Bach’s English Suites are entitled in a way that is as strange as it is hard to explain, at least at first glance. Contrary to what one might assume, these works are more closely related to French suites than to English music. The title is taken from the inscription “Fait pour les Anglois”, found on a manuscript owned by Bach’s youngest son. In addition to an extensive prelude and four traditional dances – Allemande, Courante, Sarabande and Gigue – each suite also contains “gallantries”, lighter dances that were fashionable at the time. In these dance movements, grace and melody play together with a compositional artistry that elevates them far beyond incidental music for courtly dances.

The composer Johann Friedrich Fasch maintained a particularly close relationship with the court of Anhalt-Zerbst, where he served as Kapellmeister from 1722 until his death in 1758. The present program focuses on the oboe: these are compositions by Fasch himself, such as an oboe concerto, a concerto for 2 oboes and smaller works for oboe, as well as works with oboe by Telemann and Bach, which are connected with the Zerbst court music inventory, Fasch's "Concert-Stube" (1743), and Fasch's tenure in Zerbst. Soloist of the recording is the young oboist Nele Vertommen (b. 1999), a student of Marcel Ponseele and winner of the 1st prize at the International Telemann Competition in Magdeburg in 2021, accompanied by the rising ensemble Musica Gloria.

In this recording, David Stromberg deals with the well-known Bach cello solo suites. Unlike the usual recordings, he uses a historical style of playing and interpretation using the baroque cello, piccolo cello and a baroque bow. The gut strings of the baroque cello have a more versatile sound than the steel strings and enable the finest nuances in the tone. In this way one will discover these works in a fresh new way. The cellist David Stromberg is looking for new listening experiences - be it with the baroque cello, the cello piccolo or the modern cello. He is fascinated by both early music and new music, he searches for new forms of expression in improvisation, arranges well-known masterpieces so that they appear in a completely new guise and searches for forgotten instruments. David Stromberg completed his cello studies at the Hamburg University of Music and Theater in the class of Prof. Wolfgang Mehlhorn and at the Music Institute Schloss Edsberg in Stockholm with Prof. Frans Helmerson.

REVIEWS:

This is a lovely production. These fresh recordings of the 6 solo cello suites are the result of meticulous research and preparation by cellist David Stromberg. The first five suites are performed on a baroque cello which, according to the notes, has a slightly different tuning for number five. The sixth was apparently originally written for a five-stringed instrument which is used here. Straightforward and very accessible notes are included in the accompanying booklet.

-- Lark Reviews (Stephen Page)

With the versatile sound of the gut strings and also the historically informed handling of the bow, the finest nuances in tone can be explored. It is therefore only logical that David Stromberg concentrates entirely on his playing qualities and those of the music, away from any unnecessary fuss that only serves the presentation without meaning. Thus, on the one hand, he creates a coherent world of the six suites as well as a precise attention to the details of each movement and phrase. He sticks to the beautiful sound and only in a few places, for example in the fourth suite, he lets it creak a bit. But this then brings a new shade of color into the interpretation and does not seem careless or unintentional.

-- Pizzicato

Ignacio Prego is a leading member of the rising generation of Spanish early music specialists recording for Glossa such as Josetxu Obregón and Lina Tur Bonet. He has a busy concert schedule across Europe, the US and Asia, and is frequently to be heard performing harpsichord concertos with ensembles such as the The English Concert, collaborating with eminent musicians such as Monica Huggett and Nicholas McGegan, or giving solo harpsichord recitals, where he is able to demonstrate his special preference for the works of J.S. Bach. On his first solo release for Glossa he had presented Bach's Goldberg Variations, now followed on his new recording by a selection of Bach’s Partitas and English Suites. Fine photographs from Noah Shaye in the booklet round up a new inspiring Glossa title.

The Motets are singular masterpieces in Bach's output. They were all composed in Leipzig between 1727 and 1730 for exceptional ceremonies: the funeral services of important figures. Each motet is a virtuoso composition for double choir. Their abundant composition, their jubilant counterpoint and the splendor that emanates from them have given them the privilege of remaining in the repertoire of St Thomas in Leipzig, where Mozart was captivated on hearing them in 1789. Their success has not waned, so much do these works exude the beauty and magnificence of the sacred baroque. Valentin Tournet brings this music of Bach to life in a profound and virtuoso performance of these unequivocal masterpieces.

