The international music world has long been familiar with both the name and music of Biber. Listeners too are now familiar with the legendary “Rosenkranz” sonatas or the mischievous “Sonata representative” composed by the musician once in service of Bishop Karl Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn. The magnificent sacred music that Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber von Bibern wrote as the prince-bishop’s Kapellmeister for Salzburg cathedral has also been highlighted in various festivals and recordings over recent years. Perhaps only scholars are aware of the fact that Biber also held the position of “Truchsess” (lord high steward) to the archbishop and was therefore responsible for the princely table. And as it turned out, one of the virtuoso violinist’s eleven sons (the eighth) succeeded his father in this honorable office. This may justifiably be considered an interesting but marginal detail of Salzburg history, but as you will no doubt appreciate after listening to this recording, the eighth child Carl Heinrich Biber, born on September 4th 1681 in Salzburg, had an important, even formative influence on the city’s musical life, and that only a few years before Mozart’s birth!

Francesco Galligioni obtained a Diploma in cello at the C. Pollini Conservatoire in Padua under G. Chiampan, then he then studied with Franco Maggio Ormezowski at both the Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia in Rome and at the A. Toscanini Foundation in Parma in the courses for soloists and orchestra leaders. He has taken part in courses specializing in baroque cello held by W. Vestidello and G. Nasillo, and worked with famous soloists and conductors (Anner Bylsma, Giuliano Carmignola, Cecilia Bartoli, Max Emmanuel Cencic, Magdalena Kozena, Sergio Azzolini, Sara Mingardo, Victoria Mullova, Angelika Kirschlagher, Andrea Marcon, Federico Guglielmo, Sir J. E. Gardiner, Diego Fasolis, Pedro Halffter, Bob Van Asperen, Michael Radulescu, Gustav Leonhardt, Christopher Hogwood), both in concert performances and recordings. On his latest release he plays the Suites No. 4 and 5 by Johann Sebastian Bach.

For a long time, Johannes Ockeghem (ca. 1420-1497) was one of the most famous Unknown Persons in music history. There is no doubt about his position as the most important representative of the second generation of Franco-Flemish composers. But what its effect actually was and how its artistic development can be described, there was a long lack of clarity about it, which has only been somewhat cleared up in recent decades thanks to intensive research and discographic exploration. The FRA BERNARDO recording of the Masses with the vocal ensemble Beauty Farm is undoubtedly an impressive way of illustrating the significance of Ockeghem.

The vocal ensemble Beauty Farm was founded in 2014 and is made up of members of top international ensembles such as the Huelgas Ensemble, Vox Luminis, Collegium Vocale Gent or Graindelavoix. The singers do not intend a homogeneous beautiful sound in their interpretations, but a colorful sound rather through characteristic drawing of the individual voices. Their second album is also dedicated to motets by Nicolas Gombert, a grand master of the Franco-Flemish polyphony. They have selected seventeen of his masterpieces, some of which are receiving their first recording here. Hermann Finck described this music perfectly in 1556 when he said “He avoids pauses, and his work is rich with full harmonies and imitative counterpoint.”

Mid-16th century: Catholic Church music is threatened by a pandemic. All too worldly, artificial things had crept into sacred chanting to such an extent that the famous Council of Trent even wanted to reduce singing in the mass to the monophonic Gregorian chant again. As the Fama tells us, Palestrina saved polyphonic church music from this crisis with his Missa Papae Marcelli. In a live recording, beauty farm sings this legendary work, which raises complex questions of interpretation and juxtaposes the mass with well- known hymns in the chorale. frabernardo dedicates the album to Bruno Turner, who once set standards in early music with the ensemble Pro Cantione Antiqua, for his 90th birthday.

This is The Sound and the Fury's second album with masses by Johannes Ockeghem. The composer develops his art from the contrast between different modes as well as the contrapuntal combination of identical melodies. Despite the complicated compositional techniques used, the overwhelmingly emotional experience of Ockeghem's music continues to fascinate even after 500 years. The Sound and the Fury was founded in 2005. An Anglo-German vocal group convening in Brixen and Vienna, the ensemble specializes entirely in performance of renaissance polyphony of the Franco-Flemish school.

