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Psalms from Sacri Concentus 1681
Rupert Ignaz Mayr

Ars Antiqua Austria / Gunar Letzbor

Psalms from Sacri Concentus 1681

Price: € 20.95
Format: SACD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917275926
Catnr: CC 72759
Release date: 03 August 2018
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Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917275926
Catalogue number
CC 72759
Release date
03 August 2018

"With Bert van der Wolf engineering the recording and Gunar Letzbor and his ensemble delivering the music performance, I'm simply prepared to come along wherever they've chosen to take me. They are guides to great musical experiences whom one can follow without hesitation."

Positive Feedback, 17-1-2022
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About the album

Ars Antiqua Austria and Gunar Letzbor present outstanding sacred concerts by Rupert Ignaz Mayr (1646-1712) for voice, a virtuoso solo violin and basso continuo, including five world premiere recordings. Mayr, working in Munich from 1683 until his death, is considered a reformer of southern Germany’s Catholic sacred music with his clever combining of the largely protestant sacred concert of the north with the extemporizing concertante style of Italy.

R.I. Mayr’s works were influenced by his study trip to Paris as well as the Italian musicians who dominated musical life at the Munich court. Paired with echoes of Bavarian folk music, Mayr’s music reveals both a typically Austrian blend as well as very personal hues.

At that time, Catholic church music was dominated by the stile antico. Mayr gently expands this ancient art by introducing the concerto form as well as the monody. He elaborately weaves polyphonic textures, his monodies emerging highly expressive, melodious and also virtuosic. Mayr easily joins the ranks of his famous Austrian colleagues, matching the quality of a J.K. Kerll or the Austrian masters around H.F. Biber.

Opnieuw wonderschone muziek van Gunar Letzbor en zijn Ars Antiqua Austria. Het ensemble speelt in deze opname prachtige geestelijke concerten van Rupert Ignaz Mayr (1646-1712), geschreven voor stem, een virtuoze soloviool en basso continuo. Het album bevat bovendien vijf wereldpremièreopnames. Een genot om naar te luisteren.

Hervormer geestelijke muziek

Met zijn slimme combinatie van het grotendeels protestantse geestelijke concert uit het noorden en de geïmproviseerde concertante stijl uit Italië, wordt Mayr, die vanaf 1683 tot aan zijn dood in München werkte, beschouwd als een hervormer van de geestelijke muziek van Katholiek Zuid-Duitsland. Bij het componeren van zijn werken werd hij beïnvloed door zijn studiereis naar Parijs en de Italiaanse musici die het muzikale leven aan het hof in München beheersten. Gepaard gaand met echo’s van de Beierse volksmuziek vertoont Mayrs muziek zowel een typische Oostenrijkse melange, alswel zijn persoonlijke schakeringen.

Stile antico

In Mayrs tijd werd de Katholieke kerkmuziek beheerst door de 'stile antico'. Mayr breidde deze oude kunst voorzichtig uit door de concertvorm en de monodie, de eenvoudige stijl, te introduceren. Met grote zorg weefde hij kunstige polyfone texturen; zijn monodieën zijn uiterst expressief, melodieus en ook virtuoos. Mayr kan zich moeiteloos meten met beroemde Oostenrijkse collega's en het wat kwaliteit betreft opnemen tegen Johann Kaspar Kerll of de Oostenrijkse meesters rond Heinrich Franz Biber.

Lees ook de recensie van Michel Dutrieue van Stretto.

Ars Antiqua Austria und Gunar Letzbor präsentieren herausragende, geistliche Konzerte von Rupert Ignaz Mayr (1646-1712) für Stimme, virtuose Solovioline und Basso continuo. Mayr, der von 1683 bis zu seinem Tode in München wirkte, gilt als Reformer der katholischen Kirchenmusik Süddeutschlands mit seiner geschickten Kombination des weitgehend protestantischen geistlichen Konzerts des Nordens mit dem extemporierenden concertante-Stil Italiens.

