When Handel composed his Judas Maccabaeus in 1746 he had brought to an end his activity for the (Italian) opera in London and begun a second career as an oratorio composer, which at first got off to a very successful start but then soon experienced a decline, for which there had been various causes. Judas Maccabaeus is the evidence that Handle had recovered from this setback, and to this day the work is considered one of his most successful. Rafael Kubelík relies, without ifs and buts, on the Handel Edition by the North German musical scholar Friedrich Chrysander that appeared in the second half of the 19th century and represents a monument of the scholarly musical historicism that probably could appear only in Germany and not in England, Handel’s artistic home. Apart from the old-fashioned German translation, most astonishing is the drastic cuts that Chrysander made. This historical live recording from 1963 presents Fritz Wunderlich as Judas together with Agnes Giebel, Julia Falk, Naan Pöld and Ludwig Welter.

George Frideric Handel made a name for himself as a brilliant organist and harpsichordist early on in his career. As a young man, he travelled from Germany to Italy in 1707. We do not know exactly how much or what Handel composed for harpsichord while in Italy, but we know more starting from the time he settled in England. Handel composed all sorts of works for harpsichord in England, In November 1720, he published the Suites de Piecespour le Clavecin, now known as the Eight Great Suites, his most important work for harpsichord. The spectacular Eight Great Suites show Handel the harpsichordist at his best.

The suites are made up not only of newly composed movements, but also of improved versions of pieces he had written before and of harpsichord arrangements of his own compositions for other instruments. One theme central to interpreting Handel’s works for harpsichord (and the rest of his œuvre, for that matter) is what to do with the dotted rhythms. In Handel’s music, we regularly see a theme appearing in different rhythmic variants – sometimes dotted, sometimes not, or only partially, dotted. The question, therefore, is whether to perform these rhythms uniformly throughout the piece or to play them as they were written out in each instance by the composer. I have in large part chosen the latter.

Christmas and its singular atmosphere have inspired numerous musicians and composers over the centuries. Following several “conventional” albums and the crossover project “Next Horizon”, the oboist Vilém Veverka too has succumbed to the irresistible Yuletide charm and decided to present “his Christmas”. The album’s leitmotif is Antonio Vivaldi’s L'inverno (most likely performed on the oboe for the very first time!). In addition to pieces by other Baroque Masters (Bach, Handel), it includes a musical account of Argentinean tango-flavoured winter (Ástor Piazzolla), as well as the songs Stille Nacht, Adeste fideles and Chtíc, aby spal (Wanting Him to Sleep), without which one would be hard pressed to imagine Christmas. The album is adorned by Patricia Janecková’s gracious voice, and it features two very special guests, the harpist Katerina Englichová and the soprano Adéla Rehorová. As in the case of other Veverka albums, Martin Hybler has contributed with arrangements, and the soloist is accompanied by the same musicians he was on the previous project, “Next Horizon”. Owing to its encompassing a wide range of genres and neoclassical arrangement, the album will undoubtedly delight not only virtuoso oboe lovers, but also many other listeners. Vilém Veverka’s Christmas – virtuoso, sparkling, colorful ...

Recorded here is something which normally is evanescent over the airwaves or in the Philharmonie am Gasteig: the pre-Christmas evening in the series of Munich Sunday concerts, featuring Helen Donath as one of the most distinguished lyric sopranos of her times, the boys’ choir Regensburg Cathedral Sparrows and the Munich Radio Orchestra under the musical direction of Kurt Eichhorn. On this special evening, excerpts from Händels Messias could be heard, followed by Arcangelo Corelli’s Concerto grosso Op. 6,8 Concerto per la notte di natale, Mozart’s Motette Ave verum corpus KV 618 and the Laudate Dominum from the Vesperae solennes de confessore KV 339, Christmas carols performed a cappella by the Regensburg Cathedral Sparrows (dating mostly from the 17th and 18th century) and Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate KV 165.

REVIEWS:

Here is a reissue of a Christmas Concert (Weihnachtskonzert) from Munich’s Philharmonie am on December 11, 1988 which begins with a sequence of six Messiah excerpts, starring as soloist the great soprano Helen Donath. It has been issued before – as you can see, the YouTube excerpts have a different cover – and it sees daylight once more to grace Yuletide 2022.

These concerts were a regular event in Munich, with the Regensburger (literally, “Regensburg Cathedral Sparrows”) and the Munich Philharmonic under Kurt Eichhorn. When it comes to Corelli and Handel. This is pretty much good old-fashioned modern instrument interpretation of Baroque music, but injected with energy. Here are a couple of movements from the Corelli Christmas Concerto (Concerto grosso, Op. 6/8) to give you an idea. The Messiah (Messias) excerpts are all sung in German – so “Glory to God” becomes “Ehre sei Gott”; but what a choir this is.

