Chamber Music - your best pick.
Audphile1, here are suggestions for some 20th Century chamber music that I enjoy, just scatter-shooting through my collection. I've referenced the performers I like for most works, and the catalog numbers for the vinyl. Malcolm Arnold - Fantasies and Sonatinas, for various instruments: oboe, bassoon, flute, clarinet, etc. Nice performances by the Nash Ensemble on Hyperion A66171, A66172, A66173 Bartok - String Quartets - You've enjoyed the Shostakovich, you may want to sample some of the Barok. I like the performances of the Talich Quartet on Supraphon. Many people like the Julliard Quartet performances. Benjamin Britten - Suite for Cello, No. 1 and No. 2 (solo) - Rostropovich on Decca/London or Helmerson on BIS - Sonata in C for Cello and Piano - performed by Rostropovich and Britten on Decca/London. There was a Speakers Corner reissue of this, don't know if it's still available. This LP also includes nice performance by Rostropovich and Britten of Schuman and Debussy. Music for a Glass Bead Game - with Arturo Delomoni, violin, and Nathaniel Rosen, cello, performing music of Bach, Martinu and Kodaly. Wonderful CD and delightful contrasts of the old and new interwoven, with marvelous playing by two great artists. Highly recommended. (John Marks Records) - I'd also recommend several other recordings by Delmoni and Rosen. Originally released on LP, these are hard to find on vinyl today at any sort of reasonable price, but they are available on CD: ....Songs My Mother Taught Me - Delmoni ....Sonatas of Franck and Faure - Delmoni ....Oriental - Rosen (music for cello by Debussy, Falla, Granados, Elgar, Martinu) Enescu, Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in Romanian Folkstyle, op25 - Wilson Audo issued a good performance in excellent sound on LP (W 8315), but my favorite performance is on a now impossible to find Altarus LP (AIR 2 9012) with Sherban Lupu on violin. Hindemith's chamber works for Viola, Kim Kashkashian performing on viola, ECM 1330/32 Kodaly - Duo for Violin and Cello - See Music for a Glass Bead Game, above. Kodaly - Sonata for Violin and Piano - Perenyi, violin, and Jando, piano, on Hungaraton; or Lavotha and Aberg on BIS. Nicholas Maw - Life Studies for 15 solo strings Prokofiev - Sonatas for Violin and Piano - Wilkomirska, violin, and Schein, piano (Connoisseur Society, CS 2016) George Rochberg - String Quartets - the performances by the Concord Quartet on Nonesuch and RCA are very good. Shostakovich - Piano Trio No. 2 - Beaux Arts Trio on Philips, or Oslo Trio on Simax, or Palsson/ Helmerson/ Tellefsen on BIS. Stravinsky - Ragtime for Eleven Instruments - Boston Symphony Players on DGG 2530 551 Szymanowski - Mythes, op30 - Wilkomirska -vn, Barbosa -pf, Connoisseur Society CSQ 2050 Eduard Tubin - Sonata for Violin & Piano in phrygian key (1949) - Sparf -vn, Pontinen -pf BIS LP 269 Wuorinen - Speculum Speculi (for flute,oboe, clarinet, double bass, piano and percussion) - Speculum Musicae, Nonesuch H71300 Ellen Zwilich - Double Qartet for Strings; String Quartet . |
Haydn, The Seven Words, Rosamunde Quartett ECM I don't think it falls into the periods you named, but fits the genre: try out some of the astounding music played by Jordi Savall on his label, Alia Vox. This is all early music (baroque) with some emphasis on the Viola Da Gamba if Savall is playing, which he breaths life into in such a remarkable way. If you have SACD (even if not), I'd suggest this 2-CD set of the work of Marin Marais. Most of the work on his label is recorded and mastered beautifully. It'd be difficult to go wrong (search his name on Amazon and see if anything there interests you). I particularly enjoy the renditions of Marais's work as well as Sainte Colombe - both of whom were the subject of the beautiful film, Tous Les Matins du Monde, another good choice with more variety perhaps. Marco |
