ECM New Series: Thomas Demenga — Chonguri (Cello, Piano & Accordion) — Audio CD

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: ECM New Series
• Artists: Thomas Demenga (violoncello), Thomas Larcher (piano), Teodoro Anzellotti (accordion)
• Composers: Sulkhan Tsintsadze, J.S. Bach, Gaspar Cassadó, Chopin, Fauré, Webern, Liszt, Milhaud, Thomas Demenga
• Release Year: 2006
• Catalog Number: ECM New Series 1914 / 476 3022
• UPC: 028947630227
• Label Code: LC 02516
• Genre: Classical
• Style: Recital, Chamber, 20th-Century

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Instrumentation: cello, piano, accordion
• Made in: Germany
• Condition: Brand New, Factory Sealed

Overview

Chonguri is a cellist's recital that refuses to behave like one. Thomas Demenga threads short pieces across three centuries — Bach chorales, a Chopin nocturne, Fauré, Webern miniatures, Liszt's late and bleak "La lugubre gondola," Milhaud — and ties them together with the unexpected color of Teodoro Anzellotti's accordion alongside Thomas Larcher's piano.

The title comes from a piece by the Georgian composer Sulkhan Tsintsadze, named for a folk lute. From there the program keeps shifting register: sacred Bach, salon Chopin, the spare modernism of Webern, and Demenga's own contributions, including the closing "New York Honk."

What holds it together is Demenga's instinct for line and contrast. He's one of the most exploratory cellists of his generation, and he treats this mix not as a grab-bag but as a single arc — devotional, then playful, then strange.

This is the sealed 2006 ECM New Series edition, an ECM production with the label's characteristic clarity and space.

Interesting Facts

• The album takes its title from "Chonguri" by Georgian composer Sulkhan Tsintsadze, named after a traditional Georgian lute.
• The accordion of Teodoro Anzellotti is an unusual recital partner for cello and piano, lending the program a distinctive timbre.
• Thomas Demenga is known for pairing Bach's solo cello suites with 20th-century composers across a celebrated ECM series.
• Two of the pieces — "Eine kleine Erregung" and "New York Honk" — are Demenga's own compositions.
• Liszt's "La lugubre gondola" was written in Venice near the end of his life and is one of his bleakest, most forward-looking works.
• Pianist Thomas Larcher is also a noted contemporary composer in his own right.

Track Listing

• Sulkhan Tsintsadze — Chonguri
• J.S. Bach — Das alte Jahr vergangen ist
• J.S. Bach — Herr Gott, nun schleuss' den Himmel auf
• Gaspar Cassadó — Danse du diable vert
• Frédéric Chopin — Nocturne in C-sharp minor
• Gabriel Fauré — Romance
• Anton Webern — Drei kleine Stücke
• Anton Webern — Zwei Stücke
• J.S. Bach — Ich ruf' zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ
• Gabriel Fauré — Après un rêve
• Frédéric Chopin — Nocturne in E-flat major
• Franz Liszt — La lugubre gondola
• Thomas Demenga — Eine kleine Erregung
• J.S. Bach — Meine Seele erhebet den Herrn
• Gabriel Fauré — Berceuse
• Darius Milhaud — Vocalise-étude pour voix élevées
• Thomas Demenga — New York Honk

Publishers

An ECM production, © 2006 ECM Records GmbH (Munich), under the ECM New Series imprint, catalog 1914 / 476 3022. Printed in Germany.

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