Markus Wolf

Alban Berg Quartet - The Complete Recordings [62CDs Box Set] (2020)
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks) | Run Time: 61:07:20 | 15.13 Gb
Genre: Classical | Label: WARNER CLASSICS

Spanning repertoire from the Classical to the contemporary and some 30 years of the Alban Berg Quartett's career, these recordings evince the achievement of an ensemble whose very name honours both the tradition and innovative musical spirit of its home city, Vienna. Founded in 1970, it soon became recognised as one of the defining quartets of the 20th century and went on to make two landmark recordings of the complete Beethoven cycle, the first in the studio, the second live at Vienna's Konzerthaus (presented here in both CD and DVD versions). This 70-disc set, which in addition features DVDs of Schubert and a live performance in St Petersburg, also documents the Alban Berg Quartett's collaborations with such artists as Sabine Meyer, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Alfred Brendel, Rudolf Buchbinder and Philippe Entremont.

When his first album with Bach arias was released by Sony Classical in early 2019, the young Dutch countertenor Maarten Engeltjes received much praise for the "enchanting character" (opera glasses) of his voice. Now the master pupil of the counter legend Michael Chance sings three famous cantatas by J.S. Bach: Ich habe genug, BWV 82, Ich will den Kreuzstab gern tragen, BWV 56 (both are actually really excellent pieces for baritone) - and Vergnügte Ruh, beliebtte Seelenlust, BWV 170. Once again he is accompanied with great sensitivity by the Ensemble PRJCT Amsterdam.

C.P.E Bach moved to Hamburg in 1768 and was asked to perform the prevailingly popular “Old School” passions in the city’s churches. Bach himself hadn’t been sure whether Hamburg preferred passions “in the historical and old fashion with the Evangelist” as he wrote in an anxious letter to Georg Michael Telemann “or in the fashion of an oratorio.” The answer was the former; the latter, the more modern way, involved contemporary texts.