CYBELE SACD

	JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Label: CYBELE SACD 030202 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685 – 1750) – ORGAN WORKS Prelude and Fugue in C minor BWV 546 Choral Partita Sei gegruesset, Jesu guetig BWV 768 Choral Prelude Allein Gott in der Hoeh sei Ehr BWV 663 Prelude and Fugue in C major BWV 547 Choral Prelude Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland BWV 659 Passacaglia in C minor BWV 582 Gisbert Schneider, organ (Great Silbermann Organ Freiberg Cathedral, Saxony) The great Silbermann organ in the Cathedral of Freiberg, built between 1711 and 1714, is the oldest organ by Gottfried Silbermann still in existence. This magnificent instrument has 44 register-stops, three manual keyboards and one pedal keyboard. It was designed by the young organ player Elias Lindner, at that time employed at the Cathedral. In 1738 a large restauration included the gilding of pipes by Christian Polycarp Butzäus as well as improvements made by Gottfried Silbermann himself (concerning the register-stops and the 6 wedge-shaped bellows). More recently, Jehmlich Orgelbau Dresden undertook a thorough restauration in the years 1981-1983, at which the pressures were corrected to approximate those of 1711. The organ is tuned to a' = 476,3 Hz at 15 °C, and though an unequally tempered tuning is still preserved, today the tuning is in fact a compromise between the old, mid-tone tuning and the modern, equally tempered system.
	FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY & JOHANNES BRAHMS Label: CYBELE SACD 050502 Our Price: $38.00 Quantity in Basket: none
FELIX MEDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY (1809 – 1847) – SIX SONATAS FOR ORGAN, OP. 65 Sonata in F minor, Op. 65 No. 1; Sonata in C minor, Op. 65 No. 2 Sonata in A major, Op. 65 No. 3; Sonata in B flat major, Op. 65 No. 4 Sonata in D major, Op. 65 No. 5; Sonata in D minor, Op. 65 No. 6 JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833 – 1897) – ORGAN WORKS Fugue in A flat major, WoO 8 Eleven Chorale Preludes, Op. 122 Gerd Zacher, organ, Historical E. F. Walcker Organ (1900) - III/37, Evangelist Church, Essen-Werden The organ heard on this recording dates from 1900 and was manufactured by the Ludwigsburg-based company E. F. Walcker. It is recognised as a historical monument due to it being one of the few surviving instruments with a pneumatic tracker action. Its differentiated colours blend remarkably well, as was required at the time. In relation to these chorale preludes by Johannes Brahms, the organ is a near contemporary; the six Mendelssohn organ sonatas were finished 55 years before its construction, but in their utopic potential herald the arrival of such an instrument. On 10 April 1845, Mendelssohn wrote to his publisher Breitkopf und Härtel: “I have now completed the work for organ which I mentioned at the beginning of winter. It has grown, however, much larger than I had originally imagined. That is to say that there are six sonatas in which I have sought to express my way of treating the organ and of conceiving for it. Therefore, I would be pleased were they to be published as one work...”. This work influenced the evolution of organ-building, an arc which stretches back to Bach’s suggestions and extends to the so-called “future music” of Liszt. Not surprisingly, it is a multifaceted piece. From his letters, it is known that Mendelssohn loved baroque organs. In his lifetime, however, several modifications had been introduced. Among them was equal-tempered tuning and its consequences for the mixture stops. What today is known as a “romantic” organ was not yet a reality. In fact, such organs started to be built in response to the variety of these sonatas and as such, a rarity occurred: the repertoire preceded, and helped dictate the design of, the instrument. Until then the reverse held true: the organ of the era spurred the compositions that suited it best. The appreciation that César Franck had for Mendelssohn is also well known and this preference is obvious in his own organ oeuvre. The Walcker family, which later built this instrument in Essen-Werden, were close friends and one-time apprentices of Cavaillé-Coll, César Franck’s organ-builder. (2 CDs) REVIEW AUDIOPHILE AUDITION The Walcker organ - built in 1900 - has a pneumatic tracker action and a great variety of tonal colors. While not as versatile as the organs of the French romantic school, it has a number of modifications over the basic baroque organ of Bach’s day. While Mendelssohn loved baroque organs, he wrote his six organ sonatas in a more advanced style that perfectly fits this organ design. Mendelssohn was the first to unite sonata form with the Protestant chorale in his organ sonatas. He saw the entire cycle as one cohesive work, with the individual sonatas representing the different movements of one massive sonata. Although he composed them in a different order, he arranged the six works of the cycle with a key sequence of f-c-A-B flat-D-d (with the lower case denoting the minor keys and the caps the major). The first sonata is a the longest of all at over 15 minutes. It has four movements on a large scale, blending the choral with sonata movement