Concerto Köln

Carl Heinrich Graun was court composer to Frederick the Great of Prussia, and this opera was chosen to open the new opera house in Berlin in 1742. It was a great success, but Handel's opera on the same subject had appeared less than two decades before, and had anyone been familiar with that one, Graun's might have come as a disappointment. Handel gets under his characters' skins–Cleopatra's eight arias tell us everything we have to know about her, for instance–while Graun (merely) offers some beautiful, well-orchestrated, at-times exciting music. Any composer would have been proud to compose Cesare's heart-stoppingly vengeful last-act aria "Voglio strage", and any Read more mezzo (or castrato or countertenor) would be happy to sing it. Here, Iris Vermillion is spectacular, and elsewhere in the opera she's as heroic, romantic, and colorful as our hero ought to be.

Martin Frösts new album is a baroque adventure based on the question: What might Vivaldi have composed for the clarinet if it had been more fully developed? For this recording three clarinet concertos have been newly composed, made up of music drawn from Vivaldis most beautiful opera and oratorio arias. Performed on the mellow, songlike chalumeau the predecessor of the modern clarinet and the brilliant, virtuosic clarinet of today, Martin Fröst and Concerto Köln create a wonderful symbiosis between the old and the new.

Solemn A minor Largo precedes capricious A major Allegro di molto first movement with false recapitulation. Immediately corroborated is Newell Jenkins’s verdict that this symphony is ‘certainly one of the most curious and exceptional of all [Gaetano] Brunetti’s works’. Then there is his unique hallmark—of minuet and trio invariably discarded for a wind Quintetto (here in A) plus a trio for strings (A minor), both in 2/4. Revel in discovery.

Salieri's own autograph work-list contains the following entry: 'Two concertos for the pianoforte, written for two ladies." Unfortunately we do not know who these two ladies were. All that we can say for certain is that they must both have been technically accomplished and trained to the highest musical standards. Salieri's demanding concertos are distinguished in the main by their middle movements, traditionally the genre's most fertile field of experimentation.

After 1683, when Polish troops saved Vienna from a Turkish siege, Turkey was no longer a threat to Western Europe and became a symbol of the mysterious Orient. For European musicians, however, Turkey was less nebulous, as Turkish instruments (including drums, cymbals, and triangles) entered the European orchestra and composers emulated the sound of the Turkish military band. A charming introduction to eighteenth century musical Orientalism in Europe, this album features exquisite performances by Concerto Köln and Sarband, a traditional Turkish ensemble. The opening track, a scintillating rendition of the overture for Mozart's Oriental opera Die Entfuhrung as dem Serail, features traditional Turkish percussion that adds zest to the performance.

After 1683, when Polish troops saved Vienna from a Turkish siege, Turkey was no longer a threat to Western Europe and became a symbol of the mysterious Orient. For European musicians, however, Turkey was less nebulous, as Turkish instruments (including drums, cymbals, and triangles) entered the European orchestra and composers emulated the sound of the Turkish military band. A charming introduction to eighteenth century musical Orientalism in Europe, this album features exquisite performances by Concerto Köln and Sarband, a traditional Turkish ensemble. The opening track, a scintillating rendition of the overture for Mozart's Oriental opera Die Entfuhrung as dem Serail, features traditional Turkish percussion that adds zest to the performance.

Eberl was born in Vienna and studied piano and composition from several teachers, including Mozart. Besides being an outstanding composer, he was a pianist of the first rank and toured throughout Europe. He wrote well over 200 works and in nearly every genre. The opus numbers given to his works bear no relation to reality. Unfortunately most of his works have disappeared and only his chamber music has continued to receive contemporary performance, though three symphonies by Eberl were recorded by Concerto Köln in 1999. His Trio for Piano, Clarinet & Cello, Op.36 has been described by Professor Maurice Hinson as "one of the most valuable trios written for this combination during the classical period."

For the arch-Protestant Bach Family – as for German musicology in the 19th and early 20th centuries – through his conversion to Catholicism and his turning to Italian opera Johann Christian Bach was considerd the “black sheep” of the family. Prior to his brilliant career as an opera composer and impresario in London, from 1757 to 1760 he held the position of organist at the Milan Cathedral. During this period he composed numerous sacred works which are least well-known among the works of the youngest Bach son. Under the direction of Gerhard Jenemann, the renowned solo quartet centered around Joanne Lunn and Thomas E. Bauer, the Süddeutsche Kammerchor and Concerto Köln bring to light a completely unknown Johann Christian Bach and they make clear why the “London Bach” was also called the “Milan Bach.”

Saul is one of Handel's most action-filled, fast-moving oratorios; an opera in everything but name only. It has been lucky on disc–both Paul McCreesh (Archiv) and John Eliot Gardiner (Philips) have led superb readings, and Joachim Carlos Martini leads a good performance on Naxos, which is a bargain. Now René Jacobs and his remarkable Concerto Köln come along and offer a truly majestic reading, filled with real drama and beautiful, precise singing and playing. Tenor Jeremy Ovenden sings Jonathan with nobility and faces down Saul in Act II with style and power. David is sung by countertenor Lawrence Zazzo, and he's as good as the best-recorded competition (Andreas Scholl, Derek Lee Ragin). Emma Bell is ravishing as Merab; Rosemary Joshua makes a fine Joshua.