The corona distancing rules meant that Symphonia Momentum did not play in early August 2020. Instead, on the initiative of concert master and soloist Joel Bardolet, a trio of Catalan musicians who knew each other well but had never played together before came together in Munich. Astonishingly quickly, they found their own sound, and in intensive work, a polyphonically complex, highly demanding program was rehearsed, performed in a private concert and recorded within a week. It is doubtful whether the string trio arrangements of three fugues from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier are really by Mozart. But the slow introductions that Mozart composed for them leave no doubt as to their origin. Paul BÃ¼ttner wrote his Trio Sonata in canonic form around 1930, and these seven miniatures not only radiate musical joy, but also present an unheard-of variety of characters and moods in their own unmistakable language. They are recorded here for the first time, as well as the enormous Chamber Sonata that Heinz Schubert (1908-45) composed in 1934. Heinz Schubert, who was killed in the Volkssturm on the Eastern Front shortly before the end of the war, wrote a work here that is incomparable in it's gigantic challenge and irresistable crossing of apparent boundaries of polyphonic complex three-part harmony. Stylistically influenced by the polyphony of his teacher Heinrich Kaminski, based on Bach, late Beethoven and Bruckner and overflowing the barlines, Heinz Schubert created a hymnic-ecstatic music of absolute timelessness. The program concludes with the late String Trio of 1983 by Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling, once Kaminski's closest student. In two movements of rhapsodic freedom of form and refined, fragile introspection, Schwarz-Schilling draws a confident balance of a long life as a composer, shaken by the world wars and ideological trench warfare of the 20th century.

Tracklist:

Three Fugues (after Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier), K. 404a~I. Adagio - Fuga (after BWV 853)
Three Fugues (after Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier), K. 404a~I. Allegro moderato (after BWV 853)
Three Fugues (after Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier), K. 404a~II. Adagio - Fuga (after BWV 583)
Three Fugues (after Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier), K. 404a~II. Allegro (after BWV 583)
Three Fugues (after Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier), K. 404a~III. Adagio - Fuga (after BWV 882)
Three Fugues (after Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier), K. 404a~III. Vivace (after BWV 882)
Trio Sonata for violin, viola and violoncello (Canons with inversions, in invertible counterpoint at the 12th) ca. 1930~I. Grave
Trio Sonata for violin, viola and violoncello (Canons with inversions, in invertible counterpoint at the 12th) ca. 1930~II. Anda
Trio Sonata for violin, viola and violoncello (Canons with inversions, in invertible counterpoint at the 12th) ca. 1930~III. Ada
Trio Sonata for violin, viola and violoncello (Canons with inversions, in invertible counterpoint at the 12th) ca. 1930~IV. Viva
Trio Sonata for violin, viola and violoncello (Canons with inversions, in invertible counterpoint at the 12th) ca. 1930~V. Andan
Trio Sonata for violin, viola and violoncello (Canons with inversions, in invertible counterpoint at the 12th) ca. 1930~VI. Larg
Trio Sonata for violin, viola and violoncello (Canons with inversions, in invertible counterpoint at the 12th) ca. 1930~VII. Fin
Chamber Sonata for violin, viola and violoncello~I. Un poco maestoso e sostenuto - Poco adagio - Tempo primo - Un poco allegro -
Chamber Sonata for violin, viola and violoncello~II. Chaconne (Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein...). Adagio - Molto sostenuto -
Chamber Sonata for violin, viola and violoncello~III. Fuga. Allegro, ma un poco tenuto - Sempre piÃ¹ animando e crescendo - Poco
String Trio~I. Rhapsodie
String Trio~II. Notturno. Larghetto con intimo espressione
Zeitlupen-Blick in Heinz Schuberts hochverdichtete Harmonik

UPC: 9003643980143
Label: Gramola
Release Date: 2.12.21
Format: CD

Buttner / Trio Montserrat - German Counterpoint (CD)