Neruda - Trio Sonatas & Bassoon Concerto - Parnassi Musici

Neruda - Trio Sonatas & Bassoon Concerto - Parnassi Musici
chamber | single flac, no cue | no log, cover | 1 CD, 375 MB
September 30, 2008 | CPO| RapidShare

The enterprising label cpo continues to discover and record relatively obscure composers whose music is worth getting to know. They have once again struck gold with the music of Johann Georg Neruda. There is uncertainty about the year of Neruda's birth; New Grove gives c. 1707, while cpo's booklet states that 1711 is definitely the year. He was born in Bohemia and educated at Prague. In 1741 he moved to Dresden, where he found employment in private orchestras of its nobility before successfully petitioning the king for a position as violinist in the court orchestra. Georg Pisendel, the leader of the court orchestra, apparently did not think highly of Neruda's compositions, probably because Neruda favored the Italian style, which was not to Pisendel's taste. Neruda composed sacred works, an opera, 18 symphonies, 14 concertos, and some trio sonatas before his death in Dresden around 1780.

Neruda's music is immediately engaging. It is written in the gallant style, with its emphasis on pleasant and pretty music. Although it may be lacking in depth, it makes for highly enjoyable listening, just the thing to lift the spirits on a cold, gloomy winter's day.

The period-instrument group Parnassi musici plays this engaging music to perfection. Tempos are not rushed, and the ensemble is dead-on. Sergio Azzolini, the soloist in the Bassoon Concerto, is also a member of the ensemble, and as might be expected, his work is equal to that of his colleagues. A slightly more distant microphone placement in the concerto might have been wise, however; we can hear Azzolini take a huge breath after the cadenza in the concerto.

The trio sonatas are probably first recordings; at any rate, there are no competing performances currently available. There is one other recording of the Bassoon Concerto on a Kleos disc, which also contains bassoon concertos by Mozart and Pichl. I have not heard it, and it does not appear to have been reviewed in Fanfare.

While I wouldn't characterize this recording as an essential purchase, I have enjoyed it greatly, and I'm sure you would also.--Fanfare

CD Content

Trio Sonata No. 4 in C major
Trio Sonata No. 5 in D minor
Bassoon Concerto
Trio Sonata No. 6 in D major
Trio Sonata No. 2 in C minor

Neruda - Cello Concertos 1-5 - Altenburg cello c Golo Berg

Neruda - Cello Concertos 1-5 - Altenburg cello c Golo Berg
Concerto | Eac, flac, cue | log, cover | 2 CD, 345 MB
August 29, 2006 | CPO | RapidShare

The Cello concerto No. 2 in d minor, Op. 59 has belonged both in past and present times to common pieces of cello repertoire. Cello concertos No. 1 in e minor, Op. 57, No. 3 in A major, Op. 60 and No. 5 in G major, Op. 66 were premiered in May 2005 by cellist Beate Altenburg and Anhaltischen Philharmonie Dessau under Golo Berg. The CD released on this occasion remains the only widely available recording with his works.

Franz Xaver Neruda (December 3, 1843 – March 19, 1915) was born in Brno into a musical family. He was the fifth child of the organist of Brno Cathedral Josef Neruda. He grew up in Vienna and first learned violin with father (from 1852) and after the death of his brother Viktor, who played cello, he learned playing it himself. With his father and four siblings he performed through Europe in Neruda Quartet and also solo. In 1859, he studied cello for half a year with Adrien-François Servais.

Later Neruda became member of the royal chapel in Copenhagen. On 3 December 1868, he founded there a chamber music society and the next year, he was named royal chamber musician. In 1869, he married ballet dancer Camilla Cetti. After engagements in London and Manchester, he moved back to Copenhagen until he became appointed by Anton Rubinstein as a successor of cello professor Karl Davydov at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. In 1891, he was appointed conductor of the Stockholm music society and in 1982, conductor of the Copenhagen music society, succeeding Niels Wilhelm Gade. In 1893, he was cello professor at the Copenhagen conservatory. After his death, Carl Nielsen succeeded him as a director of the Copenhagen music society and he composed a Prologue for recitation and orchestra In memoriam Franz Neruda.


CD Content

Disc: 1
1. Cello concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 57
2. Cello concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 59
3. Cello concerto No. 3 in A major, Op. 60

Disc: 2
1. Cello concerto No. 4 in A minor, Op. 61
2. Cello concerto No. 5 in G major, Op. 66