Soprano and producer Andrea Chudak has been interpreting Ave Maria settings for over 15 years. During this time, a large collection of more than 200 compositions from all eras of music history was created; composers even wrote new works for her and dedicated them to her. In any case, the compilation of 68 selected Ave Maria presented is a spotlight-like overview of a repertoire that is hard to grasp in its entirety, from Gregorian chant to arrangements by successful alley-makers and ambiguous salon pieces to occasional works by composers who succeed in other genres and contemporary pieces for today’s liturgical practice. With these new compositions, the millennium-old tradition is given new facets that open up very individual interpretations.

This selection of works by Gottschalk, Barber, Wild and Gershwin give vivid insights into the diversity of American music written during a period spanning almost two centuries, a diversity shaped by a uniquely American musical idiom. The young Georgian-German pianist Catherine Gordeladze’s has established herself as one of the most remarkable and versatile musicians of her generation. “…phenomenal technique, perfect memory, distinctive creativity.” - Frankfurter Rundschau

Les deux Violes (Georg Noeldeke & Rahel Klein, viola da gamba) present their new album on the ANTES EDITION label. Georg Noeldeke was born in Neuenburg in 1964. His first music lessons were with Prof. Rolf Schweizer at the Evangelical Singin School Pforzheim. He studied double bass and musical composition at the music academies in Trossingen and Mannheim. Since 2000 he has worked as a freelance artist with a focus on early music and historical string instruments. Rahel Klein was born in Calw in 1992 and grew up in a family of musicians. She began playing cello at the age of six, and was drawn eventually to the music of the Baroque era. Rahel Klein works as a freelance musician in various projects. She teaches at the music schools in Calw and Trossingen.

Anyone standing on top of the walls of Jerusalem gazing across the old city will notice a massive spire made from white stone and covered with a pyramidal roof made from whitish slate. This spire belongs to the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, a Neo-Romanesque structure situated in the middle of the old city. The church today, is a major magnet for tourists and the center of a vibrant congregation. Playing this famous Schuke organ from this great church is the organist Gunther Martin Goettsche. Goettsche plays Buxtehude, Bach and Mendelssohn beautifully leaving no doubt why he is not only a great composer in his own right but one of the most celebrate organists of his time.

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier embodies a universal ability that reveals itself in, among other things, the enormous variety of genres and settings in his oeuvre. There is no need to give his music “a helping hand”; musicians just have to play it well, in an informed manner and on authentic instruments – as with all Baroque music. He is formally superior at all times, indisputably perfect as regards harmony, unmatched in the inventiveness of his melodies, with any subject flowing easily from his quill, always authentic in his personal style and distinct from others. Here, Boismortier’s works are beautifully performed by Les Deux Violes alongside Thorsten Bleich.

It was African-Americans with little or no formal music training that mostly drove America’s ragtime revolution. During Ragtime’s height, (c.1890-1920), thousands of pieces were written, most notably by Scott Joplin (1868-1917) and Joseph F. Lamb (1887-1960). German pianist Marcus Schwarz specializes in Ragtime-era music and in the rediscovery and revival of long-neglected composers. Included in this recital are works by three talented Ragtime-era female composers, including two by the melodically gifted and chromatically inclined May Frances Aufderheide (1888-1972).

Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, composed for piano but best known via Maurice Ravel’s orchestrated edition, is here arranged for organ and trumpet. + Three encore tracks, two from Mussorgsky and one appropriately enough from Ravel (the poignant Pavane), complete this affair. + Joachim Enders has proven his versatility as an organist, harpsichordist and pianist in many solo recitals and chamber concerts. + Manfred Bockschweiger is first trumpet with the State Theatre in Darmstadt.

Lullaby, as a song sung along with the cradle motion to calm and lull the babies to sleep, associates music and words with comfort and security and creates strong emotional closeness. Many well known composers have devoted their artistry to create simple but marvellous lullabies.

We are taking the liberty of also performing op. 50 as a solo on the viola da gamba. In his title, Boismortier writes: „Pour les Violoncelles, Bassons ou Violes“. We have kept to that. He was practical and versatile – and so are we.

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