Kirchner: Chamber Music

On this CD:

1. Orphischer Gesang 2, for string sextet
Composed by Volker David Kirchner
Performed by Villa Musica Ensemble

2. Exil for clarinet, violin, cello & piano
Composed by Volker David Kirchner
Performed by Villa Musica Ensemble

3. Gethsemani, notturno for string sextet
Composed by Volker David Kirchner
Performed by Villa Musica Ensemble

4. Und Salomo sprach..., for cello solo
Composed by Volker David Kirchner
Performed by Martin Ostertag

5. Mysterion for alto flute, horn, viola d'amore, cello & piano
Composed by Volker David Kirchner
Performed by Villa Musica Ensemble

Tracks:

String Quartet: 92
String Quartet: 144
String Quartet
String Quartet In Four Parts: Quietly Flowing Along
String Quartet In Four Parts: Slowly Rocking
String Quartet In Four Parts: Nearly Stationary
String Quartet In Four Parts: Quodlibet
Quartet No. 3 For String Quartet And Electronic Tape
Summer

Tracks:

Black Angels (Images) For Electric String Quartet: Departure: Tutti, Threnody I - Night Of The Electric Insects; Trio, Sounds Of Bones And Flutes; Duo, Lost Bells; Solo, Cadenza accompagnata Devi-Music; Duo, Dance Macabre (Due Alternative: Dies Irae)
Black Angles (Images) For Electric String Quartet: Absence (Crumb)
Black Angles (Images) For Electric String Quartet: Return (Crumb)
String Quartet No 5: Theme I (Hiller)
String Quartet No 5: Variations (Hiller)
String Quartet No 5: Theme II (Hiller)
String Quartet No 5: Varitaions (Hiller)
String Quartet No 5: Theme III (Hiller)
String Quartet No 5: Variations (Hiller)
String Quartet No 5: Theme IV (Hiller)
String Quartet No 2: (Druckman)
Structures for String Quartet (Feldman)

Customer Reviews:

Now I know why they make jokes about Hoboken (see below).......2005-10-27

Man, it's discouraging to see people piddling all over music like this. 1950-65 was a great era for American culture; sure the European influence was lingering but American composers (and artists and filmmakers) were finding a voice, an expression of some quality uniquely American that had never appeared before. American music could be something other than Hoe-Downs, Charlestons, and Nearer my God to Thee (sorry, Charles, and you know I love you anyway). This was a taut and crisp intellectual America that was finally gaining ascendancy, something new to the world, brilliant and beautiful. I think of a wonderful photo of Elliott Carter with Stravinsky in New York at some gallery or concert hall circa 1960 or so. Stravinsky looks old and seedy, like a Russian refugee even though he had years to ditch that; Carter, alert and in a sharp suit, looks like the future-on-the-half-shell. It all got blown out of the water by 60s and 70s-era lack of standards and discrimination and an unwillingness to TRY. Sixties-era, anti-culture crapola that still reigns supreme. To much pot. Hippies ruined everything.

What's startling about the bad review is these quartets are hardly over-intellectualized. In fact most are quite beautiful or evocative; the Cage stunningly so. The LPs this collection came off were among my favorites of that era and I doubt a better or more nightmarish Black Angels has ever been done despite recent attempts by Kronos and others. Amazing playing by committed performers. A deal and a bargain.

For ten bucks this is like gold for free. Have at it!

Many Undiscovered Treasures.......2003-01-08

It's almost laughable not to pick up this disc. The price alone makes the set worth it. Added to that the fact that many of these works are not available in other forms and this disc is a no-brainer for fans of the late 20th century string quartet. The sampling transcends styles, from the almost improvisatory sonic canvas of Earle Brown, to the surprisingly beautiful almost minimal quartet of Cage, the horrific depiction of war in Crumb's justly famous Black Angels, or the almost traditional sounding Schonbergisms of Stepan Wolpe, this is an eclectic collection and well worth the modest investment.

I won't review everything on the album, as there is just too much. Highlights for me include the Earle Brown quartet, which is one of Brown's strongest early works. Since Brown is poorly represented on CD, every release of his is worth having, but the Second Quartet is a masterwork of tonal subtlety. Cage's Quartet was written just before he moved into his more aleatoric phase. It is highly modal and almost a precusor to minimlism, a very pleasing work that should be more widely known. Christian Wolff is also a composer who is underrepresented on CD (though Mode is quickly redressing the imbalance.) Summer is also a protominimalist work, based on stark 5ths. The reading of Black Angels is good, though not anything to supplant the Kronos reading, which is still my favorite. Also interesting are Quartets by Wolpe and Leon Kirchner.

