Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sei Solo for unaccompanied violin figure amongst the baroque works on which the performance traditions of the 19th and 20th centuries weigh most heavily. Rediscovered halfway through the 19th century after having been forgotten for more than a century, these works quickly entered the repertoire of works performed by violinists during the Romantic period: from that moment...
Without doubt, Benjamin Britten (1913-76) left an indelible impression on every genre of 20th century English music. However, it is his smaller scale vocal repertoire that is particularly fascinating. Featuring three of Britten’s “Canticles” as well as a selection of his best realizations (or “arrangements,” if you will) of songs by Henry Purcell (1659-95), this recording represents the mature...
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...
Dominik Wörner (bass-baritone) and the Kirchheimer DübenConsort he founded focus in this recording on twelve pieces from the famous Düben collection and document in an exemplary way the enormous versatility of this unique collection, which was only discovered by chance in the 19th century. Ten composers from Schütz (his Nunc dimittis can be heard in an arrangement by Gustav Düben) to...
The Richter Ensemble performs music from the 17th to the 20th century exclusively on gut strings and uses its experience with historical performance practice to heighten the sense for the development of musical language over the centuries. The ensemble is passionately dedicated to the music of the Second Viennese School and, based on its research, has decided that the time is ripe to steer the...
Just like most German composers of his time, Telemann was very well acquainted with the stylistic developments in the other European countries, Italy and France in particular, and in his own compositions he assimilated the various national styles: the Lully Ouverture, the stylized French dances and the Italian trio sonata and concerto. Telemann’s contribution to these forms and genres was...
NESHIMA is Orí Harmelin’s exciting debut solo lute and theorbo album. Orí explores a new realm of possibilities for personal creation as a modern musician using the musical language of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The album contains Orí’s arrangements of Madrigals, Motets and Chansons by Cipriano de Rore, Josquin des Prez and Thomas Tallis, alongside his own compositions of variation...
When Eugène Ysaÿe composed his cycle of 6 sonatas op. 27 for solo violin in June 1923, gut strings were still very common and highly appreciated - statements by contemporary violinists such as Mischa Elman, Toscha Seidel and Jacques Thibaud confirm this. However, neither the dedicatees of Eugène Ysaÿe’s solo sonatas nor other contemporaries made recordings of these works. Martin Reimann has now...
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...
