Der letzte Mund voll Susse - Weltliche Kantaten und Instrume
Coviello
CD
$19.99Apr 17, 2026
'A central concern of the ensemble Der Musikalische Garten has always been to bring musical rarities to light and, in particular, to make previously unknown works accessible to a wide audience. With their new album Der letzte Mund voll Süße, the musicians are continuing this endeavour in an impressive way: the album features no fewer than four World Premiere Recordings and provides fascinating insights into the expressive diversity of the 18th century. The album opens with a previously undiscovered overture by Johann Gottlieb Graun, which can be heard here for the first time on disc. At the centre of the recording, however, are three secular cantatas by his brother Carl Heinrich Graun. While some cantatas are reminiscent of the high baroque operatic style of Vivaldi or Handel with their virtuosity and emotionally charged melodies, the cantata 'Hat die Schönheit kein Erbarmen' presents itself as an intimate chamber music reflection on the suffering of love. It's melancholy mood is taken up in the following trio sonata and developed to a dramatic conclusion. Soprano Isabel Schicketanz impresses in the vocal works with her tonal presence, technical brilliance and sensitive text organisation, her interpretation lends depth and vibrancy to the emotionally charged cantatas. Der Musikalische Garten supports this liveliness with it's orchestral sound, which it achieves with enthusiasm and esprit despite it's small instrumentation, in this way, the ensemble achieves a realisation that is both nuanced and energetic - an exciting rediscovery of two important 18th century composers that makes you sit up and take notice.
The instrument 'flute' is closely associated with the Prussian king Frederick the Great and his residence Sanssouci, as the Prussian king was a passionate flutist and numerous works were composed for him. For the recorder player Isaac Makhdoomi, it is a special challenge to transfer these works, which were actually composed for a transverse flute, to his instrument. The idea behind this was to bring new aspects and facets to the works originally composed for the transverse flute, which he actually succeeds in doing brilliantly.
Ariosti, Graun, Handel & Vivaldi: Scenes of Horror / Ensemble Il Giratempo
Perfect Noise
CD
$19.99Feb 16, 2024
Fear and trembling are never, but never presented in a single, monotonous tone color! Our characters often go through an
emotional rollercoaster: from deepest despair to sorrow and anger, from flight to fight, from love and longing to sheer insanity. Truly, a painters box full of affects, inviting composers to go wild with musical expression. “Scenes of Horror” is a baroque cabinet of grotesqueries featuring music by Georg Friedrich Handel, Attilio Ariosti, Antonio Vivaldi and Carl Heinrich Graun.
Fréderick Franssen writes: "From among the enormous choice of horn repertoire available in the early stages of my study of the instrument, my interest was piqued by the very earliest horn music. The music from that era did and still does exert it's magic on me due to the pure beauty of it's clear and transparent sound world. One of my first finds on this quest of discovery through the Baroque period was a concerto by an unknown hand, which appears on this album and comes from a very special collection - the 'Wenster'. The library at the University of Lund in Sweden contains one of the largest collections of horn music from the first half of the 18th century, under the name of 'Wenster'. The manuscript contains 18 works, with virtually all of the composers having some sort of connection to the city of Dresden, and it may have been transcribed by a travelling horn player during a visit to that city. The six works on this recording are all taken from this collection."
The opera Polydorus penned 289 years ago last found a place in the performance program of the Gänsemarkt Opera in Hamburg in 1735. The libretto by Johann Samuel Müller depicts exchanges of identity, avaricious kings, queens bent on bloodthirsty revenge, and princes who despise their progenitors. The result is a retelling of the Polydorus legend combining Greek mythology and Shakespearean dramatic suspense. Carl Heinrich Graun, one of the best-known opera composers of the eighteenth century, wrote the emotionally moving music. The first performance in modern times by the barockwerk hamburg and the album recording of this opera rarity now being released have once again uncovered this genuinely original work and following the ensemble’s successes in recent years once again guarantee you a very special listening experience.
Wer Ist Der, So Von Edom Kommt - Passions-Pasticcio / Concerto Vocale, Sachsisches Barockorchester Leipzig
CPO
CD
$36.99Jun 07, 2019
This month we are happy to present to you a great Passion oratorio that Johann Sebastian Bach in all likelihood pieced together for his last Passion service. He took a work by Carl Heinrich Graun, a composer whom he admired, and expanded it to produce a magnificent two-part Passion. To it he added compositions of his own authorship and others by his friend Georg Philipp Telemann. The result was a pasticcio, a new work consisting of set pieces. This practice was very common during Bach’s times. Both composers on whose works Bach drew were contemporary stars who did not at all object to this practice, especially since they occasionally operated in precisely the same way. The composer Georg Philipp Telemann saw no reason to complain about the reuse of his works. Although we do have quite a bit of background information about the Passion, the riddle surrounding it is only beginning to be solved. Accordingly, Bach scholarship can only hope that additional sources will be found and prove Johann Sebastian Bach’s authorship once and for all. The work perhaps even offers evidence pointing to one of his lost Passions, and it might even be his last Passion oratorio – which, as the current state of research knowledge sees things – can only have been written during the years following 1733.
Following much critical acclaim for his debut solo album Ciaccona, harpsichordist Guillermo Brachetta returns to the Resonous label with Concerto, a thrilling programme of works for one and two harpsichords composed seza ripieno. This stunning album features J.S. Bach's Italian Concerto, the second part of his Clavier-Übung and solo concerti from Wilhelm Friedemann Bacha nd Carl Heinrich Graun. Bachetta is joined by Menno van Delft for the original two-harpsichord version of J.S. Bach's Concerto a due cembali in C major, BWV 1061a. ''Superb performances by Brachetta'' (Financial Times)
