This album is the musical calling card of a brilliant ensemble that has set itself the goal of making baroque music accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. Presented as a homage to one of the most important German baroque composers the Bremen Baroque Orchestra under it's artistic director Néstor Fabián Cortés Garzón it's debut album with works by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach's works in particular give the ensemble the opportunity to demonstrate the orchestra's creative and avant-garde spirit. An inquiring and innovative spirit aiming to incorporate the latest knowledge and explore new ways of interpretation.

REVIEW:

This compilation offers a selection of the best recordings of French baroque repertoire drawn from Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra's own catalogue. The album includes the 2005 JUNO Award-winning, Grammy Award-nominated recording of an orchestral suite from Rameau's epic five-act tragedie en musique Dardanus, originally released on CBC Records. The Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and guest soloists are featured in a 2006 CBC recording of the Grand Motet Dominus regnavit by Mondonville. Two works are drawn from Tafelmusik's genre-defying, globe-trotting, multi-media concert programs: a suite from Lully's Phaeton from the 2009 recording of The Galileo Project, and a suite from Marais' Alcyone from the 2012 recording of House of Dreams. Ms. Lamon and Tafelmusik have earned high marks ... the music's greatness might not be so obvious but for Tafelmusik's fine period style... It will have listeners wondering why this music is not as well-known as works by Bach, Handel and Vivaldi.

— The New York Times

• These sonatas of Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770), form the most important composition for solo violin after Bach.
• At six hours in duration, it is the largest integrated work for the instrument.
• Peter Sheppard Skærved's discography stretches from Telemann to many of the works written for him. He is the leader of the Kreutzer Quartet and Viotti Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music, London.
• ‘(an) opportunity to hear all of the sonatas. Recommended.’ Robert Maxham, Fanfare

Presenting four masterworks for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach, Jory Vinikour performs on a harpsichord modeled after German harpsichords of Bach’s time, notably Silbermann. Speaking with richness and clarity, this harpsichord was built by Tom and Barbara Wolf. The Italian Concerto and the French Overture, both published by Bach in the 2nd volume of his Clavier Übung, are paired with two other great works - the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, as well as the concerto-like Prelude and Fugue in a minor.

Two-time GRAMMY Award nominated harpsichordist Jory Vinikour is recognized as one of the outstanding musicians of his generation. A highly diversified career brings him to the world’s most important festivals and concert halls as recital and concerto soloist, and partner to several of today’s finest artists. Born in Chicago, Jory Vinikour studied in Paris with Huguette Dreyfus and Kenneth Gilbert on a Fulbright scholarship. First Prizes in the International Harpsichord Competitions of Warsaw (1993) and the Prague Spring Festival (1994) brought him to the public’s attention, and he has since appeared in festivals and concert series throughout much of the world. In 2019, Jory made his debut at the Ravinia Festival, playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations. At the Aspen Festival, he conducted Bach’s six Brandenburg Concertos.

REVIEW:

There is no doubting the brightness and breeziness of the Italian Concerto's opening Allegro, but what is most impressive is Vinikour’s ability to create a convincing Adagio. The left-hand here can so easily sound awkward, but Vinikour constructs instead a rhythmic bedrock against which the right hand can sing. And sing it does: This is “harpsichord vocalisation” of the type I have rarely encountered, and with a finale that not only glows with life but has a raft of insights. This is wonderful, sometimes even great, Bach playing. 

– Fanfare

The second instalment of Bach’s music for instrumental ensemble interpreted by Café Zimmermann brings the same fresh, vivid and coherent approach as the previous album. Beyond the formal variety they exhibit, Bach instils in all these works a tremendous feeling of musical ‘irrigation’: whether in a concerto movement or a dance, it is life itself that invades the music.