Stella

The music of Dietrich Buxtehude has gained increased recognition and popularity over the last few years, not in the least due to the invaluable work of pioneers like Ton Koopman (Complete Buxtehude Edition) and others.The great Johann Sebastian Bach valued his music highly, and considered him one of the most important composers before him (and from whom he learned the most!).

Dietrich Buxtehude (c.1637–1707) spent his career working as an organist in churches, but was also a prolific composer of secular instrumental music and wrote far more for harpsichord than most composers of his era. Buxtehude’s position in Lübeck and fame as an organist brought him into contact with many of the greatest musicians of his day, and his style demonstrates the variety of musical influences that he was exposed to, particularly from German and Italian repertoire, which he combined to create a unique personal style.

The passion that is the root of Stella Almondo’s character permeates this first studio recording. Born in Monaco in 2006, a disciple of Amédée Briggen in Nice, then of Igor Lazko in Paris, Stella Almondo proclaims here her unconditional love of music, an art that she perceives as the quintessence of love and which allows her to explore in depth, as she did from a very young age, the bewildering diversity of emotions and human experiences. Throughout this recital, Stella Almondo delights in the most lyrical moments, her crystalline sound radiating in majestically deployed phrases. The fierce energy of her playing, the fluidity of the musical impulses are felt throughout this album, played with conviction and sincerity. This program, which weaves together works by three great composers born in Imperial Russia in the second half of the 19th century, pays homage to the music, this universal language which, through the exaltation the inner world of man, the elevation of the soul, becomes a vehicle for the expression of passionate feelings.