Combattimento Consort Amsterdam

Soldiers, Gypsies, Farmers and a Night Watchman

Price: € 12.95
Format: SACD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917213225
Catnr: SACC 72132
Release date: 12 August 2004
Buy
1 SACD
✓ in stock
€ 12.95
Buy
 
Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917213225
Catalogue number
SACC 72132
Release date
12 August 2004
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
NL

About the album

Nearly all the pieces on this CD have an extra- musical programme. In other words, in each piece, a story is told, or a situation described. Whether humorous or serious, the pro- gramme always tells us something about the culture in which the music functioned. A pro- gramme can be deemed successful only in so far as the listener is actually familiar with the situation to which the music refers and under- stands it or finds it humorous. Programme music thus gives us a glimpse into the world of the seventeenth-centur y listener who heard the first performance and who was delightfully enter tained, smiled or was deeply moved.

The works presented on this CD were performed in more intimate, likely court, settings during evening concerts or were intended to mark the arrival of important guests. Biber himself played the violin in the orchestra or ensemble – the number of instruments per par t is unknown. Of par ticular interest is that Biber composed only one violin part, but wrote two or three viola parts. Consequently, the ensemble as a whole has a somewhat darker sound, allowing the violin to soar like a lark.

All the works on this CD show that, for his time, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, who was knighted in 1690, was practically an avant-garde composer. As none of his contemporaries did, he pushed the limits of string instruments. Moreover,he created quality musical entertainment both today (!) and in his own time.
Zeventiende-eeuwse avant-garde muziek met een verhaal
Dit album bevat instrumentale werken van Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704), uitgevoerd door het Combattimento Consort onder leiding van Jan Willem de Vriend.

Bijna alle werken hebben een buitenmuzikaal programma, wat inhoudt dat elk stuk een situatie beschrijft of een verhaal vertelt. Een programma vertelt altijd iets over de cultuur waarin de muziek functioneerde. Een programma is namelijk alleen succesvol als de luisteraar bekend is met de situatie waarnaar de muziek verwijst. Deze programmamuziek laat dus de wereld van de zeventiende-eeuwse luisteraar zien, die de eerste uitvoering ervan heeft gehoord en erdoor geraakt werd.

De werken op dit album werden in een kleine kring uitgevoerd, waarschijnlijk aan het hof, tijdens avondconcerten of bij het bezoek van een belangrijke gast. Tijdens de uitvoering speelde Biber viool in het orkest of ensemble. Het is niet bekend hoeveel instrumenten er per partij gebruikt worden. Wat wel bekend is, is dat Biber altijd een vioolpartij schreef, tegenover twee of drie altvioolpartijen. Daardoor krijgt het ensemble een lagere klank, en stijgt de viool als een leeuwerik op.

Op 30 mei 1672 huwde hij met Maria Weiß uit Salzburg. In 1690 werd hij - na een wachttijd van 9 jaar - eindelijk door keizer Leopold I van het Heilige Roomse Rijk met de adelstitel "Biber von Bibern" onderscheiden.

De stukken op dit album tonen aan dat Biber voor zijn tijd een avant-garde componist was. In tegenstelling tot zijn tijdgenoten verlegde hij de grenzen van de strijkinstrumenten. Bovendien bracht hij toen, en brengt hij nu nog steeds (!), muzikaal entertainment van een hoge kwaliteit.

Artist(s)

Combattimento Consort Amsterdam

Over the past 30 years, Combattimento Consort Amsterdam has established a strong national and international reputation. The ensemble is famous for the high quality and energy of its performances. That, together with its varied and often surprising and unfamiliar repertoire, for formations ranging from chamber ensemble to chamber orchestra, and from oratorios to operas, has made it one of the most successful Baroque ensembles in the world. The Combattimento Consort’s roughly 60 performances a year are distinguished by the originality of the ensemble’s presentation, led by one of the trend-setting conductors in Dutch musical life, Jan Willem de Vriend, who in November 2012 received the Radio 4 Prize.   The Combattimento Consort has gone on a number of tours in recent years...
more
Over the past 30 years, Combattimento Consort Amsterdam has established a strong national and international reputation. The ensemble is famous for the high quality and energy of its performances. That, together with its varied and often surprising and unfamiliar repertoire, for formations ranging from chamber ensemble to chamber orchestra, and from oratorios to operas, has made it one of the most successful Baroque ensembles in the world. The Combattimento Consort’s roughly 60 performances a year are distinguished by the originality of the ensemble’s presentation, led by one of the trend-setting conductors in Dutch musical life, Jan Willem de Vriend, who in November 2012 received the Radio 4 Prize.
The Combattimento Consort has gone on a number of tours in recent years to Germany, Spain, Central Europe, South America, Japan, Russia and the United States. It has recorded more than 35 CDs and DVDs – this year, its CD of Handel’s Concerto Grossi op. 6 will be released. The ensemble has worked with prominent soloists such as Barbara Bonney, Andreas Scholl and Sol Gabeta, Thomas Zehetmair and Sabine Meyer, as well as with the Netherlands Chamber Choir, the Nationale Reisopera and Cappella Amsterdam. The spearhead of its artistic direction is the performance of unfamiliar and as yet unpublished repertoire. Innumerable searches through libraries, churches and cloisters over the past 30 years have resulted in a notable collection of remarkable performances. In 2007, for example, Combattimento Consort Amsterdam presented Arminio, the only surviving opera of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. Over the years, it has developed a distinctive style of playing, which has even come to be known as the “Combattimento School” of performance. Recognizable and energetic, inventive, style-conscious and inspiring. The ensemble presents itself as a “consort”, but with the visibility of the “individual”. Jan Willem de Vriend leads the Combattimento Consort from the “first chair”, appearing as a conductor only in the larger productions (operas and oratorios). The instrumental soloists are in most cases members of the ensemble.

