Solo – Harmonica on Harmonica charts a journey from the Middle Ages to our own time and showcases the harmonica in all its versatility and variety. From jazz legends Chick Corea, Charlie Parker and Lester Young to Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and from the sinful tango of Mato Rodriguez’s famous La Cumparcita to the sacred monody of O Virgo splendens – the repertoire and the performances display striking juxtapositions. Luca Littera is an acclaimed chromatic harmonica virtuoso. He performs here on a selection of instruments, multi-tracking each part to create the unique sound of an ensemble of harmonicas.

The six suites for solo cello are frequently considered to be Bach’s greatest masterpieces and are a pinnacle of the Baroque cello repertory. This new album of Bach’s complete Cello Suites has the unique feature of being performed using two different historic cellos, one of them being a rare five-string instrument from the 17th century, which is used on Suite 6.

Cellist William Skeen is one of the world’s premiere Baroque cellists. He serves as Principal Cellist with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Voices of Music, and was Principal Cellist of the American Bach Soloists for nearly two decades. Mr. Skeen taught Baroque cello and viola da gamba at the University of Southern California for two decades. Mr. Skeen has received two GRAMMY® nominations for previous albums. He continues to perform regularly with major orchestras and Baroque groups around the world.

This new release of the Six Cello Suites was beautifully recorded by famed multi-GRAMMY®-winning engineer Leslie Ann Jones at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California. It was mastered by RR's own multi-GRAMMY®-nominated engineer, Sean Royce Martin. The album was produced by the outstanding San Francisco-based Lolly Lewis, who in recent years has been particularly focused on period instrument performance and has produced six albums with the New Esterházy Quartet.

Tenebrae bring their trademark passion and precision to this live performance of music by J. S. Bach and Sir James MacMillan, to be recorded live at Snape Maltings in May 2023. Renowned for their technical difficulty,

Bach’s motets are pillars of the choral repertoire, requiring minute attention to detail as well as a full emotional range. Here, Tenebrae performs the three most well-known of the set, culminating in the joyful Singet dem Herrn. Like Bach, Sir James MacMillan has written much of his music for the church, and his settings of the Tenebrae responsories paint a vivid picture of the events of Holy Week. This album also features the premiere recording of I saw Eternity the other night, which MacMillan composed for Tenebrae in 2021 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the London Bach Society.

Speaking on Bach and MacMillan, Nigel Short says“I am sure James will be as revered in 400 years’ time as Bach is today. On so many different levels, the contrast between the music of these two great composers could not be more dramatic. What both composers have in abundance, though, is an utter devotion to their religious faiths. This total conviction displays itself in their music, leaving the listener in no doubt as to their commitment to creating music imbued with every ounce of passion and precision. I hope listeners will enjoy and feel the sense of excitement and energy we as performers always feed off in concert, and that this performance in the beautiful venue of Snape Maltings will stand the test of time and be heard by music-lovers for centuries to come.”

Das Bearbeiten eigener oder fremder Werke ist eine seit der Barockzeit eingefuhrte Verfahrensweise, um Werke einem breiteren Auffuhrungsspektrum zuganglich zu machen. Dabei war den Komponisten jener Epoche bei solchen Transkriptionen eine wertende Differenzierung zwischen Originalwerken und Bearbeitungen fremd. Sie gingen noch von der Einheit geistlicher und weltlicher Musik aus und von hoherbestimmten, den Komponisten vorgegebenen Affekten. Dies fuhrte in vielfacher Weise zur Wiederverwendung und Wiederverwertung bereits vorhandener Werke i'm sogenannten "Parodieverfahren", wobei diese inspirierte Bearbeitung nahtlos an neues Schaffen anknupfte, etwa durch das Transponieren in andere Tonarten, durch Besetzungsanderungen und vieles mehr. Romain Nosbaum spielt Klavierbearbeitungen von Liszt/Bach, Bach/Marcello, Kornienko/Tschaikowsky u.a.

