Julian Prégardien / Martin Helmchen / Christian Tetzlaff / Florian Donderer / Rachel Roberts / Tanja Tetzlaff / Marie-Elisabeth Hecker SCHUBERT Schwanengesang - String Quintet

 

SCHWANENGESANG - STRING QUINTET

Martin Helmchen / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Andrew Manze BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto 3 - Triple Concerto

 

PIANO CONCERTO 3 - TRIPLE CONCERTO

 

Frank Peter Zimmermann / Martin Helmchen BEETHOVEN The Violin Sonatas: Sonatas 1 - 4

SONATAS 1 - 4

Martin Helmchen / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Andrew Manze BEETHOVEN Piano Concertos 2 & 5 "Emperor"

PIANO CONCERTOS 2 & 5

Martin Helmchen / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Andrew Manze BEETHOVEN Piano Concertos 1 & 4

PIANO CONCERTOS 1 & 4

Juliane Banse / Martin Helmchen HINDEMITH Das Marienleben

The German soprano Juliane Banse has sung the Lieder of Brahms, Schubert, Wolf, Ullmann, Strauss, Schumann, Loewe and Berg, earning a reputation for both the quality of her interpretations and the warmth of her timbre. She and her regular partner Martin Helmchen, who has just joined Alpha, have chosen to record Paul Hindemith’s song cycle Das Marienleben, composed in 1923 and revised by the composer in 1948. A bewitching, sometimes disturbing cycle whose texts, taken from the great poet Rainer Maria Rilke, retrace the life of the Virgin Mary. Fifteen poems, fifteen episodes tinged with mysticism and lyricism. They proved to be the ideal inspiration for Hindemith, whose compositional style here draws on both the power of Wagner’s operas and the subtle nuances of Debussy.

Tetzlaff / Hornung / Dörken / Weithaas / Powell / Helmchen DVORÄK Trio SUK Quartet

Antje Weithaas and friends perform Dvorak's Piano Trio in G minor, Op.26 and Suk's Quartet, Op.1 in live recordings from the Spannungen festival, 2017.

In 1876, Dvorak composed the Trio in G Minor, op. 26 in a mere 16 days. Certain traits in this trio already seem to reveal Dvorak's profound affinity with Brahms on an instinctive level. Gradually emerging from a series of brief motifs, the first movement's main theme is subjected to thematic treatment throughout. This movement is also the longest, lasting a total of twelve minutes. It's sombre mood does not yet reflect the true personal style of he who would soon write the Slavonic Dances. Notwithstanding, certain cello cantilenas in the slow movement and towards the end of the sombre, violent scherzo offer a foretaste of the great melodic gifts that Dvorak would soon reveal to the world. 

The composition Suk submitted for the final exam is none other than the Piano Quartet in A Minor, op. 1. The first movement's disarming impetuousness engulfs the listener like a shock wave, betraying not only the influence of Brahms, the true doyen of Late Romantic chamber music, but also that of Dvorak, his own teacher. More significantly, however, a personal style already becomes noticeable in this work. The energetic introductory movement is followed by a clear contrast: a muted, nocturne-like, melodically intense Adagio that sets in with a warm cello cantilena. The second movement's expressive middle section exudes a fairy-tale-like atmosphere, similar to the one in the incidental music that Suk would later compose for the play Raduz and Mahulena. The final movement begins with a march-like main theme that is alternated with contrasting episodes, thus giving the general structural impression of a rondo. (Pedro Obiera) 

Marie-Elisabeth Hecker / Antwerp Symphony Orchestra / Edo de Waart ELGAR Cello Concerto - Piano Quintet

Cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker made her international breakthrough with her sensational success at the 8th Rostropovich Competition in Paris in 2005, where she became the first contestant in the event's history to win the first prize as well as two special prizes. Since then Hecker has become one of the most sought-after soloists and chamber musicians of her generation, recognised for her deep expression and natural affinity for the cello, with Die Zeit describing her playing as "heartbreakingly sad and instinctively beautiful". 

