First volume in a new cycle by Tapiola Sinfonietta under Janne Nisonen presenting the symphonies of Ferdinand Ries (1784–1838), Beethoven’s only acknowledged composition pupil, close friend and biographer. Often remembered in music history as Beethoven’s ‘right hand’, these new recordings by the Tapiola Sinfonietta are showcasing a remarkable and talented early 19th-century symphonist with a voice of his own.

REVIEW:

The Tapiola Sinfonietta play admirably well under Janne Nisonen, empowering the music to speak for itself. It’s a fascinating portrait of what else was going on in Vienna in Beethoven’s orbit and thus valuable on its own terms.

— Gramophone

“[Bach] speaks to us in his work in such clear terms that we may quite well call these fugues poems. (…) These have warmth, quiet joy, love. And running through all the poems, dressed in different guises, is the main theme, creating order, binding the work as a whole together: it is a safe bond in all its diversity. Over all lies the proximity of death.” (Enzio Forsblom)

In this new recording, Bach’s final magnum opus is played by Aapo Häkkinen on a harpsichord built in 1614 by Andreas Ruckers the Elder (1579–?1652) and which belonged to the composer John Blow (1649–1708), organist of Westminster Abbey and former teacher of Henry Purcell. A tradition exists that G.F. Handel had also played this harpsichord.