Basso Ostinato • Pieter-Jan Belder
On this disc I have assembled a collection of ostinato pieces, not necessarily chaconnes or passacailles, but all kinds of pieces that feature a certain obsessive repetition, usually on a harmonic basis.
HIP
a violino solo • Tibualt Noally
I’m always on the look-out for new musicians. Noally fit the bill, and his 2013 recording, made within a very live acoustic, features works for solo violin from Vilsmayr, Telemann, von Westhoff, Baltzar, Bach, and Biber.
ROCOCO – Musique à Sanssouci
The diversity of composers represented on this disc, in addition to their stylistic backgrounds (the Finger piece vs.
Handel Works for Keyboard • Grisvard
For this recording, I wanted to share the joy of exploring the different faces of Handel, covering a period from approximately 1700-1740, without paying particular attention to chronology.
Bach in Black • Sinkovsky
Artists: some strive to be different. We typically get recordings of, say, Bach violin concertos, but this program is more about the performer and his versatility. Dmitry Sinkovsky is director, violinist, and vocalist.
Paris Quartets • Nevermind
Georg Philipp Telemann, who lived contemporaneously with Bach and Handel, represents a great example of “the successful” composer from the Baroque era.
Caldara Trio Sonatas
Antonio Caldara: Trio Sonatas. (2015, June). Amandine Beyer, Leila Schayegh (violins), Jonathan Pesek (cello), Jörg-Andreas Bötticher, (keyboards), Matthias Spaeter (lute). Glossa. 72:48.
Konzerte für 2 Cembali • Musica Antiqua Köln
I once remembered reading that Johann Sebastian Bach had "invented the piano concerto." That statement was a strange one, but it was with Bach (and also Handel) that we first saw keyboard instruments moving from the…
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons • English Concert
Back in my school days, after discovering Bach and Vivaldi (the harpsichord concertos, L’Estro Armonico), my interest eventually led me to the Four Seasons.
Benda Violin Sonatas
Anton Steck has released a number of CDs with Christian Rieger featuring violin sonatas for CPO with snail shells on the covers.
Boismortier Sonatas & Trios
Boismortier, né Joseph Bodin, became a composer of drinking songs and worked professionally as a tax collector. But after 1720, he became increasingly interested in writing music.
Francoeur Sonatas
The cover of this new release is a little misleading. It reproduces a historical painting of a woman bringing two drinks on a tray, water in one, presumably tea or coffee in the other.
Vivaldi: Box Set, opp. 1-12 • L’Arte dell’Arco
L'Arte dell'Arco offers 20 CDs of Vivaldi's published works
Dynastie
There is a story to be told, and it has been told to be sure, about Bach's genesis of the "harpsichord concerto." It's significant because it tells the genesis of the piano concerto.
“Telemann” • Antonini
IGA is undertaking a major project around Haydn’s symphonies but is also finding the time to explore Baroque works.
Arranging and Arranged Bach
We know Mozart liked Bach’s music, especially this fugues and ability with counterpoint. The opening of this recording is a peresentation of 5 Bach fugues arranged by Mozart and performed by string quartet.
Bach: Works for Violin, BWV 1001, 1004, 1006
I paid over $30 for a single CD of Bach’s first solo violin sonata (BWV 1001), his second partita (BWV 1004), and the third partita (BWV 1006). I didn’t hesitate.
Morimur
I am glad I had the opportunity to audition De occulta philosophia first, what I might call a “companion” or “sister” album to this one.
J.S. Bach: Bach De occulta philosophia
I am not sure where I first encountered mention of this album which was first released in the late 1990s. The reissue has an updated cover, featuring a mess of audio/computer cords that I found interesting (there's a…
Corelli Opus 5 • Onofri
This is a review of the two volumes of Corelli sonatas by Enrico Onofri with Imaginarium Ensemble, emphasizing the new, second volume, but I also compare their playing with a few others in my collection to provide a…
Mondonville, op. 2
J.J. Cassanéa de Mondonville (c. 1711-1772) The premise presented here suggests that France never really “owned” the violin, at least to the virtuosic, high-art ways that Italian composers/performers first did, and in a…
Serpent and Fire
Anna Prohaska and Il Giardino Armonico partner to bring a collection of opera arias in an Alpha album entitled Serpent and Fire, (p) 2016.
