Put quite simply these are two of the most cleverly conceived and original string quartets you could ever hope to hear!

Quartetset is a seven-movement, thirty-five minute long work with an eclecticism of staggering proportions. In it American composer Sebastian Currier honors all the great, quartet composers of the past and present, including Franz Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Arnold Schoenberg, and Bela Bartok, just to name a few. He does this by making stylistic rather than actual references to their music. Don't get the idea that this comes off sounding like some sort of musical, patchwork quilt. In fact, it's just the opposite because, with the exception of breaks between movements, everything flows into what might be called a seamless, stylistic spectrum. The skill with which the composer weaves this incredible tapestry is mind boggling and in the end it takes on a life of its own, and becomes a unique, Currier creation. As if all that weren't enough, there are some Lambert-like palindromic features in evidence too.

In Quiet Time the concept of differing compositional styles found in the previous work is replaced by the effects that various electronic gadgets, such as analog-to-digital converters, band-pass filters, ring modulators and the like, have on melodic phrases fed into them. Simplistically speaking the original phrase can then be considered a theme, and its electronic transformations, a set of variations. Keeping this in mind along with the extraordinary variety of sonorities one can get from bowed instruments, the composer wrote the quartet to mimic all this. The result, to use somewhat of an oxymoron, is live electronic music. The use of strings rather than circuits makes for a very listener friendly piece compared to the usual, cold, otherworldly, even sometimes nails-on-a-blackboard sounding all-electronic fare.

The Cassatt Quartet is a class act and their performances are stunning, as is the sound they're captured in.

If this music appeals to you, by all means try another, recent, release from New World Records featuring Ben Johnston's efforts in this medium played by the outstanding Kepler Quartet. (P060309)

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com)

You've probably never heard of this contemporary, Italian composer, but judging by what's on this disc you will in the not too distant future. Luca Francesconi is a colorist in the best sense of the word, because there's method in his orchestral madness. His consummate skill as an orchestrator is used only in the service of the considerable, intellectual content underlying his music.

While the name Cobalt Scarlet was originally inspired by the colors he observed during a Scandinavian sunrise, the piece itself might best be described as symphonically equivalent to one of van Gogh's more fanciful, swirling skycapes. It depicts in musical terms two aspects of time described by the composer as dynamic and circular. The former one relates to the endless energy mutations undergone by all matter, while the latter is concerned with the unending, immutable cycles found in nature. In his piece harmony and instrumental color represent the dynamic and rhythm, the circular.

The work starts off percussively pianissimo and builds up rather statically into a blazing, sonic, solar corona, which is then blotted out by a growing number of rhythmically overpowering, megalithic chords. These slowly die away only to return in a series of brilliantly orchestrated passages, which fade and then regroup into a breathtaking, instrumental super nova. This gradually dims and the work ends with a Right of Spring like interjection followed by a closing tattoo.

Rest is really a cello concerto of amazing originality written in memory of Luciano Berio, who was one of Francesconi's most revered teachers. The demands on the soloist are incredible, but Anssi Karttunen is certainly up to the task in this extremely complex work. This is "No pain, no gain!" music, so read the composer's notes beforehand and with repeated listening you should find it's as much of a contemporary masterpiece as Magnus Lindberg's recently, highly acclaimed clarinet concerto. Suffice it to say for now that the motifs and rhythms are related to the tone row B-E-R-I-O and Francesconi's ability to keep the solo instrument to the fore amidst orchestral passages of astounding brilliance and power is nothing short of amazing.

The performances are superb and the sound is demonstration quality. You won't have to dust your speakers for a month after you play this!

If you like the colorist approach to composition, try the music of conductor-composer Esa-Pekka Salonen. (Y060308)

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com)

Those who like Johannes Brahms' chamber music featuring the clarinet will take great delight in this disc.

