Arranger(s): Helps, Robert
Label: Naxos
Series: American Classics
Genre: Chamber Music; Instrumental
Period: 20th Century; Romantic
Catalogue No: 8.559696-97
Barcode: 636943969625
Release Date: 09/2011

HELPS, R.: Chamber Music with Piano - Piano Trios / Piano Quartet / Quintet / Duo (Helps in Berlin) (Helps, Atos Trio, Spectrum Concerts Berlin)

This recording is an exploration of Robert Helps’s ‘subtle sound world’ (ClassicsToday.com on Naxos 8.559199), and his shared history with Spectrum Concerts Berlin. Highly regarded as a ‘musician’s musician’, Helps is featured as both composer and pianist. Postlude is suffused with an atmosphere of reminiscence, and the flow of ‘endless melody’ in the Piano Quartet is comparable to Scriabin. Associations with the Second Viennese School are heard in the poetic Quintet and the virtuoso Fantasy, while the two Piano Trios mark the stylistic boundaries of his career. Helps’s Shall We Dance for piano (CD 2, Track 12) was among his last recordings.

Tracklist

Disc 1
Helps, Robert
Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Ensemble)
1Postlude08:43
Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Ensemble)
Hehn, Annette von (violin)
Hoppe, Thomas (piano)
2Fantasy06:57
Hehn, Annette von (violin)
Hoppe, Thomas (piano)
Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Ensemble)
3I. Prelude05:32
Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Ensemble)
4II. Intermezzo02:22
Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Ensemble)
5III. Scherzo03:19
Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Ensemble)
6IV. Postlude04:38
Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Ensemble)
7V. Coda - The Players Gossip02:01
Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Ensemble)
Dodge, Frank S. (cello)
Niskala, Naomi (piano)
8Duo08:10
Dodge, Frank S. (cello)
Niskala, Naomi (piano)
Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Ensemble)
9I. Moving05:54
Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Ensemble)
10II. Relentlessly (without inflection)02:24
Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Ensemble)
11III. Dolce e legato05:37
Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Ensemble)
Disc 2
ATOS Trio (Ensemble)
1I. Mesto05:37
ATOS Trio (Ensemble)
2II. Molto marcato - Molto allegro04:18
ATOS Trio (Ensemble)
3III. Maestoso04:41
ATOS Trio (Ensemble)
ATOS Trio (Ensemble)
4I. Duets: Allegro03:06
ATOS Trio (Ensemble)
5II. Horizons: Austere, but intense06:47
ATOS Trio (Ensemble)
6III. Toccata frustrata02:30
ATOS Trio (Ensemble)
Mendelssohn, Felix
Helps, Robert - Arranger
Helps, Robert (piano)
76 Lieder, Op. 71: No. 4. Schilflied (arr. R. Helps for piano)03:53
Helps, Robert (piano)
Ireland, John
Helps, Robert - Arranger
Helps, Robert (piano)
8Love is a Sickness Full of Woes (arr. R. Helps for piano)02:59
Helps, Robert (piano)
Poulenc, Francis
Helps, Robert (piano)
9Intermezzo in A-Flat Major, FP 11804:18
Helps, Robert (piano)
Godowsky, Leopold
Helps, Robert (piano)
10No. 45 in E Major (1st version after Chopin's Nouvelle Étude No. 2)05:52
Helps, Robert (piano)
11No. 12 in G-Flat Major (6th version after Chopin's Op. 10, No. 5, inversion, for the right hand)03:06
Helps, Robert (piano)
Helps, Robert
Helps, Robert (piano)
12Shall We Dance11:20
Helps, Robert (piano)
Ireland, John
Helps, Robert (piano)
13The Darkened Valley03:46
Helps, Robert (piano)

Total Playing Time: 01:57:50