Il giardino del piacere • Ensemble Diderot
It was with special glee that I discovered the “last” recording by Musica Antiqua Köln, seemingly not long ago, left over as a “lost” recording that the ensemble’s director, Reinhard Goebel, saw fit to get pressed from…
Conversations
On the Alpha label, ensemble Nevermind has released a recording of works by Jean-Baptiste Quentin and Louis-Gabriel Guillemain entitled Conversations, featuring Anna Besson on flute, Louis Creac’h on violin, Robin Pharo…
Bach: Goldberg Variations • Fretwork
I came to Bach’s Goldberg Variations somewhat early in my listening career (which, admittedly is strange to call a career, but I assume you get what I am saying, that period in my life beginning at some point while I…
Bach: Alio modo • Fretwork
There was something that turned me off to this release when it came out, which I now realize, had nothing to do with the actual performance contained within.
Enigmatic Art: Works by F.M. Veracini
It is a different album in which a violinist appears on the cover (seems appropriate), but wherein a collection of works by Francesco Maria Veracini are featured, some as arrangements.
Vivaldi Complete Cello and Complete Oboe Concertos
L’Arte dell’Arco link to iTunes releases by this ensemble under Federico Guglielmo has released on the Brilliant Classics label two complete collections by Vivaldi - the Cello Concertos with Francesco Galligioni and the…
Dresden Trio Sonatas • Ensemble Diderot
Ensemble Diderot, led by Johannes Pramsohler on violin, presents a number of chamber pieces by Handel, Fux, Fasch, Tuma, and Telemann with ties to Dresden and the violinist-composer Pisendel.
Corelli Telemann Leclair Handel Albicastro
Pramsohler recorded this album with Philippe Grsvard in 2013 on the Audax label, his own, providing for us a “mid-late Baroque” violin recital. As mentioned earlier on this site, Mr.
Chaconne: Voices of Eternity
This is, hands down, my favorite album of 2015. I didn’t expect it. I didn’t see it coming. Matthias Mauté and Co. impressed me before, but not to this level. This is a modern concept album.
Bach and Entourage • Pramsohler
Johannes Pramsohler and Philippe Grisvard team up with violin and harpsichord with a baroque recital featuring an interesting mixture of late baroque gems, with works supposedly by Bach, but also Krebs, Pisendel, and…
Telemann Wind Concertos volume 7
My first introduction to Telemann’s “wind concertos” was a recording released on DG Archiv by Musica Antiqua, Köln of Blasermusik.
Aya Hamada performs music by Jacques Duphly
This is the premier solo recording for Aya Hamada, and one that features pièces by the French composer Jacques Duphly.
Giovanni Battista Fontana: A Review
Looking towards the early baroque, I wanted to visit a composer that often is sampled from in recordings, one who well-represents the early baroque solo sonata for one or two instruments.
Vivaldi I Concerti dell’addio
Fabio Biondi (violin) and Europa Galante release a recording of Vivaldi “farewell” concertos, drawn from a collection late in the composer’s life, intended for an audience in Vienna on the Glossa label (GCD 923402).
Time Present and Time Past – Harpsichord Music performed by Mahan Esfahani
Mahan Esfahani has joined forces with DG Archiv ensemble Concerto Köln for a release entitled Time Present and Time Past.
Veracini Sonate Accademiche, opus 2
Released on the Çedille label this year, the Trio Settecento has recorded the complete opus 2 collection by Francesco Maria Veracini, which I purchased through the iTunes Store. It normally would span 3 CDs.
Jaroussky Farinelli, Popora Arias
Venice Baroque, directed by Andrea Marcon, backs Philippe Jaroussky in arias written for the baroque castrato, Farinelli.
Travellers’ Fantasies: Una Follia di Napoli
Maurice Steger records recorder pieces from the mid-Baroque from Naples, during a short period when the instrument there became popular enough to see the composition for it, from a number of composers.