Piano concertos from Beethoven to Brahms to Busoni and beyond are all indebted to the example of Bach in his Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, and its liberation of the harpsichord from continuo support to virtuoso soloist, in both the spectacular first-movement cadenza and the one-against-many dramatic narrative which marks a revolutionary break with the concerto-grosso model of collegiate co-operation. Bach wrote the six Brandenburgs in his early 30s, while the majority of the works here were either written or compiled once he had moved to Leipzig in 1723. Taking charge of the music at a popular café, he adapted cantata movements and earlier concertos for other instruments, producing seven intricately worked pieces which traverse an expressive range from the high drama of the D minor BWV1052, to the equable dialogue of the D major BWV1054 (a reworking of the E major Violin Concerto) to the tightly wound pathos of the F minor BWV1056. As both a harpsichordist and music director, Pieter-Jan Belder has been recording Bach’s music for more than two decades with Brilliant Classics and the period-instrument Musica Amphion ensemble which he founded in the tradition of distinguished Dutch early-music groups such as Frans Bruggen’s Orchestra of the 18th Century. He and his colleagues play together with a tightly knit sympathy borne of long familiarity and a comprehensive grasp of Bach’s output across every field of his music. Filling out the album to well over two and a half hours of music is the A minor Concerto BWV1044 scored for the same combination of flute, violin and keyboard soloists as the Fifth Brandenburg, and in which the keyboard also takes the starring role, though with certain features which suggest it was either put together late in Bach’s life or possibly by one of his pupils or sons.

The Trost organ of the Waltershausen Stadtkirche in Thuringia is considered a reference instrument of the baroque period and thus offers an ideal and authentic opportunity to rediscover the organ music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his predecessors.

The German-Swedish, multi-talented pianist, organist, composer, author Ann-Helena Schlüter, born in Nuremberg, grew up in a family of pianists, received numerous awards, scholarships and prizes from the age of five and was considered a child prodigy. She started playing the piano from the age of three with her mother until she was seven; from the age of seven with her father, pianist Prof. Karl-Heinz Schlüter. She studied piano at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg (artistic diploma with grade 1, master class diploma concert subject piano) with Prof. Bernd Glemser, and before that piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln with Prof. Nina Tichman.

Of the six works recorded here by J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach and G.F. Telemann (father, son and godfather), only two of them were specifically composed for the oboe, namely the g-minor sonata by C.P.E. Bach and the a-minor sonata by Telemann. However, as Emma Black proves on this new release, each of these works translates beautifully to the oboe. Australian born Emma Black is the principal oboist with the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble (Thomas Hengelbrock) and principal and soloist with the Wiener Akademie (Vienna) and Le Concert de la Loge (Paris). With all of these orchestras she has performed in all the major European festivals and can be heard in numerous album and radio recordings.

French pianist Kim Barbier does not see herself to be a person or an artist who is restricted by borders, be they linguistic, cultural or geographical. On the contrary, despite training at the Paris Conservatoire, which gave her a special familiarity with French composers such as Debussy, Dutilleux, Faur� and Poulenc, her career has been marked by a variety of emphases without being limited to specific preferences. Within the framework of classical music, she feels no commitment to any particular style, epoch or work, and would find it difficult to name any out-standing composers who did not interest her. This is one reason given as to why she has lived in Berlin for a many years. She appreciates the quality, internationality and openness of it's musical world, where she has found so many opportunities for creative expression and further development. This is particularly true of a long- standing collaboration with musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. She remains closely connected to the local music scene through these colleagues, especially in the field of chamber music, while at the same time pursuing wide- ranging international concert activities beyond Berlin. The present selection of piano pieces represents the versatility of Kim Barbier's skills, experience and interests across a broad musical spectrum. In some cases, these have shaped her biography and are associated with key experiences in her life and career. At the same time, the sequence of compositions represents stations in the development of European music history from the Baroque to the Classical Modern periods. The juxtaposition creates a dialogue that reveals both connections and influences, while resulting in a sovereign musical narrative that is neither strictly nor formally bound.

In 1996, the young violinist Jorge Jim�nez heard Bach's Goldberg Variations for the first time - in Glen Gould's famous version on a simple cassette recorder. Since then, this wonderful composition has not let him go. At first he resigned himself to the fact that as a violinist he would never be able to play this work. But over time he realized that several voices can sound at the same time on the violin, as Johann Sebastian Bach exemplifies in his six famous partitas and sonatas for solo violin. Finally, he set to work and began to transcribe one of the most complicated piano pieces of the Baroque into a piece for solo violin. This is, says Jim�nez, like trying to "fit all the furniture of the Palace of Versailles into a tiny garret: You have to choose the best pieces and try to keep the feeling of the big room in the small." Jim�nez, with great knowledge of the piece and exhausting all the technical possibilities of his instrument, has managed to fulfil his great dream: With his arrangement, the Goldberg Variations can now be heard for solo violin, and Bach's six great "solos" have been joined: just as exciting and certainly just as technically demanding.

