... Das gesangliche, schwelgerische Thema des ersten Satzes könnte glatt als Sinnbild der Rhein-Romantik durchgehen. Pianist und Dirigent belassen es hier jedoch nicht beim Bad in der Sentimentalität, sondern geben der Musik erfreulich klare Konturen.... ... more.

Andreas Friesenhagen - Fono Forum, February 2006

... der aus Deutschland stammende Uwe Grodd hat an der Spitze des Neuseeländischen Symphonieorchesters zuvor mit einer interessanten Reihe klassischer Raritäten von sich hören lassen. 

Hinterhuber and Grodd are the ideal team for Ries’ (1784-1838) music. ....
.....What an exciting start to this series! ... more.

Mátyás Kiss - Piano News, February 2006

And good to see music-making of this vigour and mastery coming from New Zealand – it makes a change from hobbits.

James Jolly, Gramophone, Editor’s Choice , May 2004

A richly sung and played complement to the Gramophone Award winning Masses.

Grodd inspires vigorous playing and singing from his forces, who are freshly and cleanly recorded. 

Edward Greenfield, Gramophone, May 2004

'The New Zealand choir and orchestra do Hummel proud. Celebratory movements have a fine, ringing impetus, while Uwe Grodd shapes the more reflective sections with real tenderness. A word, too, for the soloists in the "Sanctus" and "Benedictus", led by the shining soprano of Patricia Wright'.

Richard Wigmore, Daily Telegraph 3/4/04

'Here with New Zealand forces, including the brilliant professional chamber choir, Tower Voices, we have the longest of Hummel’s five Masses along with an electrifying setting of the Te Deum... A thrilling issue, all the more recommendable at a super-bargain price.'

Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 12/3/04

'Uwe Grodd coaxes a magnificent, spirited performance from his Antipodean forces. ****'

 Andrew Clarke, The Independent, 22/03/04

I wonder just how many people will have been put-off by seeing a New Zealand orchestra and choir performing a Classical German mass. I used to have this romantic ideal that only the Austrian and German orchestras could play Mahler, Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart, only the Russians could play Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich and only an English orchestra could perform Elgar and Vaughan Williams. I now know that holding onto these blinkered principles only serves to deprive the listener of many superbly performed works. Although an orchestra may have a tradition of playing a home-composer's music it certainly doesn't have the monopoly on delivering wonderful interpretations. Recent examples of marvellous performances that I have heard on disc include Beethoven from Nashville Tennessee, Rimsky-Korsakov from Malaysia, Bernstein from New Zealand, J.S. Bach from Japan, Shostakovich from Italy and Shostakovich from Australia.

There can be no other composer surrounded by as much great musical talent as Johann Hummel. Mozart took the young Hummel into his home for music tuition and later Hummel received instruction from luminaries such as Clementi, Albrechtsberger, Haydn and Salieri. Furthermore Hummel became acquainted with Beethoven. Surrounded by great masters Hummel had the best possible Classical teachers and became an eminent and brilliant concert pianist undertaking an extensive concert tour of Europe and Russia as well as composing a wide variety of works.



In 1804 Hummel took over from the ageing Haydn as the kapellmeister at the court of Prince Esterhazy. The appointment was not without conflict and tension and Hummel was summarily dismissed following a chaotic episode on Christmas Day 1808 and was reinstated when the Prince relented.

The Prince Nicolaus II of Esterhazy instigated the tradition of having a newly composed Mass performed on the name-day of his wife the Princess Maria Hermenegild. Following in Haydn's footsteps, Fuchs, Hummel and Beethoven all wrote Masses for the occasion. Hummel composed five settings of the Mass between 1804 and 1808 and the Missa Solemnis in C major was written in 1806 especially for the wedding of the Prince's daughter, the Princess Maria Leopoldina Esterhazy. To be asked to write a Mass to celebrate what must have been Europe's 'society wedding of the year', given the wealth, fame and rank of the two families concerned, gives a clear indication of the high professional standing that Hummel was held in at that time.

Renowned musicologist Allan Badley who wrote the booklet notes holds the view that Hummel's Missa Solemnis, "is a worthy successor to the late Haydn Masses. It's brilliant, inventive and flexible choral writing and technical resourcefulness are the work of an experienced and gifted composer."

