Aeolus continues its successful cooperation with the Belgian organist and titular of the Cathedral of Antwerp Peter Van de Velde and presents with this new release the complete organ works of the Walloon composer Guy Weitz (1883-1970). The album is enriched by some major organ works of the better-kno1n Weitz contemporary Joseph Jongen (1873-1953). This double album was recorded on the organs of Antwerp Cathedral (Pierre Schyven, 1891, last recording before its restoration in 2014) and of the Laurentius Church of Antwerp (Pels & Son, 1934), a huge building mounted in the 1932 art deco style. The generous acoustics of both church spaces is more realistic through the exceptional recording techniques utilized in this project, and underlines the consistently symphonic character of the works of both late romantics.

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Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Although Francois Couperin and Antoine Forqueray (Viola da Gamba) often played together in Versailles, they were very different musical personalities. Couperin was regarded as the ideal type of French music with its affective aesthetics. Forqueray on the other hand used the robust, highly virtuosic style of Italy. Together with Pieter-Jan Belder and Sofia Diniz, Rainer Zipperling presents the works of the antipodes, which show their contrasting musical characters. After leaving high school, Rainer Zipperling began studying music and musicology. His particular interest in Baroque music induced him to further his studies in the Netherlands, the pioneer country of ‘authentic performance practice.’ He is now one of the most renowned cello and gambe players in the world of early music. He is co-founder of Camerata Koln, but has also played with a range of other notable ensembles. More than 400 recordings verify his professional career as a soloist and accompanist, whether with John Eliot Gardiner and the ‘English Baroque Soloists’ or the ‘Orchestra of the 18th Century’ conducted by Frans Bruggens. Apart from his performance work, Rainer enjoys an excellent reputation as a teacher of the cello, viola da gamba, and chamber music working principally at the conservatoires in Cologne and Leuven/Belgium.

Hitherto unpublished works by the very popular late seventeenth- / early eighteenth- century Italian composers Alessandro Scarlatti and Giovanni Bononcini - that's what Soprano Amaryllis Dieltiens and her continuo partner Bart Naessens found in the Brussels collection of François-Joseph Fétis, who was a famous musicologist in the nineteenth century. With their ensemble Capriola di Gioia they present many of these pieces recorded here for the first time ever. The quality of the compositions is on a par with those already known – an irresistible pleasure for friends of secular Baroque cantatas! Soprano Amaryllis Dieltiens has been acclaimed particularly by connoisseurs of Baroque singing. “Bella Immago” is already her fifth release on the AEOLUS label. Together with Bart Naessens (keyboard instruments), she directs the ensemble “Capriola di Gioia,” whose members supplement the vocal repertoire with a number of rarely heard instrumental works.

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With this SACD Aeolus is once more presenting world premier recordings.

In the music world the name of the Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco is mostly known for his numerous compositions for guitar. The fact that he also wrote a good hour of excellent organ music is proved by our new release with the Italian artist Livia Mazzanti. It is interesting to see that the composer wrote music for the organ for the first time only after his emigration in the USA - as an Italian Jew he felt constrained to leave country under the Mussolini dictatorship. It was when he received a Christmas card from his friend Edward Power-Biggs in 1952 that Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco had the idea of composing a miniature Fanfare for organ based on the letters of the organist’s rather unusual name. This fanfare in six bars, was played by Power Biggs and broadcast on the radio. Power-Biggs encouraged him to work out this fragment to an entire composition.

Thus originated as the first organ work Introduction, Aria and Fugue. By the way, you can listen to this fanfare on this website (sound sample 1). The extensive booklet to our SACD informs about the backgrounds and the origin of the remaining works (for instance music for the synagogue, two experimental serial works as well as other free pieces) and other biographical details.

Without Livia's painstaking efforts, this innovative new recording would not have been possible. She alone did all the hard work of rediscovering and preparing this music for performance. Among other things, she perfected an innovative registration for all these pieces in the years leading up to the recording itself. We must thank her for her attentive, sensitive reading of these unfairly neglected works, bringing them back from obscurity with her tireless devotion to Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s witty compositions. Her musical intelligence and poetic imagination mean she is a peerless, bold, yet demanding performer.

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Classical Music

Classical Music