The K�lner Akademie, under the artistic direction of Michael Alexander Willens, presents J. S. Bach: Lutheran Masses BWV 233-236, a monumental exploration of the composer's four Kyrie-Gloria Masses. Written in the 1730s, during a period of profound artistic consolidation, these works reveal Bach at his most resourceful. Drawn largely from his finest cantata music, the Masses showcase his unparalleled ability to transform earlier material through refined counterpoint, enriched orchestration, and deep sensitivity to the Latin Ordinary. Long overshadowed by the Mass in B minor, these so-called "Lutheran Masses" emerge here as brilliant creations in their own right, each shaped with architectural clarity: six movements, impeccably balanced between choral grandeur and intimate arias. In this cycle, Bach fuses theological tradition with inventive musical craft. Whether reworking festive choruses, expanding expressive arias, or integrating older settings with newly imagined timbres, he elevates the transformation of earlier material into a profound creative process - producing music that feels both familiar and entirely renewed. By gathering the four Masses into a unified artistic vision, The K�lner Akademie illuminates their shared structural features, vibrant instrumentation, and emotional breadth.

Organist Lukas Hasler presents Gold, a radiant debut album featuring his own transcriptions and arrangements for organ. What began five years ago with a fascination for Mozart's G major Sonata in Edvard Grieg's two-piano version grew into an artistic journey into the transformative world of transcription. Hasler discovered in the organ an instrument capable not only of recreating orchestral and pianistic textures, but of reshaping them into something entirely new. To capture this vision, he turned to the iconic Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, whose expressive possibilities and glowing acoustics inspired both the selection of repertoire and the album's title. Gold offers a rich spectrum of colours and styles, from the jubilant brilliance of Bach's Sinfonia (in Dupr�'s vibrant transcription) to the tender intimacy of Schumann's Romance, recorded here for the first time on organ. Hasler brings theatrical flair to Lemare's arrangement of Carmen Fantasy, profound stillness to Beethoven's "Moonlight" Adagio, and symphonic vitality to Bruckner's Nullte Scherzo, while Mozart's G major Sonata - filtered through Grieg's imagination and Hasler's own artistry - bridges Classical clarity and Romantic warmth. Rachmaninoff's stormy Prelude, Lef�bure-W�ly's sparkling Bol�ro, and the playful, genre-bending Vienna Calling complete a programme that celebrates invention, personality, and the golden richness of the Viennese organ sound.

Miriam Prandi's deeply personal interpretation of Bach's suites for solo cello reveals a musical personality shaped by freedom and reverence for the work; her phrasing recalls not only the elegance of line in Bach's arias and recitatives but also the intricate figuration of his keyboard works. She naturally embraces certain elements of historically informed performance practice, although she refuses to be confined by it's prescriptions. She allows the music to speak in a way that all today can understand: a way that transcends stylistic labels and so-called modernity and speaks with clarity, conviction, and from the heart.

This recording features a work with a strange coincidence in it's compositional process and an astonishing dual authorship. Remarkably, Silvius Leopold Weiss's Lute Suite SW47 (which he named Suonata) also comes with a violin part that can be played over the top of it, composed by none other than Johann Sebastian Bach. A recent comparison of sources revealed that the harpsichord part in Bach's Suite for Violin & Harpsichord BWV1025, long considered to be of doubtful attribution, perfectly matches Weiss's suite. The violin part, meanwhile, was indeed composed entirely by Bach and is an additional melody independent of Weiss's musical material. It feels almost like a 'free improvisation' above the suite and recalls a similar process carried out by Charles Gounod in 1859: his Ave Maria fits over the first Prelude from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier BWV846. The sole exception is the Fantasia movement in Bach's piece, which is not derived from Weiss's suite, meaning both the violin and harpsichord parts in it are unique to Bach. This recording presents Weiss's suite on it's own and with the addition of Bach's violin part, both versions arranged by guitarist Alberto La Rocca for his instrument in place of the lute or harpsichord. (The all-Bach Fantasia is not included in the version without violin.) Weiss's Suite (Suonata) is a high-quality work composed for a 13-course Baroque lute. It is rarely, if ever, performed by either lute or guitar players, yet it contains all the best features of the great German lutenist's oeuvre: a refined and elegant compositional style and a varied range of expression. Bach's 'added melody', composed with his usual superhuman ability, shines a new light on the original suite, as if dressing it up in extraordinarily elegant attire. The violin part comments on the original lute texture without suffocating it, almost like a free improvisation above it. It plays with the various elements of Weiss's music, extrapolating ideas for themes, imitating them or simply wandering freely. Bach's part is also highly imaginative and varied in it's expression, frequently adding complex rhythmic dovetailing and significant virtuosity while always staying true to the emotions of Weiss's movements. Bach and Weiss were friends and met on several occasions. Johann Friedrich Reichardt even describes them challenging each other to an improvisation competition: 'Anyone who understands the challenge of playing harmonic modulations and decent counterpoint on the lute will be surprised and amazed to hear an eyewitness say that Weiss, the great lutenist, competed with J.S. Bach, the great harpsichordist and organist, in playing fantasies and fugues.' While the origins of his 'transcription with accompaniment' of Weiss's Suite SW47 are still a mystery, the fact remains that we can now enjoy a unique and unusual masterpiece, which these two brilliant composers had a hand in writing.

