Stefan Henneken Solid

Stefan Pasborg is one of his generation’s most brilliant, inspiring and visionary musicians, and has within the last 20 years established himself as one of the most successful Danish instrumentalists.

Kraus' last and greatest works, the Symphonie funebre and Funeral Cantata for Gustav III, are fully able to stand with the best works in the forms of the period, as great as the late symphonies of Haydn and Mozart and, yes, even as great as the Requiem of Mozart. Written under the overwhelming personal and national tragedy of the assassination of the King of Sweden then at the peak of its cultural and national greatness, Kraus' funeral music is numb with shock and wild with grief, but always completely controlled, masterfully balanced, and profoundly moving. If there are only two works you ever listen to by Kraus, let them be these two works.

Vivaldi's work is extraordinarily profuse, and from his “extraordinary fury of composition” resulted a collection of 12 concertos, preserved in Paris since then, genuine jewels of Vivaldian music! However, for whom were they composed? The French Ambassador in Venice, Jacques-Vincent Languet, who made numerous commissions to Vivaldi in the 1720s? Perhaps as a magnificent gift to a visiting French music lover… Or perhaps François-Etienne, Duke of Lorraine and Bar? A fine music lover and musician, who in 1745 became Emperor Francis I of Austria, gave early protection to Vivaldi, who introduced himself in 1731 as “maestro di cappella di S.A.R. il Serenissimo Sig. Duca di Lorena”.

Vivaldi's work is extraordinarily profuse, and from his “extraordinary fury of composition” resulted a collection of 12 concertos, preserved in Paris since then, genuine jewels of Vivaldian music! However, for whom were they composed? The French Ambassador in Venice, Jacques-Vincent Languet, who made numerous commissions to Vivaldi in the 1720s? Perhaps as a magnificent gift to a visiting French music lover… Or perhaps François-Etienne, Duke of Lorraine and Bar? A fine music lover and musician, who in 1745 became Emperor Francis I of Austria, gave early protection to Vivaldi, who introduced himself in 1731 as “maestro di cappella di S.A.R. il Serenissimo Sig. Duca di Lorena”.