So if you have any interest in American string work of the late 20th century, you need this disc. It is indispensible and very beautifully played. And the Vox Box price is unbeatable.

compendium of the richness of American innovation.......2000-04-05

This is a great showcase of the American string quartet,innovation,vision,iconoclasm,all elements which we often overlook and forget easily.But only Elliot Carter is missing, and that's because he has what! Five Quartets now.Inclusion of the First Carter would have rounded things out. The Earle Brown here is a neglected masterwork. Based on graphic notation the performers don't improvise so much as are given entrance freedoms within a prescribed range. The affect can be mysterious,haunting,also innovative with a wide pallette of extended techniques, at the bridge, sul ponticello,plucking. We often forget the traditional beauty Cage engaged the early part of his career, the Forties. This Quartet is a fine consummate example of that,with soft,gentle lines, very sparce, and transparent,also he limits himself to a few tones,tossed around the various voices. Structures by Feldman is an early work here, the Quartet is treated as one monolith sound,indistinguishable voices playing harmonics,cello playing where the violin plays, same range. All of Feldman's floating gentleness is here as well,perhaps too much at times,like it overspends its welcome. Crumb's Black Angels is another classic, The Kronos has takened this around the block many times, Crumb always works well with a programmatic agenda in place, and here he transforms the Quartets introspective consititution to more a drammatic focus. Druckman as well also works well with a program but here there is none. He has a fine imagination for sonoric structures,balance,but its doesn't seem to amount to much. The Wolpe is one of his best works. His creativity was uneven, here the violence and charged motives he is found of are in place to jump, and reiterate, toss around in an environment of high energy. Wolff's Summer is an early work prior to his metamorphosis into utilization of political imagery by comparison, this is a beautiful work,but cold, Wolff also needs a program,which he profoundly found, He has alater Quartet he wrote in the Eighties that is more compelling.

An interesting sampling of a musical dead end........1999-06-18

Superb analog transfers and excellent playing, I suppose. (I mean, how can you tell with music like this?) OK, I'm not a fan of this kind of music, but at this price I thought the collection was worth chancing. So far, I've found that the best way to listen to this recording is to let the music wash over you while you enjoy the sheer variety of sounds that the composers and players create. And there are some pleasant surprises, particularly the Cage quartet (from 1950) which contains genuine emotion and ends with a brief movement chock full of--gasp!--sprightly tunes. Makes me wonder what might have been had these composers shown more interest in music and less interest in mathematical gymnastics designed to impress their colleagues at the academy. At any rate, I recommend this album as an interesting sonic experience and a good sampling of the dead-end serialist/avant-garde genre that is now being supplanted by a return to music that recognizes tonality. (If you really want great 20th century quartets, incidentally, buy the 6 by Bartok).

Fantastic Collection.......1999-03-24

This set is a must if you have the slightest interest in avant-garde music from the 50s and 60s. Not a single weak piece, excellent sound and performances, and the price can't be beat!

Average customer rating:

**** kitsch ****
Not Truly Distinguished
An Intriguing Disc
Ma's Exquisite Performances Of 20th Century American Music
amazing!

Premieres
Richard Danielpour , Leon Kirchner , Christopher Rouse , David Zinman , Yo-Yo Ma , and Philadelphia Orchestra
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Made in America

ASIN: B000002AQA
Release Date: 1996-11-19

Tracks:

Concerto For Cello And Orchestra (1994): I. Invocation (Arioso)
Concerto For Concerto And Orchestra (1994): II. Profanation (Dance)
Concerto For Concerto And Orchestra (1994): III. Soliloquy (Cadenza)
Concerto For Concerto And Orchestra (1994): IV. Prayer And Lamentation (Hymn)
Music For Cello And Orchestra
Violoncello Concerto: I. Combatimento. Svolazzante
Violoncello Concerto: II. Adagiati. Largo, desolato, grigio

