The Mozartists

Mozart in London

Price: € 22.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212053423
Catnr: SIGCD 534
Release date: 01 June 2018
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2 CD
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Label
Signum Classics
UPC
0635212053423
Catalogue number
SIGCD 534
Release date
01 June 2018

"The fascinating thing about this double album, on which these concerts are based, is mainly the choice of unknown English repertoire from 1765; music that the Mozarts could have heard in London or were actually presented."

De Gelderlander, 07-7-2018
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Artist(s)
Composer(s)
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About the album

The Mozartists present an unprecedented survey of Mozart’s childhood stay in London from 1764-65. The wide-ranging programme includes Mozart’s remarkable first symphony (composed when he was eight years old), along with his two other London symphonies and his first concert aria. The repertoire also explores music that was being performed in London during Mozart’s stay, including works by J. C. Bach, Thomas Arne, Abel, Pescetti, Perez, George Rush and William Bates, many of which have not previously been recorded.

The album features an outstanding line-up of soloists comprising sopranos Ana Maria Labin, Anna Devin, Rebecca Bottone, Martene Grimson and Eleanor Dennis, mezzo-soprano Helen Sherman, tenors Ben Johnson and Robert Murray and harpsichordist Steven Devine. The album was recorded live during a weekend of performances at London’s Milton Court in February 2015 as part of the opening season of MOZART 250, and includes over a dozen world premiere recordings.

The Mozartists presenteren een weergaloos overzicht van Mozart’s jeugdverblijf in Londen van 1764 tot 1765. Het brede programma omvat Mozarts opmerkelijke eerste symfonie (gecomponeerd toen hij acht jaar oud was), samen met zijn twee andere Londense symfonieën en zijn eerste concertaria. Het repertoire verkent ook muziek die tijdens Mozarts verblijf in Londen werd uitgevoerd, waaronder werken van J. C. Bach, Thomas Arne, Abel, Pescetti, Perez, George Rush en William Bates. Veel van deze werken zijn nog niet eerder opgenomen.

Aan het album werkt een uitstekende cast van solisten mee, bestaande uit de sopranen Ana Maria Labin, Anna Devin, Rebecca Bottone, Martene Grimson en Eleanor Dennis, mezzosopraan Helen Sherman, tenoren Ben Johnson en Robert Murray en klavecinist Steven Devine. Het album werd live opgenomen tijdens een weekend met optredens op Milton Court in Londen in 2015 als onderdeel van het openingsseizoen van MOZART 250, en bevat meer dan een dozijn wereldpremières.

Artist(s)

The Mozartists

The Mozartists, under the dynamic leadership of conductor and artistic director Ian Page, are leading exponents of the music of Mozart and his contemporaries. Originally called Classical Opera, the company was founded in 1997, and has received widespread international acclaim for its stylish and virtuosic period-instrument orchestra, its imaginative and innovative programming, and its ability to nurture and develop world-class young artists. The Mozartists have a prolific recording profile, and perform regularly at the UK’s leading venues, including Wigmore Hall, the Barbican, Southbank Centre and Birmingham Town Hall; they have also toured to Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Greece and the Czech Republic. Renowned for their fresh and insightful interpretations of well-known masterpieces as well as for their ability to bring rare works to...
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The Mozartists, under the dynamic leadership of conductor and artistic director Ian Page, are leading exponents of the music of Mozart and his contemporaries. Originally called Classical Opera, the company was founded in 1997, and has received widespread international acclaim for its stylish and virtuosic period-instrument orchestra, its imaginative and innovative programming, and its ability to nurture and develop world-class young artists.

The Mozartists have a prolific recording profile, and perform regularly at the UK’s leading venues, including Wigmore Hall, the Barbican, Southbank Centre and Birmingham Town Hall; they have also toured to Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Greece and the Czech Republic. Renowned for their fresh and insightful interpretations of well-known masterpieces as well as for their ability to bring rare works to light, they have mounted staged productions of many of Mozart’s operas, and have also given numerous UK premières, including Gluck’s La clemenza di Tito, Telemann’s Orpheus, Jommelli’s Il Vologeso, Haydn’s Applausus and Hasse’s Piramo e Tisbe.

In 2015 the company launched MOZART 250, a ground-breaking 27-year project exploring the chronological trajectory of Mozart’s life, works and influences. Described by The Observer as “among the most audacious classical music scheduling ever”, this flagship project presents 250thanniversary performances of most of Mozart’s important works, placing them in context alongside other significant works by Mozart’s contemporaries.

