Johann Sebastian Bach

+bonus DVD 25minutes

Andreas Staier on the Goldbergs.

"In the Goldberg Variations, Bach used the possibilities offered by the instrument's double keyboard. The work is totally suited to the harpsichord, whereas trying to play it on the piano is like attempting to square the circle." Andreas Staier

Andreas Staier waited nearly a quarter of a century to play the Goldbergs in public: his first performance of it was in Montreal at the end of April 2000. This is his first, long-awaited recording. Undoubtedly one of the most prominent harpsichord and forte piano performers in the world, Andreas Staier embarked upon a solo career in 1986 and, since then, his indisputable musical mastery has made its mark on the interpretation of baroque, classical and romantic repertoire. His extensive discography has won great critical awards from the international press: Mozart's Sonatas in two CDs, Haydn concertos with the Freiburger Barockorchester, Hamburg 1734 (with the German harpsichordist Christine Schornsheim). Recent releases have included Beethoven's violin sonatas with Daniel Sepec performing on Beethoven's own instrument and Schwanengesang with Christoph Prégardien on CD and DVD. The story about the Goldbergs’ composition is worth retelling: Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, one of Bach's brightest pupils, was working for Count von Keyserlingk of Dresden, who suffered from insomnia. Goldberg sometimes played all night to soothe the count. Bach was asked to write ‘quiet’ and ‘somewhat cheerful’ music for this purpose and he responded to the challenge brilliantly. A saraband theme, taken from a collection that Bach made for his wife, Anna Magdalena, is treated in a novel way. Rather than concentrating on the melodic line, Bach strengthens the bass line and harmonic structure. The variations are grouped in threes, with the third of each group being a canon. The 30th variation, the ‘Quodlibet’ is a lively juxtaposition of two popular melodies of the time. A composer of lesser genius would soon have become monotonous in attempting 30 variations in D minor, Bach, on the contrary, gives us an extraordinary range of expression.

“blessedly unreverential Bach, ebullient and extrovert, but also introspective and expressively searching when required.” The Guardian

This year, Ragna Schirmer is to be awarded her second ECHO Klassik prize. Her recording of all of Handel’s suites on 3 CDs stormed up the German classical charts and was hailed as the most spectacular release of this anniversary year. This is a reissue of her 2000 recording of the Golberg Variations which at the time had the press in raptures.

Another CD in the Portrait Series. The radiantly bright and supple soprano voice of Christane Oelze has made her into a Mozart singer par excellence. Her love of opera is matched by her commitment to sacred music and lieder. The versatility of her voice can be clearly heard in this exclusive collection.

Jochen Kowalski is one of the most charismatic and successful male altos of our time and has built up an unusually and wide-ranging and extensive repertoire. It is the dramatic quality of his voice which makes it special.

Baroque specialist Mira Glodeanu has studied and performed with Jordi Savall, Manfredo Kremer, and Sigiswald Kuijken as wellas performing as a soloist with La Petite Bande, Les Arts Florissants, La Fenice, Il Seminario Musicale, Il Gardellino, Arpeggiata, Le Poème Harmonique… She is regularly invited to lead the orchestra of Collegium Vocale Ghent, Les Agremens and Al Ayre Espagnol and has recorded over 30 discs with Philippe Herreweghe, Gerard Lesne,Veronique Gens,William Christie, Christophe Rousset, Sigiswald Kuijken… Her keen interest in French music of the 18th century lead her to rediscover the violin sonatas of Francois Francoeur, of which she has made a world première recording for Alpha "As for Mira Glodeanu, we find intact once again her fervour, her compelling sonority, her rustic bow, and her heightened sense of mood as evident in the drunkenness of the adagios as in the joys of the finales" (Diapason). She performs on a violin by Augustin Chappuy (Paris, 1750), preserved in it's original condition, and a rare violin by Marcin Groblicz (Krakow, 1604). Here she peforms the German Baroque solo violin repertoire.

To the vocal lines of arias and duets, Bach composed gorgeous violin obbligati. In this novel album, Hilary Hahn records these obbligati exclusively – an act of devotion no other virtuoso violinist has ever committed to disc

Sharing this album with Hahn are soprano Christine Schäfer and baritone Matthias Goerne, both also renowned Bach exponents

Numbers from such masterpieces as the St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor are rendered with an unearthly beauty and a reverence that add to this recording’s historical significance

In truth, this album features not two but three singers – Hahn elicits from her Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume tone as sung by a golden voice

This is Sophia Jaffé’s debut recording and has been made as a result of her being a prize winner in the German Music Competition. She was born into a family of musicians and is now an assistant professor of the violin.

The fourth volume in “The Flagstad Recitals” comprises two LPs Kirsten Flagstad made with the London Philharmonic and Sir Adrian Boult in December 1956 (Bach and Handel: CD2) and April 1957 (Sacred Songs: CD1) at London’s Kingsway Hall. The Penguin Guide to bargain Compact Discs praised the ‘sacred pops’ CD for the ‘vivid projection’ of Flagstad’s voice and singled out the ‘great majesty and weight’ of her voice. As with the sacred songs, the Bach and Handel items have a devotional aura of their own and this anthology is also unique for the first stereo publication of Bach’s aria ‘Sheep may safely graze’ and the first-ever publication of ‘Art thou troubled’ from Handel’s Rodelinda.

Some of the songs featured on ‘Great Sacred Songs’ made their way onto a 45rpm EP which was entitled “Songs for Sunday” – from which derives the title of this compilation. Flagstad’s own religious beliefs remain unexpressed in The Flagstad Manuscript – there are no pronouncements about morality per se or about the immortality of the soul. How she lived her life speaks for itself, however, and so do the performances on this CD: songs not just for Sunday for but every day.