Hans Abrahamsen: 10 Preludes; Six Pieces; Transcriptions Of Satie & Nielsen [Ensemble MidtVest] [Dacapo: 8226091]

Description

Product Description The music of Hans Abrahamsen (b. 1952), dark yet alluringly innocent, exhibits a pure, strong naïveté that opens up into a genuine magical world of both the bright and the sombre kind. Performing two of his early works Six Piecesfor horn trio and his first string quartet 10 Preludes Ensemble MidtVestbrings out Abrahamsens characteristic clear, precise tone. The same clarity inhabits his arrangements of Erik Saties Trois Gymnopédies and Carl Nielsens Fantasy Pieces, exploring and evoking the original works in a new, unmistakably Abrahamsen-esque way. Review Hans Abrahamsen writes music that is clear and careful he says he spends most of his time stripping things away but in his early years he could be quite the polemicist. His First String Quartet came out shouting, fist in the air, a manifesto of 10 short preludes that rage in reverse from full-on atonalism to full-on baroque pastiche. In one way or another, he has always had a dialogue with music of the past, whether his own or other people's, and this disc includes his lush and uncanny transcriptions of works by Nielsen (Fantasy Pieces) and Satie (Gymnopédies). Ensemble MidtVest has the diligence to keep them hushed, the urgency to propel his sombre Six Pieces for Violin, Horn and Piano. --The Guardian, June'17Ensemble MidtVest's 10 Preludes, Six Pieces offers a chance to explore chamber music from much earlier in his career. The disc includes his transcriptions of Satie (Gymnopédies) and Nielsen (Fantasy Pieces). They are a lot more beguiling especially the Nielsen arrangements, where you have the feeling of intense Danes sharing their pain and passion across the decades. --The Times, August'17