Bach. Goldberg Variations

With this disc, Swiss harpsichordist Michel Kiener presents his interpretation of the Goldberg Variations, one of Bach’s absolute masterpieces. Kiener completed both his piano and harpsichord studies at the Geneva Conservatoire, where he won the prize of virtuosity in both disciplines. He perfected his art with Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam and was laureate of the Bruges International...

Nobilissimo Istromento

The Italian Renaissance is the golden age of the lute. In quality and quantity, the lute pieces from this period are comparable to the piano works of the 19th century. Most of the works selected for this recording are by Francesco da Milano, an extraordinary virtuoso and gifted composer who was also known as "Il Divino" (the Divine), an epithet he shared with Michelangelo and Monteverdi. In...

Contrafacta. Pergolesi-Iribarren. Stabat Mater-Motets

Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater was extremely popular throughout Europe soon after it was composed in 1736. Countless printed and handwritten versions of this work, which was considered the stylistic ideal of sacred music in the 18th century, can be found in libraries all over the world. There are five manuscript copies of the Stabat Mater in the archives of Málaga Cathedral. This recording presents a...

Nonetto

In 1959, two composers wrote nonets: Nino Rota’s melodic Nonetto, on which he would continue to work for almost 20 years, and Bohuslav Martinů’s farewell chamber music piece, a nonet, which he composed as a last piece to satisfy his longing for his homeland. Eisler did not compose his nonet in his native country either, but arrived in Mexico in 1941 as a refugee from the Nazis. There he wrote...

Schubert. The Small Song Cycles

In addition to his famous large-scale song cycles, Schubert also composed and published numerous smaller song compilations. Some of these “miniature cycles” consist of songs written at different times and under different circumstances, but which Schubert himself assembled on the basis of thematic and textual connections. The selected cycles appeared in print during Schubert’s publishing career...

Claviorganum. Handel Concertos & Sonatas

As the name suggests, a claviorganum is a keyboard instrument with a harpsichord and an organ section, which can be played individually or together on one or two manuals. While this instrument may seem like a curiosity today, many sources confirm that "curiosities" were rather the norm on the European continent from the 15th to the 17th century. There was a variety of different keyboard...

Vivaldi. Concerti Particolari

Vivaldi’s Concerti Ripieni are probably the most unusual works written by the Venetian composer. Some of these pieces, however, are particularly exceptional for various reasons, especially considering the artistic environment in early 18th century Venice. This recording presents Vivaldi’s most brilliant and at the same time bizarre works from this genre. These compositional experiments are...

Bach Partitas BWV 825-830

The Partitas are the first work for harpsichord published by Johann Sebastian Bach. Between 1726 and 1730, the partitas were published separately, one per year, before being brought together in a single collection in 1731. Shortly after his appointment of Cantor of the Leipzig Thomaskirche, Bach decided to devote his Opus I to a fashionable genre: the harpsichord suite, a series of dances of...

Leuven Chansonnier VOL. 1| Sollazzo Ensemble

On the Breath of Angels

During the height of its popularity, from the mid-16th century into the 18th, the cornetto was frequently depicted in art as an instrument of angels. Paintings, sculptures, and engravings abound in which the cornetto takes a prominent place among choirs of angelic musicians, usually paired with at least one voice and with other instruments such as the organ, viol, lute, harp, violin and...

Jomelli: Requiem and Miserere

Niccolò Jommelli was one of the most sought after composers of his time, but finally accepted to become musical director at the court of Stuttgart in 1753. Three years later he composed his Requiem to commemorates the recent death of the Duchess von Württemberg, mother of his patron, the Duke Carl Eugen.. Despite the fact that Jommelli owed his fame almost exclusively to his operas during his...

Seicento: The Virtuoso Early Italian Violin

Small size, four gut strings, a short bow were at beginning the ingredients of the magic. Such magic happened in Italy, the cradle of the violin, during the seventeenth century. “Seicento!” is therefore a multifaceted time-travel through the Early Baroque, from Venice to Sicily, exploring the wonders of the first violin virtuosos and their dexterous-passionated playing. A collection of music...

NARVÁEZ | Los libros del delphin | Xavier Díaz-Latorre

the Six Books of the Dolphin of Music for Vihuela (Valladolid, 1538) is the second collection published in the Iberian Peninsula dedicated in its entirety to music for vihuela, or vihuela and voice

Giuseppe Clemente Dall’Abaco: Cello Sonatas - Elinor...

Passacaille Records and cellist Elinor Frey, with harpsichordist Federica Bianchi, lutenist Giangiacomo Pinard, and cellist Mauro Valli, present the first recording of cello sonatas by Giuseppe Clemente Dall’Abaco (1710-1805). Dall’Abaco’s sonatas are full of cantabile melodies with the lightness of folk songs, passagework that demands brilliance and facility, and extraordinary slow movements...

A late medieval mass on the RYSUM ORGAN

Works by Johann Walter, Hans Buchner, Josquin Desprez, Nicolaus Cracoviensis, Heinrich Finck, Nicolaus Cracoviensis, Heinrich Isaac, Tylman Susato and from the Cracow Tablature, the Tablature of Joannes de Lyublyn, the Oldenburg Tablature, the Buxheim Organ Book and the Adam Ileborgh Tablature. In the German village of Rysum, in East Frisia, a precious instrument is preserved: an ancient organ,...

Pièces pour Théorbe et Guitare

Artist(s):Xavier Dìaz Latorre Composer:Robert de Visée

Bach. Goldberg Variations

With this disc, Swiss harpsichordist Michel Kiener presents his interpretation of the Goldberg Variations, one of Bach’s absolute masterpieces. Kiener completed both his piano and harpsichord studies at the Geneva Conservatoire, where he won the prize of virtuosity in both disciplines. He perfected his art with Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam and was laureate of the Bruges International...

Nobilissimo Istromento

The Italian Renaissance is the golden age of the lute. In quality and quantity, the lute pieces from this period are comparable to the piano works of the 19th century. Most of the works selected for this recording are by Francesco da Milano, an extraordinary virtuoso and gifted composer who was also known as "Il Divino" (the Divine), an epithet he shared with Michelangelo and Monteverdi. In...

Contrafacta. Pergolesi-Iribarren. Stabat Mater-Motets

Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater was extremely popular throughout Europe soon after it was composed in 1736. Countless printed and handwritten versions of this work, which was considered the stylistic ideal of sacred music in the 18th century, can be found in libraries all over the world. There are five manuscript copies of the Stabat Mater in the archives of Málaga Cathedral. This recording presents a...