R.I. Mayrs Werke wurden von seiner Studienreise nach Paris ebenso beeinflusst wie von den italienischen Musikern, die das musikalische Leben am Münchner Hof prägten. Gepaart mit Echos von bayrischer Folklore zeigt Mayrs Musik sowohl eine typisch österreichische Melange als auch ganz persönliche Farben.

Zu dieser Zeit dominierte der Stile antico die katholische Kirchenmusik. Mayr weitet diese alte Kunst vorsichtig aus, indem er die Konzertform sowie die Monodie einführt. Er webt kunstvoll polyphone Texturen; seine Monodien sind höchst expressiv, melodisch und virtuos. Mayr kann sich mühelos neben seinen berühmten, österreichischen Kollegen behaupten und es qualitativ mit J.K. Kerll oder den österreichischen Meistern um H.F. Biber aufnehmen.

Artist(s)

Gunar Letzbor (violin)

Gunar Letzbor studied composition, conducting and violin at Linz, Salzburg and Cologne. His encounters with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Reinhard Goebel ignited a deep passion for period instruments and performance practice, leading him to perform extensively with Musica Antiqua Köln, the Clemencic Consort, La Folia Salzburg, Armonico Tributo Basel and the Wiener Akademie.  Gunar Letzbor founded his own ensemble, Ars Antiqua Austria, an instrumental ensemble of varying size dedicated in particular to the exploration of the rich, but neglected, baroque repertoire of his native country and its neighbours. Corollaries of this voyage of re-discovery have been not only the unexpected finds of musical masterpieces otherwise destined to languish in obscurity, but also the articulation of a uniquely central-European instrumental sound and its...
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Gunar Letzbor studied composition, conducting and violin at Linz, Salzburg and Cologne. His encounters with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Reinhard Goebel ignited a deep passion for period instruments and performance practice, leading him to perform extensively with Musica Antiqua Köln, the Clemencic Consort, La Folia Salzburg, Armonico Tributo Basel and the Wiener Akademie. Gunar Letzbor founded his own ensemble, Ars Antiqua Austria, an instrumental ensemble of varying size dedicated in particular to the exploration of the rich, but neglected, baroque repertoire of his native country and its neighbours. Corollaries of this voyage of re-discovery have been not only the unexpected finds of musical masterpieces otherwise destined to languish in obscurity, but also the articulation of a uniquely central-European instrumental sound and its often deeply spiritual inspiration. As a soloist and with Ars Antiqua Austria, Letzbor has made numerous recordings (including several world premieres), featuring works by Mozart, Bach, Biber, Muffat, Aufschnaiter, Viviani, Schmelzer, Weichlein, Vejvanovsky, Vilsmayr and Conti. Particulary remarkable was his world's premiere recording of Sonate for violin solo by J.J.Vilsmayr and J.P.Westhoff.

