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The Symphony in E-Flat Major, Op. 13 No. 1, by Carl Philipp Stamitz (1745-1801)

Carl Philipp Stamitz, who changed his given name from Karl, was a German composer of partial Czech ancestry. He was the most prominent representative of the second generation of the Mannheim School. He was the eldest son of Johann Stamitz, a violinist and composer of the early classical era. Born in Mannheim, he received lessons from his father and Christian Cannabich, his father's successor as leader of the Mannheim orchestra. As a youth, Stamitz was employed as a violinist in the court orchestra at Mannheim. In 1770, he began travelling as a virtuoso, accepting short-term engagements, but never managing to gain a permanent position. He visited a number of European cities, living for a time in Strasbourg and London. In 1794, he gave up travelling and moved with his family to Jena in central Germany, but his circumstances deteriorated and he descended into debt and poverty, dying in 1801. Papers on alchemy were found after his death. Stamitz wrote symphonies, symphonies concertantes, and concertos for clarinet, cello, flute, bassoon, basset horn, violin, viola, viola d’amore and different combinations of some of these instruments. Some of his clarinet and viola concertos are particularly admired. He also wrote duos, trios and quartets. Two operas, Der verliebte Vormund and Dardanus, are now lost. Stylistically, his music resembles that of Mozart or Haydn and is characterized by appealing melodies, although his writing for the solo instruments is not excessively virtuosic. The opening movements of his orchestral works, which are in sonata form, are generally followed by expressive and lyrical middle movements and final movements in the form of a rondo... From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

The Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major, K. 313, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

This concerto was written in 1778. Commissioned by the Dutch flautist Ferdinand De Jean in 1777, Mozart was supposed to provide four flute quartets and three flute concertos, yet he only completed two of the three concertos, K. 313 being the first. The Andante for Flute and Orchestra K. 315 may have been written as an alternative slow movement for this concerto, but there is no extant manuscript and it is therefore difficult to ascertain Mozart's intentions clearly (this also means that current editions are based on the earliest editions rather than an autograph). The piece is scored for a standard set of orchestral strings, two oboes (which are replaced with two flutes in the Adagio movement), and two horns. (© Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Symphony No. 21 in A major, K. 134, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

The symphony was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in August 1772 and has the scoring of two flutes, two horns, and strings... From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Arias & Cantatas

Sarah Wegener enthrals listeners with the richness and warmth of her voice and approaches every role in a chamber musical way. She regularly works with Kent Nagano, Philippe Herreweghe, Thomas Hengelbrock, Heinz Holliger, Michael Hofstetter and Frieder Bernius. Concerts have taken her to the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Konzerthaus Berlin, Tonhalle Zürich, Wiener Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Casa da Música Porto and to the Bozar Brussels. The British-German soprano studied singing with Prof. Jaeger-Böhm in Stuttgart and took part in masterclasses with Dame Gwyneth Jones and Renée Morloc. She has formed a close artistic relationship with the composer Georg Friedrich Haas. She was nominated for 'Singer of the Year' by Opernwelt magazine in 2011 for her interpretation of the main role of Nadja in his opera Bluthaus, which she performed at the Schwetzinger SWR Festival, Wiener Festwochen and Staatstheater Saarbrücken. In the 2015/16 season she made her debuts at the Royal Opera House London and Deutsche Oper Berlin in his new opera Morgen und Abend. In 2014 she was also highly praised for the world premiere of Jörg Widmann's Labyrinth III at the Kölner Philharmonie with the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Emilio Pomàrico. Her repertoire includes Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Mass in C minor, Schumann's Faust Scenes, Dvorak's Stabat Mater and Strauss' Four Last Songs. Furthermore, she enjoys frequent performances with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre des Champs-Élysées/Collegium Vocale Gent, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Kammerorchester Basel and Radio Filharmonisch Orkest. Her discography comprises recordings with Frieder Bernius of arias by Justin Heinrich Knecht (Carus), Korngold's Die stumme Serenade (CPO) and Schubert's Lazarus (Carus), as well as Rossini's Petite Messe solennelle under Tonu Kaljuste (Carus), a CD with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra under Heinz Holliger (Hänssler Classic) and a release of Handel's Israel in Egypt with the Maulbronn Chamber Choir under Jürgen Budday (K&K Verlagsanstalt).
Founded in 1999, the ensemble il Capriccio evolved into a personally, stylistically and musically very individual ensemble. Its members, meeting up from all over middle Europe for mutual working sessions are outstanding musicians of international ensembles and professional orchestras or teachers at a conservatory. All musicians of Il Capriccio have intensively occupied themselves since their studies with historically informed performance. The usage of original instruments only constitutes the sounding foundation for an extremely meaningful and vivid way of musical interacting on stage. Il Capriccio gives concerts in variable instrumentation from the size of a baroque orchestra to the classical string quartet consisting of the principals of the ensemble. The solo part for violin plays the art director Friedemann Wezel. Additionally, Il Capriccio cooperates with important artists such as Sergio Azzolini (bassoon) or Markus Brönnimann (flute). A further and exceptional obligation considering the educational support of young artists was accepted by the 2004 founding of the "Il Capriccio Strings Academy".

