Manuel Quartett, Stefan Meier & Alexander Ruef – Fritz Brun: Early Chamber Music (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Manuel Quartett, Stefan Meier & Alexander Ruef – Fritz Brun: Early Chamber Music (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:58 minutes | 1,33 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Prospero Classical

…Fritz Brun can be considered the last symphonist of the old style, one whose death was announced on 29 th November, 1959 at the age of 82. Born in Lucerne in 1878, Brun stayed true to his time – through thick and thin, one might be tempted to say – because he was a con­servative, though not in the worst possible sense of the word. Brun completed his first symphony at the age of 30 and a tenth and final symphony as a seventy­some­ thing year­old. If he happened to write a concerto for piano or cello in the meantime then it resembled a symphony with obbligato solo instrument and the one­ movement orchestral works were also in the same vein. Even the four momentous string quartets remain true to this line despite the fifty years separating the firstand last…

For more than thirty years Fritz Brun (1878-1959) was chief conductor of the Bern City Orchestra and is often referred to as the last symphonist of the Romantic style. His rich symphonic output is currently undergoing a remarkable renaissance. While the wonderful 1st String Quartet from his Cologne study period was not performed for decades and has now received its premiere recording, the passionate 1st Violin Sonata is considered Brun’s most performed work.

FRITZ BRUN was born in Lucerne on August 18, 1878. He studied composition and conducting with Franz Wüllner at the conservatory in Cologne, and after his studies he managed to get by with short-term jobs in Berlin, London and Dortmund before finally returning to his homeland in 1903: first as a piano teacher at the music school in Bern, later as conductor of the symphony concerts of the Bern Music Society and director of the “Cäcilienverein” and the “Berner Liedertafel”, he rendered outstanding services to the musical life of Bern; from 1926 to 1940 he was vice-president of the Swiss Music Society Tonkünstlerverein.

Now, two of the composer’s early chamber works will be heard together for the first time on album. The beautiful String Quartet, written in Cologne in 1901 and full of longing, speaks of the beauty of his Swiss homeland, and the highly passionate First Violin Sonata, written a few years later in Bern. The String Quartet has not been recorded at all until now. And the Violin Sonata only in a shortened and “lightened” version. The musical “impositions” and enormous technical challenges of the work can thus be fully experienced for the first time.

Tracklist:
01. Manuel Quartett, Stefan Meier & Alexander Ruef – Brun: String Quartet No. 1 in E-Flat Major: I. Allegro con brio (09:39)
02. Manuel Quartett, Stefan Meier & Alexander Ruef – Brun: String Quartet No. 1 in E-Flat Major: II. Adagio molto (06:56)
03. Manuel Quartett, Stefan Meier & Alexander Ruef – Brun: String Quartet No. 1 in E-Flat Major: III. Molto vivace (07:30)
04. Manuel Quartett, Stefan Meier & Alexander Ruef – Brun: String Quartet No. 1 in E-Flat Major: IV. Allegro (07:35)
05. Manuel Quartett, Stefan Meier & Alexander Ruef – Brun: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in D Minor: I. Sehr leidenschaftlich und frei im Vortrag (14:10)
06. Manuel Quartett, Stefan Meier & Alexander Ruef – Brun: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in D Minor: II. Langsam und sehnsüchtig (08:58)
07. Manuel Quartett, Stefan Meier & Alexander Ruef – Brun: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in D Minor: III. Lebhaft (13:07)

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