Ars Official Digital Download

On ars moriendi Paul Giger looks at life’s flowing patterns, at death and renewal, as he brings together compositions by Bach and new music drawing inspiration from the work of painter Giovanni Segantini and Swiss folk traditions. The album was recorded in Maloja, where Segantini spent the last years of his life.

New discoveries from Gunar Lezbor and his St. Florian Abbey archive. Franz Josef Aumann (1728-1797) was a free and innovative composer. His chamber music is really worth exploring as they provide a lively and interesting listening experience.

In music, "ostinato" (Latin obstinatus: "obstinate") is a repeated sequence of notes. A constantly repeated bass motif is perfect for improvisation - which in turn inspired many Baroque composers to write numerous masterpieces.

Amandus Ivanschiz was baptised Matthias Leopold Ivanschiz on 24 December 1727 in the Austrian city of Wiener Neustadt. As early as 1742, at the age of fifteen, Matthias decided to join the Pauline Order and took the name Amandus. On 25 December 1743 Amandus took his vows and was then sent to Maria Trost and Wiener Neustadt to study for the priesthood.

It was a sensational find in many respects when Gunar Letzbor discovered the Passion by the composer and Augustinian canon Franz Joseph Aumann in the archives of St Florian's Abbey (near Linz, Austria) and other monasteries.

Gunar Letzbor and his ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria have been working with violin music from the Habsburg Empire for decades, and Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's violin sonatas from 1681 were, as Letzbor himself says, "a milestone in his artistic development". The first recording was made in 1994 and since then Ars Antiqua Austria has regularly performed this repertoire in concerts. While Biber was still largely unknown at that time, the composer and his work are now considered by audiences to be among the greats of the Baroque era. Biber was highly acclaimed by his contemporaries as a violin virtuoso and as a composer.

The music of Johann Speth (1664-1719) has featured here and there on many compilations of instrumental music from mid-17th century Germany. However, until now there has never been a complete recording of the sole collection which carries his name down to us today.

The title of this programme, Ars Lachrimæ, takes as its principal reference John Dowland’s masterly and inspired pavan. In aesthetic terms, it is a profoundly original meditation on musical emotions as a reflection and paradox of human existence.

Florian Klaus Rumpf takes us on a musical walk through his adopted country. In doing so, he acoustically stages his favorite places with works for mandolin, baroque mandolin, mandola and liuto cantabile from the most diverse cultural circles. Each of the pieces is associated with a Hamburg landmark, whose mood, statement or history is reflected in the music.