CANTUS is a carefully selected bundle of 6 tracks, each based on a choral or aria-melody. The first single is a stunningly beautiful arrangement by Elizabeth Joy Roe and Greg Anderson of 'Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben,' an aria from Bach's St. Matthew Passion.
Vivaldi: Concerti For 2 Violins / Cicillini, Venturini
Tactus
CD
$21.99Jan 01, 2012
The concertos for two violins by Vivaldi are a lesser-known part of his oeuvre. He composed a considerable number of them, though. The 28 concertos for this scoring span almost his entire career. The first examples were included in his collection of 12 concertos which was printed as his op. 3 in 1711 under the title L'Estro Armonico. The latest concerto which can be dated is from 1740. It is not entirely clear for whom these works were intended. Some may have been written as part of Vivaldi's activities as teacher in the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. The character of the solo parts is various, and in many cases they are so demanding that they can only be played by real virtuosos. Vivaldi was such a virtuoso himself. In his liner-notes Fabrizio Ammetto comes up with the suggestion that Vivaldi could have played them with his father, Giovanni Battista, a skilled professional violinist and probably his only formal teacher.
The roles of the two violins can greatly differ. Sometimes they play in parallel thirds, elsewhere they are involved in a contrapuntal texture with imitation. There are also episodes in which the second violin accompanies the first or vice versa. Lastly they can develop a dialogue which can take the character of cooperation or rather confrontation. The roles of the violins can change within a single concerto or even movement. That is part of the attraction of these concertos for both performers and listeners.
The programme starts with the Concerto in D (RV 513). It is one of the most virtuosic pieces and the only one which was printed - apart from the op. 3 concertos. The edition dates from 1736 but the concerto was probably written about ten years earlier. Particularly remarkable is the written-out cadenza for both violins in the last movement which includes various modulations.
The Concertos in B flat (RV 526) and in A (RV 520) belong to a collection of twelve which Vivaldi offered to the Habsburg emperor Charles VI. Unfortunately the parts of the first solo violin are missing. These have been reconstructed by Fabrizio Ammetto. The features of the violin parts in the double concertos mentioned above are helpful in the process of reconstruction. This has resulted in two beautiful concertos with a nice interplay of the two solo violins.
The Concerto in B flat (RV 764) is a reworking of a concerto for oboe and violin (RV 548). The largo is especially beautiful, with the two violins involved in an engaging dialogue supported by the basso continuo alone. The Concerto in A (RV 521) is a case of literal imitation between the two violins, and is described by Fabrizio Ammetto as "probably the result of an experiment in polychoral composition". He suggests that Vivaldi may have placed the soloists and even the tutti violins in different locations. It is a most intriguing concerto, with demanding solo parts.
The Concerto in B flat (RV 528), another reconstruction, is also known from Bach's transcription for harpsichord (BWV 980). It exists in another version, with one solo part (RV 381). It seems not quite clear which was the original version. In this version for two violins the second plays a subordinate role; in the slow movement it doesn't participate at all. The liner-notes fail to make clear what exactly has been reconstructed here. The disc ends with the Concerto in F (RV 765) which also exists in a version with violin and organ as solo instruments (RV 767). The technical demands of the soloists are limited here.
This disc is very interesting in regard to the repertoire. No fewer than three concertos (RV 528, 764 and 765) are recorded here for the first time. The fact that some concertos needed to be reconstructed makes this disc even more valuable as such pieces are obviously not often played. Fortunately the interpreters are fully up to the job; their playing is technically sound and they grasp the character of the various concertos well.
Often this kind of music is played with one instrument per part. That is not the case here: the tutti comprises four violins, two violas and two cellos; one of the latter also participates in the basso continuo. The result is a more robust sound and a larger contrast between soli and tutti. It is impossible to say which number of players is closer to the historical truth. It seems that it could vary from one place to another or from one occasion to another. I would have liked a more intimate acoustic, but that in no way diminishes my appreciation for this disc.
The great Spanish composer and priest, Tomas Luis de Victoria, devoted his life to writing supremely uplifting and intense music throughout the church calendar. The Call of the Beloved includes some of the earliest triple-choir music ever to be published and is a reminder of Victoria's joyous and passionate music, complementing his more austere Requiem and music for Holy Week.
