Freiburger Barockorchester, Vox Luminis & Lionel Meunier – Bach & Telemann: Himmelfahrt (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:04:59 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alpha Classics
Vox Luminis has teamed up with the Freiburger Barockorchester again, and together they celebrate music for Ascension Day. This topic inspired great composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, four of whose Ascension cantatas have been preserved. The festive and colourful Cantata BWV 128 was composed towards the end of Bach’s second year in Leipzig. The Ascension Oratorio BWV 11 was written for larger forces and ends with a triumphant chorus. In the case of Georg Philipp Telemann, more than thirty cantatas for Ascension Day alone have survived. The cantata Ich fahre auf zu meinem Vater (I ascend unto my Father) was composed in 1721 and receives its world premiere recording here. Lionel Meunier’s ensemble and the FBO give a fervent rendering of this captivating music with its texts focusing on the afterlife.
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Kristian Bezuidenhout, Freiburger Barockorchester, Pablo Heras-Casado – Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 2 & Symphony No. 1 (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:02:59 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
Mendelssohn’s first symphonic work scored for full orchestra, the Symphony op. 11 in C minor paved the way for even greater examples of the genre he was soon to produce. The concert overture Die schöne Melusine and the sparkling Piano Concerto No. 2 rely on the type of orchestration and harmonic language which are best served when played on period instruments, as heard here. Devoid of the atmosphere of Romantic doom and gloom, nearly every page of both scores is marked by an exuberant cheerfulness, youthful drive, and irrepressible energy.
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Kristian Bezuidenhout & Freiburger Barockorchester – Mozart: Piano Concertos K. 238 & 503 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 50:01 minutes | 895 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
From the youthful Concerto no.6 (1776) to the almost testamentary Concerto no.25 (1786), Mozart’s style underwent considerable evolution. In ten years, the young prodigy gave way to a master fully aware that he was opening up new horizons for the genre. With this fourth album in their series, Kristian Bezuidenhout and the Freiburger Barockorchester continue their exploration of a corpus visited so many times before; but with them, we have the impression we are rediscovering each note as if it were the first time.
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Jean-Guihen Queyras, Freiburger Barockorchester, Petra Müllejans – Haydn: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 – Monn: Cello Concerto (Remastered) (2004/2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:08:40 minutes | 697 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
In 2004, Jean-Guihen Queyras and the Freiburger Barockorchester offered us a prodigious interpretation of Haydn’s two cello concertos, coupled with a rare concerto by Georg Matthias Monn, a pioneer of the genre. A version now recognized as a landmark in the discography.
“A sense of seemingly effortless bravura to [Queyras’] playing, as well as superb technical control and intelligence. An extremely attractive proposition.” – International Record Review
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Freiburger Barockorchester – Beethoven für Kinder: Prometheus (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 33:34 minutes | 550 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © deutsche harmonia mundi
Ludwig van Beethoven’s music and the myth of Prometheus are not suitable for children’s ears? Far from it!
The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra presents a child-friendly arrangement of Beethoven’s ballet music “The Creatures of Prometheus”. The children’s project “Prometheus”, arranged by Christoph Teichner and conceived by Carolina Nees, focuses on the inner turmoil of the title character, who created two people. But now he is asking himself the questions of what a person needs and what he should be able to do. Fortunately, he does not have to answer these questions all by himself, but receives help from the lovely muses and other gods. So Prometheus can face the difficult task and will definitely find the right answers.
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Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Alexander Melnikov, Pablo Heras-Casado, Freiburger Barockorchester – Schumann: Violin Concerto, Piano Trio No.3 (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:01:36 minutes | 1,05 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
In the autumn of 1851 Schumann composed, in rapid succession, the two violin sonatas and, in the space of just seven days from 2 to 9 October, the Piano Trio no.3, Op.110. As always during his work, Schumann was oblivious to everything around him, neglected social obligations, and isolated himself – even from Clara. ‘Robert is working very assiduously on a trio for piano, violin, and cello,’ she confided to her diary, ‘but he won’t let me hear anything of it until he has quite finished it – all I know is that it’s in G minor.’
This trio, like all his other chamber works with piano, was tailor-made for Clara to play and right from the first rehearsal session in the domestic circle she went into a veritable frenzy of delight: ‘It is original, absolutely full of passion, especially the scherzo, which sweeps one away to the wildest depths’, Just a little bit of that same enthusiasm would probably have spared the Violin Concerto a great deal of opprobrium: Clara witheld the score, as did the dedicatee, Joachim. It was finally premiered in Berlin on 26 November 1937, more than 80 years after it was composed, with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Karl Böhm and the violinist Georg Kulenkampff. Yehudi Menuhin had the privilege of making the first commercial recording, produced in the following year, 1938, with the New York Philharmonic under its British principal conductor John Barbirolli.
This first volume in a trilogy comprising the complete concertos and piano trios of Schumann brings together two late and unjustly neglected works. The instigators of the project, Isabelle Faust, Alexandre Melnikov and Jean-Guihen Queyras, champion their cause with a force of conviction and a choice of instruments that restore the delicate transparency and subtlety of their textures. The next release will be of the Piano Concerto and Piano Trio No. 2.
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RIAS Kammerchor, Freiburger Barockorchester, Rene Jacobs – W.A. Mozart: Don Giovanni (2007)
3x SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 170:33 minutes | Scans + PDF Booklet | 8,26 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans + PDF | 3,01 GB
The playful drama in two acts | Features Stereo and Multichannel surround sound
If there is one thing that marks out René Jacobs’s approach to Mozart, it is the way he constantly asks himself questions – and the specifically musical brilliance of the answers he comes up with. The success of his recent version of La clemenza di Tito is proof of that! After Così fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro, his recording of this centrepiece of the Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy offers us the latest fruits of his reflections on Classical opera. Premiered at the 2006 Innsbruck Festival and recorded shortly afterwards, this production is nourished by his thoughts on Don Giovanni as taboo-breaker and on a ‘physiology of roles’ that respects Mo art’s intentions as nearly as possible. This SACD set contains the arias of both versions created by Mozart (Prague 1787, Vienna 1788).
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René Jacobs, Freiburger Barockorchester – Mozart: La finta giardiniera, K. 196 (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 03:05:11 minutes | 3,23 GB | Genre: Classical, Opera
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
‘La finta giardiniera’ has long been one of the lesser-known operas of the young Mozart, perhaps because the original Munich version, sung in Italian, quickly disappeared from the repertoire until it was revived in German from 1779 onwards.
A posthumous version from 1796 displays skilful reorchestration: extremely ‘symphonic’ and typical of late Mozart – to such an extent that numerous specialists have thought they detected the composer’s own hand. It is this so-called ‘Námest’ version that is recorded here by René Jacobs, who sees in this amazingly lively opera “a very ancient form of theatre, which blithely mingles farce with great passions (…) and elements typical of a ‘modern’ initiatory opera”. René Jacobs reputation in the operas of Mozart is unsurpassed and this major rediscovery is a priority for the Autumn. The luxury packaging includes an essay on the Prague score and the customary scholarly notes from René Jacobs on his performing version.
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Freiburger Barockorchester & Pablo Heras-Casado – Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7 “Unfinished” (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 52:26 minutes | 904 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
If the shadow of Mozart still haunts Schubert’s Symphony no.5, the Seventh (in no way ‘unfinished’ in the eyes of its creator) already looks far into the future. Pablo Heras-Casado and the musicians of the Freiburger Barockorchester lead us towards that Romantic élan. Their flexible approach, keen and swift in the earlier symphony, making room for shadows and mystery in its successor, meets the challenge of bringing out the contrast between these ‘two Schuberts’, here more audible than ever.
