About TROUBADISC - I - II -

This same ensemble evidences similar dedication to the string quartets of composer Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969), who studied music under Nadia Boulanger in Paris. After returning to her Polish homeland, she turned her back on the neo-classical style and concentrated on a strongly expressive and highly experimental tonal language.

The three quartets recorded for our label, nos. 4, 6, and 7, are a fine example of her compositional development, and include a premiere recording of no. 6.  "... The performers link brilliant design with a very impressive intensity of tone, bringing out the very best of this unsettled and expressive music which sets the skin atingle."

Melomania, a CD anthology of string quartets of works by female composers, features a series of world premiere recordings. "Music-lovers wishing to acquire for a modest outlay a representative overview of chamber music by female composers in the twentieth century will find that these exemplary recordings fit the bill precisely." (Fono Forum)

In our 3-disc series of Max Reger's Piano Chamber-Music, we have addressed a music genre which, at the beginning of the 20th century and at the dawn of the modern era, merges compositional problems and opportunities, tradition and progress, exalted expression and religious reflection like no other; a fresh analysis of "old" and "new."

Vol. 1 of this series juxtaposes the "wild" Violin Sonata
op. 72 with the (in)famous S-C-H-A-F-E (sheep) and A-F-F-E (monkey) themes (S = E-flat, H = B) with the later, more serene Violin Sonata op. 139.

Vol. 2 is the first-ever CD recording of the flamboyant, scandal-linked Piano Quintet op. 64 with its stylistic and harmonic bravura, together with the more transparent and conforming Piano Trio op. 102.

Vol. 3 offers the listener the opportunity of hearing and comparing both of Max Reger's great piano quartets from his mature period on one CD, documenting the similarities and at the same time the intensive development of Reger's composition style.
The performers, "real Reger enthusiasts", were able time and again to delight international critics with their "fascinating virtuosity and daring approach." (Fono Forum) 

The Complete Works for Solo Violin by Max Reger, presented for the very first time by violinist Renate Eggebrecht, represents a further personal commitment and contribution to a 20th-century appreciation of Reger's works.

These 4 volumes (5 CDs) are the first documentation in recording history of Max Reger's response as a composer to the unaccompanied violin. For almost the first time since Bach, a composer committed himself over a period of 16 years (between 1899 and 1915) to the task of framing melodic laws and shaping great architecture with a minimum of instrumental resources.

This demanding solo challenge shows the exponent at her best, revealing the serious artistic intent that must underlie all Reger interpretations. Technical mastery, musical intelligence and emotionally compelling performance captivate the listener and make it easy to understand the meaning of Reger's music for the present day. “Refreshing Reger discoveries!"

The measure of Reger's influence on the next generation of composers and the importance of Bach as the starting point of their composing is made plain by the violinist in her CD Violin Solo Vol. 1. Bach's Chaconne BWV 1004 is revealed as the key to Reger's Chaconne in G minor, which is followed by the world premiere of the Sonata op. 61 by his star student Johanna Senfter and the Violin Sonata by the young Schoenberg pupil Nikos Skalkottas. Arthur Honegger paid tribute all his life to his "great role model J.S. Bach," as he did in his Sonata for Violin Solo from the war year 1940. "...a splendid recording " Klassik heute

VIOLIN SOLO Vol. 2 is dedicated to the exploration of a completely different principle of creative activity. That which links the Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz, the Hungarian Béla Bartók, the Frenchman Darius Milhaud, the Greek Dimitri Nicolau, and the Czech Erwin Schulhoff are their roots, however differently they may be perceived, in the folk music of their native countries. The Solo Sonata in Greek Mood op. 228 by Dimitri Nicolau is dedicated to the violinist Renate Eggebrecht, who made here the world premiere recording of this work. This is our first production with multi-channel recording technique and released as a Hybrid Super Audio CD.

Duos for violin and cello are not prominent in early 20th-century chamber-music, but that small body of work includes several major compositions that are among their authors' most important works in terms both of style and of musical development. The CD Duo mon Amour features the two musicians Renate Eggebrecht and Friedemann Kupsa in the Sonata by Maurice Ravel, the two Sonatinas by Darius Milhaud and Arthur Honegger, and the world premiere of the large-scale Duo Sonata of 1947 by the Greek composer Nikos Skalkottas. All these works take clear compositional positions and thereby make a decisive contribution to the duo literature of the 20th century.

This approach is pursued in the second CD of compositions for violin and cello, "Strassenmusik n°16", though with a shift of emphasis to Eastern European traditions. Starting with Kodály's Duo, the programme continues with the Sonata by Anatol Vieru from the year 1989 in its world premiere, a status also enjoyed by the Theme and Variations by Elizabeth Maconchy and the "Street Music no. 16" specially composed for the Eggebrecht Kupsa duo by Greek composer Dimitri Nicolau.
"These recordings are notable both for the almost orchestral richness of sound and for the high ambitions evinced by the performers." (Klassik heute)
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