Imagining how Bach himself might have transformed the Goldberg Variations for a chamber group, Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque present a pioneering new arrangement of the Goldberg Variations by Chad Kelly. Employing a variety of instrumental combinations from a typical Bach ensemble of single strings, oboe, flute, bassoon, and harpsichord, these newly-crafted Goldbergs illuminate exquisite responses to the various historical genres inherent in Bach’s scores.

This beloved masterpiece was composed through a period of personal tumult for Bach; two unsuccessful job applications, the premature death of his son Gottfried, and criticism of his music in a prominent Hamburg publication. Bach’s outpouring of beauty in the Goldberg Variations has long captured audience’s imaginations - Chad Kelly, Rachel Podger, and her fleet Brecon Baroque preserve the work’s exquisite intricacy whilst adding breadth, texture and color to its emotional backdrop. This revisioning of Bach’s Goldberg Variations is a perfect transformation of the work for the modern era.

San Francisco-based early music ensemble Cantata Collective continues its major series of J. S. Bach’s choral works with the Mass in B Minor, a towering testament of sacred music and the composer’s crowning achievement of his final years. With celebrated conductor Nicholas McGegan, four of today’s most distinguished early music vocal soloists and a refined chamber choir, this live recording exudes a spontaneity that reveals the depth and passion of Bach’s glorious affirmation of faith.

REVIEW:

Some of the most impressive choral singing in this recording is heard in the central three choruses of the Symbolum Nicenum, the crowning glory and some of Bach’s best music in the entire Mass. The Cantata Collective’s choral forces shine in their expressive use of color and dynamic shading in the long arching lines of “Et incarnatus est” and “Crucifixus” and are able to hold their own in “Et resurrexit” — due, in part, to McGegan’s careful balancing and phrasing.

— EarlyMusicAmerica.org

"The violinist’s playing is extraordinary — as fresh and improvisatory as though he were composing each sonata on the spot, but also infused with an infectious emotional ardor." -- Cleveland Classical

The Mystery Sonatas by Austrian composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, believed to have been penned in the 1670s, remain unsurpassed for their virtuosity and extended use of scordatura, a unique tuning system that underscores different aural colours and timbres of the violin, thereby illuminating the pictorial themes of the Rosary – the processions devoted to major moments in the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary – which Biber’s work depicts.

Singaporean violinist Alan Choo, the vibrant leader of acclaimed baroque ensemble Apollo’s Fire, headlines a dynamic and descriptive recording of the Mystery Sonatas, enhancing the scordatura with six different violins that require 15 individual tunings. He explains, “The use of a unique scordatura tuning for each sonata means that a violinist needs to use multiple violins if performing several of the pieces in the same week – each violin kept at the tuning of its respective sonata. Otherwise, the constant re-tuning of a violin would destabilize its tuning. I used a total of six violins in this recording. The personality of each instrument shines through.”

Joined by a chamber ensemble of his Apollo’s Fire colleagues, including founding director Jeannette Sorrell on harpsichord, Choo navigates Biber’s extended techniques with aplomb and devotion to the 15 programmatic sonatas which are compiled into three cycles – the Joyful Mysteries (the Angel Gabriel delivers the news to Mary that she will be the mother of the Messiah), Sorrowful Mysteries (Jesus’ agony, knowing he is about to be betrayed) and Glorious Mysteries (the Resurrection of Christ and his ascent to heaven) – and are crowned by the timeless finale, Passacaglia for solo violin.

REVIEWS:

[The Mystery Sonatas'] extraordinary technical challenges include Biber’s requirement that the soloist play violins with strings “mis-tuned” (scordatura) from the normal G-D-A-E pitches for 13 of the 15 sonatas, creating different resonances in the instrument for expressive purposes. For somber subjects like “The Agony in the Garden,” the open strings play A-flat – E-flat – G – D, clashing pitches “evoking a sense of struggle,” as Choo writes. For triumphant subjects like “The Ascension,” the open strings are tuned to create a “glorious” C-Major chord. For the recording, Choo has used a total of six instruments to avoid constant retuning that would be destabilizing.

The violinist’s playing is extraordinary — as fresh and improvisatory as though he were composing each sonata on the spot, but also infused with an infectious emotional ardor.

