Another hour of Baroque music

Earlier I posted a playlist with one hour of Baroque music and apparently, you liked it 😀

So here is an other hour of Baroque music, with three big and bold Baroque works. 

Fasch, Händel and Bach knew each other works and respected each other. The “grande” overture in g minor is played by the Belgian ensemble Il Fondamento. Their recordings are always a bit hit or miss to my opinion. But this Fasch recording is a hit. 

Händel’s 16th organ concerto is in fact an arrangement by the composer from the concerto a due cori in F major, HWV 334. That concerto borrowed material of the so-called Fitzwilliam Overture (HWV 424) and the opera Partenope (HWV 27). The organ concerto in this form was probably performed with the oratorio, Judas Maccabaeus (HWV 63) in 1747. 

The last work is Bach’s well known fist Brandenburg concerto in perhaps a lesser known performance, Jordi Savall leads le concert des Nations.

I hope you will enjoy the (just over an hour) playlist! 

Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758)

Tracks 01-07 Overture Suite for Three Oboes, Bassoon, Strings and Continuo in G Minor, FWV K/g 2 (between 1740-55)

Il Fondamento 

Paul Dombrecht, conductor.

Recorded 2004

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)

Tracks 08-15 Organ concerto HWV 305a in F major (no 16), arranged from HWV 334 (1747)

Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment

Bob van Asperen, organ and conductor.

Recorded 1996

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Tracks 16-19 Brandenburg concerto in F major BWV 1046 (before 1721)

Le concert des Nations

Jordi Savall, conductor

Recorded 1991

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/18pm5Rbcxzlc06VCqVO9tA?si=c246625812ce438e(HTTP link)

Johann Sebastian Bach BWV 22 and BWV 23 plus Christoph Graupner playlist on Spotify

The joy of Spotify, you see  concert announcement (see poster below) and immediately you can imagine the concert already ;-) 

In this case a concert with music by Johann Sebastian Bach and a composer that was destined to get the job Bach had (Thomascantor in Leipzig), but did not get… I noticed that all works were written in 1723.

I sampled different version of the Bach cantatas BWV 22 and 23 and these versions by Philip Herreweghe received my preference. 

Hope you will enjoy this little concert! 

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Track 01-05: Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe, BWV 22 (1723) 

Track 06-09: Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn, BWV 23 (1723)

Dorothee Mields (soprano); 

Matthew White (alto), Jan Kobow (tenor), 

Peter Kooy (bass),

Collegium Vocale Gent

Philippe Herreweghe

Rec. November 2007, Stolberger Saal, Cologne, Germany.

Christoph Graupner (1683-1760)

Track 10-12 Aus der tiefe rufen wir (1723)

Marcus Ullmann (tenor), 

Lieven Termont (baritone), 

Damien Guillon (countertenor), 

Il Gardellino 

Marcel Ponseele (conductor)

Rec: Amuz, Antwerp, January 2010 

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/748cMmF08SKqvEqABvQZnU

(Webplayer link)

Alt-Christmas Oratorio :-)

In the time of Alt-Right and Alt-Truth, there is a quite more positive “alt” actually and that is Ton Koopman’s “Alt-Weinachtsoratorium”. A collection of Christmas cantata’s by Johann Sebastian Bach. 

Merry christmas and I hope you will enjoy these Christmas Cantata’s…!

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Cantate BWV.182, "Himmelskönig, sei willkommen” (1714)

Barbara Schlick - soprano

Kai Wessel - Alt

Christoph Prégardien - Tenor

Klaus Mertens - Bass

Cantate BWV.62, "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland” (1724)

Dorothea Röschmann - SoprNO

Elisabeth von Magnus, Bogna Bertosz - Alt

Jörg Dürmüller - Tenor

Klaus Mertens - Bass

Cantate BWV.40, "Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes” (1723)

Bogna Bartosz - Alt 

Jörg Dürmüller - Tenor 

Klaus Mertens - Bass

Cantate BWV.65, "Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen” (1724)

Dorothea Röschmann - SoprNO

Elisabeth von Magnus, Bogna Bertosz - Alt

Jörg Dürmüller - Tenor

Klaus Mertens - Bass

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/0dfv0t9pbqwf76vHbs70HN

(Webplayer link)

Yo Yo Ma asked her if he could marry her... Quirine Viersen plays Bach!

