The orchestral suite, sometimes simply called ‘overture’ because of the imposing dimensions of its opening movement, enjoyed great popularity in the early eighteenth century, especially in central Germany. Bach had discovered the genre in his youth and cultivated it until his late period in Leipzig. This recording assembles his four overture-suites, including the famous Suite no.2 BWV 1067, which belongs among the late works. Numerous copying errors in the instrumental parts suggest that this piece was originally written a tone lower – in A minor – and therefore probably for a solo instrument other than the transverse flute: in the present recording, this first version, reconstructed from the clues mentioned above, is performed with solo oboe. ‘This is a work of austere beauty, in which contrapuntal skill and melancholic expression are combined in a highly original way with the carefully calculated dance rhythms’, writes Peter Wollny in the accompanying booklet article.

REVIEW:

I really like the spirited performances here. The tempos are brisk and the articulation of strings and winds is crisp. I particularly enjoy listening to the continuo. Their sound is vigorous; and the definition in Julien Debordes’s bassoon playing is remarkable. Having her take the lead in fast movements helps to keep the ensemble together, pushing the tempo forward. Notes are in English.

-- American Record Guide

A fascinating juxtaposition - the seven early toccatas of J.S. Bach are interleaved with the 6th of Peter Seabourne's nine "Steps" cycles, the concept of renowned Bach player, Konstantin Lifschitz. Far from the Romantic toccata style, these canvases are multi-sectional kaleidoscopes of texture and tempi - each a miniature world encompassing virtuosity, intimacy and narrative. In the masterly hands of Lifschitz the result is a monumental journey of extraordinary invention.

The first release on any format of Szeryng's recording in Berlin during the years 1962-1963* at which time Szeryng was at the peak of his technical and intellectual capacities. All tracks have been remastered from the original Berlin radio tapes using Phoenix Mastering, a unique restoration process developed over 2 years by The Lost Recordings and Devialet teams.

Henryk Szeryng: "Johann Sebastian Bach's work is a Bible. Bach is the ultimate goal; this is where everything starts and everything ends. His music brings you closer to your own spirit," What could more eloquently express the violinist's relationship with Bach, developed from an early age? Szeryng keep up his intimate association of Bach throughout his life. Szeryng's deft finger work brings out the full brilliance of the Partita's clarity and joy. His energy, his attacks, his remarkably precise bowing and generous timbre once more bear testimony to the depth and intensity of his lifelong attachment to Bach.

Throughout the innumerable meanderings of this Sonata for Violin and Piano in which Franck breathes new life into the genre, Henryk Szeryng has wrought a miracle. With his natural, dynamic interpretation, the warmth of his emotion-filled timbre, and the ringing clarity of his articulation and intonations, he does perfect justice to a work that is constantly balancing between sensual melodies and formal experimentation.

Henryk Szeryng masters the most demanding technical difficulties while rendering the subtlest effects of Ravel's writing. His generous timbre and pure phrasing, which have led some to compare him to "pure essence of rose", are superb in this highlight of the repertoire. Ravel, entranced by the flights of tzigane music, has bequeathed us one of his most captivating works. Szeryng's performance makes his intimacy with Beethoven manifest. The energy of his interpretation of the sonata nevertheless captures the finest details of the drama of the works.

* CD2, Track 9 recorded 1982. All tracks remastered 2022.

Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concertos rank among the most popular works of Baroque music. To mark their 300th anniversary in 2021, Collegium 1704 played all six Brandenburg Concertos on historical instruments in K�then Castle's restored Hall of Mirrors. Founded by V�clav Luks in 2005, the orchestra is one of the most renowned ensembles of our time specializing in baroque music. Given the great stylistic and structural diversity of these concertos, they were the perfect choice to record these musical gems at the historical location of their inception.

The immediacy and power of La Gaia Scienza and Paolo Beschi takes your breath away. The sound of these outstanding musicians on original instruments is amazing and appealing, the phrasing and the interaction are exemplary, every note and every bar has been rethought. Chamber music full of contrasts and emotions. Adventurous souls should not hesitate, key works by Brahms, Haydn, Schubert and Schumann have never been heard like this before and as a special encore, highlights from Bach's Cello Solo Suites can be heard. Paolo Beschi (co-founder and cellist of "Il Giardino Armonico") conducts the ensemble "La Gaia Scienza" with pianist Federica Valli and violinist Stefano Barneschi. This group gives the world groundbreaking reinterpretations of romantic and baroque works. Pizzicato writes: "played vitally and pulsating, with feeling but without pathos."

