In the 1960s, the blossoming interest in the rediscovery of early music was due in part to instrumentalists who also played a very active role in creating the newest contemporary works. It was in this context that Pierre Bartholomée wrote a Tombeau de Marin Marais for the musicians of the Alarius ensemble (Janine Rubinlicht, Robert Kohnen, Wieland and Sigiswald Kuijken) who played in the Musiques Nouvelles ensemble at the same time. The musicians of that generation are in a sense the ‘ancestors’ of those who became the first artists on the Ricercar label. This recording, released as part of Ricercar’s fortieth anniversary celebrations, thus pays tribute to Bartholomee’s pioneering initiative by reissuing a remastered version of his composition alongside recent works written for the period instruments of some of the label’s key ensembles in 2020.

If there is one student of Johann Sebastian Bach whom posterity has definitely not forgotten, it is Johann Gottlieb Goldberg. However, he owes this destiny to his position as harpsichordist to Count Keyserling: during the latter’s bouts of insomnia, it was Goldberg’s task to play for him the famous variations that he had commissioned from the Leipzig Kantor. This has probably long obscured the fact that Goldberg was also an excellent composer. Aside from his only two surviving cantatas (already recorded by Ricercar), his output is essentially instrumental, and the genre of the trio sonata occupies an appreciable place within it. Here are his complete trio sonatas, along with a sonata in C major at one time attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 1037).

Ensemble Clematis continues delving into the instrumental music of the Italian Baroque repertoire, with this new release featuring the compositions of Giovanni Legrenzi. Legrenzi was one of the most performed composers of the Italian Baroque era during his time. He is credited with an impressive published catalogue, and many unpublished works that were found posthumously. This album contains the complete anthology of Legrenzi’s instrumental pieces, totaling 24 tracks.

This new release is devoted to the Lutheran liturgical repertory from Martin Luther himself to Heinrich Schutz. The first half of the release comprises compositions specific to the Lutheran liturgy: Deutsche Messe, Deutsches Magnificat, Deutsche Passion (the first German polyphonic Passion, by Joachim von Burck) and even a reconstruction of a Deutsches Requiem drawn from polyphonic works that set the same texts as those Brahms was later to use for his Deutsches Requiem. The second half presents a selection of motets arranged according to the liturgical calendar, from Advent to Trinity. These polyphonic pieces were written by a wide range of composers including Martin Luther, Andreas Hammerschmidt, Michael Praetorius, Joachim von Burck, Christoph Bernhardt, Heinrich Schu¨tz, Thomas Selle, Melchior Franck, Caspar Othmayr, Michael Altenburg, Samuel Scheidt, Johann Hermann Schein and Johann Walter. The organist Bart Jacobs completes the programme with a few organ pieces by seventeenth-century composers.

At the height of the Renaissance, the music of Orlande de Lassus frequently combines the emotion of secular music with sacred compositions. With their erotic connotations, the texts of The Song of Songs are an ideal source for bringing together sacred and profane feelings. Based on his most famous song, Lassus wrote one of his unitary masses: Suzanne un jour. Along with the Magnificat that he composed on De Rore's madrigal Ancor che col partire, here are two religious compositions of which the themes are borrowed from evocations of amorous turmoil.

2021 sees the 500th anniversary of the death of Josquin Des Pres, the most celebrated composer of his day. Dominique Visse and the Ensemble Clément Janequin are recording a selection of his chansons from one of the most important editions of his works, Tylman Susato’s Septiesme livre de Chansons published in 1545. This edition bears witness to the diversity of Josquin’s chanson writing, but above all to the melancholy and sorrow so present in his works, and is clearly a tribute, as is also evident in the two Deplorations on his death, Musae Jovis by Nicolas Gombert and O mors inevitabilis by Hieronymus Vinders. This recording endeavors to present a Josquin legacy, a post mortem illustration of his chanson oeuvre, in remembrance of his musical genius. It has also enabled Dominique Visse and the Ensemble Clement Janequin to express their profound musical passion for this major Renaisance composer who has accompanied them for more than 40 years.

A pupil of Mozart, Johann Nepomuk Hummel was one of the most admired pianists of his era. His career began in Vienna at the time when Beethoven had just moved there. Like the latter, he belonged to that generation of composers whose output may be categorized somewhere between Classicism an burgeoning Romanticism. In addition to an extensive catalogue of original compositions, including piano works of high quality, Hummel also made numerous arrangements for chamber forces of orchestral compositions. Among these were the piano concertos of his teacher Mozart and the symphonies of his friend Beethoven, all of which he transcribed for piano, flute, violin and cello. The Romanian pianist Aurelia Visovan offers this particularly original programme for her album as winner of the 2019 Bruges MA Festival Competition.

Luigi Zenobi, a virtuoso cornetist known as ‘Luigi del cornetto’, was born in Ancona in the mid-sixteenth century. He later moved to Vienna, where he entered the service of the Emperor Maximilian II. His reputation grew and he subsequently worked for the Este family in Ferrara, where he was the most respected and best-paid musician at court up to that time, so sought-after were his talents. Luigi was also a painter, poet, miniaturist and music scholar. An eyewitness recalled the delicacy of his playing: ‘softer than the harpsichord when its lid is closed.’ Giovanni Sansoni, a composer and cornetist probably originally from Venice, was born around 1593. He was engaged by Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in Graz in 1613 and followed him to Vienna when he became Emperor in 1619. He sent his compositions to Saxony, and the young Schutz sent him former choirboys to be taught the cornet and the bassoon, two instruments on which he was an absolute master. Sansoni became the inspiration for the great instrumental composers of the first half of the seventeenth century in Vienna. Our two legends of the cornet have one thing in common: they were both knighted by an emperor, Zenobi even calling himself ‘Cavaliere del cornetto.’