Hummel composed the Te Deum in 1806, three months before the Missa Solemnis. It is thought to have been composed at Prince Esterhazy's behest to celebrate the signing of the Peace Treaty at the end of the war between the Austro-Russian alliance and France following Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz. In the view of Allan Badley the Te Deum, "is an immensely attractive work. The orchestration blazes with primary colours and the choral writing is fluid and attractive. Although relatively short in duration, the Te Deum contains moments of great emotional gravity as well as pure transcendent joy."

Hummel's reputation was at an all-time low in the 1900s and I have seen various disparaging references to his music lacking substance and emotion. However this wonderful release of world premiere Hummel recordings from Naxos should go a long way to help redress the balance.

The singing from the soloists and the Tower Voices New Zealand is glorious and it is really hard to understand why these wonderful works have not been recorded before now. The richly coloured and sonorous choral singing with beautifully detailed orchestral textures have been successfully recorded in the excellent venue of the Michael Fowler Centre, in Wellington.

In both works from the first bar to the last, a sense of urgency, energy and reverence prevails. There are dedicated contributions from the soloists, chorus and orchestra under the assured direction of the talented and experienced conductor Uwe Grodd who gives a vigorous and forceful reading; high in intensity. This is an excellent release which has a first class recorded sound together with a spectacular cover picture of 'Christ the Saviour of the world'.

A superbly performed release of wonderful music that deserves to be heard. Another sure-fire winner from the high-flying Naxos stable.

Michael Cookson, Music Web Classical CD

Auf der letzten Bookletseite zu der CD ist die Adresse angegeben, unter der man das Aufführungsmaterial zu diesen beiden Weltersteinspielungen bestellen kann und das ist klug: kaum ein engagierter Chorsänger, den es bei dieser so mitreißenden wie effektvollen Musik nicht zum spontanen Mitsingen reizen würde. Und jeden Chorleiter, der nur ein wenig experimentierfreudig ist, sollte es ebenfalls in den Fingern jucken, diese dankbaren, chorreichen und von der ersten bis zur letzten Note Esprit und gute Laune verbreitenden Stücke auf eines seiner nächsten Programme zu setzen. Nur Mut! Uwe Grodd mit den Tower Voices und dem Neuseeländischen Symphonieorchester haben vorgemacht, dass es weder eines Spezialisten- noch einsamen Spitzenensembles bedarf, um diese im Geiste des späten Haydns erfundene Musik zu überwältigenden, unmittelbaren Wirkungen zu verhelfen - ganz im Gegensatz übrigens zu Hummels exquisiter Kammer- und Klaviermusik, die wegen ihrer pastellenen Anmut ein ewiger Geheimtipp für feinsinnige Kenner geblieben ist. Durchaus nicht immer subtile Begeisterung für die strahlenden und aussingbaren Partien verbunden mit ungekünstelter Musikalität schlagen in Messe und Te Deum dagegen mühelos den Spannungsbogen selbst über Passagen mit hörbaren Intonationsunreinheiten; die dramaturgisch wirklich bedeutenden dynamischen Kontraste, Spitzentöne und Wortbetonungen packen die Musiker dafür mit mitreißend lustvoller Sicherheit an. Und lange bevor die feurige Melodik vorhersehbar zu werden droht, erinnert uns der 1778 geborene und 1837 gestorbene Mozart-Schüler Hummel mit einer unerwarteten harmonischen Wendung, einem überraschenden A-cappella-Einschub oder effektvollen instrumentalen Soli daran, dass er bei aller Liebe zum klassischen Erbe bereits mit beiden Beinen im 19. Jahrhundert steht.

RONDO Magazin - Carsten Niemann, 31.7.2004

Johann Nepomuk Hummel 
Missa Solemnis in C; Te Deum
Naxos  8.557193. 
Wright, McKendree-Wright, Power, Griffiths, Tower Voices, New Zealand SO, Grodd.   

Key recording - suitable as a basis for a collection. 
*** An outstanding performance and recording in every way. 