The “Italianate” Bach? Not entirely Italian, in fact, although in these works we can clearly trace the ways in which the great German master absorbed and understood a variety of musical elements used by Italian composers (concerto movements and concerto-like sections, wild passaggi – and even the use of archaic durezze e ligature (discords and suspensions) and the con discrezione style of some Bach harpsichord toccatas, which inevitably bring Frescobaldi and Froberger to mind. Slobodan Jovanović was born in 1977 in Pančevo (Serbia). He studied harpsichord and clavichord with Robert Hill and basso continuo with Michael Behringer in Freiburg i. Br. In Karlsruhe he studied fortepiano and chamber music with Kristian Nyquist. He is also trained as a professional organist. Alongside harpsichordists Colin Tilney und Huguette Dreyfus he attended various master classes as a scholarship holder. As well as this he perfected his basso continuo under Jesper Bøje Christensen.

One of the greatest innovations of Baroque music is undoubtedly the thoroughbass, or basso continuo, of which Bach himself wrote: “Thoroughbass is the entire foundation of music, it is played with both hands, so that the left hand plays the written notes, while the right hand adds consonances and dissonances, creating an agreeable Harmony to the glory of God and to the proper enjoyment of the senses. Because there is basso continuo, the melody can unfold in all its fullness, with that resonant profile that is so characteristic of the Baroque aesthetic. The great majority of the pieces are Preludes, that is to say, they anticipate a continuation: usually a sung chorale, the theme of which is to be found in the Prelude, where it sets the tone for the assembly; these hymns were sung during Lutheran services. And they are lacking because we have concentrated on the instrumental side. Bach and his composing colleagues have made some small contribution to this, by leaving us instrumental works that directly touch the soul and seem to speak for themselves. The pieces on this album are taken principally from two collections of Bach’s works: the third part of the Clavier-Übung and the eighteen great Preludes for organ. Saya Hashino is a virtuosic concert pianist, organist, harpsichordist who brings life to a diverse musical repertoire with finesse and expressivity. Truly versatile and versed in early, chamber, orchestral and contemporary music, she plays her keyboard instruments regularly with highly-acclaimed and established orchestras such as the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Ensemble Contrechamps to name a few. Saya is titular organist of Saint-Germain Church in Geneva, where this recording was also made on an impressive 18-stop organ built by the German organ builder Lukas Fischer.

Johann Sebastian Bach was certainly familiar with the Pantaleon – a large hammered dulcimer with a wide range and full chromatic scale. Bach’s contemporary Pantaleon Hebenstreit had developed the instrument, through which he gained international renown and became one of the best-paid Dresden court musicians. The instrument enjoyed great popularity in the 18th century and was an important precursor of the fortepiano, its younger brother. Bach may have heard Hebenstreit with his Pantaleon himself, as he knew several court musicians of the Dresden orchestra personally and also performed with some of them. While we cannot know if they had met in reality, our imagination has nonetheless been much exercised. What would Bach have put on his famous colleague's music stand? Very little music written for the Pantaleon has survived, although the instrument’s use in the court orchestras of Vienna and Dresden suggests that works for the harpsichord and for the violin in particular could have served for arrangements and improvisations. It is hard to imagine that Bach would have objected to a virtuoso like Hebenstreit adapting his violin sonatas for the Pantaleon.

Johann Sebastian Bach today has a reputation as the Godfather of Western European music, as a fountainhead of classical music theory and the creator of some of the greatest works the world has ever produced. Better known as a keyboard virtuoso, Bach was not regarded as a genius in his day, so how did this headstrong and belligerent but ambitious young musician become so extraordinarily productive? What were his influences? How did he end up in jail and what did he get up to in Café Zimmerman? Discover all of this and more in musicologist Davinia Caddy's fascinating biography of a composer who, to Max Reger, represented ‘the beginning and the end of all music’. The narrative, presented by actor Leighton Pugh, is illustrated with musical excerpts including the Brandenburg Concertos, Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, The Art of Fugue, St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor among many others.

With performances by...

Nils Thilo Krämer | Christian Benda | Petra Morath-Pusinelli | Alexander Jablokov | Robert Hill | Kölner Kammerorchester | Takako Nishizaki | Ariane Pfister | Capella Istropolitana | Andrés Gabetta | Helmut Müller-Brühl | Wolfgang Rübsam | Sebastian Benda | Ralf Otto | Swiss Baroque Soloists | Slovak Philharmonic Chorus | Christian Brembeck | Julia Brown | Luc Beauséjour | Gerhild Romberger | Bachorchester Mainz | Jan Cižmár | Oliver von Dohnányi

There is no better recordings of the strio trio repertoire than those you will find here. - David Hurwitz (ClassicsToday.com)

In 2007 Frank Peter Zimmermann was able to realize his long-cherished dream to establish a string trio, together with Antoine Tamestit and Christian Poltéra. Three individually superb string players do not necessarily add up to a top-flight trio – even if they all play on instruments by Stradivarius, as here – but Trio Zimmermann immediately made a name for itself at international festivals and prestigious concert venues.

