Recording of Schubert’s Violin Sonatas on Period Instruments To Be Released on Athene

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

28 February, 2020

Peter Sheppard Skærved backstage with the violin — Peter Sheppard Skærved (Photo Richard Bram)

Peter Sheppard Skærved (violin), and Julian Perkins (square piano) have recorded Schubert’s three 1816 Sonatas for Violin and Piano on period instruments: No. 1 in D major, D.384, No. 2 in A minor, D. 385 and No. 3 in G minor, D.408.

While Franz Schubert is one of the most popular and well–loved of the ‘Great Composers’ not all of his works are quite as well known and this is perhaps true of the threeeSonatas for Violin and Piano, composed at the age of 19. While certainly not rare, they are far less often heard than the Symphonies and Lieder. Titled “Sonata” in the manuscript, the three works were published posthumously as “Sonatinas, Op. 137” and given their relatively intimate nature, and lyrical rather than virtuosic style, the name ‘Sonatina’ has been used often; the performers here insist that Schubert’s original title should be used.

The new recording features two of the country’s foremost performers: Peter Sheppard Skærved (violin) and Julian Perkins (square piano). Both have accomplished enormous success as soloists and chamber musicians. Skærved has already made many recordings as soloist for Athene and its sister ‘new-music’ label Métier (both divisions of Divine Art Recordings). Importantly this is believed to be the first recording of the Sonatinas using a period piano and violin thus reproducing much more accurately the works as originally envisioned and heard.

The new album is likely to be released in the summer.

ATHENE ATH 23208

Schubert: Sonatas for Violin and Piano
Peter Sheppard Skærved (violin)
Julian Perkins (square piano)
Recorded in London in the summer /autumn of 2019

Works

THREE SONATAS, Op. 137:
No. 1 in D major, D. 384
No. 2 in A minor, D,385
No. 3 in G minor, D.408

Coming Soon

Tags : Athene, Julian Perkins, Period Instruments, Peter Sheppard Skærved, Schubert

The Fitzwilliam String Quartet Celebrates 50th Anniversary Season With a New Recording of Schubert

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

29 April, 2019

Fitzwilliam String Quartet photograph — Fitzwilliam String Quartet: Lucy Russell & Marcus Barcham Stevens (violins); Alan George (viola), Sally Pendlebury (cello)

Two major string quartets by Franz Schubert performed on period gut strings have been recorded by the Fitzwilliam String Quartet and will be released on the Divine Art label in February 2020. The recording is one of many events and projects set up by the quartet to celebrate its 50^th anniversary season (2018/9) which has seen the quartet so busy that the celebration is extending well into spring 2020!

The new album will contain two of Schubert’s masterful quartets (‘Death and the Maiden’ and the A minor) with a plan to follow this with another two quartets soon – next year if the schedule allows.

“Death and the Maiden” has been shown to be one of the most universally popular of all chamber works – and its composer perhaps the most loved of musical geniuses. But the A minor quartet – often known as “Rosamunde”, after the principal melody of its Andante – is hardly less appealing. The fact that they are both set in minor keys might, however, suggest a predominantly dark and gloomy experience ahead. It is true that in a letter from March 1824 he actually quotes two despairing lines of Goethe: “My peace is gone, my heart is heavy; never, never again will I find rest” – originating, no doubt, in the life-threatening diagnosis of syphilis. Yet the amazing variety Schubert conjures from the constraints of the quartet medium itself ensures that there is something here for everyone: this music can appeal on so many different levels, from the unparalleled pleasure to be gained from the stream of glorious melody, to the sheer intellectual mastery of the composition process. Along the way there is drama aplenty, laughter, tears – and joy! In their 50^th anniversary year, the Fitzwilliam presents these two masterpieces on instrumental set-ups that might have been familiar in 1824 (eg with gut strings), drawing on performing conventions of that time. – a truly authentic “period performance”.

The ‘FSQ’ has made four previous recordings for Divine Art’s labels – another ‘period performance’ ,of quartets by Haydn (Diversions DDV 24151); and in the contemporary music world, the four quartets of John Ramsay (Métier MSV 25828); ‘Intricate Web’ -works by Liz Johnson (Métier MSV 77206) and the unique fusion of classical quartet and jazz sax (Absolutely! – compositions and arrangements by Uwe Steinmetz) on Divine Art DDA 25112.