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Mertz: The Last Viennese Virtuoso - Bungarten

Mertz: The Last Viennese Virtuoso - Bungarten

MDG Gold  905 1954-6

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Instrumental


Johann Kaspar Mertz: Bardenklänge, Op. 13, Orgelfuge (after J. G. Albrechtsberger), Harmonie du Soir (Grand Fantasise), 6 Schubert'sche Lieder, Trois Morceaux, Op. 65, Verdi's Ernani (Opernrevue), Op. 8

Frank Bungarten (10-string guitar after Johann Gottfried Scherzer, 1861, by Gary Southwell, 2013)


Bass Basis
What a big sound! The basses on that guitar! For his new recording featuring compositions by the guitarist Johann Kaspar Mertz, Frank Bungarten has selected a very special instrument: a contraguitar designed on the basis of an exemplary historical model by Johann Gottfried Scherzer with a series of additional bass strings on a second neck. As a result, we now can experience the opulent sonority of Mertz’s works just as they were originally heard – now for the first time since the death of the “last Viennese virtuoso” in 1856!

Enthusiastic Response
For the posthumously published Fantasies Op. 65 and the Harmonie du soir Mertz very evidently reckoned with additional volume in the bass. It is only on the ten-string contraguitar that these works can be played exactly as they are notated. Those who initially may ask how an “Organ Fugue” can be played on the guitar will enthusiastically answer their own question at very the latest when the “pedal tones” make their grand entrance!

Impressive Demonstration
As Mertz’s arrangement of six songs by Schubert impressively demonstrates, he set high standards for his own music. He used not only the originals but also the highly complex and imaginative transcriptions prepared by Franz Liszt for his own very successful piano recitals – a daredevil venture with a remarkable result: the echo effect in the “Ständchen,” though not prescribed by Schubert, is absolutely magnificent!

Opera Opus
Mertz composed a total of thirty-four opera paraphrases for his instrument. His orchestral source material calls for the full sound of the contraguitar, and in Frank Bungarten Verdi’s Ernani too finds an interpreter who makes the difficult technique of the arrangement seem easy. You can look forward to pure musical pleasure in highest quality audiophile sound!

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Comment by Mark Werlin - August 14, 2017 (1 of 1)

Frank Bungarten is a skilled player and an expressive interpreter. This vivid and lifelike recording was made in the Konzerthaus der Abtei Marienmünster, the same venue used for Bach: Ciaccona and its References - Schilde.

The instrument by luthier Gary Southwell is a reproduction of a J.G. Scherzer 10-string instrument (6 standard-tuning strings plus 4 bass strings on a second bridge) from Vienna's great era of guitar-making. The two bridges and headstocks are joined together and attached to the top of the instrument, but float over the body.

Photo of the 10-string guitar: http://www.southwellguitars.co.uk/images/guitars/scherzer/01.jpg.

For a brief time in the mid-19th century, virtuosos like Johann Kaspar Mertz, through innovative technique and the expanded palette of 8- and 10-string guitars, advanced the cause of the guitar as a solo instrument for concert performance.

If you're overdosing on Mahler symphony cycles, this disc will provide a tonic.