On this latest release in the Guitar Laureate series, Georgi Dimitrov-Jojo, winner of the 2022 European Bach Guitar Award, presents a selection of works transcribed for guitar from the rich repertoire of Johann Sebastian Bach. Dimitrov-Jojo’s beautiful sound and poetic interpretations bring an intimate connection to Bach’s boundless imagination, crowned in this substantial programme by the famous Ciaconna, BWV 1004.

Baroque ensemble Camerata oresund and their musical director / violinist Peter Spissky explore the musical world of composer, instrumentalist, and patron of the arts, Wilhelmine von Bayreuth (1709-1758). The recording brings to light works by Wilhelmine herself and musicians from within her circle, as we rediscover several long-forgotten pieces. Wilhelmine's entrepreneurial spirit, intellect, talent, and deep love of music and the arts remain an enduring source of inspiration. This album is a tribute to the life and legacy of this remarkable woman of the arts, revealing vibrant musical colours and styles in these concertos, dances, and arias.

Johann Joachim Quantz was one of the greatest composers of his time, with a large oeuvre to his name. And while his work for flute has been enjoyed by flautists and audiences alike, it doesn't seem to meet any of the criteria codified at the beginning of the 20th century for what constitutes 'great', 'lasting', 'profound' or 'complex' music. Nor does it meet the requirement set in modern times for the worth of a composer's work to be measured in terms of the influence it has on the next generation. This is because, after having achieved a technical knowledge on par with his contemporaries, Quantz opted for the restrictive life of a court composer in the service of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, who, though an educated man and amateur musician, had a conservative taste in music. Quantz's music was therefore never 'fashionable', and his compositions failed to leave a mark on posterity. Quantz's oeuvre for the transverse flute includes around 300 concertos, 200 sonatas and dozens of chamber music works, yet until the middle of the 20th century, none of his sonatas and only one of his concertos had been performed in concert. Like the concertos, the sonatas are among the finest examples of the genre, integrating progressive composing techniques and a versatile form and structure. The chronology of the sonatas can only be ascertained to a point. For this first instalment in the recording of Quantz's complete flute sonatas, the selection is linked neither to chronology nor to catalogue number. It features an early composition from Dresden (in B flat major, QV 1:153) and showcases a variety of keys across the seven sonatas chosen. Despite the ad hoc order, by the end of the series all known original sonatas will have been covered. This recording project aims to reconstruct coeval performance conditions as accurately as possible. These efforts include using a replica of an original flute built by Quantz, played at the original pitch (a whole tone lower than standard) and recording in a hall very similar in size, proportions and acoustics to the music hall in Potsdam where so many of Quantz's famous music evenings took place. The microphone set up reproduces without any manipulation what the listener would hear at a performance in such a hall, from a distance of about five metres. In the endeavour we encountered several dilemmas, one being the choice of accompanying forces. It is known that at Frederick's court the use of a keyboard instrument plus a string bass was considered optimal, but we do not know whether this was always realised in practice. In the end it was decided to record most of the sonatas with keyboards only. Another important question, then, was the choice of keyboard: harpsichord or fortepiano. While from the 1740s onwards Frederick had become acquainted with Gottfried Silbermann's fortepianos and indeed purchased a number of them, the harpsichord remained an important accompanying instrument, and there were many of them at the court.

