Camerata Bern

Anna Prohaska, Patricia Kopatchinskaja & Camerata Bern – Maria Mater Meretrix (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · May 5, 2023 · Comments off

Soprano Anna Prohaska and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja are both well known for their taste for eclecticism, experimentation and adventure. As they are also are friends, it was only to be expected that one day they would devise and record a programme together, and here it is: Maria Mater Meretrix… What is the relationship between Hildegard von Bingen and Gustav Holst, Antonio Caldara and Lili Boulanger? The two musicians and their partners in Camerata Bern explore the image of woman through ten centuries of music: the figure of the Virgin Mary – among other works, the triptych Magnificat – Ave Maria – Stabat Mater (1967/68) by Frank Martin, an unclassifiable composer whom both artists venerate – but also Mary Magdalene, in pieces by Caldara and Kurtág. The Saint, the Mother, the Whore… The expression of two women musicians of today, a journey full of meaning and a sensory exploration featuring solos, duets, quartets and works for large orchestra.

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Heinz Holliger, Camerata Bern, Alexander van Wijnkoop, Thomas Füri – Graun, Krebs, Telemann: Oboe Concertos (2004) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · February 22, 2023 · Comments off

Heinz Holliger, Camerata Bern, Alexander van Wijnkoop, Thomas Füri – Graun, Krebs, Telemann: Oboe Concertos (2004)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:14:55 minutes | 1,36 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Archiv Produktion

In its time, the high Baroque oboe concerto was the ne plus ultra of the virtuoso, the sin qua non of the soulful, and the denier cri of the tuneful. But times change and for all but the most epicurean of the cognoscenti, the oboe concertos of Johann Gottlieb Graun, Johann Ludwig Krebs, and Georg Philipp Telemann are at best terra incognito and at worst nearly persona non grata. In his day, Heinz Holliger was the crème de la crème of oboe virtuosity, the apex, the acme, and the essence of the metaphysical quintessence of oboe virtuosity. So great was Holliger’s celebrity that, after he had finished recording the oboe concertos of Mozart, Bach, and Strauss, he was allowed to record the oboe concertos of Graun, Krebs, and Telemann.

Of course, Holliger’s performances are terrific. Beyond the fact that he is a supreme oboe virtuoso, Holliger is a supreme musician, and he makes the most convincing case possible for the music. And the music of Graun, Krebs, and Telemann is terrific, too, virtuosic, soulful, and wonderfully tuneful. The accompaniment by the Camerata Bern under both Alexander van Wijnkoop and Thomas Furi is attentive and supportive. In its time, Archiv’s late stereo sound was superlative and this digital remastering improves the superlative.

“the elegance and intelligence of his playing remain peerless, and the qualities that made him the greatest oboist of the 20th century are obvious as ever.” (The Guardian)

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Camerata Bern, Antje Weithaas – Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto & String Quartet No. 3 (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · November 3, 2022 · Comments off

“Admittedly, it is quite exceptional for an orchestra and a soloist to record the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto without a conductor. Some members of Camerata Bern were less worried about this project; others – including myself – had their misgivings at first.

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Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Sol Gabetta, Camerata Bern – Plaisirs illuminés (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · October 24, 2022 · Comments off

Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Sol Gabetta, Camerata Bern - Plaisirs illuminés (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

This recording presents the double concerto for violin, cello and orchestra of the Spanish composer Francisco Coll, born in 1985. Les Plaisirs illuminés, a title inspired by Dalí’s painting of the same name, is rooted in Spanish traditions, including flamenco, yet is resolutely modern: ‘Its music is very lively rhythmically, it dances and sings – but at the same time it is very abrupt, always in search of extremes’, says Patricia Kopatchinskaja.,For this world premiere conducted by the composer, she is reunited with a longstanding partner who pursues an equally brilliant international career, the cellist Sol Gabetta.

The programme also features the Musica concertante for twelve strings by the Hungarian-born Swiss composer Sándor Veress, premiered by the Camerata in Bern in 1966. A year earlier, the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera wrote his fascinating Concerto for Strings. A kaleidoscope of colours and sounds from all over the world.
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Patricia Kopatchinskaja & Camerata Bern – Time & Eternity (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · October 10, 2022 · Comments off

Time and Eternity. Always in search of powerful musical experiences, the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Camerata Bern – of which she has just taken over the artistic direction – here juxtapose Hartmann’s Concerto funebre, composed in 1939 to express his indignation at the Nazis’ terror, and the Polyptyque for violin and orchestra that Frank Martin wrote in 1973 for Yehudi Menuhin, a work inspired by six scenes from the Passion of Christ painted by Duccio di Buoninsegna around 1310. The Kyrie from Machaut’s Messe de Nostre Dame, composed half a century after the altarpiece and heard here in an arrangement for strings, is interspersed between the movements, along with Bach chorales, ‘as an invocation of eternal consolation’. A Polish folksinger interprets the Jewish song ‘Eliyahu hanavi’, which expresses the hope of salvation and which Hartmann quotes in his concerto. Six hundred years of music to ‘make the victims’ voices heard’, says Patricia Kopatchinskaja. The album opens with Kol Nidrei by John Zorn (born 1953), in response to the eponymous prayer spoken by a representative of the Jewish community. A Catholic priest and an Orthodox priest also say a short prayer.

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Heinz Holliger, Erich Höbarth, Camerata Bern – Johann Sebastian Bach: Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis (2011) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 22, 2022 · Comments off

Heinz Holliger, Erich Höbarth, Camerata Bern - Johann Sebastian Bach: Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis (2011) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

Heinz Holliger, Erich Höbarth, Camerata Bern – Johann Sebastian Bach: Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis (2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 59:03 minutes | 606 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © ECM New Series

A recording to delight all admirers of Bach and the baroque oboe and a wonderful account of Heinz Holliger’s interpretive genius as a player: for many, he is the world’s greatest oboist. Factor in the long-established relationship between the Camerata Bern and Holliger which permits a real group understanding, Erich Hobarth’s exemplary violin, and superb ECM sound and we have here a special event. Holliger has recorded prolifically for the New Series, but this is his first disc for the label since the 1997 “Zelenka” album to address core classical repertoire, and these very popular pieces will find a broad public response.
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Antje Weithaas, Camerata Bern – Brahms: Violin Concerto & String Quintet, Op. 111 (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · June 29, 2022 · Comments off

Antje Weithaas, Camerata Bern - Brahms: Violin Concerto & String Quintet, Op. 111 (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Antje Weithaas, Camerata Bern – Brahms: Violin Concerto & String Quintet, Op. 111 (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:09 minutes | 1,19 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © CAvi-music

‘….We tackled the challenge of performing and recording without a conductor. Of course, when I otherwise perform this concerto with a conductor, I intensely learn and think through the orchestra part in my head. It is a challenge I am aware of, and I thus probably would never have had dared to perform this concerto without a conductor. But since I’ve often performed the Beethoven Concerto with the Camerata Bern without a conductor, I started thinking that the Brahms Concerto just might work as well. Over the past 7-9 years we have become so well-acquainted with one another on a musical and personal level that by now we manage to communicate with blindfolds on. I probably would not have dared to embark on this adventure with any other ensemble. The most important thing is that each musician should remain in a “chamber music” attitude while providing the necessary symphonic energy and assuming his/her share of responsibility…. ‘ from the liner notes by Antje Weithaas.
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