Passion & Lament - Choral Masterworks Of The 17th Century
Sono Luminus
CD
$18.99Oct 27, 2009
Passion and Lament: Choral Masterworks of the 17th Century is a Dorian Sono Luminus release by the Bach Sinfonia, a period instrument group led by Daniel Abraham and based out of Silver Spring, MD; the concurrent vocal group is identified by the rubric Sinfonia Voci. Leader Abraham seems to have an uncanny knack for landing the premiere recording options on newly discovered works by famous composers; the previous Dorian Sono Luminus effort devoted to Handel's Alexander's Feast also contained the J.S. Bach aria Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn, discovered in 2005. Here the featured first recording is of a work by Heinrich von Biber, his setting of the Stabat mater that emerged in 2007. It is a short, somber, and restrained setting from late in Biber's career, not the most ravishing vocal work that he has to offer but still recognizable as his. Along for the ride is a selection of six Psalm settings from Salomone Rossi's The Songs of Solomon and the early oratorio Jephte by Giacomo Carissimi. The good news is that the Rossi settings, recorded without continuo, probably have never received a better performance on disc than here. Jephte, of course, is a canonical classical work and the Bach Sinfonia has a good deal more competition in it among recordings. The performance here is well done, and the crucial concluding chorus Plorate filii Israel is very well handled and particularly effective, though one wonders if a slightly larger continuo might not have been a bad idea for Jephte; the Bach Sinfonia here consists of only five instruments and normally they are a 22-piece band. The singing is all quite good; soprano Jennifer Ellis Kampani turns in her usual, stellar performance and one must compliment baritone Sumner Thompson for being a low male voice who "gets" concitato singing. Dorian Sono Luminus' recording is a very digital-sounding recording that has a slightly weird, metallic timbre; at one point it pulls a soprano note into a range of distortion. Nevertheless, Biber's devotees will want to know the new work, even though the true virtues of this disc are encountered best in the Rossi and in parts of the Carissimi.
23 Vocalise-Études (Arr. For Alto Saxophone & Piano)
BIS
CD
$21.99Jun 10, 2016
Saxophonist Harry White and pianist Edward Rushton present this album of 23 etudes by composers such as Ravel, Dukas, Poulenc, Villa-Lobos, and more. The history behind these works dates back to 1906, when a voice professor at the Paris Conservatoire, Amedee-Landely Hettich, made it his mission to change vocalises and etudes from monotonous scalar exercises to works of art in themselves. In the three decades that followed, Hettich persuaded some of France’s most respected composers to write etudes that would not only challenge the performer’s skills, but also exude musicality.
Faith in God was for Dvorák the cornerstone on which he built his own life and work, hence it comes as no surprise that a number of his seminal pieces are within the domain of sacred music, and frequently linked with a strong personal story.
The first version of the oratorio Stabat Mater came into being after the death of his first-born daughter. In the wake of the triumph of its London premiere, Dvorák received more commissions from the UK, which gave rise to other paramount compositions: The Spectre's Bride, Requiem and Saint Ludmila.
The instigation for Te Deum came from New York, where following the premiere of the New World Symphony Dvorák wrote the Biblical Songs, the apex of his oeuvre of this genre. The set also contains pieces that have been seldom performed (the cantata The Heirs of the White Mountain, Psalm 149 in the previously unreleased recording made by the conductor Václav Neumann.).
At the same time, this 8-disc collection within the Dvorák series, featuring gems from the Supraphon archive, showcases superlative artists and performances in sensitively re-mastered sound.
For it's sixth album on the Arcana label, Voces Suaves presents a programme dedicated to one of the most influential composers of the seventeenth century, the great Giacomo Carissimi. The album features Carissimi's most famous work, the masterful oratorio Jephte, alongside two of his rarely performed virtuoso motets. It also includes the astonishingly theatrical Cristo smarrito by Domenico Mazzocchi, Carissimi's contemporary in Rome. The works on the album showcase the expressive power of Carissimi's musical language, as well as the remarkable virtuosity of the singers who originally performed his music. Instrumental interludes by Carissimi-found in the collection of his pupil Marc-Antoine Charpentier-have been interpolated into the score of Jephte, creating a unique version of the oratorio as it may have been performed in Rome during the composer's lifetime.
In the Baroque period, the duetto da camera, usually conceived for two equal voices and continuo, was an important form of vocal chamber music, of which innumerable examples are found in the works of composers associated with Venice, the leading protagonist in the history of this genre. Venetian Sara Mingardo is joined by a large group of young, talented solo female voices (Silva Frigato, Lea Desandre…) in this amazing project, where masterpieces by the leading composers of the time have been entrusted to the voices best suited to highlight the respective particular musical content. Included in this recording are several previously unpublished and unperformed works, which have been newly transcribed and edited by the harpsichordist Edward Smith. At the heart of the programme, Sara Mingardo leaves her colleagues for a moment to appear as soloist in Fuggi pur, o crudele by Francesco Lucio, a splendid and typical lamento recorded here for the first time and destined to become a big hit.
