The Rubbra-Gruenberg-Pleeth Trio, heard on this release, had its origins during the Second World War, when Edmund Rubbra and William Pleeth (cello) were in the Army Classical Music Group. After WWII, and several violinists later, the young Erich Gruenberg joined, and in this grouping the Trio became well known, only disbanding as a regular ensemble at the end of the 1950s. Here they perform Rubbra’s Piano Trio in One Movement op.68 (1949-50) and Mozart’s Piano Trio no.1 in G major - both originally issued on a rare early 1950s Argo LP – as well as the Adagio cantabile from Haydn’s Piano Trio in F sharp minor. The legendary Griller Quartet provide a typically exquisite reading of Rubbra’s String Quartet no.2 in E flat major (1950-51), making this an essential release for lovers of British and European chamber music.

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In the first half of last century, the Romantic wing of the German violin school had no finer exemplar than Georg Kulenkampff. Although he did not enjoy an international career like his Classical counterpart Adolf Busch, he made a number of recordings and his discography was rich in concertos: studio versions of works by Mozart (Turkish), Beethoven, Spohr (Gesangsszene), Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms (D minor and A minor), Bruch (G minor), Tchaikovsky and Dvorák, as well as live versions of the Glazunov, Sibelius and Reger. In the 1947 recording of the Double Concerto in A minor, heard on this release, Kulenkampff is partnered by cellist Enrico Mainardi, with Carl Schuricht conducting the L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Kulenkampff’s association with Mainardi went back to the mid-1930s, when he had a trio with pianist Edwin Fischer and Mainardi. The 1937 recording of the Violin Concerto in D major, reissued here, sees Kulenkampff in fine form; it was a work he had previously performed in public – at the Royal Philharmonic Society, Queen’s Hall, in 1934.

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Two of the leading Danish conductors of the 1950s are featured on this release, in performances of music by Carl Nielsen. Thomas Jensen could in fact claim a link back to the composer: he had both studied with Nielsen and played under his baton, and was said to have retained a clear impression of the composer’s tempi and style. His interpretation of Symphony no.6 ‘Sinfonia Semplice’, heard here in a 1952 recording, is therefore suitably authoritative. The 1955 recording of Symphony no.3 ‘Sinfonia Espansiva’, reissued here, was especially interesting because it helped consolidate the reputation of a newer name in Danish music, the conductor John Frandsen. Like his Danish compatriots, Frandsen never achieved a significant reputation outside Scandinavia, though within Denmark he became a considerable force. His interpretation displays a justness of tempi and authentic feeling for the music. The incidental music that Nielsen composed for Helge Rode’s play Moderen (The Mother[land]) consists of some instrumental pieces and several songs, the latter once sung unforgettably on record by Aksel Schiøtz. The two purely orchestral excerpts included on this release enable us to recall the name of Emil Reesen, one of the Danish State Radio Symphony Orchestra’s founder conductors in 1925.

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"I would like to congratulate & thank you for the high quality job you've done with your recent transfer of recordings by violinist Henry Merckel, which I've just bought from you. I happen to be the son of Eugène Bigot, the conductor who accompanied him in Hubeau's wonderful concerto (I was a mere toddler at the time !) This CD is absolutely 1st class!"
Jean-Pierre Bigot, by email, 11 August 2011

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