Amazon.com

The three works on this disc were all commissioned for Yo-Yo Ma. Listening to Leon Kirchner's Music for Cello and Orchestra put me in mind of Mahler. Indeed, had Mahler lived long enough to hear and be influenced by the Berg Violin Concerto and decided thereupon to write a cello concerto for Feuermann, it might have sounded a bit like Kirchner's darkly passionate score. Both the Rouse and the Danielpour pieces are meditations on death, each lasting about half an hour. They are different in character but as compelling and vivid as the soloist for whom they were intended. Capturing these accounts was a heroic undertaking for Sony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and all the participants--the takes were recorded during the blizzard of 1996, when two feet of snow blanketed the East Coast. The venue was the Giandomenico Studios in Collingswood, New Jersey, and the sound turned out to be first-rate. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

**** kitsch ****.......2003-12-08

buyer beware (note the number of used copies for sale). i would highly recommend listening to this cd before purchasing...

Not Truly Distinguished.......2003-09-20

These compositions are not truly distinguished, which makes it hard to recommend this disc.

Everyone wants to promote modern American music, and have as much of it recorded as possible, so it pains me not to be able to recommend this.

The only reason Sony issued this disc is, of course, the presence of Yo-Yo Ma, a major presence in the North American music market. Ma is an adequate cellist and an adequate musician, but hardly a "special" cellist and certainly not a "special" musician. His musicianship is nowise commensurate with his exalted status among American concert-goers and American record-buyers. I suspect that few Americans realize that Yo-Yo Ma does not enjoy the same level of respect in Europe as he does in North America.

At least this disc involves serious music, a welcome departure from the mountains of cross-over rot Ma has been doing for the last few years. The serious music on this disc, however, does not make strong claims for the attention of those who love contemporary music. One is left wishing that Sony had directed its attention to more worthy composers and artists.

I applaud Sony and Ma for promoting contemporary music, but cannot avoid disappointment that the compositions themselves are dishrag limp.

NOTE: The liner notes for this issue are a riot! Seldom has anyone read such pretentious and self-aggrandizing nonsense.

An Intriguing Disc.......2003-08-31

It is always nice to see a major label offering contemporary music, even if the compositions on this disc are fairly weak. The Rouse is the weakest piece: loosely organized, with borrowings from just about any and all 20th Century composers, even Joaquin Rodrigo!! Mercy!! The Kirchner is not bad, but it is not one of his more inspired pieces and borrows a little too much from Bartok. The Danielpour is the strongest work on this disc. It is the most tautly organized, the best orchestrated, and the most moving. This is the first composition by Danielpour I have heard that is not totally synthetic and derivative. Any listener who appreciates 20th Century music should buy this intriguing disc. It will provide hours of stimulation and enjoyment.

Ma's Exquisite Performances Of 20th Century American Music.......2001-12-02

Yo-Yo Ma's performances of these three cello concerti are extraordinary, filled with sizzling pyrotechnics on his cello. Yet they are also very graceful, warm performances. All three scores are meditations on death and dying. I don't know whether these works will become part of the classical music canon, but in Ma's hands they are treated with much reverence. Under David Zinman's baton, the Philadelphia Orchestra gives Ma ample support in exquisite performances of their own which never detract from Ma's brilliant playing. It's truly amazing that such wonderful music was played and recorded around the time of a raging snowstorm.

amazing!.......2001-06-02

I bought this CD for the Rouse concerto, as he's one of the best composers working today. I wasn't disappointed - this is a powerful, harrowing piece about death and dying. But the other pieces are strong, too. The Danielpour is perhaps the most conservative, and it shouldn't cause ANYONE any listening problems. (I can't believe some of the bad reviews below. The three works on this disc couldn't be more different!) The Kirchner comes from the twelve-tone tradition but it ends up dissolving into a beautiful, Mahlerian ending. The performerances by Yo-Yo Ma are unbelieveable. This is a CD to be avoided only by dyed-in-the-wool twentieth century music haters. For the rest of us, it's an amazing recording.

Average customer rating:

a fantastic performance and selection of pieces
I don't get it
Proud To Be "Made In America"
Amazing Cellest

Made in America

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Premieres

ASIN: B0000028UF
Release Date: 1993-08-10

Tracks:

Clarinet Sonata: I. Grazioso
Clarinet Sonata: II. Andantino
Triptych: I. For Cello Solo
Triptych: II. For Violin And Cello Obbligato
Triptych: III. Presto
Three Preludes: I. Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
Three Preludes: II. Andante con moto e poco rubato
Three Preludes: III. Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano: I. Moderato
Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano: II. 'TSIAJ'. Presto
Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano: III. Moderato con moto

Customer Reviews:

a fantastic performance and selection of pieces.......2005-04-21

I think this record is fantastic.

