Weber Chamber Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Carl Maria von Weber
Label: Novalis
Magazine Review Date: 7/1991
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 150 065-4
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano |
Carl Maria von Weber, Composer
Aurèle Nicolet, Flute Bruno Canino, Piano Carl Maria von Weber, Composer Rocco Filippini, Cello |
(6) Sonatas |
Carl Maria von Weber, Composer
Aurèle Nicolet, Flute Bruno Canino, Piano Carl Maria von Weber, Composer |
Composer or Director: Carl Maria von Weber
Label: Novalis
Magazine Review Date: 7/1991
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 60
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 150 065-2
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano |
Carl Maria von Weber, Composer
Aurèle Nicolet, Flute Bruno Canino, Piano Carl Maria von Weber, Composer Rocco Filippini, Cello |
(6) Sonatas |
Carl Maria von Weber, Composer
Aurèle Nicolet, Flute Bruno Canino, Piano Carl Maria von Weber, Composer |
Author: John Warrack
Nicolet handles very well Weber's carefully judged contrast between the warm, appealing lower middle register and the brighter music given to the upper register; and he and Filippini make much of the different kinds of blend and contrast which the music also involves. It is a pity that the recording is not more sensitive to these differentiations and distinctions: the sound is sometimes rather thick and some detail is lost (for instance, the piano's right-hand triplet figuration near the start of the ''Shepherd's Lament'').
The flute sonatas are really violin sonatas, delightful little works which Weber wrote with reluctance and only for the money: he was extremely annoyed when they were turned down by the original publisher, Andre, as being ''too good''. The flute arrangements present problems. For one thing, there is the question of balance: it sounds here as if the flute is rather closer than the piano so as to help this. But a good deal in music composed by a master orchestrator for the exact tonal possibilities of the violin has to go, though of course it is all skilfully rethought. The saddest loss is the Adagio of the Sonata No. 2, originally a strange little piece with the violin crawling slowly about its lower register in the middle of two-part piano writing: here the piano melody goes to the flute and the piano takes over the crawling quavers. There have to be other swappings of melodic lines, usually to accommodate the flute's lack of the violin's extra downward fifth. Some movements work very nicely: an example is the cheery Rondo of No. 3. There is a bit of re-composition, as with the link into the Polacca of No. 6, but not much. The violin originals are preferable but, especially when as delightfully played as they are by Nicolet and Canino, there is plenty of reason for wanting to hear this version.'
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