Ensemble 132: Masques and Marionettes – Chamber works by Stravinsky, C. Schumann, R. Schumann – Steinway & Sons

by Audiophile Audition | Sep 9, 2026 | Classical CD Reviews

Ensemble 132: Masques and Marionettes – STRAVINSKY: Two Poems of Konstantin Balmont; Petrushka ; C. SCHUMANN: Three Romances; R. SCHUMANN: Carnaval – Maria Ioudenitch and Abi Fayette, violins/ Luther Warren, viola/ Zachary Mowitz, cello/ Sahun Hong. Piano – Steinway & Sons 30254 (75:51) (10/2/26) [Distr. by Naxos] *****:

The Boston-based Ensemble 132 (estab. 2019) follows its guiding principle, that “Great music transcends the confines of instrumentation.” Thus, a large range of interpretive freedom ensues, allowing the musicians to expand upon “official” scores and present them in settings conducive to the fluid abilities and creative whims of the performers. The prime mover of Ensemble 132, pianist Sahun Hong, means to engage the collaborators in projects that expand, even defy, the genres of the original compositions they interpret.

This program opens with a piano quintet arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s 1911 Two Poems of Konstantin Balmont, “Forget-Me-Not Blossom” and “The Dove.” The violin and cello, respectively, serve as the main storytellers. From the shimmering, tremolo first measures the violin sings a plaint that the flower might inspire ardent devotion in the beloved. The cello intones in high register over an eerie drone bass the mournful loss of the “crimson flower” of love by the white dove once possessed it. Dark dissonances proceed to accompany the mournful tune, the piano especially sternly unsympathetic.

Pianist-arranger Hong has raised the specter of Stravinsky’s original concept for his Petrushka ballet as a quasi-concerto for piano and orchestra. Set at the Shrovetide Fair in the St. Petersburg of the 1830s, the story line involves a hand-puppet character whose roots lie in Commedia dell’arte and Russian folklore. The music relishes a bi-tonal, intervalic rubric (C major – F# major) that captures the very human struggle – here, in a character brought to life by sorcery – for love and acceptance. The immediacy of Hong’s “re-orchestration” loses little by way of kinetic energies, especially conscious of Stravinsky’ own depiction of his character’s capacity to “exasperate the patience of the orchestra with diabolical cascades of arpeggios.” The violin takes up the melancholy plaint of the puppet in “The Magic Trick,” replacing the flute, while the keyboard adds intimations of sorcery.

“The Russian Dance” we know well from the piano solo arrangement the composer created for Artur Rubinstein. Now, it assumes a more stinging character as violin and piano engage in a spirited colloquy. The scene in “Petrushka’s Room” becomes almost unbearably acerbic with violin and piano bravura passages.  “The Moor’s Room” clearly establishes the bitonal, perhaps bi-polar, threatening energies in the main character’s loss of love and his resultant fury.  The cello takes up the drone for “Petrushka’s Waltz,” the violin and piano adding their respective sense of irony.  The four-note pattern asserts a version of a “fate” motif, gathering speed and dissonance as a source of pain and revolt. Suddenly, we are thrust into the kaleidoscope of the Fair, a deliciously raucous exhibition of colors created by Ensemble 132 from which the cello and violin elicit the main, lyrical theme over keyboard ostinatos. The motion becomes increasingly dizzy, often explosive, a paroxysm of longing and despair. The shimmer of the open motives recurs, and  the melodic line becomes more strident, more punished, mostly by way of the cello’s unnaturally high register.

With an aggressive, martial assault of rhythm and color, Ensemble 132 makes us hear “The Dance of the Coachmen,” a concoction of competing melodic and metric impulses, testily layered in relentless harmony. Suddenly, the textures break off in a sense of climactic resolve, pulsating and then maestoso chordal, even pentatonic, in character. The progression, now ironic and fatal, cascades to an abrupt, unsentimental collapse.

A mighty, dramatic juxtaposition of effect follows, as cellist Mowitz and pianist Hong perform movement one, Andante molto, from Clara Schumann’s intimate 1853 in a version that deepens the harmonies and colors from the original setting for violin and piano.  For the second movement Allegretto, violist Warren joins Hong in music alternately mournful and frolicsome. The third movement, marked “passionately quick,” has realization in its origjnal form by Ioudenitch and Hong.  The textural fluency in Schumann’s sense of color allows the two instruments to trade the presentation of the main theme, which soars to a passionate apex in the keyboard, resolves into calm acceptance.