As for the previous poster, I know what you mean. I got this record a couple years ago, listened to it a couple times, liked it ok, but it didn't really hit me. For some reason I picked it up again this week and can't stop listening to it.

The most accessible pieces are the Gershwin preludes, especially the second one, which is one of the real highlights of the album.

The kirchner pieces are amazing, although much less tonal, and maybe a little offputting for people not inclined toward more modern, dissonant music. They are however, well worth spending some time listening to. I especially love the 2nd of the three kirchner compositions presented here.

I think all the musicians do a first rate job, and the quality of the recording is excellent as well.

I don't get it.......2004-12-22

My mother-in-law got me this CD about 2 Christmases ago. I'm sorry; I gave it another try today, and it still sounds like a lot of musical gibberish to me. I don't pretend to be a music critic, but my appreciation of music does range rather widely, from Classical to Country. However, this one just escapes me. I'll rate it a 4. I would rate it lower, but I'm open to the possibility that I'm just too dense to understand it. If this is the case, then I'm inviting anyone who follows my comment with theirs to set me straight.

Proud To Be "Made In America".......2000-10-31

Since the review below isn't very helpful with the particulars of this recording, I thought I'd try to be. "Made In America" features cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing the works of four American composers -- Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, Charles Ives and Leon Kirchner. First on the disc is Bernstein's "Clarinet Sonata," which has been transcribed for piano and cello by Ma. As I was not familiar with Lenny the composer (aside from "West Side Story"), I was delighted to discover this refreshing, rocking and rhythmic recording by Ma and pianist Jeffrey Kahane. Since I love Bernstein's conducting, I will definitely keep an eye out for more CDs featuring his compositions as well. The second piece is Kirchner's "Triptych," a dark, haunting piece performed by only Ma in the first movement, and joined by violinist Lynn Chang for the second and third movements. Next is Gershwin's jazzy "Three Preludes," which was originally transcribed for violin and piano by Jascha Heifitz, and here has been done so for cello and piano by Ma. Ma is again accompanied by Kahane on this piece. Charles Ives' nostalgic "Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano" concludes this recording, with Ma joined by pianist Gilbert Kalish and violinist Roman Lefkowitz. In all, this is another stellar performance by one of today's greatest musicians in any genre.

Amazing Cellest.......1999-06-17

Yo-Yo Ma is an inspirational cellist. He does great work and this CD is one amung many exanples of his talent. He is a wonderful musician and a role model for everyone.

Average customer rating:

Burgmuller's sonata is a gem of thousand carats
Slouching towards Volkmann
OVER THE TOP ROMANTICISM--- BUT SUCH FUN! (Part 2)

Burgmuller/Volkmann/Kirchner

Manufacturer: Genesis Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Fantasies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000005WWO
Release Date: 1996-03-01

Tracks:

Pno Son in f, Op.8: I. Allegro Molto
Pno Son in f, Op.8: II. Romaze. Andante
Pno Son in f, Op.8: III. Allegro Molto E Con Fuoco
Pno Son in c, Op.12: I. Moderato
Pno Son in c, Op.12: II. Prestissimo
Pno Son in c, Op.12: III. Andante Pesante. Allegro Molto
Fant in C, Op.25a
Aquarellen, Op.21, No.3
Moderato, Op.30, No.8
Allegro Con Passione, Op.30, No.17
Moderato, Op.71, No.100
Spring-Greeting, Op.73, No.2
Days Gone By, Op.73, No.4
Romanze, Op.73, No.6
Nocturne, Op.73, No.12
Elegy, Op.73, No.16

Customer Reviews:

Burgmuller's sonata is a gem of thousand carats.......2004-05-06

What talented musician was Norbert Burgmuller. Since the first time I listened this sonata in vinyl in 1976, I still wonder this musician is so underknown.
This sonata reminds us to the best pages of Robert Schumann. Remember this work belongs to Op. 8 . So consider Burgmuller was developing his huge potential musicianship.
His early death was a great loss for the musical world.This composer ownwd the greatness sense, deep musicality and above all a powerful conviction. Far from being a musician for the galleries he would have been able to clim higher peaks in the story.
The performing given by Adrian Ruiz is honest, austere and felt heart.
Buy this CD , because this work deserves being more known for all who loves the great music.