"Following Richard Hickox's brilliant Chandos issue of two Hummel Masses (Chan. 0681 - see our main volume) comes more evidence of the vigour that this neglected composer brought to his choral works. On the recommendation of Haydn he was carrying on the tradition of writing annual Masses for Prince Esterházy, demonstrating what a sense of drama he had in illustrating the liturgy, masterly in counterpoint and orchestration, never resorting to note-spinning, as he often does in his keyboard writing. Here with New Zealand forces, including the brilliant professional chamber choir, Tower Voices, we have the longest of Hummel's five Masses in coupling with an electrifying setting of the Te Deum. Both were written in 1806, and one is constantly reminded that this was the period of the Napoleonic wars, when each of these works so often features martial music with fanfares, trumpets and drums. Unlike most Anglican settings, this Te Deum ends on a grand fortissimo. A thrilling issue, all the more recommendable at super-bargain price.

March, Ivan; Greenfield, Edward & Layton, Robert. 2004. 
The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs, Yearbook 2004/ 5. London: Penguin Books.

 NAXOS 8.555346

Sample: Sonata for flute and piano in C major, Op. 83, No. 2

Künstlerische Qualität:

Klangqualität:

Gesamteindruck:

(Beste Bewertung:

7

8

8

10)

Gerhard Pätzig, Klassik Heute

If you ask any music lover which composer other than Berg wrote an opera called Lulu, as well as one called William Shakespeare, I wonder what they would say? The answer is Friedrich Kuhlau, the German composer who settled in Denmark, an exact contemporary of Weber and similarly short-lived. He is probably best known for his piano sonatinas, which still crop up with monotonous regularity as exam set-pieces. In fact, he has been re-evaluated of late as an important figure in early Danish romanticism, and the three mature sonatas gathered together on this disc apparently earned him the enviable title 'the Beethoven of the flute'. The nickname is not without its aptness, as the shadow of the master looms large in these works. He had in fact met and shared musical jokes with Beethoven whilst visiting Vienna in the 1820s, and the formal layout of each piece clearly mirrors the classical structures of Mozart and Beethoven, particularly the latter's middle-period piano sonatas.
It seems that Kuhlau did not play the flute himself but sought technical advice from a friend in the theatre orchestra in Copenhagen. The G major First Sonata seems to me most memorable for its minor-key slow movement, built around variations on a Swedish song 'Sorrow’s Might'. The brilliant finale, with its Andante sostenuto central episode, finishes with a Beethovenian flourish on the piano. The dramatic C minor slow introduction to the Second Sonata cannot escape comparison either, and as the piano launches into a vivacious C major Allegro, one is constantly reminded of all those great models of the past. In fact the tunefulness, coupled with the major/minor feel of so much of the material, had me in mind of Schubert, another near contemporary. It is fitting that the set should end with probably the best of the bunch, a sonata employing all the dramatic elements that its key of G minor would suggest. The hymn-like lyricism of the slow movement is varied and contrasted as it proceeds, with the initial calm finally being restored. The jubilant Rondo alla polacca finale is a fitting end, offering opportunity for both players to revel in the brilliant sparkle of the writing.
The performances by two names new to me are generally of a very high standard, though a shade more warmth wouldn’t have gone amiss in some of the more lyrical passages. The pianist appears to drive much of time in some of the allegros (possibly Kuhlau reflecting his own virtuosity on that instrument) and Matteo Napoli rises to the occasion admirably. The slightly resonant recording should not put anyone off investigating this disc, another good example of Naxos allowing us to experience unfamiliar yet rewarding territory.