Robert de Visée (c.1650/60-1732) is one of the most important representatives of the French lute school. His music is characterized by a natural beauty that immediately captivates. It is no accident that he had the privilege of playing at the Coucher (the ceremonial reception before the bed rest of Louis XIV). To listen to Johannes Ötzbrugger is indeed a truly royal pleasure. The present release presents a collection of his works for theorbo, performed by Johannes Otzbrugger. The Austrian lutenist Johannes Ötzbrugger began playing the guitar in early childhood. As a teenager he got to know the lute - an encounter that gave him access to an even more intimate sound sphere. After graduating from school, he studied musicology at the Leopold Franzens University in Innsbruck. From 2009 to 2016 he studied historical lute instruments with Rolf Lislevand at the State University of Music in Trossingen. As a soloist and with his Ensemble 392, he regularly releases recordings on the fra bernardo label. He is particularly interested in figured bass on the baroque guitar and the French solo repertoire for theorbo.

In the light of his later music, it is by no means difficult to imagine Domenico Scarlatti strolling under the Moorish arcades of the Alcazar or listening at night in the streets of Seville to the intoxicating rhythms of castanets and the half oriental melodies of Andalusian chant. To them Saracen of his Sicilian ancestry and Neapolitan childhood must have responded. (Ralph Kirkpatrick, Domenico Scarlatti)

A very special recording and interpretation of the famous Vespers of the Virgin Mary; "Vespro della Beata Vergine": Roberto Zarpellon leads the vocal ensemble "Venice Monteverdi Academy"; his ensemble "Lorenzo da Ponte" and the chorale schola "Reale Corte Armonica Caterina Cornaro" - all of them genuine Italians - in a recording that took place in the church where Monteverdi worked for three decades as Kapellmeister; namely the famous Basilica of San Marco in Venice. As far as music is concerned; this church with its magnificent mosaics and domes as well as its very transparent room acoustics was a place of pilgrimage for musicians and composers from near and far during the Renaissance and Baroque periods; with such illustrious names as Adrian Willaert; the organists Giovanni and Andrea Gabrieli and Monteverdi as maestro di capella.

Early Music Log - Il Giardino Armonico

When we think of London's Baker Street, we probably first think of Gerry Rafferty's famous pop song from 1978, perhaps also of the spectacular bank robbery in 1971, but certainly of the residence of private detective Sherlock Holmes. With this recording, the Austrian Baroque Company, led by recorder player Michael Oman, takes us on an alternative musical stroll through Baker Street, performing English consort music, symphonies, dances, and fantasies from the period 1580 to 1706 in almost chronological order, the recorder is often at the center of the selected pieces, and Michael Oman knows how to showcase it to it's best advantage.

The Vienna live recording from 1948 not only captures a performance of superlatives, but also a moment of historical and emotional significance. The war-torn city became the setting for an artistic statement of hope and renewal. Walter's conducting and the excellent performers make this performance a definitive interpretation of Mahler's vision.

Since it's foundation in 2005, the Vorarlberg baroque orchestra Concerto Stella Matutina has firmly established itself as one of Austria's leading original sound ensembles. The group is a regular guest at the Kulturbuhne Ambach, where this live recording was made in 2024. In addition to Beethoven's 2nd Symphony, three concert arias by Mozart for bass voice were performed, which, in contrast to the concert arias for soprano, are unfortunately heard far too rarely in concert. The aria Per questa bella mano KV 612 also surprises with a solo double bass.

Antonio Vivaldi wrote often for the orphan girls of the Ospedale della Pietà. The fame of the music-making ladies in Venice once resounded far beyond the lagoon city. Michael Oman, Amandine Beyer and the Grazzi brothers dedicate themselves to this very virtuoso repertoire with the Austrian Baroque Company. “Explosive music-making, glorious recorder-playing, Baroque swing” – this is how one could describe the basic aims and achievements of those top players from the original-instrument scene who came together to create the Austrian Baroque Company, a group which is celebrated internationally, receiving the highest praise and many awards since its formation in 2001.

