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8.224709 Kayser Symphonies, Vol. 2
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra • Matthias Aeschbacher, conductor

Leif Kayser (1919-2001) was an indisputably gifted composer and quickly established himself as one of the coming young men of the Danish musical scene, until he abandoned it for a period to dedicate himself to the priesthood. Today the four symphonies in particular stand as some of the finest testimony to Kayser's talent in the repertoire. Dacapo released Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 in 2007. Volume 2 offers here the Late Romantic work of his youth, Symphony No. 1 from 1939, as well as the fourth and last symphony from 1963 with a correspondingly far more inward, almost defiant tonal idiom.

Other works by Kayser

6.220519 Langgaard Symphonies Nos. 15 & 16 and Orchestral Works
Johan Reuter, baritone • Danish National Symphony Orchestra & Choir • Thomas Dausgaard, conductor

Rued Langgaard (1893-1952) was an odd, lonely figure in Danish music. His 16 symphonies make up a thought-provoking, original contribution to the history of the symphony. The last two symphonies are both brief, but are musically very different. In No. 15 we find modernist features, while No. 16 can be called a personal testament in the spirit of Romanticism. The CD concludes with a couple of early orchestral pieces and three world premiere recordings of late works where Langgaard demonstratively expresses the absurd situation he found himself in, as an artist who had been sidelined and who felt that he stood alone in the struggle for the high ideals of art.

Other works by Langgaard

Phoenix171 Soprano Cantatas
Emma Kirkby, Sophie Boulin, Isabelle Poulenard, sopranos • Hans-Martin Linde, transverse flute • Cappella Coloniensis • Hans-Martin Linde, Ferdinand Leitner, conductors

Historical performance practice has its own story too. It is fascinating to encounter, towards the end of the first decade of the 21st century, recordings from the 1980s. Emma Kirkby, who is still active today, was considered to be the uncrowned queen of emotional, instrumentally-led vocal tone, which was seen as paradigmatic for performances of baroque music. In Handel’s Latin motet Silete, venti she gives a virtuoso example of her art. Since the work cannot have been written for the Anglican church service, the supposition remains that Handel wrote it especially for one of his much-loved female vocal virtuosi from the opera company. Emma Kirkby’s colleague Sophie Boulin is no less a virtuoso than the English woman, as is proved by the cantatas by Bach and Hasse. The occasion and the exact circumstances for the creation of Bach’s cantatas Non sa che sia dolore BWV 209 are not known; possibly the piece was even written by another composer. La Gelosia (Jealousy), the solo cantata written in 1762 by Johann Adolf Hasse and based on a text by his preferred librettist Pietro Metastasio, conveys in exemplary fashion an impression of the style of the courtly aristocratic Italian opera.

Phoenix172 Flute Concertos
Konrad Hünteler, transverse flute • Günther Höller, recorder and transverse flute • Christoph Huntgeburth, transverse flute • Helmut Hucke, oboe • Cappella Coloniensis • Ulf Björlin, Georg Fischer, Hans-Martin Linde, conductors

The flute was an extremely popular solo instrument throughout the 18th century—both in its older form, the recorder, and its more modern variation, the transverse flute. However, the era of the recorder was almost over, and thus Georg Philipp Telemann effectively fixed the point in time when the transition from the old to the new era occurred with his double concerto for recorder and transverse flute—both a farewell and a welcome, as it were. All of the other pieces of music on this CD were written for the transverse flute, the instrument for which Johann Joachim Quantz wrote his primer Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversière zu spielen (An Attempt at Instruction on How to Play the Flute Traversière) in 1752. Although Quantz composed, he was more famous as the author of theoretical works and as the flute teacher of Frederick the Great. The third of his four flute concertos (all influenced by the pre-classical, sentimental, gallant style) is framed by an energetic introductory movement and a capricious finale, with a passionately emotional Grave movement. Johann Friedrich Fasch, a competitor when Johann Sebastian Bach applied for the office of choirmaster at St Thomas’ in Leipzig in 1723, had studied composition with Telemann. He is represented by a double concerto for the unusual combination of transverse flute and oboe.

Phoenix173 Overtures
Cappella Coloniensis • Hans-Martin Linde, conductor

Cappella Coloniensis delivers an impressive example for the compositional art of the German Baroque with orchestral works by Graupner, Heinichen and Fasch—all born in the 1680s—as well as Johann Gottlieb Graun (1703–1771). All four composers were from central Germany (Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Brandenburg). The colourfully orchestrated overtures and orchestral suites give the soloists in the Cappella Coloniensis ample opportunities to present their virtuosity.

