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Music of the Spheres, English Consort Songs and Instrumental Music, 16th Century

Maarten Koningsberger / Brisk Recorder Quartet Amsterdam / Mike Fentross

Music of the Spheres, English Consort Songs and Instrumental Music, 16th Century

Format: CD
Label: Globe
UPC: 8711525516304
Catnr: GLO 5163
Release date: 19 August 2002
1 CD
 
Label
Globe
UPC
8711525516304
Catalogue number
GLO 5163
Release date
19 August 2002
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
NL

About the album

De muziek van de hemellichamen krijgt een nieuwe dimensie
Veel van de zogenaamde Consort Songs uit het Elizabethaanse tijdperk werden in de periode van hun oorsprong meestal uitgevoerd met begeleiding door ‘viols’, het instrument dat vandaag de dag bekendstaat als de viola da gamba. Hier waren echter geen strikte regels voor, aangezien de componisten rekening moesten houden met de beschikbaarheid van musici. Zodoende werden ze ook een standaardonderdeel van het repertoire voor blokfluitkwartet.

Het Brisk Recorder Quartet is een van de voortreffelijkste blokfluitkwartetten van tegenwoordig. In de opnames op dit album spelen ze op een ensemble van Renaissanceblokfluiten, speciaal voor hen gemaakt door Adrian Brown, een van de beste instrumentenbouwers ter wereld.

De solist op dit album, bariton Maarten Koningsberger, heeft mede dankzij zijn vele opnames een internationale reputatie als zanger van Lieder verkregen. De combinatie van een prachtige baritonstem met vier blokfluiten en luit als continuospeler geeft een extra dimensie aan dit unieke repertoire, dat echt ‘muziek van de hemellichamen’ is, opgedragen aan Koningin Elizabeth I.

Artist(s)

Mike Fentross

Conductor/lutenist Mike Fentross has largely earned his credits as an early music specialist. He is working all over Europe as a conductor, soloist and basso continuo player and he is professor of lute and basso continuo at the Royal Conservatory The Hague. In 2006 he founded the baroque orchestra La Sfera Armoniosa. Mike Fentross conducted in many festivals and concerthalls like the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. the Festival van Vlaanderen, Festival d’Ambronay, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Paradiso Amsterdam, Monteverdi Festival Cremona, Festival de Musica Portico de Zamora, Festival Musica Antiqua Brugge, Vantaa Early Music Festival, Bayreuth Barock and Muziekcentrum Vredenburg in Utrecht. For two times he had the honour to conduct in the presence of Queen Beatrix of Holland. In...
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Conductor/lutenist Mike Fentross has largely earned his credits as an early music specialist. He is working all over Europe as a conductor, soloist and basso continuo player and he is professor of lute and basso continuo at the Royal Conservatory The Hague. In 2006 he founded the baroque orchestra La Sfera Armoniosa.

Mike Fentross conducted in many festivals and concerthalls like the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. the Festival van Vlaanderen, Festival d’Ambronay, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Paradiso Amsterdam, Monteverdi Festival Cremona, Festival de Musica Portico de Zamora, Festival Musica Antiqua Brugge, Vantaa Early Music Festival, Bayreuth Barock and Muziekcentrum Vredenburg in Utrecht. For two times

he had the honour to conduct in the presence of Queen Beatrix of Holland. In 1988 Mike Fentross graduated at the Royal Conservatory The Hague where he studied with lute pionier Toyohiko Satoh. In 1994 he won the Van Wassenaer Competition in Amsterdam with violinist Helene Schmitt. He played chamber music with musicians as Yo Yo Ma, Ton Koopman, Janine Jansen, Marion Verbruggen, Sonia Prina, Maria Bajo, Wilbert Hazelzet, Bruce Dickey, Lucy van Dael, Andrew Lawrence King, Philippe Jarousski, Eduardo Lopez Banzo, Skip Sempe and Gerard Lesne. Mike has recorded more than 75 cd’s.

He studied conducting with Stefan Pas. As conductor he debuted in 1999 with La Dafne from Marco da Gagliano in a production of the New Opera Academie in Amsterdam. In 2006 he conducted in the presence of Queen Beatrix the modern world premiere from the opera l’Ipermestra from Cavalli in a prestigeous jubilee production from the Utrecht Early Music Festival and in 2008 he conducted a second unearthed Cavalli opera La Rosinda in a production from the Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci Potsdam. In 2009 he conducted for the first time in the big hall from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and in the same year he was musical director in the production Granida performed in the presence of Queen Beatrix. About his debut as conductor from the Dutch Chamber Choir in 2010 in the Concertgebouw the press wrote: Conductor Mike Fentross rivalled Caravaggio with the score of the Maria Vespers. His first time conducting the Nederlands Kamerkoor was a resounding success.

