Kaufmann: Chamber Works ARC Ensemble

• Walter Kaufmann (1907 - 1984): String Quartet No. 11:
• 1 String Quartet No. 11: I. Lento 05:30
• 2 String Quartet No. 11: II. Un poco grave 05:11
• 3 String Quartet No. 11: III. Allegro molto 03:00
• 4 String Quartet No. 11: IV. Allegro barbarico 04:51
• Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 44:
• 5 Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 44: I. Molto moderato e tranquillo 03:59
• 6 Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 44: II. Adagio molto 03:17
• 7 Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 44: III. Vivace 03:17
• String Quartet No. 7:
• 8 String Quartet No. 7: I. Energico 06:10
• 9 String Quartet No. 7: II. Sostenuto cantabile 05:41
• 10 String Quartet No. 7: III. Allegro molto 02:49
• 11 String Quartet No. 7: IV. Andantino 04:35
• 12 String Quartet No. 7: V. Vivace 04:56
• Sonatina No. 12 (Arr. for Clarinet & Piano):
• 13 Sonatina No. 12 (Arr. for Clarinet & Piano): I. Sostenuto cantabile 04:17
• 14 Sonatina No. 12 (Arr. for Clarinet & Piano): II. Intermezzo 01:29
• 15 Sonatina No. 12 (Arr. for Clarinet & Piano): III. Finale 03:18
• Walter Kaufmann:
• 16 Septet 14:52
• Total Runtime 01:17:12

Info for Kaufmann: Chamber Works

For the fourth installment in its Music in Exile series, the Toronto-based ARC Ensemble turns its attention to the music of Walter Kaufmann. Despite a very promising start in Prague and then Berlin, and friendships with Albert Einstein and with Franz Kafka’s circle, Kaufmann’s career become a casualty of the Nazi regime that forced scores of Jewish musicians to flee Germany – in his case for Bombay in India.

Kaufmann’s intriguing and extensive body of work remains largely forgotten, certainly underappreciated, and perhaps most tragically, unperformed since first heard, although ironically, millions of Indians are familiar with one piece of his music – the signature tune that he wrote in 1936 for All India Radio, which is still played every morning.

‘The hallmark of this remarkable music’, explains the ARC Ensemble’s Artistic Director, Simon Wynberg, ‘is its striking originality. There are flashes of Debussy, Bartók, and Stravinsky, and hints of Bohemian and klezmer music, but the end result is a world of inventiveness and surprises. It is an extraordinary blend of Eastern and Western traditions, both adventurous and accessible, and no less compelling for the eighty-year delay since its first performance.’

Jamie Kruspe, violin
Kimberly Jeong, cello
ARC Ensemble

ARC Ensemble
Nominated for its third Grammy Award in 2016, the ARC Ensemble is among Canada's most distinguished cultural ambassadors. Although the ensemble performs a wide range of music, its preoccupation continues to be the research and recovery of music that was suppressed and marginalized under the 20th century's repressive regimes. A growing number of hitherto unknown masterworks are rejoining the repertoire as a result of the ARC Ensemble's work.

The ARC Ensemble has appeared at major festivals and series, including the Budapest Spring Festival, the Enescu Festival (Bucharest), New York's Lincoln Center Festival, Canada's Stratford Festival, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, London's Wigmore and Cadogan Halls and Washington's Kennedy Center. The ARC Ensemble's “Music in Exile” series has been presented in Tel Aviv, Warsaw, Toronto, New York and London, and its performances and recordings (on Sony's RCA Red Seal label and Chandos) continue to earn unanimous critical acclaim and regularly broadcasts on stations around the world.

Comprised of the senior faculty of the Royal Conservatory's Glenn Gould School, with special guests drawn from the organization's most accomplished students and alumni, the ARC Ensemble's core group consists of piano, string quartet and clarinet with additional forces as repertoire demands. The ARC Ensemble collaborates with a range of artists, they include the pianist Leon Fleisher, the novelist Yann Martel, actors Saul Rubinek and R.H. Thompson, and composers R. Murray Schafer, Omar Daniel and Vincent Ho.

EXIT: MUSIC, a documentary describing the ensemble's work premiered in November 2016 and has been screened at a number of international festivals. It is distributed internationally by First Run Features in the US and Euroarts, Berlin in other territories. The ARC Ensemble's most recent release, its sixth, is devoted to the music of the Auschwitz survivor and onetime conductor of the camp's orchestra, Szymon Laks. The recording was nominated for a 2018 Juno Award. Highlights of ARC's 2019 season includes concerts at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, the Parco della Musica, Rome, and UCLA's Schoenberg Hall.

James Conlon, Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera and a pioneer in the recovery of lost twentieth century repertoire, is the ARC Ensemble's Honorary Chairman, its Artistic Director is Simon Wynberg.

Booklet for Kaufmann: Chamber Works