1

2011

Eindhoven Holland

Jared Sacks

Jared Sacks

69.00

Microphones: Bruel & Kjaer 4006, Schoeps
Digital Converters: DSD Super Audio/Meitner Design AD/DA
Speakers: Audiolab, Holland
Software: Pyramix Editing, Merging Technologies
Mixing Board: Rens Heijnis, custom design
Mastering Room: B+W 803d series speakers, Classe 5200 Amplifier
Cables: Van den Hul

Dejan Lazic

C. Ph. E. Bach (1714 - 1788):
Sonata in D minor, Wq 69 (H 53)

B. Britten (1913 - 1976):
5 Waltzes, op. 3 (1925, rev. 1969)

C. Ph. E. Bach:
Fantasia in D major, Wq 117 / 14

La Böhmer (Murky), Wq 117 / 26

B. Britten:
Holiday Diary, op. 5 (1934)

C. Ph. E. Bach:
Sonata in E-flat major, Wq 65 / 42 (H 189)

B. Britten:
Night-Piece (Notturno, 1963)

“A musician cannot move others unless he too is moved.”
C. Ph. E. Bach
“Music for me is clarification; I try to clarify, to refine, to sensitize... My
technique is to tear all the waste away; to achieve perfect clarity of
expression, that is my aim.”
Benjamin Britten

The word liaison can be translated in many ways: affair, affinity, connection,
link, relationship, union.
The CDs in the Liaisons series each feature two particular composers, enabling us to explore their musical worlds, sources of inspiration and degree
of influence. At the same time, the recordings reveal their most conspicuous differences and their common denominators.
Some of these composers are not often heard together (for example D. Scarlatti & Bartók or C.Ph.E. Bach & Britten). However, when time barriers
and stylistic differences are put aside, many similarities may be discovered: as if the dialect is different, but the language common.
On the other hand, composers who we may imagine to be very similar, and easy to combine in any programme (for example Schumann & Brahms),
reveal a whole new world of diversity and contrast when heard together.
Through a careful choice of composers and compositions on each CD, the Liaisons series offers a bright spectrum of colours, variety and dynamic
range, challenging the listener anew with every release. The present third volume combines the very few original works for piano
solo by Benjamin Britten with C.Ph.E. Bach’s Prussian Sonatas. Britten’s pieces, in all their minimalism, “unusual purity” (Arvo Pärt), perfect clarity
and sometimes even emotionally restricted formality, contrast with the emerging Sturm und Drang atmosphere of Bach’s sonatas, with their freedom
and variety of structural design, lucid style, delicate and tender expression, inventiveness and extreme unpredictability.
Dejan Lazić

Music must primarily move the heart"

It was mainly for his astonishing improvisations on his favorite instrument the clavichord, that Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Sebastian's second son, was most famous. The composer and writer Johann Friedrich Reichardt, who visited Carl Bach in Hamburg, wrote in 1776: "Ich habe dir noch nichts von den vortrefflichen Phantasien dieses Meisters gesagt; seine ganze Seele ist dabei in Arbeit ... Hier zeigt er erst recht deutlich die grosse Kenntnis der Harmonie und den unermesslichen Reichtum an seltenen und ungewöhnlichen Wendungen, die ihn zum grössten Originalgenie bestimmen." [I have as yet told you nothing of the outstanding fantasias of this master, in which his entire soul is at work ... only here is manifest so clearly the great knowledge of harmony and the immeasurable richness of rare and unusual turns of phrase, which make him the greatest and most original genius.] Much of the spontaneity, expressive force and changing moods of Bach's improvisations was embodied in his compositions. His so characteristic, surprising and abrupt style issued from his subjective, affective attitude to music making. Indeed, at the end of his autobiography (1773) we read: "Mich deucht, die Musik müsse vornehmlich das Herz rühren." [I think music must primarily move the heart.]

This view could almost serve as a heading for the entire stylistic period referred to by the word Empfindsamkeit. The term empfindsam was coined by the playwright Lessing as a German neologism for the English ‘sentimental’ (also newly invented at the time by Laurence Sterne), when he helped the Hamburg publisher Bode with the translation of Sterne's A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (1768). The term was used to describe a new aesthetic, focusing strongly on personal affects, that had become popular in the literature of the previous twenty years since the publication of Klopstock's biblical epic Messias in 1748. In contemporary vocal and instrumental music too, this pursuit of intense feeling was to become manifest in the disruption of continuity, the creation of strong contrasts and a dynamic range from the very softest to the very loudest, and a tendency towards irrationalisation. The leading representatives of this predominantly north German style were Carl Philipp Emanuel and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Johann Gottfried Müthel and Georg Benda.

