CHAMBER MUSIC DISCOVERIES

Throughout the history of music we can appreciate that chamber music has been the field where a great number of outstanding composers have expressed themselves more freely. In some cases, chamber music has been a sphere of experimentation, and also a place where the composer has shown his real being. As the composer Hans Werner Henze wrote, “the meaning of chamber music lays in its ability to achieve the ineffable through intimacy. Chamber music conceives itself as a world of sound with external limits, but not with internal ones”.

In the intimacy of chamber music, the composer seems to speak to us honestly, in an unprejudiced way, with nothing to prove to us –and to himself-. Chamber music is expression in its pure state. Obviously, this has not always been the case, but some examples, such as the two string quartets by Beethoven and Shostakovich, the String Quartet by Verdi, the Trio with piano by Tchaikovsky or the Quintet with piano, op. 44 by Schumann could easily support this statement. In fact, Wagner, who attended one of the first performances of this last piece, wrote to Schumann: “I can see the path you intend to follow, and I can assure you it is also mine. Beauty is the only possibility of salvation”.

Well, in these pieces performed by the Trio B3 Classic, we will find authenticity in the expression and a clear wish to create beauty.

Robert Kahn: Trio in G minor, op. 45 (1906)
Robert Kahn was born in Mannheim in 1865 and died in Biddenden in 1951. He studied in the Hochsschule für Musik in Berlin and later with Joseph Rheinberger for a year. In Vienna he met Joseph Joachim, whom he befriended, and Johannes Brahms. When the latter listened to the pieces of the young Kahn, who at the time was little more than twenty years old, he volunteered to be his teacher, but Kahn declined the offer, eager to preserve his uniqueness. The truth of the matter is that, as we will appreciate in the piece included in this CD, Brahms strongly influenced Kahn’s music.

This composition is aesthetically related with Brahms and Zelimsky’s trios. Formally elaborate and calm, it is a magnificent example of the so-called romantic classicism, whose most remarkable representative is Brahms. The poetic inspiration of its melodies reminds us that Kahn was an extraordinary and prolific lieder composer.

The first movement, Allegro, is written in the form of a sonata, and it alternates very lyric episodes with a great rhythmical momentum. Kahns’s talent for melody is seen from the very beginning of this ambitious Allegro, as typically it develops brilliantly without losing its poetic and lyric expression.

Then an Allegretto quasi andantino comes in the form of one of these charming intermezzi by Brahms. The atmosphere of the first movement remains in this second movement, but with a more intense lyricism which never becomes dramatic. The end, a Presto of symphonic inspiration and proportions, is based on themes originated from brief motives.

Jonathan S. FeBland: English Suite (2007)
This English composer, who was born in 1960 and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, is open to a variety of influences, which can be perceived in his works. Pop music, jazz, contemporary music and classic tradition merge into his creations, making him one of the most interesting English composers nowadays.

The English Suite shows FeBland’s craftsmanship, as well as a lighthearted, even ironical atmosphere, which contrives throughout the piece.
The first movement, Andante, is openly humorous and powerfully evocative. FeBland fuels the listener’s imagination, but with no narrative or programmatic sense whatsoever. Basically, we have to be carried away by the pleasant atmosphere created from the very beginning.

The second movement, Allegro, is a very short scherzo which contrasts with the serenity of the previous fragment. Some parts in this allegro are very well outlined, in the way of the classic scherzos, where the rhythmical character of the scherzo itself opposes the calm, even nostalgic feeling common in the trios. Such is the case of this fragment. The Finale begins with a brief and slow introduction –Adagio- which announces the bright Allegro which will put the end to this composition. This allegro sums up the humorous atmosphere of the first movement and the vitality of the second one, with a brief and vague reference to some music known by the listener, who feels closer to the composer.

Rodney Newton: Suite “World of the Sea” (1994)
He was born in 1945 in Birmingham, where he also studied Music. He has been a percussionist in several orchestras, and has composed music for films and television. He is the author of nine symphonies, five string quartets and a great number of symphonic and chamber music works.

The Suite “World of the Sea”, with seven movements, is a group of truly musical paintings evoking sea landscapes. These pieces are reminiscent of similar works of English composers such as Elgar and Vaughan Williams, but we can also find some impressionist influence and a refreshing jazz flavor in it. This free form -not a formless one- suite turns out to be utterly attractive because of its harmonies, which sometimes support brief, almost fleeting but very effective melodies.