After making several discs of chamber music by Brahms and Schubert, the cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker now records a large-scale concerto, showing the full range of her talent. Composed between 1918 and 1919, Elgar’s Concerto Op.85 was poorly received at its first performance but has since become established as one of the key works in the cello repertoire. To complete the programme, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker rejoins her chamber music partners, the violinists Carolin Widmann and David McCarroll, the violist Pauline Sachse and the pianist Martin Helmchen, in Elgar’s Piano Quintet, composed at the same time as the Concerto and premiered in London in 1919.

Marie-Elisabeth Hecker / Martin Helmchen BRAHMS Cello Sonatas

When Brahms played through his First Cello Sonata with its dedicatee, Josef Gänsbacher, the cellist apparently complained that he couldn’t hear himself over the piano. ‘Lucky you,’ muttered Brahms. There’s no such problem on this new disc from Marie-Elisabeth Hecker and Martin Helmchen. As Hecker calmly, eloquently shapes her low-lying opening melody, Helmchen’s off beat piano chords don’t so much drive the rhythm as hang from her line – helped by a recording that places the cello ever so slightly forward.

That’s no bad thing. Brahms may have followed Beethoven’s cue in describing these pieces as sonatas for piano and cello, rather than the other way around, but there’s no question that balance can be an issue. Not here; both instruments come through clear and unforced, enabling Hecker to take the lead in shaping a performance of the First Sonata that’s essentially lyrical and poetic. She doesn’t dominate, mind. The booklet-notes make much of the fact that Helmchen and Hecker are husband and wife, but this is real duo playing, with each player stepping forwards or conceding the musical argument without any grandstanding. That pays rich dividends in the more extrovert and fantastical Second Sonata (a sister work, in spirit, to the Third Symphony). Helmchen’s majestic swell of sound in the centre of the Adagio affettuoso makes as much musical and colouristic sense as Hecker’s forceful pizzicatos.

Any new recording of these two sonatas is up against competition ranging from du Pré and Barenboim to Alban Gerhardt and Markus Groh, and 53 minutes of music is not exactly generous (others offer Brahms transcriptions or Schumann cello music). But if you’re after a thoughtful and musicianly pairing of these two works alone, you won’t be disappointed. (Richard Bratby / Gramophone)

Julia Fischer / Martin Helmchen FRANZ SCHUBERT Complete Works for Violin and Piano - Volume 2

Schubert concluded his personal violin sonata ‘chapter’ early on, as his last work in this genre dates from 1817: the Sonatafor Violin and Piano in A major, D. 574 (Op. posth. 162, Grand Duo). Perhaps he put aside any further plans for violin sonatas he might have had due to a number of significantexperiences he underwent in 1817. Although Schubert is often portrayed by the lay world as never being successful with his compositions during his lifetime, this is not entirely the case. Thus his cantata Prometheus – penned the previous year – had created quite a sensation in Vienna. Otherwise Schubert would hardly have considered giving up his recently (1816) acquired teaching position in favour of creative free-lancing. However, music historians are right about the negative representation of the reception given to Schubert’s works, as indeed, according to traditional tales, fortune did not smile upon him: of all things, this successful work – the Prometheus Cantata – was lost to the world and has not yet been rediscovered to this day. (Pentatone)

Julia Fischer / Martin Helmchen FRANZ SCHUBERT Complete Works for Violin and Piano - Volume 1

The great similarity between the first movement (Allegro molto) of Franz Schubert’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in D major, D. 384 (Op. posth. 137, No. 1, dating from 1816) and the first movement of the Sonata for Piano and Violin in E minor, K. 304 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart must have already been emphasised hundreds of times. The analogies are more than simply astonishing, they are essential – and at the same time, existential. Deliberately so: because at the age of 19, Schubert had well outgrown the need to “crib”. Nevertheless, Schubert imitated his example in every aspect of this Mozart-like movement, including the transitions, secondary motifs and even in the manner he dealt with the rests. And yet he achieved more than simply a “copy”. Schubert’s Allegro molto is a reflection, a kind of “question set to music”: where do I want to go? And the answer must be: I got there a long time since! Because all the later characteristics that gradually emerged to define his personality as a composer (i.e. abrupt stops, harmonic surprises, the ecstasy of the moment vs. the dashing of hope) are already present here and are leading him, as it were, “through Mozart up to himself”. (Pentatone)