The works presented on this release place us firmly in the midst of the events and ceremonies of 17th century France, the period known as the Grand Siècle. That period’s unusually splendid pomp and ceremony can be seen in the famous Te Deum, whilst the devotion and ritual suitable for a solemn feast day are evident in the Messe pour plusieurs instruments au lieu des orgues. The conjunction of these two pieces casts a spotlight on Charpentier’s musical language, whose archaic and modern style of writing and vocal and instrumental colors were unique in the 17th century.

At first glance, it is surprising to see that Marc-Antoine Charpentier composed for Port-Royal. How could a composer who wrote works for the Jesuits have even been approached by the Society’s sworn enemies? These pieces for female chorus with organ accompaniment were composed for the dames religieuses of Port-Royal. Three outstanding sopranos were chosen for this recording. The Belgian soprano, Greta De Reyghere, began her musical studies with her mother, herself a professional singer. At the same time, she undertook studies of the German language, and practiced the two disciplines, the music and teaching, before choosing the song definitively. She won first prizes at the Conservatory of Mons for singing and the Conservatory of Brussels for the art song. After 7 years in the Maîtrise de Radio France and 3 years at the l'Ecole Nationale d'Art Lyrique de l'Opéra de Paris, the Frensh soprano Isabelle Poulenard currently works under the direction of Jean-Claude Malgoir on a number of productions for the l'Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing. American-born soprano Jill Feldman is a leading artist in the field of baroque and classical vocal music. Critics are constantly lavishing praise on her and many reviews compliment her 'special combination of absolute control and thinking musical personality', as well as her ability to communicate music of this period 'with astonishing restraint and perfect diction.'

Recorded live during the Aix-en-Provence Festival in July 2013, Cavalli’s Elena had not been performed for more than 350 years. The international press hailed this rediscovery as one of the major events on the lyric scene. With Jean-Yves Ruf ’s imaginative staging, served by an exceptional cast made up of young singers brought together by the Academy of the Aix Festival, this work is also sublimated by the talent of the instrumentalists of the Cappella Mediterranea and the theatrical talent of Leonardo García Alarcón. Elena relates the first adventures of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, coveted by numerous men including Menelaus, who disguises himself as an Amazon to approach her, and Theseus, who abducts her and tries to seduce her to the great displeasure of his legitimate fiancée, Hippolyta. Numerous colourful or tragic characters come to complicate the situations in this mythological farce.

Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin, a French-born flautist, was active at the court of Dresden. He is known to have been the teacher of Johann Joachim Quantz and a friend of Johann Sebastian Bach, who wrote a few concertante arias for him in his cantatas. He was considered one of the greatest virtuosos of his time. This recording is the world premiere of a recently discovered collection of sonatas. Accompanied by the Concerto à cinq parties, these sonatas represent for the flautist Olivier Riehl and the ensemble Le Petit Trianon a recreational area conducive to enjoyment, combining virtuosity, energy and expressiveness to produce a disc rich in color and novelty.

Funerary cantatas are highly individual works within the German Protestant liturgy, often calling for specific instruments such as the recorder and the viola da gamba. This release includes not only J.S. Bach's youthful Actus Tragicus but also three other works that belong to this genre and that make full use of all its characteristics, including the string pizzicati that imitate the tolling of the funeral bell. Ricercar, to seek, has been the underlying motto of the Ricercar Consort ever since its foundation. It was in 1985, with J. S. Bach’s Musical Offering, that the ensemble made its first concert tour, having already acquired a solid international reputation with its recordings, notably in German Baroque cantatas and instrumental music. Today, under the direction of Philippe Pierlot, the Ricercar Consort continues to explore the Baroque repertoire, from chamber music to opera and oratorio, and to enthrall music-lovers with performances that are both profound and rigorous.

Having recorded the complete motets composed by the ancestors of Johann Sebastian Bach, Vox Luminis now tackles their complete spiritual concerts and sacred cantatas, in which the instruments – particularly the strings – play a highly important role. In the cantata for the Feast of St Michael the Archangel by Johann Christoph Bach, trumpets and drums are enlisted to evoke the battle of the archangels in heaven. To round off this programme, Vox Luminis presents the cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden by Johann Sebastian Bach, in its original version dating from his Arnstadt period, containing copious elements linking it to the music of his forebears. Vox Luminis is a Belgian early music ensemble created in 2004 by its artistic director Lionel Meunier. Today, the ensemble performs over 60 concerts a year, appearing on stages in Belgium, across Europe and around the world. The size and composition of the group depends on the repertoire being performed but the core of soloists, mostly from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, is joined by a continuo and additional (orchestral) instrument performers. Its repertoire is essentially Italian, English and German and spans from the 16th to the 18th century.

After its successes in the field of German Baroque religious music, here VOX LUMINIS proposes the first complete recording of the motets by Johann Sebastian Bach’s ancestors. These motets, most of which are written for double choir, blend the old tradition inherited from the polyphony of the Renaissance with expressive work inspired by the fashions of the madrigal.

The chorale melodies that are quite frequently associated with these motets contribute this colour typical of the Lutheran liturgical repertoire. Johann Sebastian Bach drew on the family tradition in large part when tackling this genre and mastered this writing that was archaic for its time. The proximity between his compositions and those of his ancestors is astounding, and it is not without reason that the motet providing the title for this recording, Ich lasse dich nicht, is attributed sometimes to Johann Sebastian, sometimes to his uncle Johann Christoph.

But beyond the historical considerations, these motets are filled with touching, humble and profound emotion that the talent of the Vox Luminis singers carry to the exceptional level to which the ensemble has accustomed us.