Josef Labor's (1842-1924) quintet for clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano was written around 1900. The composer, who was blind from birth, studied in Vienna and was better known as a concert pianist and organist. He knew all of the most notable, Viennese musicians of the day including the famous pianist Paul Wittgenstein, whose loss of a right arm in World War I lead to his commissioning all those works for the left-hand. Interestingly enough the first of these was a concerto from Labor with the more familiar ones by Benjamin Britten, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Franz Schmidt and Richard Strauss coming later.

Another acquaintance of his was Alma Schindler, who actually studied with him for six years. As you may recall she was the femme fatale who had a thing for intellectuals and could later count Gustav Mahler among her marriage conquests. Maybe the composer was harboring feelings for Alma when he wrote his quintet, because there's a underlying, romantic melancholy and chromatic ardor present that would seem to make it a real labor of love.

The quartet for clarinet, violin, cello and piano by Walter Rabl (1873-1940) dates from 1896 and won first prize in a prestigious composition contest held in Vienna that year. Reportedly Brahms was absolutely taken with it. When you hear it you'll understand why, because it's easily as good as any of his opuses with the clarinet, and maybe even then some. Rabl's Viennese roots and training are very much in evidence, because this piece is a melodic gold mine like so many others by Austrian composers who were contemporaries of his (Joseph Marx, Franz Schmidt and even Arnold Schoenberg before he fell off the tonal temperance wagon).

The performances by the Orion Ensemble are committed and their enthusiasm for this music certainly makes up for occasional, intonational anomalies.

As with most of the recordings on the Cedille label, the sound is excellent.

Those liking this release should also investigate the chamber music of Gustav Jenner. (P060307)

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com)

Fabulous performances and sound earned this new, hybrid disc the "CD of the Month" distinction in Gramophone Magazine (03/06). With its release each of the works featured here now come in three sizes. There's an "Introductory" one for the four players that comprise a string quartet, which is how both of these pieces started out. More specifically, the one by Ludwig van Beethoven is his sixteenth in F major, while Sir William Walton's, his second in A minor. Then there's an "Economy" size for a string orchestra of chamber proportions, which is what's on this disc, where there are twenty-three performers. Finally there's the "Jumbo" version for the sixty odd people with bows in a full-sized symphony orchestra.

The individual parts for the Beethoven remain pretty much the same in all three arrangements with the two larger ones fleshed out by doublings. The Walton is a different matter. With a little help from his friend Malcolm Arnold, he took his original quartet as a starting point and reworked and enlarged it for string orchestra calling the new piece Sonata for Strings. While both of these pieces are certainly classics in their original form, most would agree that they pack a much greater emotional punch as done here by more performers. In the case of the Beethoven this is probably explained by the abstract, concise, humorous and almost devil-may-care ("Muss es sein? Es muss sein!") nature of the music.

On the other hand, the Walton cried out for a larger canvas from the very beginning. That's because it possesses a melodic angularity and kinetic energy that come across much more effectively with massed strings. Of course, all of this assumes the performing group is a virtuoso ensemble of the first order; otherwise, things begin to sound like Mantovani on a bad day. Hearing this outstanding disc, you'll have to agree that the Amsterdam Sinfonietta is right up there with the very best string ensembles. In the faster movements their alacritous precision (they can turn on a dime) will take your breath away, while in the slower ones their silky tone will have you holding it.

The string sound on the two-channel tracks is exceptional with the super audio one as close to what one hears in the concert hall as you'll ever get in the digital domain. The multi-channel track will give you a front-row-center seat in the auditorium where this was recorded. In short, it's a stunning release that belongs in every music lover's collection, and one that audiophiles will go nuts over!

By the way you might want to check out the other performing versions mentioned above. Like those of us who've heard them all, you'll probably find the "Introductory" are intimately moving and the "Jumbo" quite overwhelming, but it's the "Economy" that's the most exciting.

Speaking of really hot hybrid recordings of strings, make sure you hear Felix Mendelssohn's octet on the Praga label. (Y060306)

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com)

This is another in the recent, highly acclaimed, bargain priced series of hybrid releases from RCA featuring for the first time on disc the original, three-channel recordings pioneered back in the "Golden Age of Stereo" years by legendary, audio engineers Lewis Layton and Richard Mohr.

