Andreas Staier BEETHOVEN Ein neuer Weg

                                                                 EIN NEUER WEG

Andreas Staier / Daniel Sepec / Roel Dieltiens FRANZ SCHUBERT Piano Trios Op. 99 & 100

This is a period-instrument recording of Franz Schubert's pair of piano trios, separated by the lovely Nocturne in E flat major, D. 897. Some surprises result from the period-instrument treatment. There are some extra pedals on Andreas Staier's fortepiano, a copy of an 1827 Graf instrument: sample the third movement of the Piano Trio in E flat, Op. 100, in its central section, to hear some of the extras (most strikingly the "Janissary" pedal). The period violin of Daniel Sepec and the cello of Roel Dieltiens, however, are close to the sound of the modern versions, and for the most part even the fortepiano shows the clean sounds that were to come. The most important capacity of the fortepiano that Staier exploits is its potential for fluent speed: it can carry out rapid passagework at a moderate volume level, staying involved in the ensemble and not jumping out as a solo instrument. This allows the players to take unusually quick tempi, prioritizing overall design over individual melodies. The big outer movements of the usually gloomily lyrical E flat trio may seem rushed to some, but the parts fit together like some kind of inexorable clockwork, and the interpretation is both technically remarkable and totally fresh. With excellent Teldex studio sound that brings out the unusual fortepiano effects, this is a novel Schubert reading that's well worth your time. (James Manheim)

Andreas Staier / Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música Porto À PORTUGUESA

This colorful musical journey takes its title from one of William Corbett's Bizzarie universali, a set of concertos which, in truth, owe much more to the Italian tradition than to the Iberian Peninsula. Performed by Andreas Staier and the Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música, À Portuguesa features a selection of concertos and sonatas in the Portuguese style composed during the Age of Enlightenment. Ranging from the inexhaustible delights of Domenico Scarlatti's solo Sonatas to concertos by Corbett, Seixas and Avison, Staier's program concludes with an orchestral arrangement of Boccherini's evergreen Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid.

Georg Nigl / Anna Lucia Richter / Petra Müllejans / Roel Dieltiens / Andreas Staier BACH PRIVAT

This recording is an invitation to immerse ourselves in the musical inner circle of the Bach family. We are familiar with Johann Sebastian Bach as a composer of genius, but we know little about his family life, with the exception of the famous Clavierbüchlein (Little keyboard book) that the forty-year-old composer gave as a present in 1725 to his second wife Anna Magda-lena, his junior by sixteen years. This manuscript is a unique document of the music the family played together. It provides us with a point of reference for the ‘programmes’ of these domestic concerts: it contains short keyboard pieces and songs alongside extended arias taken from the church cantatas, as well as chamber music. Bach and his two eldest sons were not only virtuoso harpsichordists but also excellent violinists, while the composer’s son-in-law Bach, J. C. Altnic-kol, played the cello and was an outstanding double bass player. Anna Magdalena Bach and her oldest stepdaughter both contributed as singers. And the still young children of the second marriage participated by playingeasy pieces on their father’s various keyboard instruments. The musicians and singers on this recording, all eminent exponents of Bach and of Baroque music in general, have come together here to bring these exceptional moments back to life.

Freiburger Barockorchester / Gottfried von der Goltz W.A. MOZART The Last Concertos

This recording is the last of the triptych of CDs that the Freiburger Barockorchester has devoted to Mozart's concertos. His final instrumental work, the Clarinet Concerto, was written just a few months after the last Piano Concerto, No. 27 in 1791. In both cases, the performers have gone back to the original manuscripts to unearth the details of Mozart's own performing practice. If his markings are followed precisely, as here, it is possible to rediscover his fascinating variety of sonic perspectives.

Lorenzo Coppola completed his diploma in Classical clarinet under the guidance of Eric Hoeprich at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Since then he has been one of the most sought-after clarinettists in the field of historical performance practice. He has played with such ensembles as La Petite Bande, Les Arts Florissants, the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, the Orchestra of the 18th Century and the Freiburger Barockorchester. Lorenzo Coppola also performs chamber repertoire with Ensemble Zefiro, Ensemble Philidor, the Académie Sainte-Cécile, Harmonie Bohémienne and Düsseldorfer Hofmusik.

Undoubtedly one of the most prominent keyboard performers in the world, Andreas Staier embarked upon a solo career in 1986 and, since then, his indisputable musical mastery has made its mark on the interpretation of Baroque, Classical and Romantic repertoire. He has formed a highly successful trio with violinist Daniel Sepec and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras; they have recently recorded their first CD, of Beethoven, for harmonia mundi. His extensive discography has won critical praise from the international press, whether for BMG,Teldec or hm for whom he has released his last five recordings: Mozart's Sonatas in two CDs; Haydn concertos with the Freiburger Barockorchester; Hamburg 1734, with the German harpsichordist Christine Schornsheim; and, more recently, Beethoven's sonatas for violin and piano, with Daniel Sepec performing on Beethoven's own instrument. In February 2007, and again with Christine Schornsheim,Andreas Staier released a cd dedicated to a very special instrument: the Stein 'vis-à-vis’.

Andreas Staier / Freiburger Barockorchester JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Harpsichord Concertos

J.S. Bach wrote, or rewrote, seven solo harpsichord concertos. Most of them began life as showpieces for other instruments – violin, oboe d’amore – and occasionally their potted history makes for an awkward conversation between harpsichord and the rest of the band. Not here. Andreas Staier’s grit, flair and expressive freedom, plus Freiburger Barockorchester’s athletic ensemble playing, makes these performances bounce and swing.

Staier embraces the chunky chordal textures gained over the single-line originals and gives them a thick, meaty attack that is great fun: try the last movement of BWV 1058 – better known as the A-minor violin concerto – to see what I mean. His harpsichord is a 10-year-old Parisian instrument modelled on a Hass of 1734, almost exactly the date of the concertos themselves. The sound is brawny and dark-hewn, with melodies that sing every bit as much as a bowed or blown instrument. (Kate Molleson / The Guardian)

Nowadays, J.S. Bach's seven harpsichord concertos are most often performed on a grand piano with modern orchestral accompaniment, largely for the sake of striking a proper balance of dynamics and instrumentation. In light of this preference, it has become a little difficult to find historically informed versions that sound close to what Bach would have heard. These period style performances by Andreas Staier and the Freiburger Barockorchester provide a welcome alternative to the standard modern releases, and listeners with a taste for authenticity can be assured that Staier's scholarship and interpretations are impeccable. Staier plays a replica of a 1734 harpsichord, and the small ensemble of recorders, strings, and continuo is appropriately scaled to the music's textures and the balance of soloist and orchestra. Harmonia Mundi's recording is elaborate, involving spot and omnidirectional microphones that capture the players with remarkable subtlety and presence, so all the nuances and details of these exciting performances can be heard clearly without sacrificing the full-bodied sound. (Blair Sanderson)

Andreas Staier / Daniel Sepec / Roel Dieltiens FRANZ SCHUBERT Piano Trios Op. 99 & 100

"One glance at Schubert's trio, and the miserable hustle and bustle of human existence vanishes, the world takes on fresh lustre", wrote Robert Schumann in 1836 of Schubert's Piano Trio D898. He was equally admiring of the Viennese composer's other great trio, D929, notably its funeral march-like Andante con moto, later to achieve cinematic fame in Kubrick's 'Barry Lyndon'.
Here three peerless interpreters bring out every nuance of these endlessly fascinating works on their 'period instruments', including a splendid copy of an 1827 Viennese fortepiano.