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Mandolinist Alon Sariel continues his series of Bach transcriptions with Plucked Bach II. On his first Plucked Bach album, Sariel played the Cello Suites on a wide range of plucked instruments. Yet in this new recording, he performs works for the lute, organ and violin - all performed on 'only' two types of mandolins. By offering a distinctive and groundbreaking interpretation of his own transcriptions and arrangements, Sariel manages to breathe new life into some very well-known works by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The iconoclast Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (BWV 565) for the organ receives a contemplative and intimate character on the mandolin. Excerpts of the Lute Suite (BWV 998) and the Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major (BWV 1006) are drawn in a whole new palette of colors. For Bach's Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor (BWV 1003), Alon Sariel shows the in-credible suitability of the mandolin for Bach's music. And as an encore, you will hear his rendition of Ysaÿe's dazzling Obsession. Alon Sariel is one of today's most versatile performers, known as a multi-instrumentalist in the realm of plucked strings with a growing reputation as a fascinating Bach interpreter.

12 years after his album entitled ‘Italian Virtuosi of the Chitarrone’ (BIS-1899), Jakob Lindberg returns to his magnificent theorbo, specially built for him by the luthier Michael Lowe, based on an instrument preserved in the Musée de la Musique in Paris.

One of the most spectacular instruments of the early baroque owing to its length and great number of strings, the theorbo was originally designed to accompany the voice but is also ideally suited to solo performance.

For this disc, Lindberg has chosen pieces by Robert de Visée, one of the great French masters of the lute, theorbo, and guitar repertoire and a favorite of Louis XIV. The recording features dances as well as character pieces, including a moving ‘Plainte’ in memory of his two deceased daughters. It also includes de Visée’s arrangements of compositions by Lully, Couperin, and Purcell as well as his own version of Les Folies d’Espagne, a very popular chord progression that inspired so many composers of his time.

Jakob Lindberg writes: ‘I can’t help but be seduced by the grace of the instrument’s lines, the resonance of its sonorities, and by the unmistakably French elegance of this remarkable composer.’

This is a collection of superb works for viola d'amore and small chamber ensemble performed on period instruments by Paul Miller and Chatham Baroque. The viola d'amore has six to seven strings, unlike the four of the modern viola, with each string paired with a string that is played sympathetically.

In Stockholm during Johan Helmich Roman's lifetime, the recorder was the most common wind instrument, used throughout the social spectrum – including the Royal music establishment. The transverse flute, however, was generally the preserve of the nobility and bourgeosie. That hasn't stopped the celebrated recorder player Dan Laurin from taking up his countryman’s sonatas on his own instrument. With his fellow musicians in Paradiso Musicale, Laurin opts for a justifiably Italianate slant – providing great variety in realizations characterized by bold and striking harmonizations.

The music in this programme, featuring two vocal top soloists, Claron McFadden and Nora Fischer, reigns from the turn of the 16th to the 17th century, the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque era, a musically interesting and exciting time! Claudio Monteverdi is without any doubt the biggest Stella Lucente (shining star) of this album. He has always been considered the great master of this period and the title of the album could have been Monteverdi and his time. The highest goal is to touch the listener’s soul. This leads, among other things, to an enormous amount of publications with compositions for solo voice, two sopranos and basso continuo and, subsequently, the birth of the opera. Many musicians work in the courts of the great city-states (such as Ferrara, Florence, Mantua, Venice) and the papal residence in Rome. The Duke of Ferrara employs three sopranos under the name Concerto delle Donne. They are the pride of the court and perform in special concerts attended only by high-ranking courtiers and important guests. Composers are inspired by them, Luzzaschi in particular, who worked as the musical director at the same court. Not only were they highly skilled singers, they were also adept at playing various instruments, some of which you can hear on this album; the harp, viola da gamba and guitar.

The ‘Sonate 12 a Violino e Basso intitolate "Pensieri armonici" Opus. 5’ clearly belongs to Andrea Zani's second post-Vivaldian style. Without a dedication, these sonatas are still stylistically tied to the baroque style, but there are hints of the gallant style in them, above all because of the frequent use of appoggiaturas and in the cantabile themes and their development. Each of them having three movements, in the initial and final Allegros the violin, the indisputable protagonist, giving vent, shows off with captivating virtuosity, supported by a precise and well constructed bass. The Adagios are superb, placed as a contrast between the two extreme quick movements where the cantabile nature of the writing for the violin is full of "melos" making these pages quite enjoyable. The quality of the composition of these sonatas makes one consider the unjust oblivion into which the musical work of Zani has fallen. It was previously so respected and is now practically unknown. Violinist Andrea Rognoni and the ensemble L’Aura Soave breathe new life into this forgotten work.

