Christophorus Colombus

Pedro de Escobar (c. 1465-c.1535) was a composer of the same renaissance generation as Josquin, Isaac, Mouton and De La Rue. He was born in Porto, Portugal but was of Castilian ancestry; his work was in great demand in his time and he spent part of his working life in Spain, much of this in the service of the Catholic Queen Isabella I. His best-known works today are a Requiem Mass (recorded twice so far), a Magnificat setting and a handful of motets, but this present CD brings us the first recording of a complete ordinary Mass setting, simply titled ‘Missa 4v.’

The voice of countertenor Franz Vitzthum resounds with lightness and clarity: its almost ‘celestial’ quality appears completely free of all ballast. How appropriate therefore is this programme for Christophorus, in which the yearning for eternal life, when the shackles of mortal existence have been thrown off, was a central theme of the German Baroque period.

Georg Forsters fünfteilige Edition der ,Frischen Teutschen Liedlein' ist die wohl bedeutendste von Liedern in deutscher Sprache aus Sammlung der Hochrenaissance. Da mutet es schon seltsam an, dass bisher nur ganz wenige Einzelsätze aus dieser umfassenden Sammlung auf CD veröffentlicht wurden - eine CD, die sich ausschließlich dieser Sammlung widmet, liegt hier überhaupt zum ersten Mal vor.

It was Christoph Graupner who was selected as the Thomaskantor in Leipzig after Johannes Kuhnau, and it was only the fact that Graupners patron in Darmstadt did not let him go that Johann Sebastian Bach got the job! In fact Graupner was the more famous and more modern composer during those years, yet history almost forgot him for more than two centuries even having composed five times as many cantatas as Bach. An important and highly praised step in the re-discovery or Graupners music was already presented by the soprano Miriam Feuersinger and her ECHO Klassik awarded debut release on Christophorus together with the Capricornus Consort Basel. She is now joined by countertenor Franz Vitzthum for a new album of duo cantatas. This is music of great depth, with the two voices blending so well that sometimes they seem just one.

Sonny Stitt - At The Hi-Hat, Volume 2 (1954) {Roulette Official Digital Download rel 2002}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (qobuz.com) -> 208 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 139 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1954, 2002 Roulette Jazz / Parlophone UK / EMI Digital | 0724383720057
Jazz / Bop / Bebop / Saxophone

Sonny Stitt spent most of his career touring as a single, picking up rhythm sections wherever he appeared. On February 11, 1954, he was booked at the Hi-Hat in Boston and the local sidemen he came up with (pianist Dean Earl, bassist Bernie Griggs, and drummer Marquis Foster) were competent but undistinguished. That didn't matter much, though, because they were able to state basic chord changes, allowing Stitt to stretch out on standards and his riffing originals. Most unusual about this typical bebop jam is that in addition to his alto and tenor, Stitt triples on baritone (an instrument he otherwise only utilized on two songs for a Prestige date during this period).