MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW
Plain text for smartphones & printers


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

Support us financially by purchasing this disc from

Christian Frederik Emil HORNEMAN (1840-1906)
String Quartet no.1 in G minor (1859) [25:02]
String Quartet no.2 in D (1861) [21:36]
Asger HAMERIK (1843-1923)
Quartetto in A minor (1859) [6:16]
Arild String Quartet (Tobias Durholm (violin I), Anna Zelianodjevo (violin II), Rafael Altino (viola), Ingemar Brantelid (cello))
rec. Takelloftet, Operaen, Copenhagen, 6-9 June 2011. DDD
DACAPO 8.226097 [52:55]

Christian Horneman and Asger Hamerik are two of Denmark's almost-forgotten composers, despite the fact that between them they counted Grieg, Wagner and Berlioz among their friends. They were both part of the Copenhagen musical dynasty that flourished in the 19th century. In fact, Horneman's mother and Hamerik's mother were sisters, themselves cousins to the wife of one of Denmark's more celebrated figures, J.P.E. Hartmann.
 
Fortunately, Danish specialists Dacapo never tire of trying to get their national composers wider recognition. A four-CD boxed set of Hamerik's symphonies, released in 2009, garnered critical acclaim - see review. Last year the label released a disc of Horneman's orchestral music that likewise met with enthusiasm (review).
 
Hamerik (originally 'Hammerich') actually wrote little chamber music - a piano quintet in C minor is his only significant work. The quartetto in A minor is only six minutes long and may well have been part of a larger work that never materialised, or was lost. It works well as a filler between the two Horneman quartets though, being quite different in character, with an infectious ostinato that ought to secure it a place in more concert programmes. Incidentally, Hamerik's son Ebbe was also a notable composer, and the pair starred together in Danacord's 'Harmonious Families - Danish Compositions by Fathers and Sons' series (DACOCD 526 - review).
 
Both Horneman's quartets are youthful works, but no less assured for it. The G minor work in particular has a coherence and wistful maturity that conceal the fact that it was written by a teenager. The andante second movement is very soulful. Though formally similar, the D major quartet is shorter and more upbeat - not as profound or memorable as the other, but still a fine piece of writing, recalling one or other of Nielsen's major-key quartets.
 
The Arild String Quartet have been around for fifteen years, but this is, rather surprisingly, their debut on CD. They play with apt alacrity, communicating equally both the intelligence and the vibrancy of Horneman's music, not to mention the sparkle of Hamerik's, in a persuasive fashion.
 
Sound quality is good, although there is quite a lot of reverberation, sometimes hinting at artificial provenance. The English-Danish booklet notes are by Inger Sørensen, who is both Horneman's biographer and an educational librarian. It comes as no surprise, therefore, to find them well written and packing much detail into a fairly small space.
 
The CD running time is disappointing, but that is certainly not true of the musicianship heard here.
 
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at artmusicreviews.co.uk