Reinhard Goebel, Musica Antiqua Köln Concerti 'per L'orchestra di Dresda'

« On retrouve…le même élan, cette beauté sonore, cette profonde musicalité »… »la musique émouvante, déchirante jusqu’au dernier soupir. Le théâtre n’est pas loin, mais le drame se dessine à l’opposé de tout excès, de toute solllicitation dramatique ou émotive. Nigel Rogers chante…avec un sens de la prosodie, une clarté d’élocution et une sobriété de la ligne musicale ». –Opéra International

During the first half of the eighteenth century the Dresden court orchestra enjoyed international renown. Its excellence was on a par with those at Berlin, Paris and Vivaldi’s orchestra of ladies at the Pieta in Venice. The Enlightenment philosopher and amateur musician, Rousseau, rated it the most accomplished and best organized ensemble in Europe – and he had heard most of the competition. The Dresden achievement was largely thanks to Pisendel, who directed the court orchestra for over a quarter of a century and whose prowess as a violin virtuoso was probably unrivalled in Germany during his lifetime. Pisendel travelled, he knew Vivaldi and doubtless many other foreign musicians too, and he amassed a considerable number of their compositions which he copied or brought back with him to Dresden.

Telemann was known to play a variety of wind instruments and composed numerous inspired compositions for seemingly every combination of them. Arguably the most intriguing selection here is the Concerto for two Chalumeaux - a rarely heard distant relative of the clarinet. Every work throughout this generous program is melodically rich and expertly-crafted (par for the course with Telemann) and the Musica Antiqua Koln deliver knowing animated original instrument performances guaranteed to delight all Baroque fans. Great sound too!

Such uplifting lively performances. Musica Antiqua Köln plays brilliantly to brings these Secular Cantatas to life.

Heinichen's Dresden Concertos created quite a stir when they were first released a couple of years ago, and for good reason. This is vital, colorful music scored for a large and varied ensemble. Like most composers of his day, Heinichen spent the majority of his compositional talent in the service of vocal music, for either the opera house or church. These pieces represent his only surviving set of concertos, and anyone who enjoys, for example, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos or the orchestral works of Zelenka will certainly want to hear these as well. These performances are simply the last word in style and virtuosity.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 not only opened the border to the West for seventeen million East Germans; it also allowed art lovers and researchers to gain access to the rich cultural treasures housed in Central European museums and libraries. As director of Musica Antiqua Koln, Reinhard Goebel was constantly on the lookout for musical treasures from the Baroque for his ensemble to perform. So he did not mingle with the souvenir hunters along the length of the Berlin Wall but headed straight on the treasure trail to Dresden. It was here in the 18th century that culture had enjoyed a golden age unprecedented in Germany thanks to the tireless patronage of Augustus the Strong and his successor: an active building programme turned the Saxon capital into the Florence on the Elbe immortalized in the wonderful canvases by Bernardo Bellotto (Canaletto).

Nach der atemberaubenden Einspielung der Concerti grossi nun ein Blick in das umfassende geistliche Schaffen Johann David Heinichens, jenes am Dresdner Hof des kunstsinnigen August des Starken tätigen Kompositeurs, um dessen Stelle sich 1733, vier Jahre nach Heinichens Tod, ein gewisser J. S. Bach aus Leipzig — vergeblich — bewarb.

Donna, che in ciel di tanta luce splendi is a full-length cantata and the masterpiece in this recital. The introductory Sinfonia captures attention imperatively with its grandeur and turbulence. Then the succession of recitatives and arias, unfailingly alive with dramatic imagination, provides superb opportunities for the singer, all of which are taken here with well-grounded eagerness.

Georg Philipp Telemann's string concertos position themselves somewhere between the polyphonic complexity of the Bach orchestral sinfonias, the urbanity of Handel's concerti grossi, and Vivaldi's innumerable and endlessly delightful works of this type. But his approach always remained the most international as well as the most local. Two of these concertos, for example, exemplify the "Polish" style appropriate for the Electors of Saxony (Telemann's employers, who were also kings of Poland), with their folky rhythms and groaning bass parts.

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.