Slouching towards Volkmann.......2002-03-28

My friends! The world has lost sight of beauty. The hardened, the cynical, the feined must no longer be allowed to dictate what is and is not true art. I give you, for example, the case of these heart searing piano works by Burgmuller, Volkmann, and Kirchner (an aside: I once went to school with a girl whose last name was Kirchner--she was, intriguingly enough as morose and disaffected as the Spiritual Fascists who reject music such as that on this disc). We must bear the opression and affectation of the ultra serious no longer. Rise up my brothers and sisters! Celebrate a joyous, a lovely music...Throw off the bonds of Criticism as Cynicism...Get This Disc.

OVER THE TOP ROMANTICISM--- BUT SUCH FUN! (Part 2).......2001-08-31

Again, I simply cannot repress a smile when listening to these so elementally and stereo-typically "romantic" piano sonatas of Burgmuller (1810-1836) and Volkmann (1815-1883), along with the delightfully inventive piano pieces of Kirchner (1823-1905). I'm sorry, but one could almost say they're quaint in their sheer naivete and abandon; and, frankly, I find them all the more ingratiating for these reasons.

Burgmuller's Sonata in F Minor, Op. 8, begins with an Allegro molto (9:12) of obvious Beethovenian bluster (e.g. especially with so many adaptations of the "modernisms" we hear in the late piano sonatas). Built on an exciting repeated motif, notes and chords amass, ebb and flow, and, meanwhile, interweave with the most Schubertian of melodies. The muse of Chopin, however, hovers above the lyrical Romanze (7:24), whose quirky trio section reminds us, again, that Burgmuller's impetus never strays far from Beethoven. In the Allegro molto e con fuoco finale (11:19), Burgmuller surprises us, shortly in, with a multitude of ear-catching "tricks": exciting runs, unexpected lyricism, thrilling punctuated chords--- all built and rebuilt on the same germinal motif. But it works. And it's all quite a kick.

With the Volkmann Sonata in C Minor, Op. 12, there tends to be a bit more "gravitas" and overall structural complexity. His penchant for melody, however, is never occluded; the gorgeous little tune that appears and reappears throughout the opening Moderato cantabile (6:32) is adequate proof of this. The Prestissimo (2:32) is a scurrying "molto perpetuo," quite reminiscent of Mendelssohn, and a brilliant segue into the Andante pesante/Allegro molto finale (5:02). Fascinating structure, this: your basic "slow movement" concluding the sonata--- and a beauty it is!--- capped by a sudden, rousing coda.

However, Volkmann's Fantasy in C, Op. 25a (5:47), shows a composer easily on par with Liszt or Brahms in overall depth, dimension and technical expertise. This is a no holds barred showpiece, sparse on lyricism, but exceptionally exciting in execution.

In Kirchner we find a dreamer who excelled in shorter piano works, not unlike Schumann's Bunte Blatter or Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words. The selection here is culled from a variety of the composer's output, namely: the Op. 21 (Aquarellen), Op. 30 (Studies and Pieces), Op. 71 (Little Studies) and the Op. 73 (Romantic Poems). Most memorable are the Op. 21, No. 3 (fr. Aquarellen), Op. 73, No. 2 ("Spring Greeting"), Op. 73, No. 4 ("Days Gone By") and the absolutely beautiful Op. 73, No. 2 ("Nocturne").

Adrian Ruiz, whose excellent Genesis performance of the complete Goetz Piano Music has given me untold pleasure for twenty-five years (and is also available through Amazon), is, again, the perfect artist to renew these neglected works afresh. His affection, intuitive sense of wit, charm and breadth make this CD a treat to hear... and, yes, fun, as well. The transferred sound from the 1973 LPs is full, rich and immediate. Enjoy!

