Vocal Music - Hauptmann, M. / Wolf, H. / Schumann, R. / Mend

Beethoven, L. van: Complete Cello Music

Bach, J.S.: Zufriedengestellte Aolus (Der) / Keyboard Concer

Bach, J.S.: Lute Music - Bwv 995, 996, 999, 1000, 1006A, 100

Brahms, J.: Variations - Opp. 23, 56B / 16 Waltzes, Op. 39

Classical Music

Milhaud, D.: Concerto for Marimba and Vibraphone, Op. 278 /

Mompou, F.: Cancons I Danses - Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, 1

Kusser, J.S.: Composition De Musique - Suites Nos. 1-3

Masterworks of Modern Classics

“For Several Friends“ - a high-baroque chamber music collection by Matthew Locke - was the inspiration for the title of this album, on which a colorful bouquet of German and English chamber music from the 18th century has been compiled. After the cultural life in England had almost come to a standstill in the years of the civil war from 1642 to 1649, it came to a new bloom by the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in the year 1660. The courtly music ensembles Chapel Royal, Royal Music, The King‘s Band and The Queen‘s Band have been reinstated, and a lively musical life has also sprung up in London. Annette John performs in Germany and abroad, among others with the ensembles Weser-Renaissance, Orlando di Lasso, Concerto Palatino, Concerto Brandenburg, Oh-Ton Oldenburg, the Hanoverian Court Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Boston Early Music Festival, the Bremen Council Music and the Hamburger Council Music. She is interested in both old and new music. She is a lecturer at the University of Oldenburg. Since 1995 Susanne Peuker has devoted herself to freelance teaching and concert activities. As a soloist and as a sought-after chamber music partner, her concert tours took her all over Germany and Europe. She is a permanent member of various ensembles: in addition to the musical Tafelkonfekt Fortunes Musicke, Musical Delight and Musical Playground, but also in ensembles such as Weser Renaissance, North German Baroque Collegium, Elbipolis, Capella Cantorum, Saxon Vocalensemble and the Philharmonic Bremen

This is already the third recording of a very unusual ensemble- a duo of guitar and harp. All works on this album have been composed directly for the two. Maximilian Mangold is regarded "... as one of the most interesting current German guitarists" (Fono Forum 10/2003). The German Guitar Magazin "Gitarre Aktuell" calls him an "exceptional guitarist". He has won numerous prizes and awards, amongst other the International Guitar Competition in Mettmann in 1991, the Competition of the Guitar Foundation of America in Quebec (Canada) in 1994 and in Northridge (USA) in 1995. In 1992 he was the prizewinner of the German Music Competition and thus was selected to perform in the 38th German "Young Musicians of the Year Concert Series". For her "harp playing full of grace and feeling" (Lippisches Kultur Journal) Mirjam Schroeder has won numerous competitions, such as the ARD International Music Competition 2004 with the Audience Award and the 3rd Prize, the Concorsi Arpista Ludovico Madrid 2002 and the International Reinl Competition Vienna / Munich with the 1st prize. She made her concert debut at the age of 15 with Mozart's double concerto for harp and flute. Since then she performs as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Germany and Europe.

