The Habsburg Imperial Court was a melting pot of many different cultures in which the zest for living of southerners, the Slav melancholy, French formalism, Spanish courtliness and the original German-speaking Alpine cultural region intermingled. Together with his Ars Antiqua Austria ensemble, Gunar Letzbor occupied himself over a ten year period to produce this 10CD "Klang der Kulturen" box, a musical tour of the individual countries that formed the roots of and influences on the music of baroque Vienna, documenting them in live recordings, with each CD representing one country.
The legendary label, deutsche harmonia mundi, releases a special 50 CD boxset featuring star performers such as Hille Perl, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Dorothee Oberlinger, Simone Kermes, and Nuria Rial and more! This collection displays the sheer variety available from the dhm archive. A perfect collection ranging Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Romantic music.
Die vier Musiker stellen ihr Können in den Dienst eines intensiven, lebendigen Musizierens, das den klanglich und kompositorisch reizvollen Werken dieser CD zu adäquater Wirkung verhilft. Fazit: eine Sammlung von Repertoire-Raritäten des Hochbarock in einer exzellenten Interpretation auf einer CD, die auch aufnahmetechnisch keine Wünsche offen lässt.
The David harp is a type of harp from the German Baroque period. The figure of King David is usually depicted on the head of the harp column. The strings are fitted with brays, which gives this instrument a typical buzzing sound. In addition to the David harp, however, a number of other types of harp were used in baroque Germany, such as the single-row hooked harp, on which the pitch could be altered with hooks on the strings, or double-row chromatic harps.