Bruckner: Symphony No. 4

“the LSO's principal horn here sets down a wonderful opening benchmark for what follows...Haitink's conducting is a masterclass in the art of control while appearing to stand back and let everyone play their best...the whole impressive structure hangs unerringly together...This version easily holds its own with the best.” --Classic FM Magazine, February 2012 *****

“The finale comes off best, with well-integrated tempi, a patient but impressive initial build-up and very good sound. It's a worthy, well-judged performance but with so much strong competition around (not least from Haitink himself) doesn't quite make the shortlist of top recommendations.” --Gramophone Magazine, February 2012

  M

Bach: Concertos

Murray Perahia releases this collection of the keyboard concertos of J.S Bach. Celebrated by his fans and media alike on first release, several of the concertos have been unavailable for some time and make a welcome return to the catalogue, The set contains some of Perahia’s all-time best-selling recordings. The initial releases of these recordings of the Concertos Nos. 1-7 have sold in excess of 30,000 units in the UK alone

“Most of the works on these discs started life in another form. Perahia is an eloquent advocate, not least in Bach’s wonderful slow movements, above all in a superb account of the Italian Concerto.” --The Sunday Time

Adagio Albinoni

19 romantic slow movements from the Concertos of Albinoni

Anthony Camden (oboe), Julia Girdwood (oboe)
Capella Istropolitana, London Virtuosi, Richard Edlinger, John Georgiadis

Piazzolla: Las Cuatro Estaciones porteñas, Etc

Scintillating, sexy, electric, elegant, sensuous, risky, robust, and just plain exciting and entertaining--those are some of the words that describe this surprising recording from Les Violons du Roy, the Quebec-based period-performance orchestra usually praised for its first-rate Bach, Handel, and Mozart. Now add Piazzolla to the list of this virtuoso ensemble's repertoire--and "virtuoso" not only describes the orchestra's amazing facility but particularly the artistry of violin soloist Pascale Giguère, long-time member of the group who here shines with big-star brilliance.

Her alternately fluid, fanciful, fiery, and always technically assured first movement (Verano/Summer) of the opening Four Seasons of Buenos Aires tells you all you need to know regarding the high energy and artistic level of what's to come.

Giguère's subtle phrase-shaping and sensual mood-setting in the Otoño/Autumn movement, abetted by her like-spirited orchestral accomplices, captures the essence of tango while proving the genius of Leonid Desyatnikov's violin/string orchestra arrangement of Piazzolla's tribute to Vivaldi (originally scored for quintet with piano and bandoneon). In the same movement's cadenza, Giguère's violin not only sings, but nearly speaks via tricky flicks and digs of the bow on strings.

There's plenty more to savor here, ranging from slow and seductive tangos to, well, fast and seductive tangos--and the playing is world-class throughout. Vibrant sound that captures the grit and fiber and sophisticated swagger of this infectious music completes an ideally entertaining--and did I say surprising?--performance.

French Concertos for Two Pianos

'The Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Francis Poulenc, composed in 1932, is clearly one of the most popular works of this relatively rare genre. Brilliantly sparkling wit, pointedness, and virtuosity make this concerto a listening feast. The Genova & Dimitrov Piano Duo presents this work on this new CD featuring three works of French provenance, since Darius Milhaud and Robert Casadesus also wrote double piano concertos. What unites the three composers is a shared aesthetic standpoint deeply rooted in neoclassicism.'

Tan Dun: Pipa Concerto · Hayashi: Viola Concerto · Takemitsu: Nostalghia

“This is the first recording of … Tan Dun's Pipa Concerto, and it's an absolute knockout. With strong, vigorous direction from Yuri Bashmet and some wonderfully extrovert playing from both the Moscow Strings and well known pipa exponent Wu Man, Tan's overt theatricality bursts forth like a rampant Chinese dragon. Bashmet is the soloist in both Nostalghia and Elegia, and it would be difficult to find a better advocate for these works.” --Gramophone Magazine, October 2008