An important aspect of this recording project is the realization of the basso continuo line, which could — as on other recordings — simply be chorded by organ or harpsichord. Never one to pass up the opportunity to tell a vivid story, Sorrell writes, "as a continuo player myself, I have always felt that the extraordinarily imaginative writing in Biber’s masterpiece calls for an imaginative and colorful approach to the accompaniment."

Thus Choo’s superb supporting cast includes harpsichord (Sorrell), chamber organ (Peter Bennett), cello and viola da gamba (René Schiffer), archlute and Baroque guitar (Brian Kay), theorbo (William Sims), triple harp (Anna O’Connell), and viola da gamba and lirone (Kivie Cahn-Lipman). There’s even a bit of percussion (Brian Kay) to accompany the Aria Tubicinum in “The Ascension.” Used judiciously and only rarely all together, they add texture and depth to the sonatas.

Even if you’re not into Roman Catholic mysticism, this recording should be treasured by fans of early Baroque music.

-- ClevelandClassical

San Francisco Chronicle: Parisot, the brilliant Brazilian cellist, knew Villa-Lobos, and premiered several of his works. (Villa-Lobos' Second Cello Concerto is dedicated to Parisot.) Parisot has the advantage of a mass of cellos - 20 or so - all from the Yale Music department, and hence, his students. (The jacket lists 34 names.) And what a sound they make - organ-like in resonance and sensational in intonation. Add to this the fact that he has the dulcet voice of soprano Auger for the famous fifth Bachianas, plus Delos' brilliantly lively sonics, and you have a very major release. Highly recommended. Opus: This is a most unusual and enjoyable release. First of all, at long last, recordings of Villa-Lobos' Bachiana brasileiras Nos. 1 and 5 that really do justice to these irresistible scores. Here the works are played by the sort of ensemble Villa-Lobos had in mind: not the usual eight cellos, but an 'orchestra of violoncellos' - the Yale Cellos, twenty in member, conducted by their mentor Aldo Parisot. The gain in tonal richness is immeasurable. And what tremendous vigor and elan they display! I don't mean to imply any degree of roughness or vehemence, however, for this is some of the suavest playing imaginable by such an ensemble. Rather, the rhythms, inflections, and articulations are executed in such an inimitably idiomatic manner as to simply sweep the listener along. In the haunting Aria ('Cantilena') of No. 5, Arleen Auger enters as if another instrument, a soprano cello perhaps. As much as I enjoyed Hendricks' performance, Auger gives the most exquisite rendition I've heard since Bidu Sayao (who recorded only this movement). The aria's central section is treated more expansively than usual, but with a wonderfully apt sensitivity. Auger and the cellists deliver the concluding Dansa ('Martelo') brilliantly, not so fast as to turn it into a meaningless display piece, but at a tempo that allows the infectious dance rhythms to tell. WG, High Performance Review: This recording is an interesting novelty: an orchestra made up entirely of violoncelli! The Villa-Lobos works are placed first and last, in between are arrangements of various compositions by J.S. Bach, including the much arranged 'Chaconne in D-Minor' for solo violin. Aldo Parisot and his student cellists give wonderfully rich, vital and colorful performances. In the famous 'Bachiana Brasileiras No. 5,' we're fortunate to have Arleen Auger. Everything this splendid American soprano does is touched with her intelligence and the beauty of her voice. The Bach pieces are all well-played, and the sound of massed 'celli, at least under Parisot's direction, is not at all as dark, opaque or lush as one might expect. There's light, almost transparent, yet rich, sound, and throughout the compact disc, it is music that's given to us, not a slick demonstration of novel sound.

Bach, the lute, and the lautenwerk (lute-harpsichord) have fascinated me for years. Upon investigating Bach's connection with the two instruments, one is immediately faced with the striking absence of one vital piece of evidence: though we know that many lautenwerks existed, none, to our knowledge, have survived into our time. The lautenwerk, the name by which it is usually known in German and English, was a harpsichord like instrument of one or two manuals with the same range as lute, but somewhat lower than the harpsichord. It was strung with gut rather than brass. - Nigel North, London, June 1994