structure. The second sonata has no chorale and starts with two slow movements. It’s primary theme is a fugue. The third and fourth sonatas are in major keys and highly contrasted with one another. The fourth takes the form of a four-movement classical piano sonata. The fifth is the shortest of the six and again begins with two slow movements and a chorale. The final sonata uses a Luther chorale “Our Father who are in in heaven” for an overall theme and variations structure. Brahms’ Fugue is quite chromatic and was a strong influence on Arnold Schoenberg. The 11 Chorale Preludes was the only work Brahms left behind upon his death. They used variations on lieder and hymn melodies from his childhood, and in fact he had played some of them on the piano for his friends the night before his death. The acoustics of the church are well-preserved via the full 5.1-channel surround reproduction. Although all solo instruments benefit from surround sound reproduction, the pipe organ benefits more than any other, since the acoustics of its venue are so much a part of the musical experience. Audiophile organ buffs will definitely want to add this expertly performed, recorded and notated album to their collection. - John Sunier
	MAX REGER & WILLEM TANKE Label: CYBELE SACD 060302 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
MAX REGER (1873 – 1916): Variations and Fugue in F sharp minor, OP. 73 (1903) WILLEM TANKE (*1959): Two Wind Fantasies (2002) Willem Tanke, organ The organ: when one thinks of this instrument, one immediately thinks of the church and sacred music. And of course these associations are not entirely wrong. After all, most of these "queens among instruments" reside in houses of prayer whose administrations initiated and financed the building of the instruments. In addition, most of the music composed for the organ serves the primary purpose of praising the Creator and to provide the various liturgical rites with appropriate musical support. No other musical instrument, with the possible exception of the bell, which of course often also is asked to take over more mercantile tasks, is more closely associated with cult-like rituals than the organ, whereby these rituals predominantly are of Christian origin. Other religious communities, if they have any preference for a particular musical instrument, tend to favour other instruments. Originally the organ was of course not a liturgical instrument. The instruments' true ancestral home is called the arena. There the instrument accompanied chariot races, gladiator battles and executions in strident tones, often together with horns and trumpets. Or, in ancient times, at a time when the organ mechanics were still set in motion hydraulically, the instrument accompanied the comedies and pantomimes of the Greeks and Romans. Some Emperors even played the keyboard instrument themselves, and one of them in the eighth century elevated the organ to a symbol of imperial power. This stature was maintained for a long period and the instrument accompanied men of state also during their travels, in order to provide acoustical praise for themselves. Over time the instrument found its permanent and primary place in the Catholic churches and sounded praises to the glory of God and God's keepers of the faith here on earth (whereby in the Eastern Orthodox liturgy, the sound of instruments is to this day not permitted). In this aspect, the Reformation changed nothing, if one excludes a few Calvinistic opponents of organ music (or for that matter any instrumental music). In the late 17th century, when gradually the first public concert halls came into being, occasionally the organ too found a place in a non-liturgical setting. The repertoire that was performed however remained nearly the same. This also holds true nearly as strongly for the interpretations on these instruments, which since the 19th century have increasingly held a fixed place in newer concert halls. Having said that, by no means does every concert hall have a concert organ, although in churches in western Christianity, the church organ is indispensable. The history of the organ, even in a shortened version, is a most interesting, fast paced and at times rather confusing story. No other instrument in the history of western culture has been the subject of such strong social and church-political discussions, nor been subject to such strong reactions, rejection and acceptance both. This is of course a socio-historical family tree common to all "queens". This heritage is also bound to the individual instruments which Willem Tanke chose for the two pieces on this Super Audio CD recording. For his interpretation of Max Reger's Variations and Fugue on an original Theme, in f-sharp minor, opus 73 (1903), he chose the Adema organ, built in 1923 for the St. Bavo Cathedral in Haarlem (The Netherlands) and for the performance of his own two Wind Fantasies (2002) he chose the two Marcussen organs in the Grote of Sint Laurenskerk in Rotterdam, built in 1959 and 1973 respectively. These decisions were taken by the organist and composer Willem Tanke for aesthetic reasons and on grounds of performance practice considerations (see here as well the plans for disposition).
