Accentus: Transcriptions

Samuel Barber (Composer), Gustav Mahler (Composer), Knut Nystedt (Composer), Fryderyk Chopin (Composer), Maurice Ravel (Composer), Hugo Wolf (Conductor), Alban Berg (Performer), Claude Debussy (Performer), Laurence Equilbey (Performer), Jean-Francois Chiama (Performer), Francois Lombard (Performer), Solange Anorga (Performer), Pascale Costes (Orchestra), Catherine Ravenne (Artist), Pierre Jeannot (Artist), Accentus Chamber Choir (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Alban Berg, Claude Debussy, Laurence Equilbey, Jean-Francois Chiama, Francois Lombard, et al.
• Orchestra: Pascale Costes
• Conductor: Hugo Wolf
• Composer: Samuel Barber, Gustav Mahler, Knut Nystedt, Fryderyk Chopin, Maurice Ravel
• Audio CD (August 19, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Valois
• ASIN: B00008GFOH
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,091 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #76 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Strings > General
  • #95 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Etudes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing choral performances, November 4, 2003

By 

Birdman (Minnetonka, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Accentus: Transcriptions (Audio CD)

I concur with the previous reviewer. Accentus has surpassed all their previous releases here. In particular, the performance of the Mahler Adagietto (from Symphony No. 5) is heart-rending and technically astonishing, as solo sopranos and mezzos take on the lines of different strings. There is not a bad cut in the lot, though the Barber Agnus Dei is becoming one of the most overrecorded pieces in the catalog. The recorded sound is clearest when one plays the CD at moderate volume. There is, with only one or two exceptions, no loss of dynamic range. While I noticed some roll-off distortion during a few forte passages, reducing the volume minimizes the problem. Naive has one of the most daring and consistently tasteful catalogues in the business, and this Accentus album is a great introduction to the label, and to a choir that has created the most distinctive technique of any I've heard in my lifetime.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fabulous Choir in Less Than Clear Sound, September 14, 2003

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Accentus: Transcriptions (Audio CD)

Accentus is a French a cappella choir of 32 voices founded and directed by Laurence Equilbey in 1991; on the basis of this recording I'd warrant that she is a superb choir builder and director. I'd heard wonderful things about them but had never heard anything they'd recorded. Here we have a collection of transcriptions of pieces originally written for instruments (or instruments and solo voice) sung impeccably. The only problem is that at high dynamic levels there tends to be some distortion; I played the disc on four different playback setups and got the distortion each time. A real pity.

As to the performances themselves, they are nothing short of sensational. The program starts with Barber's own transcription of his 'Adagio for Strings' (itself a transcription of a movement from his string quartet) to the words of the Agnus dei. Then we have an impressive and moving choral setting by Gérard Pesson of the Adagietto from Mahler's Fifth Symphony; it is set to words of August von Platen.

There are two Chopin transcriptions by Franck Krawczyk: 'Lacrimosa,' from the Op. 10, No. 6 Etude, and 'Lulajze, Jezuniu' ('Sleep, little Jesus') set to the Largo from Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 58. They are both quite beautiful.

The main transcriber on this disc is Clytus Gottwald, who transcribed six other pieces including Ravel's 'Soupir,' Wolf's 'Die verlassene Mägdlein' and 'Auf ein altes Bild,' Berg's 'Die Nachtigall,' Debussy's 'Les Angelus.' He tends to use the overlapping choral technique pioneered by Gyorgy Ligeti which creates a kind of aural haze. This is very effective in the impressionistic pieces (and in the second of the Wolf songs), much less so in the German transcriptions. Least successful, by far, is the transcription by Gottwald of 'Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen' from Mahler's Rückert-Lieder, which, no matter how beautifully sung, becomes a muddy mess obscuring both the melody line and the words.

Finally, there is a gorgeous piece based on Bach's 'Komm, süsser Tod' ('Come, sweet death') transcribed by the Norwegian master, Knut Nystedt. It, the Barber and the Mahler Adagietto are, for me, the high points of this fascinating disc.

A word about this terrific choir. They sing with a distinctively French sound--that is to say, with clarity, lightness, absolute purity of sound--and their dynamic range has to be heard to be believed. The tonal core does not waver or spread even at the softest dynamic or the extremes of vocal range and, in spite of the distortion in the recording, one can hear that they never produce an ugly tone even at their loudest. I am eager to hear more of their recordings and, who knows, maybe even hear them perform in person some day.

Scott Morrison

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transcendent!, January 9, 2007

By 

Brian Arcarese (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Accentus: Transcriptions (Audio CD)

I first heard a selection (Mahler's Adagietto) from this CD on the radio, and I had to buy it. This music is some of the most beautiful I have ever heard (and I have many years' experience as a pianist, organist, and opera and choral singer). I first loved the aforementioned Adagietto, but have later come to relish even more the second Malher piece on the CD; I use it during meditation, and it takes me to a deep, peaceful, spiritual place. Also, the Ravel piece Soupir ("sigh") is just beyond words--the colorings of the vocal expression, the seamless blend of this ensemble. It's like butter!! I do not know if this ensemble has other recordings, but I would snatch them up as soon as I found out about them. However, to be balanced, the inner selections on the CD, tracks 6,7, and 8, while intricate and well performed, do not rise to the heights of the others I mentioned. But then, how often does one like every cut on an album?