| 2 SACD hybrid |
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| Label Challenge Classics |
UPC 0608917239423 |
Catalogue number CC 72394 |
Release date 21 November 2014 |
"''Kuijken has brought together four singers whose voices blend pretty well.''"
Musica Dei Donum, 20-12-2016La Petite Bande
La Petite Bande (Belgium) was founded in 1972 by Sigiswald Kuijken at the request of the record company Harmonia Mundi (Germany) in order to record Lully's "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme", under the direction of Gustav Leonhardt. The orchestra takes its name and constitution from Lully's own orchestra at the court of Louis XIV. All its members are internationally renowned specialists in the early music field.
Although originally La Petite Bande was not meant to become a permanent orchestra, the success of the recordings was such that they began to give concerts regularly. Having initially concentrated mainly on French music, the orchestra's repertoire has expanded over the years to include music by the Italian masters and that of Bach, Handel, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart and others.The 17-part CD series "Cantatas of J.S. Bach" (ACCENT) will be finished by the end of 2012. Sigiswald Kuijken applies the latest findings in Bach research: no choir, but rather a vocal quartet together with a minimal instrumental scoring. In this way, the fine musical texture of these cantatas can be much better (and more naturally) revealed.
La Petite Bande has recorded instrumental as well as vocal music, including operas and oratorios from the Baroque and Classical periods. La Petite Bande currently makes recordings for Accent, Challenge, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Denon, Seon/Virgin and Hyperion.
La Petite Bande has performed in a multitude of international festivals and concert series, in Europe, Japan, Australia, South America and China.
Since 1997, La Petite Bande has been in residence in the City of Leuven.
Sigiswald Kuijken
Sigiswald Kuijken was born in 1944 close to Brussels. He studied violin at the conservatories of Bruges and Brussels, completing his studies at the latter institution with Maurice Raskin in 1964. He came into contact with early music at a very young age, together with his brother Wieland. Studying on his own, he gained a thorough knowledge of specific 17th- and 18th-century performance techniques and conventions of interpretation on violin and viola da gamba This led to the introduction, in 1969, of a more authentic way of playing the violin, whereby the instrument was no longer held under the chin, but lay freely on the shoulder; this was to have a crucial influence on the approach to the violin repertoire and was consequently adopted by many players starting in the early 1970s.
From 1964 to 1972, Sigiswald Kuijken was a member of the Brussels-based Alarius Ensemble (with Wieland Kuijken, Robert Kohnen and Janine Rubinlicht), which performed throughout Europe and in the United States. He subsequently undertook individual chamber music projects with a number of Baroque music specialists, chief among which were his brothers Wieland and Barthold and Robert Kohnen, as well as Gustav Leonhardt, , Frans Bruggen Anner Bylsma and René Jacobs.
In 1972, with the encouragement of Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and Gustav Leonhardt, he founded the Baroque orchestra La Petite Bande, which since then has given innumerable concerts throughout Europe, Australia, South America, China and Japan, and has made many recordings for a number of labels (including Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Seon, Virgin, Accent, Denon, Hyperion, Challenge, ...).
In 1986 he founded the Kuijken String Quartet (with François Fernandez, Marleen Thiers and Wieland Kuijken), which specialises in the quartets and quintets (with Ryo Terakado as first violist) of the Classical period. Recordings of quartets and quintets by Mozart and Haydn have appeared on Denon.
Since 1998 Sigiswald Kuijken occasionally brings together two generations Kuijken (his daughters Veronica and Sara and his brother Wieland) to perform string quartets of later periods (Debussy, Schumann, Beethoven, Schubert) often combined with Lieder by Marie Kuijken, soprano and also daughter of Sigiswald, and Veronica Kuijken, piano. Recordings of the two generations have been made for Arcana and Challenge Records.
In 2004 Sigiswald Kuijken reintroduced in practical performance the Violoncello da spalla (shoulder cello, very probably the instrument Bach had in mind when writing his six cello solos): concerts and recordings of Bach, Vivaldi, ...
From 1971 to 1996, Sigiswald Kuijken taught Baroque violin at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague and from 1993 to 2009 at the Koninklijk Muziekconservatorium in Brussels. In addition, he has for many years been in demand as a guest teacher at a number of institutions (including the Royal College of Music in London, Salamanca University, the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, the Conservatoire of Geneva, the Musikhochschule of Leipzig).
Since 1998, Sigiswald Kuijken occasionally conducts “modern” symphonic orchestras in romantic programs ( Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Mendelssohn).
On 2 February 2007, Sigiswald Kuijken received an honorary doctorate of the K.U. Leuven.
He was granted in February 2009 the prestigious "Life Achievement Award of the Flemish Government".
''Kuijken has brought together four singers whose voices blend pretty well.''
Musica Dei Donum, 20-12-2016
A major factor is the performance of the part of the Evangelist. All said and done, if I had to choose one of these recordings, this aspect probably would make me to go for Kuijken.
musica-dei-donum, 05-12-2016
This delicately expressive and intimate performance captures the tender essence of the Christmas story.
Performance 5 out of 5 stars
Recording 5 out of 5 stars
BBC music Magazine, 30-3-2015
['']...It's a recording to cherish and one that captures the spirit of the work as completely as any i know...['']
International Record Review, 01-3-2015
["].. For all the many fine attributes in this new reading, this is enough of a drawback to place it quite a distance below the front-runners of Harnoncourt, Fasolis, Werner and, more recently, Stephen Layton."
Gramophone, 01-3-2015
5 tuning forks (diapasons)!
"The threshold of two hundred (!) recordings of the Christmas Oratorio has been crossed according to the Bachcantatas.com website, with extensive discographies. But this is the first time a leader reads this with the light of the choir of soloists, with a reduced number, of which the musicologist Joshua Rifkin demonstrated the relevance a quarter of a century ago and which was already applied and recorded on cd’s of both Passions and the Mass in B by Sigiswald Kuijken."
Diapason, 23-2-2015
['']...With Kuijken leading and directing the ensemble from the wing of the instruments, there are only occasional moments when I feel the lack of an independent conductor, but the players where to make the minute adjustments for the singers that give this performance its caressing chamber-music quality without sacrificing its dance-like energy...['']
Early Music Review , 01-2-2015
A moving and exhilarating interpretation which can truly be called the reference recording of Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium. Congratulations!
Toccata, 19-1-2015
A sensitive, very nuanced, flowing and very transparent interpretation that is beautifully performed by the Ensemble which is destinated to it.
Der Kurier, 30-12-2014
Music with a superb orchestration
WDR3 TonArt, 22-12-2014
"A sympathetic, peaceful interpretation."
Trouw, 19-12-2014
"The Orchestra plays in great balance and the tempi are part of this transparent and smooth implementation."
Klassiek Centraal, 15-12-2014
the most exciting christmas-celebration within livin memory
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 06-12-2014
["] .. All in all not shown where we really been waiting for a time when a real overkill consists of designs and convince many of which interpretation considerably more aware than this , which incidentally does very nicely recorded in the on warm -sounding ambience of the Predikherenkerk Leuven. no, no it is on . it is purely approach Kuijken and that's his prerogative. About taste is not so always strive, because they defended at all costs small and solo vocal line is more a matter of it than anything else. "
Opusklassiek, 01-12-2014
It is a brilliant recording which sets new standards.
Next to Kuijken's Weihnachtsoratorium, where you can listen to the musical beauty so slender, transparent and direct, even the best recordings with several vocals leave a trace of plumpness.
Kuijken's masterstroke.
www.kultur-port.de, 25-11-2014
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