Recording the St. Matthew Passion with boys’ and young men’s voices is an exceptionally intensive experience. Singing from memory and seeing Jesus’ suffering from the trusting perspective of children leads you to a different conclusion than it would with adult singers. The voices of children and adolescents sound more linear with a lower vibrato amplitude; they are rich in overtones and usually use a shorter phrase length. But children breathe very quickly, and their voices can be applied with virtuosity. Chords sound calm and clean.

The choir and soloists of the Wilten Boys’ Choir and the Academia Jacobus Stainer Orchestra recorded the St. Matthew Passion in the middle of a lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, and were therefore tested daily and stood at a distance from each other in the Saal Tirol of the Congress Center in Innsbruck. The choir and the second orchestra were both further away from the conductor, just as was probably the case with Bach in the former St. Thomas Church with its swallow’s nest organ on a gallery above the triumphal arch. In any case, the St. Matthew Passion was performed in 1736 “mit beyden orgeln” (with both organs) in St. Thomas Church. We studied every recitative, every aria and every chorale as written in Bach’s wonderful handwriting and were amazed, especially in the secco recitatives, by some changes that became apparent for us after reading the meticulously written autograph that was later revised by Bach.

Under the title “Nachtschattengewächse”, the Duo Neubauer with Stefan Neubauer, clarinet, and Severin Neubauer, saxophone presents both well-known and new works, which reflects all that is abysmal and inscrutable of the night in art, especially in music. “Life starts when fear ends”, is what Severin Neubauer wrote beneath the score of Rush, in which he depicts various states of anxiety. Life will be wonderful again once the fears dissipate. Yet, on closer inspection, neither such ostensibly gloomy titles as “Repast” (Yuki Morimoto), “Elegie” (Gregory Wanamaker), “Shadow” (Dora Cojocaru), and “Moon” (Gerald Resch), nor the aforementioned fears turn out anything near as dark as one might think. Instead, they are transformed into a beacon of light for all things new, which come in the shapes of a bouquet, the Blumenstrauß (“Hanataba”), a reunion (Réunion 2), and an upbeat dance tune (Francis Poulenc). Night leads to day. That’s life! In that spirit, let’s celebrate life – and while we’re at it, let’s celebrate the night, too! (Stefan Neubauer)

The Six Suites for Solo Cello by J.S. Bach, composed around 1720, are generally regarded as the first and greatest masterpieces ever written for the instrument. Their scope is vast and ingenious. Although most of the time, only one note is played, occasional chords and masterful melodies imply harmony and counterpoint. The Suites have been performed and recorded countless times over the last 100 years, with a variety of interpretative approaches. These approaches, until recently, could often be rather academic and formal, as it used to be thought that baroque music was mostly about form. The present cellist takes a radically opposing approach, one which is inspirational and which infuses the works with vitality and spirit.

Marina Tarasova is a world-renowned cellist with many recordings to her name for Musical Concepts and Northern Flowers among other labels, and this is her first recording for Divine Art. She has won international competitions in Prague, Florence and Paris and has a wide repertoire covering works of composers from the 17th century to the 20th century.

Any attempt at dating J.S. Bach’s three sonatas for viola da gamba and obligato harpsichord (BWV 1027 – 1029) is a very complex issue. According to the most recent research, Bach’s gamba sonatas are dated 1736 – 41, and therefore could have been written for Carl Friedrich Abel (1723–1787). Here the Viola da gamba Sonatas are performed by two musicians who have a wide experience and deep knowledge of period instruments and late Baroque performing practice. They focused their attention on the instruments to play. Sergej Istomin chose a viol built by Jacob Stainer in 1655, whose sound is especially brilliant and resonant. Sofronitzky very unusually decided to play these late pieces by Bach on a Silbermann fortepiano copy, built by Paul McNulty. A new instrument at that time, the fortepiano was approved and appreciated by Johann Sebastian Bach during his visit to Gottfried Silbermann in 1747. Paul McNulty’s copy of Silbermann’s 1749 instrument represents the final stage of the builder’s development, seventeen years after the first fortepiano he had built following a description of Christofori’s original design. These two instruments’ blend of tones and colors conjure up for a unique, singing and invigorating account of well-known works.

Eckart Runge and Jacques Ammon, who with their last album "Revolutionary Icons" already explored the field of tension between Beethoven and the rock/pop heroes Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse and David Bowie, now devote themselves to the baroque and jazz. A closer look reveals how many connections there are despite the 200 yeas in between and what bridges ca be built between the two styles: "Walking basso continuo", the joy of the spontaneous and the high art of improvisation. From Vivaldi to Amanti, from bach to Miles Davis and from Gluck to George Gershwin - an outstanding potpourri of the highest musical quality on cello and piano.