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...
In this recording, Jan Michiels transports us back to the Parisian salons of the 19th century. These were not only an ideal environment for Chopin – his Préludes op. 28 are a recurring thread throughout this album – but also for Debussy, whose Préludes are closely correlated with those of Chopin. Michiels opens his salon to various visitors: first Alfred Cortot, whose Chopin interpretations...
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...
The paths of I SOLISTI and Frederik Neyrinck first crossed in 2011. The ensemble immediately recognised the artistic talent of the Flemish composer and together they set up a long-term collaboration. The fruits thereof can be heard on this album, which consists exclusively of works by Neyrinck, written especially for the ensemble. This CD also marks a new chapter in their ongoing partnership,...
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...
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...
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...