Tony Haywood, Classical Music on the Web

The son of an army regimental musician, grandson of an oboist and town musician, and nephew of an organist and town musician in Aalborg, Friedrich Kuhlau was born in 1786 at Uelzen, near Hanover, and moved with his family successively to Lüneburg and Brunswick. In Lüneburg he had piano lessons and started writing music, and in Brunswick he completed his early education at the Katharineum. At the turn of the century he went with his parents to Hamburg, studying there with the organist, composer and mathematician Christian Friedrich Gottlieb Schwenke, who had succeeded CPE Bach, his own teacher, as Hamburg Stadtkantor in 1788 and had held the position of organist at the Katherinenkirche since 1783. A year earlier CPE Bach had arranged for Schwenke to study with Marpurg and Kirnberger in Berlin. In 1804 KUhlau began his career as a pianist and remaned in Hamburg until the occupation of the city by Napoleon in 1810 and the compulsion to military service, from which it seems blindness in one eye, the result of a childhood accident, would not have excluded him. He then took refuge in Copenhagen under an assumed name, attempting to establish himself there as a pianist at the court in 1811. In 1813 he was naturalised and the following year was appointed a court chamber musician, a position that was unpaid until 1818, when token payment was allowed. In the same year he was joined in Denmark by his parents and sister, making it mecessary to earn more money for their support, increasing his work as a concert pianist and as a teacher. In 1815 he had enjoyed success with a Singspiel, Roverborgen (Robbers' Castle,) at the Royal Theatre, where he found employment for a season as chorus-master and was able to have his first opera staged. At the same time he was winning a reputation as a pianist throughout Scandinavia. He visited Berlin and Leipzig on various occasions and was twice in Vienna, on the second occasion in 1825 spending an evening with Beethoven and his friends, of which subsequent memories were hazy. The party had walked in the countryside, before dining at an inn, where the consumption of champagne had a similar effect on Beethoven's powers of recall, although he had written a canon punning on Kuhlau's name, to the words kühl night lau (Cool, not lukewarm), which he sent to Kuhlau, while the latter had responded with a cannon on the name of Bach. In 1828 Kuhlau wrote music to celebrate a royal wedding, Elverhoj (The Elf Hill), and was awarded the title of Professor with an increased stipend. In 1831 a fire at his home at Lyngby, near Copenhagen, where he had rented a house since 1826, a year after the death of his parents, not only destroyed many of his unpublished compositions and writings but had a deleterious effect on his health, leading to his death the following year. Kuhlau, as a successful pianist and teacher, wrote a quantity of music for the piano, although his second piano concerto was destroyed in the fire of 1831. These compositions included salon music and pieces of varied technical difficulty that were of practical use in teaching. In addition to his stage works, which enjoyed variable success, he left songs and chamber music, with a particular emphasis on compositions for the flute, an instrument that it seems that he did not play himself, profiting, however, from the technical advice of a flautist in the theatre orchestra. His first attempts at writing for the flute had been in Hamburg, but it was in the 1820s that he embarked on a series of works, including the three Sonatas for flute and piano, Opus 83, published in Bonn in 1827, that earned for him the title of 'the Beethoven of the flute'.

The Sonata in G major, Opus 83, No 1, touches on G minor almost at once and continues in a form that suggests the classical inheritance that he enjoyed, as a near contemporary of Weber, from the world of Mozart and of Beethoven. The minor-key slow movement brings variations on a Swedish song, Sorgens magt (Sorrow's Might), although melancholy is disspiated in passing, before the final return of the theme. The sonata ends with a movement in which flute and piano set out to match each other in brilliance, their course interrupted by a passage marked Andante sostenuto, brought to an end by a piano cadenza.

The second of the set, the Sonata in C Major, Opus 83, No 2, has further suggestions of Beethoven. The first movement has a dramatic slow introduction in C minor, before the piano launches into a C major allegro, soon to be joined by the flute, in thematic material foreshadowed in the introduction. The E major Larghetto starts with the singing tone of the piano, soon joined by the flute. The last movement opens with a principal theme that, as so often, touches briefly on the minor, a rondo that offers both instruments a chance of display in a movement that brings episodes of distinct contrast.

The set ends with the Sonata in G Minor, Opus 83, No 3. It is introduced by the piano, soom joined by the flute, in a movement that has the element of drama suggested by the choice of key. The hymn-like lyricism of the slow movement is varied as the movement proceeds, before the initial serenity is restored. The sonata ends with a Rondo alla polacca, in which an opportunity is again offered for concluding brilliance in the writing for both instruments.

Keith Anderson

“The interpretation is joyful, a delight of naturalness, elegance and  perfect coherence, tempi and rhythms subdued  but without loss of  fluidity  (or fluency). Interesting.”

