Ewazen / Telemann / Doppler / Muller / Bach - Souvenirs: Chamber Music Horn Flute & Piano - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The title What Remains of String Quartet No.4 (2019) by Joey Roukens can be understood in various ways. On a poetic level, the words correspond to the character of the music, which often seems to hark back to 'something remaining' from a previous era - ruins, ghosts, scraps or memories. This interpretation, both of the words and of the music itself, marked the beginning of the associative exploration that led to this album of the same title. A fascinatingly curated program from the Dudok, drawing on music from the 13th, 14th and 16th centuries, with 20th century works by Messiaen and Reich, and into the 21st century with the work that provides the album's title, the 4th String Quartet by Roukens, commissioned by the Dudok Quartet. Both Reich and Roukens' music was influenced by Gregorian chant, and the early organum and polyphonic music that followed. Time, travel, locomotion - journeys through time and the memories of these journeys all come together on this thrilling new album from the Dudok Quartet, Amsterdam.

Johann Baptist Cramer made his name in London and Europe as one of the leading pianists of the day. His virtuoso skills at the keyboard can be heard in the florid and playful Variations on an Anglo-Caledonian Air and the ebullient Sonata, Op. 25, No. 2. Matteo Napoli is an honors graduate of the Giordano Conservatory (Foggia). Early in his career he captured worldwide attention winning many competitions, including First Prize in the International Liszt Competition at Lucca in 1986.

The pianist Lukas Geniušas has recorded the original version of Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata no.1 in the composer's Swiss home Villa Senar (Sergei & Natalia Rachmaninoff) and on his own piano, an unusually long Steinway & Sons model, presented to the composer and concert pianist by the manufacturer to mark his sixtieth birthday. The difference between the original version of Sonata no.1 and the second version, shorter by more than 100 bars, is not just a question of length, according to Lukas Geniušas 'There is a lot lost between the first and second editions. I know it goes against the grain, but I would name this sonata to be one of, if not the best Rachmaninoff's solo piano work. It's shattering might, it's splendor and scale can only be likened to the Third piano concerto, which was written soon after.' The programme is completed by four preludes from the Op. 32 set.