Music by J.S. Bach, Arcangelo Corelli, and Henriëtte Bosmans, plus Renaissance and contemporary polyphony and a tour of Eastern Europe through the prism of cello rep.
New Releases Jul. 1: Bach, Corelli, Bosmans
Francesco Tristano
Francesco Tristano’s two-disc set follows the pianist’s chart-topping album Bach: The 6 Partitas and marks the next chapter in Tristano’s “great life project” to record J.S. Bach’s complete repertoire. The project will continue with the releases of Bach’s 7 Toccatas in the fall of 2025 and the 6 French Suites in 2026.
According to J.S. Bach’s first biographer, Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Bach’s English Suites were written for an English nobleman. However, scholars now believe that they were first written in 1713-1714, when Bach was officiating at the chapel of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and that they were most likely intended as advanced exercises for his pupils. This might explain why there were multiple copies of the complete work that existed during Bach’s lifetime. A note in a manuscript belonging to Bach’s son, Johann Christian Bach, states: “fait pour les anglois” (made for the English), and since then the moniker has been assigned to these 6 Suites.
The Berlin Academy for Ancient Music presents a recording of the first six Concerti grossi, Op. 6 by the composer, ensemble leader and violin virtuoso Arcangelo Corelli, who received the almost cult-like reverence during his lifetime. The composer had been experimenting with this one of the most distinctive forms of instrumental music of the Baroque era since the late 1670s, but it was only towards the end of his life that he sought to publish these compositions and selected only twelve exemplary pieces from what was probably a much larger collection. He laid the foundations of this instrumental form for future composers such as Handel, who paid tribute to the Italian Baroque master with his own Concerti grossi Op 3 & 6.
With their extraordinary virtuosity, the Berlin Academy and its two concertmasters, Mayumi Hirasaki and Georg Kallweit, prove why they are regarded as one of the most influential period-instrument ensembles of today.
Henriëtte Bosmans is considered one of the most important Dutch composers of the first half of the 20th century. Having refused to become a member of the Nazi’s Chamber of Culture, her career was put on hold. This new album from cellist Raphael Wallfisch and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra led by Ed Spanjaard is part of Wallfisch’s survey “Voices in the Wilderness” on the CPO label presenting cello works by composers silenced by the Third Reich. The cello was a very important instrument for Bosmans. Her father was a fine cellist, and one of the most influential people in her life, her lover Frieda Belinfante, was the dedicatee of the Second cello concerto. The lyrical, bold, and emotional writing for the cello in all three concertante works included on this album (the two concertos and Poème) shows her deep identification with the instrument. Both Cello Concertos 1 & 2 are new to the WFMT library.
For the ensemble’s tenth commercial album, New York Polyphony has assembled a program of Renaissance compositions by William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons, ingeniously complemented by 20th and 21st century works composed in the same timeless spirit – often by composers with personal and collaborative ties to New York Polyphony. The album’s evocative title comes from the text of a poem by the Buddhist priest-poet Saigyō (1118–90), which is set to music by Akemi Naito on this album. The recording also features a piece by the late Father Ivan Moody (a frequent collaborator to the ensemble), a New York Polyphony commission from Becky McGlade, and a Nico Muhly work in honor of Orlando Gibbons – as well as selections from John Tavener, Paul Moravec, and Andrew Smith. LeStrange Viols is featured on the pieces by Byrd, Gibbons, and Muhly.
German cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker caused a sensation by winning both the First Prize and two Special Prizes at the eighth Rostropovich Competition twenty years ago, while her duo partner Martin Helmchen has also been performing on the most prestigious international stages for two decades. Partners both on and off the concert platform, the two artists are passionate advocates of chamber music. This 2-CD anthology of Russian music for cello and piano includes sonatas by Shostakovich, Schnittke, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, and Weinberg, as well as Stravinsky’s whimsical Suite Italienne.
