Xenia

In 1906, Komitas gave a concert and lecture in Paris. Debussy came on stage after the concert and knelt before the Armenian composer (who was also a priest, a singer and a pioneer of ethnomusicology), exclaiming: ‘I bow before your genius, Reverend Father.’

The Ensemble Inspirimus founded by Xenia Jankovic, plays in many different formations. On this album it is a group of eight successful cellists, all of whom are currently students of Prof. Jankovic at the Detmold University of Music in Germany. During the pandemic in 2021, the extreme situation of the lockdown welded this wonderful group of enthusiastic young musicians into the strong ensemble that they are, full of inspiration and spirit.

Georg Pisendel, a minor composer of the German High Baroque, was also the concertmaster at the Dresden court and compiled a library of instrumental music containing pieces that have not been preserved anywhere else. During the Seven Years' War they were placed in the "Schrank No. II" (Cupboard No. 2) of the court church, pictured on the cover, for safekeeping, and there they remained for more than two centuries. Among them is a Handel Trio Sonata in C minor for oboe, violin, and continuo, HWV 386a, that was later published in Amsterdam with different instrumentation. It's an attractive specimen of Handel's early style.