CD 85/86
Chamber Music Concert 1995
The Kronburg near Landeck, hand-colored steel engraving by L. Lauterbach, about 1850
The Bozen-born composer Ludwig Thuille is one of the many outstanding gifted musicians from the Tyrol to gain fame and recognition abroad, thus assuring the fi ne reputation of the Tyrol as a land of music. Our 1995 Chamber Music Concert, documented by this live recording, was dedicated to presenting particularly characteristic and important works by Thuille in the fi eld of chamber music. His Sextet in B Flat Major op. 6 for piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon (composed in 1886-1888) has an underlying cheerful mood but also sweeping passion and sometimes a farcical sense of humor. It reflects what was probably the loveliest phase of Thuille’s short life, when he met and married Emma Dietl. It was his most popular piece and his fi rst great international success. Also from this happy periodaretheDreiFrauenlieder (Three Women’s Songs) op. 5 set to poems by Karl Stieler, of which the wonderful third one, “Es klingt der Lärm der Welt,” really seems to refl ect his feelings at the time. The piano quintet op. 20 is perhaps the most notable example of Thuille’s mature style as a chamber music composer. The artistry of the intricately differentiated string quartet scoring combines with what is naturally an excellent piano part, considering that Ludwig Thuille was a masterly pianist. The resultant superb chamber music effect makes you wonder why it took our concert to rediscover this glorious treasure in the fi rst place.
CD 1, Track 1, 1:58
Sextett in Bb
Allegro moderato