In his keyboard music, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach contributed an important milestone in the emancipation of instrumental music from the bounds of vocal music. He achieved this through his fantastical and poetic style, which - without words - caused his music to be 'beredt' (speaking). Progressive music aestheticians of the time spoke of Carl Bach's music in terms of Ton-Sprache and Klang-Rede. His often whimsical idiom, so full of contrast, suggests early romanticism. Carl and his elder brother Friedemann explained to Nikolaus Forkel, Johann Sebastian Bach's first biographer, the different musical path they had followed in relation to their father. Namely that they "nothwendig eine eigene Art von Styl wählen müssen, weil sie ihren Vater in dem seinigen doch nie erreicht haben würden." [necessarily had to choose their own type of style, since they would not have been able to equal their father in his.] Around 1750 this 'own type of style' became admired and imitated by Carl Bach's ‘diligent pupil’ Joseph Haydn, and his capricious style was even to leave indelible tracks in the music of Mozart, Beethoven, Carl Maria van Weber and Felix Mendelssohn.

The two sonatas included in this recording date from Carl Bach's Berlin period, when he was for thirty years court harpsichordist to the Prussian King Frederik the Great. Around 1742 he had made a great impression in Berlin with his sensational Prussian and Württemberg Sonatas for harpsichord, which were considered the best music of the younger generation, expressing the new sound of Empfindsamkeit and the emerging Sturm und Drang. Gone is the pompous grandeur of the Baroque, to be replaced by elegance and refined expression. No longer are learned fugal structures the greatest good, but music full of intensity and longing. It was not without reason that Mozart wrote later of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: "Er ist der Vater, wir sind die Buben." [He is the father, we are his little boys.]

Two centuries later, Benjamin Britten also played a role as guide to the music of the future of his fatherland Great Britain. He was therefore one of the outstanding figures in twentieth-century musical life. In his music he supplied proof that even without serial, aleatoric and electronic techniques, and only with the aid of the tonal system, it was possible to compose moving, amusing and profound new music. Britten was very much an eclectic in his embracement of the accomplishments of Western music. With the aid of stylistic elements from various historical periods, he endeavoured to attain a new sort of beauty, and he therefore occupies a place entirely of his own in 'contemporary' music. In his largely conservative homeland he advocated a more modern and cosmopolitan style of composition. Critics retorted that he was an admirer of Mahler, Berg and Stravinsky, composers considered hardly suitable as examples for a young British musician. In the fields of opera and orchestra music in particular, Britten longed to see new, more modern shoots on the English music tree. At the same time, however, he consciously sought to connect with the age-old English tradition, and he looked back frequently, especially in his choral music.

But this takes us on too far for most of the piano works included here, pieces that reveal an almost unknown side of Britten. Although a first-rate pianist, he wrote only a small number of pieces for the instrument. He viewed the piano more as a background instrument, and really wrote his best notes for it in his song accompaniments. After his death, a number of early, forgotten piano pieces were found in the archives. But six years before, he had been persuaded to publish the Five Waltzes from his early piano music from the beginning of the 1920s - captivating romantic pieces with echoes of Chopin, in Britten's own words composed "by a very ordinary little boy, they are all pretty juvenile (here was no Mozart, I fear). But perhaps they may be useful for the young or inexperienced to practice…]. The Holiday Diary, written more than ten years later in 1934, is a collection of graphic, almost descriptive piano pieces, dedicated to the composer's piano teacher at the Royal College of Music, Arthur Benjamin. Night Piece (Notturno) is Britten's last work for the piano, written in 1963 as a test piece for the Leeds Piano Competition. It is a sensitive miniature in a nocturnal mood, reminiscent of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Clemens Romijn

(...) Dejan Lazić’s decision to pair C. P. E. Bach and Britten on the same CD may be seen as either a bold venture or a combination of two composers too different for comfortable pairing. Either way, this CD’s content will challenge the listener. (...)
Fanfare

The Croation pianist is building up a valuable discography with Channel Classics, each new release characterised by unconventional programming and consistently winning performances. Anyone who has the nerve to transform Brahms’s Violin Concerto into an astonishingly convincing piano concerto must be a special talent. (...) Lazic’s unpredictable union works surprisingly well. (...)  His feather-light despatch of the D minor Sonata’s last movement variations [C.P.E. Bach] almost melts into the first of Britten’s early Five Waltzes. (...)
Gramophone

(…) The Bach prestissimo piece here titled La Bohmer flies like a whirlwind, indicating Lazic's superb technique and, more importantly, his wonderful sense of ‘binding’ phrases even at such a hectic pace...I found this to be a most enjoyable CD (…)
Fanfare

