Love and Death in Venice: Arias, duets and chamber music from the golden age of the Venetian Baroque form the programme of this recital from 1996, in which Stephen Stubbs and his ensemble Teatro Lirico supply persuasive proof of the Early Music group´s musical range. And the singer are a stroke of luck as well: with the warm timbre of countertenor Derek Lee Ragin and Suize LeBlanc's bright, silvery soprano, the duets join two unusually fine voices to create a sound of remarkable beauty.
Reviewing the first volume in Naxos's "The Art of the Baroque Trumpet", Gramophone magazine said of Eklund, "let me rejoice at playing of rare technical ability and musical panache".
Knut Johannessen is equally home as a performer and teacher of the harpsichord as he is in the organ loft.
“Pahud is outstanding, albeit on a modern metal flute rather than a gentler, less penetrating historical wooden instrument.. He's best of all in CPE Bach's solo Sonata where, with reverberant acoustic and excellent recording, he generates fine fruity bass notes to support the broken harmony above. A fascinating snap-shot of the mid-18th century Berlin court.” --BBC Music Magazine, February 2012 *****
“Pahud demonstrates a flexibility of phrase that arises naturally from the architectonics of the music rather than being imposed on it by a 'personality'. Despite the modern flute, his ornamentation and articulation are thoroughly idiomatic and chime with his period-instrument collaborators' crispness of attack and cleanly expressive shifts in colour...[Pahud] can equally lay claim to the title of 'The Flute King'” --International Record Review, May 2012
“A fascinating compilation that draws wonderful 'singing' from this virtuoso. .. This is a complex and compelling recording, beautifully executed. ” --Gramophone Magazine, June 2008
“… the violin really 'speaks' here, superbly supported by Imaginarium's varied continuo group.” --BBC Music Magazine, --September 2008 ****
Music history celebrates early 17th-century Italy as the birthplace of ‘modern’ song and opera. It was also the cradle of our instrumental music – and the babe in that manger was the violin, which served first as a lowly handmaiden of dance and song but soon found a voice of its own. Its growth is arrestingly presented here, with the fiddle’s first food – vocal pieces, madrigals by Monteverdi and Gesualdo, to cut its teeth on – tellingly served up alongside a tweenie diet of ‘diminished’ (varied and embellished) songs and, finally, fully-fledged sonatas. Granted, there’s already a terrifying amount of this fine if specialised repertoire on CD and this is just another way to sell it – but I can’t think of many rivals as well programmed or as memorably played.
Interestingly, Monteverdi and Gesualdo, here ‘sung’ instrumentally, linger longest on the palate; but the pioneer virtuosi Fontana, Pandolfi, Cima and Co. leap off this disc too. For once, the mannered accent seemingly de rigeur in Italy’s early-music scene (Onofri leads Il Giardino Armonico) is mostly bang on: the violin really ‘speaks’ here, superbly supported by Imaginarium’s varied continuo group. --Nick Morgan, BBC Music Magazine, --September 2008 ****
“Sparkling playing with the sense of uninhibited joy which only technical mastery and unbridled imagination can generate.” --BBC Music Magazine
An Excess of Pleasure / The Winged Lion brings together the music of 17th century Venice and the albums that launched the Palladian Ensemble onto the international music scene. “An Excess of Pleasure” was awarded Gramophone "Editor's Choice" and both albums were awarded the Diapason d’Or
The Palladian Ensemble (originally Rachel Podger, Pamela Thorby, Joanna Levine and William Carter) was a double-award winning group even before they released their first album, and made their Wigmore Hall debut in 1993.
Gamba player Susanne Heinrich and the prize-winning violinist Rodolfo Richter replaced Joanna Levine and Rachel Podger, but the Palladian Ensemble continued to tour extensively throughout the UK enjoying consistent popularity with audiences and critics.
Gamba player Susanne Heinrich and the prize-winning violinist Rodolfo Richter replaced Joanna Levine and Rachel Podger, but the Palladian Ensemble continued to tour extensively throughout the UK enjoying consistent popularity with audiences and critics.
The Palladian Ensemble were five times winners of the prestigious Diapason d'Or Award, (1993, 1994, 1998, 1999 and 2000) and twice had albums named Gramophone "Editor's Choice".
“Niklas‘s success on the baroque trumpet, which has brought him most instant recognition, and which he is already a remarkable exponent. Let me rejoice at playing of rare technical ability and musical panache.“ --Gramophone Magazine
It is not widely-known that a large proportion of the output of Spanish Baroque masters are held only in South American archives. Among the thousands of scores to be found there exist some veritable Spanish treasures and this is the case with an outstanding group of works to be found in the archives of Cathedral of Guatemala. These are works that form part of an important body of Spanish cantadas, a type yet to be studied fully. Such cantatas, which were composed in Spain, drew upon Italian models, which at that time were fashionable throughout Europe.
'In the hands of Maurice André, the solo trumpet became a vehicle for the musical taste, panache and technical flexibility usually associated with the greatest of classical pianists, violinists, cellists, oboists and flautists.' --Jonathan Freeman-Attwood
There is no doubting that both technically and musically he is an outstandingly gifted player, able to command not only tonal beauty across the range of his instrument (his upper register has a violinistic purity), but also to prove himself more than a match for all of Boccherini's virtuoso tricks. --Fanfare
The Boccherini concerto is, of course, the work that achieved such notorious popularity in the vulgar hybrid version by Grützmacher. Needless to say (at least I hope it’s needless in this day and age), Wang plays the original score. There is no doubting that both technically and musically he is an outstandingly gifted player, able to command not only tonal beauty across the range of his instrument (his upper register has a violinistic purity), but also to prove himself more than a match for all of Boccherini’s virtuoso tricks. The first theme of the opening Allegro moderato is played with an easy elegance, while he draws beautifully sustained lines in the central movement, even if it is taken too slowly and with too much vibrato employed for my taste. The high-spirited Rondo finale is also very winning, Wang’s strongly accentuated upbeat on the main theme providing an excellent impetus maintained throughout the movement...
...Monn, an important figure in the development of the early Viennese symphony, was noted for his sound contrapuntal skills, here on particular display in the final Allegro non tanto. But the jewel of the work is the beautiful central Adagio, a 12/8 siciliana in E♭•played by Wang with great affection and searching expressivity. Throughout, the writing for the cello is fluently accomplished, the concentration on the instrument’s lower register enhancing the serious, at times uneasy mood of the outer movements... -- Brian Robins, FANFARE
