Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

If the revival of the guitar distinctly awoke in 1920 with the beginning of Andr�s Segovia's concert career, the expansion of the repertoire for two guitars only started quite later, in the early '60s, when the great French guitarist Ida Presti formed a duo with Alexandre Lagoya, an Egyptian-born guitarist of Greek descent: they sparked such a wave of interest that a number of composers started writing for twelve rather than six strings. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, already an inventive composer for Andr�s Segovia's guitar, wrote prolifically also for the Presti-Lagoya duo. His commitment culminated in 1962 with a work that is a milestone in the repertoire: Les guitares bien temp�r�es, a set of 24 Preludes and Fugues, are a reflection to his studies in Florence. The aim of the Guitar Duo Piera Dadomo e Vincenzo Torricella was to fit Castelnuovo-Tedesco into the context of other Tuscan composers. Due to the shortage of original compositions for two guitars, they had to resort to transcriptions from works by Boccherini and Puccini.

In his day, Georg Philipp Telemann was the most famous German composer to compose in all styles and who produced a fantastic number of opuses. Originally forgotten by posterity, then to be written off as a writing maniac, the significance of his works has finally begun to be recognised in recent years. As a protestant, he composed his sacral pieces (e.g. his 1750 cantatas!) in the german language. There are however also a few works in Latin: a magnificat as well as two psalms rendered to music, both of which must have been written for special occasions. On the 250th anniversary of Telemann’s death, Elena Santori and her Allabastrina Choir & Ensemble present an outstanding recording of this magnificent music.

The figure of Samuel Capricornus has been unfairly neglected by modern historians of music, editors and performers. Not only was Capricornus admired by his contemporaries even beyond the frontiers; the extraordinary standard of his works and the originality and variety of his output make him quite simply one of the greatest composers of religious music of the seventeenth century. Capricornus's most original compositions are the Lieder von dem Leyden und Tode Jesu (Songs on the sufferings and death of Jesus) and Theatrum musicum. The former are a kind of German equivalent fo the leçons de ténèbres of the French Baroque. The texts by Paul Gerhardt are handled "in the manner of a concert for two voices and four viols". The collection entitled Theatrum musicum consists of twelve "sacred scenes" for three voices (alto, tenor and bass), four viols and basso continuo. As their title indicates, these pieces are dramatized sacred poems.

Along with his colleagues Schütz und Schein, Samuel Scheidt belongs to the “three great Sch”, whose compositions spread from Middle Germany and influenced early German baroque. Whereas Schütz was rediscovered from the end of the 19th century and even more so over the course of the 20th century, Schein and Scheidt are still not widely known. Other than two years of study with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck in Amsterdam, Scheidt spent his entire life in his native city of Halle. He became court organist in 1609 and court conductor 10 tears later. In spite of difficult living conditions due to the Thirty Years’ War and resulting sieges, epidemics, absentee authorities and the disappearance of any means of earning money, Scheidt managed to get the majority of his compositions printed and widely distributed. The Ensemble I Sonatori and the tenor Knut Schoch present a selection of religious concerts from all through the liturgical year. They offer a pleasant insight into the vocal religious works of this hitherto little known contemporary of Heinrich Schütz.

Spanish guitarist and composer Rafael Catala specialises in the guitar music of his homeland, which in turn is characterised by influences from a wide range of Oriental and Occidental styles. This melting pot of cultures can also be felt in his new CD "mare nostrum" with his ensemble M�sica Iberica. The ensemble has an unusual line-up, as the guitar is joined by oriental frame drums, the Swedish nyckelharpa (a keyboard fiddle) and a baroque violone (the predecessor of the double bass). And so baroque lute music is fused with elements of flamenco, jacaras, fandangos and other Spanish dances and immersed in new colours with oriental rhythms and many elements of improvisation.

AUF DICH VERTRAU ICH

AMOURS & DESIRS: AUGSBURG ENS

The Chorale Fantasy Alle Menschen m�ssen sterben op.52, 1 opens the last group of Reger's "symphonic" chorale fantasias. The piece in question is perhaps the most orchestral of them all and utilizes the bulk of all the instrumental registers on the organ in order to construct, in Reger's own words, a miniature symphonic poem for Organ. In this music, Reger operates with highly expressive intervals, and alternates the cantus firmus in all the voices of the texture. A noteworthy highpoint of the composer's output is Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme op.52, 2, which contains some of Reger's gravest, most profound, and moving music. The stark chromatic lines and dark instrumental colors depict a most otherworldly and visionary atmosphere. Halleluja! Gott zu loben, bleibe meine Seelenfreud op.52, 3 is the last of the big chorale fantasias. The word-painting of the text is again remarkably mirrored in the music, in the tradition of Bach. The conclusion of the fantasy is a well-constructed fugue, built this time on a newly-invented theme. In the final measures of the fugue, the fugue subject and the opening cantus firmus are contrapuntally combined.

Choral Music - Isaac, H. / Josquin Des Prez

Trumpet Festival

Valentini, G.: Vocal Music (Motets and Madrigals for 2 Sopra

Eespere: Choral Music