Jacob Pavek Illume

34-year old guitarist, composer, and bandleader Jacob Young hails from Oslo, Norway, making him a natural for Manfred Eicher's ECM label. Young was educated at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York, where he studied under Jim Hall and privately with John Abercrombie. Young's warm, rounded tone indicates a debt to the former while his wide harmonic palette owes to the latter; but his extended melodic vocabulary, gorgeous phrasing, and notions of group interplay are his own. What is immediately startling about Evening Falls is its lyricism; it doesn't sound like a guitarist's date. Young's compositions reflect song, paying careful attention to nuance and dynamic. There is plenty of room for improvisation and group interplay - with veteran drummer Jon Christensen, trumpeter Mathias Eick, bass clarinettist and saxophonist Vidar Johansen, and bassist Mats Eilertsen - around melodic invention…

Der heute leider weitgehend unbekannte flämische Komponist Jacob Clement alias Clemens non Papa (circa 1510 bis 1515 - 1555) war neben Palästrina und Orlando di Lasso einer der führenden Vertreter der Renaissance. Einerseits wurde er für seine geistlichen Werke bei seinen Auftraggebern und Kollegen sehr hoch geschätzt, andererseits eilte ihm der Ruf des Lebemannes voraus, der weltlichen Freuden und Genüssen nicht gerade abgeneigt war. Vielleicht ist es diese Lebenserfahrung und Inspiration, die ihn auch zu einem hervorragenden Komponisten von Chansons und weltlichen Liedern gemacht hat. Seine auffällig virtuose Beherrschung des Kontrapunktes steht in jedem Fall außer Frage.

The only out-and-out solo piece is Weber's Andante and Hungarian Rondo… Skinner makes a beautiful sound in the expressive Andante, and hurtles effectively through the virtuoso coda… even if you're not particularly a bassoon buff you'll find this a very enjoyable programme

Jacob Obrecht’s Missa Maria zart is an extraordinary work, both literally, as probably the longest extant Mass of the Renaissance, taking an hour to perform, and in the more general meaning of the word. It is recognised as one of the most ambitious artistic creations of its time; some have claimed that it defies description. The director of Cappella Pratensis, Stratton Bull mentioned his interest in the complexities of Renaissance mensural notation and the difficulties that modern-day ensembles sometimes experience in interpreting it. Although several recordings of this Mass already existed, few if any had succeeded in doing justice to its subtle system of mensuration signs and use of notation generally.

In its complexity and individuality, Johann Jacob Froberger's oeuvre represents one of the greatest treasures of 17th century harpsichord repertoire. His travels and friendships with musicians and intellectuals throughout Europe - including, for example, Frescobaldi, Kircher, Kerll, Weckmann, Louis Couperin, Gaultier, Fleury alias Blancrocher, Huygens and many others - are reflected in his stylistic versatillity. What is notable about all these contacts is that the fascination was invariably mutual - Froberger was inspired and also provided strong inspiration to his friends.

Mit seinem elaborierten, polyphonen Schaffen gilt der "Römisch Kayserliche Cammer-Organist" im Dienst des Habsburger-Kaisers Ferdinand III. in Wien als Schlüsselfigur der Musik im 17. Jahrhundert. Er ist der erste expressive Virtuose und Komponist für Tasteninstrumente, der Begründer eines idiomatischen deutschen Clavierstils. In allen Clavier-Gattungen seiner Zeit setzte der Frescobaldi-Schüler Froberger dabei Maßstäbe, komponierte Fantasien, Canzonen, Suiten, Ricercare und Capriccios für Orgel, Cembalo und Clavichord. Für Johann Sebastian Bach wurde das innovative Suitenwerk zum Vorbild. Vor allem seine Toccaten im sogenannten "stylus fantasticus" sorgten mit eruptiven Wechseln von rhapsodischen und fugierten Abschnitten für Furore.