ECM New Series: Franz Schubert — Fantasie, Rondo, Sonate (Carolin Widmann & Alexander Lonquich) — Audio CD

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Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: ECM New Series
• Composer: Franz Schubert
• Artists: Carolin Widmann (violin), Alexander Lonquich (piano)
• Release Year: 2012
• Catalog Number: ECM New Series 2223 / 476 4546
• UPC: 028947645467
• Label Code: LC 02516
• Producer: Manfred Eicher
• Genre: Classical
• Style: Romantic, Chamber

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Works: Fantasie in C major (D 934), Rondo in B minor (D 895), Sonata in A major (D 574)
• Made in: Germany
• Condition: Brand New, Factory Sealed

Overview

Three of Schubert's works for violin and piano, gathered into one recital that runs from the intimate to the symphonic. Violinist Carolin Widmann and pianist Alexander Lonquich play as genuine partners — this is duo music, not violin-with-accompaniment, and they treat it that way.

The Fantasie in C major (D 934) is the centerpiece and the challenge: a sprawling, technically merciless single movement that folds in a set of variations on Schubert's own song "Sei mir gegrüßt." Few late works ask this much of both players at once. The Rondo in B minor (D 895), brilliant and outgoing, sits at the other end of the temperament, and the early A-major Sonata (D 574) brings a warmer, more lyrical Schubert.

Widmann, known equally for contemporary repertoire and the classics, brings a clear, unsentimental line; Lonquich matches her with detail and weight. The result is Schubert without excess gloss — direct, alert, alive to the music's sudden shifts.

This is the sealed 2012 ECM New Series edition, produced by Manfred Eicher with the label's characteristic clarity and space.

Interesting Facts

• The Fantasie in C major (D 934) embeds variations on Schubert's own lied "Sei mir gegrüßt," weaving song into instrumental form.
• At its 1828 premiere the Fantasie reportedly baffled audiences with its length and difficulty — it's now a cornerstone of the violin-piano repertoire.
• The Rondo in B minor (D 895) was one of the few of Schubert's instrumental works published in his lifetime.
• The A-major Sonata (D 574), written in 1817, is sometimes called the "Grand Duo" for violin and piano.
• Carolin Widmann is celebrated across both contemporary music and the classical canon, and is the sister of composer-clarinetist Jörg Widmann.
• Alexander Lonquich is admired as both pianist and conductor, with a long ECM association.

Track Listing

• Fantasie in C major, Op. posth. 159, D 934
• Rondo in B minor, Op. 70, D 895
• Sonata in A major, Op. posth. 162, D 574

Publishers

Released by ECM Records GmbH (Munich) in 2012 under the ECM New Series imprint, catalog 2223 / 476 4546. Produced by Manfred Eicher. Printed in Germany.

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