Recast as a piano quartet, Robert Schumann’s opening gambit for his Carnaval, “Preambule,” has all the power of a colossal fanfare, introducing his own, psychological assortment of characters that reside in his fertile imagination.  The idea of creating “Little Scenes on Four Notes” attaches not only Robert and Clara’s musical anagrams, but no less invokes the economy Beethoven established in his Fifth Symphony.  Again, the Comedia dell’arte enjoys plastic treatment of its various characters, especially the serious and wistfully playful sides of Schumann’s character.

According to the notes by arranger Hong, Schumann’s autobiographical solo piece has gained “a newfound humor and sparkle” by virtue of its added performers. Those who relish this more “orchestral” incarnation likely recall Arnold Schoenberg’s treatment of the Brahms G minor Piano Quartet. Hong’s coy version of “Coquette” and his addition of the oft-omitted “Sphinxes” inserts both theater and gothic drama into a score noted for its lyrical flamboyance.  Clara (“Chiarina”) appears in full waltz regalia and Chopin in his especial, nocturnal grandeur.  “Reconnaissance” has rarely sounded so ardent in the search for beauty, “Pantalon and Colombine” so mercurial in their treatment of each other, and “Paganini” regains his sonorous diabolism in mincing then aggressive bounds.  “Aveu” assumes its rightful integrity as a piano solo. “Promenade” enjoys schwung and dazzling color. Finally, what Hong terms “the scale of intensity” merges full force in the ironical “Pause” and the fiery conclusion, “March of the Davids-Leaguers against the Philistines,” Schumann’s forceful protest against all intellectual mediocrity and self-satisfaction.

What we have here embodies a bold experiment in chamber-music programming, carried off with explosive self-assurance and technical brilliance.

—Gary Lemco

Ensemble 132: Masques and Marionettes

STRAVINSKY:
Two Poems of Konstantin Balmont (arr. Hong);
Petrushka for Piano Quintet (arr. Hong);

C. SCHUMANN:
Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Op. 22;

R. SCHUMANN:
Carnaval, Op. 9 for Piano Quartet (arr. Hong)

Maria Ioudenitch and Abi Fayette, violins/
Luther Warren, viola/ Zachary Mowitz, cello/
Sahun Hong. Piano

JS BACH: Six Suites for Violincello solo – Anastasia Kobekina, vc – Sony Classical

by Audiophile Audition | Sep 2, 2026 | Classical CD Reviews

Controversial to be sure, but certainly an eye opener.

JS BACH: Six Suites for Violincello solo – Anastasia Kobekina, vc – Sony Classical 19802954682, 61:43, 82:52 ****:

Cellist Anastasia Kobekina has certainly been enjoying a huge promotional effort. She was born in Russia and garnered the third prize at the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition. Recently signed to Sony, we have been flooded with all things Kobekina, especially videos and interviews online. Of course, this is not the first time Sony has signed a young artist to its roster, and we’ll see how long she lasts there—history paints a rather bleak picture in terms of the long-term viability of any musician signing with this company—many are called, but few are chosen.

This album has received very mixed reviews so far, many lauding her obvious talent and boldness of her interpretations, while others are not as favorable, some even disparaging.  I think this is going a bit far; while one might argue the viability of what she does, there is no doubt that this is serious effort by a young woman looking at this mountain of a set of suites from a very personal—perhaps too personal—vantage point. 

But it must be admitted that the old adage “can’t see the forest for the trees” applies here in spades. Kobekina is all about the moment, sometimes getting too caught up in the beauties and passions of one phrase or even bar, while really not considering its place in the overall suite. If you approach this music as a consistent and well thought out offering in terms of formal structure, with each movement somehow related emotionally to the previous or next one, then this recording will prove bothersome. 

It’s hard to determine which approach Bach would prefer, as the cello suites in general are a bit of a mystery. Most likely composed immediately after the Brandenburg Concertos, while he still worked as Capellmeister in Cöthen in the 1720s, this evidently first exploration of the instrument was something unique for the time, as the cello was relegated to a supporting role, and generally thought of no use for anything else. They do seem to disappear from history for quite a while, about 150 years until Pablo Casals spotted them in a secondhand music store. Even then he did nothing with them for 13 more years, and finally recorded them. Lo and behold, suddenly these suites, initially thought by Casals to be a simple collection of rather uninteresting technical studies, blustered their way into the increasingly large Bach pantheon of greatness. Quite a comeback, and we have no idea what Bach’s intentions really were—the absence of the original score doesn’t help.

