As the progenitor of a style whose influence more or less came to define the instrumental music of the High Baroque, Arcangelo Corelli (1653 - 1713) occupies a position in music history as unenviable as it is to his great credit. Just what made Corelli’s style seem strikingly novel to his contemporaries is a tricky question. To be sure, his standardization and popularization of certain formal tropes – most notably the succession of movement types in Sonate da Camera and Sonate da Chiesa – was a significant part of what his followers considered the ‘Corellian’ manner.

But Corelli’s actual compositional style, his way of organizing musical thoughts into phrases and motives, is fundamentally derived from the expressive capabilities of his chosen instrument, the violin. Certain melodic patterns used to modulate and to effect sequences (e.g., chains of sevenths and fifths) basically derive from specificities of violin technique that amplify an instrument with origins primarily in dance music into one that in Corelli’s hands, could imitate the rise and fall of the sung and spoken human voice. This tension between idiomatically instrumental techniques and the evocation of the voice is the defining characteristic of Corelli’s style throughout all his surviving works and would establish the “Roman School” as the supreme measure of musical taste for generations.

For this exploration of the 18th century’s Corelli Craze, the dynamic star trio of Mahan Esfahani, Hille Perl and Michala Petri unite to trace the Roman’s influence, (sometimes in name only...) on the musical legacies of Bach, Händel and Telemann, and of course two works from the pen of the celebrated Italian Master, himself. Gramophone about the Petri/Perl/Esfahani Trio’s Bach recording: “While the tonal and expressive range of the recorder, viol and harpsichord may appear constrained in comparison to, say, flute, cello and piano, in the hands of foremost players such as these, even a relatively lightweight work such as the C major Sonata, BWV1033, comes over as the ideal demonstration of a particular facet of the composer’s style and the performers’ abilities.”

By popular demand, this Berlin Classics recording will be reissued on Vinyl. Handel's famous Suite"Watermusic" is one of the most well know and loved pieces of classical music from the baroque period. This historically informed interpretation stands out through ist clear articulation and historically accurate interpretation. This recording is a must-have for every classical music record collection.

Largest church organ in Denmark

The great organ of Aarhus Cathedral is a true masterpiece of North European organ building tradition through four centuries and with 96 stops the largest pipe organ of Denmark. 2018-20 the organ was carefully restored and enlarged by the Danish organ builder Marcussen & Søn Orgelbyggeri Aps.

This publication tells the story of the restoration through text and extensive photo material and for the ?rst time documents the beautiful sounds of the restored instrument in a 2 CD anthology of organ music from Buxtehude to present time. Performers are the two organists Kristian Krogsøe and Anders Johnsson.

Chopin is said to have played in time (the metronome was always on the instrument), his left hand relentlessly keeping the tempo. Students also reported that he never played a piece in the same way, and that each performance produced a different result. And yet the composer's rubato playing was by no means as free as it is today. There are no reports of Chopin's playing of Bach in particular, but his admiration for the composer is certain. We therefore put the legend that he himself—according to his own statement—played only Bach for fourteen days before a concert into perspective and simply imagine that he worked intensively on "Bach" before his already rare performances. We can assume that the preludes and fugues of the "Well-Tempered Clavier," some of which are also heard in this project, were the focus of his interest.

A closer look at Chopin’s works, especially those of a smaller dimension, repeatedly catches the eye of modules that we think we already know from Bach. Individual bars of the Préludes op. 28 (1836-1839) and Études (op. 10 no. 4) (1833/1837) could be retransformed into a nucleus in Bach’s character with just a few “hand movements.” Chopin’s veneration of Bach preserved these highly condensed musical tools of the Baroque composer well into the Romantic century. He still used them in his late works, such as his last Nocturne in E major, which in a sense takes stock of “Bach.”

This recording, which feels entirely experimental, aims to create a unique musical experience through the direct connection of tonal, for example key, variations. The sound of some structurally related works clearly shows how much Chopin was influenced by Bach's work, whose formal stability with its geometric structures often prevented him from sowing too much "tinsel, trinkets, and pearls," something Robert Schumann once had the courage to accuse his rival of. The aim of this project tempted us to play "Chopin like Bach" here and there and to achieve the greatest possible transparency with extremely economical use of the pedal. Above all, to breathe Chopin's breath into Bach's melodic beauties with a "romantic" touch. The approximately 40-year-old Steinway B grand piano was chosen because of its slim bass section.

The Amsterdam-based recorder quintet has done it again: an original concept, featuring several first recordings, and superb performances which confirm them among the top-tier of today’s early-music chamber ensembles. The present album arises from a concert devised in 2018 for a festival in Bruges celebrating notable female figures from history.

Seldom Sene chose to focus on Margaret of Austria (1480–1530), who was governor of the Habsburg Netherlands for almost 20 years. Margaret had grown up with the benefits of a first-class education afforded to very few of her female peers: she was adept in all the humanities, and her library of books was reckoned one of the most extensive and learned at the time, a fit place to welcome distinguished guests such as Albrecht Dürer. From around 1515, one of the volumes in Margaret’s library was her newly commissioned personal songbook: a collection of 55 chansons and motets, richly decorated with high-quality miniatures and initials.

Many of the song texts speak of loss, sorrow and loneliness, perhaps reflecting her status at the time as a noble widow, following the death of her second husband, Philibert II of Savoy, in 1504. Margaret herself seems to have written several of them, and may also have been involved in their musical setting. Marian devotion is another theme of the songbook reflected in this selection made and transcribed and recorded by Seldom Sene. Sacred hymns are balanced out by secular laments, but also lighter and more cheerful numbers such as ‘Brunette m’amiette‘ and ‘La jonne dame’. Many of the composers are now lost to us and effectively anonymous, but the names that survive are worthy of Margaret’s elevated status, including Josquin and Pierre de la Rue.

‘Like Margaret,’ concludes María Martínez Ayerza in her booklet note, ‘like her courtiers and visitors, we see and hear the music and texts in this songbook and we are moved, stirred. These artworks make us change, as we relate the texts, even the titles, and the rather abstract beauty of the music to ourselves.’ Ayerza and her colleagues in Seldom Sene bring this music and Margaret’s world back to life with intense sympathy. The album is sure to receive the glowing reviews accorded to the group’s discography on Brilliant Classics. ‘Commitment, technical versatility, unanimity of ensemble and near-immaculate tuning on display.’ (Gramophone) ‘An excellent release from an ensemble I hope we’ll hear a lot more from in the future.’ (Fanfare)

Discover songs to connect, heal, and inspire on the U.S. Navy Band Sea Canter Chorus’ recording “Safe Harbor”. These musicians have played a vital role in comforting America in times of mourning, and this recording follows in those footsteps

"Johann Sebastian Bach used the recorder in two Brandenburg concertos and some twenty cantatas and oratorios, but alas, he left us no sonata with harpsichord," say Julien Martin and Olivier Fortin. Arranging chamber music for a variety of instrumental ensembles was a widespread practice in the eighteenth century. Bach himself seems to have created a number of works that did not necessarily require the use of a specific instrument. Here Julien Martin and Olivier Fortin, musical partners for many years, present the Sonata in F major, originally written for transverse flute and continuo, transcriptions of the Trio Sonata for organ No. 3 in E minor, the Partita for violin No. 2 in G minor, and the Chorale 'Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland', whose extensive ornamental flourishes elongate and transform the chorale melody to the point of rendering it unrecognisable.