Maria Bach - Piano Quintet; Cello Sonata; Cello Suite (Various Artists)

Information

Composer: Maria Bach

• Piano Quintet in A Minor "Volga"
• Cello Sonata in C Minor
• Cello Suite in F Minor

Oliver Triendl, piano

Marina Grauman, violin

Nina Karmon, violin

Öykü Canpolat, viola

Alexander Hülshoff, cello

Date: 2022

Label: Hänssler Classic

https://haensslerprofil.de/shop/kammermusik-instrumental/kammermusik-maria-bach/

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Review

No sooner has CPO released a fine collection of Maria Bach’s chamber music (reviewed last month), than rival German label Hänssler produces its own selection, with the ‘Wolga’ Piano Quintet and Cello Sonata common to both.

Side-by-side comparisons reveal distinct differences of approach in the quintet: the Hänssler players are slightly swifter in all three movements, more impassioned in their emotional responses, and boldly project a concert-hall ambience, enhanced by the gently distanced engineering. By comparison, the CPO players achieve a chamber-scale intimacy that emphasises the music’s Debussyan harmonic flavours and colours.

The Cello Sonata encapsulates the essential differences between the two sets, with Alexander Hülshoff and Oliver Triendl bringing to it a forthright passion, whereas Matthias Johansen and Yukie Takai (CPO) are more inward.

Hülshoff rounds out the Hänssler collection with the four-movement Solo Cello Suite written for Bach’s sister Henriette. Remarkably, for such an accomplished work, it was never performed publicly during the composer’s lifetime (Maria died in 1978, aged nearly 82). Hülshoff, boldly recorded, plays with fiery temperament and tonal opulence.

-- Julian Haylock, The Strad

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Maria Bach (1896–1978) was an Austrian pianist, violinist, composer and artist. She was born in Vienna and studied composition at the Vienna Academy of Music with Joseph Marx, who would later help Bach develop her own personal style of composing. During World War II, Bach's compositions were deemed both conservative and traditional among Nazi standards and were deemed acceptable to be performed. In 1952 Bach married Arturo Ciacelli, an Italian painter, and began painting landscapes, mainly of Italy. She received a gold medal for composition in 1962 and was awarded the title of professor in 1976.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Bach

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