Mozart: Vesperae Solennes De Dominica - Litaniae Lauretanae
Carus
CD
$16.99Aug 28, 2012
On the occasion of it's 40th anniversary Carus has initiated a new series Carus Classics, featuring ten outstanding CD productions from the past library of recordings. This exclusive collection, designed by Friedrich Forssman and Cornelia Feyll, is presented in high-quality DigiPacs and each CD includes an extensive booklet. '... exemplary recording.' (New Classics, September 2005)
The feast of the Nativity held a special place in the hearts and lives of Italian nuns. In a letter to archbishop Federigo Borromeo, a Milanesenun thanked him for his gift of a lute which “has cheered all of the nuns with me, [...] and thus on the night of Holy Christmaswe went to play Matins to all the nuns, singing Gloria in excelsis [...]”. This recording presents works composed by and for these women that might have been heard or performed at Christmastime, andthey call for a great variety of forces ranging from solo voices to double choirs of both singers and instruments. The nun composers represented include the Ursulines Maria Xaveria Perucona and Isabella Leonarda, author of 20 collectionsof vocal and instrumental music; Chiara Margarita Cozzolani and her conventual sister Rosa Giacinta Badalla from the renownedMilanese convent of Santa Radegonda; and Caterina Assandra, composer and dedicatee of various collections. The CD also featuresworks by eminent male composers (Massenzio, Rota, Reina, Speer et al.) and dedicated to these remarkable cloistered musicians.
Antico tastame: Historical Organs of the Archdiocese of Monreale / Vaglica
Tactus
CD
$21.99May 06, 2022
The recording project of organist Giovanni Battista Vaglica aims to enhance the original artistic heritage of the Sicilian Archdiocese of Monreale (Palermo). The territory of Monreale is in fact particularly rich in ancient instruments dating back to the Sicilian school of the eighteenth century, usually small in size and designed mainly for liturgical use. Our care in the choice of the repertoire to be used in this journey through organ music was focused chiefly on the Neapolitan school, on which several generations of musicians coming from the Mediterranean area and elsewhere have drawn and have based their musical education. Within this school, Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti are two important figures; particularly Alessandro, the father, who decided to move from Palermo to Naples, where he became the teacher of many musicians.
Andreas Scholl, the Czech Ensemble Baroque and Roman Valek, introduce us to the splendid works of Frantisek Tuma - a little-known Czech composer who was a prominent musical figure in the 18th century. The musicians here perform several of his emblematic motets and cantatas composed for Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, embracing Tuma's splendid invention and intensity of expression.
Harmonies of Devotion is both an exploration of the Italian motet repertory of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and a celebration of the devotion to this sacred repertory displayed by English antiquarian collectors of the eighteenth century. Among the works recorded here for the first time are Giovanni Legrenzi's six-voice masterpiece Intret in conspectu tuo, which survives thanks to a copy made in London by Handel, a five-voice Crucifixus by Legrenzi's pupil Antonio Lotti, sent to London's newly formed Academy of Ancient Music, a grand Marian motet written for the Academy by Agostino Steffani, and music by Steffani's teacher Ercole Bernabei, again collected by members of London's antiquarian music clubs. The recording reveals lines of influence between teachers and pupils, and traces the lineage of the dramatic seconda prattica motet back to it's principal source and pioneer: Monteverdi.
It is both regrettable and incomprehensible that Louis Spohr is virtually unknown today as a composer of oratorios, as he was extremely highly regarded as such by his contemporaries. Among musicologists at least, he is counted together with Mendelssohn as one of the most important German composers of oratorios in the first half of the 19th century. Under the impression of a performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, Spohr wrote his Passion oratorio Des Heilands letzte Stunden WoO 62 in 1834, which reports the Passion events from an unusual perspective: Instead of an evangelist, the disciple Johannes takes on the role of the narrator directly involved in the events. Together with Mary, the mother of Jesus, he describes the story of Jesus' Passion - in an almost operatic and dramatic manner. The scenes before the judgment of Caiaphas and at the cross with the musically painted earthquake are particularly remarkable. With this conception, Spohr met the public's taste exactly, as people expected not only religious edification from such a work, but also a gripping plot. The premiere in Kassel in 1835 was correspondingly successful. Four years later, an English version was performed in Norwich, where, according to the Times, hundreds were moved to tears. No wonder, then, that Spohr considered this oratorio to be one of the best he had ever composed. Frieder Bernius and the Kammerchor Stuttgart, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and an outstanding ensemble of soloists (Johanna Winkel, Maximilian Vogler, Florian Sievers, Arttu Kataja, Thomas E. Bauer, Felix Rathgeber and Magnus Piontek) make this jewel of early 19th century sacred choral music available again on CARUS in an exquisite recording.