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Ars Antiqua Austria

Austrian Baroque music takes centre stage in the repertoire of this unusual Baroque ensemble. The music performed at the imperial court in Vienna at this time was initially heavily influenced by the music of Italy, later by that of France; Spanish court ceremonial also had important artistic effects in Vienna. The typical Austrian sound of this era was characterised by the impact of its many royal domains. The political and societal boundaries of Baroque Austria stretched much further than nowadays. Elements of Slavic, Hungarian and Alpine folk music styles had lasting effects on art music, making up its specific sound. But the Austrian sound also reflects the temperament and the character of the people of the time: placed within the...
more
Austrian Baroque music takes centre stage in the repertoire of this unusual Baroque ensemble. The music performed at the imperial court in Vienna at this time was initially heavily influenced by the music of Italy, later by that of France; Spanish court ceremonial also had important artistic effects in Vienna. The typical Austrian sound of this era was characterised by the impact of its many royal domains. The political and societal boundaries of Baroque Austria stretched much further than nowadays. Elements of Slavic, Hungarian and Alpine folk music styles had lasting effects on art music, making up its specific sound. But the Austrian sound also reflects the temperament and the character of the people of the time: placed within the melting pot of many diverse cultures, amalgamating Mediterranean zest for life, Slavic melancholy, French formalism, Spanish royal ceremony and the original Alpine elements of the German-speaking region. This mixture of court music and folk music with a dance-like character outlines the typically Austrian sound.
Alongside many concert performances, the early years of the ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria were dedicated to musicological research of Austrian Baroque composers. The abundance of rediscovered works led to several successful premiere recordings: albums featuring the works of R. Weichlein, H.I.F. Biber, F. Conti, G.B. Viviani, G.A.P. Mealli, G. Arnold, A. Caldara, B.A. Aufschnaiter, J.J. Vilsmayr, J.P. Vejvanovsky, J. Schmelzer, G. Muffat, W.L. Radolt, C. Mouthon, J.B. Hochreither, F.J. Aumann and J.S. Bach were met with enthusiastic approbation from the international music press.
Ars Antiqua Austria have been designing their own concert series at the Vienna Konzerthaus since 2002, and at the Brucknerhaus Linz since 2008. The ensemble is leading a cycle of performances arranged over several years entitled “Klang der Kulturen – Kultur des Klanges” (“Sound of the Cultures – Culture of Sound”), consisting of ninety concerts set to be performed in Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, Krakow, Venice, Ljubljana, Mechelen and Lübeck.
Recent performances include concerts at the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Ribeauvillé, Berliner Tage für Alte Musik, Festival Printemps des Arts de Nantes, Mozartfest Würzburg (an opera production), Tage Alter Musik Herne, Festival de Musique de Clisson et de Loire Atlantique, Folles Journées de Nantes and Tokyo, Musée d’Unterlinden Colmar, Printemps Baroque du Sablon, Festival van Vlaanderen, Festival Bach de Lausanne, MAfestival Brugge, Bologna Festival, Vendsyssel Festival, Concerti della Normale di Pisa, Resonanzen Wien, Klangbogen Wien, Monteverdi Festival Cremona, Bayerische Staatsoper and the Salzburger Festspiele. The ensemble has also been welcomed in the USA and in Japan.
The CD recording with mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink (four cantatas by Francesco Conti) was awarded a Diapason d’or only one week after being issued. Gunar Letzbor and his ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria were presented with the Cannes Classical Award 2002 for their recording of the Capricci Armonici by G.B. Viviani.

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Markus Miesenberger (tenor)