A while ago I posted a playlist with performances by cellist Quirine Viersen. When she played the suites for cello solo before Yo YoMa, he proposed to her… She refused! Well, back then her recordings of the cellosuites was not on Spotify yet, but now they are! Hear for yourself where Ma fell in love with ;-)

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/6mqOPPt00GcEfFlXrE0op5

(Spotify Webplayer link)

Willem Mengelberg and Bernard Haitink in the hall St Matthew passion 1939

Sunday April 2nd, 1939. In the Concertgebouw hall, just behind the choir sits a 10 year old boy named Bernard Haitink and he looks conductor Willem Mengelberg in the face. The Concertgebouworchestra plays Bach’s St Matthew passion and Philips engineers test out a new sort of taperecorder, called the “Miller recorder”. In the same row as Bernard Haitink sits a lady who bursts in tears during the Erbarme Dich aria and Haitink still recalls how from that moment on he realized what music could evoke in people. Every time I hear this performance, saved on Miller tape, I see the 10 year old Haitink in the the hall, a strange sensation knowing that he witnessed that performance…

For the American people, sorry, your country has strict (ok, idiotic, sometimes) copyright laws and I guess the excellent Naxos Historical transfer by Mark Obert-Thorn will not be available in the USA, but… 

The Dutch Mengelberg Society has a marvelous website where virtually all known Mengelberg recordings can be heard and since the server is based in the Netherlands, it should be audible all over the world. Here is not only the complete 1939 St Matthew Passion, but also fragments form the 1936 performance, showing that the 1939 was really a good year… 

http://www.willemmengelberg.nl/?q=content/bach-matthäus-passion

Hope you will enjoy this performance! 

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

-St Matthew Passion 

Jo Vincent, soprano

Ilona Durigo, contralto

Karl Erb, tenor, 

Louis van Tulder, tenor

Willem Ravelli, bass

Herman Schey, bass

Amsterdams Toonkunstkoor, Jongens Koor Zanglust

Louis Zimmermann, solo-violin

Concertgebouworchestra

Millem Mengelberg, conductor

Live April 2, 1939

Bonus: 

-Overture (Suite) No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067

Concertgebouw Orchestra

June 2nd, 1931

Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York

Jan 16th, 1929

-Air from Suite No.3 in D major BWV 1068 (arr. Telico)

Concertgebouw Orchestra

December 1st, 1938

-Air from Suite No.3 in D major BWV 1068 (arr. Mahler)

-Concerto in D minor for Two Violins BWV 1040

Louis Zimmermann and Ferdinand Helman (violins)

Concertgebouworchestra

Mai 4th, 1935

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/6WroLSQyNL962ZrJnZ5X7Q

(HTTP link)

Helmut Schmidt Bach Mozart on Spotify

RIP Helmut Schmidt (1918-2015), German Bundeskanzler…

… and Pianist.

Johann Sebastan Bach (1685-1750)

-Concerto for 4 piano’s and orchestra in a minor BWV 1065

Helmut Schmidt, piano

Justus Franz, piano

Gerhard Oppitz, piano

Chistoph Eschenbach, piano and conductor

Hamburger Philharmoniker

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

-Concerto for 3 piano’s and orchestra, F Major KV 242

Helmut Schmidt, piano

Justus Franz, piano

Gerhard Oppitz, piano

Chistoph Eschenbach, piano and conductor

London Philharmonic Orchestra

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/5toyKcxPaoHRLDtbAHLE55 (HTTP link)

Jill Crossland on Spotify

Happy 2014…!

Starting this year with an artist I discovered last year… pianist Jill Crossland.
On page 78 of the awards 2013 issue of the Gramophone I spotted an advert for the "devine art" label. Never bought a CD from them, but, was always curious about their artists. The new record by pianist Jill Crossland is not on Spotify yet, but her earlier CD's are.