A young female singer in 17th-century Venice: she is a virtuoso and extremely charming, and the gentlemen of her select audience are at her feet. They call her the "Singing Venus". But Barbara Strozzi wants more: she regularly publishes her compositions – more than any woman before her. The new BR-KLASSIK audio biography tells her story.

Until the 20th century, female composers had a hard time in a male-dominated art. And in historiography for even longer: it was not until 1978 that a female American musicologist published the first specialist article on Barbara Strozzi. Today, it is generally accepted that she is one of the most important voices in the history of vocal chamber music. She is featured on a growing number of CDs, concert programmes and websites. However, although research has begun, a lively account of her life and work, accessible to a wider audience, has been lacking.

This audio biography brings together all the key documents and research that represent her – and also vividly introduces us to the unique cultural space in which the composer lived. The exuberance of Carnival, the development of the fledgling art of opera, and Venice - the"città galante"- are all linked to the phenomenon of"Barbara Strozzi" and her art. Listeners unfamiliar with this music are invited to rediscover lost treasures – and to get to know one of the great women of music history. Wiebke Puls, an actress at the Münchner Kammerspiele and a singer herself, lends her voice to Barbara Strozzi.

I see that we had met in Bach’s profound italianness, in the singing of the melodies that danced in counterpoint, in the rhythmic undulation of his writing. Although in the manuscripts the three Sonatas for Viola da Gamba are accompanied by the harpsichord, we imagined the Viola da Gamba conversing with different keyboard instruments that Bach had at his disposal: a copy of a Mietke harpsichord, a copy of a Silbermann fortepiano and the organ built by Gottfried Silbermann in 1753.

The Venetian Barbara Strozzi did not have to emancipate herself in order to be recognized as an artist and composer. And this, despite the fact that she-the illegitimate daughter of a maid and her lord-should, according to common estimation, have been happy to have amounted to "anything" at all. However, her father, himself a writer and full of wit in the true sense of the word, adopted her and ensured that she received a proper education. The rest was all down to this exceptionally talented young girl herself. The worthy student of the famous Francesco Cavalli could even afford to publish her works under her own name. She was a fixture in the cultural life of her city, which obviously took great pleasure in the extraordinarily emotional worlds of this intimate music. Listen and enjoy!

In addition to working on his own compositions, arranging the works of other composers was a constant in Mozart's life. In 1766, Johann Christian Bach was to publish his 'Six Sonatas for Pianoforte or Harpsichord Opus 5' in London. Wolfgang liked these so much that he arranged three sonatas from the collection as concertos for harpsichord. In these three concertos, the harpsichord part is practically identical to the original sonatas by J. Ch. Bach. Although the character of the manuscript suggests that the manuscript (which bears the hand of both Leopold and Wolfgang) could have been made between 1770 and 1772, it is likely that it is based on an earlier draft, close in time to the publication of the Opus 5 sonatas by Christian Bach. Whatever the case, Wolfgang probably planned these chamber concertos for later performances in small, private circles, both in Salzburg and on a new journey through Italy. In April 1764, Bach and the 8-year-old Mozart (!) performed together for the first time in London. The Mozart family's admiration for Johann Christian Bach lasted a lifetime.

