Linde Nijland

Waterloo, Dancing Queen or Voulez-vous. Famous, perhaps even played a bit too frequently. But what about Waterloo as a jazz ballad or Money, Money, Money in swing?

Naples was in the mid-18th century the third largest European city and one of the greatest centres of political, commercial and cultural influence. The conservatoires there were founded by religious orders and were originally intended as charitable institutions for the accommodation and education of orphans, but soon became real centres of musical education and performance; many leading composers were pupils and teachers there and so contributed to the founding of the Neapolitan School. Porpora and Hasse are the greatest representatives of the Neapolitan style and both settled in Venice before rising to international fame. Their writing was strongly influenced by opera and reflects the Italian taste of the time; it is also present in their religious compositions. Les Muffatti and the South-African countertenor Clint van der Linde present works of exceptional expressive power, with Hasse’s Hostes Averni and Porpora’s Nisi Dominus being recorded here for the first time.

German musician Hans-Martin Linde has established impressive credentials in so many fields of endeavor that it is difficult to give him a primary classification. Some biographers will call him a flutist and recorder player first, then a conductor. He began his career as a flutist, but eventually turned to conducting, without, however, abandoning the flute or recorder. He has also performed in concert as a baritone singer; has drawn notice as a composer, particularly for his 1993 Concerto for recorder and strings; and has authored several authoritative books on flute and recorder performance.

The trio Slagr releases their sixth album Linde, made up of music created in a time of new beginnings. The music on the album is written by Katrine Schiøtt in the middle of maternity leave, giving a new touch to the trios distinctive sound. Postpartum - lack of sleep, emotional vulnerability, an extreme focus on something outside oneself; providing nourishment and love to the newborn. A minor state of emergency where small moments can inspire to musical fragments and contemplation on the beginning of life, eternity and transience. In this state, this music was conceived. Slagr’s music is detached from time, place and the concrete materiality of life.

The Stabat Mater by the Italian late baroque composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710- 1736) invariably holds the number one position in many western classical music charts. In Pergolesis own era, his composition received enormous acclaim and was frequently a source of inspiration for the many tone poets who wanted to follow in his footsteps. For this version, we brought together two wonderful vocalists who are symbiotic and complementary both in terms of personality and musical interpretation: soprano Amaryllis Dieltiens and countertenor Clint van der Linde.

Johann Sebastian Bach's flute sonatas undoubtedly require congenial partners, who play together in an unpretentious, equally important way - in the truest sense of the word, in concert. This is brilliantly fulfilled by Lars Ulrik Mortensen with his hardly surpassable vocal playing on the harpsichord and Linde Brunmayr-Tutz with virtuosity and full sound on the transverse flute.