Marie Stockmarr Becker / Ilaria Macedonio J.S. BACH Sonatas for Viola (da Gamba) and Harpichord BWV 1027-1029

 

SONATAS FOR VIOLA AND HARPSICHORD BWV 1027-1029

 

Lavinia Meijer FANTASIES & IMPROMPTUS

FANTASIES & IMPROMPTUS

 

Wim Van Hasselt / Koen Plaetinck IMAGINARY MIRROR

 IMAGINARY MIRROR

Budapest Festival Orchestra / Iván Fischer MAHLER Das Lied von der Erde

DAS LIED VON DER ERDE

Lavinia Meijer VISIONS

VISIONS

Lavinia Meijer PHILIP GLASS Metamorphosis - The Hours

METAMORPHOSIS - THE HOURS

Lavinia Meijer DIVERTISSEMENTS

DIVERTISSEMENTS

Rachel Podger / Brecon Baroque J.S. BACH The Art of Fugue

THE ART OF FUGUE

Rachel Podger / Brecon Baroque VIVALDI Le Quattro Stagioni

LE QUATTRO STAGIONI

30 CHANNEL CLASSICS - GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICES

30 CHANNEL CLASSICS - GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICES

Anna Fedorova / Dana Zemtsov SILHOUETTES

SILHOUETTES

Anna Fedorova FOUR FANTASIES

FOUR FANTASIES

Ashley Solomon THE SPOHR COLLECTION

                                                     THE SPOHR COLLECTION

Anna Fedorova / Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen / Modestas Pitrenas RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 1 - Preludes - Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

                                                      SERGEI RACHMANINOFF

Anna Fedorova STORYTELLER

                                                       CHOPIN | LISZT | SCRABIN

Rosanne Philippens INSIGHT

Thinking up new programmes is something I usually do on my own at my desk. But for this solo album I wanted to take up a new challenge to create a programme with my audience. I had the feeling that this would provide me with new insight. With just my violin as travelling companion, I set off through Europe for a series of solo recitals with a collection of pieces to try out. After each concert I asked the audience for feedback: how had they experienced the programme? The atmosphere, the sequence of the pieces and the length. Instead of treating my audience as passive listeners, I invited them to discuss these matters and feel involved.

On my way to the next recital I thought about the reactions. Slowly but surely the programme began to form a logical entity. This is what INSIGHT is all about. The liner notes tell more about the process of making a programme, and the actual music is the final result. What is in store for you? Not the average classical programme. Don’t be surprised if a Baroque piece dating from 1676 is split into two or if the Sarabande by the twentieth-century composer Enescu is embraced by dances by Bach. Be open to new insights and enjoy! (Rosanne Philippens)

Ragazze Quartet ČESKO

On Cesko we go on a musical journey across Europe to the extraordinary land of Bohemia (popularly known as Cesko, though officially the word actually means Czech), the homeland of two composers we have come to love so much. It doesn’t seem to matter that we hardly know their country: the indescribable energy ofthe music, with its folk melodies and harmonies, revealing the essence of a nation steeped in a deep cultural history, takes us there instantly. These composers are the much celebrated and revered Antonín Dvo?ák, along with the younger and lesser-known Erwin Schulhoff, whose life and career was tragically cut short by the Nazi regime. Both were masters in harnessing the old to the new, fusing a rich musical heritage with the influence of new worlds. Their works take us through the full range of emotions, from the tranquil to the fiery, from the elated to the melancholic. A reflection of human life.

Ragazze Quartet FOUR FOUR THREE

The Ragazze Quartet with its classical roots, Slagwerk Den Haag with its contemporary sounds, and the unusual jazz trio Kapok… Contrasting contours, but a common denominator: none of these three ensembles belong to a specific category. All three push the boundaries of our genres in our quest for new forms and adventurous joint projects. It is through this inquisitive musicianship that the unusual combination feels so wonderfully natural.The choice for Riley’s repertoire gave another stir to our boundary reconnoitre. For Riley’s music allows considerable space for creativity and improvisation. The tension that arises through freedom within strict frames means that every performance is different. And it brings with it that the music has a strong sense of spontaneity and joie de vivre.In C, performed by the Ragazze Quartet and Slagwerk Den Haag, the dynamic range is enormous. Long, melodic lines as well as short, rhythmic motifs may be employed, producing an effect of both tranquil contemplation and pulsating explosiveness. Sunrise of the planetary dream collector was originally written for string quartet. But the Ragazze Quartet invited jazz trio Kapok to make a new arrangement together. The mix of string quartet and horn, electric guitar and percussion, all expanded with electronic effects, offers a rich pallet of timbres. All this goes to bring the groovy rhythm and whimsical, improvisatory character of the music further to the fore. In this way the combination of different ensembles forms the basis for our own unique version of Terry Riley’s In C and Sunrise.

Rosanne Philippens / Julien Quentin DEDICATIONS

It began with a piece which I fell in love with: Eugène Ysaÿe’s Poème élégiaque. You have to tune the bottom violin string a tone lower. That explains the dark character, which you hear particularly in the middle, which is a funeral march. Ysaÿe dedicated it to Gabriël Fauré. And so the idea for this CD was born: violin music by composers who honoured and inspired one another. I found out, for example, that Fauré often visited the famous singer Pauline Viardot’s salon. It was there that he premiered the Romance. At first it sounds like a rather sweet Fauré, but passions rise high in the middle. Fauré was briefly engaged to a daughter of Viardot. The Russian writer Ivan Toergenjev, Viardot’s lover, used the affaire in his short story Le chant de l’amour triomphant, on which, in turn, Ernest Chausson based his Poème, with its dreamy music and a tragic ring. Chausson dedicated it to Ysaÿe and drew inspiration from his Poème élégiaque, as one hears in the high violin trills at the end of both pieces.

Jos van Immerseel / Anima Eterna Brugge W.A. MOZART Complete Solo Clavier-Concerte

A reissue with the impact of a new release, that’s what we have in mind for this wonderful set of hailed recordings of Mozart’s Clavier-Concerte, recorded in 1990/91 on historical instruments and still sounding as fresh and beautiful as if we recorded them yesterday! 

Anima Eterna Brugge is under the permanent musical direction of Jos van Immerseel, who has led the orchestra through a carefully guided evolution from small chamber ensemble to full symphony orchestra. In 1985 he brought six string players together to study the works of Bach, and two years later the group was enlarged to a baroque ensemble of seventeen musicians. In 1989 the by now twenty-five musicians began to work on the Viennese classical repertoire. The success was expanding and in 1990 the Amsterdam Concertgebouw included Anima Eterna Brugge in its “World famous Baroque Orchestras” series. Mozart’s complete concertos for fortepiano formed the focal point of the next two years, with concert cycles in Kyoto and Tokyo, among other cities, and this set of 10 compact discs. These recordings received worldwide praise, of which it will suffice to quote the New York cd review: “No period orchestra has ever sounded better”.
CD 1 - CD 3
CD 4 - CD 6
CD 7 - CD 8
CD 9 - CD 10