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Fanfare
The magazine for serious record collectors
by Robert McColley
September/October 1999
Flourish - Vienna Waltz Ensemble
Denwa DC 102 (71:18)
Flourish is the second release by the Vienna Waltz Ensemble, a trio consisting of two violins and a double bass, expertly played by Carl Johnston, Clara Lindner, and Gregory Sarchet. However improbable such a combination strikes us today, it was widely employed in central Europe in the 19th century, chiefly to play waltzes and other popular tunes in public places, and the Vienna Waltz Ensemble has uncovered a considerable literature for it. I have enjoyed it and heartily recommend it to others. |
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The combination of two bright treble instruments with a single deep bass is surprising at first, but it wears very well. And the only compact disc anything like this is its predecessor from the same outfit.
A comparison with the first disc is in order. For Flourish the Vienna Waltz Ensemble has served up a more generous program: a full 20 minutes more of music than on their first disc. Next, there is a change in personnel, with Carl Johnston and his Neapolitan Sannino fiddle replacing Teresa Fream and her Jeffrey Robinson. Because continuing violinist Clara Lindner also plays a Sannino we now have a perfect match of violin tone (though Lindner and Fream matched very well also). In the two pieces by the Czech Frantisek Gregora (1819-87) one of the violinists rests. Gregora was himself a virtuoso bassist, among other musical accomplishments. We have here two excellent duets he composed for double bass and violin, with the former playing double stops melodic lines in the high register, and other arresting and enjoyable things. The first release had a four-page booklet, this one has eight pages. This permits fuller notation, larger print, a better picture of the performers, and, with the back insert in the jewel box serving as a ninth page, a neat and easy-to-read guide to the contents of the disc. I consider the sound as such to be state-of-the-art, over my big system it sounds as if two very fine violinists and a superb double bassist are performing in that magic space between two large speaker systems.
John Bauman reviewed that first disc, titled simply Vienna Waltz Ensemble, in Fanfare 21:5. Though sympathetic to the historic enterprise and favorably impressed by the performers, Bauman found most of the music to be a sort of "Muzak" deliberately designed for people paying little or no attention to it. He put the matter this way " . . . few, then or now, would really listen to music in this fashion. I t would have been more for setting a mood, rarely coming to the fore of one's attention." That point of view is certainly defensible, but I must say I have enjoyed listening to Flourish both as musical wallpaper (and I am very particular about my selection of music to create certain moods) and with the complete concentration that serious record critics must apply. Though much of the music is simple, it is rarely simple-minded, and there are some pleasant surprises, such as Gregora duets mentioned above, and the breathtakingly dramatic coda that J.N. Hummel appended, perhaps as an expression of Haydnesque humor, to his suite of 12 stately waltzes. For me, then, this disc is both very special - there is nothing quite like it among my thousands of recordings - and a provider of highly agreeable listening besides.
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D E N W A Productions
Denny Nowak: President, Press & Radio Promotion
P.O. Box 34911 Chicago, IL 60634 773.777.1092
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