The lyrical tenor Markus Miesenberger received his education as a singer in Vienna with KS Robert Holl, KS Artur Korn and Sebastian Vittucci as well as in the fields violin and baroque viola with Ernst Kovacic and Michi Gaigg in Salzburg, Linz and Vienna. Appearances as a concert and lied singer, in operas and as a musician led the artist through Austria, to important European music centres in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, to Israel, to Mexico and to many more. Thus, it was and is beside regular appearances at the Viennese music association and at the Viennese concert hall to guest with numerous festivals (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes Mexico City, Festival Oude...
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The lyrical tenor Markus Miesenberger received his education as a singer in Vienna with KS Robert Holl, KS Artur Korn and Sebastian Vittucci as well as in the fields violin and baroque viola with Ernst Kovacic and Michi Gaigg in Salzburg, Linz and Vienna.
Appearances as a concert and lied singer, in operas and as a musician led the artist through Austria, to important European music centres in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, to Israel, to Mexico and to many more. Thus, it was and is beside regular appearances at the Viennese music association and at the Viennese concert hall to guest with numerous festivals (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes Mexico City, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, MA Festival Brugge, Salzburger Festspiele, Styriarte, Carinthischer Sommer, Schubertiaden Schwarzenberg and Dürnstein, Brucknerfest Linz, Handel Festival Halle, Internationales Musikfest Hamburg, Musica antiqua of the bavarian broadcast Nürnberg, National forum of music Wroclaw, Settimana Musica Sacra di Monreale, Misteria Paschalia Krakow). He sings under the baton of famous conductors like Christian Thielemann, Pierre Andre Valade, Ralf Weikert, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Jeffrey Kahane, Gunar Letzbor, Michi Gaigg and Rubén Dubrovsky with Staatskapelle Dresden, Vienna and Hamburg Symphonic Orchestra, Ars Antiqua Austria, L’Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, Bach Consort Vienna, Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra and Slovac Philharmonic Orchestra. There is also a strong artistic connection in the field of lied to his former teacher Robert Holl and the pianists David Lutz und Sir András Schiff.
On the opera stage Markus Miesenberger is to be experienced above all in roles of the Mozart’s and Haydn’s field, with baroque opera, with opera of the 20th century and with contemporary music. Engagements led him to the Neue Oper Wien, to the Theater an der Wien, to the Landestheater Linz, to the municipal theatre Bolzano and to the Tirol festival. He sang Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte at Opernfestspiele Bad Hersfeld, 2018 and 2019 Jack O’Brian in Kurt Weills Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny at Laeiszhalle Hamburg and Balthasar Zorn in Richard Wagners Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with Staatskapelle Dresden under the baton of Christian Thielemann at Osterfestspiele Salzburg, also released on CD, and 2020 at Semperoper Dresden.
In 2011 he won the Franz Joseph Aumann Prize for new discoveries and innovative interpretation of baroque music at the international H.I.F. Biber competition.
Numerous CD productions and radio broadcasts also form a central focus of his artistic career, currently Arias for Silvio Garghetti with Neue Wiener Hofkapelle, Kriegsgeschichten and Liebesabenteuer with music from G.D. Speer with Ars Antiqua Austria (PANCLASSICS) and Psalms for Sacri Concentus 1681 (Challenge Classics).


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Hubert Hoffmann (theorbo)

Like most musicians of his generation, Hubert Hoffmann, a member of Austria's leading early music ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria, pursues a wide-ranging career as a continuo player with numerous ensembles performing on period instruments all over the world. His fascination for the unique blend of lute music for the Habsburg Courts is reflected in his solo projects, in which he aims to shed light upon this undeservedly neglected niche in baroque lute music repertoire. His first solo CD of works by the Bohemian Count Johann Antonin Losy was received to wide critical acclaim. The second recording of music from the lute manuscript Ms.1255 in the monastery library at Klosterneuburg for the ORF Edition of Classical Music, the first ever recording...
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Like most musicians of his generation, Hubert Hoffmann, a member of Austria's leading early music ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria, pursues a wide-ranging career as a continuo player with numerous ensembles performing on period instruments all over the world. His fascination for the unique blend of lute music for the Habsburg Courts is reflected in his solo projects, in which he aims to shed light upon this undeservedly neglected niche in baroque lute music repertoire. His first solo CD of works by the Bohemian Count Johann Antonin Losy was received to wide critical acclaim. The second recording of music from the lute manuscript Ms.1255 in the monastery library at Klosterneuburg for the ORF Edition of Classical Music, the first ever recording of Wenzel Ludwig Radolt's important 1701 collection of lute concertos Die allertreueste Freindin for Challenge Classics, and the music of the Vienna lutenist Karl Kohaut, also for Challenge Classics, have now been issued.
In 2012, he was appointed curator of a long-term research project in the fields of lute music, lute playing and lute restoration at Kremsmünster Abbey in Upper Austria, producing an edition of the tablatures for lute and mandora, stored in the music library there. As a part of this work he has recently recorded music of Father Ferdinand Fisher, a lute playing member of this Benedictine Monastery, also for Challenge Classic.
From 2013 to 2015 he was active as chairman of the Austrian Lute Society "ÖLG". As artistic consultant, he is also engaged in establishing a new concert series with music from the Goess Manuscripts in the historic Fronmiller Hall at Ebenthal Castle in Carinthia.
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Fritz Kircher (violin)