Marcello: 6 Cello Sonatas

In 2018, four friends studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London decided to form an ensemble they called Th�odora. Mariamielle Lamagat (soprano), Louise Ayrton (baroque violin), Lucie Chabard (harpsichord) and Alice Trocellier (viola da gamba) explore French Baroque music and it's ramifications. For their first recording, part of Alpha Classics' "Baroque Stories" series, they decided to trace the French style in Germanic lands in the 18th century, where the dance forms, dotted rhythms, modulations and harmonies in vogue at the court of Louis XIV inspired composers to create numerous transcriptions, works and new instrumental practices. Johann Fischer and Johann Philipp Krieger make no secret of their admiration for Campra and Lully, whose music enjoyed considerable success across the Rhine. This programme features their magnificent "Duo de la paix et de la f�licit�" (Duet of Peace and Happiness), in a version preserved in Berlin, performed here with mezzo-soprano Ad�le Charvet. Bach is, of course, included: he admired the French organ school, particularly Jacques Boyvin, whose superb R�cit tendre, from the Second Livre d'Orgue (1700), Th�odora has transcribed for violin, viola and basso continuo.

Polyphonic Dreams, Busoni II Victor Nicoara, piano After moving to Berlin in 1894 Busonis reputation as a pianistic titan was cemented: his encyclopaedic piano recitals, caused a stir with audiences and critics alike. His compositions were also starting to garner some notice as well as bemusement - Busoni, not neatly subscribing to any of the major musical camps from the turn of the century, was as difficult to categorise then as he is now. Astonishingly well read and cosmopolitan, Busoni t

The Book of Psalms is an ancient corpus of 150 texts exploring thanksgiving, lamentation, penitence, and spirituality, which have significantly influenced mythical and secular poetry. Including several premiere recordings, this album features well-loved settings of these treasured words, together with fresh compositions by emerging composers.

Like the Christmas and Whitsun festivals, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus was spread out over three feast days. A cantata was sung at each day's church service; Bach, whose ambition in his first year was to present the worshippers of Leipzig with works he had written himself, was thus kept busy. Most of his work in 1724 undoubtedly went into the St John Passion (BWV 245.1), performed for the first time on Good Friday that year, two days before Easter.

Soprano Rowan Pierce joins Florilegium and Ashley Solomon in Tra le fiamme - a new recording of secular cantatas by G. F. Handel and J. S. Bach. Tra le fiamme is one of Handel's Italian style cantatas, combining vocal virtuosity with deep emotional expressivity. Bach's cantata Ich bin in mir vergnugt is an elegant example of one of his secular cantatas. This cantata stands out for it's reflective exploration of themes of inner peace, contentment, and stoic philosophy - qualities that reflect Bach's interest in moral and philosophical themes outside of his sacred music. Also included here is the final virtuosic Alleluia from Vivaldi's motet In furore iustissimae irae together with instrumental concertos by Vivaldi and Handel.

At the highest level VISION. BACH Vol. 8 "Hans-Christoph Rademann as director of the Gaechinger Cantorey implements this in an exemplary manner with his ensembles and the soloists. The choir consists of a small chamber ensemble of up to four accomplished voices per register, including the solos. This potential forms an exceptionally high-quality chamber choir, is technically absolutely unchallenged in the demanding opening choruses, is agile and fresh, at the same time full of vocal power and affective clarity, precise and easily comprehensible in it's diction at all times. The chorales are tackled decisively and with the necessary grandeur, without ever seeming statuesque - however, with the right amount of Lutheran vigor and conviction. " Klassik. Com

It is a mammoth project that the Stuttgart International Bach Academy has undertaken: All sixty cantatas from Johann Sebastian Bach's first year in office as St. Thomas Cantor will be performed in a total of 23 concerts and recorded on CDs. Vol. 7 is now available should convince even skeptics. For what Hans-Christoph Rademann, his Gaechinger Cantorey and hand-picked soloists reveal here in terms of vocal-instrumental coordination, tonal differentiation and rhetorically trained creative artistry probably marks the pinnacle of historically informed performance practice at present. The choir presents itself extremely agile in fugal passages, but also with sufficient sonorous warmth in the chorales, and the orchestra with it's excellent soloists (trumpet!) matches this level. We can look forward to further releases in this series.