Tracks:

Adagio Quasi Fantasia, Op.12
I. Sehr Lebending Und Charakteristisch
II. Leise Und Ruhig
III. Allegro (Unmuting)
IV. Allegretto Vivace
V. Mesto
VI. Sehr Erregt
VII. Allegro
VIII. Ruhig, Singend
IX. Risoluto
X. Moderato
I. Langsam, Zart
II. Im Gemessenen Tempo
IIIa. Andante, Poco Lento
IIIIb. Animato , Cantabile
IV. Moderato, Poco Lento
I. Un Poco Lento
II. Moderato
III. Con Moto
IV. Lento
V. Poco Animato
VI. Con Moto
VII. Con Espressione
VIII. Largo
IX. Andante

Leon Kirchner: Duo for Violin and Piano; Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano; etc.

Average customer rating:

Always Fascinating Chamber Music of Leon Kirchner

Leon Kirchner: Duo for Violin and Piano; Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano; etc.

Manufacturer: Naxos American
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0007XHL1G
Release Date: 2005-04-19

Tracks:

Duo For Violin And Piano
'Flutings' From Lily (1973)
Trio For Violin, Cello And Piano (1954)
Lento, Tempo II - Adagio - Allegro Risoluto
Triptych (1986/88)

Amazon.com

Kirchner is sometimes considered a "difficult" composer, perhaps because he studied with Schoenberg. But Naxos has it right calling his work "powerful, expressive music...propulsive and improvisational in spirit." By the time the listener is halfway through the opening Duo, the "difficult" aspects have been left far behind by the exciting, vigorous expression of the music. The final work on the program, Triptych, is somewhat difficult listening, but by the time you get to it you'll probably be attuned enough to Kirchner's style so that the expressive element of the music will come through anyway. Considering that the world premiere recordings of some of these pieces were made by musicians like Leon Fleisher (the Sonata) and the composer himself (he's an amazing pianist), Continuum's performances have powerful memories to compete with but they come across with total success. Who would have known that Cheryl Seltzer, co-director of a contemporary music group, was such an exciting pianist! All these recordings except Triptych originally came out on LP and are not digital recordings despite the DDD designation, but they still sound excellent. Very highly recommended to anyone whose listening tastes don't stop at 1900. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews:

Always Fascinating Chamber Music of Leon Kirchner.......2005-04-20

All the works on this disc are reissues of Musical Heritage Society releases from the 1980s; all but 'Triptych' are analog recordings that have been remastered; 'Triptych' was recorded digitally. In their day these recordings were much-honored and we are fortunate to have them back on CD at super-budget price as part of the ongoing 'Continuum Portrait' series featuring the new music ensemble Continuum, a New York-based group of musicians founded by pianists Cheryl Seltzer and Joel Sachs. Some of this music has been recorded by other musicians. For instance, Leon Fleisher has recorded all of Kirchner's piano sonatas, including the First Sonata which is played to a fare-thee-well here by Cheryl Seltzer. Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Chang have recorded 'Triptych' on Ma's much-heralded and big-selling 'Made in America' CD. (Ma and Chang were Kirchner's students at Harvard and Ma has recorded other Kirchner works, including his 'Music for Cello and Orchestra.')

The works include Kirchner's first published work, 'Duo for Violin and Piano' (1947) and works as recent as 'Triptych' from the late 1980s. One can trace Kirchner's evolution as a composer by listening to the works in chronological order. They all sound like Kirchner (once one has his style in one's ears) but one can hear how his rhapsodic style evolves from a rather segmented organization to one where the transitions between soundscapes are much smoother, much more subtle. His style is hyperchromatic but not serially organized. Indeed, his style is pretty much of his own devising. Some find it difficult, and I admit I did when I was first exposed to it, but over time one comes to recognize his fingerprints and, more important, to respond to his lyrical and dramatic outpourings.

The CD features Joel Sachs, Continuum's other founder and also a pianist, playing in the First Piano Trio from 1954, along with violinist Geoffrey Michaels and cellist Beverly Lauridsen. This work is played without pause (as indeed almost all of Kirchner's works are) but falls into two easily discerned movements, the first moving from lyrical to turbulent, the second re-establishing the calmness of the beginning but again building to a powerful finish. The performance is quite good and one marvels at the insight and, dare I say it, the ease with which the musicians encompass this technically difficult music; they play it as if it were a romantic masterpiece.

Also included are 'Flutings,' a solo flute excerpt from Kirchner's opera, 'Lily' (based on Bellow's 'Henderson the Rain King'), played nicely by Jayn Rosenfeld, and 'Duo for Violin and Piano,' again with Sachs, along with violinist Elisabeth Perry.

