Pandolfis Consort

The US composer Stanley Grill was strongly influenced in his writing by his passion for music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. He already has a long-standing collaboration with the original sound ensemble Pandolfis Consort, and many of his works have been dedicated to the orchestra founded by violist Elzbieta Sajka-Bachler; the Pandolfis Consort's album "Und das Lied bleibt schön" now presents several works by the composer, who was born in New York in 1954. In alternating instrumentation with soprano Lisa Rombach and countertenor Nicholas Spanos, songs and song cycles based on poems mainly by R. M. Rilke, but also Heinrich Heine, Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger and Rose Ausländer are interpreted. In addition to these vocal works, there are also three songs without words for two violas, violoncello and theorbo on this recording.

Peter Lichtenthal, born Wolfgang Mayer in 1779 in Bratislava, was not only a physician, but also a composer and author, including of two Mozart biographies, to which high authenticity can be attributed due to his acquaintance with Constanze Mozart and his two sons Carl and Franz. As a great admirer of the genius Mozart, he created numerous transcriptions of Mozart’s works. On its first CD of a two-part series by the title “Doktor Lichtenthals MOZART”, which is now released, the Pandolfis Consort presents piano works by W.A. Mozart in arrangements by Lichtenthal. On period instruments, the Consort takes over the function of the entire orchestra as a string quartet in the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra no.20 in D minor, K466, featuring the Romanian pianist Aurelia Vişovan on the likewise historic fortepiano. The Fantasy for Piano no.4 in C minor, K475, and the Piano Sonata no.14 in C minor, K457, also included on the CD, were extended by Peter Lichtenthal with a cello part, which is interpreted by Günter Schagerl.

Works by Antonio Vivaldi by definition fall within the repertoire of an Ancient music ensemble such as Pandolfis Consort, which specializes in Renaissance and Baroque music. The fact that the orchestra, founded in 2004 by violist Elzbieta Sajka-Bachler, is now releasing a second album of motets and instrumental concertos by the Grand Master from Venice within just two years testifies on one hand to Vivaldi's rich oeuvre, but on the other hand to how much Vivaldi's compositional art is close to the hearts of the musicians.