A.B.L Ritmo, 4/2002

Kuhlau er blevet kaldt „fløjtens Beethoven“ og disse vidunderlige sonater fra 1827 er et udmærket eksempel på hvorfor. Kuhlau mødte i øvrigt sit idol Beethoven i 1825 i Wien, hvor de sammen drak sig meget berusede i champagne.
Uwe Grodd er en af New Zealands ypperste fløjtenister og Matteo Napoli har vundet adskillige internationale konkurrencer.
Dansk Guldaldermusik når den er allerbedst.

Matthias Hengelbrock, Klassik Heute Nov 2001

Top 60 Discs of 2000
Critics' choice of the highlights of the recording year
Pleyel was Haydn's pupil and a huge success at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. He learned his trade well and these symphonies, well played and recorded, are witness of Pleyel's professionalism, charm and efficiency. When Pleyel was studying with Haydn, the latter was in the midst of his so-called 'Sturm und Drang' period and trac4es of this style are reflected in Pleyel's music. Naxos's series is going from strength to strength.

HC Robbins Landon, BBC Music Magazine December 2000

SYMPHONIES BY A LARGELY UNKNOWN HAYDN PUPIL WHO, ON THIS DISTINCTIVE EVIDENCE, DESERVES FAR WIDER CURRENCY
This admirable series from Naxos continues to give us recordings of classical symphonies, a context for the great achievements of Haydn and Mozart. This time it is Ignace Pleyel Austrian-born but remembered more for what he later did in Paris (as instrument maker and publisher - he invented the miniature score) than for his music. A pity, because it's very good. Pleyel was a Haydn pupil and learnt his lessons well, on this evidence. He was criticized then, and still is now, as derivative; but although he uses various of Haydn's devices, the musical personality that comes through is to my mind quite individual.
The earliest of the symphonies, Ben121 of 1778, is a substantial piece, nearly half-an-hour long, with a solemn and dramatic slow introduc-tion and a first movement of splendid energy and drive, in triple metre, with lots of noise from the trumpets and drums, and interesting thematic treatment and modulations in the development. The spacious finale is another big and energetic piece. There is a lot to enjoy in the other sym-phonies, too, both of them from 1786 and notice ably more classical in tone. Try, for example, the vivacious opening movement of the C major work, or its Adagio, an eloquent piece with hints of darkness, or the finale with its busy, oddly twisty theme; or in the F minor work the urgent first movement, with its persistent figures and its fiery development, or the expressive Andante, where the accompanying textures are so tellingly managed. Note, too, the ways Pleyel teases the ear, prolonging phrases, moving in unexpected directions, and so on.
Well, it isn't Haydn, but there's room for others, and Pleyel is well worth a hearing. These modern-instrument performances are well judged and have plenty of vitality and sensitively chosen tempos, and the Bratislava group play with skill. There is an excellent, informative note by the New Zealand scholar, Allan Badley.

Stanley Sadie, Gramophone January 2001

De Pleyel, principal élève de Haydn à l'exception de Beethoven, on ne disposait jusqu'ici que d'un seul CD consacré à ses symphonies: trois oeuvres tardives (1791, 1803 et 1804) par les London Mozart Players et Matthias Bamert (Chandos).
Uwe Grodd est allé chercher des partitions plus anciennes. La Symphonie en ut majeur B. 121 (seule son introduction lente utilise I'ut mineur) est même la toute première de Pleyel. Il la composa en 1778, juste après avoir échappé à la tutelle de Haydn, et elle fut éditée quelques années plus tard chez Artaria et lmbault, alors que la réputation de son auteur était à son zénith. Comme la Symphonie B. 128 de 1786, dans la même tonalité, elle fait usage des trumpettes et des timbales. Son premier mouvement s'inspire de celui de la Symphonie n.60 - Le Distrait (1774) et de L'ouverture d'Il Ritorno di Tobia (1775) de Haydn, mais la comme ailleurs, il ne s'agit pas de citations au sens propre (le Minuetto est néanmoins dangereusement proche de celui de la Symphonie n.69 - Laudon ). Tous les morceaux cités ont en commun la tonalité d'ut majeur ! Techniques de langage et atmosphères sont en revanche constamment haydniennes, ou presque, ce qui ne fait pas disparaître pour autant les différences entre talent et génie. Haydn étant difficile à imiter avec bonheur, on a là un cas unique, et à l'audition, on se demande s'il ne va pas surgir en personne !
La Symphonie en fa mineur B. 138 de 1786 n'est pas moins intéressante. On comprend l'énorme popularité de Pleyel dans les années 1780 et 1790, mais aussi les raisons de son déclin ultérieur. Reste une réalisation précieuse et interpretée avec les nuances et l'énergie nécessaires.
Rappelons que Pleyel a également composé des quatours à cordes: il fut même le premier, juste avant Mozart, a en dédier à Haydn. On aimerait les connaître.

