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.

17 comments:

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

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

    ReplyDelete
  3. 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!

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

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

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you very much for this, Anchusa.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 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.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 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.

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

    ReplyDelete
  10. 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.

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

    ReplyDelete
  12. 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".

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

    Many thanks,

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Could you reupload this? Thanks!!

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

    ReplyDelete