Seattle Chamber Music Soc - American Chamber Music on CD

Description

James Ehnes and friends from the Seattle Chamber Music Society hit the road on a fascinating journey through chamber music by some of the giants of 20th-century American classical music. Aaron Copland s masterful Violin Sonata, Leonard Bernstein s youthful and vibrant Piano Trio, and Samuel Barber s B minor String Quartet with its famous Adagio slow movement (known the world over as Barber s Adagio ) are joined by Elliott Carter s haunting 'Elegy' from early in his long career, and the other-worldly 'Largo' by that great maverick Charles Ives. Review an outstandingly played disc that offers a fascinating snapshot of what American composers were doing in realms of chamber music during the Thirties and Forties. --The Daily Telegraph a beautifully assembled mix... I can t remember when I ve enjoyed [Copland s Violin Sonata] as much as I have in this performance a disc that has been put together with skill and affection --CD Review Ehnes is brilliant and incisive in the faster music... pianist Orion Weiss is a model of clarity --BBC Music Magazine 'the fast music has all the hyperactive zest that characterised Bernstein at all periods ... The Copland Sonata gets a thoroughly efficient and rewarding performance from Ehnes and Orion Weiss, and Carter s early and uncomplicated Elegy highlights Richard O Neill s mellifluous viola sound. Ives s Largo for violin, clarinet and piano is a delight and the Barber Quartet confirms the excellence of the Seattle musicians in every way.' --Peter Dickinson Gramophone, October 2014 'On this showing it comes as no surprise that James Ehnes star is in the ascendant; his colleagues are equally impressive. This is a disc of great music and is extremely well recorded and played by all concerned.' --Steve Arloff Music Web International, 5th November 2014 '[an] eminently refreshing programme ... with violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti employing an unadorned tone that ideally captures the often naïve simplicity of Ives ... Elliot Carter s Elegy for viola and piano...[is] given a tender and lyrical reading by violinist Richard O Neil ... This is an excellently recorded anthology that can be strongly recommended.' --David Denton The Strad, December 2014 'This road trip through twentieth-century American music makes for an attractive and accessible programme … This impressive collection is given the finest possible advocacy by the Seattle Chamber Music Society. What stands out is the elevated level of performance consistency across all five works; this and a noticeable and impressive beauty of tone coupled with unerring unity of playing.' --Michael Cookson, Music Web International, 9th January 2015