less

Jan Willem de Vriend

Jan Willem de Vriend is the artistic director of Combattimento Consort Amsterdam and since 2006 the chief conductor and artistic director of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra. Combattimento Consort Amsterdam devotes itself to the music of about 1600 to 1830. Since its founding in 1982, it has performed virtually throughout the world as well as on many CDs, DVDs and television productions. Since De Vriend was named chief conductor in 2006, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra has become a notable phenomenon on the Netherlands’ musical scene. It has presented semi-scenic performances of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss and Mendelssohn. There were premieres of works by Offenbach, Say and Mahler. And by substituting historical instruments in the brass section, it has developed its own distinctive...
more
Jan Willem de Vriend is the artistic director of Combattimento Consort Amsterdam and since 2006 the chief conductor and artistic director of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra.
Combattimento Consort Amsterdam devotes itself to the music of about 1600 to 1830. Since its founding in 1982, it has performed virtually throughout the world as well as on many CDs, DVDs and television productions.
Since De Vriend was named chief conductor in 2006, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra has become a notable phenomenon on the Netherlands’ musical scene. It has presented semi-scenic performances of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss and Mendelssohn. There were premieres of works by Offenbach, Say and Mahler. And by substituting historical instruments in the brass section, it has developed its own distinctive sound in the 18th- and 19th-century repertoire. Recently, the orchestra performed music by Schumann at festivals in Spain. The release of Beethoven’s complete symphonies, conducted by De Vriend, is a big project which starts with the release of this current CD. Also the orchestra's long Mahler tradition is being continued in recordings and tours.
De Vriend has been a guest conductor with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, The Hague Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, as well as orchestras in Germany, Sweden and Australia. He is often invited to conduct both in the Netherlands and abroad. He has engagements pending, for example, with The Hague Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as well as orchestras in China, Germany, Austria and Italy.

less

Composer(s)

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber

Franz von Biber, he might as well be called 'the Jimi Hendrix of the 17th century'. His virtuosity on violin was unprecedented, and he combined this with a passion for experimentation which is just as remarkable. With his violin skills, Biber's social status quickly improved. After working as the 'musician in residence' for the bishop of Olmütz, he consecutively worked for the archbishop of Salzburg and, as a kapellmeister, for Emperor Leopold I. Biber was a religious man, and it can't be a coincidence both his daughters (he also had two sons) lived in a monastery.  Biber composed both instrumental als vocal music. The pinnacles of his body of works are undoubtedly his Rosary Sonatas and his Missa Salisburgensis. The former shows Biber's virtuosity...
more

Franz von Biber, he might as well be called 'the Jimi Hendrix of the 17th century'. His virtuosity on violin was unprecedented, and he combined this with a passion for experimentation which is just as remarkable. With his violin skills, Biber's social status quickly improved. After working as the 'musician in residence' for the bishop of Olmütz, he consecutively worked for the archbishop of Salzburg and, as a kapellmeister, for Emperor Leopold I. Biber was a religious man, and it can't be a coincidence both his daughters (he also had two sons) lived in a monastery. Biber composed both instrumental als vocal music. The pinnacles of his body of works are undoubtedly his Rosary Sonatas and his Missa Salisburgensis. The former shows Biber's virtuosity as a compositional art; the latter shows, with its enourmous instrumentation, the capabilities of Biber as a grandiose composer.


less

Press

Play album

Often bought together with..

King Arthur
Gabrieli Consort
Violin Concerto, Op. 64 / String Octet, Op. 20
Liza Ferschtman / Het Gelders Orkest / Kees Bakels
Handel - L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato
Gabrieli Consort & Players
Libera Nos: The Cry of the Oppressed
Contrapunctus / Rees
The Complete Musical Works of Agnes Jama
Marcel Worms

You might also like..

The Complete Symphonies Vol. 4 Symphony No. 5 D. 485 | Symphony No. 6 D. 589
Residentie Orkest The Hague / Jan Willem de Vriend
Arias and Overtures
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra / Jan Willem de Vriend / Mari Eriksmoen
Complete Symphonies & Concertos (box set)
The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra / Jan Willem de Vriend
The Complete Symphonies Vol. 3 Symphony No.9, D.944
Residentie Orkest The Hague / Jan Willem de Vriend
Complete Works for Piano Trio (box set)
Van Baerle Trio
Complete Works for Piano Trio vol. 5
Van Baerle Trio | Residentie Orkest The Hague
The Complete Symphonies Vol. 2 Symphony No.1, D.82 / Symphony No.3 D.200 / Symphony No.8 D.759
Residentie Orkest The Hague / Jan Willem de Vriend
Religious Tetralogy
Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
The Complete Symphonies Vol. 1 Symphony No. 2 D. 125 / Symphony No. 4 D. 417
Residentie Orkest The Hague / Jan Willem de Vriend
The Complete Piano Concertos
Hannes Minnaar / Jan Willem de Vriend / The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra
Piano Concerto No. 3
Hannes Minnaar / Jan Willem de Vriend / The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra
Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45
Jan Willem de Vriend