Korngold: Piano Quintet in E major, Op. 15

• Korngold’s chamber works are full of unusual and densely packed ideas • They are perfomed with precision and verve by camerata freden

Erich Wolfgang Korngold was one of the most astonishing prodigies in the history of western music, admired by Mahler, Strauss, and Puccini. His compositions were regularly performed by renowned musicians from around the world.

Korngold composed his Sextet for Strings between 1914 and 1916, at the same time as his opera Violanta, and for this reason perhaps, it takes on some of the theatrical elements of that work. The first movement presents some highly intricate counterpoint among the different voices. In the Adagio the mood shifts to one of intense sensuousness. The third movement brings relief to the highly charged atmosphere. Here Korngold plays – sometimes with an air of irony, sometimes jokingly, sometimes more straightforwardly – with that most Viennese of genres, the waltz. The finale, in typical Korngold fashion, is high-spirited and good-humoured.

The highly successful premiere of the Quintet for Two Violins, Viola, Cello, and Piano took place in Hamburg in 1923 with the composer at the keyboard. The work is in three elaborate and complex movements, with a piano part of considerable difficulty, and string writing on a virtuosic scale. With good humour and charm aplenty, the quintet displays the composer’s sunny disposition. In the work Korngold incorporated a musical code that he had developed to send secret, loving messages to his fiancée during concert performances.

Described by the magazine Gramophone as ‘one of the finest young string quartets’, whose members are ‘musicians with fascinating things to say’, the Doric String Quartet has received rave responses from audiences and critics across the globe. The Quartet’s recent recording of Korngold’s string quartets was a 2010 Critics’ Choice in Gramophone, and the group’s most recent recording on Chandos (CHAN10692), of Schumann’s three string quartets, was ‘Recording of the Month’ in BBC Music. The Quartet is joined on this recording by Kathryn Stott on piano, Jennifer Stumm on viola, and Bartholomew LaFolette on cello.

CPO has already explored some of Korngold’s orchestral works, his film music and his opera, but now they have chosen to explore his chamber music, starting with the String Quartets and Piano Quintet.

EMI Classics is pleased to release the latest instalment of highlights from the Martha Argerich Project at the Lugano Festival. This is the eight annual 3-CD set celebrating the musical fruits of a project in which young artists join seasoned performers, including Ms. Argerich, to explore wide-ranging chamber music and orchestral repertoire, both well known and rarely heard. The CDs, recorded in the summer of 2010, are being released in anticipation of the Festival’s 2011 season in June.

As a chamber music event, this series has become a laboratory that gives guest artists a chance to prove themselves not only in well-known masterpieces but also in rarely performed repertoire.

This is Martha Argerich’s 70th birthday year, and this year, the Live from Lugano series will be redesigned, starting with this edition. The new cover concept will be incorporated into future Lugano releases and the previous editions will be scheduled for redesign as necessary. The new design reflects the vibrancy of both Argerich and the festival.

The piano stands at the centre of the programming, not only with works originally written for it but also with transcriptions, which played an important historic role in the diffusion of music in remote areas and within family circles.

This brilliant 3-CD set features the breathtaking Martha Argerich and an exciting assembly of classical stars and up-and-coming talent including Gautier Capuçon , Renaud Capuçon, Gabriela Montero , Alissa Margulis , Geza Hosszu-Legocky , Lida Chen, , Natalia Margulis , Nicholas Angelich , Stephen Kovacevich , Lilya Zilberstein, Sergei Edelmann, Lily Maisky, Daniel Rivera , Alexander Mogilewsky, Giorgia Tomassi , Carlo Maria Griguoli , Dora Schwarzberg , Alessandro Stella Alissa Margulis, Lucia Hall, Nora Romanoff-Schwarzberg, Mark Drobinsky, Louis Sauvêtre, Danilo Grassi and Jorge Bosso as well as Orchestra della Svizzera italiana

The repertoire features includes: Schumann’s Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in A minor, op. 105 and Adagio and Allegro for Cello and Piano, Op. 70, Chopin’s Rondo in C Major, Op. 73 for 2 Pianos, Brahms’ Variations on a Them by Schumann, Op. 23, Liszt’s Les Préludes, Symphonic Poem No. 3, the Korngold Piano Quintet in E Major, Op. 15, Bartók’s Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion Sz 110, Granados’ Piano Quintet in G minor Op. 49, Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (1919) – Version for 3 Pianos by Carlo Maria Griguoli, Schnittke’s Piano Quintet Op. 108 and the Gershwin/Grainger Fantasy for Two Pianos on Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

Few artists have nurtured and promoted emerging young musicians with the level of personal commitment shown by Martha Argerich. In the process, she has created inspired and inspirational chamber music partnerships mixing established and up-and-coming artists. A legend in her own lifetime for her technical mastery and passionate artistry, Argerich possesses an infectious spirit that has fired her own performances and partnerships as well as those of her colleagues and protégés.

Reviewing the CD set highlighting the 2007 Festival, The Financial Times wrote, “The music flies off the page, like a high-calibre jam session in which the participants throw away worldly cares and listen to each other in the moment of performance. There's polish aplenty, as one might expect of well-established musicians, but more to the point, the CD radiates the freshness and electricity of a special occasion. What's so endearing about Argerich's festival concept is that she blends younger players with more experienced colleagues, so there's a cross-fertilisation of ideas. Even when she plays no part … the same invigorating spirit presides.” Gramophone said, “Martha Argerich can put you on alert with just one phrase. A sequence of phrases … becomes the aural embodiment of an archer drawing a bow to maximum stretch. …. The tension is palpable, [the] artists playing into the music to extract all it offers - and clawing listeners out of themselves.”

The ninth season of the Martha Argerich Project takes place in June 2011. Many of the artists on these CDs will take part again this year.