Because of their colorful orchestration and wide, dynamic range, Ottorino Respighi's Pines and Fountains of Rome have always been favorites with audiophiles, and when you hear this disc you'll understand why. In fact, it'll blow your sonic sox off, particularly if played through a system similar to the one several of us just experienced it on.

That included the EMM Labs (designs by Ed Meitner), CDSD transport and improved six-channel DAC6e digital-to-analogue converter; the new Conrad-Johnson, six-channel MET1 tube preamp with their 350 and 2500A solid-state power amplifiers; and the highly acclaimed Wilson Audio, MAXX Series 2 and WATCH center channel speakers. Credit should also go to a couple of unseen, but certainly not silent, participants Shunyata Research for all the power distribution accessories and Kimber Kable for the interconnects and speaker cables.

In the super audio, multichannel mode the soundstage was greatly expanded, yet in a totally convincing manner with an instrumental clarity and directionality that defied description. The dynamic range seemed to increase significantly, but without any residual distortion. Also the string tone was much more natural than that encountered on conventional CDs.

What a change from the Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra days when one of the more colorful parts of Fountains... [track-5, beginning at 00:18] came off sounding like a falling chandelier hitting a cement floor; and, the finale of Pines... [track-11, beginning at 02:01] became a gargantuan gurgle as the recording equipment went into overloaded with the awesome dynamics of the advancing Roman legions.

But, enough high-end talk, because in the last analysis it's the performances that count, and most critics would agree that they don't get any better than these.

As a bonus there's an equally spectacular, three-channel version of Claude Debussy's La Mer. The combination of a micromanagement conductor and crystal-clear sound makes for a reading where the attention to detail is simply astounding, even with this impressionistically liquescent music. Anyone hearing it who ever saw Fritz Reiner on the podium will undoubtedly recall that hunched-over, squint-eyed, intimidating look he'd give the members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in passages demanding that special Reiner touch.

This release is also available in conventional, CD(2) format.

By the way, if you live in the Washington DC/New York City corridor and are interested in hearing these discs on a system like the one described above, by all means stop by Overture Audio-Video in Wilmington, Delaware. With a staff second to none, it's unquestionably one of the best appointed, audiophile salons on the East Coast, and you're guaranteed a listening experience you'll not soon forget! Incidentally, any prospective buyers will be delighted to discover that "The Great State of Delaware" has no sales tax. (Y060305)

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com)

This is the third volume from Chandos Records of film music by British composer William Alwyn, and for many of us it's the best yet! Like Sir William Walton, Alwyn wrote mainly for the concert hall, but when he turned his attention to a film score he always produced something that was highly memorable and stood on its own without need of the imagery it originally supported. All five of the film suites presented here are outstanding examples of this.

The one from Geordie is an absolute "must hear" with enough flavor of Scotland to leave you feeling you've had a wee dram or two of some delightful, single malt, highland nectar. The Magic Box and Swiss Family Robinson ones are loaded with wonderful, big tunes. Those from the first and last feature films he scored, Penn of Pennsylvania and The Running Man, attest to the fact that his creativity never flagged during his entire association with the film industry.

As if that weren't enough, the Chandos folks have thrown in excerpts from five of his others. These include an equine related piece from The Rocking Horse Winner, two charming waltzes from The Million Pond Note and The Cure for Love, and a pair of marches from The Way Ahead and The True Glory. One of the latter is of Schubertian persuasion, while the other is in the stately Edwardian tradition so typical of those by Sirs Edward Elgar and Arthur Bliss.

The performances couldn't be better, the sound is demonstration quality, and make sure you read the excellent album notes.

If you don't already have them, you'll probably also want the previous volumes in this series as well as the Chandos discs devoted to the film music of Ralph Vaughan Williams. (Y060303)

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com)