The earliest manuscripts, done by Bach’s second wife, Anna Magdalena, give us absolutely no idea of how these pieces should be played, and so each performer goes from scratch, hence the predicaments found in the recording under review. It really does depend on how one thinks, individually, that these suites should be performed. Kobekina relishes the note-by-note connections of this music, sometimes speeding up, sometimes delving into an intense legato, and then suddenly putting the brakes on for a moment she finds particularly meaningful. 

Unfortunately, her consideration of these works as a blend of Apollonian clarity and Dionysian passion might make for clever philosophical consideration and pseudo-intelligent liner notes, but does not translate into anything palpable in the actual readings. I wish she had just said, “this is how I feel this music, take it or leave it” and let the listener decide on how it works, devoid of any pre-listening prep. If one does indeed use this scheme as a basis for evaluation, there are many good things to be appreciated. She plays her Stradivarius cello from 1698, known as the “De Kermadec-Blass,” as well as the 1717 “Bonamy Dobree Suggia”, five strings in the sixth suite. Tempos are pushed and pulled in really spontaneous ways, and some might be bothered by the not infrequent fingerboard slapping and other extraneous noises that seem to appear. Yet, for all that, these are far from dull or lifeless performances, and her sound is robust, warm, and quite attractive. She employs an array of emotional content, delicacy, humor, unadulterated virtuosity, and pathos-laden slower movements. I can’t think of another recording where you come away feeling like you know the performer as well as the composer.

While I cannot recommend this as a first introduction to the world of Bach’s cello suites, it will serve nicely as a supplement to existing recordings when one feels the need for something a little more adventurous or even wayward. If you are new to these or seek something that has sparking playing and subtle intellect behind every phrase—and want a period instrument approach—get Pieter Wispelwey’s 1990 second recording on Channel Classics.

— Steven Ritter

Amazon

(un)common thread = Violin Works by Mozart; Beethoven; Shanahan; Kim – Ariana Kim/Violin – Saffron Soul Records

by Audiophile Audition | Aug 30, 2026 | Classical CD Reviews

(un)common thread = MOZART: Violin Sonata K. 454; BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata #3; SHANAHAN: Audacity for Violin and Percussion; KIM: Migrating Home for Solo Violin and Looper Pedal – Ariana Kim/Violin  – Saffron Soul Records – (74:40, complete contents detailed below) (6/17/26) [Distr. by Saffron Soul Records] ****:

This album’s “uncommon thread” lies in the art of improvisation, both in Western classical music and violinist Kim’s fascination with Eastern music, especially after her five months of studies in India on the subject of Carnatic music. The search to find connections between disparate cultural traditions would appear to embrace a more “global” sense of community through music, illustrating the creative spontaneity each of the diverse genres emanates.

With a piercing, thin-toned instrument, Kim opens with Mozart’s 1784 Violin Sonata in B-flat Major, conceived for virtuoso Regina Strinasacchi, whom Mozart would accompany in Vienna. The demand for improvisation foisted itself upon Mozart, who had not written out his keyboard part at the time of the debut. The first movement, Largo – Allegro, elicits a series of elegant gestures that soon break out into a dynamic, highly embellished dialogue between the instruments, a richly vibrant demonstration of musically clear synergy when two polished participants engage in spirited filigree. The second movement Andante presents a luxuriously chromatic melody, a cantilena set above a slow, parlando keyboard part. The opportunity for ornament seems built into the casual but opulent melodic evolution, a dialogue wherein each player may alternate in his extension of the ardent moment, then conjoin in sumptuous, sometimes meandering, harmony. The last movement, Allegretto, illustrates the fertile, acerbic wit Mozart musters in the course of acrobatic gestures for both instruments. The means by which the two principals manage to coordinate their unison finale must have, at the debut, made an astounding spectacle.

Beethoven dedicated his 1798 set of three violin and pianoforte sonatas, Op. 12, to Antonio Salieri, of which the third, in E-flat major, projects a virtuoso sensibility commensurate with the Italian master’s skills as well as Beethoven’s notable gifts for improvisation.  Kim’s wiry, plastic approach to the opening Allegro con spirito has her accompanist in full fettle, and the two sail through Beethoven’s genial, playful figures and striking rhetorical gambits, often in quick canons. In spite of Mozart’s models, Beethoven introduces a degree of ardent passion that may well have intimidated his contemporary audience. The coda may have impressed Brahms, with its suggestion that another development section could evolve at the composer’s least whim.

