Benda Bilili! (2010)

ll Pomo d’Oro and Zefira Valova focus here on the little-known violin concertos of the second half of the eighteenth century. Bringing together the works of Franz Benda and his elder Johann Gottlieb Graun (in a world premiere recording), pillars of the orchestra at the court of Frederick II of Prussia, as well as those of the Venetian virtuoso Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen and the iconoclastic Georges Bologne de Saint-Georges (also in a world premiere recording), this recording offers a bright panorama of the evolution of the genre, culminating in Mozart’s achievements in the last quarter of the century, of which Il Pomo d’Oro and Zefira Valova offer us a glimpse with the famous Rondo in C K. 373.

ll Pomo d’Oro and Zefira Valova focus here on the little-known violin concertos of the second half of the eighteenth century. Bringing together the works of Franz Benda and his elder Johann Gottlieb Graun (in a world premiere recording), pillars of the orchestra at the court of Frederick II of Prussia, as well as those of the Venetian virtuoso Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen and the iconoclastic Georges Bologne de Saint-Georges (also in a world premiere recording), this recording offers a bright panorama of the evolution of the genre, culminating in Mozart’s achievements in the last quarter of the century, of which Il Pomo d’Oro and Zefira Valova offer us a glimpse with the famous Rondo in C K. 373.

Many composers and compositions have yet to receive a fair hearing in the concert hall. Carl Eberwein and Georg Benda, famous composers during their own times, and their fantastic melodramas Proserpina and Ariadne are two cases in point. “A colourful effusion of sensibility… truly outstanding.“ (BBC Music Magazine)

Both C.P.E. Bach and Franz Benda were composers who enjoyed the favour of the court of Frederick the Great and who developed a highly individual and lasting style of music in the monarch's service. Though ‘Old Fritz’ demanded works in the pleasing galant style for his almost daily music sessions from his court musicians, Franz Benda succeeded in humouring the king without stooping to compromise quality. His three concertos for flute seem to have been tailor-made for Frederick II; in the galant style, yet full of sensitivity and profound emotion.

“But surely you know that of all Lutheran composers Benda is my favourite,” W.A.Mozart wrote to his father from Mannheim… Educated by the intellectual Lutheran milieu and profoundly affected first by the French Enlightenment and then, in particular, by the artistic rebellion of the “Sturm und Drang,” Benda was a typical child of his times. His musical language crystallized into its supreme form in the 1770s, a time when he also wrote the majority of his most important works including the harpsichord concertos.

The six Hamburg String Sinfonias are magnificent examples of Bach’s later style when, after the years at the Berlin court, he had greater freedom in Hamburg. They are particularly striking in their unexpected twists of imagination, and they contain some of his most inspired and original ideas. Using modern instruments at higher modern pitch, Benda directs light, well-sprung accounts, with extra light and shade. The excellent sound is full and open, as well as immediate.

With Cupid’s assistance, the sculptor Pygmalion brings his beloved creation to life. This recording treats us to two versions of the celebrated story. Jean-Philippe Rameau’s familiar one-act opera Pigmalion, in which the deus ex machina fulfils Pygmalion’s desires, is followed by Georg Benda’s little-known gem of the same name: a gripping monodrama for spoken voice and orchestra in which we can imagine the sculptor undergoing an inner conflict between desire and reality. Rising star Korneel Bernolet conducts his Apotheosis Orchestra and a group of young vocal partners: the Canadian haute-contre Philippe Gagné sings the passionate Pigmalion in Rameau’s opéra-ballet, alongside Lieselot De Wilde as his wife Céphise and Caroline Weynants as the divine Amour.

ll Pomo d’Oro and Zefira Valova focus here on the little-known violin concertos of the second half of the eighteenth century. Bringing together the works of Franz Benda and his elder Johann Gottlieb Graun (in a world premiere recording), pillars of the orchestra at the court of Frederick II of Prussia, as well as those of the Venetian virtuoso Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen and the iconoclastic Georges Bologne de Saint-Georges (also in a world premiere recording), this recording offers a bright panorama of the evolution of the genre, culminating in Mozart’s achievements in the last quarter of the century, of which Il Pomo d’Oro and Zefira Valova offer us a glimpse with the famous Rondo in C K. 373.

The ultimate CD for friends of the clavichord: On this recording, Bernhard Klapprott, a pupil of Bob van Asperen and today Professor of Early Keyboard Instruments in the Bach city of Weimar, exploits all the technical and tonal possibilities offered by the original clavichord by Joseph Gottfried Horn (1788).

The range of the Bohemian – and to a lesser extent Moravian – musical diaspora can be very adequately gauged from the composers in this survey. Some underwent name-changing, Germanicising being the most opportune thing to do if seeking preferment in a ducal court, not least as regards pronunciation. In the first volume therefore we find Jiří Antonín Benda becoming Georg Anton and Jan Křitetel Vaňhal turning into Johann Baptist Vanhal, even Wanhal. And so on.