First a selection from Jean Philippe Rameau’s Premier livre de pièces de clavecin, played on a modern piano. Played with a jazzy feel and fine characterization of the Rameau miniatures.
Then, a live concert given at Restoration House, Rochester, on the 1824 Jirikowsky fortepiano by Jill Crossland. On the Gramophone forum someone was very enthusiastic about the Scarlatti sonata on that CD and, yes, it’s a fine, crisp performance, just as the other items on that CD, by the way…!
Hope you will enjoy this fresh start of 2014 as well :-)

Jean Philippe Rameau - Premier livre de pièces de clavecin (modern piano)
Domenico Scarlatti - Sonata in E major Kk 380 (1824 fortepiano)
Johann Sebastian Bach - English suite No. 3 in g minor BWV 808 (1824 fortepiano)
Johann Sebastian Bach - Fantasia in C BWV 906 (1824 fortepiano)
Johann Sebastian Bach - Preludes and fugues of WTC I and II (sel.) (1824 fortepiano)

Jill Crosland Piano & Fortepiano






http://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/0wdR3HD4GD6r7t1v2iiG9A (HTTP link)  

Bach advent cantata and baroque Christmas with Emma Kirkby on Spotify

We are not quite blessed with the survival of Advent cantata’s by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The music of BWV 71a, 186a are lost, 147a we only know because some of the music was re-used in the famous BWV 147 cantata (for a completely different feast in July!) and BWV 141 was actually written by Georg Philip Telemann… Fortunately, the cantata that was written for the 4th Sunday in Advent and had it’s world premiere on December 22 1715, exactly 298 years ago…!

Combined it with a very fine Chrismas CD from Emma Kirkby. Besides two Chrstmas cantatas form Alessandro Scarlatti (yes, daddy of…) she sings a reconstructed aria from BWV 147a.

Hope you enjoy the music!

Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata „Bereitet die Wege bereitet die 

Bahn” BWV 132 (1st performance: December 22, 1715 - Weimar)

Ingrid Schmithüsen, soprano 

Yoshikazu Mera, Counter-tenor:

Makoto Sakurada, tenor

Peter Kooy, bass

Bach Collegium Japan,

Masaaki Suzuki, conductor

(recorded 1997)

Philipp Friedrich Böddecker - Natus est Jesus (1651)

Alessandro Scarlatti - Non Sò Qual Più M'ingombra (1716)

Johann Pachelbel - Cannon & Gigue

Johann Sebastian Bach - Offne Dich Mein Ganzes Herze from BWV 61

Air from 3nd suite

Bereite Dir, Jesu noch ist so die Bahn from BWV 147a

Alessandro Scarlatti - O Di Betlemme, Altera Poverta Venturosa

Arcangelo Corelli - Concerto Grosso In G Minor, Op. 6 No. 8 ('Fatto Per La Notte Natale’, published 1714, one year after Corelli’s death)

Emma Kirkby, soprano

London Baroque

Charles Medlam, conductor

(recorded 2000)

http://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/1tBFJ23dCv9wf9dOgWC1jj (HTTP link)

Dutch Delight!

Here are two new CD’s from two up-and-coming-if-they-are-not-already-arrived-yet-pianists
Diara van der Bercken and Hannes Minnaar. Diara does Handel, Hannes Bach, or rather, music inspired by Bach.

Diara van der Bercken acquired some fame in the Netherlands by driving (yes, you read it right) her piano through Amsterdam, while playing George Frederick Handel and was hung up 50 ft from the ground by a crane *doing the same*. As the october issue of the Gramophone stated in a review of the Handel CD; this is all rather apropos and I hope you can concentrate on the „musical affection and an immaculate virtuosity” that was mentioned along the first remark in that magazine!

Hannes Minnaar was the first Dutch Pianist that made it to the top 3 of the toughest piano competition in the World; the Queen Elisabeth competition in Brussels, 2010. Not with the usual suspects Rachmaninov or Prokofiev but, and it also shows his musical quirkiness, the 5th piano concerto of Camille Saint-Saens (see video below). On his new CD, just on Spotify, he plays music by Liszt, Busoni, Vaughn-Williams and.. hé! Rachmaninov. But this time with arrangements of, or inspired by works of, Johann Sebastian Bach. Everything is transparent and clear here, gently whispering in the pianissimo passages... Four stars from the Guardian and many more from the Dutch press urges you to take a listen, I hope…! :-)

Daria van der Bercken in Handel:

Handel:
Keyboard Suite, HWV 428 in D minor
Keyboard Suite, HWV 427 in F major
Keyboard Suite, HWV 432 in G minor
Air in G minor, HWV467
Keyboard Suite, HWV 435 (Chaconne) in G major
Keyboard Suite, HWV 434 in B flat major: Minuet
Mozart: Allemande, from Suite, K399

The playlist of the Bach CD by Hannes Minnaar can be found H*E*R*E <--




                   http://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/6w34wO6ZdsUT2mazCRssBg
                                  (two hours twenty-three minutes spine shivering moments)