“Tan Dun’s four-movement Pipa Concerto...is, as one might expect, eclectic, vibrant, colourful and immediate; but, as with much of his work, the piece seems more theatrical effect than substance. Wu Man plays the pipa - a Chinese-style lute - beautifully. [In Hayashi's Viola Concerto] Yuri Bashmet gives the viola solo part with his usual powerfully rich tone, and he is equally good on the violin in Takemitsu’s Nostalghia (1988), a meditative tribute to the film director Andrei Tarkovsky. The Moscow Soloists, superb throughout, also give three extracts from Takemitsu’s large canon of film music.” --Sunday Times, 25th May 2008

Agrell: Orchestral Works

Johan Joachim Agrell (1701-1765) was in many ways a traveller between the worlds: in Uppsala, the Swede's great talent was recognized by the Hessian envoy, which resulted in Agrell being summoned to a court near Kassel in Germany. He later went as municipal chapel-master to Nuremberg. Musically, Agrell was a brilliant Baroque composer in whose works many of the new early Classical trends were anticipated.

This CD thus continues the series of AEOLUS releases that feature the orchestral music of this exciting period, a series that has already very successfully presented works by Fasch, Hertel, and Molter. The Helsinki Baroque Orchestra is a shining star of Finland's musical life. The young musicians around the harpsichordist Aapo Häkkinen appear year after year throughout Europe. Further releases on AEOLUS are in preparation.

Alessandro Scarlatti: Concertos and Sinfonias

Alessandro Scarlatti was among the most important Italian composers of opera from the late Baroque period. He is credited with establishing the Neapolitan school of opera in the eighteenth century, rapidly improving the predominantly provincial state of music in Naples into a sophisticated and enduring tradition. He composed over 600 cantatas, more than 100 operas, many oratorios, serenatas, sonatas, and other instrumental pieces.

Oddly, his historical position declined after his death and his reputation was not rehabilitated until the early twentieth century. His importance in music is further bolstered by the fact he was the father of Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), who in the keyboard realm was among the most individual and influential composers of his day. Another son, Pietro, also became a composer of some distinction. 

Flecha: Las Ensaladas

Mateo Flecha (1481-1553) was the first Spanish composer to develop the Ensalada genre to a high level of formal perfection. His work continued to influence subsequent generations of composers, including in the madrigal genre.

The ensaladas (literally 'salads' or 'cocktails') of the early-16th-century Spanish master Mateo Flecha ara bizarre vocal works, brilliantly combining snatches of folk-songs, church music, courtly part-song and negro song, and full of stunningly virtuosic vocal effect.

Devienne: Flute Quartets

Devienne wrote a great number of well-crafted concertos and chamber works for flute and bassoon in the 1790s, as well as many pedagogical pieces, but he was best known in Paris during this period as an opera composer. His fortunes declined suddenly in the new century, though; he died in 1803, four months after being committed to the Charenton insane asylum.

Fauré: Piano Quintets Nos 1 and 2

“It is hard not to be beguiled by the charms of Fauré's First Piano Quintet when played with the kind of understanding displayed by The Schubert Ensemble. They are similarly convincing in the late C minor Quintet… William Howard brings a suitably fleet-fingered lightness of touch to the shyly virtuosic piano part, and each of the string players combines beauty with incisiveness.” --BBC Music Magazine, February 2010 ****

“Committed performances vividly recorded.” --Gramophone Magazine, March 2010

After twenty-six years at the forefront of British music performance, the Schubert Ensemble is firmly established as one of the world’s leading exponents of chamber music for piano and strings. In 1998 its contribution to British musical life was recognised by the Royal Philharmonic Society which presented the group with the Best Chamber Ensemble Award.

The group is passionate about the music of Fauré and in recent years has championed the reflective and highly individual Quintets at its many concerts across the UK.

Fauré was taught by Saint-Saëns, a lifelong friend, and Fauré in his turn taught Ravel. He broke new ground: in fusing the pre-baroque modes with the traditional tonal system, he created a fluid sense of constantly shifting harmony which is inimitably his own. The fluidity is apparently effortless, but if you listen closely to his Piano Quintets you will hear great drama, tension and profound emotion, all skilfully demonstrated.

‘Chamber music’, wrote Fauré, ‘really is… true music and the most sincere expression of a genuine personality.’ And in his chamber music he achieved something remarkable.

