Andrew Tobias Investiment

The music of Shakespeare's England - ballad tunes, country dances and elegant consorts - seems at first to be quintessentially English. Yet many of these tunes, as popular dances or in the high-art variations of division music, were inspired by Celtic and Spanish styles. In variations, from 17th-century manuscripts and in improvised divisions, 'gypsy' ballads are metamorphosed into exquisite consort music.

The works for viola da gamba of Elizabethan soldier and composer Tobias Hume are wonderfully eccentric, highly entertaining, and often deeply moving, but not often recorded, so new recordings are always welcome. This 2009 Hyperion disc by German gambist Susanne Heinrich may not be the most poetic, soulful Hume recording ever made – that honor would go to the incomparable Jordi Savall – but it is nevertheless a fine addition to the composer's catalog. With her warm but penetrating tone, polished but passionate technique, and acute sensitivity, Heinrich is a first-class player and interpreter, and her performances are wholly sympathetic to the music. Her account of the bleak "I am Melancholy" is as effective as that of the droll "Tickell, tickell," and her reading of the cheerful "Life" is as moving as that of the grim "Deth." Recorded in transparent and present digital sound, this disc deserves to be heard by all admirers of music for viola da gamba.

Das schicksalhafte Leben der schottischen Königin Maria Stuart (1542-1587) hat zahlreiche Werke der Literatur, Musik und Bildenden Kunst inspiriert. Ihr Leben eignet sich wegen der Fülle spektakulärer Ereignisse und des blutigen Endes ideal als Tragödien- und Opernstoff. Schillers Maria Stuart oder Donizettis Maria Stuarda sind dabei nur die bekanntesten Beispiele. Die Dichtungen zu ihrem Schicksal wurden im 19. Jahrhundert von vielen Komponisten zu Liedern vertont. Franziska Hirzel (Sopran) und Tobias Schabenberger (Blüthner-Flügel 1874) stellen hier einige bekannte und wenig bekannte Beispiele zu Maria Stuart aus dem 19. Jahrhundert vor.

Weltersteinspielung einer unbekannten Händel-Oper. Bei ANIMATO erscheint nun als Weltersteinspielung Händels selten gespielte Oper ORESTE, das den bekannten Iphigenie-Stoff vertont. Gezielt setzt das Ludwigsburger Label auf ein junges Instrumental-Ensemble unter der Leitung von Tobias Horn, der Besigheimer Bezirkskantor, Dirigent der Kantorei der Karlshöhe Ludwigsburg und international tätiger Konzertorganist ist. Seine Sänger besetzt er mit jungen Ensemblemitgliedern u.a. der Stuttgarter Staatsoper und des Opernstudios des Staatstheaters Stuttgart.

Swedish composer Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758), born 308 years ago today, was the son of a violinist in the Royal Opera Orchestra in Stockholm, and was employed there in the same capacity as his father. After a year or so, he was allowed to travel to complete his studies. He played in Handel's opera orchestra in London, earning the nickname 'the Swedish virtuoso' and worked for the Duke of Newcastle, before being summoned back to Stockholm, where he was swiftly promoted to vice concertmaster and later, in 1727, to concertmaster.

Marianne Muller - fierce player of viola da gamba, recently applauded for her outstanding interpretation of Folies d’Espagne of Marin Marais on Zig-Zag Territoires - brings us solo and consort pieces of Tobias Hume - captain and eccentric English composer of XVIIe century. Committed to her instrument, Marianne Muller commissions to contemporary composers new pieces for viola di gamba… Eric Fischer created a piece dedicated to Tobias Hume.

In recent years the rich musical life at the court of the Crown Prince and later King Frederick (the Great) of Prussia has been extensively explored. This has resulted in discs devoted to the music of the Benda and Graun brothers and composers like Quantz and Schaffrath. There is still much to discover, for instance the music of Christoph Nichelmann, Christian Friedrich Schale and Georg Czarth. Johann Gottlieb Janitsch also figures among the masters of what has been called the Berlin School.