Phantasy in Blue: Gershwin, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, Falla, Shostakovich

by Alban Gerhardt, Alliage Quintett

Overview

Works for solo cello often include arrangements of pieces in other media due to the overall sparsity of originals for the cello, especially in chamber music, but this release by cellist Alban Gerhardt and the Alliage Quintet is something else again. The arrangements, by various composers, are for cello, saxophone quartet, and piano. This could easily have turned out as simply bizarre, especially inasmuch as the composers had their own individual approaches, yet each arrangement is fully thought through, and the pieces differ in the degree of remaking they undergo. The result is that one really hears some of the music in a new way. The most thorough reimagining is that applied by Stefan Malzew to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which, alone among the works on the album, gets a new title, which is also used for the album as a whole. Malzew freely distributes sections of the piano part among the cello and the saxophones. Also striking is the Vivaldi Cello Concerto in A minor, RV 418, where the saxophones provide a texture sufficiently distant from that of the original work as to create a mysterious flavor. The works by Falla and Shostakovich, not for the cello originally, are a bit more straightforward, but really everything on the program hangs together, and Gerhardt's idea never wears out its welcome. The readings by the Alliage Quintet are warm and atmospheric, having the effect of a wash of sound, and the whole thing is beautifully captured by Hyperion's engineers in the Deutsche Kammermusiksaal in Cologne. An essential find for saxophonists and those who love them, this release hit classical best-seller charts in the spring of 2022. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	06/02/2023
Label:	HYPERION
UPC:	0034571284194

Tracks

1. Variations on a Rococo theme Op. 33~Introduction: Moderato quasi andante
2. Variations on a Rococo theme Op. 33~Thema: Moderato semplice
3. Variations on a Rococo theme Op. 33~Variation 1: Tempo della thema
4. Variations on a Rococo theme Op. 33~Variation 2: Tempo della thema
5. Variations on a Rococo theme Op. 33~Variation 3: Andante sostenuto
6. Variations on a Rococo theme Op. 33~Variation 4: Andante grazioso ¿
7. Variations on a Rococo theme Op. 33~Variation 5: Allegro moderato
8. Variations on a Rococo theme Op. 33~Variation 6: Andante 'Bluesando'
9. Variations on a Rococo theme Op. 33~Variation 7 and Coda: Allegro vivo
10. Cello Concerto in A minor, RV418~Allegro
11. Cello Concerto in A minor, RV418~[Largo]
12. Cello Concerto in A minor, RV418~Allegro
13. Siete Canciones populares españolas~El paño moruno
14. Siete Canciones populares españolas~Seguidilla murciana
15. Siete Canciones populares españolas~Asturiana
16. Siete Canciones populares españolas~Jota
17. Siete Canciones populares españolas~Nana
18. Siete Canciones populares españolas~Canción
19. Siete Canciones populares españolas~Polo
20. Ovod (The gadfly), Op. 97~Prelude 'Guitars'
21. Chelovecheskaya komediya (The human comedy), Op. 37~Elegy
22. Suite for variety orchestra~Waltz No. 2
23. Phantasy in blue after Gershwin's Rhapsody in blue

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Alban Gerhardt   Primary Artist,Cello
Alliage Quintett   Primary Artist,Ensemble

Technical Credits

Stefan Malzew   Composer,Arranger
Sebastian Gottschick   Arranger
Dmitry Shostakovich   Composer
Viola Scheffel   Liner Note Translation
Daniel Gauthier   Liner Notes
Michael Morawietz   Engineer
Antonio Vivaldi   Composer
Manuel de Falla   Composer
Todd Harris   Booklet Editor
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky   Composer
George Gershwin   Original Material
Levon Atovmian   Arranger
Nancy Moniz Charalambous   Illustrations
Itai Sobol   Arranger
Anna Tena   Photography
Louis Fontaine   Arranger
Christoph Schmitz   Executive Producer
Francis Pott   Liner Notes
Kaupo Kikkas   Photography
Stephan Schmidt   Recording Producer
Simon Perry   Executive Producer
Alban Gerhardt   Liner Notes