Acis y Galatea - Literes

The complicate fable which narrates the love between the shepherd Acis and the nymph Galatea and the rivalry with Polyphemus is more than a Zarzuela narrating a mythological topic, but a parody about the events that were happening in the Spain of Felipe V. 

Al Ayre Espanol and Eduardo López Banzo bring back to light a masterpiece of the great master Literes with the stylized music that he represents, an interpretation with lots of freshness and points with remarkable energy, denotes the irony suggested.

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Concertos - Johann Gottlieb Graun (Wiener Akademie)

Concerning the requirements of posterity, the work of German court composer Johann Gottlieb Graun has spent much of its time trying to extract itself from the long shadow of the music of Graun's much better-known younger brother, Carl Heinrich Graun. In addition, this is the reverse from the usual modus operandi of historic valuation; Carl Heinrich Graun was primarily known as a composer of opera and vocal music, whereas Johann Gottlieb Graun concentrated on instrumental music, and led the band for the court King Frederick the Great in Berlin. This distinction does not help much in some cases, as both brothers belonged to the court of the Prussian King, and surviving manuscripts are often signed "Graun" without any additional distinction as to which of the two produced a given work in question. However, there are some clues -- Carl Heinrich Graun's instrumental music is precious, courtly, and reflects the influence of operatic melody, which was his strongest suit. By comparison, Johann Gottlieb Graun's orchestral and chamber music is more muscular, sinewy, and demonstrates that he was a true master of instrumental forms in a way that his brother never could be.

Martin Haselböck and the Wiener Akademie make a splendid case for the enduring qualities of the elder Graun with the CPO disc Johann Gottlieb Graun: Concertos. Actually, it contains a symphony, as well, one of 97 or so that Graun wrote, and this Sinfonia Grosso in D major is widely believed to be the best work that Graun has to offer in the genre of symphony. It is succinct, rhythmically propulsive, and engaging, but the Violin Concerto in D minor that follows is an extraordinary, turbulent, and deeply emotional work. The Violin Concerto in A major is scarcely less so, and the concluding Concerto per la Viola da Gamba in A major is practically a riot of instrumental color, brimming with variety of texture. Haselböck, the Wiener Akademie, and soloists Ilja Korol, Daniel Sepec, and Vittorio Ghielmi all put their backs into this music and once in the player, this disc never lets you go.

It is a well-ingrained idea that little of the music of the Classical Era beyond the "big three" (Haydn, Beethoven, and Mozart) has much to offer in terms of heterogeneousness. Johann Gottlieb Graun: Concertos is an entry in an ever-growing field of recordings that blow the lid off that myth, but this one is especially exciting and revelatory.                               Uncle Dave Lewis

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Cantatas for the Esterházys - Haydn

A world premiere recording of festive cantatas to the glory of Prince Nicolaus esterházy. Two of these three works have never been played since their first performances in 1763 and 1764. Haydn composed them in the relative isolation of the princely court, and they display the full artistic resources of the Vice-Kapellmeister, and he then was. "There was nobody in my vicinity to confuse and annoy me in my course, and so I had to become original". (Joseph Haydn)

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Grosse Passion - Graun

Although Der tod Jesu is the most popular Graun's passion, he composes three more, one of which is represented her under the title “Grosse Passion” or Grand Passion, whose expressiveness and great diversity in the instrumentation, allowed it to be regarded as a masterpiece. 

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Sonatas and Trio Sonatas - Hasse

Hasse compositions are among the finest of all history. In his lifetime Hasse dominated great part of the musical scene in Europe, especially for his operatic output. His grace and spontaneous melody render the music astonishing pleasant.

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Der Tod Jesu - Graun

There are two major works under the title "Der tod Jesu", two compositions of a very high degree in inventiveness that emerged over the hand of two great masters, Telemann and Graun that premiered almost simultaneously, just one week of separation between each other.  Unfortunately, history have judge unequal both works, dismissing Telemann’s one and covering of glory Graun’s one. But which were the facts to this to happen been Telemann the God of music by that time? One explication is perhaps the stylistic changes that were growing to welcome the new stile “Gallant” that characterized the classicism, in which Graun’s composition is made of.  Another possibility that is stated into the the booklet is the fact that Graun’s Der tod Jesu along History have been compared with Bach’s Mathews Passion, so, Graun’s work hung of Bach’s work success, but that do not discredict the greath quality of Graun's work.

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El Gran Barroco de Bolivia

Once again, following my last post (El gran Barroco del Perú and A Latin-American BaroqueChristmas) of Hispano-American Baroque, where the Cuban Coro Exaudi touches this hidden exotic repertoire with splendid pleasure and extraordinary grace, leading us to the époques when America was conquered, for good or for bad, but that’s History with "H".

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Harmonischer Gottesdienst (Easter and Pentecost Cantatas) - Telemann

The Harmonischer Gottesdienst is a collection of cantatas to be played every sunday in the Lutheran Calendar. In fact it is the most famous Telemann's set of vocal music.

Telemann was not just an excellent musician, admired and respected by everyone, he was moreover an extraordinary instrumentalist, capable of playing almost all the instruments of the orchestra; he was also poet, pedagogue, theoretician, he studied law and was attached to sciences and classic letters and arts, adding to all this his skill to make business, enthusiasm for traveling and his easiness to speak various languages. 

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All the skills Telemann had facilitate his fame to be spread to all corners of Europe and his music to be acquired almost by everyone who can afford it.

Apart, Telemann was very versatile, a quality that enable him to write music no matter the circumstances, music for the most prodigious musicians and singers, and music for dilettantes, which is the case in great part of the Harmonischer Gotesdienst, because the oeuvre is intended for both performances, church and in private meetings or domestic, so the writing is aim mostly to dilettantes, but despite of it, the mastery and beauty is undeniable.

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