This week Classical reviewer Geoff Adams listens to selected Beethoven Piano Quartets played by the New Zealand Piano Quartet, and the 2009 classical "Chillout" compilation.
> Beethoven: Piano Quartets. New Zealand Piano Quartet. Naxos CD.
This set of the Piano Quartets 1, 2 and 3 (WoO 36, without opus number) composed by 15-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven in 1785 were recorded in December 2005.
They are now released as the Naxos debut for this New Zealand group.
The musicians are well-known pianist Richard Mapp, Yury Gezentsvey (violin), Donald Maurice (viola) and David Chickering (cello).
They give fine performances of works first exploring the relationship between strings and piano - a genre reaching maturity later with Brahms.
Beethoven borrowed some of his own ideas from them in his Piano Sonatas, Op. 2, dedicated to Haydn in 1796.
The keyboard tends to dominate in these works with strings accompanying, but they show the early flair of a great composer.
Highlight: Good balance and sensitive playing.
This is a new version of the "Chillout" classical compilations album released in 2001 that was a great market success.
The double album contains a carefully chosen selection of favourite classical titles believed to be ideal for relaxing and soothing away the stress of the current worldwide economic downturn.
Most of them are familiar as themes used in films, such as Platoon, The Piano, Cinema Paradiso, The Silence of the Lambs, Frankie and Johnny, Schindler's List, American Beauty, etc, or in TV series or commercials.
The links between such commercial uses and works by Barber, Bach, Satie, Jenkins, Delibes, Debussy, Handel, Faure and others are shown and a booklet lists all musicians and original recording dates.
Highlight: 37 tracks, over 150 minutes, music deemed classical and "cool".
