Little Tobias Lilja

Mystical tales, legendary figures, elves, demons, fabulous characters… All compositions of this recording have one thing in common: the supernatural. To trace the underlying legends, stories and mythologies means to give expression to the different character traits and possible ambivalences of the figures with musical means. Thus an elf has a rather light, floating and elegant character, demons can be wild, unpredictable and impetuous, ghosts appear gloomy, cold and lightless, mermaids on the other hand sweet, melancholic and beguiling. The aim of the interpretation is to fill this immensely exciting creative space. Lilja Steininger (flute) plays together with Erika le Roux (piano) works by Friedrich Kuhlau, François Borne, Brett Dean, Carl Reinecke and Philipp Taffanel.

Finnish cellist Max Lilja, one of the founders of Apocalyptica, takes us on an immersive journey across Johann Sebastian Bach’s life; through merging the iconic Cello Suites with an ambient composition, Lilja enlightens the space around the solitary voice.

Finnish cellist Max Lilja, one of the founders of Apocalyptica, takes us on an immersive journey across Johann Sebastian Bach’s life; through merging the iconic Cello Suites with an ambient composition, Lilja enlightens the space around the solitary voice.

Finnish cellist Max Lilja, one of the founders of Apocalyptica, takes us on an immersive journey across Johann Sebastian Bach’s life; through merging the iconic Cello Suites with an ambient composition, Lilja enlightens the space around the solitary voice.

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.

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.

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.

Sublime musical expression does not necessarily proceed from serene spirits whose philosophical loftiness leaves them unmoved by the push and shove of the marketplace. Prefaces to printed editions of music in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries seldom reveal much of the personality behind the writer's effusive urge to prostrate himself before the dedicatee and his invocations to the muses to make worthy his humble efforts. Robert Jones, Tobias Hume and John Dowland were exceptions in this regard and often used their printed prefaces as a platform for polemics, self-defence and bile. In so doing they illumine the contemporary pressures of public opinion and changing fashions, as well as highly individual — not to say curmudgeonly — natures.