Basel 3

Venezuelan sopranista Samuel Mariño presents his debut album Sopranista, showcasing his unique, delicate voice. Featuring beautiful Mozart & Gluck aria favourites written for castrati of the 18th century, many heard here recorded by a man for the first time along with world premieres and rarities by Cimarosa and Bologne, Chevalier de St-Georges.

A graduate of Pembroke College, Oxford, Reverend Richard Mudge (1718­-1763) was appointed curate of both Great and Little Packington in 1741. He may have been private chaplain to Lord Guernsey, who would later become the Earl of Aylesford. The family had significant musical connections, the best known being Handel's friend and librettist, Charles Jennens. In 1750, Mudge obtained a position at St. Martin's, Birmingham, where he became a popular preacher. In 1756, we find him in the post of rector at Bedworth, where he lived until his death. Even though Mudge's liturgical career is well documented, there is almost nothing pertaining to his musical pursuits.

Among the sacred works for voice and orchestra that feature in the present release, only the Requiem has any bearing on the duties that Fauré performed as choirmaster and organist at the Madeleine in Paris between 1877 and 1906. Practically all of the works that he wrote for the Madeleine included an organ accompaniment. Fauré found his duties at the church constricting. Even when he wrote his Requiem, which strikes such a singular note, it was to distance himself from the sort of liturgical music with which he was habitually involved. “As to my Requiem,” he explained in 1902 with reference to his most famous work, “I have also instinctively sought to escape from what is thought right and proper, after all the years of accompanying burial services on the organ! I know it all by heart. I wanted to write something different.” We should not forget that Fauré did not believe in God, which perhaps prevented him from blossoming as a church composer. Despite this, the present programme explores an interesting facet of his work.

The Basel Chamber Orchestra , which plays without a fixed conductor, is one of the most sought after ensembles of its kind in Europe. The musicians play Early Music on historic instruments and also perform a wide variety of Baroque works. In addition to their intense interest in the music of the past, the Basel Chamber Orchestra is involved in the world of contemporary music, and they commission new compositions every year.

Giulia Semenzato, already renowned for her interpretations of the Baroque repertory and her Mozartian roles, presents here her first solo album. The programme, entitled Angelica diabolica, is devoted to the female protagonists of Ludovico Ariosto, author of the epic poem Orlando furioso, whose emblematic figure is Angelica, a revolutionary heroine, ready to resort to any trick in order to regain her freedom. After the Baroque Rome of Luigi Rossi and his opera Il palazzo incantato (1642), we turn to the galant style of Naples with Nicola Porpora’s serenata Angelica (1720), then to Milan in 1702 with the warlike heroine of Bernardo Sabadini’s opera Angelica nel Catai, before a more melancholy take on the character by Agostino Steffani (1691).

"Antonini succeeds in nothing less than building a bridge between the historical, musical performance practice and the intellectual-historical tradition of this work … Strong singers are at his side." (Stereo) "One of the most exciting Beethoven recordings of our days" (Rondo) "Fresh as the first day: Giovanni Antonini knows how to make Beethoven's dramaturgy vivid." (Concerti) These are only a few of the many great reviews for the recordings of Beethoven's symphonies by Kammerorchester Basel (Basel Chamber Orchestra) under Giovanni Antonini. For Beethovens 250. anniversary year 2020, a 6-CD-Set of these "sensational recordings" (NDR) of Kammerorchester Basel is being released.