Hommage ŕ R. Sch. [Import]

Gyorgy Kurtag (Composer), Robert Schumann (Composer), Robert Levin (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Robert Levin
• Composer: Gyorgy Kurtag, Robert Schumann
• Audio CD (February 1, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Ecm Import
• ASIN: B000025XCU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #433,956 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #63 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Reeds & Winds > English Horn

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars György Kurtág moving into Robert Schumann, December 16, 2010

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hommage ŕ R. Sch. (Audio CD)

HOMMAGE A R. SCH. - MUSIC OF SCHUMANN & KURTAG even as a title for a CD is creative. This is one of those recordings that invites the listener to more deeply appreciate the genius of Robert Schumann in three of his lesser known works for several reasons: the works on the recording are immaculately performed by Robert Levin, piano, Eduard Brunner, clarinet, and Kim Kashashian, viola, the spectrum of chamber music is a rare combination, and the additional work by György Kurtág that completes the recital is a revelation. It is a pleasure to see such sophisticated programming made available to the public.

Kim Kashkashian performs 'Pieces for solo viola' with a strong affinity for the demands of these brief works and she follows these pieces with the complex Jelek for viola, Opus 5, again a brief work of six movements - Agitato, Giusto, a relatively lengthy Lento, Vivo, feroce, followed with a blissfully beautiful Adagio, and ending in Con slancio, risoluto. As a segue into Schumann the three soloists unite for the fascinating six movement work by György Kurtág - the ' Hommage à Robert Schumann', Opus 15/d, a strange but haunting revisiting the works of Schumann in sections each less than a minute long in which the piano, viola and clarinet make those typically terse statements that might just have been the moments of indecision in Schumann's mind as he composed the earlier works on the recording! The final movement is a longer Adagio and is some of the more creative and fascinating of the many works of György Kurtág. Here as in the Schumann works the three instrumentalists prove themselves able to make the piece hang together well and to remind us of just how creative is Kurtág.

The remainder of the recital is work by Schumann - the 'Märchenbilder', Four pieces for viola and piano, Opus 113 composed in 1852. These pieces are brief but elegantly lovely and Kashkashian and Levin collaborate beautifully. The final work is the 'Fantasiestücke', three pieces for clarinet and piano Opus 73, and again pianist Levin proves a superb partner to Edward Brunner's clarinet performance. All three artists join in the 'Märchenerzählungen für klarinette, viola und klavier opus 132, 1853, a four part work that concentrates on showing the dexterity of each of the instruments - a challenge these artists meet well. This is a well-conceived and exceptionally well performed recital. Grady Harp, December 10