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World music CD DVD shop and Classic distribution
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ID: CHRCD006 (EAN: 5060212590077) | 1 CD | DDD Released in: 2010
- LABEL:
- Champs Hill Records
- Subcollection:
- Piano
- Composers:
- MENOTTI, Gian Carlo
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Interprets:
- ASPELL, Simon (viola) | BREWER, Christine (soprano) | ELLIS, Gregory (violin) | MARTIN, Maximiliano (clarinet) | MARWOOD, Christopher (cello) | MILFORD, Julian (piano) | PASCOE, Keith (violin) | THORSEN, Marianne (violin) | TINGAY, Gillian (harp) | VIGNOLES, Roger (piano)
- Ensembles:
- RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet
- Other info:
Gian Carlo Menotti passed away recently - in 2007 - and had been a force in musical life for over half a century. Born in Italy, he became a friend of Samuel Barber while studying, and it was largely this friendship which encouraged him to move to the USA. Though his home was in the USA, he always considered himself to be an Italian composer.
Menotti had great success with several operas, establishing himself as a leading opera composer of the post-war period. There is a natural, innate lyricism to his musical language; an unabashed deployment of attractive melodies, which allows him to communicate directly to a large audience who, in general, share his musical taste, loving the things he loved.
Menotti's instrumental and vocal concert music has not attracted as much attention as his stage works, but his cantatas, concertos, song-cycles and other works all share the same musical virtues and attractiveness, creating vivid and compelling musical images, and benefitting from his instinctive sense of drama.
RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet:
Winner of the 1988 London International String Quartet Competition and now in its twenty-third concert season, the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet is one of Europe’s most successful quartets, internationally recognised for its beauty of sound, clarity of texture and integrity of interpretation within an unusually wide and varied range of repertoire. Appointed Resident Quartet to RTÉ in 1986 and with almost 700 performances in Ireland to date, the group has dedicated itself to bringing the wonders of the string-quartet repertoire to audiences throughout the country. At the same time they have built a thriving international career, with regular tours taking them throughout Europe and the USA.
RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet:(Gregory Ellis, Keith Pascoe - violins; Simon Aspell - viola; Christopher Marwood - cello)
| MENOTTI, Gian Carlo (191 -2007) | | | Trio for violin, clarinet and piano | | | 1. | I. Capriccio | 5:09 | | | 2. | II. Romanza | 5:59 | | | 3. | III. Envoi | 2:33 | | | Five Songs | | | 4. | I. The Eternal Prisoner | 2:05 | | | 5. | II. The Idle Gift | 1:41 | | | 6. | III. The Longest Wait | 3:54 | | | 7. | IV. My Ghost | 3:47 | | | 8. | V. The Swing | 3:41 | | | 9. | Cantelina e Scherzo for harp and string quartet | 10:25 | | | Canti Della Lontananza | | | 10. | (i) Gli Amanti Impossibilii | 1:51 | | | 11. | (ii) Mattinata di Neve | 2:42 | | | 12. | (iii) Il Settimo Bicchiere di Vino | 0:54 | | | 13. | (iv) Lo Spettro | 2:14 | | | 14. | (v) Dorme Pegaso | 1:35 | | | 15. | (vi) La Lettera | 2:57 | | | 16. | (vii) Rassengnazione | 3:17 | | “This unfamiliar, abundantly melodic chamber music by a composer best known for his operas...comes as a welcome surprise...these instrumental works, voluptuous, expressive and often Ravel-like in style, have been overlooked...The line-up of performers here is first-class” The Observer, 30th May 2010
“[Menotti's] chamber works...contain beguiling music: not only are they expertly crafted but they also come straight from the heart, as these fine performances show....Debussy and Ravel hover over the Cantilena e Scherzo (1977), but the songs enshrine intensely personal feeling” The Telegraph, 13th June 2010 ***
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