| |
THE CRITICS:
Sonoloco: (read the full sonoloco review here)
"Csaba Deák´s works for wind instruments have earned him the most attention, and this collection adds up to a very nice CD.
The first piece presented is “Anémones de Felix”, which through Alban Berg-like expressions arrives at a truly personal Deák-wind-piece.
The “Clarinet Concerto”, Deák has a special feeling for the clarinet. The concerto is a pendulum between seriousness and light-heartedness, and moves along with “style and grace”.
“Farina Pagus” is a simple miniature, well suited for an opener or to be hard in intermissions, but it also has high musical qualities quite apart from that. It has a rhythmical force and a colorful tonal appearance that pleases.
“Memento mare” starts like a psalmistic melody, and it is a serious, sorrowful composition, a requiem in commemoration of all those who lost their lives in the horrible catastrophe that took place in the Baltic Sea in September 1994, when the ship Estonia sank, killing more than eight hundred unsuspecting people in a fall storm. This is a moving, thoughtful piece, that strikes many emotions in all of us who went through this trauma which still affects us till this day, like the catastrophe at Tjernobyl or the murder of Olof Palme – three recent traumas, hard to deal with.
“Symphony for Wind Orchestra” moves in dark colors through a serious and averted mindscape, like the medieval land of the Black Death, and though it is written in a symphonic manner certain groups of instruments break loose now and then on concert-like outings. The usage of percussion and some dancing figures calls for analogies with Karl-Birger Blomdahl."
Östgötacorrespondenten: "On this CD we meet a fascinating composer, a very vivid and exciting music in the "Clarinet Concerto" and strict solemn in the piece dedicated to the victims of the ship catastrophy "Estonia". The music mirrors strong feelings facing death and the power of the sea. The conductor Andreas Hanson really makes the Wind Orchestra of the Royal College of Music sound at their very best!"
Fanfare Magazine: "This disc went immediately onto my Want list for 2000. (---) Deák´s music is not populist like Gould´s, not contrapuntal like Hindemith´s, not melodic like Reed´s, and not explosive like Husa´s. Brilliantly colored and argued in their own fasion, Deák´s works come close to resembling the more serious probing of those by Cindy McTee. An excellent, challenging CD that I hope ends up opening the door for more explorations of Deák´s music. A top disc in my listening year. You must find it somehow!"
Accademia Trimestrale: "If Alban Berg had written a clarinet concerto this would have been the sound of it. Csaba Deák shows on this CD his skill in creating a historical syntesis. He resides together with Kurtág and Ligeti as one of the following-up composers to the clang and colour tradition. With great talent and burning inspiration Deák´s concerto is filled with body language and rhythm, dark, contemplative introspection and magmatic, enigmatic posing of unanswered questions. (---) The Symphony unites with similair works by Varèse, Stravinsky and Messiaens. It is a polyptyk that places Csaba Deák on the podium as one of the masters of the Nordic music. "
WASBE Newsletter Volume XVI Number 3 September 2001:
"Here is a wonderful sampling of the wind band music by -- Csaba Deák. The five compositions on this CD demonstrate
the variety and scope of Deákąs writings for winds.
The title work, Anémones de Felix, is a
fascinating sound world that well reflects the allure of its title.
Farina Pagus is an energetic and playful piece, which contrasts strikingly
with the following Memento mare, a memorial to those who died when the ship
Estonia sank in September 1994. This work for mixed choir and wind orchestra
is austere and solemn with a text from the requiem mass.
The other two compositions -- the Symphony for Wind Orchestra and the
Clarinet Concerto -- are major works. Characteristic for Deák, energetic and mechanically pulsating patterns contrast with blocks of sound and quasi improvised sections to create an exuberant work that only briefly pauses for a calming solo by the alto flute.
The Clarinet Concerto is given a magnificent performance by Swedish
clarinetist Kjell Fagéus and is a culmination of Deákąs compositional
styles, containing not only the perpetual motion and improvisation found in his other works but hints of
Hungarian folk music and jazz. If you are still relatively unfamiliar with the music of this composer, be sure to get this CD. The performances of this demanding music by Andreas Hanson and the
Swedish Royal College of Music Wind Orchestra are first rate."
|