Dall'Abaco: Concerti à più Istrumenti, Opera Sesta

The Opera Sesta concludes dall'Abaco's publications, which had begun in 1705 with a collection of twelve sonatas for violin and violoncello and continued, always remaining faithful to instrumental music. Although these are concertos without declaredly solo or concertante instruments, the first violin is allowed brief concertante sections. The Vivaldi models, or more correctly the Italian models of the first half of the century, are evident: extremely fluent writing, rare use of imitative counterpoint, predominance of the melody. A continuation of the Stradivarius series devoted to the complete works of Evaristo Dall'Abaco, a major figure in Italian Baroque instrumental music.

Crusell · Clarinet Concertos · Forgotten Treasures Vol. 1

"Hoeprich’s interpretations are aglow with tonal beauty and rich in understanding that transcend the printed page. The expected stylistic conventions are employed and when added to the high quality playing of Kölner Akademie under the capable direction of Michael Alexander Willens, the result is a set of historically informed readings that will appeal to the most selective of listeners." --Fanfare

Finnish-born composer Bernhard Hendrik Crusell (1775-1838) became famous as one of the greatest clarinet virtuosos of his time, playing both his own compositions and those of contemporaries Krommer, Mozart, Beethoven and Lebrun. He was said to have had a beautiful cantabile tone and a particularly soft pianissimo. He spent most of his life in Sweden, and was considered to be the most important Swedish composer of Beethoven’s age.

Naturally, Crusell is especially renowned for his clarinet compositions, notably the three delightful concertos and the three clarinet quartets. His elegant, thematically rich style, of great charm and technical skill, was influenced by Mozart, Beethoven and some of his French contemporaries, blending Viennese classicism with elements of French opera.The Clarinet Concert No.2 in F minor is generally considered the finest of the concertos, and perhaps Crusell’s greatest work in any form. The finely-worked out first movement has dazzling virtuoso passages, but also a quality of drama and poignancy that relates more to the dawning Romantic period than the waning Classical era.

The clarinet concertos are perhaps less demanding for the performers, but are equally charming. In all three works the clarinet is the principal instrument, with the violin, viola and cello providing accompaniment. --Emma Johnson is “Britain’s Favourite Clarinettist” (The Times).

MP3 320 · 160 MB

Romantic Flute Concertos

France and the flute are inseparably associated. The connection is nothing new, but one with clear historical roots. It was at the beginning of the eighteenth Century that nearly all instruments began to undergo rapid technical development. This set in train an evolution that was to continue well into the next century, the technical changes leading to a marked increase in expressive potential. Instrumental music naturally underwent a similar development.

Paris Conservatoire had, from its beginnings in the days of the French Revolution, a strong tradition of flute classes, with teachers whose names are still familiar. Even today, we can still speak of a French flute school of composition and performance, analogous to the French violin school that assumed its first great importance in the nineteenth century. 

Mozart · Piano Concertos Nos. 19 & 23 · Ch'io mi scordi di te?... Non temer, amato bene, K505

This album marks two 'firsts' for Hélène Grimaud - her first live DG recording and her first ever Mozart concerto recording – the Piano Concertos Nos. 19 in F, and 23 in A. Hélène Grimaud considers the concerto in A major "probably the most sublime concerto Mozart ever wrote", with a slow movement that is "an extremely deep and painful expression of longing, where you find the real Mozart." 

The concerto in F major K459 is less well-known, but with a very special vitality and a virtuosic finale that is for Grimaud, "pure pianistic pleasure". As well as the two concertos, the album includes the beautiful concert aria for orchestra, soprano and piano 'Ch'io mi scordi di te', sung by Mojca Erdmann. The aria was Mozart's declaration of love to the soprano Nancy Storace, his Susanna in the world premiere of "Le nozze di Figaro".

MP3 320 · 147 MB

J. C. Bach, J. C. F. Bach · Keyboard Concertos

The booklet notes to this release make interesting reading. American fortepianist Susan Alexander-Max reveals that this was initially intended to be an album dedicated to the music of Johann Christian Bach. J.C. Bach was the youngest of J.S. Bach's surviving sons and was probably more famous and popularly successful than the rest of his brothers put together. After extending his education in Italy he established himself as “the London Bach”. He won fame throughout Europe as a leading exponent of the new and fashionable gallant style of music, sweeping aside the fussiness of the Baroque period with a sleek new Classicism. It helped that he was also a keyboard virtuoso – hardly surprising given that he would have heard his clan of older siblings playing the 48 while he was still in utero.