The St. John Passion, BWV 245, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

The "Passio Secundum Johannem" (also known as St John Passion) is the earliest of the known Passion cantatas of J. S. Bach, among which only the St John Passion and St Matthew Passion can be said to have largely preserved their authentic character. A St Mark Passion exists only by libretto. The premiere of the first edition as presented here took place on Good Friday, 7th of April 1724, during the vespers in the church of St Nikolai in Leipzig, shortly after Bach's 39th birthday. In the following years Bach kept changing the work for subsequent staging, so his latest version dates perhaps up to 1749. As major textual basis Bach choose the passion narrative of the Gospel of John as translated by Martin Luther. It was supplemented by smaller passages of the Gospel of Matthew and some free insertions of contemplating character whose provenance remains unclear. The narrative is framed by chorals largely consisting of lyrics from well-known protestant hymns from the 16th and 17th century. The work is organized in two parts: the first tells about the betrayal of Jesus, his capture and Peter's Denial, the second part deals with the examination, trial, crucifixion and his burial. After the death of Bach in 1750, his complete works disappeared little by little from public perception and fell into oblivion, thus also his Passion cantatas. It was to the director of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (one of the world's oldest mixed choral ensembles), Carl Friedrich Zelter, and 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy to bring the St Matthew Passion to performance again after a hundred years, on the 11th of March 1829; thereby initiating a broad movement of a return to Bach's oeuvre, for example a processing of the St John Passion by Robert Schumann in 1851, who described it as "much more venturous, powerful, and poetic than the one after St Matthew […] thoroughly genius, and with great artistry". Today, St John Passion ranks among the central works of European musical history. (Translation by Anna Maria Kindler)
This live recording of Bach's "St. John Passion" is part of a cycle of oratorios, masses and other grand works, performed in the basilica of Maulbronn Abbey under the direction of Jürgen Budday. The series combines authentically performed oratorios and masses with the optimal acoustics and atmosphere of this unique monastic church. This ideal location demands the transparency of playing and the interpretive unveiling of the rhetoric intimations of the composition, which is especially aided by the historically informed performance. The music is exclusively performed on reconstructed historical instruments, tuned in the pitch, which was customary during the composer's lifetime (this performance is tuned in a' = 415 Hz).

The Chamber Piano Concertos Nos. 11 & 12 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

"The concertos are just the medium between being too heavy and too light - they are very brilliant - pleasant to hear - certainly without falling into the void - here and there it is possible for the connoisseur alone to get satisfaction - but such - that the laymen can be contented without knowing why." (Mozart about the three concertos for piano K. 413, K. 414 and K. 415 in a letter to his father on December 28th, 1782) - "I have to write in great haste, as it is already half past six, and for six o'clock I have ordered some people for making a little music; (...) now, two concertos are still missing for the Suscription Concertos." (Mozart in a letter to his father on December 28th, 1782) - Having provided us with magnificent examples of concertos for stringed and wind instruments, Mozart reaches the ideal conception of a concerto with his piano concertos. They are the high point and peak of his instrumental producing. In Mozart's piano concertos two equal forces are facing each other that are really able to compete. They are therefore essentially his very unique creation. The piano concertos K. 413 - 415 and K. 449 were the first in a row of 17 momentous concertos created in Vienna and consequently founding his fame as virtuoso to the Viennese audience. The double possibility given to the performance, of either playing full orchestra, with oboe and horn (in the C-Major also with timpani and trumpet) or just with string quartet shows the flexibility he wanted to produce. The piano concertos by Mozart never seem to touch the border of the socially appropriate - how could it, being designed to be acclaimed. But even so, it opens the doors to tell about the dark and the bright, the serious and the cheerful, the deepest - to lead its audience to a higher level of knowledge. The audience that is to deal with Mozart's piano concertos is the best there is. (Christoph Soldan)

The Concerto for Two Violins, Strings and Continuo in D minor, BWV 1043, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

This concerto, also known as the Double Violin Concerto, is perhaps one of the most famous works by Johann Sebastian Bach and considered among the best examples of the work of the late Baroque period. Bach may have written it between 1717 and 1723 when he was the Kapellmeister at the court of Anhalt-Köthen, Germany, though the work's performance materials for the Ordinaire Concerten that Bach ran as the Director of the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig are dated c. 1730–31. Later in 1739, in Leipzig, he created an arrangement for two harpsichords, transposed into C minor, BWV 1062. In addition to the two soloists, the concerto is scored for strings and basso continuo. The concerto is characterized by the subtle yet expressive relationship between the violins throughout the work. The musical structure of this piece uses fugal imitation and much counterpoint... From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

"L'estro armonico" by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

Antonio Vivaldi's "L'estro armonico" (the harmonic inspiration), Op. 3, is a set of 12 concertos for stringed instruments, first published in Amsterdam in 1711. Vivaldi's Twelve Trio Sonatas, Op. 1, and Twelve Violin Sonatas, Op. 2, only contained sonatas, thus L'estro armonico was his first collection of concertos appearing in print. It was also the first time he chose a foreign publisher, Estienne Roger, instead of an Italian. Each concerto was printed in eight parts: four violins, two violas, cello and continuo. The continuo part was printed as a figured bass for violone and harpsichord. The concertos belong to the concerto a 7 format, that is: for each concerto there are seven independent parts. In each consecutive group of three concertos, the first is a concerto for four violins, the second for two violins, and the third a solo violin concerto. The cello gets solistic passages in several of the concertos for four and two violins, so that a few of the concertos conform to the traditional Roman concerto grosso format where a concertino of two violins and cello plays in contrast to a string orchestra. L'estro armonico pioneered orchestral unisono in concerto movements. Vivaldi composed a few concertos specifically for L'estro armonico, while other concertos of the set had been composed at an earlier date. Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot described the set as "perhaps the most influential collection of instrumental music to appear during the whole of the eighteenth century". L'estro armonico (the harmonic inspiration) was published as Antonio Vivaldi's Op. 3 in Amsterdam in 1711. Vivaldi's Op. 1 and Op. 2 had only contained sonatas, thus L'estro armonico was his first collection of concertos appearing in print. It was also the first time Vivaldi chose a foreign publisher, Estienne Roger, instead of an Italian. Vivaldi composed a few concertos specifically for L'estro armonico, while other concertos of the set had been composed at an earlier date... From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia