Johann Sebastian Bach

Drawing together various previous releases from the Brilliant Classics collection, this compendium pays tribute to an instrument that was once at the forefront of everyday music making, tracing its extensive and highly fruitful career.

The lute counts among its writers some of the greatest names in music history, and indeed the anthology contains a large corpus of music by John Dowland – one of Britain’s most prolific Renaissance composers. His extraordinary varied music is accompanied by the likes of Henry Purcell, who rounds of the compilation, and by Johann Sebastian Bach, whose lute offerings represent the florid repertoire of the courtly salon music then in vogue. Interspersed between these big names, however, is a rich catalogue of works that are the missing links to understanding the development of lute music and of music in general; while Miguel Yisrael’s Les Baricades Mistérieuses programme recalls the dominance of the French school during the 17th century, Germany appears to have taken over as the new centre of European lute music by the mid‐18th century, as evidenced by the rich culture of music making at the court of Bayreuth (CD12).

Here a more galant, or cantabile expression of music was developing, and in Austria, too, lute music – particularly the lute trio – was seen as a precursor to the emergence of Viennese Classicism and the establishment of the new Empfindsamer style.The collection contains a wealth of lutenists, all of whom are at the top of their profession and enjoy international careers. Guaranteed to provide hours of engaging listening, this release records an essential but often‐overlooked facet of music history and is a must‐buy for anyone with an interest in string repertoire.

Absolute Ensemble and Kristjan Järvi are taking the initiative and are joining forces with acclaimed pianist Simone Dinnerstein to create and track Bach's famous inventions from their not-so-humble beginnings to an entirely new and unique development.

The album includes Tom Trapp's lively “Headless Snowman Encore” as a final track.

Kristjan Järvi designed the Absolute Bach Re-invented concert series in 2012 to showcase the multi-talented ensemble members who are also writers – among others guitarist Gene Pritsker, and saxophonist Daniel Schnyder.

Bach's famous inventions take an off-beat journey from Baroque to Rock through to Gypsy Folk and Hip Hop.

In their performance of what Järvi calls "music without borders," Absolute Ensemble weaves together numerous music genres, and ensemble members not only compose their pieces, but are often called upon to improvise during performances.

The Bach Reinvented concert tour featuring pianist Simone Dinnerstein took place in 2012 and included performances in Toronto, Ontario, New York City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Austin, Texas.

Not only violinists are eternally grateful to Antonio Vivaldi for the sheer abundance of concert works he bequeathed. The instrument he wrote for with the second greatest frequency is the bassoon (!), for which he created about forty concertos. Two of the most celebrated bookend Václav Vonášek’s debut recording and are supplemented by pieces by other 18th-century masters, J. S. Bach, C. P. E. Bach and G. F. Handel. Vonášek has primarily arranged for the bassoon compositions intended for the flute, as was customary in the Baroque period. They demonstrate the soloist’s exceptional qualities, for which he has garnered a number of accolades – first prizes at the International Double Reed Society competition (Melbourne, 2004) and the Prague Spring international competition (2009), third prize at the ARD Competition in Munich (2008). Václav Vonášek, accompanied by the distinguished young ensemble Barocco sempre giovane, makes the bassoon sing, unleashes a tempest and conjures up the dreamy atmosphere of the night...

The bassoon in the hands of a true master – virtuosic, colourful, enchanting.

Following on from their reissues taken from Helmut Rilling’s Complete Works of Bach, this 11-CD set takes the Complete Orchestral Works and packages them in a slimline style box set for the first time.

Apart from the famous Brandenburg Concertos and the concertos, this box set also includes reconstructions of works originally intended for other solo instruments, all of which are discussed in the extensive booklet essay on the possibilities and limits of musical reconstruction.

The musicians performing on this interesting set include early recordings from violinists Isabelle Faust and Christoph Poppen, plus the Oregan Bach Festival Orchestra and of course maestro Helmuth Rilling conducting the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart.

Released as part of Herr Rilling’s 80th birthday celebrations.

Jan Vogler is an internationally-known cellist and Echo prize-winner.

He is the General Director of the Dresden Musikfestspiele and founder and Artistic Director of the Moritzburg Chamber Music Festival.

His career has featured him with renowned conductors like Lorin Maazel, Fabio Luisi and internationally acclaimed orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago, Symphony Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and the Vienna Symphony.

The Suites for Cello are among the most popular works by J.S. Bach and represent a challenge for every cellist.

For the first time in his career Jan Vogler has performed the Suites for Solo Cello over two evenings at the MDR Music Summer in 2012. After his brilliant performances he decided to record all 6 Cello Suites.

Cries of ‘Vive Kl’empereur’ rang out in the Kroll Opera House after Klemperer’s first appointment as its director, conducting a concert of Bach and Mozart. This collection provides a wealth of the celebrated conductor’s Baroque and Classical repertoire, showcasing – at the forefront of the selection – Klemperer’s characteristically ‘unadorned’ Bach as well as his fiery interpretations of Haydn’s late symphonies. The set also includes Rameau’s Gavotte with Six Variations, Handel’s A minor Concerto Grosso and Gluck’s Overture to Iphigénie en Auilde.

Otto Klemperer was born on 14th May 1885 in Breslau, Silesia (now Wroclaw, Poland) and died on 6th July 1973 in Zurich, hence 2013 marks 40 years since his passing. He had had a remarkable career as a young man but it was at the age of 70 that he started a series of recordings that would not only establish him as an internationally renowned conductor but provide EMI with a catalogue of recordings that became and remain touchstones.

This collection contains the solo orchestral recordings that Klemperer undertook of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He recorded the Bach Orchestral Suites twice, the first in 1954, these appear on CD for the first time, and in 1969 whilst the recording of the Brandenburg Concertos date from 1960. Of Handel, he recorded No, 4 of the set of six Concerti Grossi Op. 6 in 1956.

The Classical period is represented in this collection by Franz Josef Haydn. In all Klemperer recorded 8 of his symphonies – 6 from the set written for Salomon’s London concerts, the once-called “Oxford”, supposedly written for the time he received an honorary degree from its university and the delightful No. 88. These recordings were made over the period from 1960 to 1971.

The works by the other two composers contained in this box are arrangements. Gluck composed his opera Iphigenia in Aulis in 1774 inspired by Euripedes’s last play written between 408 and 406BC, the year of his death. Richard Wagner made his arrangement at the end of 1846/beginning of 1847 in Dresden and it was this that Klemperer heard when Gustav Mahler conducted it in 1907 just a few weeks short of his 22nd birthday and this would serve as an inspiration for his entire career.

The work by Rameau was transcribed by Klemperer himself in 1967 and is a Gavotte in A minor with six doubles – or variations – taken from his Nouvelles suites de pieces de clavecin (c.1728). It was first performed with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in June 1968.