The final, and longest work, is 'Triptych,' possibly the most difficult of the music presented here. It exists in several versions; originally for solo violin, then recast for solo cello, it is here in the violin/cello duo form. It begins with an extended and rather stark cello solo that has a restrained yearning quality until the violin enters impulsively. There is much dissonant angst until the headlong and almost joyfully brash ending.

These are musicianly performances. One might give the nod to Ma and Chang in 'Triptych,' but Seltzer's performance of the First Piano Sonata is the equal of Fleisher's, no small accomplishment. This recording is not for everyone. The listener must have an appetite for dissonance, although the dramatic thrust of these works carries one along so effortlessly that one soon forgets the absence of consonance.

TT=64:56

Scott Morrison

Legacies: Piano Trios by Zwilich, Pärt, Kirchner & Silverman

Average customer rating:

Zwilich superb, the rest mediocre

Legacies: Piano Trios by Zwilich, Pärt, Kirchner & Silverman

Manufacturer: Arabesque Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Trios | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

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Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Chamber Symphony / Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra / Symphony No. 2
American String Quartets, 1950-1970
Zwilich: Concerto Grosso; Symphony No. 3; Oboe Concerto
Premieres
Ernest Bloch: Quartets No. 2 & No.3

ASIN: B000000T9A
Release Date: 1996-09-01

Tracks:

Trio For Violin, Cello, And Piano: Allegro Con Brio
Trio For Violin, Cello, And Piano: Lento
Trio For Violin, Cello, And Piano: Presto
Adagio For Violin, Cello, And Piano
Trio No. II
In Celebration: Introduction
In Celebration: Kinematic
In Celebration: Cantilena-Chaconne
In Celebration: Montuno

Amazon.com

This is a fascinating collection of varied contemporary chamber music. Zwilich's Trio is written with her typical blend of romanticism and challenging modernism; it's a very satisfying piece. The work by Pärt is a Mozart piano movement, rescored with a kind of running meditative commentary. While I usually like Kirchner's music very much, his Trio is a spiky piece I haven't penetrated yet. Silverman's music is jazzy modernism, very entertaining. As you would expect from this all-star trio, the performances are full of life. Anyone who likes 20th-century music is bound to find at least one piece to love here. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews:

Zwilich superb, the rest mediocre.......2001-03-07

I first heard the Zwilich trio a dozen or so years ago when the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson group played it in a series of inaugural performances. I was blown away by it. This disc is a pleasant reminder of that experience. This work is worth hearing if you have any interest at all in late-20th century serious Americal music.

Tracks:

Demon's Welcome
Home Variations
Wedding Dances
Reading The K'tuba
Incantation
Asmodeus' Court
Invocation Of The Jew Of Babylon
The Jew Of Babylon Appears
Processional: The Jew Of Babylon's Mystic Circle
Yenta's Fantasy: Trying On Her Wedding Dress
Yenta's Fantasy: The Wedding Celebration
Flight
March: Wolf And Sheep
Lento - David Taylor
Energico - David Taylor
Alla Marcia - David Taylor
Grave - David Taylor
Quieto - David Taylor
Tants - Yehudi Wyner
Maysele - Yehudi Wyner

Album Description

The Mirror, a play by Isaac Bashevis Singer, explores the interior life of a Jewish woman living in a small eastern European town. The surrealistic plot mixes themes of sexual repression and fantasy, presided over by a demon who haunts the woman's mirror. Yehudi Wyner, one of America's leading composers, has created evocative music for The Mirror, inspired by various Jewish traditions—from secular folk and religious song to the music of klezmer bands.

Average customer rating:

Six Pianists Celebrate the Music of Leon Kirchner

Works for Solo Piano

Manufacturer: Albany Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Solo Instrumental | New Age | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000NJVYTY
Release Date: 2007-03-01

Tracks:

Sonata No. 1 for Piano
Interlude I
Five Pieces for Piano
Interlude II
The Forbidden

Product Description

Albany is proud to present this generous selection of piano music by one of America s most important composers. Leon Kirchner is one of the last of that stalwart breed who first came to prominence in the late 1940 s and early 1950s. A pupil of Bloch, Schoenberg and Sessions at the University of California, Berkeley, Kirchner s music definitely shows affinities with Schoenberg in outlook and temperament. No less than Schoenberg, Kirchner is both an ardent modernist and a volatile Romantic, a composer whose sophisticated awareness of the past informs a restless search for authenticity. A classic example would be his Piano Concerto No. 1, first recorded over 50 years ago by the composer himself with Dmitri Mitropoulos and the New York Philharmonic. Like much of the music on this disc, there is edginess and a tough demeanor, but there is real music present, in the traditional sense. This significant new release reissues classic performances by Leon Fleisher and Peter Serkin as well as presenting important recent pieces such as the Sonata No. 2 and The Forbidden.