The last one of these seven pieces, Before the Mast, is a sort of a summary of the whole. Interestingly, the connection among the pieces derives from the atmosphere they share, rather than from the melody.

Jorge Grundman: Adagio for clarinet, cello and piano (2005)
He was born in Madrid in 1961. He studied music at the Conservatory in Madrid. Grundman defines himself as “a composer of New Age music and classical music”. He started to compose power-pop and film soundtracks, after which he focused on teaching, investigation and composition. Grundman is the founder of Non Profit Music, an entity which aims “to bring classical music closer to an unfamiliar listener fearful of attending a concert”.

His Adagio for clarinet, cello and piano was originally composed for oboe, viola and piano, and then transcribed for oboe, cello and piano. Under David’s request, Grundman arranged a new version for clarinet, cello and piano, which is the one featured in this CD.

This unmistakably tonal work opens with a beautiful cello and clarinet duet, which is the base of the counterpoint of the piano throughout the second part of the composition. After this brief initial duet, the peaceful beauty of the piano sounds. The rest of the instruments join the solo piano, and the music comes to an end, which can only be silence. “The only intention of this piece is to please the senses”, claims the composer. And he truly achieves it.

David Johnstone: Fantasy and Dance (1997)
Cellist of the Trio B3 Classic, this British musician who became a naturalized Spaniard, studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He has played as a soloist in a great number of orchestras. As a sign of his eclectic and open personality, he has also experimented with Pop, Jazz and New Age. His production as a composer is large and varied.

Fantasy and Dance originates in the soundtrack composed by Johnstone for an animated film called Dr Vesalius. The different sections that integrate this piece come together for the sake of the whole. But, as the title reads, there is a clear difference between “fantasy” and “dance”. In fact, the dance, called the Dance of the skeletons, is the core of the piece, and it repeats time and again, contrasting with the rest of the themes included in the piece.

This delightful piece puts an end to a CD which for a moment can make our lives happier.

The Non Profit Music Foundation

The Non Profit Music Foundation is born as an answer to the presence of classical music today in the world, the gradual decrease of pupils at the highest levels in music schools, the lack of motivation from the audience to assist to performances of classical music (chamber music can be an example) and the loss of sensibility towards social and humanitarian action. The Non Profit Music Foundation believes that is possible to create initiatives that help to solve these deficiencies in our society and, even, that these initiatives can work in a combined way. The activities of the Non Profit Music Foundation then, will be directed towards strengthening and divulging music culture and, at the same time, sensitizing people to solidarity and obtain funds for social and humanitarian actions. The Non Profit Music Foundation maintains too a recording activity in order to divulge contemporary music, helping new creators  to be better known and seeking the awareness of humanitarian causes. The record label gives all the profits made by the sell of its publications to Non Government Organizations that select the creators, in a transparent way due all the accounts are audited by the same NGOs. If you are interested in the biographic details and projects of B3 Classic, the Non Profit Music Orchestra or the Non Profit Music Foundation, you can visit: www.b3classic.com  and www.nonprofitmusic.org

TECHNICAL DETAILS, CREDITS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Produced by Non Profit Music
Production Asistant: Clara Alcaraz
Project Co-ordinator: Promosapiens

Musical Production: Javier Monteverde
Production Assistant: Pablo García
Edition, mixing and mastering: Cezanne Producciones, Javier Monteverde
Contracting: Prisma Eventos 2002
Date & Recording Details: 24, 25 y 29 July de 2007 in the  Cezanne Producciones, Las Rozas (Madrid)
Graphical Design: EMO
Texts:Josep Pascual
English Translations: Caridad Baena

www.nonprofitmusic.org
www.b3classic.com
www.warnermusic.es

Credits and Acknowledgements

Iván Simón: for the most original cover illustrations and artwork
Juan Canal: for all his support in his role as a television producer
Jesse Levine: for a long-term artistic inspiration
Carles Riera: for unselfishly supporting the earlier career of B3 Classic
José Manuel Rausell: for support to the trio as Principal of the La Rioja Music Conservatoire
Javier Monteverde: for being such an artist in the recording studio