Robert Fürstenthal: Chamber Music, Volume Three
When Germany invaded Austria in 1938, Robert Fürstenthal, born in 1920, took the path of many Viennese Jews and fled to the United States, where he made his living as an accountant; the fact that he had written music in his youth was soon forgotten. Reconnection, after 35 years, with the woman who had been his first love rekindled both that flame and his urge to compose, and from then on songs and chamber music flowed from his pen, preserving the spirit of fin-de-siècle Vienna under the Californian sun – ‘When I compose, I am back in Vienna’, he explained. He died in November 2016, aged 96, knowing that his lyrical, eloquent music was at last attracting the attention of both musicians and microphones.
The Rossetti Ensemble
Nicholas Korth, horn (1–4)
Timothy Lowe, cello (5–8)
Malcolm Messiter, oboe (9–12)
Martyn Jackson, violin (15–18)
Sara Trickey, violin (15–18)
Sarah-Jane Bradley, viola (13–18)
John Lenehan, piano (1–14)
Listen To This Recording:
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Sonata for Horn and Piano in D minor, Op. 54
- I Andante
- II Scherzo: Allegretto
- III Adagio
- IV Grave – Allegro con brio
- I Allegro
- II Scherzando
- III Cantabile
- IV Agitato
- I Ruhig
- II Lebhaft
- III Sehr innig
- IV Bewegt
- I Andante
- II Lento – Allegro moderato
- I Allegro
- II Scherzando
- II Lento
- IV Andante
Sonata for Cello and Piano in C sharp minor, Op. 44
Sonata for Oboe and Piano in E flat minor, Op. 50
Sonata for Viola and Piano in F sharp minor, Op. 60a
String Quartet in B minor, Op. 40
FIRST RECORDINGS
American Record Guide :
‘The album opens with his Horn Sonata in D minor, a 13-minute work in the traditional four movements that went down pleasantly as my introduction to the composer. It is gloriously played by Nicholas Korth, co-principal horn of the BBC Symphony since 2000. So smooth and lyrical is he that I almost heard the portamento he would have used if the instrument were capable of it. […]
In the four-movement 18-minute Cello Sonata in C-sharp minor soloist Timothy Lowe plays with the same kind of gorgeous tone and line as horn player Korth.’
—French, American Record Guide