However, as The Music Collection rehearsed what had always been thought to be two of J.C. Bach's Op.7 concertos for keyboard for the recording, doubts began to set in about their provenance. Putting aside the difference in instrumentation – the addition of a viola which is absent in the Op.13 concertos – there was something about the music that “did not feel or sound like Johann Christian”. A little digging revealed that these two concertos have been recently and reliably attributed to a different Bach: to Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, three years J.C. Bach's senior and, like their older half brother Carl Philipp Emanuel, a court musician in Germany.

The Music Collection – founded by Alexander-Max for the promotion of 18th and early 19th Century fortepiano repertoire – recorded the J.C.F. Bach concertos anyway; they bookend the J.C. Bach concertos, making for an attractive program of contrasting styles. All four concertos are certainly pleasing. Much of the interest in each piece comes from the keyboard's elaboration of thematic material stated by the strings, and it is the way in which this is handled that marks the difference between the brothers' styles. When their concertos are played one after the other the greater liquidity of the London Bach's melodic invention, his lighter touch and his more winning charm are evident.

In all four pieces the scoring is very economical with only one instrument per part in the tiny, eminently practical “orchestra” that accompanies the soloist - though the J.C. Bach concertos allow for optional winds which are not employed here. To prevent textures thinning out, the fortepiano provides a continuo when not spinning the solo line.

The performances are commendable, bringing the scores to life with due observance of period performance practice. Susan Alexander-Max shapes her solo lines with grace, ease and intelligence. I enjoyed her recent Clementi disc immensely, and her playing is just as magical here. I would be interested in hearing a bit about her instrument. It sounds like a modern replica fortepiano – sweet-toned and supple. The warm and intimate Naxos recording certainly presents it and the accompanying strings in their best light. A delightful disc. --Tim Perry, MusicWeb International

Grieg · Holberg Suite · Music for Strings

Here's an easy call: these are stunning performances of music that you'd have to be either deaf or dead not to love. Yes, there are zillions of performances of the Holberg Suite out there, many of them excellent, but Ruud's version is so compelling that it simply makes you forget about any other. It has freshness and poetry in abundance, and he gets the strings of the Bergen Philharmonic to do exactly what so many string sections find all but impossible: achieve sharp rhythmic accuracy without compromising tone quality. This is most evident in the Prelude and final Rigaudon, but on a more subtle level this keenness of rhythm, allied to shapely phrasing, also helps to float the melodies of the gentler inner movements, particularly the Air, which is just gorgeous.

The remaining pieces might be termed "minor Grieg" were they not so inherently beautiful. In fact, the Two Nordic Melodies Op. 63 is a pretty substantial work, with an opening number running longer than seven minutes. In any case, it doesn't matter if you use this disc primarily for "quiet listening" so long as you also can pay attention and come away with a renewed admiration for Grieg's music. In stereo the engineering is outstanding, but in SACD surround format you can really wallow in the rich, warm sounds that Ruud draws from his players. This series has ranged from good to fabulous, and there's no question that this disc belongs firmly in the latter category. --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Mendelssohn · Schumann · Violin Concertos

An outstanding version of an apt and rare coupling.

The lightness and resilience of Renaud Capuçon’s playing at the very start of the Mendelssohn, matched by the transparent textures of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Daniel Harding, instantly establishes the distinctive character of this latest version of a much-recorded concerto. The urgency of the main Allegro still allows for Capuçon’s crystalline precision in rapid passagework, leading to a flexible account of the second subject.

Both Kyung-Wha Chung and Joshua Bell are more conventionally rich of tone, particularly Bell, who is markedly slower in the first movement, but Capuçon’s formidable virtuosity ensures that there is no feeling of a small-scale performance. His Andante is fresh and songful; the finale is clear and brilliant without any hint of rush.

The coupling with the Schumann is welcome. It now seems extraordinary that on the advice of Clara Schumann, Brahms and Joseph Joachim, for whom it was written in 1853, this fine if flawed work was locked away until 1937. Philippe Mougeot’s booklet-note attributes its ‘resurrection’ in part to the desire of the Nazi authorities to replace the Mendelssohn concerto which they had banned. Certainly they insisted that the première be given in Germany, yet within months it won its first Jewish interpreter, when Yehudi Menuhin performed it with Barbirolli and the New York Philharmonic.

