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Track(s) taken from CDA67906

Duo, Op 43

composer
1937; for violin, cello and small orchestra; dedicated to Max Strub and Ludwig Hoelscher

Gergana Gergova (violin), Alban Gerhardt (cello), Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Sebastian Weigle (conductor)
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Recording details: June 2012
Haus des Rundfunks, Berlin, Germany
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Simon Eadon & Dave Rowell
Release date: March 2014
Total duration: 11 minutes 52 seconds
 

Reviews

‘The earliest and most fascinating composition here, a cello concerto dating from 1889 when Pfitzner was a 19-year-old student, starts like a pious exercise in Schumannesque rumination but takes in startling and richly orchestrated outbursts evoking Wagner’s Venusberg … when he returned to the cello concerto genre in 1935 it was with music of unusual concision, making his typically unsettling mixture of restraint and flamboyance even more effective than usual … the Hyperion team provide a characterful recording, close to the music’s generally expansive sonorities without obscuring its many distinctive details. Alban Gerhardt is an unfailingly charismatic soloist, finding a sense of purpose where others might lapse into aimlessness, and the orchestral support is first-rate’ (Gramophone)

‘The three Cello Concertos … reveal a warmer, more human side to Pfitzner’s character. It’s evident not least in the late A minor Concerto (1943). In this piece, the 74-year-old composer, ill, bereaved and bombed-out, nostalgically recalled the rhapsodic A minor Concerto that he’d written as a student 53 years earlier and believed lost (it was rediscovered in 1975), while basing the slow movement on a 1923 song beginning ‘My end is drawing nigh’. Like the concise, single-span G major Concerto (1935), its rapturous cantilena all organically derived from its opening cello theme, the late A minor offers a sometimes bizarre mix of the lyrical and the whimsical. Gerhardt holds it all together with his sustained singing lines, while Weigle and his Berlin band provide vividly pointillist backing’ (BBC Music Magazine)» More
PERFORMANCE
RECORDING

„Alban Gerhardt spielt sich intensiv von einem Ausdrucksbereich zum anderen, Weigle und seine Musiker stehen ihm angespannt mit ihrem nass-brillanten Klang zur Seite“ (Pizzicato, Luxembourg)» More

„Using a musical Kärcher Steam Cleaner, Sebastian Weigle and Alban Gerhardt give a Technicolor glare to Pfitzner’s music which sounds here as clearly as any music could. Gerhardt embraces every opportunity to inflate Pfitzner’s rhetoric to something large scale, though he also gives the more intimate passages an affecting expression“ (Pizzicato, Luxembourg)

„Gerhardt und das Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin unter Sebastian Weigle haben zu einer in sich durchaus stimmigen Interpretation gefunden … ein echter Hinhörer ist das Duo op. 43 für Violine, Cello und kleines Orchester … diese ist wirklich gut geglückt … das passt zu dem schwärmerischen, fantasievollen und weit ausgesponnenen Dialog, der streckenweise an ein Liebesduett erinnert“ (NDR, Germany)» More
In 1937, Pfitzner composed his Duo, Op 43, for violin, cello and small orchestra, dedicating it to the violinist Max Strub and cellist Ludwig Hoelscher. It is a single movement in three distinct sections: the first is a stern and serious Allegro moderato; this is followed by a slow section, much of it in recitative-like dialogue between the two soloists; and finally the music turns to A major for the closing section, moderately fast, in triple time. This is a work with moments of great charm, even if it doesn’t quite match the memorable character of the cello concertos.

from notes by Nigel Simeone © 2014

En 1937, Pfitzner composa son Duo, op.43, pour violon, violoncelle et petit orchestre dédié au violoniste Max Strub et au violoncelliste Ludwig Hoelscher. Il s’agit d’un mouvement unique en trois sections distinctes: un austère et grave Allegro moderato, suivi d’une section lente où les deux solistes ne font presque que dialoguer comme dans un récitatif; enfin, la musique passe à la majeur pour la section conclusive, modérément rapide, en mètre ternaire. Cette œuvre présente des moments fort charmants, sans pour autant être aussi mémorable que les concertos pour violoncelle.

extrait des notes rédigées par Nigel Simeone © 2014
Français: Hypérion

1937 komponierte Pfitzner sein Duo, op. 43, für Violine, Violoncello und kleines Orchester und widmete es dem Geiger Max Strub und dem Cellisten Ludwig Hoelscher. Dabei handelt es sich um einen einzelnen Satz in drei deutlich voneinander abgegrenzten Abschnitten; der erste ist ein strenges und ernstes Allegro moderato, darauf folgt ein langsamer Abschnitt, der hauptsächlich aus einem rezitativartigen Dialog zwischen den beiden Solisten besteht. Schließlich bewegt sich die Musik im Schlussteil in mäßig schnellem Tempo und im Dreiertakt nach A-Dur. Dieses Werk besitzt durchaus bezaubernde Momente, selbst wenn es nicht ganz an den unvergesslichen Charakter der Cellokonzerte heranreicht.

aus dem Begleittext von Nigel Simeone © 2014
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

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