	WILLEM TANKE Label: CYBELE SACD 060303 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
WILLEM TANKE (*1959) Meditations for Lent (2002) Willem Tanke, organ Meditations for a lent is the result of a research that I carried out for the World Music Research Group of Codarts, University of Professional Arts Education. This research was called The Art of Doing Nothing, took place from 2004 till 2006 and was related to my activities as head of the theory department and professor of improvisation at Rotterdam Conservatoire. In particular, Meditations for a lent has been produced with an eye to the seminar Organ music in the 21st century, organized by Codarts in 2007. The organ-playing of J. S. Bach, who could achieve an extraordinarily powerful musical expression with very small movements of the hands and feet, according to one of his contemporaries, was the starting-point for the research. During my study and afterwards, this helped me form a picture of the ideal way of playing the organ and an attitude towards musicianship, which I later called The Art of Doing Nothing. With an eye to great composers who were also known for their improvisations on the organ, such as - besides J.S. Bach - Sweelinck and Messiaen, The Art of Doing Nothing aimed at improving mental and physical conditions for musicianship, by creating a good balance between performing, improvising and composing, with the help of analysis and research. For the instruction of students, the following text has been used: At the beginning there is silence, leading towards a good performing attitude, with a calm, concentrated mind, a relaxed body and steady breathing from the lower stomach. With this attitude, a useful musical idea, or “invention”, emerges from improvisation. A second “invention” can be added to provide contrast or to enhance the structure. Then the improvisation, played repeatedly from the sketches, slowly crystallizes into a composition. This process could last several days, weeks, months or even years, the sketches becoming increasingly detailed. Ultimately each piece may be entirely composed or still permit some improvisation. All the pieces of Meditations for a lent have evolved in this manner.
	JUAN ALLENDE-BLIN (*1928) - THE ORGAN MUSIC Label: CYBELE SACD 060401 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
Echelons for Organ (1966/67) Mein blaues Klavier (My blue piano) for Organ, Barrel Orgen and Jew's harp (1969/70) Transformations II for Organ (1952) Coral de Caracola for Organ (1985) Gerd Zacher, organ) Juan Allende-Blin, barrel organ) Great Karl Schuke Organ (1968) - IV/41, Evangelist Church Essen-Rellinghausen In his organ works, Juan Allende-Blin has mined the vast resources of this "wind" instrument as part of his search for new means of expression. Accordingly, unexpected effects are achieved. Bellows seem to evolve into lungs, while the pipes, keys and stops form the mechanics of speech: lips, tongue and teeth. The resonances of the oral cavity are furthermore reflected in voice-like timbres. Hands and feet dance, leap and drag in every direction on the keyboard, often only fleetingly and as a whisper. Memory bridges the largest absences of sound and enables constant comparison. 1. "Échelons" is a three-movement cycle. Timbres ("Sonorités") are first introduced one after another and then played together. A long pause of 24 seconds is suitably embedded within the middle movement. In the end, the bellows' breaths chart the course of events, endlessly flaring up and dying away ("Sons brisés"). 2. "Mein blaues Klavier" requires a large organ with reduced wind pressure, as well as a barrel organ. The former, seen as a holy instrument, and the latter, its cousin, relegated to the fair, attempt a melancholic dialogue in broken sounds. In a letter from 5 March 2003, Heinz-Klaus Metzger wrote to the composer: "For a long time I have wished to devote an essay to not only the 'varieties' but also the categories of disintegration. In this work, European civilisation collapses, and dialectically speaking, is also redeemed. I have yet to grow into this idea". 3. "Transformations II" exploits, through a sensibly-expanding rhythmic pattern, very subtle fluctuations between two tuning systems used by the organ. 4. "Coral de Caracola" treats the entire church space as a sort of mussel, in which music occurs and accumulates. It shares its vibrations and echoes with the audience, sometimes physically.