Mike doesn’t only conduct Early Music, in 2004 he conducted Pierrot Lunaire from Arnold Schoenberg. The press wrote: There was great enthusiasm for Mike Fentross as conductor of a double bill consisting of Monteverdi’s Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda and Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire. Mike Fentross gave a performance of Pierrot lunaire that ‘appeared to come from another planet’.

In 2012 Mike made his Austrian debut in the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt with great success in a program with coloratura soprano Simone Kermes and in the same year he conducted the pre jubilee concert for the Concertgebouw in a program with solo violinist Lucy van Dael and singers Henk Neven and Andreas Scholl. In 2013 he conducted the Fairy Queen with his orchestra and the Netherlands Chamberchoir.

Since 2013 he is regularly conducting the baroque orchestra and choir of the Royal Conservatory. In 2014 he was invited by Paradiso Orchestra to conduct Beethovens Eroica. In 2016 he conducted the Netherlands Chamber Choir in a Bach, Faure program live broadcast on national radio.


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Brisk Recorder Quartet Amsterdam

BRISK, the ensemble’s name, is intended to convey an idea of liveliness and wakefulness. A critic once described the ensemble as providing “a coup de grâce for the recorder’s respectable image”. BRISK’s concerts exhibit variation of style and mood, virtuosity and light-heartedness in equal measure. The quartet always appear on stage with an enormous assembly of recorders. Since their founding in 1986, BRISK has given many concerts in important concert halls and festivals throughout Europe, in Bolivia, Canada and the USA. BRISK has recorded for radio and television both in the Netherlands and abroad, as well as recording over ten CDs that have been well received by both press and public. Its daring programming of early music in combination with contemporary...
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BRISK, the ensemble’s name, is intended to convey an idea of liveliness and wakefulness. A critic once described the ensemble as providing “a coup de grâce for the recorder’s respectable image”. BRISK’s concerts exhibit variation of style and mood, virtuosity and light-heartedness in equal measure. The quartet always appear on stage with an enormous assembly of recorders. Since their founding in 1986, BRISK has given many concerts in important concert halls and festivals throughout Europe, in Bolivia, Canada and the USA. BRISK has recorded for radio and television both in the Netherlands and abroad, as well as recording over ten CDs that have been well received by both press and public.

Its daring programming of early music in combination with contemporary music is designed to expand the borders of the ensemble’s repertoire. Many composers have dedicated works to the quartet. BRISK works regularly with fellow musicians as well as with artists from other related disciplines such as actors, directors, librettists and film-makers.

BRISK made its name through lively performances of early music, the search for little-known repertoire, and for the many arrangements that the ensemble has made, which suit the style and tradition of the instrument. BRISK has collaborated with Amaryllis Dieltiens, Michael Chance, Marcel Beekman, Johannette Zomer, Maarten Koningsberger, the Egidius Kwartet, the Gesualdo Consort, Bernard Winsemius, Leo van Doeselaar, Rainer Zipperling, Mike Fentross and Camerata Trajectina amongst others.

The long list of composers that have written music for the quartet includes Martijn Padding, Kate Moore, Calliope Tsoupaki, Bart Visman, Klaas de Vries, Roderik de Man and many others.

New works are presented as a comment on or as a contrast to older works in BRISK’s programmes. There is also a large quantity of new music in BRISK’s programmes for younger audiences. BRISK regularly gives concerts in collaboration with specialists in contemporary music such as pianist Tomoko Mukaiyama, composer and improviser Guus Janssen, vocalist Greetje Bijma and percussionist Ramon Lormans.

BRISK has created a number of highly successful productions for children with directors David Prins, Jetse Batelaan, Marc Krone, Gienke Deuten and actors Porgy Franssen, Bart Kiene and Hans Thissen.

The quartet possesses a great variety of instruments; its extensive contacts with recorder makers throughout the world ensure that its collection is in a state of continual development. This variety of instruments enables the ensemble to perform works from the Renaissance and the Baroque as well as the 20th and 21st centuries in their correct tuning and with the correct timbre.


