Julius Berger - Asiago - Duo Berger & Friends - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

When the Korean composer Isang Yun died in Berlin in 1995 at the age of 78, there still was a touch of the exotic in his oeuvre which was characterized by the cultural fusion between Asia and Europe. Isang Yun has become known primarily as a composer of five symphonies, numerous orchestral works and five operas. Amongst his musical oeuvres, however, his almost 50 chamber music works occupy a central position. Yun has composed chamber music virtually all his life, where, in addition to traditional genres such as the string quartet, he has experimented with unusual combinations. This aspect and Yun's affinity for the accordion, whose capability for sound modulation strongly attracted the composer, have played an essential role in the selection of works for this CD. The accordion is present in all of these pieces as a connecting link. In the InchConcertinoInch and InchIntermezzoInch it is heard from beginning to end. In InchPezzo fantasioso per due strumenti con basso ad libitumInch the performers have decided in favour of violin, accordion and cello. In the case of the InchDuoInch for viola and piano, the piano part was transcribed by Stefan Hussong for accordion. InchI cut out a piece of the cosmic stream.Inch (Isang Yun)

Julius Berger - In Croce [COMPACT DISCS] date 03/01/2008

When Pablo Casals rediscovered the cello suites of Bach at the beginning of the 20th century, the novel thing about it was that he played them Inchsenza bassoInch, i.e. without piano accompaniment. In a time of music-historical over-maturity and experimentation, renowned composers soon came up with their own attempts, among them most famously Max Reger's InchSolo SuitesInch and Kodály's InchSolo SonataInch, both written in 1915. The cellist Julius Berger has made amazing discoveries especially in this early history of new cello solo music and presents them here as a performer in a most lively way. In the accompanying booklet, he enriches the production by adding exciting and witty stories worth knowing about the composers recorded here and their works. The introduction and transition to the new discoveries is made with the second of Reger's three suites, which Julius Berger comments on in an informative and very personal way. Adolf Busch, on the one hand an eminent musician of the best German (emigrant) tradition, a world-famous violinist, and on the other hand a composer who is at the same time a highly experienced instrumentalist, wrote a Suite dedicated to his cellist brother Hermann in 1914, which is beyond neo-baroque models as regards the character of it's movements, as well as a InchPrelude and FugueInch from 1922, such as often composed by Bach, but not for cello. The British composer and musicologist Sir Donald Francis Tovey was a friend of the Busch brothers and admired as a genius by Casals. His expansive InchPassacagliaInch reminiscent of Bach's InchCiaconnaInch is admirably mastered with regard to it's large-scale form and dates from 1910. The program is completed by a suite that makes reference to baroque movement types by Swiss composer and Munich composition teacher Walter Courvoisier from 1921, which Julius Berger premiered as recently as 1 October 20