Marc Vignal

It was Pleyel who gave the series of London concerts to rival Haydn and Solomon in 1792. He later settled in Paris, founding the celebrated Playel piano factory. The earliest of the three symphonies on the Naxos disc was composed in 1778, when the composer was twenty-one; it is actually in C major but has a dramatic C minor introduction leading to a very lively allegro with trumpets and drums lacing the tuttis. The Adagio is rather fine, with horns echoing the string theme, but the trumpets and drums return in the bold minuet and add zest to a spirited moto perpetuo finale.
The other two symphonies date from 1786 and follow a similar pattern, but Pleyel's minor-key works are the most strikingly inventive, and the F minor has an Andante grazioso of Boccherinian charm, using gently muted strings against a persistent repeated accompanying figure in the second violins. The fast Minuet with its Laendler-like Trio is no less individual. The performances from the excellent Capella Istopolitana are crisply stylish, expressively persuasive, and very well recorded.

*** Penguin Guide to CDs 2002

Pleyel: Sinfonías

Uno de los aspectos más loables del sello Naxos - del cual acaba de llegar una nueva importación a la Feria del Disco- es su interés por registrar música de los compositores menos conocidos. El director de orquesta Uwe Grodd fue premiado con el Cannes Classical Award 2000 a la mejor grabación orquestal del siglo XVIII por su disco con sinfonías de J.B. Vanhal.

En este volumen, Grodd sigue por la misma senda, dedicándose esta vez a las sinfonías del austríaco Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831), otro músico opacado por los genios de Haydn y Mozart.

Los amantes del clasicismo sabrán disfrutar de la música compuesta por Pleyel, que no esconde las influencias de su maestro Haydn, pero que cuenta con una energía y buen estilo muy propios. La Capella Istropolitana se esmera bajo las órdenes de Grodd, consiguiendo un disco muy recomendable.

Pablo Arce C. - La Musica Emol

Winner of the "Best 18th Century Orchestral Recording" category at the Cannes Classical Awards 2000 

(Highly Recommended) The Guardian October 1999

Johann Nepomuk Hummel 
Missa Solemnis in C; Te Deum
Naxos  8.557193. 
Wright, McKendree-Wright, Power, Griffiths, Tower Voices, New Zealand SO, Grodd.   

Key recording - suitable as a basis for a collection. 
*** An outstanding performance and recording in every way. 

"Following Richard Hickox's brilliant Chandos issue of two Hummel Masses (Chan. 0681 - see our main volume) comes more evidence of the vigour that this neglected composer brought to his choral works. On the recommendation of Haydn he was carrying on the tradition of writing annual Masses for Prince Esterházy, demonstrating what a sense of drama he had in illustrating the liturgy, masterly in counterpoint and orchestration, never resorting to note-spinning, as he often does in his keyboard writing. Here with New Zealand forces, including the brilliant professional chamber choir, Tower Voices, we have the longest of Hummel's five Masses in coupling with an electrifying setting of the Te Deum. Both were written in 1806, and one is constantly reminded that this was the period of the Napoleonic wars, when each of these works so often features martial music with fanfares, trumpets and drums. Unlike most Anglican settings, this Te Deum ends on a grand fortissimo. A thrilling issue, all the more recommendable at super-bargain price.

March, Ivan; Greenfield, Edward & Layton, Robert. 2004. 
The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs, Yearbook 2004/ 5. London: Penguin Books.

Naxos - Artaria Sampler includes:

Johann Nepomuk Hummel
The Deum in D