Phoenix174 Classical Symphonies
Cappella Coloniensis • Hans-Martin Linde, conductor

This CD brings together recordings by Cappella Coloniensis with repertoire which was typical for this orchestra during the ‘80s. Music from the Renaissance and Baroque as well as from the period of Viennese Classicism by Haydn, Mozart and their contempories profited from the sleek, clear sound of original instruments. And at that time few others played pieces by composers such as Gossec, Kraus, Mahaut or Vanhal. Filling in these blank areas on the musical map remained the historic task of the Cappella Coloniensis and its conductor. And for the listener, today as then, it is a special pleasure to go on a journey of discovery and actually to hear these symphonies. Joseph Martin Kraus is regarded today as a significant composer with his own, idiosyncratic musical language.

Phoenix175 CHERUBINI: Dirge on the Death of Joseph Haydn
Marilyn Schmiege, soprano • Martyn Hill, Paolo Barbacini, tenor • Cappella Coloniensis • Gabriele Ferro, conductor

A macabre situation: The press has announced the death of one of the most famous contemporary composers; another renowned composer writes a dirge—in honor of the deceased master—and then it turned out to be nothing but a newspaper hoax: The master is still alive! That is exactly what happened in 1804. Joseph Haydn actually lived five more years after that. A French Masonic Lodge commissioned Florence-born Paris resident Cherubini (1760–1842) to write a memorial cantata in honour of him. Cherubini, who had felt particularly committed to Haydn since having been welcomed by him in Vienna, composed a score setting lines written by Louis Guillemain de Saint-Victor, who had written some essays on free masonry. These verses depict the touching singing of a dying swan “by the banks of the Danube River”. This recording includes Cherubini‘s Symphony in D major.

Phoenix176 HAYDN: Scena di Berenice, Miseri noi misera patria, Violin Concerto No 4, Symphony No 92 in G major “Oxford“
Marilyn Schmiege, soprano • Ingrid Seifert, violin • Cappella Coloniensis • Hans-Martin Linde, Ferdinand Leitner, conductors

This CD presents one of Haydn’s most famous symphonies and other less familiar works. This corresponds to the approach of the Cappella Coloniensis with regard to the work of one of music’s greatest masters. During the ‘80s, Haydn’s symphonies still formed part of repertoire of large symphony orchestras playing modern instruments. By recording the “Oxford” Symphony beside lesser-known works, the Cappella Coloniensis’s mission to perform in a historically-informed manner and to uncover neglected treasures of music was fulfilled. Two young and highly-talented musicians played an important part: violinist Ingrid Seifert, founder and orchestra director of London Baroque, and vocal soloist Marilyn Schmiege.

Phoenix177 CARL & JOHANN STAMITZ: Clarinet Concertos, Orchestral Quartet
Hans Deinzer, Jann Engel, clarinet • Cappella Coloniensis • Gabriele Ferro, Ulf Björlin, conductors

In 1745, Bohemian-born Johann Stamitz (1717–1757) became director of the Mannheim court orchestra, which he helped transform into Europe‘s most famous orchestra. His works include the first real clarinet concerto, performed on this CD in an exemplary fashion by Cappella Coloniensis with soloist Hans Deinzer, who, from the ’60s through the ’90s was one of the 20th century’s most influential soloists and teachers. Deinzer’s students include Sabine Meyer, Reiner Wehle, Wolfgang Meyer, Martin Fröst and Andrew Marriner. Carl Stamitz (1745—1801), Johann’s eldest son, entered the Mannheim Court Orchestra at the age of 16, and lived a vagrant life as a violin teacher and virtuoso before settling down as Director of Academic Concerts in Jena. Among his eleven clarinet concertos that for two solo clarinets recorded on this CD has a special position. It was published in Paris in 1780 but was arranged for clarinet and violin to increase its salability. It was not until the 20th century that this work was returned to its original form.

Phoenix178 Hasse: Cleofide (highlights)
Emma Kirkby, Agnès Mellon, soprano • David Cordier, Derek Lee Ragin, alto • Cappella Coloniensis • William Christie, conductor

In the ’80s, Cappella Coloniensis attracted renowned conductor and Baroque opera specialist William Christie from his famous Paris-based ensemble Les Arts Florissants to Cologne for a studio recording of Johann Adolf Hasse’s opera Cleofide of 1731. Christie readily accepted an invitation by the WDR [the West German Broadcasting The result was a highly praised, award-winning recording that set standards for the interpretation of Baroque opera. The crème de la crème of virtuoso Baroque singers perform on this recording: Emmy Kirkby, Agnès Mellon, David Cordier, Dominique Visse, and Derek Lee Ragin play the opera’s game of love, power and jealously in h a breath-taking manner.