Customer Reviews:

Six Pianists Celebrate the Music of Leon Kirchner.......2007-06-12

Leon Kirchner was born in 1919. He was a student of Schoenberg. He has written atonally for many years and yet his music has always had the same sort of Romantic impulses as those of his mentor; that is to say, if one didn't know Kirchner's music rarely had tonal centers, one might think this was simply hyperchromatic yet tonal music. Kirchner has also been an esteemed, even revered, teacher at Harvard where he taught, among others, John Adams. This CD is a collection of performances of six of his quintessential piano works played by six distinguished American pianists -- Leon Fleisher, Peter Serkin, Jonathan Biss, Jeremy Denk, Max Levinson and Joel Fan -- and in at least three instances -- those of Serkin, Fan and Biss -- the pianist is the dedicatee of the piece he plays.

The earliest piece is the First Piano Sonata (1948) played by Leon Fleisher. I'm not sure when it was recorded but it appeared initially on a Fleisher album also containing music of Copland, Sessions and Rorem. Whatever its recording date, the sound is fine and the performance even better. This is passionate and engaged music. Peter Serkin included 'Interlude I' (1989) on his sensational album '... in real time' which contained thirteen pieces written for him by seven eminent composers, including Kirchner. It, too, is a passionate and dense work and was followed some thirteen years later (2002) by 'Interlude II', written for Jonathan Biss, the stunningly talented Philadelphia pianist. The second Interlude is a polar opposite of its predecessor in that it is transparent, flowing and with islands of Zenlike serenity. (Interestingly, the piece started out to be for left hand alone, for Leon Fleisher, but the nature of the music apparently led Kirchner to change his plans for it.)

The 'Five Pieces for Piano' (1987) each have titles taken from Dickinson poems and indeed they started out as songs set to her words. When a couple of pianists wondered if Kirchner couldn't set them for piano alone, he did so, incorporating the sung line into the songs' piano accompaniments. They are played magnificently by Levinson. In a brilliant stroke, the Albany booklet includes the texts of Dickinson's poems: The Auctioneer; He scanned it -- staggered --; The Crickets; Much Madness is divinest Sense--; and There came a Wind.

'The Forbidden' (2006) was written for Joel Fan. The latest piece here, written when Kirchner was 87, it is supple, long-limbed, flowing. Sonata No. 2 (2002) is a single thirteen-minute movement, a bracing dry martini of a piece, played with delicacy and grace by Jeremy Denk.

These are, of course, definitive performances of these works, and if you are an admirer of Kirchner's, you'll want this compilation.

Scott Morrison

Leon Kirchner: The Complete String Quartets

Average customer rating:

Leon Kirchner: The Complete String Quartets

Manufacturer: Albany Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
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American Contemporaries

ASIN: B0000049O4
Release Date: 1995-08-10

Tracks:

Str Qt No.1: I. Allegro Ma Non Troppo
Str Qt No.1: II. Adagio
Str Qt No.1: III. Divert
Str Qt No.1: IV. Adagio
Str Qt No.2: I. Moderato
Str Qt No.2: II. Adagio
Str Qt No.2: III. Allegro Molto
Str Qt No.3

Amazon.com

Kirchner won a well-deserved Pulitzer Prize for his Third String Quartet, which combines live players with electronic music in an intellectually and emotionally convincing manner. The Second Quartet is actually a more difficult piece, atonal and challenging but still swept along by its vital, rhythmic drive, which is usually a potent force in Kirchner's music. The First Quartet shows the young composer, in 1949, finding his own voice under the influences of Bartók (whom he quotes) and Schoenberg. This is a fascinating, well-played disc, and it leaves me hungry for more of Kirchner's music as well as some of his phenomenal piano playing. --Leslie Gerber

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