Quintette Imaginaire is a disk of Schubert song arrangements from soprano Sandrine Piau and the Quatuor Psophos. There’s about 43 minutes of songs including such well known ones as “Kennst du das land”, “Viola” “Ganymed” and “Erlkörnig”. There are also a couple of movements from Schubert quartets to make up a total of 67 minutes of music.
It’s a change to hear these songs sung by a soprano and the textures of the quartet arrangements are interesting. I particularly enjoyed the bouncy arrangement of “Ganymed” and a thoughtful reading of “Viola”. I’m not sure a soprano can really sound dark enough for “Erlkönig” though. All in all there’s some excellent playing and Piau sounds idiomatic in German. Continue reading
A Cup of Sins is a new CD release of works by Iranian-Canadian composer Parisa Sabet. If there’s a unifying theme it’s religious/cultural persecution in Iran and there’s a strong Bahai influence. The six pieces are scored for various combinations of voice, piano and small ensemble and add up to about an hour of very rewarding music.
