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New Eyes On Baroque

Jeanette Köhn

New Eyes On Baroque

Format: CD
Label: ACT music
UPC: 0614427954725
Catnr: ACT 95472
Release date: 31 October 2013
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1 CD
Buy at PlatoMania
 
Label
ACT music
UPC
0614427954725
Catalogue number
ACT 95472
Release date
31 October 2013
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN

About the album

There are many recordings of baroque music – both of the historical sort, and those that take a radical modern approach to the original. On "New Eyes on Baroque", the Swedish soprano Jeanette Köhn chooses to strike a balance between the two. She is assisted in doing so by the proven "Christmas With My Friends" ensemble fronted by Nils Landgren, and the Swedish Radio Choir under the baton of Gustaf Sjökvist. The classically trained singer and the tradition-rich choir have abundant experience performing baroque music, and here they join forces with instrumentalists firmly rooted in jazz.

Nils Landgren was animated to become involved in this project in 2007, by the organisers of the Leipzig Bach Festival. They wanted to hear the music of Johann Sebastian Bach interpreted in a new way. Jeanette Köhn added works from Georg Friedrich Händel and Henry Purcell to the repertoire. But it wasn't until 2010 that the plans expanded to include recording a CD, and it was then that the Swedish Radio Choir was recruited to the team. Its conductor Gustav Sjökvist is an acknowledged expert in interweaving early music with jazz, having already been a part of Jan Lundgren's "Magnum Mysterium" recording, which is dedicated to renaissance music.

The interpretations, largely arranged by Johan Norberg, respectfully approach the baroque compositions. Without trying to disguise the music's origins, they offer the listener new perspectives and experiences in sound, because the team of performers is so extraordinary: Nils Landgren on the trombone, Jonas Knutsson on the baritone and soprano saxophone, Eva Kruse on the double bass and Johan Norberg on the acoustic guitar are something like an ersatz baroque chamber orchestra.
It makes total sense for jazz musicians to dedicate themselves to baroque music. Because the freedoms it offers for improvisation are not restricted to jazz, they are inherent in the ornamental structure of baroque melodies and the general bass accompaniment that was customary at the time. Indeed Johann Sebastian Bach, for one, was considered an outstanding improviser during his lifetime. And so it is that Landgren and friends breathe new life into these 300 year-old works, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Through the trombone, saxophone and Norberg's guitar playing, which makes use of various open moods, the oeuvres take on entirely new tone qualities, but without the accompanists ever trying to force their way into the foreground, and instead concentrating on supporting Jeanette Köhn's pure soprano.

The pieces chosen for "New Eyes on Baroque" are as if tailor-made for the Swede. Köhn interprets known arias from cantatas and operas with her natural timbre and an expressiveness that consummately expresses the many and varied moods of the compositions. In doing so she exhibits her feel for baroque melodies as well as for "Nordic" simplicity. Two Bach chorales frame the album: It begins with "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring", which is ironically the closing choral of a cantata, but which is a wonderful introduction in this arrangement, with a pre-, inter- and postlude by the soprano saxophone; and it is closed out by the final choral of the St. John Passion "Ach Herr lass dein lieb Englein".

Taken together, all the works have a certain sacral atmosphere – regardless of whether the lyrics are religious or secular, because in the final assessment it is the music that is supposed to touch the human soul. The ensemble succeeds in doing this in the most diverse of ways – be it with the delicate vocal part of Händel's "Ode To Queen Anne", the instrumental "Air On A G-string", probably Bach's most famous composition, or the lamentation "When I Am Laid" from Purcell's opera "Dido and Aeneas".

"New Eyes on Baroque" does without grand effects, captivating instead by means of the aura of the compositions that the musicians internalise. Köhn's compassionate voice, the natural sound of the acoustic ensemble and the sonorous Swedish Radio Choir are impactful enough on their own, and prove that it is still possible to lend a new edge to compositions that are centuries old.