This performance is also marked by its transparency, not least in the crisp attacks of the accompaniment. Menuhin may vary the tempo less and Gidon Kremer use a wider tonal range, but Capuçon is equally convincing, not just in the first movement but in the hymn-like melody of the slow movement. He is more measured in the finale than either Kremer or Menuhin, articulating the semiquavers of the central episode with utmost clarity. Aided by Harding, the rhythmic resilience of the sharply dotted rhythms prevents any feeling of sluggishness. Vienna’s Jugendstilltheater is the venue for a free and open recording. -- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone

The Oscar Peterson Trio · We Get Requests

The repertoire, of this 1964 studio session,  is mostly pop songs of the day, including bossa nova tunes and film themes, and the treatments are fairly brief, with emphasis placed squarely on the melodies. Even in their lightest moments, though, the group demonstrates some of the qualities that made it among the most influential piano trios in jazz, a group that could generate tremendous rhythmic energy and a sense of developing musical detail. This is undemanding, tuneful music best suited for casual listening, but it still sparkles with the trio's customary élan.

Rodrigo · Concierto de Aranjuez · Villa-Lobos · Castelnuovo-Tedesco Guitar Concertos

An excellent account from Norbert Kraft, spontaneous and catching well the music’s colour atmosphere. If it is not quite as individual as bream’s version, it is has the advantage of vivid, well-balanced, modern, digital recording and excellent couplings. Another genuine Naxos bargain.

On Naxos a first-class version of this slight but attractive concerto, which is well suited by the relatively intimate scale of the performance. The recording is well balanced and vivid, and the soloist, Norbert Kraft, has plenty of personality; and the accompaniment is fresh and polished. Typically excellent Naxos value. --Penguin Guide ***

Norbert Kraft is not yet a household name but if his publicity ever matches his quality he certainly should attain that status. --Gramophone

Kraft proves himself excellent at conveying a sense of enjoyment and fun…At budget price…this disc is certainly a real bargain: it makes you wonder whether it really is worth the extra for full and mid-price discs. --Classic CD

Rachmaninov · Suites pour Pianos

“Jos van Immerseel and Claire Chevalier are the first pianists to record these hugely challenging works on authentic instruments - in this case a pair of Pleyel pianos dating from around the turn of the 20th century… The magical, bell-like sonorities these hugely experienced players conjure up is perhaps reason enough to invest in this fine disc, especially as the recording quality is so richly detailed yet luxuriously opulent.” --BBC Music Magazine ****

Bonbons: Geminiani · Pachelbel · Purcell · Marcello · J.S. Bach

Musicians fondly think of some works as bonbons or candy, for they are as agreeable to play as they are to listen to; everybody likes them. Their melodies are engraved in our memories and run through our heads, as the makers of movies and ads know so well. Some, such as the Aria from Bach’s Suite in D major or Pachelbel’s Canon, cause us to shed tears at weddings or funerals. How can the popularity of these particular and apparently immortal works be explained, when their composers—with the exception of Corelli—have written so many other more elaborate masterpieces? Is it because, in their simplicity, these little jewels pierce straight into the hearts of their listeners? For ATMA and Les Violons du Roy the answer is yes.

 





MP3 320 · 139 MB

Rosseti · Basson Concertos

Eckhart Hübner trained with the famous German bassoonist Klaus Thunemann, and he has played with a variety of orchestras, including the SWR Symphony Orchestra. Chamber music and teaching also occupy his time. This is his first recording as both soloist and conductor, and everything goes well, although the engineers have balanced him too prominently. The German Chamber Academy of Neuss on the Rhine is about twenty-five years old, and its musicians accompany Hübner suavely.

This isn't terribly important music, but it goes down smoothly like a cool glass of Rhenish wine. --classical.net

Franck · Sonate · Chausson · Concerto

In the Franck sonata it is remarkable how Amoyal and Rogé allow themselves greater freedom over rhythm and tempo without ever seeming undisciplined. So the opening Allegretto even more than usual emerges as a dreamy meditation, a happy preparation for more serious arguments later. With speeds in all four movements generally a degree broader, this is a reading full of fantasy, giving the impression of music emerging spontaneously on the moment.

