Lina Tur Bonet / Musica Alchemica LA BELLEZZA

LA BELLEZZA

Miriam Feuersinger / Les Escapades HABE DEINE LUST AN DEM HERREN

The outstanding musical significance of Johann Rosenmüller, who was said to be able to merge Italian sensuality and German “gravitas” in his compositions in the most harmonious way, was already undisputed among his contemporaries. He studied in Leipzig, and quite soon the town council realized that he was a musician of an immense talent. Rosenmüller therefore received a position at the famous Leipzig Thomasschule, and was considered as the future successor of the ill Thomaskantor, Tobias Michael. His future would actually have been secured at that point if a scandal had not shaken the Leipzig music scene in the spring of 1655: Johann Rosenmüller was imprisoned due to alleged homosexual activities. But he could escape from prison and flee to Italy; he lived in Venice for 25 years before he could return to Germany. But also during the time of his exile he went on composing for German courts; Rosenmüller’s music was so highly esteemed that hardly any court orchestra in the German-speaking countries could afford to neglect his works in their repertoire selection.

The Rosenmüller sacred concertos recorded on this album are combined with equally fine compositions of less-known German contemporaries such as Johann Balthasar Erben, Augustin Pfleger, Christian Flor and others. The soprano Miriam Feuersinger is a specialist for sacred music of the German Baroque and was awarded with the famous German “Echo Klassik” in 2014 for her album with cantatas by Graupner. Nearly all the sacred concertos by Rosenmüller and his contemporaries chosen for her new CD are world premiere recordings.

Scherzi Musicali / Nicolas Achten ANTONIO BERTALI La Maddalena (reupload)

Through the combination of sacred and profane that she embodies, the profoundly human personality of Mary Magdalene greatly inspired artists of the Baroque era, whether painters, poets or composers. It was in the sphere of influence of Italian oratorios, highly prized at the court of Vienna, that Antonio Bertali devoted a most moving sepolcro to her in 1663, a genre traditionally played during Holy Week. In 1617, in Mantua, it was in the form of theatrical interludes that she was honoured by court composers such as Salomone Rossi, Muzio Effrem and Claudio Monteverdi, who wrote the prologue for this other Maddalena.

Scherzi Musicali / Nicolas Achten ANTONIO BERTALI La Maddalena

Baritone, harpsichordist, lutenist, harpist and artistic director, Nicolas Achten is a rising figure in the world of early music. Prizewinner at the VIIth International Baroque Singing Competition of Chimay in 2006, he was voted Classical Artist of 2009 at the Octaves of Music Prize, and Young Musician of the Year 2009 by the Union of the Belgian Musical Press.

Born in Brussels in 1985, he studied singing, lute, harpsichord and triple harp at the Royal Conservatories of Brussels and the Hague, and completed his training at various masterclasses, including the Académie baroque d’Ambronay and the Centre de la Voix de Royaumont.

Since 2004, Nicolas has performed with some of the most prestigious early music ensembles including l’Arpeggiata, La Fenice, La Petite Bande, Ausonia, Les Agrémens, Akadêmia, Les Talens Lyriques, il Fondamento, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Il Seminario Musicale, Le Poeme Harmonique, and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, and under the direction of conductors such as Jean Tubéry, Sigiswald Kuijken, Marc Minkowski, Christophe Rousset and René Jacobs.

He is one of the few classical singers to accompany himself on various instruments, reviving this historical practice. With the intention of furthering this practice and research, he founded the ensemble Scherzi Musicali, whose concerts and recordings have been received with unanimous enthusiasm from the public and the international press.

Nicolas Achten is professor of Lute at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, and professor of baroque Harp and baroque singing at the Académie de Woluwé-Saint-Lambert. He is musical director for Muziektheater Transparant’s summer courses, and is a regular guest professor at the University of East Anglia, at the Operastudio Vlaanderen, and the Yorke Trust (Norfolk). 

Through the combination of sacred and profane that she embodies, the profoundly human personality of Mary Magdalene greatly inspired artists of the Baroque era, whether painters, poets or composers. It was in the sphere of influence of Italian oratorios, highly prized at the court of Vienna, that Antonio Bertali devoted a most moving sepolcro to her in 1663, a genre traditionally played during Holy Week. In 1617, in Mantua, it was in the form of theatrical interludes that she was honoured by court composers such as Salomone Rossi, Muzio Effrem and Claudio Monteverdi, who wrote the prologue for this other Maddalena. Scherzi Musicali propose the first World recording of these works.