Page and his ensemble are also celebrated for their studio recordings. Their first two recordings – ‘The A-Z of Mozart Opera’ and ‘Blessed Spirit – a Gluck retrospective’ – were both selected for Gramophone’s annual Critics’ Choice, and the first seven releases in their ongoing recording cycle of the complete Mozart operas have attracted superlative reviews. Further recordings include the acclaimed 2-CD set ‘Mozart in London’ and recital discs featuring tenor Allan Clayton (‘Where’er You Walk’) and soprano Sophie Bevan (‘Perfido!’), both of which were shortlisted for the International Opera Awards. They recently released the first two volumes in a new ‘Sturm und Drang’ series.

“Conductor, instrumentalists and singers alike make sound the servant of the sense, with stylish, eloquent and dramatic music-making of the highest order.” INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW


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Ian Page (conductor)

Ian Page (conductor) is the founder, conductor and artistic director of Classical Opera, and is emerging as one of the leading British conductors of his generation. He began his musical education as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and studied English Literature at the University of York before completing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At the start of his career he worked on the music staff at Scottish Opera, Opera Factory, Glyndebourne and the Drottningholm Slottsteater in Sweden, working with such conductors as Sir Alexander Gibson, Nicholas McGegan, Mark Wigglesworth, Ivor Bolton and Sir Charles Mackerras. With Classical Opera he has conducted most of Mozart’s early operas, including the world première of the ‘original’ version of Mitridate,...
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Ian Page (conductor) is the founder, conductor and artistic director of Classical Opera, and is emerging as one of the leading British conductors of his generation. He began his musical education as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and studied English Literature at the University of York before completing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At the start of his career he worked on the music staff at Scottish Opera, Opera Factory, Glyndebourne and the Drottningholm Slottsteater in Sweden, working with such conductors as Sir Alexander Gibson, Nicholas McGegan, Mark Wigglesworth, Ivor Bolton and Sir Charles Mackerras.

With Classical Opera he has conducted most of Mozart’s early operas, including the world première of the ‘original’ version of Mitridate, re di Ponto and a new completion of Zaide, as well as Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte and La clemenza di Tito. He has also conducted the UK premières of Gluck’s La clemenza di Tito, Telemann’s Orpheus and Jommelli’s Il Vologeso, as well as the first new staging for 250 years of Johann Christian Bach’s Adriano in Siria. In 2009 he made his Royal Opera House début conducting Arne’s Artaxerxes at the Linbury Studio Theatre, and his studio recording of the work was released in 2011 on Linn Records.

He devised and conducted Classical Opera’s recordings of ‘The A-Z of Mozart Opera’ (Signum Classics) and ‘Blessed Spirit – a Gluck retrospective’ (Wigmore Hall Live), both of which were selected for Gramophone magazine’s annual Critic’s Choice, and he recently embarked on an acclaimed new complete cycle of Mozart opera recordings with Classical Opera. He has also created and devised MOZART 250, Classical Opera’s ambitious 27-year journey through Mozart’s music and influences, which was launched in London in 2015.


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Composer(s)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose actual name is Joannes Chrysotomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a composer, pianist, violinist and conductor from the classical period, born in Salzburg. Mozart was a child prodigy. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart is considered to be one of the most influential composers of all of music's history. Within the classical tradition, he was able to develop new musical concepts which left an everlasting impression on all the composers that came after him. Together with Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven he is part of the First Viennese School.  At 17, Mozart was engaged as...
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose actual name is Joannes Chrysotomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a composer, pianist, violinist and conductor from the classical period, born in Salzburg. Mozart was a child prodigy. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart is considered to be one of the most influential composers of all of music's history. Within the classical tradition, he was able to develop new musical concepts which left an everlasting impression on all the composers that came after him. Together with Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven he is part of the First Viennese School. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position. From 1763 he traveled with his family through all of Europe for three years and from 1769 he traveled to Italy and France with his father Leopold after which he took residence in Paris. On July 3rd, 1778, his mother passed away and after a short stay in Munich with the Weber family, his father urged him to return to Salzburg, where he was once again hired by the Bishop. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death.


