SACDs - Ligeti

BIS present two major works for horn, violin and piano, bringing together Johannes Brahms, generally regarded as the great traditionalist of the late 19th century, and György Ligeti, born 90 years after Brahms, and one of the most innovative and progressive figures of his time.

The death of Brahms’s mother had a great impact on his Trio, especially on the elegiac third movement.

Ligeti composed his trio to be performed during the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Brahms’s birth.

The two trios frame a substantial, newly composed piece for horn solo written by Kalevi Aho with the present recording in mind.

Marie-Luise Neunecker is acclaimed as a chamber musician as well as soloist: György Ligeti wrote for her one of his last works, the Hamburg Concerto for solo horn and chamber orchestra. She is joined by Antje Weithaas and Silke Avenhaus, both appearing for the first time on the BIS label.

Folk, Gypsy and Hungarian influences are very evident in these exuberant compositions. Appropriately, Lawrence Foster was decorated by the Romanian President for services to Romanian Music in 2003. This is a live performance by the Gulbenkian Orchestra.

In this 4 SACD set, NEOS music presents the first Salzburg Biennale, the new contemporary music festival which took place over four weekends in March 2009. The festival brought about many musical encounters and the collection includes works by Cage, Furrer, Hosokawa, Huber, Kurtág, Ligeti, Reich, Sotelo, Ustvolskaya and Yeznikian.