Reissue. Originally released in 2014. The audio clip below associated with this release is from the original issuance of this title. - ArkivMusic

An account that reflects the latest information and researches on 'period instruments' practice. A 'one to a part' standard - for both voices and instruments.

The Christmas Oratorio is actually not an ‘oratorio’ in the mold of, for instance, Bach’s Ascension Oratorio or Handel’s Messiah. It is a series of 6 separate cantatas, collectively relating the story from Christmas through to Twelfth Night. Bach wrote the work in Leipzig in 1734 and 1735 for Christmas Day (I), Boxing day (II), the third day of Christmas (III), New Year (IV), the Sunday after New Year (V), and Twelfth Night (VI).

As with the Passions, the texts here are drawn from three sources: (1) the evangelical texts (primarily Luke and Matthew) intoned by the Evangelist (tenor) as recitatives, (2) chorales from the Lutheran tradition and (3) free texts for arias and some choral passages, written by the poet Picander.

With the present programme we want to explore the history of the German Lied throughout a period spanning some 800 years, from that first light of dawn represented by the earliest music scored with modern notation - courtly love songs by Walther von der Vogelweide (1170-1230) and Oswald von Wolkenstein (1377-1445) - down to such present-day emissaries of the Lied tradition as Aribert Reimann and Wolfgang Rihm. In between we find: J.S. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Hensel, Wolf, Berg, and Eisler.

Innumerable transcriptions of Bach’s music were made in the 19th and 20th centuries, and many of them bear the signatures of both well-known and lesser-known composers. Among the former are Bruno G. Seidhofler’s notable piano 4-hands version of The Art of Fugue (1937) and the splendid transcription of the Orgel-Büchlein by Bernhard Friedrich Richter (1902) that is featured on this recording. The artists’ approach here – in an advanced vein of historically informed performance – takes inspiration from well-established Bach performance practice and then filters that through two specific media: the chosen instrument of an early 20th-century upright piano and the set of performance indications scrupulously laid down by Richter, which range from tempo indications assigned to each chorale and numerous (yet not too intrusive) agogic signs, to the octave doubling he often added in the soprano and/or bass.

From the mid-seventeenth century onwards, the overture became an orchestral piece intended to precede a large-scale dramatic work. This recording brings together twelve overtures from Mozart’s operas. They foreshadow the action, sometimes stylistically, sometimes by quoting themes that will appear later, to create a dramatic impression before we even see anything on stage – think of the memorable overtures to Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte.

The twelve overtures brought together here cover 21 years of Mozart’s career: from Mithridate, composed when he was just 14, which testifies to the young composer’s familiarity with the galant style then in vogue, to La Clemenza di Tito (1791), the high point of his work in the opera seria genre that was to disappear with him, not forgetting masterpieces such as Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Le nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte.

The Kölner Akademie, playing on period instruments, and its conductor Michael Alexander Willens demonstrate Mozart’s unrivalled ability to capture the audience’s attention with these brilliant overtures, some of which are among his most famous works, both on stage and in concert.

REVIEW:

The interpretations are very fresh, the playing virtuosic. The historical instruments provide a clear, crisp, and transparent sound, which is reproduced by the sound engineers with good spatiality and balance, with a clean and beautifully present bass.

-- Pizzicato

Three instruments, three emblematic works, and three excellent soloists! With Sophie Gent on violin, Frank Theuns on traverso and Bertrand Cuiller on harpsichord, Les Muffatti offer a fresh interpretation of Bach's Triple Concerto, the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto and the Orchestral Suite in B minor. They provide a variety of orchestral textures, appropriate to the more soloistic style in the Brandenburg Concerto, and the alternating ripieno-tutti settings in the Triple Concerto and the Suite.

While the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto was composed during Bach's time in Köthen and can be regarded as the first piano concerto ever written, the other two works date from his later years in Leipzig. In these works, Bach exploits the full range of compositional possibilities he had acquired during his lifetime; the highly individual combination of contrapuntal artistry and heightened expressiveness already points to the works composed in the last years of his life.

Les Muffatti have been one of the leading artists on the Ramée label from its beginnings; this, their tenth album for Ramée, also marks the label’s 20th anniversary.

The instrumentalist, composer, and publisher Tielman Susato (c. 1510/15 – after 1570) was one of the most illustrious figures in the musical life of Renaissance Antwerp. He founded the first music publishing house to use movable type in the Low Countries in 1543. Music printing had mainly been based in Italy, France, and Germany until Susato set up his press in Antwerp. He was one of the first to publish works by Orlando di Lasso, the most renowned composer of the late Renaissance. Susato was also an accomplished composer who wrote and published several books of masses and motets in the typical imitative polyphonic style of the time. He was well connected in the highest circles of the city and the country, often dedicating his publications to prominent citizens or rulers. The Utopia Ensemble here presents a florilegium of works composed and/or published by this dazzling figure of Renaissance vocal music.

The yamato word for mirror, kagami, can be read as “kami (divinity) surrounding ga (self)”: if you look in a mirror, what you see is your own self surrounded by divinity. Kaori Uemura has called her tale Kagami, because she believes that music reflects the inner depths of the self in the same way as a mirror. Mirrors were used in art as a reflection of what is, and as an allegory of truth and wisdom, a means of knowing yourself as you are. This recording is also a tribute to the Baroque composers who saw music not only as a mirror of divine creation, but equally as a means of expressing human emotions through musical figures which could produce specific affects.

Concept of the album

‘(ré)inventions à deux pianos’ is a complete recomposition for two pianos of J.S. Bach's 15 two-part inventions by Luxembourgish pianist Chiahu ‘Chia-Chia’ Lee, arranged for her duo with Yulia Vershinina-Mukhopadhyay. It's a personal rewriting of Bach's work from the original score in the style of classical music fused with pop, minimalism and smooth jazz. The name of the album is derived from the French title of Bach’s work ‘inventions à deux voix’. Rediscover Bach’s famous work through the lens of this crossover composition which can appeal to connoisseurs and amateurs alike.

About the artists

The piano duo Vershinina/Lee (Yulia Vershinina-Mukhopadhyay & Chiahu ‘Chia-Chia’ Lee) began their collaboration with Rheinberger’s arrangement of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for two pianos, which they have performed in various concert halls in the UK and Luxembourg, including the Philharmonie in 2019, cementing their mutual fascination with Bach’s music.

The pianists met during their studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and their enduring friendship has set the ground for an exciting musical partnership. The idea of ‘variation’ has since been a red thread throughout their projects and led both women to constantly seek inspiration outside the conventional repertoire for two pianos. In fact, the duo has made it their aspiration to spread the word about lesser-known music and even write and arrange their own music.

In their recent Actart Concert at Luxembourg Conservatoire Yulia and Chia-Chia focused on works composed in the last 20 years by contemporary women composers.