Norberto Valentini

Brilliant and moving"" vocal ensemble Les Canards Chantants and ""groundbreaking, gutsy"" (Early Music America Magazine) Baroque string band ACRONYM present the first recording of Giovanni Valentini's ""Secondo libro de madrigali"" (Venice, 1616)the earliest known madrigal collection to call for instruments other than continuoexactly four hundred years after its publication. Giovanni Valentini was born in 1582 in or around Venice. In 1614 he joined the court of the Archduke Ferdinand at Graz, and upon Ferdinands 1619 election Vaneltini moved to Vienna to serve as Imperial organist. From the 1620s through the 1640s, Valentini oversaw much of the musical life of Vienna. He was music tutor to the Imperial family and retained his position of Hofkapellmeister under Ferdinand III, who took the throne in 1637.

In 1619 Valentini’s Musiche concertate were published as his third book of madrigals, and already by 1626, when he was appointed court music director in Vienna (a post held by him until his death), he had achieved more than just a personal career goal. Just as Lully defined the French national style, Valentini’s manner was identified with the imperial court style.

1998 is een bijzonder jaar voor Reinhard Goebel en zijn Musica Antiqua Koln. Dit jaar gedenken zij niet alleen dat Reinhard Goebel de groep 25 jaar geleden oprichtte, maar ook dat zij 20 jaar geleden hun samenwerking begonnen met Archiv Produktion. Hun nieuwste cd "Sonata pro tabula" bevat tafelmuziek om bij te watertanden. Samen met het Flanders Recorder Quartet speelt Musica Antiqua Koln werken van Valentini, Schmelzer en Pezel, steeds afgewisseld met een aantal "A due" voor twee trompetten van Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber.

A delightfull combination of well chosen program materials and expert recording techniques. Sabrina Frey and her companion musicians are top notch performers that serve a concert with well worked ensemble and group interplay.
I found the playing of Sabrina Frey most interesting. She commands her recorder with consumate skill. The works played (including 2 premières) are by Scarlatti, Sieber, Corelli, Valentini, Bononcini, and Marcello. Masters of the baroque form.

Nach dem Tod des Dresdner Konzertmeisters Johann Georg Pisendel 1755 ließ Kurfürstin Maria Josepha dessen musikalischen Nachlass aufkaufen. In der Dresdner Hofkirche, in einem großen Schrank mit der Nummer II, wurde der musikalische Schatz aus eigenen und fremden Kompositionen eingelagert und hat sich über die Jahrhunderte hinweg erhalten. Nur ein geringer Teil dieses Repertoires ist allerdings bislang gesichtet, geschweige denn eingespielt worden, so dass die Batzdorfer Hofkapelle mit einigen Weltersteinspielungen aufwarten kann.