Mozart: Piano Music, Vol. 1

Vivaldi (Dallapiccola): Cellosonaten

WIND CHAMBER MUSIC BY THE GRAU

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Johann Sebastian Bach‘s Chaconne, the last movement of the Partita No. 2 in D minor, is considered to be the most overwhelming piece ever written for violin solo. The richness of impression can’t be surpassed. The virtuoso polyphonic play developed here on “only“ four strings – on the violin, which is regarded above all as a melody instrument – let ask for the history of this phenomenon, the development and the testimonies for polyphonic violin playing between 1670 and 1720. During this period the Passacaglia by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber – the first extensive set of variations handed down to us – and the suite in A major by Johann Paul Westhoff, the first printed cyclic composition for solo violin, had their origin. Bach‘s Chaconne is part of the carefully written manuscript in which Bach put together three sonatas and three partitas: “Sei Solo. a Violino senza Basso accompagnato”. Prerequisite for the composition of these works is a profound experience as a violin player. Of course, one wonders wherefrom Johann Sebastian Bach got his knowledge and looks primarily at his family. He received musical education firstly by his father Johann Ambrosius Bach (1645-1695), the head of Eisenach city musicians, who also served as court musician and was a respected violinist. After his death the just ten-year-old older was taken in by his brother Johann Christoph (1671-1721), organist at St. Michael‘s Church in Ohrdruff, who continued to teach him. In nearby Eisenach, the uncle Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703) was organist at the Georgenkirche. When fifteen-year-old Johann Sebastian attended the Michaelisschule in Lüneburg for two years, he almost certainly had contact with Hamburg, Lübeck and Celle and the musical life there. In these cities over generations musicians acted in the “Ratsmusik”, who played the violin excellently. Virtuoso violin playing was at home in northern Germany.

“In the first thirty years of my career, I never wanted to play the Goldberg Variations. I had a strong relationship to Bach – singing mathematics – but did not feel any desire to contribute a further interpretation of this well-beloved work. This changed only when I decided to support the musical education in my son’s school. The aria from the Goldberg Variations was one of the first subjects, and the more I dedicated myself to the aria, the more I felt: this piece is a gold mine of vitality. This recording is the end point of a ten-year-long, personal healing process. For me, this is a reason for great joy – and a moment of hope, the hope that this music brings the listeners as much healing and comprehension as it gave me.” (Jimin Oh-Havenith) Jimin Oh-Havenith’s piano playing is characterized by an exceptional sonority and faithful-ness to the text. Her warm sound, which is always embedded within the rhythmic structure, lets the music come alive in all its richness. The synchronicity of sound and rhythm, not arbitrary changes in tempo and dynamics, inform the clarity of her interpretation, as in, for example, her recording of Beethoven’s op. 111, his last sonata. Jimin Oh-Havenith was born in Seoul, South Korea. In 1979 she began piano studies with Jin-Woo Chung at the Seoul National University. From 1981 to 1984 she continued her studies with Aloys Kontarsky at the Cologne College of Music. In addition to her concert activities as a soloist and radio and recordings, she also performed in a piano duo with her late husband Raymund Havenith (†1993). Jimin Oh-Havenith taught at the Mainz College of Music and at the College of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main. Since 2013 she has again been active as a soloist.

The Thuringian composer Christoph F�rster was born on 30 November 1693 in Bibra. He received his first musical training from the local organist Pitzler. Starting in 1710 he had instruction with Johann David Heinichen in Weissenfels and subsequently with Georg Friedrich Kaufmann in Merseburg, where he soon was also active as concertmaster in the court chapel. Journeys to Leipzig and Dresden are documented in 1719. In 1723 F�rster traveled to Prague for the coronation of Charles VII of Bohemia and met important musical personalities including Johann Joseph Fux, Antonio Caldara, and Francesco Conti. After the death of the Duke of Saxony-Merseburg, he applied for the position of Vice-Kapellmeister in Rudolstadt in 1743 - in the absence of a vacancy, however, without pay - which he held until his untimely death on 6 December 1745. According to a roster from 1743, the Rudolstadt court chapel, with twenty-five musicians, was a rather large ensemble and, aside from strings and keyboard instruments, had at it's disposal flutes, oboes, bassoon, trumpets, timpani, and horns, as well as choirboys. F�rster's oeuvre encompasses numerous church cantatas, psalm- and Sanctus-settings, a Mass, and copious instrumental music, including orchestral works, such as overtures and symphonies, instrumental concertos, and small-scale chamber pieces. F�rster's instrumental compositions are already strongly influenced by the gallant and sensitive style and point the way from the late Baroque to the early Classical periods. The change in style is clearly perceptible in the individual works. His compositions were well known during his lifetime and recognized by the musical world. Thus, Marpurg, in his Legende einiger Musikheiligen (1786), placed him "among the best melodists of his time." In 1730 F�rster subscribed to Georg Philipp Telemann's Tafelmusik and Parisian Quartets.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music