Scherzi Musicali - Charpentier: Acteon - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Even frequent concertgoers will find it difficult to imagine what to expect under the heading InchEnglish viola music.Inch A few symphonic works by Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Britten have found an established place in the German concert repertoire; violists also know William Walton's concerto. Other composers of the British Isles, however, have remained unknown to the German public in spite of their prolific output names such as York Bowen, Benjamin Dale, or Frank Bridge. These three, featured on this , belong to a generation of musicians who centered their activities around London toward the turn of the century and ushered in a new period blending Late Romanticism with Classical Modernism. All three of them had a particular penchant for the viola's dark and melancholy timbre the viola could serve as the perfect musical correlate to the fin-de-siecle mood that had taken over the minds and hearts of so many artists, authors and intellectuals. Bowen's Sonata, Dale's Phantasy and the six pieces by Bridge all stem from the period between 1901 and 1910- a time when the first composers on the Continent were starting to eschew major/minor tonality. Album Tracks 1. Bowen Sonata for Viola and Piano No. 1 in C minor Op. 18 - I. Allegro Moderato. Wie Ein Naturlaut - Im Anfang Sehr Gemachlich 2. Bowen Sonata for Viola and Piano No. 1 in C minor Op. 18 - II. Poco Lento E Cantabile 3. Bown Sonata for Viola and Piano No. 1 in C minor Op. 18 - III. Finale 4. Owen Dale Phantasy for Viola and Piano Op. 4 5. Bridge Pieces for Viola and Piano - Pensiero 6. Bridge Pieces for Viola and Piano - Allegro Appassionato 7. Bridge Pieces for Viola and Piano - Berceuse 8. Bridge Pieces for Viola and Piano - Serenade 9. Bridge Pieces for Viola and Piano - Elegie 10. Bridge Pieces for Viola and Piano - Cradle Song

Album Tracks 1. The Dove Descending Breaks the Air 2. Incipit 3. De Elegia Prima 4. De Elegia Tertia (1. Querimonia) 5. De Elegia Tertia (2. Sensus Spei) 6. De Elegia Tertia (3. Solacium) 7. De Elegia Quinta (Oratio Jeremiae Prophetae) 8. Praeludium 9. Exaudi 10. Dies Irae 11. Tuba Mirum 12. Interludium 13. Rex Tremendae 14. Lacrimosa 15. Libera Me 16. Postludium 17. Da Pacem Domine

Jean-Noël Hamal's musical language is a perfect reflection of this transitional period in which the Baroque galant style merges into the classical style. One senses in Hamal's music a communicative vitality, a charmingly poetic note, a keen sense of elegant melody and a theatricality in dynamic contrasts which in some ways evokes the Mannheim school. As soon as he was able, he exploited the ample space available by writing works for two choirs and two orchestras. He seems also to have had a very pronounced preference for major tonalities (he even went so far as to write an astonishingly cheerful Dies irae in C major) and for very readable harmonies, although these sometimes risk being too predictable or conventional. But he was also capable of being a visionary by their tripartite structure and the autonomous form his symphonies make him a precursor of the classical symphony. He is equally capable of entirely unexpected surprises and attractive details, as is apparent in his motets delivered respecting the practices then in force in Liège by Nicolas Achten and Scherzi Musicali ensemble, mixing subtlety and theatricality. Album Tracks 1. Io Ti Vorria Contar, LV 658 2. Quand Mon Mary, LV 153 3. La Bataille Ad Secundam 4. Iay Un Mary 5. Madonna Mia Pietà, LV 30 6. Passomezo D'italye Ad Quintam 7. Du Corps Absent, LV 171 8. Avecques Vous Mon Amour, LV 38 9. La Nuict Froide Et Sombre, LV 578 10. Balletto 11. Ricercare Del Nono Tuono Per B 12. Contrappunto Sopra Susanna Un Jour Di Orlando Per Suonare a Doi Liutti 13. Balletto Alla Francese 14. Volta Quarta Alla Francese 15. Canzone Prima 16. Ciparissa, Gagliarda 17. Veni in Hortum Meum, LV 114 18. Gagliarda 19. Susanneken 20. Susanne Un Jour, LV 98 21. Robin Is to the Greenwood Gone 22. The Lord Viscount Lisle His Galliard 23. Fantasia