Grosz Achtung Reuss

Fascinated by the viola, which he chose at the age of eleven after learning the violin for six years, Amihai loves the sound of his instrument, which is so close to the human voice. He also likes the ambivalence of its timbre, midway between the violin and the cello, which in a sense reflects his own musical education in Israel, with its combination of Mediterranean influences and Russian and Germanic traditions. Initially a quartet musician and founding member of the famous Jerusalem Quartet, Amihai Grosz now pursues a solo career while holding the post of principal viola of the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Exiled in the United States since October 1940, Bela Bartok was short of money and worn out by leukaemia. Nevertheless, a few weeks' respite from the disease in August 1943 enabled him to fulfil a commission from the conductor Serge Koussevitzky. For a fee of a thousand dollars, he quickly wrote the Concerto for Orchestra, which was to be premiered at Boston's Symphony Hall on 1 December 1944. Koussevitzky was very enthusiastic about the Concerto, even describing it as 'the best orchestra piece of the last 25 years'. It was the success of this score that prompted the violist William Primrose to ask the Hungarian composer to write a work for him. Bartok had little experience of the instrument and was only convinced when he heard the soloist perform the Walton Concerto on the radio. The score was initially planned in four movements, but the composer's death reduced it to three. Amihai Grosz (a founder member of the Jerusalem Quartet, now principal viola of the Berliner Philharmoniker) joins the Orchestre National de Lille and Alexandre Bloch for this recording.

Josquin des Prez was unquestionably one of the greatest composers of Renaissance Europe. His works generally fall into one of three principal categories: motets, masses, and chansons. While his masses and chansons are consistently remarkable, it was in his motets that Josquin gave full reign to his creativity. This release featuring Daniel Reuss and Cappella Amsterdam offers a selection of Josquin's secular homages and sacred polyphony, focusing on the title work, a setting of the Miserere, which became a model for many composers that followed. This is the first of three albums from Cappella Amsterdam devoted to Franco-Flemish masters of the Renaissance.

Johannes Brahms’ consolatory Ein deutsches Requiem receives a fresh and considered interpretation from Daniel Reuss and the Orchestra Of The Eighteenth Century. This renowned orchestra took the decision - following the death, some years back, of Frans Brüggen - to retain its founder’s dynamic process of alternating concert tours with recordings. Dispensing with the need for having a principal conductor, the orchestra now works with a range of musicians according to the repertoire being performed.

The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century continues its vibrant music-making journey, very much in the spirit of its late founder Frans Brüggen, with specially invited conductors. In order to tackle Beethoven's mighty 'Missa Solemnis', the orchestra formed a partnership with highly-regarded Daniel Reuss, who has recorded a sizeable number of critically-acclaimed choral masterpieces, many of them with Cappella Amsterdam. This fine Dutch chorus is possessed of all the right skills to climb this glorious mountain of a work; notably vocal agility and stamina. The chorus is joined by an outstanding quartet of soloists in Carolyn Sampson, Marianne Beate Kielland, Thomas Walker and David Wilson-Johnson. The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century has significant experience performing the music of Beethoven on period instruments (and its current concert schedule embraces the symphonies, piano concertos and Fidelio), all the more necessary with such a demanding work.