Calefax Reed Quintet – Romantic Kaleidoscope (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/352,8kHz]

Calefax Reed Quintet – Romantic Kaleidoscope (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/352,8 kHz | Time – 01:15:06 minutes | 3,78 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Calefax

In the first fifteen years of its existence, Calefax performed just two works from the Romantic period: the brief and motoric, and as such rather un-Romantic Miniature Overture from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, and a suite of Franz Liszt’s late piano works. The latter typifies Calefax’s somewhat troubled relationship with Romanticism. While Liszt’s extremely sober late piano works are indeed rooted in the Romantic era, they were unmistakenly ahead of their time, pointing to the twentieth-century quest for a way out of tonality’s stranglehold.

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Calefax Reed Quintet & Eric Vloeimans – Dido & Aeneazz (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Calefax Reed Quintet & Eric Vloeimans – Dido & Aeneazz (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:21:09 minutes | 1,46 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone

Love is a rollercoaster, and so is this swinging new take on Virgil’s classical tragedy. Dido & Aeneazz is a recomposition of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas by Raaf Hekkema, combined with newly- composed music by Eric Vloeimans. The album showcases the congenial collaboration between the versatile reed players of Calefax and renowned trumpet player Eric Vloeimans. Dido & Aeneazz invites the listener to join a musical journey that virtuously flows from the baroque original to jazz, calypso and klezmer, and back.

Acclaimed in the Netherlands and abroad, the members of Calefax arguably invented a completely new genre: the reed quintet. After their successful PENTATONE debut with Hidden Gems, these gentlemen add yet another treasure to their discography.

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Calefax Reed Quintet – Hidden Gems (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Calefax Reed Quintet – Hidden Gems (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:06 minutes | 1,16 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone

Calefax is an internationally acclaimed ensemble of reed players renowned for performing their own arrangements and newly commissioned compositions for the unique combination of oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet and bassoon. Switching genres and periods with consummate ease, this adventurous new release for PENTATONE from the reed quintet Calefax is a superb collection of well-honed arrangements of less familiar works, all played with the ensemble’s customary verve, passion, and mellow sound. From the frothy virtuosity of Corelli and Locatelli to the haunting beauty of Gesualdo, Satie, and the heartfelt introspection of Nina Simone, it’s an astonishingly varied and intriguing programme. As well as pieces by Franck and Janáček, it includes one commission, Look for Me by Nico Muhly, based on an American folk song, and an arrangement of the Chinese popular song Er Quan Ying Yue. All these pieces have regularly featured in Calefax’s concerts and they fully showcase the ensemble’s versatility and mastery.

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Calefax Reed Quintet – Bach’s Musical Offerings (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Calefax Reed Quintet – Bach’s Musical Offerings (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:39 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone

The Dutch reed quintet Calefax celebrates 35 years of adventurous and versatile musicianship with a collection of Musical Offerings from Johann Sebastian Bach, arranged by the ensemble’s saxophonist Raaf Hekkema. Arthur Klaassens joins the ensemble on a lupophone and english horn for Musikalisches Opfer, the main course of this programme, as well as for the 14 Canons, BWV 1087, further expanding the ensemble’s sonic palette. The album concludes with Bach’s Canonic variations on Vom Himmel hoch. All nine know versions of the melody have found a place in Raafs arrangement, resulting in a many-coloured Christmas collage.

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