Monday, 17 August 2009

Dvorak, Chamber music arranged for
wind quintet - Ma'alot Quintet





Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904)

Four Slavonic Dances (1878/1886)
Quartet for Strings in F major, Op. 96/B 179 "American" (1893)
Bagatelles for 2 Violins, Cello and Harmonium, Op. 47/B 79 (1878)

All works arranged for wind quintet by Ulf-Guido Schäfer or Volker Grewel

Ma'alot Quintet
Stephanie Winker - Flute
Christian Wetzel - Oboe
Ulf-Guido Schäfer - Clarinet
Volker Grewel - Horn
Volker Tessmann - Bassoon
(This German quintet takes its name from the common name of psalms 120-134, the "Psalms of Ascent".)

Except for an angry (and, with respect to the misrepresentations of the artists' statements in the booklet, pretty annoying) review in Fanfare this recording has had a rather enthusiastic welcome by the critics. I think that especially the arrangement of the "American" quartet, which is so frowned upon by the Fanfare critic, works very well.
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17 comments:

  1. Anonymous18 August 2009 at 05:21

    Being myself a collector of transcriptions, I have to thank you very much for this.
    Yiannis K, Athens, Greece

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  2. Rho19 August 2009 at 03:04

    Very nice! :)Pity I'll have to wait a while to download it...looks ideal for some late summer listening. Thanks, Anchusa! :)

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  3. Rho21 August 2009 at 23:41

    This was an enjoyable listen, Anchusa, thanks. Sometimes I missed the pathos of the strings (e.g. the Lento of the American) and in the dances I was a bit sorry they didn't have a nice rumbling string bass/cello section ;), but that was made up for by hearing so clearly all the layers of counterpoint in the different timbres. I'd forgotten how clear and piercing pure wind harmonics can be...once or twice my earphones almost popped off!

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  4. Wolfgang26 November 2009 at 10:00

    Please, Anchusa, would it be possible to re-upload this?
    Thanks,
    Julio

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  5. anchusa26 November 2009 at 19:47

    I don't understand, Julio. The links for both files are still alive. Did you get an error message?

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  6. Unknown9 January 2010 at 08:26

    Thank you very much for this, Anchusa.

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  7. AltvioolToon21 May 2010 at 23:38

    We just started to study the American string quartet in the original version. We think that quartet is rather difficult, but we like it.
    I'm curious to the transcription.

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  8. AltvioolToon22 May 2010 at 19:40

    Dear Anchusa, in this moment I'm listening to the American Quartet. The transcription is very convincing, but being an amateur violist it is not peculiar that I like the original version better. The fagot is a good sustitute for the viola.
    Many thanks.

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  9. sHared iTunes19 November 2010 at 00:45

    Wonderful post...

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  10. YiannisK28 August 2011 at 20:46

    Another precious recording. Thank you very much from Athens, Greece

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  11. YiannisK28 August 2011 at 20:51

    PS.
    I don't understand the complaints about the transcriptions. A transcription is a transcription and doesn't intend to replace the original. It's a wonderful game, made to provoke us to listen to some popular tunes anew.

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  12. Unknown5 April 2014 at 02:53

    Please tell me whether the Dvorak Bagatelles is self published. May we buy a set?

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  13. anchusa5 April 2014 at 16:28

    Sorry, I have no idea. You could try asking the artists directly. There are a couple of contact emails on their website (http://www.maalot-quintett.de/en/index_ensemble.html), under "Imprint" and "Agency".

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  14. Tom18 April 2014 at 12:54

    Could you please re-upload -- links no longer working.

    Many thanks,

    ReplyDelete
  15. anchusa19 April 2014 at 12:17

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous28 January 2018 at 18:51

    Could you reupload this? Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. anchusa3 February 2018 at 18:32

    New link (one-file-per-track FLACs and booklet scans):
    https://drive.google.com/open?id=1D6Mx1ghRSs0SW3dO_sMJmhTm0MWkeXLq

    ReplyDelete

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