The ensemble of the Bachakademie, the Gaechinger Cantorey, plays under the direction of Hans-Christoph Rademann. For this purpose it comprises the instrumentalists and up to four vocalists per voice, including the soloists, all specialists in their field, as Bach himself wished it. This is a vision that only now can be fulfilled in it's ideal form. To this day the music will inspire it's audience to devotion, challenge them to reflect and make them glad. It addresses questions of faith and comes to terms with particular situations of human life. The Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart is performing all these cantatas in chronological order exactly 300 years later. The performances follow the latest state of Bach research documented in the new 2022 catalogue of Bach's works BWV3.

Rademann conducts with feeling and strives for a round and harmonious sound. The musicians of the Gaechinger Cantorey play excellently and show that historically informed performance practice and Romantic music-making are not necessarily mutually exclusive. necessarily mutually exclusive. It is the result that counts. And that is more than convincing with Rademann and his Cantorey. Above all, because the listener can't get enough of it. pizzicato

Following the departure (of his own accord) of it's founder Damien Guillon, Le Banquet C�leste has reinvented itself as a collective of musicians and singers, all committed to continuing to explore the Baroque repertoire with the stylistic rigour that has established the ensemble's reputation. For this first recording by the "new" Banquet, Bach is in the spotlight, with Cantatas BWV 85 and 115 featuring violoncello piccolo obbligato: "Smaller in size, the violoncello piccolo has a truly special timbre that can be grave and passionate, but also wiry and sensitive. In the arias where it engages in concertante dialogue with the vocal soloist, it most often embodies the voice of tenderness and consolation, and the confident promise of the hereafter," writes musicologist Corinne Schneider. The Sixth Suite for Cello, BWV 1012, completes the programme: "Radiant and joyful, it sounds like a deliverance, in perfect accord with the themes developed in these two cantatas," she concludes. C�line Scheen, Alexander Chance, Thomas Hobbs and Beno�t Arnould are the vocal soloists, and Julien Barre plays the piccolo cello.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH THE FIRST CANTATA YEAR 2 CDs / Vol. 4 BWV 138, 95, 48, 162.2, 109, 89, 163 GAECHINGER CANTOREY // HANS-CHRISTOPH RADEMANN The ensemble of the Bachakademie, the Gaechinger Cantorey, plays under the direction of Hans-Christ

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: THE FIRST CANTATA YEAR. 2 CDs / Vol. 3. BWV 105, 46, 179, 199. 3, 69. 1, 77, 25, 119. GAECHINGER CANTOREY // HANS-CHRISTOPH RADEMANN- This is the third in a series of ten double CDs releases forming the year-long VISION. BACH project marking the 300th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach's taking up the post of Thomaskantor in Leipzig in May 1723. The aim is to perform all 62 cantatas from Bach's first year in Leipzig, in chronological order. Rademann conducts with feeling and tries to make the sound round and harmonious. The musicians of the Gaechinger Cantorei play excellently and show that historically informed performance practice and romantic music-making are not necessarily mutually exclusive. It is the result that counts. " pizzicato

The ensemble of the Bachakademie, the Gaechinger Cantorey, plays under the direction of Hans-Christoph Rademann. For this purpose it comprises the instrumentalists and up to four vocalists per voice, including the soloists, all specialists in their field, as Bach himself wished it. This is a vision that only now can be fulfilled in its ideal form. To this day the music will inspire its audience to devotion, challenge them to reflect and make them glad. It addresses questions of faith and comes to terms with particular situations of human life.

Violinists Simone Lamsma and Candida Thompson explore connections between J.S. Bach and Arvo Pärt on their new release, 'Pärt über Bach,' with Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Arvo Pärt’s groundbreaking 'Tabula Rasa' is presented alongside Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin in the version for two violins, and Pärt’s own 'Collage über B-A-C-H,' written in 1964, wherein the Estonian master intertwines his own modernist music with phrases from J.S. Bach’s music.

"Turning to Bach was for me a way of stating my position regarding my experience with twelve-tone music. In my state of extreme discomfort at that time, I wanted to prove to myself how beautiful Bach’s music was, and how hateful mine was. [...] I was convinced that through this musical sacrifice I could gain a clearer vision of my own contradictions." - Arvo Pärt