THE TRUMPETS OF MATTHIAS HÖFS

 

THE TRUMPETS OF MATTHIAS HÖFS

 

Jonian Ilias Kadesha / Vashti Hunter A JOURNEY FOR TWO

A JOURNEY FOR TWO

Lorenda Ramou FROM BERLIN TO ATHENS

The choice of works on this amply filled disc, as well as the performances are the result of Lorenda Ramou’s research into the artistic environment of Nikos Skalkottas, in Berlin (1921–33) and in Athens (1933–49). The programme is organized as a triptych, focusing on three distinctive compositional styles. First, all surviving Berlin works for piano solo are presented in chronological order, showing how the young composer was reacting to the new and exciting jazz/dance music, but also to the people around him and to events in the musical world of Berlin in the 1920s. This is followed by Suites Nos 2, 3 and 4, a group of mature works composed at the beginning of World War II (1940–41). Closing the disc, finally, is the dance suite The Gnomes, probably composed in 1939 and one of a group of piano scores for ballets with Greek subjects. Lorenda Ramou has previously released ‘The Land and the Sea of Greece’ – a disc of precisely such scores by Skalkottas – which earned her praise from the reviewer in Gramophone: ‘Her playing is full of verve and alive to the delicacy of Skalkottas’s writing.’

Thomas Zehetmair / Ruth Killius MANTO AND MADRIGALS

Violinist Thomas Zehetmair and violist Ruth Killius have shared many years as musical collaborators in the Zehetmair quartet. The couple’s spectacular duo performance at last autumn’s ECM festival in Mannheim raised the expectactions for their new programme, a carefully composed anthology of contemporary pieces for violin and viola. Next to Bohuslav Martinů’s virtuosic and accessible “Madrigals”, written in 1946 in American exile, the central piece here is “Drei Skizzen” by Heinz Holliger, a triptychon with the instruments tuned in the scordatura of Mozart’s fomous “Sinfonia concertante” for violin, viola and orchestra. It was commissioned by the duo as an encore piece for their frequent renderings of Mozart’s masterworks on the concert platform. Its first movement “Pirouetts harmoniques” is entirely based on shimmering harmonics, whereas the second one is an exuberant perpetuum mobile. The cycle concludes with a six-part chorale that requires both string players to hum an extra voice. This idea, which is realised by the duo to a most stunning effect effect, was itself inspired by Giancinto Scelsi’s solo piece “Manto” for a “singing viola player”. The programme is complemented by compositions by Nikos Skalkottas, Béla Bartók and short pieces by Rainer Killius and Johannes Nied. (ECM Records)

Jonian Ilias Kadesha / Nicholas Rimmer ENESCU - RAVEL - SKALKOTTAS

I'm very excited about the release of this CD with my trio colleague Jonian Ilias Kadesha. He chose amazing pieces for his debut CD - all united by the influence of folk music. If you don't yet know Enescu's 3rd sonata you must hear it - for me it's without question one of the greatest violin sonatas of the 20th century.
Nikos Skalkottas is a composer I was completely unfamiliar with, but he's a fascinating figure. He studied with Schoenberg in Berlin and then returned to his native Greece where he was unfortunately never recognised and he died in relative poverty and obscurity. The two Suites we recorded here are full of energy and grittiness, despite their brevity, they pack quite a punch!
And to complete the CD we play Ravel's wonderful Sonata (which was in fact premiered by Enescu) and Tzigane. (Nicholas Rimmer)