Fritz Kirche, born in Carinthia, studied first in his hometown Klagenfurt with Alfred Lösch, later with Ernst Kovacic and Klara Flieder at the University of Music in Vienna. Studies with Wolfram König and Wilhelm Melcher at the University of Music in Stuttgart from where he graduated with distinction followed. He also had intensive chamber music coaching with members of the Melos Quartet. He has taken part in countless competitions and master classes among others with Franz Samohyl, Zacher Bron, Igor Oistrach, Gerhard Kosten, and Sergei Kratchenko. Fritz Kircher has performed numerous solo concerts in Germany, France and Austria and world premiered Christoph Cech’s violin concerto with the ensemble “die reihe”.
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Fritz Kirche, born in Carinthia, studied first in his hometown Klagenfurt with Alfred Lösch, later with Ernst Kovacic and Klara Flieder at the University of Music in Vienna. Studies with Wolfram König and Wilhelm Melcher at the University of Music in Stuttgart from where he graduated with distinction followed.
He also had intensive chamber music coaching with members of the Melos Quartet. He has taken part in countless competitions and master classes among others with Franz Samohyl, Zacher Bron, Igor Oistrach, Gerhard Kosten, and Sergei Kratchenko. Fritz Kircher has performed numerous solo concerts in Germany, France and Austria and world premiered Christoph Cech’s violin concerto with the ensemble “die reihe”.

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Erich Traxler (organ)

As a harpsichordist and organist Erich Traxler mainly deals with music between around 1600 and 1800. His main focus in the interpretation is on the exploration of the 'musical craft' as a basis for music in the Baroque age as well as the immediate linguistic in the music into the 19th century. His concert career includes performances as soloist on harpsichord and organ as well as chamber musician with various formations (eg L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, Ars Antiqua Austria, Accentus Austria, Bach Consort Vienna, Venice Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble saitsiing, musica novantica vienna, Ensemble Castor) , Previous tours have taken him to most European countries as well as to the USA, South America, South Africa and Japan. Numerous CD and radio recordings (ORF,...
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As a harpsichordist and organist Erich Traxler mainly deals with music between around 1600 and 1800. His main focus in the interpretation is on the exploration of the "musical craft" as a basis for music in the Baroque age as well as the immediate linguistic in the music into the 19th century.

His concert career includes performances as soloist on harpsichord and organ as well as chamber musician with various formations (eg L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, Ars Antiqua Austria, Accentus Austria, Bach Consort Vienna, Venice Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble saitsiing, musica novantica vienna, Ensemble Castor) , Previous tours have taken him to most European countries as well as to the USA, South America, South Africa and Japan. Numerous CD and radio recordings (ORF, Gramola, WDR, Upper Austria organ organ) document his activity.

Erich Traxler received his musical education in Linz and Vienna u. a. Michael Radulescu, August Humer, Wolfgang Glüxam, Gordon Murray, Brett Leighton and Augusta Campagne. A postgraduate degree led him to Basel to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where he got important impulses from musicians such as Andrea Marcon, Wolfgang Zerer, Jean-Claude Zehnder and Jesper Christensen. As organist he won 1st prizes at international competitions for organ (Goldrain / I 2003, Bochum / D 2005).

From 2013 to 2018 Erich Traxler worked as a professor for harpsichord at the Music and Art University of Vienna (MUK). Since 2018 he is at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw). He also taught at masterclasses in Belgrade, Notre Dame University, USA, and Stellenbosch University in South Africa.


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Peter Trefflinger (cello)

Classical cellist born in Steyr, Austria.
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Classical cellist born in Steyr, Austria.

