Andreas Saier

Andreas Vollenweider's Grammy-winning effort is dominated by the Swiss musician's electrically modified harp. Its distinctive sound runs throughout the album, supported by the usual tinkering synthesizer effects and light percussion. After an extended introductory interlude, the title track zips into a vaguely Caribbean-styled rhythm. "Water Moon" features a different, more organic harp sound; it's mixed with the windy tones of a flute, suggesting ghostly moonshafts lancing through falling rain. Vollenweider plays the harp strings off of guitar strings on the surprisingly twangy (for new age, anyway) "Drown in Pale Light." The composer weaves the album's instrumentals together with a goody bag of pan-ethnic influences; the album's margins are full of these little touches that nevertheless make a big difference. Down to the Moon will appeal to anyone looking for music that's as interesting as it is soothing.

Johann Sebastian Bachs organ artistry made a powerful impression in St. Catherines Church when he applied for the coveted organists post at the Principal Church of St. James in Hamburg in 1720. Since Bach, unlike his rival, was unwilling to contribute the immense sum of four thousand marks as his dowry, he did not prevail but instead found a new job in Leipzig a few years later. In Leipzig he initially discharged other duties before he again came forward as an instrumental composer with a dazzling cycle of organ chorales in 1739. Andreas Fischer has freshly recorded this Third Part of the Clavierübung on his very own St. Catherines organ certainly in a rendering that would have brought joy to Bach, who could not praise enough this instrument outstanding in every respect.

This disc collects a great variety of performances recorded for the Decca label by German-born countertenor Andreas Scholl, who says that the high male voice in which he sings is something he produces naturally, not something he specially cultivates. He makes you believe it. The diverse program is logically organized, with Baroque arias of various kinds surrounding a central core of quieter material, and sonically Decca has made a convincing whole out of material with various producers and recording locales.

Selections from "Trilogy", "Down to the Moon", "Dancing with the Lion", "The Book of Roses" and "Eolian Minstrel", performed live by Vollenweider and his collaborators in concert tours from 1992 through 1994. This 2-CD set also includes an additional nine tracks of previously unreleased material done in a similar style to the cuts on the aforementioned albums - a wonderful bonus for fans of vintage Vollenweider. It's nice to hear the in-concert variations and improvisations of old favorites, and how gratifying also to hear all the live cheers and applause for this truly amazing artist and his repertoire of uniquely fascinating compositions.

This compilation includes Andreas Vollenweider's first three albums, the new composition "Pace Verde," and selections from 1984's Eine Art Suite. While it's Vollenweider's trademark electric harp playing that unifies these songs, the composer features numerous other instruments, including acoustic guitar, accordion, and the ever-present synthesizers. "Trilogy"'s extended intro of hushed voices and shuffling feet gives way to raindrop percussion before a song seems to emerge out of the ether, featuring crisp snare drum and a dreamy melody plucked out on Vollenweider's modified instrument…

This musical journey takes its title from one of William Corbett's Bizzarie universali, a set of concertos which, in truth, owe much more to the Italian tradition than to the Iberian peninsula.

How might one combine the worldly elegance of a Chopin with the so very 'heavy' chromaticism of Wagner's Tristan? Felix Blumenfeld, today almost entirely forgotten as a composer, knew the answer to this question - as his Prélude op. 17, No. 19 impressively demonstrates. However, before this so very original gem, which is only one of the highlights on our Blumenfeld CD, concludes this program, Karl-Andreas Kolly has a whole series of other surprises ready that will make the hearts of fans of Russian piano virtuosity and other interested listeners beat a little faster.

The composer Friedrich Gernsheim, who was highly respected during his lifetime, is largely unknown today. Yet, especially in his choral compositions, he broke away from traditional ideas of form at an early stage and was thus ahead of many of his contemporaries. With this recording, Tristan Meister and Vox Quadrata have set themselves the goal of bringing the forgotten choral works of the Jewish composer back into the public consciousness.