Jacob Kammerer - Senf - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Once upon a time... at the heyday of the piano, between 1880 and the Second World War, when nearly every pianist was also a composer and arranger. The distinction between interpretation, arrangement, and composition is not always clear-cut nor decisive - the only important thing is the delightful effect of these gems for piano, which pianist Jacob Leuschner, who has been exploring the repertoire of this InchGolden Age of the PianoInch for decades, has recorded for his new GENUIN CD. The names Leopold Godowsky, Ignaz Friedman, Federico Mompou can be found there, as well as a premiere recording by the Dutchman Dirk Schäfer. These are intimate piano moments that, played enchantingly and without the noise of shellac records, nevertheless bring their era back to life before our ears.

Even today, exactly two hundred years after the beginning of their creation, the InchDiabelli VariationsInch still have a reputation among many concertgoers and organizers as being 'awkward' or 'unwieldly' and, in any case, difficult to understand. Jacob Leuschner proves the opposite. Indeed, it is not an immediately accessible piece, let alone one that ingratiates itself the first time you hear it; like most of Beethoven's later works, it requires intense, concentrated engagement before it reveals it's complex beauty. Jacob Leuschner, born 1974 in Freiburg, studied with Helmut Barth and Michel Béroff in Freiburg as well as Konrad Elser in Luebeck. Numerous prizes and distinctions at important piano competitions attest to his artistic ranking Beethoven (Vienna), German Music Competition and German University Competition, Leeds, Rina Sala Gallo (Monza), Mozart (Salzburg), Schubert (Dortmund) and Viotti (Vercelli). Since 1989 concert trips have led him to China, most European countries, Japan and USA. Jacob Leuschner has made many radio and TV productions as well as several recordings. In 1997 he founded with his year-long duo partner Angela Schwartz (cello) and violinist Alexander van Wijnkoop the Ariadne Trio Basel; furthermore, Jacob Leuschner is among other things duo partner of cellist Sebastian Klinger and clarinetist Clemens Trautmann. With those last named, he founded in 2003 the Feuerbach Trio. In 2008, Jacob Leuschner was appointed professor at the Music University Cologne.

Long considered the Brazilian counterpart of jazz, the choro is a popular form of instrumental music that shows a rare sensitivity in combining finesse and melodic depth with a fullness that is totally Latin. With their InchCafé du BrésilInch, the Paris Gadjo Club, the Parisian scene swing group, offers a subtle fusion of the two styles. The result sounds as if Django Reinhardt and Jacob do Bandolim- two icons, both incandescent virtuosos of 20th century instrumental music-were playing in the same room. Here the group bridges the genres with a brio that makes it all sound so natural a musical bridge between Paris and Rio, two strongholds of culture and art de vivre, two cities that contemplate each other in admiration.