Alfred Schnittke: Chamber Music Janacek Trio

• Alfred Schnittke (1934 - 1998): Piano Trio:
• 1 Schnittke: Piano Trio: I. Moderato 13:19
• 2 Schnittke: Piano Trio: II. Adagio 11:23
• À Paganini, for Solo Violin:
• 3 Schnittke: À Paganini, for Solo Violin 13:14
• Madrigal, for Solo Cello (in memoriam Oleg Kagan):
• 4 Schnittke: Madrigal, for Solo Cello (in memoriam Oleg Kagan) 09:51
• Piano Sonata No. 1:
• 5 Schnittke: Piano Sonata No. 1: I. Lento 06:00
• 6 Schnittke: Piano Sonata No. 1: II. Allegretto 05:50
• 7 Schnittke: Piano Sonata No. 1: III. Lento 07:00
• 8 Schnittke: Piano Sonata No. 1: IV. Allegro 08:11
• Total Runtime 01:14:48

Info for Alfred Schnittke: Chamber Music

Viennese-style stylistic diversity: Alfred Schnittke was born in Engels, capital of the Volga German Republic, in 1934 as the son of Harry Schnittke, who was born in Frankfurt am Main. In 1946 he began his musical education in Vienna, where his father worked as an editor. Even in Moscow, where he continued his studies from 1948, a Viennese influence remained: Philip Herschkowitz, one of his teachers, had been a pupil of Anton Webern before emigrating to the USSR. Vienna finds its expression in Schnittke's first compositions; the city also remains subliminally present in his later work from 1968 onwards, when he had grown tired of experiments with one-dimensional serial music. In many of his compositions, different styles are strung together, Handel's baroque, Mozart's classical, a chromaticism reminiscent of Tristan - all the way to extended serial compositional techniques.

"The Janácek Trio convinces with agogic subtlety as well as technical brilliance - which each of the three members demonstrates again in a solo work. The violinistic witchcraft in "A Paganini" is just as fascinating as the asceticism of the cello "Madrigal" and the Piano Sonata No. 1 as a testimony to Schnittke's angular late style." (FonoForum)

"Without a doubt, here is one of the most beautiful tributes paid to Russian composer Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) on the tenth anniversary of his death. His works “often seem like a progressive defrosting in which the listener seesaws between two worlds,” states Benoît Duteurtre in his remarkable work “Requiem for an avant-garde.” Schnittke evolved more and more towards a freer style which relied on many styles, from the neo-Baroque shimmer of the Concerti Grossi to the unadorned tension of the Trio. […] His many works can be considered a continuation of Shostakovich’s, even Berg’s, because of its mix of expressivity and tone research, done with genial ease.” This recording includes the “Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello”, dating from 1982, “Madrigal” from 1990, which is a work for cello alone in memory of Oleg Kagan, and the “Sonata for Piano N°1” from 1987. Discovered at the 2008 Midem, the young Janice Trio, made up of Helena Jirikovska on the violin, Market Novak on the cello and Marketa Janackova on the piano, offers delicacy, clarity and depth. Schnettke’s music has rarely been embossed with the seal of such authenticity. And its modernity becomes all the more ardent, based on nuanced tones in the extreme. The remarkably just-right emphasis on certain notes extends to just the right breath in phrasing, all of which flowers into admirable playing." (Jean-Jacques Millo)

Janacek Trio

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