	GERD ZACHER (*1928) - ORGAN WORKS Label: CYBELE SACD 060501 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
TEXT - Sieben Stationen eines Textes nach Jeremia 36 (1963) SZMATY (Psalm 22, 19) (1968) VOCALISE (1971) DIFERENCIAS (1961) Realisation über Cage's Variations I (1958/1966) Ré für Orgelspieler und Intonateur (1969) Gerd Zacher, organ Ingo Vinck, technical assistant Great Karl Schuke Organ (1968) - IV/41, Evangelist Church Essen-Rellinghausen The Seven Stations of a Text are based on the report of the prophet Jeremiah, specifically chapter 36. The text which the prophet dictated from prison appears in different situations, which provided me with strong musical notions concerning changing changes, variations on variations. The cycle accordingly consists of seven movements. My intent is not so much the description of these events, but rather the transformations which transpire in this text, when it is heard in another room, at another time, with other ears, or similarly done, or even destroyed. All of this is embedded in the innermost layer of this music and thus effects its shifting structure. The unity of the text is transferred into the realm of music through the twelve-tone row, which through repeated, free use enables a rich plurality of expression. The composition Szmaty is dedicated to Isang Yun. For me he created his first graphic score, “Tuyaux sonores”. But shortly before the première he was kidnapped from West Germany and taken to South Korea, on the false charge of espionage. In order to help secure his release, I frequently played his “Tuyaux sonores” or my piece dedicated to him, “Szmaty”, in public at the time. The title is the Polish word for “rags” and refers to a passage from Psalm 22, verse 19: “They divided my clothes among themselves and threw dice for my robe”. The sounds of this Polish word lent themselves to the sonic qualities of the organ as follows: SZ (spoken as “sh”) = rustling, M = humming, A = ringing, T = sputtering, Y = sound fading.
	TILO MEDEK (1940 – 2006) – ORGAN WORKS Label: CYBELE SACD 060801 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
Wandlungs-Passacaglia (Passacaglia of Transsubstantiation, 2001); B-A-C-H, Vier Töne für Orgel (B-A-C-H, Four Tones For Organ, 1973); Verschüttete Bauernflöte (Buried Rustic Flute, 1969); Quatemberfeste für Orgel (Ember Days, 1989); Gebrochene Flügel (Broken Wings, 1975); Rückläufige Passacaglia (Retrograde Passacaglia, 1979) Martin Schmeding, organ Tilo Medek’s first works for organ, “Verschüttete Bauernflöte (1969)“ (buried rustic flute) and „B-A-C-H, Vier Töne für Orgel (1973)“ (Four Tones for Organ) were composed for the large organ at Merseburg Cathedral, and were inspired by its sound. Originally, the composition and the tonal character of the organ (which was constructed from 1853–1855 by Friedrich Ladegast using Baroque registers) was profoundly altered following comprehensive restoration by Kühne & Co. in 1963. In the process, Kühne replaced the typical Romantic stops, i.e. free reeds and numerous string registers, with Neo-Baroque pitches (high flutes like the rustic flute 1’ in the pedal, Aliquot as well as mixed registers). Without passing judgement on these changes, it is important to emphasize that these colourful, even bizarre overtone mixtures and fundamental tones in the string colours are typical of Medeks early oeuvre. Medek’s early works for the organ have another element in common: they experiment with sound and forms of notation. By switching the motor on and off, and half pulling off rows of register, he achieved microtonal sounds and variations of those tones. He confronted traditional methods of notation and values in this manner, with a variety of forms of free notation (i.e. spatial notation, graphic symbols and cluster-notation).
	FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797 – 1828) Label: CYBELE SACD 140402 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
Piano Sonata in A minor D 845 Piano Sonata in A major D 959 Thomas Gunther, piano (Original Streicher Hammerfluegel, 1848) In the late 1970s, when I was a young piano student, I was treated to a spectacular performance: a fortepiano recital by an esteemed Austrian pianist, a pioneer in the revival of this instrument. The grand piano was, as I learned from an LP made around the same time, an 1815 Brodmann from Vienna, a model with 5 pedals. In addition to the “sustain” and “forte” pedals, it had a “moderator” pedal, a “bassoon stop” (using parchment, producing an effect similar to wires on a side drum) and a “janissary stop”, which imitated the sounds of the Turkish military’s drums, bells and cymbals.br>The concert consisted of two works by Beethoven (opp. 90 and 126) and two by Schubert: Moments musicaux and the grand sonata in B flat major, D 960. The performer enlivened the mood of the evening with his temperament and Viennese swagger, commenting on not only the works on the program, but also the instrument itself and his ideas about authentic performance practice. I only vaguely remember the impression these sounds left on me; likely, the music seemed rather curious or scurrilous. My reaction to this first encounter with “original sound” vacillated between surprise and fascination. As the pianist closed the night with Mozart’s „Rondo alla turca“, complete with much crashing of the “janissary stop”, doubts about the seriousness of the entire event plagued me ... At the time, “historical performance practice” or playing on “original instruments” did not have the same degree of understanding that they enjoy today. As a novice, the results seemed strange and mildly suspicious to me; somehow I could not refrain from the impression that some deficiency became a virtue here. The specific charms of the idea, as well as of the instrument itself, had yet to reveal themselves to me. For a long time, this remained my only encounter with this manner of interpretation. Not until some 20 years later did I listen with mature wisdom to pianists such as Andreas Staier and Malcolm Bilson – and then the connection between instrument, repertoire and pianistic history made sense! My first personal contact with a fortepiano happened in July 2004 and the instrument was the wonderful J.B. Streicher model heard on this recording. I accepted an invitation to play Schubert’s A major sonata, D 959 as a demonstration of this restored piano. The first time I touched the keys was a near shock! In the course of my studies, I was always told that old instruments had a very light mechanism, so I was very much surprised to discover how much power is needed to elicit sounds from within the instrument. Indeed, the full bodied sonority of the instrument was striking: its warmth in the treble keys, its powerful bass, matching its size, and its pronounced middle register. However, the notes did not reliably sound as I intended, especially when played piano (the aforementioned “moderator” – a piece of cloth placed between the hammers and strings, thus producing a very delicate, somewhat nasal tone – was obsolete by 1848). Understandably, I had mixed feelings when I performed Schubert’s great sonata on this instrument three days later. This performance showed me how the instrument’s inadequacies could hinder me in performance, or so I felt then. To my surprise, the audience was completely enchanted by the sound! From this experience grew the idea of presenting the beautiful and impressive sound of this grand piano to a larger audience in the form of an SACD recording.
	FRANZ LISZT (1811 – 1886) Label: CYBELE SACD 150302 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
Années de Pèlerinage, Deuxième Année: Italie Thomas Hitzlberger, piano (Original Steingraeber grand piano from 1873) The Steingraeber Grand Piano from 1873 ("Piano Liszt") For decades, Franz Liszt was acquainted with the Steingraeber company. Since the 1840s, Eduard Steingraeber attended to the master's piano during the concerts. Besides other duties, Steingraeber had to replace the strings in the intervals - when they could no longer withstand the vigor of the young piano revolutionary. In 1873, Eduard Steingraeber built the grand piano played for the present recording. In those days, this instrument (whose housing was adjusted to match the rococo style of the concert hall in the Bayreuth Steingraeber house) was considered a state-of-the-art piano, equipped with a cast iron plate, proper strong strings and a repetition lever. During his countless stays in Bayreuth, Franz Liszt played this instrument, the last time a few days before his death in July 1886. Despite its age and apart from a few minor mechanical and tonal irregularities, the instrument is still in remarkably good condition. Compared to other historic instruments, the piano excels by a particularly earthy, tonic sound in all pitches. This extraordinary, powerful sound is produced by the remarkable sound board: a construction with a very rigid sound board with extremely high ribs, which makes the instrument noteworthy for its extensive overtone range.