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Composer(s)

William Byrd

William Byrd was an English composer. He was one of the greatest composers of his generation. Hiis name is sometimes spelled as Bird, Byrde, or Byred. The exact dates of his birth and death are not known, and even his place of birth (Lincoln) is merely guesswork, based on the fact that several families named Byrd lived in Lincolnshire during the 17th century.  As a child, Byrd received music lessons from the renowned Thomas Tallis in the Chapel Royal in London. Byrd is part of the so-called virginalists. In 1563, he was appointed as organist of the cathedral in Lincoln, even though he must have only been around 20 years old and in 1572 he was appointed as organist of Chapel Royal...
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William Byrd was an English composer. He was one of the greatest composers of his generation. Hiis name is sometimes spelled as Bird, Byrde, or Byred. The exact dates of his birth and death are not known, and even his place of birth (Lincoln) is merely guesswork, based on the fact that several families named Byrd lived in Lincolnshire during the 17th century. As a child, Byrd received music lessons from the renowned Thomas Tallis in the Chapel Royal in London. Byrd is part of the so-called virginalists. In 1563, he was appointed as organist of the cathedral in Lincoln, even though he must have only been around 20 years old and in 1572 he was appointed as organist of Chapel Royal together with Tallis. In 1575, again with Tallis, he received the rights to publish and sell his music by Queen Elizabeth I. In honour of the Queen, the two composers dedicated their Cantiones Sacrae in the same year.
On multiple occasions, Byrd was prosecuted in court. As a catholic, he was repeatedly prosecuted for the rejection of Anglicanism. Nonetheless, he remained in favour of the Queen, probably because he composed music for both religious branches. Moreover, he wrote both secular and sacred music, and both vocal and instrumental pieces.


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Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

If it were up to Calvinism, all the organs would have been destroyed during the Beeldenstorm, the outbreaks of destruction of religious images that occurred in Europe in the 16th century. Thanks to city governments, the organs were saved. Strictly speaking, Sweelinck was a servant for the city government as well as the city organist of Amsterdam. His organ and harpsichord music was also used during international negotiations, making his music arguably quite influential.  Sweelinck's music should not be listened to with the same ears as one listens to Bach, Beethoven or Brahms. His instrumental works have its own completely unique expression, including temporal modulations, instead of tonal ones. His toccatas, variations and fantasies often start modestly, and gradually increase in movement....
more
If it were up to Calvinism, all the organs would have been destroyed during the Beeldenstorm, the outbreaks of destruction of religious images that occurred in Europe in the 16th century. Thanks to city governments, the organs were saved. Strictly speaking, Sweelinck was a servant for the city government as well as the city organist of Amsterdam. His organ and harpsichord music was also used during international negotiations, making his music arguably quite influential. Sweelinck's music should not be listened to with the same ears as one listens to Bach, Beethoven or Brahms. His instrumental works have its own completely unique expression, including temporal modulations, instead of tonal ones. His toccatas, variations and fantasies often start modestly, and gradually increase in movement. Especially his fantasies are masterpieces in this regard. Take for instance his Chromatic Fantasy. The first part uses the chromaticism by alternating whole and half steps. In the second section, the theme is enlarged to a complete cantus firmus, while the embellishments increase in speed. In the third section, the chromatic theme is increased in speed as well, after which the whole work is finished with a graceful bow.
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Press

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01.
Ye Sacred Muses - An Elegy for Thomas Tallis
04:36
(William Byrd) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
02.
Fantasia a 4
02:58
(William Byrd) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
03.
Come to Me, Grief, Forever - an Elegy for Sir Philip Sidney
07:07
(William Byrd) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
04.
No More, Good Herdsman
01:21
(Richard Nicholson) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
05.
I Am Not I of Such Belief
02:15
(Richard Nicholson) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
06.
Can She Excuse My Wrongs
02:46
(John Dowland) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
07.
The Earl of Essex’s Galliard
01:30
(John Dowland) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
08.
Shall I Strive With Words to Move
04:09
(John Dowland) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
09.
Mr. Henry Noell His Galliard
03:24
(John Dowland) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
10.
A Doleful Deadly Pang
01:25
(Nicholas Strogers) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
11.
Mistrust Not Truth
05:35
(Nicholas Strogers) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
12.
Fortune My Foe
05:43
(John Dowland) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
13.
Engelsche Fortuyn
03:21
(Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
14.
Cantilena Anglica Fortunae
04:05
(Samuel Scheidt ) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
15.
Eliza, Her Name Gives Honour
02:32
(John Bennet) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
16.
Were I Made Juror
01:54
(William Wigthorpe) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
17.
Paduan - Courant - Volta (From Taffelconsort, 1621)
08:40
(John Dowland) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
18.
Sorrow, Come (Arr. William Wigthorpe)
03:47
(John Dowland) Maarten Koningsberger, Mike Fentross, Brisk recorder Quartet
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