Composer: Adolf Busch
Performer: Bettina Beigelbeck, Manfred Kratzer, Yasushi Ideue, Busch Kollegium Karlsruhe
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0293
Release: 2015
Size: 327 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Divertimento for Clarinet, Oboe & Cor anglais, Op. 62b
01. I. Allegretto grazioso
02. II. Quasi presto
03. III. Andante molto sostenuto
04. IV. Molto comodo
05. V. Scherzo. Vivace assai
06. VI. Allegretto grazioso
Clarinet Sonata in A Major, Op. 54
07. I. Allegro ma non troppo
08. II. Scherzando vivace
09. III. Grave
Suite for Solo Clarinet in D Minor, Op. 37a
10. I. Andante tranquillo
11. II. Adagio
12. III. Scherzo. Molto vivace
13. IV. Vivace
Duet No. 2 for Violin & Clarinet, Op. 26b
14. I. Allegro
15. II. Scherzo
16. III. Andante tranquillo
17. IV. Allegro moderato ma con spirito
5 Canons in Unison, BoO 60
18. No. 1 in F Major. Allegretto
19. No. 2 in D Major. Quasi presto
20. No. 3 in B Minor. Tempo di bourée
21. No. 4 in A Major. Lo stesso tempo
22. No. 5 in B-Flat Major. Adagio ed espressivo
23. German Dances for Clarinet, Violin & Cello, Op. 26c
Adolf Busch (1891–1952) enjoys a reputation as one of the greatest of all violinists: his recordings of Beethoven with the Busch Quartet have never been surpassed. By contrast, Busch as a creative figure is almost unknown, but he was also one of the major composers of his day, equally natural as contrapuntist and melodist, with a style that owed much to his boyhood idol, Max Reger.
Part of the neglect is Busch’s own fault: always a man of principle, he sacrificed his career as both violinist and composer with his dignified refusal to perform or be performed in Nazi Germany.
This CD of his lyrical writing for clarinet, the second in a series of recordings of Busch’s light-filled chamber music, is part of the rediscovery of one of the leading musicians of his day.
Bettina Beigelbeck, clarinet, has appeared as a soloist with a number of orchestras, with not only the usual clarinet concertos in her repertoire – for example, with the cellist Maximilian Hornung, she recorded the Double Concerto of Peter von Winter with the South-West German Chamber Orchestra conducted by Sebastian Tewinkel. The Busch Kollegium Karlsruhe – its personnel drawn, as the name suggests, from musicians based in Karlsruhe – was founded by Bettina Beigelbeck expressly to make this and the earlier recording and intends to continue to record chamber music by Adolf Busch and his contemporaries.