Auf der dritten CD seiner ‘Liaisons’-Reihe führt der in Kroatien geborene, in Salzburg ausgebildete und in Amsterdam wohnende Pianist Dejan Lazic ein ungewöhnliches Paar über zwei Jahrhunderte hinweg zusammen: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach und Benjamin Britten. Bachs drei Sonaten sind immer wieder überraschend, emotional überbordend und vielfältig, Brittens weitgehend unbekannte Miniaturen, aus dem schmalen Klavier-Solo-Oeuvre des Briten klug ausgewählt, dagegen schlicht und klar. Beides liegt Lazic, der mit feinfühligem, geistreichem, nie aufdringlichem Spiel beeindruckt. Nicht nur deshalb wird aus der überraschenden eine überzeugende Paarung.
Concerti.de

Serbian-born pianist and composer Dejan Lazic dazzles with great taste, phrasing, and a clear style of playing in this album of complementary works by C.P.E. Bach  and Benjamin Britten. (...) Lazic truly understands the music, as is evidenced by his tasteful phrasing and slight rubati that create dramatic tension in the opening movement of the Bach Sonata in D minor. The turns and trills are lovely ornaments that simply roll off of his fingers, and throughout the sonata his sound is clean and bright.  Lazic makes the melody flowing back and forth between hands in the final movement sound like a continuous stream of music. (...) Thanks to a clear, balanced recording quality, Lazic always sounds warm and bright; there is never any unwanted or excess noise in his playing. He is an intelligent artist who has chosen repertoire that is well suited to him and that makes an interesting program. (...) The fact that Lazic can evoke such a wide variety of emotions is a testament to his skills.
AllMusic

(…) This is a fascinating album well worth the investment, as all of the music will repay repeated hearing and give no end of pleasure. Channel’s hi-res sound is beautifully presented.
Audiophile Audition

(…) verrukkelijk spannend en inspirerend (…) de dwarsverbanden die ontstaan lokken een hoge scherpzinnige vorm van genieten uit.
Elsevier

Lazic’s fastidiously articulated fingerwork and his feel for CPE’s cultivated waywardness are persuasive.(…) Britten’s liaisons with solo piano might be small, but, as Lazic demonstrates, they’re perfectly formed.
BBC Music Magazine

Croatian pianist/composer Dejan Lazic, enjoying a distinguished career, has made a number of superb recordings for Channel Classics. (…) Performances are of the highest quality, and the solo piano is very well recorded.
R.E.B.

(...) Lazic plays with palpable heart, with genuine spirit that derives entirely from the music itself, with dexterity, subtlety and insight that make this recital thoroughly compelling.
The Telegraph

Carl Philipp en Britten gaan prima samen: de fruitige sonates (Wq 69, H 53 en Wq 65/42, H 189) van de pruikenkop parelen tussen Brittens steviger composities als de Vijf walsen opus 3, geschreven door een pas twaalfjarige knaap, die niettemin al goed in de smiezen had hoe je de nootjes het slimst onder elkaar kon zetten. Net als in Holiday diary, uit 1934, waarin Lazic dromerig de verre horizon aan zich voorbij laat glijden (Sailing) en een onbestemde sfeer oproept (Night). Dat het zo goed boert tussen de componisten komt vooral door Lazic: hij kiest voor ieder stuk de juiste tint en is niet bang het basregister wat aan te dikken, terwijl de rechterhand twinkeltonen inzet. Fraai opgenomen bovendien.
Klassieke Zaken

The ever inventive and exploratory mind of Dejan Lazic has once again led to the production of an unmissable SACD in the series of recordings for Channel Classics that he calls ‘Liaisons’. In this series (of which the disc under review is Vol.3) Lazic programmes the music of two apparently quite disparate composers and challenges us to listen with fresh ears to the various compositions involved. This idea might seem bizarre and fraught with difficulties, but such is the skill with which Lazic builds his programmes and the prodigious pianistic talent that he brings to the execution of them, the result is an unqualified triumph. (...)  Those who have acquired Dejan Lazic’s two earlier ‘Liaison’ discs will need little encouragement to investigate the latest intriguing release by this phenomenal musician. Those who have yet to investigate ‘Liaisons’ have a real treat awaiting them.
SA-CD.net 5 stars

Britten en Bach: mooie combi (...) elke maat zindert (...)
Het Parool

(...) it's all about the alchemy that occurs when different sound-worlds, two centuries apart, collide. (...) This serendipitous liaison is made all the more cogent by the pianistic achievements of Lazic, whose magical touch invigorates the more impassioned moments, such as the Andante to Bach's Sonata in D minor as well as in the mellifluous murmerings of Britten's Night Piece with which the CD concludes. (...) Whatever we're in for next, I hungrily await his next iconoclastic serving.
International Record Review