	JUAN ALLENDE-BLIN (*1928) - THE PIANO MUSIC Label: CYBELE SACD 160401 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
Transformations IV (1960) Sonatine (1949/1950) Zeitspanne (1974) Dialogue für 2 Spieler (1983)* Thomas Gunther, piano Juan Allende-Blin, at the piano strings* A letter which I received in spring 1983 was to be of vital importance in furthering my artistic career. It was sent by Juan Allende-Blin. On the recommendation of Gerd Zacher, he asked me in this letter to appear as the pianist in two concerts he was to put on in September of the same year as part of the Berlin Festival Weeks. At that time, I was a piano student in Berlin. The concerts in question were held in the Academy of Arts under the motto “Symbolism-Futurism”, and the programme was to consist of compositions by Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Protopopov and Ivan Wyschnegradsky. I already had Scriabin’s works in my repertoire, but the scores of the sonatas by Protopopov were really so hair-raising that I was quite worried! However, in the end my curiosity moved me to accept. In the following years, Allende-Blin introduced me to some marvellous works which had in part been forgotten and were never played. These were not just the works of Russian futurists, but also of composers associated with the Dada movement and belonging to the generation of exiled German Jews, particularly Erich Itor Kahn, whose works I have since performed in many concerts. Only some years later did I become aware of Allende-Blin as a composer. On the occasion of his 60th birthday, a concert was put on in Essen in which I performed his Transformations IV along with works dedicated to him by John Cage and Dieter Schnebel. In the same year, he also gave me the score of his Zeitspanne (“Spaces of Time ”). Juan Allende-Blin’s powerful affinity with the piano became clear to me when I heard him at the end of the 1980s performing one of his own chamber works, Silences interrompus, a trio for clarinet, double bass and piano. Particularly striking was his seemingly effortless command of the instrument. I heard gentle and percussive sequences of notes, clusters, glissandi and bell sounds which stood out with sparkling facility from the activity of the other two instruments. Allende-Blin certainly does not see himself as a pianist; however, he received a thorough grounding in the piano from teachers such as Busoni’s pupil Theodor Kaufmann in Hamburg. Apart from this, it seems to me that his interest was awoken by characteristics of the piano other than those which can be taught academically. This is confirmed by both his piano works and the piano parts of his works for ensemble. They testify to his profound knowledge of the instrument, its technique and in particular of its tonal possibilities. Its limits are respected, plumbed, occasionally transcended. The virtuoso gesture has no place in his works, spectacular activity and effects for their own sake contradict the artistic integrity of the composer Allende-Blin. There are four works for piano alone, one of them for two performers. They were written during the years from 1949 to 1983.
	ERICH ITOR KAHN (1905 – 1956) – PIANO WORKS Label: CYBELE SACD 160403 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
Six Bagatelles, Op. 5 (1938); Huit inventions pour piano (1937); Ciaccona dei tempi di guerra (1943); Short piano piece (1951); Fünf Bagatellen für Klavier Thomas Gunther, piano Erich Itor Kahn was born on July 23, 1905 in Rimbach (Odenwald). He went to the piano pedagogue Paul Franzen in Frankfurt, first privately and then as his pupil at the Hoch'schen Conservatory, where he also received instruction in composition from Waldemar von Bausznern and subsequently from Bernard Sekles. Starting in 1919, Erich Itor Kahn began to give piano recitals in which he played the works of Bach, Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms as well as contemporary composers such as Debussy and Ravel and also later his own compositions. In 1928, after concluding his studies, he was engaged by Hans Rosbaud as pianist, harpsichordist, composer and arranger at Southwest German Radio Service, i.e. Radio Frankfurt. Kahn became Rosbaud's most important employee and among the various duties he assumed was attending to the needs of the composers who Rosbaud invited to attend performances of their works, such as for example Igor Stravinsky, Anton Webern, Bela Bartók, Albert Roussel and in particular Arnold Schoenberg. On January 29, 1930, Kahn played Schoenberg's Klavierstücke op. 23 and the premiere of op. 33a, as well as accompanying the singer Anna Valle in "The Book of Hanging Gardens". Schoenberg gave the performance enthusiastic applaus. When Schoenberg held a lecture on his Variations for Orchestra, op. 31 at Radio Frankfurt, it was Kahn who played the musical examples at the piano.
