Johann Sebastian Bach

Alexandre Tharaud follows his dazzling album of Scarlatti sonatas with another fusion of modern and historically informed performance styles. Joining him in this new collection of Bach keyboard concertos is the dynamic period-instrument ensemble Les Violons du Roy, under its director Bernard Labadie.

Alexandre Tharaud leads the current generation of pianists who are both reclaiming Baroque keyboard music from harpischordists and integrating historically informed principles into their playing. Exemplifying this fruitful hybrid of modern piano and authentic style is Tharaud’s collaboration in five Bach concertos with one of North America’s most dynamic period-instrument ensembles, the Quebec-based Les Violons du Roy under its director Bernard Labadie.

The programme comprises four concertos for solo keyboard (1052, 1054, 1056, 1058) and also the concerto for four pianos, BWV 1065, in which – thanks to studio technology – Tharaud plays all four solo parts.

A bonus item is an arrangement of an arrangement: Tharaud and Labadie have adapted Bach’s transcription for keyboard of an Adagio written by the Venetian Alessandro Marcello (1669-1747). Tharaud describes it as “ a combination of Bach’s solo version and of Marcello’s version for oboe and orchestra – with me playing the oboe line”.

Bach was born in the same year as Domenico Scarlatti, the subject of Alexandre Tharaud’s last Virgin Classics album. As the French magazine Classica wrote of the Scarlatti collection: “Tharaud breaks with received ideas of Baroque repertoire and its interpretation … Wonderfully inspired in variety of touch, tonal precision, ornamentation and resonance. His concerns are not musicological … Above all he aspires to natural phrasing and a balance in the rhythms … His imperious virtuosity is never teasing or mannered … What matters to him is the evocation of colours, simplicity and sensuality. This is a disc to put you on cloud nine.”

In a similar vein, Diapason found that: “There is no question of imitating players whose instruments have plucked strings. Tharaud plays the piano in all its glory, with unbridled imagination. He inhabits the space unoccupied by harpsichordists and expanded by the resources of his own instrument,” while Classique Today judged the album “The most physical, sensual, epicurean Scarlatti you could imagine. His tonal perfection and extraordinary artistic freedom have given us one of the recordings of the year.” The Sunday Times stated that: “Tharaud relishes the rhythmic and melodic riches here. The playing and musicianship of this young Frenchman are dazzling throughout.”

The 2011 10-CD bargain boxes from harmonia mundi from the hm gold collection. We know from experience that these will sell out quickly: incredible price, limited edition, while stocks last.

Featuring the following discs, originally released between 1987 and 2005:

HMC901634/35 BACH Brandeburg Concertos / Akamus

HMC901298 CHARPENTIER / Te Deum / Arts Flos

HMU907010 HANDEL WaterMusick / McGegan

HMC901261 SCHÜTZ Musikalische Exequien / Herreweghe

HMC901684 BLOW Venus & Adonis / Jacobs

HMC901406/07 CORELLI Concerti grossi op.6 / Banchini

HMC901108 MONTEVERDI Ballo dell’ingrate / Christie

HMC901366 VIVALDI Sonate la Follia / Ens. 415

This is a welcome new disc from the brilliant Leopold String Trio, one of the stars in Hyperion’s chamber-music galaxy.

The Goldberg Variations stands as one of the greatest keyboard works ever written. Composed for a two-manual harpsichord, its universal musical language and distinct voicing has made it a popular subject for arrangement, including those for two pianos by Joseph Rheinberger, for woodwind quartet by Andrei Eshpai, for organ by Jean Guillou, and for solo guitar by József Eötvös, as well as the brilliantly re-imagined Gilded Goldbergs by Robin Holloway (recorded on Hyperion CDA67360). Dmitry Sitkovetsky’s arrangement was made in 1985 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Bach’s birth, and it is dedicated to the memory of Glenn Gould, whose celebrated 1955 Columbia recording of the Goldberg Variations became an instant best-seller and introduced a whole generation to this extraordinary music. Sitovetsky’s arrangement produces fascinating and delightful results, especially in this vigorous and sensitive performance from the Leopold String Trio.

The many faces of the guitar are explored by Sharon Isbin, hailed as “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time” and twice a Grammy Award winner. Its origins in the lute are acknowledged in the four graceful suites composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, while highlighting its Spanish connections are a sequence of Latin romances and Joaquín Rodrigo’s unforgettable Concierto de Aranjuez.

Solo works by such celebrated figures as George Gershwin, William Walton and Benjamin Britten represent the viewpoint from the USA and British Isles.

Christoph Ullrich has a very creative mind and has been involved in many projects with the TACET and EigenArt labels. He also works with school children to make classical music more accessible. Here he brings his fun approach to a very well known Bach composition. His playing is always organic and natural.

This 10 CD Limited Edition is released in preparation for René Jacobs’ 65th birthday on 30th October 2011 and features complete recordings for Sony Classical and dhm combined for the first time in a truly unique edition.

René Jacobs came to fame as a countertenor and in recent years has become renowned as a conductor of Baroque and early Classical opera. The Kuijken brothers, Gustav Leonhardt and Alfred Deller all encouraged him to pursue a career as a countertenor, and he quickly became known as one of the best of his time. He recorded a large amount of Baroque music by such composers as Antonio Cesti, d'India, Ferrari, Marenzio, Lambert, Guédron, William Lawes and others. He also sang in much-acclaimed recordings of Bach’s major works such as the St Matthew Passion led by Gustav Leonhardt, which is also included in this set.

More recently, as a conductor, Jacobs has recorded numerous operas and sacred and secular works of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. His recordings have won numerous awards, including a Grammy Award, Gramophone’s "Record of the Year", the “III Premio Traetta”, and numerous European awards.

Jacobs regularly conducts such orchestras and ensembles as Concerto Köln, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Freiburger Barockorchester, Nederlands Kamerkoor and RIAS Kammerchor for recordings and concert tours. In 1992, Jacobs was invited to conduct the Berlin State Opera.