Beethoven’s second movement, Adagio con molto espressivo, sets us an operatic aria owned by the violin, while the piano strums and sashays in rippling sympathy. The tone becomes a bit darker, more earnest and meditative, advancing by fertile modulations and circuitous routes in the manner of an extended improvisation in mincing steps. The keyboard’s long trill establishes a pedal point over which the violin sings a tearful farewell. The spirited final movement, Rondo: Allegro molto, sets us three motives and a “catchy refrain,” played against contrasting, nervously brilliant episodes that occasionally hint at Beethoven’s capacity for polyphony. .

The musical context shifts precipitously to Raga Aallapana (Bahudari) from Mysore, India, as arranged by violinist Kim. Whining optimistically over a fixed pedal point, the Carnatic melody weaves and meanders in various registers and whimsical metric periods.

We hear three original compositions by Shane Shanahan, the composer-percussionist noted for his association with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble. Audacity for violin, djembe, and ocean drum, pays tribute to Barack Obama’s cultural diversity and ambitions for global harmony. The piece blends impulses from Indonesia, Africa, and American jazz. Rather moody and whimsical, proceeds as a series of sonic clusters, engagements of a song with strong African percussion, suddenly breaking off in stride, glissando and pizzicato for the violin. Th piece concludes with an extended raga sensibility.

Oil Field Fires grimly refers to Sadam Houssein’s scorched earth policy of retreat of his troops, as well as various ecological disasters involving the invasion of fossil fuels into earth and waters. Often set as a rhythmic, persistent buzzing, the melodic line and eerie harmonies and African percussion bode badly for our endangered planet.

The most extensive of the Shanahan pieces, Khanda Jog for violin, frame drum, kanjira, and udu, whose impulses derive from South and North Indian Carnatic rhythms, especially common in five beats. A long raga tune sings over a drone bass pedal, it begins to dance more rhythmically, the Jog’s permitting various degrees of improvised interaction.

Kim’s own piece, Migrating Home, announces her debut in composing, utilizing the “uncommon thread” of vintage amp and loop pedal. Often set as a sliding, descending motif for solo violin, the work serves as a lament for the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020 and the domestic invasions of ICE in Minneapolis in early 2026.

Complementing the assemblage of Classical, contemporary and folk idioms, we have tunes from Macedonia and Bulgaria, each with its eccentric metrics in 7 and 13. The Macedonian folk tune plays intimately, sorrowfully, intimating a vocal accompaniment of longing and unfulfilled desire. The Bulgarian Krivo captures the immediacy of the driving 13/8 rhythm, the word itself, meaning “crooked,” inviting various departures from the dervish insistence of the dance.

An album for the musically and geographically adventurous, quite well done.

–Gary Lemco

(un)common thread – exploring improvisation from mozart to macedonia

MOZART: Violin Sonata in B-flat Major, K. 454;
BEETHOVEN: Violin Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 12/3;
Raga Aalapana (arranged by KIM): Bahudri for Solo Violin;
SHANAHAN: Audacity for Violin and Percussion; Oil Field Fires for Violin and Percussion; Khanda Jog for Violin and Percussion;
KIM: Migrating Home for Solo Violin and Looper Pedal;
Traditional Macedonian: Lesnoto Cveta Moma Ubava for Violin and Percussion;
Traditional Bulgarian: Krivo Sadovsko Horo for Violin and Percussion

Performing Artists:
Ariana Kim, violin/
Roger Moseley, fortepiano/
Shane Shanahan, percussion

From Saffron Soul Records, Ariana Kim on violin with “(un)common thread – exploring improvisation from mozart to macedonia”.  Classical Music Review by Gary Lemco.

Four Hands on Stage – Stephanie McCallum and Erin Heyland, Érard piano – Toccata Classics

by Audiophile Audition | Aug 29, 2026 | Classical CD Reviews

Four Hands on Stage = HILLER: Operette ohne Text, Op. 106; MOSCHELES: Grands Sonate Symphonique No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 112 – Stephanie McCallum and Erin Heyland, Érard piano – Toccata Classics TOCN 0042 (8/21/26) (79:05) [Distr. by Naxos] ****:

 Even though the Beidermeier movement (c. 1815-1848) encouraged the European middle class to aspire to artistic aims – mainly in the form of possessing pianos for household music – a tendency to complacent mediocrity set in, blunting the more lofty sensibilities from achieving their fullest expression, as in the case of many communities’ lack of any orchestral ensemble.  There also arose a succession of composers intent only on empty bravura display, amassing notes and velocities merely to show off their individual accomplishment.