	THE NOT-SO-WELL-TEMPERED CLAVIER - NEW COMPOSITIONS FOR TOY PIANO Label: CYBELE SACD 160501 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
OSKAR GOTTLIEB BLARR (* 1934): Läuten für den Zarewitsch (Bell-ringing for the Tsarevich) OSCAR VAN DILLEN (* 1958): mm3 for three toy pianos MICHAEL DENHOFF (* 1955): PA - CA - TO KAI YVES LINDEN (* 1960): Drei Brombeeren (Three Blackberries) KARL-HEINZ ZARIUS (* 1941): Nocturne NORBERT LAUFER (* 1960): bitS & pieceS HEINZ-DIETER WILLKE (* 1956): Piece for toy piano YASUKO YAMAGUCHI (* 1969): Zuckerregen (Sugar Rain) BERND WIESEMANN (* 1938): Bauhaus-Suite CHRISTIAN BANASIK (* 1963): trimer for toy piano and tape Bernd Wiesemann, toy piano
	NEW DUTCH GUITAR MUSIC Label: CYBELE SACD 260801 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
JO SPORCK (*1953): The sandman for guitar and tap/second guitar (the live guitarist interacts with a taped guitar) FRANK CRIJNS (*1960): Raam #2 FLORIAN MAGNUS MAIER (*1973): Crystal Vermin for amplified classical guitar; Toccata for amplified classical guitar and delay PAUL GOODMAN (*1955): Call LUCIANO BERIO (1925 – 2003): Sequenza XI Diangelo Cicilia, guitar Even during his studies at the Rotterdam Conservatory, Cicilia - born in 1971 on Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles - sought compositions which concerned themselves with, and furthered, in his words, "the exploration and development of contemporary technical and expressive possibilities for the guitar". As he found nothing meeting his ideals in the Dutch music of our time, he approached a few (young) Dutch composers and asked them to write pieces taking these considerations in mind. The five works on this hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) "New Dutch Guitar Music" are a few early results of Diangelo Cicilia's initiative. They are, at the same time, the fruit of intense collaborations between him and the composers Jo Sporck, Frank Crijns, Florian Magnus Maier, and Paul Goodman, three of whom ironically are not native-born Dutch composers but are nevertheless strongly linked to musical life there. That Diangelo Cicilia has chosen a remarkable work of Italian provenance, Sequenza XI by Luciano Berio, as the bonus track for this SACD is not coincidental: his teacher, Eliot Fisk, is its dedicatee and gave its première.
	SIDNEY CORBETT (*1960) - CHAMBER MUSIC FOR AND WITH GUITAR Label: CYBELE SACD 260901 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
Bleeding in Babylon for Bass clarinet, electric guitar and double bass Die Stimmen der Wände (The Voices of the Walls) - A composition cycle in 6 parts for flute, Bass clarinet/Alto saxophone, Trombone, electric guitar, Violin and violoncello * que hora es in paradiso? for banjo and bass clarinet variations in memoriam Edison Denisov for classical guitar Exits for electric guitar and ensemble * Seth Josel, electric guitar, banjo, classic guitar musikFabrik/Johannes Debus* The divining of gravitational energy which emanates from the tones themselves is among the most fundamental of Sidney Corbett’s musical sensibilities. He listens attentively to a melodic figure or a line and follows the intention inherent in the motive itself. The basis of this form of listening in is the smallest of all musical units, the single tone. Sidney Corbett feels his way into the tone, it is the point of crystallization from whence all other subsequent tones are chosen and woven into lines. The lines follow the music’s intrinsic tendencies which, since the tendencies are ambiguous always maintain a certain sense of openness. Thus the melodies of this composer bear a certain peculiar vagueness, a latent multi dimensionality, a trace of inherent motion. This does not mean however, that Sidney Corbett’s music lacks clarity. The succession of notes always seems logical, indeed the music compels the listener to follow, this is a strength which derives from the highly sensitive and thorough listening through of the tonal relations which Corbett subjects his music to.
	THE INVITATION – SAXOPHONE QUARTETS OF THE 20TH CENTURY Label: CYBELE SACD 261001 Our Price: $19.00 Quantity in Basket: none
PHILIP GLASS (*1937): Concerto for saxophone quartet (1995); FRANK REINSHAGEN (*1961): The Invitation (2002); BARBARA THOMPSON (*1944): Saxophone Quartet No. 2 “From darkness into light” in six movements; ZDENEK LUKAS (*1928): Rondo per 4 sassofoni (1970) BONUS: JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685 – 1750): Fugue No. 20 in A minor à 4 voci BWV 865 (The Well-Tempered Piano, Vol. I) Tetraphonics Saxophone Quartet: Steffen Hass, soprano saxophone; Elmar Frey, alto saxophone; Volker Ax, tenor saxophone; Richmond Mays, baritone saxophone Formed in 1994, the Tetraphonics Saxophone Quartet is a truly diverse band, made up of freelance musicians who play in various orchestras across Germany. Theirs is the classic sax line-up of soprano (B flat), alto (E flat), tenor (B flat) and baritone (E flat), the different characters of which are explored in Glass’s four-movement Concerto.The repeated rhythmic patterns of the first movement, typical of Glass and the other so-called minimalists, contain some complex and concentrated music that is superbly shaped and articulated. The mood may seem a touch melancholic but Glass manages to create pulses of sound that constantly evolve, apparently reinventing themselves as the music progresses. "...Altogether very engaging and expertly played... Now if only I hadn’t already chosen my six discs of the year..." - musicweb-international.com, December 2007