Martin Helmchen FRANZ SCHUBERT Forellen Quintet

With hundreds of recorded performances of Schubert's "Trout" Quintet available, what is it that distinguished this 2009 PentaTone disc from the rest? Partially the playing, partially the couplings, and partially the sound. Played by pianist Martin Helmchen, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, violist Antoine Tamestit, cellist Marie Elisabeth Hecker, and double bassist Alois Posch, this "Trout" is light, lively, and lyrical, with a singing tone, a smiling interpretation, and a vivacious feeling for rhythm. The players are first-rate by themselves and outstanding as an ensemble, with a tight but relaxed grasp of form and an intuitive sense of tempo. The couplings here are rather unusual: the Variations on Trockne Blumen for flute and piano and the Notturno for piano trio, the former receiving a polished and appealing account by pianist Helmchen with wooden flutist Aldo Baerten and the latter getting a broadly paced but beautifully sculpted reading by Helmchen, Tetzlaff, and Hecker. And the super audio sound by the Dutch PentaTone label is so realistic one cannot only hear Baerten breathe, one can almost smell the wood of his flute. Longtime listeners may already have their favorite recordings of the "Trout" Quintet, but by virtue of the playing, the couplings, and the sound, this one deserves to be at least sampled. (James Leonard)

Marie-Elisabeth Hecker / Antje Weithaas / Martin Helmchen SCHUBERT Arpeggione Sonata - Trio No. 2

Following a first recording on Alpha devoted to Brahms which garnered much praise – ‘real duo playing’ said Gramophone, while Classica discerned ‘shared music making . . . a world full of nuances and subtlety, boundless sonic imagination (Marie-Elisabeth Hecker), playing of rare intelligence (Martin Helmchen)’ and awarded the disc a ‘Choc’ – the duo is reunited. Its new programme features two summits of chamber music: Schubert’s famous Arpeggione Sonata – named after a now obsolete instrument that was a cross between the guitar and the cello – and his no less celebrated Trio no.2 D929, which achieved even greater popularity thanks to Stanley Kubrick’s film Barry Lyndon. In the latter, the duo is joined by an eminent musician with whom they enjoy playing, Antje Weithaas, ‘one of the great violinists of our time’ (Fonoforum) and also one of the teachers most sought after by the young generation. For example, she taught Tobias Feldmann, the young violinist recently signed by Alpha.

Martin Helmchen BEETHOVEN Diabelli Variations

The pianist Martin Helmchen has now joined Alpha for several recordings. Acknowledged as one of the leading pianists of his generation, an eminent interpreter of the German repertoire, Helmchen will explore various periods and composers (including Messiaen!), but Beethoven will have a preponderant place in his forthcoming recording projects. Before the complete concertos, planned for 2020, he tackles the Diabelli Variations, ‘a climax in the life of a pianist’. He sees these variations as ‘a voyage to the very heart of the infinity of human feelings and moods, by turns profound, philosophical, satirical’. He regards the cycle as a visionary work that heralds future developments in music, containing the first stirrings of twentieth-century minimalism, atonality and abstraction. This recording is the end result of a long personal association and numerous concerts; a powerful version in which each variation emerges as a masterpiece in its own right.

Sharon Kam PORTRAIT - Virtuose Klarinettenmusik

Sharon Kam is one of the world’s leading clarinet soloists and has been working with renowned orchestras in the United States, Europe, and Japan for over 20 years.

Mozart’s clarinet masterpieces have been an object of artistic focus for Ms. Kam since the beginning of her career. At the age of 16, she performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in her orchestral debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Zubin Mehta. A short time later, she performed the Clarinet Quintet with the Guarneri String Quartet in Carnegie Hall, New York.