This is certainly so in the finale, with its opening theme in canon between piano and violin, and the coda brings at the end a winning rush for the post,a far more marked accelerando than in the Chung or Perlman versions, speaking not of poor discipline but of sheer joy.


The full and immediate recording helps, and so it does in the Chausson, which receives just as warmly spontaneous-sounding a performance. --Gramophone

Mendelssohn · The Piano Conciertos · Rondo Brilliant

“The outer movements of the concertos fizz and sparkle as they should yet Helmchen finds time to sculpt phrase-endings without any loss of momentum, heightening the drama in the process. The piano is centre stage in the sound picture - and how Helmchen can make it sing!...his burnished, singing tone bring[s] an unusual depth to this life-enhancing music.” --Gramophone Magazine

“the Rondo brillant was never meant to be anything more than what it says...and Martin Helmchen has just the youthful energy and dazzling technique to make the most of it. Everything is kept light and good-humoured, and this is really also the right manner for the concertos” --International Record Review

I was introduced to these two delightful concertos by Murray Perahia and Neville Marriner in their 1975 CBS (Sony) release, and these quicksilver performances are still what I hear in my head when I think of these works. Perahia’s performances remain in the catalog, and despite brightly lit analog sound, are very much in the running for finest recording of these lighthearted showpieces. I was equally taken with the Schiff/Dutoit versions when they made their appearance on CD in the early days of digital, Schiff being, if anything, even more brilliant and fleet of finger. Thibaudet’s (and Blomstedt’s) big-boned traversal of these scores was less pleasing at first, though the extra weight certainly does not come at the expense of dazzling passagework. Thibaudet’s Mendelssohn, played “as fast as possible provided that the notes can be heard” as the composer preferred, simply strikes me as a bit aloof, impressive as it is.

No one would ever call this new recording by the talented young (at 28) German pianist Martin Helmchen aloof. The 2001 Clara Haskil competition winner, an exclusive PentaTone artist, has now recorded seven releases with the Dutch label, including some very fine Schubert chamber and solo music, two Mozart concertos of notable lucidity, and an acclaimed release of the seldom-recorded Dvorák Piano Concerto. The delicacy of touch and graceful phrasing of the Mozart, in particular, promised an interesting outing with the Mendelssohn, and so it has turned out. Helmchen is not as flashy as Perahia or Schiff, preferring to emphasize warmth and expressiveness over precision and sheer velocity, though he lacks neither. There is an appealing geniality to the opening movement of the Concerto No. 1 that gives a good impression of the performances to come. The lovely but rather indulgent poetics of the Andante raise some concerns about fussiness, and the fanfare leading into the Presto finale—shades of A Midsummer Night’s Dream—could be more brilliant, but overall the soloist compensates with playing of sensitivity and, in the finale, dazzling energy.

As with the very different Thibaudet, though, it is the D-minor Concerto that responds best to this artist’s approach. The initial darkness is emphasized by Helmchen’s understated opening, but the proceedings don’t stay low-key for very long. Like the French pianist, he sees this as a much more substantial statement than anything in the rather frivolous G-Minor Concerto, so he and Herreweghe give it weight but refuse to drive the movement as hard as Thibaudet does. It and the following Adagio are lovingly shaped, with more rubato than either Schiff or Perahia allow themselves. Helmchen and company round things off with a Presto scherzando that, after the opening bars, is less about digital fireworks than amiable farewells. Nicely done. The seldom-heard Rondo brilliant is primarily about fireworks, however, and both soloist and orchestra indulge themselves enthusiastically.

Helmchen has the notable quirk of underlining quieter passages by exaggerating the dynamic and slowing the tempo, in a couple of instances almost to a stop. The effect borders on the precious, though I can’t say it ever crosses the line. Some will see it as exquisite, or spiritual, and I won’t argue. Some listeners may object to the orchestra’s restrained application of vibrato, and the hard sticks used on the timpani. Others may feel that the accompaniment is a little too discreet compared to Marriner or Blomstedt. Still, if Helmchen won’t displace Perahia and Schiff in the pantheon, he certainly can join them as a compelling alternative. And given the sound of this release—warm, detailed, nicely balanced, and with just the right amount of sharpness to the piano to make it sparkle—this may well be the audiophile’s first choice. --Ronald E. Grames, Fanfare