Beauty farm founded 2014 by Markus Muntean and Bernhard Trebuch is a vocal group focused to the Franco-Flemish polyphony of the renaissance. The international ensemble is based in the Carthusian monastery at Mauerbach (Austria). The singers are members of well known ensembles like "Capilla flamenca", "Huelgas Ensemble", "Vox Luminis", "Collegium Vocale Gent" and "Graindelavoix". Beauty Farm exclusively records for frabernardo.

How can one approach the interpretation, a reading and an analysis of a complex music that was not read in score in it's time? Printed in partbooks, written or handed down in folios in individual parts, everything must be thrown overboard when "reading", singing, listening, which at least in the past centuries has become traditional in the idea of "choral music", indeed in the reading of music in general. Flying blind, as it were - without exact knowledge of the course of the other voices - each singer once floated horizontally through the music. "beauty farm" embarks on an exploratory journey into this now alien world of Renaissance polyphony. The ensemble has recorded 19 motets by Nicolas Gombert according to new critical editions. Of course, some of them are world premiere recordings.

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.

Hard to believe, but “Juditha triumphans” is the only oratorio by the extremely productive Antonio Vivaldi. This is all the more astonishing as the “Prete Rosso” was closely connected throughout his life with the famous Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. The reputation of the former concerts in this orphanage for girls still echoes far beyond Venice. Vivaldi has written “Juditha triumphans” for the young musicians. So it is not surprising that the work is also only performed with female voices—and this also in the choir. In this live recording Roberto Zarpellon brings together young singers whose passion for melancholic and fiery music is audible in every note.

The heyday of the lyra viol began before 1600 in England and lasted nearly a century. 'Lyra way' is characterised by variant tunings and notation in lute-style tablature. Frequently used tunings were named, lyra way (d'-a-f-c-F-C) itself being the first. It dominated up to around 1620, along with a group of tunings named after composer and viol virtuoso Alfonso Ferrabosco II-e. g. Alfonso way (d'-a-e-A-E-AA) and Alfonso way in eights (d'-a-d-A-D-AA). These tunings extend the range of the viol down, with wider intervals than normal between the open strings. The lyra viol was at this time the usual solo instrument for professional and gentlemen amateur violists. Many of the gentlemen learnt to play during legal studies at the Inns of Court, where they also took part in masque productions. Although the repertoire survives mainly in manuscript, a handful of collections printed in London between 1600 and 1612 include music for lyra viol. Tracing broad links between the bass viol and the Jacobean stage-albeit with quite different roles in the public theatre and court masque environments-is easy enough. The viol is referenced in the plays for the public theatres-often metaphorically-and features in contemporary accounts of theatre visits. In the public theatres it provided song accompaniment and instrumental items as required, played by the actors themselves or by hired musicians. In open-air theatres the robust sound of the lyra viol carried better than the lute for accompanying songs and it was capable of substituting for a consort of viols in smaller scale productions. However, what was to be played at any given cue or to which tunes the song texts were sung is rarely clear. The surviving lyra viol repertoire is mostly in the common dance forms, context will suggest what is suitable: a stately pavane, vigorous galliard, airy almaine, or light-hearted coranto or toy. Well-known popular tunes were also harnessed to underscore the meaning of a scene. Song accompaniments would have been worked up on the spot and perhaps never written down-the new tunings enabled semi-improvised performance with easy chords. Leading viol players such as Ferrabosco, Robert Taylor, John Coprario and later William Lawes had posts at court and enjoyed theatrical connections-the friendship and collaborations between Ferrabosco and playwright Ben Jonson are well-documented. Others, such as Joseph Sherlye or William Corkine were London-based freelancers, and scarcely appear in official records. Those working at court contributed regularly to masque productions, but these used lavish ensembles, violin or wind bands for dancing, or lutes for song accompaniment. Here the intersection with the lyra viol is the large number of masque dances and songs which were arranged for home consumption by the gentlemen amateurs in whose lyra viol manuscript collections they survive. Composer/teachers such as Taylor served as intermediaries, making or copying arrangements for their pupils. The music on this album is drawn from two prints, Ferrabosco II's Lessons for 1. 2. and 3. Viols, 1609 and Corkine's The Second Book of Ayres, 1612, and four manuscript collections. The 'William Ballet Tablature' is one of the earliest lyra viol manuscripts, copied over two decades 1600-1620 by at least four anonymous contributors. The 'John Browne Bandora and Lyra Viol Book' dates from a little later. A landowner and music collector, Browne served as Clerk of the Parliaments for much of his long life. Country gentleman Sir Peter Leycester of Tabley Hall near Chester had presumably learned to play lyra viol during his time at Gray's Inn, he began work on his large manuscript collection Lessons for the Lyro=Viole in 1640. The 'Manchester Lyra Viol Book', an even more ambitious retrospective collection than Leycester's, was probably compiled in the 1650s. Despite it's late date it includes a good deal of Jacobean music in lyra way and Alfonso way tunings, it is the source of nearly half the pieces in this selection. Apart from grouping by tuning copyists did not trouble themselves much with ordering the pieces, and were often casual with titles and composers' names. This album has been compiled to highlight the theatrical connections, but it also reflects the eclectic nature of the sources-pieces with a clear link to court masques mingle with those which could easily have been heard in public theatres, and others arguably less likely to have been. Assembling a sequence of pieces into a suite was still left to the performers in the Jacobean period: here the final ordering and grouping aims to produce a satisfactory listening experience within each set and as a complete sequence.