As part of Mozart’s 250th birthday celebrations at the National Theatre in Prague, her interpretation of the Mozart concerto was televised live in 33 countries and is available on DVD. In the same year, she was able to realize her longtime dream of recording the Concerto and the Clarinet Quintet using the basset clarinet. Contributing to the widely praised disk were eminent string players Isabelle van Keulen, Ulrike-Anima Mathé, Volker Jacobsen and Gustav Rivinus, as well as the Haydn Philharmonie.

As a passionate chamber musician, Sharon Kam regularly works with artists such as Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzlaff, Enrico Pace, Daniel Müller-Schott, Leif Ove Andsnes, Caroline Widmann and the Jerusalem Quartet. She is a frequent guest at festivals in Schleswig-Holstein, Heimbach, Rheingau, Risør, Cork, Verbier, and Delft, as well as the Schubertiade festival. She is also an active performer of contemporary music music and has premiered works by Krzysztof Penderecki (the Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quartet), Herbert Willi (the Clarinet Concerto, at the Salzburg Festival), Iván Erőd and Peter Ruzicka (at Donaueschingen).

Sharon Kam feels at home in a variety of musical genres – from classical to modern music and jazz – a fact reflected in her diverse discography. She received the ECHO “Instrumentalist of the Year” award two times: in 1998, for her Weber recording with the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig and Kurt Masur, and in 2006, for her CD with the Leipzig Radio Orchestra featuring works by Spohr, Weber, Rossini and Mendelssohn. Her “American Classics” disc with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by her husband Gregor Bühl, was awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik Prize.

Julia Fischer & Martin Helmchen FRANZ SCHUBERT Complete Works for Violin and Piano

In this recording, Julia Fischer and Martin Helmchen skilfully reveal what can be achieved when Schubert's violin and piano duos are given the right treatment: a wonderful piece of music, expertly performed. The release uniquely features Fischer as a pianist in Fantasia for Piano Duet D. 940. She had previously performed as a pianist in concert, but this was her recording debut.

We asked them a few questions about their successful collaboration and their connection to Schubert.

What was it like to work together?

Martin: It is always both an enormous privilege and great fun to work with Julia, and I think most of our colleagues (and even conductors) would agree that you've learned a lot after every concert or rehearsal with her. And of course, a long-term collaboration like ours is something very valuable, because you get to grow together.

Julia: Martin and I met a very long time ago and we have played and enjoyed numerous projects together. What I admire most about Martin is his modesty and pure passion. If you want to repeat something 100 times, he will still agree to do it and probably ask for the 101st time. On tour that quality brings the real enjoyment to a partnership, you never get into routine, but you always keep looking for other options, other solutions for musical problems. The same way of working applies to recording together. We are still on a journey: the cd is not the final result. It only shows where we were in that moment in our interpretation of Schubert.

What was it like for both of you to have Julia also playing the piano for this recording?

Martin: Absolutely natural! I don't understand how it's possible to play a second instrument at such a high level… I personally have got a lot of troubles with one already!

Julia: Annoying for Martin I guess!! But I am grateful for the opportunity, he taught me fingerings and gave me technical tips.

What does it mean to you to play Schubert's sonatas?

Martin: Schubert is one of the composers I personally feel the closest to. The pieces for violin and piano are not amongst his better known works, and that is another thing that is a particular joy for me - exploring and presenting the lesser known masterworks.

Julia: Somebody said "Schubert in his last pieces touched the border between human and God. Afraid that the composer might cross, God finished Schubert'slife". That's how I feel when entering the C major Fantasy.

Is there anything you wish you had done differently in the recording?

Martin: I must admit I tend to forget the "crimes of the past" quite quickly. A recording is always a momentary document, so I don't think about that topic too much.

Julia: Yes. But it's not in any way frustrating. Simply put, I continuously think about the pieces and I naturally play them a little differently every time. (PENTATONE, Monday 15 September 2014)