Three Mozart pieces bookend the carol part of the programme: initially the choral Ave verum corpus (K 618), restrained and beautiful, and this, a supremely beautiful “Dominum” from Vesperæ solennes de confessore, K 339. The carols are heartwarming, and performed a cappella. Johann Stobäus’ Nun laßt uns mit den Engelein is a lovely chorale carol, each phrase beautifully sculpted, as are the phrases of Bach’s Ich steh’ an deiner Krippen hier. I admit a weakness for Johannes Eccard’s O Freide über Freund’. But I think it is Adeste fideles, beloved of all, surely, that sums up the glory of this choir.

…and what a perfect way to close, with that lovely Mozart Exultate, jubilate, K 165, festive and joyous (and listen tot he trills in her solo vocal cadenza in the first part. After a tender “Tu Alleluja ,” with Donath’s voice bright and agile, each note like a pinprick of light. There is a rather nice, extended interview with Helen Donath by Bruce Duffie available here, laced with many photos, plus scans of Donath’s famous record sleeves. A real treasure of a disc, and a step back in time! At a generous 77 minutes in duration, this is a lovely, heart-warming Christmas disc.

-- Classical Explorer

A stroke of luck for us: the cycle of “Nine German Arias” is a real gem. It is perfect in its form down to the last detail, thrifty and yet striking in its use of resources, and a compositional masterpiece. As a rule, a large choir and full orchestra fortissimo makes a much more immediate impression than an aria with only four executants. The present album is a new production by artistic husband and wife Eilika and Bernhard Wünsch. They have devoted themselves since 2011 to the genre of the Lied in particular and established the Musikhaus am Bielstein, near Göttingen in central Germany, in 2019. It is there – in their in-house studio – that they deepen their involvement in Lieder and in vocal and chamber music in general. The year 2019 thus saw the birth of an exceptionally successful concert series that soon earned the reputation of “hidden treasure” worth discovering.

In their concerts, Eilika and Bernhard Wünsch revive the 19th-century tradition of inviting musicians into their own home and playing rarely heard works while cladding well known compositions in new garb, arranging songs for participation by one or two instrumentalists. The concept of bringing the audience in close touch with the personal and social aspects of composers’ and lyricists’ life and times is one that has won over many new listeners to classical music.

This shouldn’t be your only recording of this fine work, but if you do without Wunderlich, you are missing a great deal.

This 1962 production of Xerxes was based on Rudolf Steglich’s 1958 version, which is distinguished by close reference to the autograph, preserved in the British Museum, and by a new German translation; the roles of Xerxes and Arsamenes, originally written for castrato sopranos, are here set for tenor. As regards the orchestra, Kubelik favors a rather objective string sound, completely avoiding the monumental, with discreet vibrato, and adopts Baroque terraced dynamics and tempo relationships that avoid extremes. In today’s view his interpretation turns out to be, therefore, midway between those productions based on Oskar Hagen’s arrangement, which was frequently committed to a romantically-colored understanding of the Baroque, and the modern original-sonority versions. The cast starring Fritz Wunderlich, Naan Pöld, Hertha Töpper, Jean Cook, Ingeborg Hallstein, Carl Christian Kohn und Max Pröbstl makes clear how high a level an opera production could attain at that time.

REVIEW:

Maestro Rafael Kubelik’s rendering of Xerxes–albeit auf Deutsch – is practically “enlightened”. No lengthy ritards at the close of arias, very little vibrato from the strings, some embellishments from the singers. No, we cannot unhear the remarkable “HIP” readings by McGegan, Bolton, Mackerras, and others, but Kubelik’s is entirely valid–sort of.

The roles of Xerxes and his brother Arsamene were written for a castrato and female contralto, and here we get two tenors, the first of whom, I’d guess, was part of the raison d’être for the recording. Fritz Wunderlich, just into his 30s, had taken the German opera houses by storm. With Frankfurt, Freiburg, and Stuttgart already under his belt, he sang Strauss’ Die Schweigsame Frau at the Salzburg Festival in 1959 and scored a brilliant success.

He had never sung Xerxes prior to this recording, although he was familiar with “early” music and had sung in Bach’s Passions. Kubelik immediately found him astonishing–the voice utterly beautiful, diction perfect, mastery of both legato and coloratura. Please, hear for yourself: this is such stunning singing that the vague antediluvian-ness of it all is not bothersome.