Laula! is the third album by Mike Fentross and Maarten Ornstein; following their debut duo album, Oblivion Soave and having worked with Rima Khcheich on the second album Ombre de Mon Amant, they are once again collaborating with an extraordinary singer - the Estonian mezzo-soprano Kadri Tegelmann. She is not only a superb interpreter of the Baroque music, as featured here, but she also introduced Maarten and Mike to the deep and rich tradition of Baltic vocal music with its many folksongs, hymns and chants. Choosing the repertoire for this new album, they learned that many -if not most- Estonian folksongs are about events from the cycle of life, such as birth, marriage, lullabies, leaving and returning home, and death. These universal themes have been used in art for centuries all over the world, and they are the basis for the music on this album too. For each of the Estonian folksongs featured here they have found an equivalent from the Baroque era, and where possible paired the songs. Thus Girolamo Kapsperger’s beautiful lullaby Filglio Dormi is paired with Lauliku lapsepõli, an old Estonian song about childhood memories. Elsewhere Une Sulased is carefully woven into Tarquinio Merula’s monumental Canzonetta spirituale Sopra alla nanna. The lyrics of both songs are about the darker side of sleep, dreams, and nightmares. Mike and Maarten are particularly fond of the arrangement for Kurb Laulik, essentially a song about tears and crying so delicately sung by Kadri. In the background Mike and Maarten play Flow my tears by John Dowland, both as an accompaniment to Kadri and as a distant memory to Oblivion Soave, their first album on Zefir Records.

The Swedish recorder virtuoso Dan Laurin has demonstrated his remarkable versatility on some thirty recordings for BIS, ranging from a nine-disc set with 17th-century composer Jacob van Eyck's complete Der Fluyten Lust-hof to the recent Rock that Flute, with music for recorder and strings written in 2013 by the Dutch composer Chiel Meijering. During a recording career that stretches over almost 30 years, Laurin keeps returning to one particular set of works, however: the concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Three of the works (the Concertos RV 441, 443 and 444) included on his latest release he has recorded more than once before, with ensembles such as the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble, Bach Collegium Japan and Arte dei Suonatori. For his latest 'take' on these favourites Laurin has joined forces with the young and vibrant Norwegian string ensemble 1B1 (shorthand for Ensemble Bjergsted 1). As he explains in his own liner notes for the present disc, he was inspired by his work on transcribing and performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons: ‘A close reading of RV441 and RV443–445 reveals great similarities between these works and The Four Seasons: sudden changes of moods, turbulent emotions, burlesque whims mixed with sublime beauty and elegance… My aim here is to explore the recorder concertos with the same freedom and spontaneity that characterize the modern-day approach to the Seasons.’ Laurin’s recording of the Seasons has been called ‘undoubtedly the best transcription to date’ (Diapason) and ‘never hackneyed, but instead invigoratingly fresh and vibrant’ (Clarino), verdicts which can only fuel the expectations concerning this his latest version of the recorder concertos.

Swedish Baroque composer Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758) has been called both “the father of Swedish music” and “the Swedish Handel.” He led the Swedish Opera throughout Sweden’s Age of Liberty, and enjoyed a successful compositional career. During Roman’s lifetime, the most common wind instrument in Stockholm was the recorder. The instrument was utilized in every aspect of musical life. The transverse flute, however, was reserved for the noble and upper classes. While Roman’s sonatas were originally composed for a bourgeoisie performance on transverse flute, Dan Laurin performs these beautiful works on the recorder. In his liner notes, he describes his affection for Roman’s music: “complex emotional contexts are contrasted with folk music forms such as the villanelle or piva - the music is asymmetrical, irregular and full of unexpected twists, sudden pauses and cadences.”

Benedetto Marcello was born in Venice in 1686 and died in Brescia in 1739. His vast musical output remains largely unexplored, but his most famous work is the Estro poetico-armonico – a collection of fifty psalms, including eleven ancient Jewish songs – called Intonazioni – and two sacred hymns from Greek classicism. Marcello acknowledged the importance of Jewish and classical music heritage, and by blending these different styles, he sought to underline their universal value. This album features Psalms Nos. 21 and 42, as well as the Sonata for Violin and Basso Continuo in E minor Op. 1, No. 1, and the first movements of Sonatas No. 5 in F major and No. 4 in G minor for solo harpsichord.

