Anne Queffélec ENTREZ DANS LA DANSE...

The same qualities as on her delightful cornucopia ‘Satie & Compagnie’ (4/13) are on display again in Anne Queffélec’s programme of dances from the belle époque and inter-war periods in France. All the composers were either disciples or pupils of one another or personal friends. Stylistically, it is easy to hear the cross-references: ‘Their works engaged in dialogue, nourished and interpenetrated each other’, as the excellent booklet has it. You can hear Faure’s Le pas espagnol, for instance, either as an affectionate tribute to or tongue-in-cheek pastiche of Chabrier. It was Fauré who provided early inspiration for the Catalan Federico Mompou, the sole outsider in nationality on this album (though not in terms of musical style) and whose Canción y Danza No 4 opens proceedings.

Again, Queffélec mixes the familiar with the less well known, with enough of the latter to entice any pianophile to invest and pianist to track down the sheet music (as an example, your reviewer has now finally got round to having a serious look at Poulenc’s Suite française). Her approach to the music is one of enchanting simplicity. No show, no grandstanding; she beckons the listener to leave what they are doing, if they wish, and to come over and join her. Minimum pedal, lovely finger legato, each note of these economically scored pieces intimately projected and made to tell.

Le pas espagnol, mentioned above, is one of five (out of the 24) tracks in which Queffélec is joined by Gaspard Dehaene. Notwithstanding the exuberant nature of this and a few others (Massenet’s Valse folle first among them), the general tenor of the 82-minute programme is one of reflection and introspection, a welcome balm, and warmly recommended. (Jeremy Nicholas / Gramophone)

Berlin Chamber Duo SONATAS BY ROBERT SCHUMANN & CÉSAR FRANCK

The Berlin Chamber Duo writes of their new release: “This album with its Romantic-era programme has been recorded in dedication of our love of the viola and the music of Robert Schumann. The first ever recording on the viola of the Sonata in A minor op. 105 for violin and piano by Robert Schumann is truly a landmark for the viola repertoire and the listening public… The sonata is played on the viola using the same score as for the original violin part. This fact in turn means that the violist is faced with a special technical challenge, which is probably the reason why the sonata has never yet been recorded on the viola… The ideal complement to this sonata is a selection of Lieder by Robert Schumann, songs which can be beautifully interpreted on the viola…” The Berlin Chamber Duo is violist Mate Szucs, who is the principal solo violist of the Berlin Philharmonic, and pianist Michele Yuki Gurdal, who has been performing throughout Europe since she was nine years old.

Gidon Kremer / Kremerata Baltica HYMNS AND PRAYERS

A beautifully-recorded album from master violinist Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata, Baltica, spanning a wide range of music, all of it broached with conviction. Hungarian composer and pianist Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer from the Serbian province of Vojvodina has written eight hymns in commemoration of the film director Andrei Tarkovsky, an artist he has called a homo moralis whose remarkable visions cast a small but significant light on the tragic world of the previous century. Georgian composer Giya Kancheli contributes a silent prayer for two of his most important musical associates: the cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich and the violinist Gidon Kremer. The contemplative intensity of the hymns and the ascetic tranquillity of the prayer are offset by César Franck‘s Piano Quintet in F minor like a premonition of Beethoven’s Appassionata, whose second movement, marked Lento, molto sentimento, in turn takes up the mood of the other two works. This programmatic combination underlines an intrinsic principle Paul Klee developed in his theory of harmony in the visual arts: any compositional harmony will gain character through dissonances, with the balance being restored by counterweights. (ECM Records)