Classical Music

Classical Music

The Magma Duo took their name from one of their favorite pieces: In de magmakamer (In the magma chamber( by Reza Namavar, that was written especially for them. Although equally at home with music by Beethoven and Frank, their first album features only 20th and 21st century music, ranging from the popular Poulenc Sonata recording to recording premieres of Aleksey Igudesman’s irresistible 2nd Violin Sonata and the Namavar piece. The Magma Duo’s fiery musical temperament makes for a spellbinding album, that will engage listeners regardless of their musical tastes. In 2014, the Magma Duo won the first prize in the senior category of the “A Feast of Duos!” international competition for violin-piano duos in Sion, Switzerland. According to judges, the Magma Duo convinces through its ‘energetic playing which evokes reactions.’

In 2012 Saskia Coolen discovered in the Historical Museum in Den Briel, the head joint of an alto recorder. She brought in a recorder expert who cleaned and restored the joint. Soon after, Coolen realized that there were probably other playable recorders to be found in private collections and set out in search of rare, eighteenth-century recorders. On this album, Saskia Coolen plays these rediscovered recorders along with gambist Rainer Zipperling and harpsichordist Patrick Ayrton.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Seventeenth-century music is rhetorical music: everything notated by the composer conceals an intrinsic emotion. However the task of expressing these emotions rests solely with the performer, who must convey them in such a compelling way that the audience is captivated and moved. Thus, when performing rhetorical music the musician should play in the same way that one adapts his manner of speaking to the emotion of the moment, for instance by taking more time, speaking more calmly or agitatedly, louder or softer. The style of the works recorded on this album is often associated with Stylus phantasticus, a termoriginally applied to a compositional method in which teh composer's fantasy was the source of a composition. Later the term's emphasis shifted to the freedom of performance. Phantasia Musica was another term signifying the importance of performer's imagination, however the world "phantasia" here refers to improvisation; many 17th-century compositions are actually written-out improvisations. Antoinette Lohmann recorded these works on a late 17th-century German bow, which is held with the thumb under the frog or on the hair; this was the most commonly used bow hold throughout Europe until the end of the 17th century.

The title of this album comes from the first song Luther wrote. In this recording Camerata Trajectina highlights Lutheran melodies in the Low Countries in the 16th century. In this way the ensemble commemorates the 500th anniversary in 2017 (on October 31) of the day when Luther publicly posted his 95 Theses in Wittenberg, which sparked the Protestant Reformation. For more than 40 years Camerata Trajectina has been the foremost advocate of Dutch music from the Middle Ages up through the Golden Age. Camerata Trajectina is premiering this very program during the prestigious Ultrecht Early Music Festival 2017, and will perform the program many times in the Netherlands and abroad in what is sure to be a historical concert tour.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music