The rest of the cast is better than we have any reason to hope for as well: Unknowns to me are American soprano Jean Cook, a sweet Romilda, but nothing to write home about, and Naan Pöld, a fine German oratorio tenor as Arsamene. Ingeborg Hallenstein’s Atalanta has plenty of passion, and her flights into the vocal stratosphere–a high-F at one point–dazzle. Amastre is mezzo Hertha Töpper, so familiar and so routine from endless German recordings from the ‘60s. Karl Christian Kohn and Max Proebstl are fine as General and Comic Servant to Xerxes.

Sound is remarkable for its time. No, this shouldn’t be your only recording of this fine work, but if you do without Wunderlich, you are missing a great deal.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Robert Levine)

Danish pianist Tanja Zapolski found the music she always held close to her heart. It is music to treasure, a timeless experience. All are part of a world of dreams, a kind and tender world and with music to touch our souls. The brand new recording features the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra as partner in slow movements from famous piano concerti- Chopin, Ravel and Grieg. The music spans from Bach to Pärt with the famous Spiegel in Spiegel where the brilliant cellist Toke Møldrup is heard. This is an album for the moments of beauty and calm, where everything around simply is timeless.

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.

Barbara Heindlmeier & La Ninfea spend a day as a gentleman in baroque London “Gentleman for a Day” is la Ninfea’s second production with Perfect Noise, this time with founding member and renowned recorder player Barbara Heindlmeier as the soloist, also known for her excitingly innovative concepts.

When thinking of a true London gentleman, the first thing that comes to mind are top hats and courteous behaviour, elegance and elevated status. Recorder, too? But of course! Well, the fine gentleman didn’t (yet) have a top hat around 1700, but of course it was excellent manners to have a recorder in your pocket for you to, for example, serenade the lady you adored at any given moment - a welcome occasion for Barbara Heindlmeier and her colleagues to be “Gentleman for a Day”. Everything is included: from getting up in the morning to going for a walk, visiting the royal court and going to the opera, to the obligatory five o’clock tea and preparing for the said serenade.

An exciting and busy day plotted out with music by composers such as G.F. Handel, H. Purcell, M. Locke and J. Playford. The Bremen baroque ensemble La Ninfea stands for the highest artistic standards. They have since made a name for themselves with creative, cross-genre concert formats. This baroque ensemble with a varying line-up is completely dedicated to the art of baroque ornamenation and improvisation. Their own contributions such as the divisions on ‘Strawberries and Cream’ or ‘John come kiss me now’ underline the richness of colour, emotional density and fast-moving contrasts so inherent to this repertoire.

For his second recital album for BIS, countertenor and sopranist Nicolò Balducci, ‘a singer of a remarkably sweet sound and distinct vocal agility’ (Gramophone), presents arias that evoke love and pain, two basic ingredients of Italian opera in the 18th century. Often tailor-made for specific singers who were in some cases the foremost castrati from that era such as the legendary Farinelli, these arias expressed resolute valour, unbridled fury and sometimes extreme guilt, to the delight of audiences that enjoyed these operas with their far-fetched narratives inspired by mythology or historical events. For this album, Nicolò Balducci is accompanied by the Baroque Academy Gothenburg Symphony under the direction of renowned recorder player Dan Laurin. Together, they perform well-known arias by Handel, from Vivaldi’s long neglected operas, as well as by lesser-known composers such as Riccardo Broschi (Farinelli’s brother) and Egidio Duni.

For this album, the musicians of the Apollo Ensemble withdrew to their homes, and in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic they came together to play Bach, Handel and Telemann composers they know like the back of their own hands. The new release "German Delight" by the Apollo Ensemble contains six examples of 'music for Kenner und Liebhaber'. Much of the German musical canon was written not for large and extravagant occasions such as weddings, coronations and opera, but be to played at home among small groups of friends and families. This genre of music was noted by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach as being music for 'Kenner und Liebhaber' (professionals and amateurs), and it is known to many through the 19th century German Beidermier tradition. Since this music was never intended for large audiences, and often performed by capable colleagues, the composers could let off steam and pull out all the stops.