In 2010 the trio released its first album – with Mozart's seminal Divertimento – to critical acclaim. (More than 10 years later, that recording was the top recommendation in the Record Review series Building a Library on BBC Radio 3.) On following offerings, the ensemble explored the later repertoire for string trio: two discs with Beethoven's contributions to the genre, and a third with works by Hindemith and Schoenberg which have garnered distinctions such as Diapason de l’Année, the Chamber Award from BBC Music Magazine and a ‘Jahrespreis’ from the German Record Critics’ Award association. For their fifth disc to date the trio went back in time, however, as the three members together prepared a performing version of Bach's Goldberg Variations, described as ‘a triumph of combined technical ingenuity and musical insight’ in The Strad. These five discs have now been collected into a boxed-set retrospective, offering lovers of chamber music more than 5 hours of glorious music-making, in top-notch sound and including the original booklets with full documentation.

Past praise for previously released albums included in this set:

Bach: Goldberg Variations

The expertise and fluency of the Zimmermann's playing is evident. Their approach to dynamics is refreshingly flexible, and all three players bring a graceful approach to ornamentation.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Beethoven: String Trios, Op. 9, Nos. 1-3

These musicians are in command of the meticulously written extremes in expression, sforzandos not indiscriminately stabbed at but gauged according to the contexts in which they appear. Tempi are gauged to a nicety too. In sum, they do Beethoven proud throughout this exceptionally fine disc.

-- Gramophone

Hindemith & Schoenberg: String Trios

The Trio Zimmermann play them both Hindemith works with such energy, panache, and attention to the minutest detail that they are totally convincing and make a perfect foil to the rigors of the Schoenberg that follows.

-- The Guardian

Trio Zimmermann play Mozart & Schubert

The Zimmerman Trio plays with remarkably accurate intonation and a ravishing tone that’s also mindful of the Classical style. In other words, they don’t lay it on too thick, but they aren’t afraid to let the melodic lines sing. Schubert’s single-movement trio makes the perfect coupling.

-- ClassicsToday.com (10/10; David Hurwitz)

Beethoven: String Trios, Op. 3; Serenade, Op. 8

The Zimmermann Trio offers what must be the finest recording of Beethoven's Op. 3 since the classic mono Heifetz/Primrose/Piatigorsky version. They bring out all of the first movement’s requisite brio, paying heed to the syncopated rhythmic underpinnings that support the scampering triplet passages. The ensemble lightens its sonority for the Andante without sacrificing body and definition, while they articulate the Menuetto’s two-note phrase groups and subito dynamics in strict tempo yet in a way that’s oblivious to the bar lines. While the Finale is a model of controlled ferocity, the musicians are not afraid to let the lyrical sections sing out sweetly (never cloyingly).

Power and delicacy effortlessly coexist in the Serenade’s opening March, while subtle dynamic gradations distinguish the Menuetto’s loud arpeggiatted tuttis. The Adagio’s long unison lines offer cogent proof that one can employ minimum vibrato and still retain a focused and alive sonority. The March returns da capo at the end of the piece, with slightly more emphatic fortes and lighter pianos this time around. The warmth, clarity, and ambient realism of BIS’s surround-sound engineering holds equal appeal when experienced in conventional stereo playback mode. This release is not just a worthy follow-up to the Zimmermann Trio’s magnificent Mozart K. 563 and Beethoven Op. 9 Trio traversals, but a reference disc in its own right. Bravo!

-- ClassicsToday.com (10/10; Jed Distler)

Anne Akiko Meyers has amassed a multitude of fans and admirers for her exquisitely curated recordings, often exploring her passion for new music, and old music in new guises. Her quest for creative collaborations has inspired countless commissions and world-premieres, with the results infusing Shining Night, an album that embraces themes of love, poetry, and nature.

Anne’s fruitful association with composer Morten Lauridsen led to the arrangement of his popular choral work Sure on this Shining Night, for violin and piano, lending its name to the album’s title. From there springs forth an album imbued with music of light and hope, spanning the history of music through Baroque, Romantic, Popular, and current genres. J.S.Bach’s beautiful Air in G and Corelli’s colorful La Folia – arranged for violin and guitar – rub shoulders with Latin-tinged Estrellita (Little Star) by Manuel Ponce, the Aria from Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, and Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango. Two of the 20th century’s most iconic songs appear in intimate and tender new arrangements: Duke Ellington’s (In My) Solitude, and Can’t Help Falling in Love, famously crooned by The King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley. Anne’s collaborators are eminent Italian pianist Fabio Bidini and Grammy Award-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux.

