Cambridge Soloists - Stabat Mater - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Sigfried Karg-Elert (1877-1933) is best remembered for his organ works, and more specifically, for the harmonium. His dense, chromatic and complex counterpoint and rich late romantic harmonies put him next to his compatriot Max Reger. This set contains the complete works for flute solo and flute and piano. His 30 Caprices for solo flute are not only interesting for professional flute players, and the works for flute and piano, notably the substantial Flute Sonata, are masterworks in their genre, showing an original mind and a fine ear for the flute's lyrical and seductive qualities. Excellent and compelling performances by two young Italian musicians.

Two of Bach's finest cantatas, both for solo alto, composed in Weimar (1714) and Leipzig (1726) respectively, are here coupled with Pergolesi's Stabat Mater of 1736, the eighteenth century's favourite sacred work. The gap between austere Lutheran piety and searing Mediterranean emotionalism might seem unbridgeable. Yet Bach so admired the composition of his Neapolitan colleague that he made his own 'parody' of it to a German text. On this recording, La Nuova Musica and it's two eminent soloists display equal mastery of both idioms.

In an era that tolerated, expected and accepted far greater variety of interpretation and tone than the current and persistent Inchnew internationalismInch approach that admits far less in the way of regional and personal variation among players and ensembles, violinist Arthur Grumiaux offered the unmistakably noble, lissome timbre typical of the Belgian school - here heard in a varied live program recorded 27 July 1961 that spans the Classical (Beethoven), Romantic (Brahms) and Modern (Stravinsky, Debussy) eras. Pianist István Hadju, who often recorded with Mr. Grumiaux, provides accompaniment.