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

Information

Composer: Maria Bach

• Piano Quintet "Wolga"
• String Quintet
• Cello Sonata

Christine Busch, violin

Elene Meipariani, violin

Klaus Christa, viola

Mathias Johansen, cello

Conradin Brotbek, cello

Akiko Shiochi, piano

Yukie Takai, piano

Date: 2022

Label: cpo

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/maria-bach-streichquartett/hnum/9735523

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Review

Maria Bach was born in 1896 into an arts-loving family, at whose Viennese home regular guests included Klimt, Brahms, Wolf and Korngold; the last of these nurtured Maria’s pianistic and creative talents and helped organise her studies with Joseph Marx. She not only became a celebrated composer, but also a notable poet and artist. She was still going strong aged 82, when a gas leak at home claimed her life in 1978.

Of particular interest here is the world-premiere recording of Bach’s three-movement String Quintet (1936), which is strikingly close in temperament, gesture and sound world to Debussy’s String Quartet. Fascinatingly, the ‘Wolga’ Piano Quintet – arguably Bach’s most radiant masterpiece – uses Brahms as a creative launchpad, yet the music’s melodic and harmonic patternings are coloured by Debussy and Ravel, and also features a dozen subtle references to the Russian folk song ‘Song of the Volga Boatmen’. Earliest of the three works is the 1924 Cello Sonata, and here the Brahmsian influence is at its strongest, notwithstanding occasional Rachmaninoffian touches.

This fine team of soloists conveys an infectious sense of discovery allied to technical finesse, complemented by CPO’s naturally balanced, gently glowing engineering.

-- Julian Haylock, The Strad

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Jul/BachM-chamber-5553412.htm

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Aug/BachM-chamber-5553412.htm

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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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