Biber Herrmann Love

Biber's grand Requiem in A Major was probably written for the funeral of his employer, Archbishop Maximilian of Salzburg. It is a celebratory piece, with trumpets (and timpani added by Savall) and rich orchestration, quite suitable for a heavenbound soul. The quieter moments ("Sanctus") are just as effective as the big ones ("Dies irae"). The CD's opener, a 13-minute "Battalia" for instruments only, is amazingly colorful and contains some weird, entertaining dissonances. The performances by La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations are ideal. Biber seems to be coming into his own lately, and the recent CDs devoted to his work are very exciting. He was apparently a virtuoso who enjoyed making big statements; they deserve to be heard. Lovers of "high Baroque" music will be moved and delighted.

–Robert Levine

A large collection of religious works by two Austrian composers. Bieber's work for 36 voices is a powerful and moving piece, especially for cornets, trumpets, sackbuts and timpani bursts. Here, Junghaner is in charge of the Viennese early music group and Concerto Palatino, who has the best technique and expressiveness in the early music brass system, also contributes to this wonderful performance. It was performed in the mass format at the time, and is recorded with a sonata in front and behind. [Sony Music]

Bernard Herrmann is one of the best composers in the last century. He was capable of conveying emotions with incredible music. His scores always evoked responses from audiences that helped movie directors make their point…

In a kind of High Baroque version of the duelling guitars from the film ‘Deliverance’, Alba have contrived to set Heinrich Biber and Georg Muffat against each other as rivals in a virtual virtuoso set-piece. The evidence for this is perhaps a little thin, but what is true is that both of these almost exact contemporaries worked for a while at the same time in the Court of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. This period in the 1670s and 1680s gives rise to the not unreasonable speculation that there was a “rivalry that in all probability existed between them for the favour of their influential employer”, presumably with the ambition of ending up as Hofkapellmeister.

This must be one of the most evocative, stylish and thoughtful interpretations of anything Biber ever wrote. From the moment it begins with its rich sonorous chords, we know we are in for a treat, and the Rare Fruits Council (what a glorious name!) never disappoints. Many people are well-acquainted with Biber's 'Mystery Sonatas', but these delicious pieces are not quite so familiar. Treat yourself to any available copy - and hope for a reissue from Astree of this version - because if you like the composer, if you like early baroque music, and if you like your playing vigorous, intense, and full of rich harmony and energy, this is for you.

The field of performances competing for your CD purchase dollar has grown crowded in the case of Henrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Mystery Sonatas (or Rosary Sonatas), a set of 16 pieces for solo violin and continuo programatically linked to the Passion story. This performance by violinst Alice Piérot and Les veilleurs de Nuit is part of a remarkable series from France's Alpha label, pairing mostly Baroque works with paintings of the era. The package for this disc shows an image of Mary awaiting the Annunciation, painted around 1475 by the Neapolitan Antonello da Messina.

This commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the death of Biber is subtitled ‘In the midst of life we are in death’ and divided into ‘Vita’ and ‘Mors’. The ‘Life’ section consists of the Mass interspersed with all but two of the pieces by other composers listed above; ‘Death’ wraps the Praeludium and Lassus’s Media vita… round the Requiem.

The winner of numerous prestigious prizes, including several Gramophone Awards, the vocal ensemble Vox Luminis, founded by Lionel Meunier in 2004, is now regarded as a benchmark in the interpretation of the great works of German Baroque music. Its unfailingly faithful and lively approach to such masters as Bach, Buxtehude and Scheidt has made the group’s reputation, but this new recording features a major work by Heinrich Biber, a composer hitherto absent from its discography: his Requiem in F minor for 14 voices, composed around 1692. The programme is completed by two sacred works by Christoph Bernhard (Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener in Friede fahren and Tribularer si nescirem misericordias tuas), two pieces by Johann Joseph Fux, and the Sonata a 6 in A minor of Johann Michael Nicolai.

Bohemian Catholic composer Heinrich Biber was arguably the most distinguished 17th century composer of instrumental music for the church. His output was not extensive but it was extraordinary, especially his best-known opus, The Rosary Sonatas of the 1670s. Depicting the 15 mysteries of the rosary, these works are remarkable for their vivid programmatic nature, the use of extended techniques such as scordatura (retuning of the violin strings), and virtuostic writing (Biber himself was an accomplished violinist).

Schon bei seiner Gründung 1962 hatten es sich Collegium Aureum als Ziel gesetzt, alte Musik auf historischen Instrumenten aufzuführen. Während der langen Zeit seines Bestehens veröffentlichte das Ensemble zahlreiche erfolgreiche LPs und CDs und konzertierte in den großen Konzertsälen ganz Europas.