Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 6 · Piano Quartet
The Philadelphia Orchestra · Christoph Eschenbach, conductor · Christoph Eschenbach, piano · Members of The Philadelphia Orchestra
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Richard Strauss
Gustav Mahler/Alfred Schnittke
Piano Quartets
Ralf Gothóni, piano
Mark Lubotsky, violin
Matti Hirvikangas, viola
Matti Rousi, cello
Track listing
6 tracks · 58:37Richard Strauss
- Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 13 (1884) 39:46
- 1 I. Allegro 14:14
- 2 II. Scherzo (Presto) 6:59
- 3 III. Andante 8:30
- 4 IV. Finale (Vivace) 9:52
Gustav Mahler
- 5 Piano Quartet movement in A minor (1876) 11:05
Alfred Schnittke
- 6 Piano Quartet (1988) 7:57
About this recording
This CD features the two piano quartets by Richard Strauss (1884) and by Gustav Mahler (1876), the latter in its version completed by Alfred Schnittke in 1988.
Both quartets by Strauss and Mahler were written during the composers' youth and bear a Brahmsian stamp. While Strauss's work has monumental proportions, Mahler's quartet remained a forgotten one-movement piece, with an additional fragment of a Scherzo surviving. in 1988, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival commissioned Russian composer Alfred Schnittke to complete the quartet, in particular the Scherzo.
Finnish pianist Ralf Gothóni performs together with Mark Lubotsky on violin, Matti Hirvikangas on viola and Martti Rousi on cello.
Features
Booklet with liner notes in English, German, French and Finnish
The artists
Ralf Gothóni
Ralf Gothóni (born in Finland, living in Spain) has a many-sided career as solo pianist, chamber musician and conductor all over the world. He became well-known for his unconventional way of music -making, not only as a pianist, but as a musician with unusual thinking about music and the wholeness of musicianship.
Mark Lubotsky
The violinist Mark Lubotsky was born in Leningrad (today: St. Petersburg) and studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with Abraham Yampolsky and David Oistrakh. Lubotsky won prizes in several international competitions, including the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition, and appeared from an early age as a soloist with leading orchestras in the Soviet Union and Western Europe. He has performed at many notable international music festivals in Europe, the United States and Japan. Commanding an extensive classical-romantic repertoire, Lubotsky has also focused intensely on contemporary music, working closely with his personal friends Benjamin Britten, Alfred Schnittke and Arvo Pärt. Schnittke dedicated his three violin sonatas and the second violin concerto to Lubotsky, who is also an eloquent advocate of the recently rediscovered Russian avantgarde composer Nikolai Roslavets.
Matti Hirvikangas
Matti Hirvikangas (b. 1953) studied viola under the direction of such teachers as Bruno Giuranna at the Detmold Academy of Music. Since then he has served as Principal Viola with the Oslo Opera, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and presently with the Finnish National Opera. Hirvikangas has earned a reputation as an eminent chamber musician and has, for many years, lent his support to the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival and served as a member of the Jean Sibelius Quartet.
Also recommended
Alfred Schnittke
Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra · Violin Concerto No. 3 · Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano
Mark Lubotsky, violin · Irina Schnittke, piano · Virtuosi di Kuhmo · Ralf Gothóni, piano & conductor
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