New Musik's near-total lack of commercial acceptance is one of the great mysteries of early-'80s pop. Their music, rooted in classic pop songwriting but with a forward-looking interest in shiny electronics, is both instantly accessible and coolly forbidding. This dichotomy is most clearly expressed in the split between group leader Tony Mansfield's melodies, which are hummable, welcoming, and often quite bouncy, and his lyrics, which even Joy Division's Ian Curtis might have sometimes found a little too alienated.
Having released their debut album in 1980 and seeing modest success with the single 'Straight Lines', New Musik's sophomore album, released in early March of 1981, marked a maturing in the band's sound; one where the synthesizer would play a more predominant role in creating an atmosphere which lasts the duration of the album…
New Musik's debut album, From A to B, is one of the best - and most influential - electronic LPs of the '80s. Its keyboards may sound dated, but there's a freshness to these charming, unpretentious songs that hasn't been spoiled by technological advances in computerized instrumentation. Many new wave revivalists have attempted to capture the nerdy vocals and quirky synthesized bleeps of From A to B and failed. This record is a product of its time, recorded when keyboards were viewed as eventually replacing guitar and bass as rock & roll tools. While many synth pop groups became mired in existential woe to show that they had emotions underneath the layers of Casio hiccups, New Musik is having a blast on From A to B. "With robot precision/We're gonna be doin' just fine," sings Tony Mansfield (guitars, keyboards, vocals) with geek sincerity on the exhilarating "Straight Lines"…
The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin launches a series of Mozart symphonies to appear on Pentatone, starting with the composer’s “Paris” and “Haffner” symphonies. On this first album, the works are coupled with his enchanting Oboe Concerto – performed by the ensemble’s first oboeist Xenia Löffler – and the bold overture to Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Mozart’s own woodwind arrangement. Taken together, these pieces demon-strate the rich palette and expressive power of Mozart’s music in the period between 1777 and 1783, during which he finally managed to spread his wings and leave his hometown of Salzburg.
New Musik's near-total lack of commercial acceptance is one of the great mysteries of early-'80s pop. Their music, rooted in classic pop songwriting but with a forward-looking interest in shiny electronics, is both instantly accessible and coolly forbidding. This dichotomy is most clearly expressed in the split between group leader Tony Mansfield's melodies, which are hummable, welcoming, and often quite bouncy, and his lyrics, which even Joy Division's Ian Curtis might have sometimes found a little too alienated.
Having released their debut album in 1980 and seeing modest success with the single 'Straight Lines', New Musik's sophomore album, released in early March of 1981, marked a maturing in the band's sound; one where the synthesizer would play a more predominant role in creating an atmosphere which lasts the duration of the album…
The version submitted by Howard Arman for the Bavarian Radio Chorus is based on surviving Mozart sources as well as on Süßmayr's additions; in several places, however, it reaches new conclusions that are implemented with due caution and humble respect for Mozart's magnificent original. Mozart's Requiem is followed by Neukomm's Respond Libera me, Domine - and for musical, liturgical and chronological reasons, the programme begins with Mozart's Vesperae solennes de Confessore KV 339 (1780), composed of psalms from the Old Testament as well as the Magnificat from the Gospel of St Luke and composed for the liturgical festival of a holy confessor.
The award-winning Academy for Old Music Berlin celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2022 with "Paul Wranitzky: Symphonies". The Süddeutsche Zeitung praises it as "one of the very great ensembles of its kind". Since its founding in 1982, the ensemble has been one of the world's leading chamber orchestras for historical music and proves its versatility again and again with exciting concert projects and musical exploration.
After the double album of the violin and harpsichord sonatas with Kristian Bezuidenhout, a bestseller in 2018, here is the next instalment in the Bach recording adventure that began nine years ago with a set of the sonatas and partitas now regarded as a benchmark. Isabelle Faust and Bernhard Forck and his partners at the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin have explored patiently a multitude of other works by Bach: harpsichord concertos, trio sonatas for organ, instrumental movements from sacred cantatas… All are revealed here as direct or indirect relatives of the three monumental concertos BWV 1041-43.
The work of another relatively new antiquarian group, the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin, is altogether more interesting. Performing with no set director and alternating concertmasters, the academy applies fuller instrumentation to the suites and takes a compleatist approach to repeats.
The award-winning Academy for Old Music Berlin celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2022 with "Paul Wranitzky: Symphonies". The Süddeutsche Zeitung praises it as "one of the very great ensembles of its kind". Since its founding in 1982, the ensemble has been one of the world's leading chamber orchestras for historical music and proves its versatility again and again with exciting concert projects and musical exploration.
Le prestigieux Collegium Musicum créé par Telemann fut l'orchestre attitré de Bach lorsqu'il prit ses fonctions à Leipzig. Il put ainsi tester avec cette formation de nouvelles associations de timbres que l'on retrouve dans le Concerto pour clavecin BWV 1052, le Concerto pour piano forte en si bémol majeur et le Triple Concerto BWV 1044. Il s'agit parfois de transcriptions et d'adaptations, d'uvres originellement pour violon, mais le résultat est étonnant de brio et de force expressive. Il faut écouter ce fameux Triple Concerto pour flûte, violon, clavecin et cordes porté par les couleurs de l'Akademie für Alte Musik : on y retrouve l'impulsion rythmique, la richesse de tempérament du Concerto Brandebourgeois n° 5, un esprit de danse et de fête qui privilégient sans conteste le clavier.