This release views “French style” from a strictly historic point of view, exploring the musical language of absolutism which reigned in Paris from the time of Louis XIV (1643-1715) and part of the time of Louis XV (1715-1774). Marin Marais was one of the most famous composers of “French-style,” excelling in chamber music. Performing on period instruments are Alberto Rasi on viola da gamba, Patrizia Marisaldi on harpsichord, and Beatrice Pornon on theorbo.

Advent is a time of heightened feelings: anticipation and tense expectation alternate with moments of reflection and proverbial contemplation. The Holy Night, finally, is both: a bright and radiant time, but also a darkness that invites to contemplation. Advent is also a time of contrasts: the king of the world is a child, the savior of the world lies in a manger among animals. It is these tensions, contrasts and manifold states of mind that are at the heart of the new album of the Dresdner Kammerchor with music for Advent and Christmas by Michael Praetorius (1571-1621). 2021 is the year of the 450th anniversary of the birth and 400th anniversary of the death of Michael Praetorius. He was a composer, organist, court kapellmeister and scholar in the transitional period from Renaissance to Baroque. He is one of the most important musicians in Europe around 1600. The program provides a selection of the most beautiful Advent music to accompany not only the Advent and Christmas season with his masterpieces, but also to let the listener discover the music of Michael Praetorius.

At the end of the 16th century, the pursuit of greater, more vivid expressivity dominated music-making all across Italy, taking madrigals and other vocal ensemble forms as its starting point but soon going on to explore the possibilities offered by solo singing. For some decades the theorbo (or chitarone, as it was also called) was regarded as the ideal instrument for accompanying singers, but as a leading exponent of the instrument Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger soon also established it as a solo instrument in its own right. Of German descent, Kapsperger published his first book of solo pieces for the theorbo in 1604 and went on to enjoy a successful career in Rome, contributing to the monumental cultural programme of Pope Urban VIII. There he moved in intellectual circles, particularly that of the scientist Galileo Galilei. During the 1630s things became quiet for Kapsperger, possibly a side effect of Galilei’s conviction for heresy in 1633. Not until 1640 did his last known volume of theorbo pieces appear, the number four in its title indicating that two books have been lost. A particularly attractive aspect of Kapsperger’s music for the theorbo is the marked contrasts between dramatic and impetuous toccatas, straightforward, ‘no-nonsense’ passacaglias and rhythmically refined but simply constructed dance movements such as galliards. These are here all made to sound under the fingers of Jonas Nordberg, sought-after as soloist as well as ensemble musician, performing on a wide range of plucked instruments including the lute, guitar and theorbo. On BIS he has previously appeared on the acclaimed album Heroines with soprano Ruby Hughes and in chamber works with recorder player Dan Laurin.

The crossroads of Christianity, Judaism and Islam create the backdrop to O! Jerusalem, a scintillating live recording by Apollo’s Fire that interweaves the lives and music of the peoples who have inhabited the “City on a Hill” since Biblical times. Conceived and directed by Jeanette Sorrell, Grammy Award-winning founder of Apollo’s Fire, O! Jerusalem conjures a tour of the Old City’s four quarters – Christian, Jewish, Arab and Armenian – and the confluence of the communities’ sacred and secular music from 1200 – 1650. This colorful and vibrant program – featuring musicians of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian backgrounds – premiered to packed audiences in New York City, Chicago, and the ensemble’s home base of Cleveland where this recording was captured live. O! Jerusalem follows in the footsteps of Sephardic Journey (AV2361), one of ten Apollo’s Fire releases to debut in Billboard’s Classical Chart Top 10.

REVIEW:

The program is organized as a walk through the four neighborhoods of Jerusalem's Old Quarter, namely Jewish, Arab, Christian, and Armenian, concluding with a festival secular dance set in which the traditions mingle. Much of the program was recorded live in 2020, just before the pandemic shut things down; these tracks are augmented by others recorded earlier. Most or all of the music seems to have been performed by members of Apollo's Fire itself. Beyond the rather plaintive hopes for peace that it expresses, the program is both instructive and engaging.

-- AllMusicGuide.com (James Manheim)

Isabella Leonarda (1620–1704) was a remarkable woman. At a time when female composers were a rarity, she was both prominent and prolific. Although she was cloistered (literally: she was a nun) in Novara in northern Italy, the dedications of her published compositions show her to have been extremely well connected. And her music demonstrates that she was well aware of the music of contemporaries like Carissimi or Corelli. These facts would be of merely historical importance, were her music not so engaging. Although most of the works recorded here are devotional, they are full of buoyant rhythms, colorful textures and a surprisingly dramatic approach to the texts she was setting – many probably written by Leonarda herself.