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Composer(s)

Rupert Ignaz Mayr

Rupert Ignaz Mayr was born in Schärding am Inn (Upper Austria) in 1646 and died in Freising (Bavaria) on 7 February 1712. He probably received his first music lessons in Passau. A distinguished violinist, Mayr played at the episcopal chapel at Eichstätt in 1678; he had already performed under Kapellmeister Mazzuchini at the princearchbishop’s court in Freising in 1670. He worked both in Regensburg and in Passau. In 1683 he moved to Munich where he was engaged not only as “Primus Violinista Aulae et Camerae musicus”, but also as composer. On 26 July 1706 the prince-bishop Johann Franz Eckher von Kapfing und Liechteneck appointed Mayr as Kapellmeister at his court in Freising. Here, he was responsible not only for church music but...
more
Rupert Ignaz Mayr was born in Schärding am Inn (Upper Austria) in 1646 and died in Freising (Bavaria) on 7 February 1712. He probably received his first music lessons in Passau.
A distinguished violinist, Mayr played at the episcopal chapel at Eichstätt in 1678; he had already performed under Kapellmeister Mazzuchini at the princearchbishop’s court in Freising in 1670. He worked both in Regensburg and in Passau. In 1683 he moved to Munich where he was engaged not only as “Primus Violinista Aulae et Camerae musicus”, but also as composer.
On 26 July 1706 the prince-bishop Johann Franz Eckher von Kapfing und Liechteneck appointed Mayr as Kapellmeister at his court in Freising. Here, he was responsible not only for church music but also for chamber music. Works such as his violin sonatas, a series of school plays, as well as music for singers and instruments attest his prowess as a composer.
Mayr’s works were influenced by his study trip to Paris as well as the Italian musicians who dominated musical life at the Munich court. Paired with echoes of Bavarian folk music, Mayr’s music reveals both a typically Austrian blend as well as very personal hues.
At that time, Catholic church music was dominated by the “stile antico”. Mayr gently expands this ancient art by introducing the concerto form as well as monody. He elaborately weaves polyphonic textures, his monodies emerging highly expressive, melodious and also virtuosic. Mayr easily joins the ranks of his famous Austrian colleagues, matching the quality of a Johann Kaspar Kerll or the Austrian masters around Heinrich Franz Biber.
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Press

With Bert van der Wolf engineering the recording and Gunar Letzbor and his ensemble delivering the music performance, I'm simply prepared to come along wherever they've chosen to take me. They are guides to great musical experiences whom one can follow without hesitation.
Positive Feedback, 17-1-2022

These two CDs arouse curiosity about further pieces from Mayr's oeuvre.
Toccata, 23-12-2021

All the compositions are sung by different soloists and accompanied by the small ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria. Each and every one of them is a magnificent performance of the soloists who present to us the church music of Rupert Ignaz Mayr in a particularly beautiful way.
Kerk & Leven, 17-4-2019

Very beautiful music wonderfully well performed.
Music Web, 19-11-2018

Atmospherically Ars Antiqua Austria achieves a maximum.
Fono Forum, 29-10-2018

Austrian baroque composer Rupert Ignaz Mayr made his way mostly in Bavaria. Five sacred works are presented by Ars Antiqua Austria. Each piece has a singing soloist. The singers, current or former members of a boys’ choir, do not convince neither by the quality of their singing nor by their interpretative commitment.a
Pizzicato, 19-9-2018

Very special. A real (re) discovery. Highly recommended.
Stretto, 27-7-2018

In the Early Music Festival, Letzbor and his ensemble will perform a series of concerts at the end of November that will once again sparkle.
Tijdschrift Oude Muziek - TOM, 01-4-2018

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Often bought together with..

Rupert Ignaz Mayr
Sacri Concentus - Antiphone (1681)
Ars Antiqua Austria / Gunar Letzbor
Johann Sebastian Bach
Harpsichord Concertos Vol. 2
Fabio Bonizzoni | La Risonanza
Johann Sebastian Bach
Six Suites for Violoncello Solo BWV 1007-1012
Lucia Swarts
Johann Sebastian Bach
Harpsichord Concertos Vol. 1
Fabio Bonizzoni | La Risonanza
Gregor Werner
Pro Adventu
Ars Antiqua Austria / Gunar Letzbor
Joseph Haydn, Karl Kohaut
Haydn's Lute Player
Ars Antiqua Austria / Gunar Letzbor

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