeluch's fortepiano sonatas, and have waited awhile before finding this recording.

The CPO disk of Gerson and Kunzen symphonies is new to me, found by accident, but I can't wait to hear these composers for the first time.

[Leo K.]

Oh! How can I forget this other new acquisition, that I've already started to listen to!

Stunning disk!



Johann Ernst HARTMANN (1726-1793)
Complete Symphonies
Symphony No.1 in D major
Symphony No.2 in G major
Symphony No.3 in D major
Symphony No.4 in G major

Concerto Copenhagen
Lars Ulrik Mortensen (harpsichord and director)
Recorded Garnisons Kirke, Copenhagen, August and October 2003
CPO 777 060-2 [51.25]


Here is a review from musicweb:

Violinist and director Johann Ernst Hartmann is mainly known to posterity for his Danish Singspiel though he actually wrote far more instrumental music than songs. A disastrous fire in the Christianborg Palace in 1794 destroyed a large number of his manuscripts so it's uncertain quite how many symphonies and other concerted music he did write – only one Symphony ever made it to publication, the First, which was published by Hummel in Amsterdam in 1770.


The four symphonies are refined, elegant works with felicitous detail and written very much by a practitioner; from the inside. The deft writing for oboe in the opening movement of the First is a delight as is the delicate and refined playing of the band in the Andantino where they pay great regard to dynamic variance and colour. Control of metre is a feature of the Allegro of the three-movement G major – where drive co-exists harmoniously with lyricism. Hartmann knows just when to press his material forward and to get the two horns to ring out which they do here with fine precision and impact (interestingly he makes do with just one horn in the last two symphonies, which are altogether less ambitious works).


Those two works still have much going for them; the running bass line of the Andantino of the Third in D major and the "falling theme" of the Fourth's Allegro first movement for example. Then there's the agile flute writing of the Andante where Hartmann prefers gallantry to expressive potential. He emerges as a consummate organiser, a synthesiser of style, an occasional melodist of distinction. But these are broadly works that revel in refinement and superior taste; no obvious depths are plumbed or sought. Crafted with care Hartmann has left his own mark.


Jonathan Woolf

[Gurn Blanston]

I am very excited over my two latest acquisitions!





I haven't heard these yet, but I've been particulary interested in hearing Kozeluch's fortepiano sonatas, and have waited awhile before finding this recording.

The CPO disk of Gerson and Kunzen symphonies is new to me, found by accident, but I can't wait to hear these composers for the first time.

Leo,
At first I thought that might be the same Kozeluch as the one that I have, but I see now that it isn't, since mine is actually a different performer:



This is nice music, however, and I am sure you are going to like that disk.

The other is new to me. Interested in your feedback.

[Gurn Blanston]

Oh! How can I forget this other new acquisition, that I've already started to listen to!

Stunning disk!



Johann Ernst HARTMANN (1726-1793)
Complete Symphonies
Symphony No.1 in D major
Symphony No.2 in G major
Symphony No.3 in D major
Symphony No.4 in G major

Concerto Copenhagen
Lars Ulrik Mortensen (harpsichord and director)
Recorded Garnisons Kirke, Copenhagen, August and October 2003
CPO 777 060-2 [51.25]


Here is a review from musicweb:

Wow, I could finally be able to say here on GMG that I was listening to some Hartmann symphonies! Everyone will be so proud of me...   That again seems worth taking a listen to. Ain't this a great time to be alive?