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Johann Christian Bach

The German composer Johann Christian Bach was the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Anna Magdalena Wilcken. His father and his half-brother Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach instructed him in music, and he consequently enjoyed a promising career as a composer and performer. He is referred to as both ‘the Italian Bach’ and ‘the London Bach’. From 1754 till 1762 Johann Christian lived and studied in Italy, where he became organist of the Milan cathedral and devoted much time to the composition of sacred music. He also became familiar with the Italian operas, which incited him to compose  his own operas, amongst others Artaserse, Catone in Utica and Alessandro nell’India. In 1762 Johann Christian established himself in London, the center of European...
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The German composer Johann Christian Bach was the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Anna Magdalena Wilcken. His father and his half-brother Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach instructed him in music, and he consequently enjoyed a promising career as a composer and performer. He is referred to as both ‘the Italian Bach’ and ‘the London Bach’.
From 1754 till 1762 Johann Christian lived and studied in Italy, where he became organist of the Milan cathedral and devoted much time to the composition of sacred music. He also became familiar with the Italian operas, which incited him to compose his own operas, amongst others Artaserse, Catone in Utica and Alessandro nell’India.
In 1762 Johann Christian established himself in London, the center of European opera, where three of his operas premiered that year. He was one of the first to found public concerts there, together with the gamba player and composer Karl Friedrich Abel. These so-called Bach-Abel concerts continued to took place until 1781. He also met Mozart in London, who was then eight years old. Mozart admired his music and arranged three of his sonatas into keyboard concertos. For a duration of twenty years Johann Christian was the most popular musician of London. However, at the end of his life the popularity of his music began to fade.
Just like his father, Johann Christian left a considerable oeuvre, comprising of more than 90 symphonies, some 30 sonatas, about 40 concerti and 14 operas.

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Press

The fascinating thing about this double album, on which these concerts are based, is mainly the choice of unknown English repertoire from 1765; music that the Mozarts could have heard in London or were actually presented.
De Gelderlander, 07-7-2018

"MOZART IN LONDON", by The Mozartists led by Ian Page, 2 CDs on the label Signum classics. Highly recommended!
Stretto, 02-6-2018

Play album
Disc #1
01.
Symphony No. 1 in E-Flat Major, K. 16: I. Molto allegro
05:39
02.
Symphony No. 1 in E-Flat Major, K. 16: II. Andante
04:57
03.
Symphony No. 1 in E-Flat Major, K. 16: III. Presto
01:33
04.
Judith: Act II: ?Sleep, gentle Cherub! Sleep descend?
03:01
05.
Judith: Act I: ?O torment great, too great to bear?
03:46
06.
Artaxerxes: Act I, Scene 2:
04:47
07.
Artaxerxes: Act I, Scene 13: ?O too lovely, too unkind?
04:35
08.
Harpsichord Concerto in D Major, Op. 1 No. 6: I. Allegro assai
04:44
09.
Harpsichord Concerto in D Major, Op. 1 No. 6: II. Andante
03:31
10.
Harpsichord Concerto in D Major, Op. 1 No. 6: III. Allegro moderato
02:54
11.
Ezio: Non so d'onde viene
08:26
12.
Berenice: Confusa, smarrita
05:56
13.
The Guardian Outwitted: O Dolly
02:35
14.
The Maid of the Mill: Act III, Scene 1:
01:02
15.
The Maid of the Mill: Act II, Scene 8:
01:54
16.
Symphony No. 4 in D Major, K. 19: I. Allegro
02:18
17.
Symphony No. 4 in D Major, K. 19: II. Andante
03:55
18.
Symphony No. 4 in D Major, K. 19: III. Presto
02:49
19.
Ezio: Caro mio bene, addio
09:02

Disc #2
01.
Symphony in F Major, K. 19a: I. Allegro assai
04:59
02.
Symphony in F Major, K. 19a: II. Andante
04:58
03.
Symphony in F Major, K. 19a: III. Presto
01:29
04.
Adriano in Siria: Act II:
02:09
05.
Adriano in Siria: Act II:
06:22
06.
Adriano in Siria: Act II:
08:50
07.
The Capricious Lovers: Overture: I. Allegro
02:16
08.
The Capricious Lovers: Overture II: Allegretto
00:56
09.
The Capricious Lovers: Overture: III. Allegro
02:06
10.
The Capricious Lovers: Act I, Scene 8:
02:37
11.
Pharnaces
02:41
12.
Va, dal furor portata, K. 21
06:14
13.
Solimano: Se non ti moro a lato
09:28
14.
Symphony in E-Flat Major, Op. 7 No. 6: I. Allegro
03:39
15.
Symphony in E-Flat Major, Op. 7 No. 6: II. Andante
05:28
16.
Symphony in E-Flat Major, Op. 7 No. 6: III. Presto
02:54
show all tracks

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