To compensate for the penchant to trade depth for spectacle, masters of the keyboard began conceiving of their instrument as a medium of “symphonic” potential, especially after the advent of the Érard piano (1777) and its noted development in 1821 of the supple, double-escapement action, allowing for the raid repeat of notes with the delay of the hammers’ return.  Besides the huge numbers of transcriptions of large-ensemble pieces, often edited to allow non-professionals technical access, a dedicated cadre of virtuoso composers submitted autonomous scores entirely devoted to the most ample and voluptuous orchestral medium in four-hand piano form, of which Ferdinand Hiller (1811-1885) and Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) stand as outstanding examples.

This disc opens with Ferdinand Hiller’s1864 Operette ohne Text, a substantial drama for a pair of accomplished keyboard players.  Without recourse to written plot, the music advances in twelve episodes that draw from theatrical tropes in German Romantic opera and French opéra-comique.  The Ouverture takes its natural place in a series of fanfares, easily invoking the sound of trumpets.  A thoughtful cantabile melody marks the “Romance of the Young Maidens,” a soaring, tender aria for soprano. Poltarie introduces a noisy street scene, a collective tumult similar to the first scene in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

The model of the Huntmen’s Chorus from Weber’s Der Freischuetz infltrates the “Hunting Choir and Ensemble,” a jaunty drinking song with a meditative trio.  “Romance of the Youths” provides a lyrical balanced to the earlier soprano aria with a male tenor offering. A dialogue follows in literal fashion, the Duettino moves in nervous motion, the agitation easily reminiscent of filigree in Schumann. Trinklied mit Chor, the essential community drinking song, here set in a mocking, satiric tone that E.T.A. Hoffmann might claim.

The last five sections insist on operatic conventions: the Marsch invites comparison to Beethoven, Schumann, and Gounod, at once.  The martial tune carries a vague sense of “Waltzing Matilda.” Terzett proffers a vocal ensemble piece, as three voices engage in complex, even canonic exchange. A female chorus, Frauenchor, proceeds in homely terms, the arrangement sounding – as it evolves more maestoso – like diluted Mendelssohn.  The penultimate section, Tanz, gathers the social forces together once more; here, a sturdy march-mazurka that often ripples then thunders playfully. A Schubertian graciousness injects a degree  of charm into the divertissement. Schlussgesang indicates the final scene, cyclically quoting themes from the Ouverture as so nostalgically serving as an epilogue for communal harmony and cooperation. Whether this ambitious hybrid satisfies the requirements of opera and duo-piano composition shall remain debatable.

Ignaz Moscheles’ 1845 Grande Sonate Symphonique No. 2 in B Minor pays homage both to Felix Mendelssohn and Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888), each of whom expanded the breadth of the orchestral and keyboard media, respectively.  Moscheles’ editorial work of transcribing music of Beethoven no less influenced his sense of orchestral sonorities, and the opening tremolandos for the Andante patetico – Allegro agitato command our attention, moving to aerial, melodic tissue indicative of divided strings. Dotted filigree in the manner of punctuated horn motifs surround us with a sense of trombones and woodwinds in the Berlioz manner, especially in potent, rising scalar patterns. Two major thematic groups evolve, the second more breezy and galloping The Andante patetico returns before the intertwined coda coalesces their energies.

Marked Andante espressivo, the second movement reveals Moscheles’ capacities in delicate color combinations, allotting to the primo part an operatic cantilena over strummed effects in the second piano voice. At moments, we may feel a Chopin or Mendelssohn nocturne has whispered to Moscheles. Extended periods of pp or ff pedal proceed in tinted, stately processions.  Robert Schumann’s journal, the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, praised the Scherzo alla tedesca antica for its “classically poised humor,” set in a rather staggered, pesante mode with a percussive trio section.

The big finale opens Andante patetico, with some sweeping filigree and a steady, meditative pace.  The effect suggests chorale sensibility, the truth of which asserts itself later on. Moscheles allows in the Allegro con brio the Alkan penchant for the grandiose to assert itself in colors that include organ, orchestra, and chorus – perhaps even an homage to Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2, his ‘Song of Praise.” Some colorful exchange between the four hands breaks out voluptuously into dazzling bravura; and here, from McCallum and Heyland, listeners will recall the virtuosity of the Labeque sisters.

Note that this document provides us the first recording of the Hiller piece and the first recording on the Érard instrument of the Moscheles.

–Gary Lemco

Amazon

FOOTE: The Complete Cello Works – Julian Schwarz, cello – Delos

by Audiophile Audition | Aug 28, 2026 | Classical CD Reviews

Amazon