REVIEW:

Few violinists would have had the idea to ask the quintessential choral composer Morton Lauridsen, as Meyers did, to arrange two of his choral works for duo with violin. Fewer would have juxtaposed Lauridsen with Elvis Presley, and fewer still would have been able to make this marvelously varied program hang together. Meyers transforms the basic violin encore type of program into something new and fresh. She has made a specialty of bold, original, and immediate programming, but has outdone herself this time.

-- AllMusicGuide.com (James Manheim)

In building the organ for Zurich’s Grossmünster in 1960, the firm of Metzler Orgelbau set a benchmark. Every well known organist wanted to play on this instrument. Hans Vollenweider, organist at the Grossmünster from 1970 to 1986, recorded the works of Bach over several years. The unique musicality and masterly technique of Vollenweider's interpretations are delightful. The spontaneity, immediacy and vividness of his recordings, available for the first time in this format, remain compelling. The present release features five of Bach's organ sonatas (BWV 525-528 and 530) in Triosonate form.

In building the organ for Zurich’s Grossmünster in 1960, the firm of Metzler Orgelbau set a benchmark. Every well known organist wanted to play on this instrument. Hans Vollenweider, organist at the Grossmünster from 1970 to 1986, recorded the works of Bach over several years. The unique musicality and masterly technique of Vollenweider's interpretations are delightful. The spontaneity, immediacy and vividness of his recordings, available for the first time in this format, remain compelling. The present release features J.S. Bach’s Preludes and Fugues BWV 539, 541, 543, and 545-548.

Gramophone Award-nominated artist Martin Fröst uses every recording as an opportunity to look at repertoire and performance through fresh eyes. His latest album for Sony Classical brings the extraordinary alchemy of a specially formed ensemble to the public with highly original arrangements for the first time on record.

With acclaimed pianist Roland Pöntinen and legendary bassist Sébastien Dubé, Fröst’s new album Night Passages charts a nocturnal journey through the mystical and the melancholic, the playful and the profound.

Reimagining favorites from the Baroque, while touching on jazz and folk music the album’s atmosphere carries with it the vibe of late-night improvisation and deep conversation between friends. From Rameau to Richard Rodgers, it invites listeners to eavesdrop on a musical union.

All nineteen tracks on the album were arranged by Fröst and his fellow trio members for their own instrumental lineup of clarinet, piano and bass. Scintillating Scarlatti keyboard mingling with touching Handel, virile Purcell, aerated Bach and works by Rameau that sound with new exotic allure.

Despite the quiet intimacy in works such as Richard Rodgers It Never Entered my Mind and Bach’s Jesu, meine Freunde, there is virtuosity, stamina and athleticism on display too, not least in a strident arrangement of Vallflickans Dans by the Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén – a piece close to the heart of any Swede.

The album further includes the trio’s light-footed take on Chick Corea’s Armando’s Rhumba and Fröst’s own cadenza-like Prelude to the traditional Swedish polka Dorotea, which is full of his trademark improvisatory fluidity. The same qualities appear to stop time in a heart-rending take on Purcell’s Music for a While. The result is a unique fusion of music past and present, and a snapshot of a three-way musical friendship like none other.

Includes:

Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in D Minor, K. 32
Chick Corea: Children’s Song: No. 15
Johann Sebastian Bach: Jesus bleibet meine Freude BWV 147
Henry Purcell: "Music for a While" Z. 583 (from Oedipus)       
Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart: "It Never Entered My Mind"
Jean-Philippe Rameau: Air pour les Sauvages
Antonio Cesti: "Intorno all'idol mio"       
Johann Sebastian Bach: Sinfonia No. 5 in E-Flat Major, BWV 791  
Chick Corea: Armando's Rhumba
Henry Purcell: Hornpipe in E Minor, Z. 685
George Frideric Handel: Suite in B-Flat Major, HWV 434: IV. Menuet
Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in D minor Kk.1
Jean-Philippe Rameau: Musette tendre en rondeau
Hugo Alfvén: Vallflickans Dans
Johann Sebastian Bach: Sinfonia No. 15 in B Minor, BWV 801
Martin Fröst: Prelude to Dorotea
Traditional: Polska from Dorotea
Jean-Philippe Rameau: Tambourin en rondeau
Gordon Jenkins: "Goodbye"

Martin Fröst, clarinet
Sébastien Dubé, bass
Roland Pöntinen, piano

At the end of his journey with the suites for violoncello solo by Johann Sebastian Bach, Francesco Galligioni has arrived at the cheerful and fresh Suite No. 6. As an appendix, so to speak, the internationally renowned baroque cellist from Padua offers chamber music for violoncello by the Bach family. In addition to two sonatas by Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, famously called "Bückeburg Bach", the album offers a world premiere recording of an "Aria Scotese con variazzioni" - a Scottish song with variations by Johann Philipp Bach, who was court painter and organist of Saxe-Meiningen.