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Praga DaCamera

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Praga DaCamera

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To musicologist Antony Beaumont we owe the resurrection of these youthful scores by Zemlinsky, pianist-composer beginning in the fascination or even disturbing influence of Brahms, just like Korngold and the young Schönberg. We discover a short (unfinished?) and stunning masterpiece of chamber music with voice on the first twenty lines of a morbid, mystical poem by Richard Dehmel. Probably written shortly before Transfigured Night, Schönberg's famous sextet, in less than eight minutes it reaches emotional incandescence...

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Clear, precise music featuring rhythmic refinement as free as it is polished, with vibrations that are, in the final analysis, more morbid than conquering, a series of enchantments idealising the violin as the charming bard of the inexpressible. A new form of Expressionism and a timeless challenge for performers.

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Beethoven, a young charmer at the time, submitted to the art of rococo variations on Mozart arias that were in vogue. Martinů took over this playful approach with Rossini then adapted it to folk song whilst preserving the freshness, its hidden gravity and its original authenticity. Jiří Gemrot pastiches Beethoven with humour then, like a real heir of Martinů, pays tribute to Dvořák.

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Mallarmé was saying about a Gaugin’paiting : It’s wonderful to obtain so mysterious climax with so strong dash: an alternative with this‘Faune’ chamber approach. The first, the Piano Trio of 1879, and the last score, the Cello Sonata written in 1915 by‘Debussy, musicien français’.

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Gidon Kremer in Prague (1974-78) : A Latvian as ‘Soviet’ cultural ambassador

These pieces are remembrances of some Gidon Kremer’s passings in Prague, during Soviet time . . . Kremer was then at the dawn of his career, one among the most brilliant for a violinist in our time! As an ‘ambassador’ of the Soviet Ministry for Culture in the ‘brother countries’, he owed to his mentor, David Oistrakh, a sort of freedom, demonstrated here in this CD programme. His absolutely perfect touch and his freedom of expression were the delight of his patrons in the welcoming communist countries . . . The short piece by Alfred Schnittke, then still hand written only, was an example of his wish to play scores out of the ‘classics’ from Bach to Stravinsky and to help other musicians through chamber music sessions. This record allows to hear the faked G.B. Guadagnini inherited from his grandfather.
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