Artist(s)

Nils Landgren

Tender-hearted yet tenacious, Nils Landgren is a world-class artist. His Funk Unit’s groove is irresistible, and The Man with the Red Horn himself has led the band through their highly successful run of CDs, and in rapturously received concerts everywhere from Stockholm to Beijing. 'Funk is my Religion' is the band’s eleventh album – the album title just says it all. Landgren and his Norsemen bring a passion, an intensity and a freshness to their craft which has remained undimmed since the start. For more than 25 years, jazz-funk has been the force driving Landgren. This veritable elixir of life produces the bubbling energy, groove and joy that can be heard and felt in every note of the music. The...
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Tender-hearted yet tenacious, Nils Landgren is a world-class artist. His Funk Unit’s groove is irresistible, and The Man with the Red Horn himself has led the band through their highly successful run of CDs, and in rapturously received concerts everywhere from Stockholm to Beijing. "Funk is my Religion" is the band’s eleventh album – the album title just says it all. Landgren and his Norsemen bring a passion, an intensity and a freshness to their craft which has remained undimmed since the start. For more than 25 years, jazz-funk has been the force driving Landgren. This veritable elixir of life produces the bubbling energy, groove and joy that can be heard and felt in every note of the music. The band’s deliciously easy and laid-back vibe gets straight through to audiences. With the crispness of their funk rhythms, blazing brass, cool vocals and persuasive melodies, a new chapter for the Nils Landgren Funk Unit is only just beginning.

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Gustav Sjökvist (conductor)

Composer(s)

Georg Friedrich Händel

Georg Frideric Handel was a composer from the Baroque period. Handel wrote primarily music-dramatic works: 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, which comes to a total amount of almost 2000 arias! Furthermore, he composed English, Italian and Latin sacred music, serenades and odes. Among his instrumental music are several organ concertos, concerti grossi, overtures, oboe sonatas and violinsonates, along with many solo works for harpsichord and organ.  Together with Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in the same year (1685), Handel is viewed as one of the greatest composers of his time. He was extremely prolific and wrote in total more than 610 works, many of which are still performed today.  Compared to his contemporaries Bach, Telemann...
more

Georg Frideric Handel was a composer from the Baroque period. Handel wrote primarily music-dramatic works: 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, which comes to a total amount of almost 2000 arias! Furthermore, he composed English, Italian and Latin sacred music, serenades and odes. Among his instrumental music are several organ concertos, concerti grossi, overtures, oboe sonatas and violinsonates, along with many solo works for harpsichord and organ.

Together with Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in the same year (1685), Handel is viewed as one of the greatest composers of his time. He was extremely prolific and wrote in total more than 610 works, many of which are still performed today.

Compared to his contemporaries Bach, Telemann and Scarlatti, Handel was by far the most cosmopolitan. When Handel was a child, his father, who was a surgeon at the court of Saxe-Weissenfels, imagined a juridical career for him. But his musical talents did not go unnoticed at the court, which forced the father to let him study music. In Hamburg, Handel befriended Mattheson. Together they visited Buxtehude, the greatest organ player of his time, in 1703 (two years before Bach did). At that time, Handel was already an excellent musician, but it wasn't until his stay in Italy - the land of opera - that his talents and skills truly started to flourish. Back in Germany, he received a position at the court of Hannover, where the noblemen had a connection to the British throne. Thanks to these connections, Handel decided to move to London, after which a puzzling history of intrigues and political games started. For example, it is unclear what the exact political message of his famous Water Music is, which was composed for a boat ride on the river Thames by King George. Initially, Handel focused on Italian opera during his stay in London, but from the 1730s onwards he started composing English spoken oratorios, with the celebrated Messiah at its peak.


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Henry Purcell

Westminster Abbey is not just the place where British monarchs were crowned, it's also the place where many English great men were burried. Among those was also Henry Purcell. This final resting place had a double meaning for him: firstly, with his status as a composer he deserved a spot in the abbey, but secondly this was also the location where he worked during the reign of Charles II and William & Mary.  Most people will recognise the last aria of Purcell's beloved opera Dido and Aeneas: 'Remember me, but ah! forget my fate.' More abstract, but less trenchant are his brilliant Fantasias (for viola da gamba) which Purcell composed in the early 1680s. These are small, at times daringly expirimental works, which...
more

Westminster Abbey is not just the place where British monarchs were crowned, it's also the place where many English great men were burried. Among those was also Henry Purcell. This final resting place had a double meaning for him: firstly, with his status as a composer he deserved a spot in the abbey, but secondly this was also the location where he worked during the reign of Charles II and William & Mary. Most people will recognise the last aria of Purcell's beloved opera Dido and Aeneas: "Remember me, but ah! forget my fate." More abstract, but less trenchant are his brilliant Fantasias (for viola da gamba) which Purcell composed in the early 1680s. These are small, at times daringly expirimental works, which he carefully dated. Yet, Purcell mostly developed himself as a composer of vocal music, with numerous odes, 'welcome songs', motets (anthems), songs for domestic use (both sacred and secular, both monophonic and polyphonic) and music for theatre.


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Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and hundreds of cantatas. His music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth.  Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest in and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.  
more

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and hundreds of cantatas. His music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth.

Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest in and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.


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