This album celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Association of Friends of the Baroque Organ and demonstrates Langenbogen's rich musical life. Up to now, the Association has organized more than 100 events. This release presents mainly organ works played by Thomas Ennenbach. In addition, we hear the Association's Chairman Ralf Mielke (solo flautist in Halle Staatskapelle), and members of the Ensemble Arco Lungo. Considering the age of St. Magdalenen in Langenbogen near Halle, one would not expect to find a Baroque organ inside. The church was rebuilt in 1826 replacing a Gothic predecessor, but surprisingly, still holds an 18th century organ, the history of which had been unclear for a long time. When the Association of Friends of the Baroque Organ was founded in 2001, the organ was in a deplorable state. On 31 October 2003, the instrument was dismantled by master organ builder Ekkehart Gro and transported to his workshop in Waditz near Bautzen for restoration. During the restoration period, the history of the organ was discovered. An inscription found in the wind chest said that Weienfels court organ builder Georg Theodor Klo built this organ in 1735, though it remains unclear for which church it was built. The Halle organ builder Johann Gottfried Kurtze then transferred the organ to the new Langenbogen church in 1826. For the Klo Organ with its 529 sounding pipes, intensive and varied use began on 31 May 2004 and continues to this day.

By popular demand, this Berlin Classics recording will be reissued on Vinyl. Handel's famous Suite"Watermusic" is one of the most well know and loved pieces of classical music from the baroque period. This historically informed interpretation stands out through ist clear articulation and historically accurate interpretation. This recording is a must-have for every classical music record collection.

"Credo - a profession of faith. belief, confidence and trust in a time that is challenging for all of us. Faith in the power of music, in art and in the ability to rise up and persevere. These duet recordings were created with these thoughts in mind, making their way through Handel's opera and oratorio duets, right up to the final creative phase of his life."
Anna Korondi and Zvi Emanuel-Marial

With their new CD "Hymne à l'amour"; the Duo Minerva once again shows how exciting and multifaceted classical music can sound. Their arrangements; woven with great artistry; their virtuosity and their exceptionally emotional style of music-making breathe fresh life into often-heard works. With a great deal of playfulness; the well-rehearsed duo moves between the most diverse genres and combines classical masterpieces with contemporary avant-garde; folk music and a pinch of the as yet unheard on the subject of love - entirely in Duo Minerva style.

Immortal themes and melodies in charming arrangements for brass, organ and timpani. Recorded in great church acoustics to a new and breathtaking sound experience.

“Though this album may appear to deviate from the main themes and styles of my work, in reality it complements and enriches them. A familiar statement comes to mind: “Music first!”. It may sound simplistic, but it is not: music, specifically the composition of music, involves implementing a wealth of knowledge and skills including technique, craftsmanship, mathematics, auditory analysis and representation, historical awareness, abstraction from the present and intuition about the future… and much more.” (Carlo Forlivesi)

Look, here it is. Fie! The mophead... The eight famous stories from the timeless children's book in witty, theatrical settings and arrangements by Konstantin Timokhine as an audio release: Directed by Salomé Im Hof, the musicians Ewa Miribung (violin, banjo), Georg Dettweiler (cello), Konstantin Timokhine (horn) and Jan Wollmann (trumpet) from the Basel Chamber Orchestra play, sing and tell the popular stories in a colorful, rhythmic and groovy, profound and poetic way: for young and old, recommended from 5 years on. The four stories "Der böse Friedrich", "Paulinchen mit dem Feuerzeug", "Zappel-Philipp" and "Hans-Guck-in-die-Luft" were arranged for the album and extended with the four other stories "von den schwarzen Buben", "Daumenlutscher", "Suppen-Kaspar" and "Zappel-Philipp". The original chronological order of the original book has been retained, so it is easy to read along and follow the pictures. Between the episodes, questions are asked in short intermezzi - spoken by and for children. Stimulating to form one's own thoughts and valuable as a mediating aspect of the audio release!

A one-off in Bach’s output, Amore traditore is a model in style and structure of the Italian chamber cantata and although the surviving manuscript score is not in Bach’s own hand, careful stylistic analysis has proved the piece is his. Far less familiar to the general public is Reinhard Keiser (1674-1739) who played a determining role in early 18th century German music. The cantata L’occaso di Titone all’Aurora oriente evokes the Greek myth of Eos (Dawn), daughter of Titan, sister of the Sun and Moon and mother of the four winds from the four points of the compass. Like Keiser, Johann David Heinichen (1683-1729) trained at the Thomasschule in Leipzig and is particularly well-known to harpsichordists for his two valuable treatises on basso continuo performance. A particularly fine example is Luci voi siete quelle, the text of which is Arcadian-style poetry. Händel’s Roman cantatas certainly have the usual arcadian settings and pathos-laden themes of pastoral love affairs with allegorical reflections concerning love and beauty. Francesco Antonio Pistocchi (Palermo 1659 - Bologna 1756) is known today only to specialists although in his time he was celebrated as a great countertenor and composer by Charles Burney. In Germany, he composed the cantata Il Polifemo, the sixth in his collection Scherzi musicali op.2.