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Matthias Goerne, Freiburger Barockorchester, Gottfried von der Goltz – Bach: Cantatas for Bass (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 56:39 minutes | 1005 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
Here’s a repertoire that everybody knows about yet is completely neglected: the Bach cantatas. Granted a few have gained some importance, mostly thanks to the vocal qualities of singers who have seized it for a few decades – Fischer-Dieskau and Elly Ameling to name a few – while some complete works adorn aficionados’ collections. There is however enough content in these cantatas to “make up” about a dozen Passions or Oratorios on par with some of those we already know. Bach himself didn’t refrain from drawing from them to recycle arias, ensembles, choirs and sinfonias. Among some of the most famous, honoured in the 1950s by Fischer-Dieskau, are two cantatas for baritone: Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen (1726) and Ich habe genug (1727), both written with oboe and string accompaniment. It’s precisely with this roster in mind that the Freiburger Barockorchester serves Matthias Goerne, a disciple of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and… Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, him again! The German baritone, a regular on the world’s most prestigious scenes, doesn’t refrain from lending his immense voice to this almost-chamber music by giving it a character far removed from the lyrical style required by Berg, Wagner or Strauss. In addition, still with the oboe in mind, the recording includes the Concerto in A Major for Oboe d’amore BWV1055R, a modern reconstruction from a keyboard concerto in A major, which there is every reason to believe was itself recycled by Bach from an older concerto for oboe d’amore. The remarkable Katharina Arfken plays the oboe for the cantatas and the oboe d’amore for the concerto.
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Freiburger Barockorchester, Gottfried von der Golz – Mozart’s Mannheim (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:16 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
The Freiburger Barockorchester and Deutsche Grammophon inaugurate their new partnership with an album of works related to the famous Mannheim court orchestra. The recording captures the spirit of a city whose musical life had a lasting impact on the young Mozart. ‘Mozart’s Mannheim’ pairs precious little-known rarities with works Mozart wrote during his formative visit to Mannheim.
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Freiburger Barockorchester – Bach: Brandenburg Concertos – Freiburger Barockorchester (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:30:53 minutes | 496 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © EuroArts Music International
When Bach was in the service of Prince Leopold in Coethen, he had his own orchestra and was contracted to compose a great deal of instrumental music. This gave him an opportunity to try new techniques and to develop his own instrumental style. The six Brandenburg Concertos belongs to these masterpieces for a small ensemble.
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Kristian Bezuidenhout, Freiburger Barockorchester & Pablo Heras-Casado – Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5 “Emperor” (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:03:28 minutes | 1,08 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
Beethoven’s five piano concertos relate, in a sense, part of the composers life: some twenty years during which a young musician from Bonn made several revised versions of the first concerto he wrote (a springboard to Viennese success that ended up being called no.2), before becoming the familiar Emperor of music embodied by the brilliant inspiration of no.5. Two hundred and fifty years after his birth, it is with these two extremes that Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado and the Freiburger Barockorchester have chosen to start an exciting period-instrument trilogy of the concertos that bids fair to be a landmark!
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Kristian Bezuidenhout, Freiburger Barockorchester, Pablo Heras-Casado – Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:18 minutes | 1,13 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
After the first two instalments, highly praised by the press – ‘one of the finest, most . . . thrilling performances of [the] Fourth Concerto’, wrote Gramophone – Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado and the Freiburger Barockorchester close their Beethoven trilogy with the classical yet already eminently personal Concerto no.1, and that masterpiece of intensity and drama, Concerto no.3. Once again, period instruments and historically informed performance practice reveal the astonishing modernity that early listeners found in these works!
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![Freiburger Barockorchester, Petra Müllejans, Gottfried von der Goltz and Anne Katharina Schreiber - Bach: Violin Concertos (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2023/03/21/3149020214527_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Freiburger Barockorchester, Petra Müllejans, Gottfried von der Goltz and Anne Katharina Schreiber – Bach: Violin Concertos (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:01:33 minutes | 1,25 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
Bach’s three well-known Violin Concertos are paired here with a splendid concerto for three violins, reconstructed from the surviving version for three harpsichords, BWV 1064. The composer’s fascination with the Italian solo concerto, which resulted in numerous arrangements and compositions, dates to his second Weimar period from 1708 to 1717. However, current research has revealed that Bach wrote the violin concertos around 1720, during his engagement as Kapellmeister in Cöthen. On this recording, soloists Petra Mullejans, Gottfried von der Goltz, and Anne Katharina Schreiber are backed by the matchless Freiburger Barockorchester in dazzling readings of these evergreen favorites.
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