In the 18th century, the term "clavier" was used to refer to almost all keyboard instruments. For this Bach recital, the Austrian harpsichordist Johannes Maria Bogner has taken precisely this into account and uses the harpsichord and the clavichord for his interpretations, whereby he performs the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue BWV 903 here on both the harpsichord and the clavichord for direct comparison.

We know little about Pierre de Manchicourt's biography and recordings of his music are rare. "Beauty Farm" takes up the cudgels for this Franco-Flemish master of the Renaissance, who is probably only known to insiders. The album "Manchicourt - Masses" sheds a representative light on the sacred music of the composer, who worked as Kapellmeister to Philip II in Madrid in the last years of his life. Four masses - including the first recording of the "Missa De Domina" - show that Manchicourt was one of the grand masters of vocal polyphony.

To compose a few lines upon the fifth anniversary of the late Wolfgang Gluxam's decease is a task at once light and solemn. Light, for though the inevitable gloom of his too-early passing doth weigh heavy, it is Hope that doth prevail-that sentiment of a positive onwardness, which Music itself may impart, but only when artists of due skill are at work. Wolfgang's talent was singular: through his playing, he could spin tales, rousing in his auditors a tension for "What next?"-a suspense he deftly stoked to fervor. No note was struck without it's precise place in the chaos of the score defined, each tone a pillar in the storm. Some may deem this method contrived, a sign of some cold design-yet I affirm him, in the noblest sense, a genius both calculating and questioning, ever striving for perfection, yet tempered (with a grain of salt) by self-doubt. Though such rigor left certain long-forged schemes-as his endeavor with Bach's Art of Fugue-unrealized, we, in this age of vulgar mass-production, find solace in his scant recordings. These relics, though few, leave us quietly content, brimming with gratitude and joy. For such artistry cannot be reckoned by arithmetic, nor conjured by artificial engines; it demandeth a feeling soul, one that breathes and bleeds. Herein lies the power of Wolfgang's works: they compel us to love. That we may likewise rejoice in the album Brook Street is thanks owed to his descendants, who, in their benevolence, hath permitted it's release-a boon to all who cherish his memory.

Italia Mia by Ensemble Micrologus is not merely a collection of pieces but a musical journey that invites listeners to explore the vivid and diverse soundscape of Italy's past. Through their dedicated performance, Micrologus offers a window into the past, allowing modern audiences to experience the beauty and complexity of early Italian music. This live-recording stands as a testament to the enduring appeal of these works and the ensemble's commitment to preserving and celebrating the rich tapestry of Italy's musical heritage.