This release had me scratching my head. Why was an album of Advent and Christmas music released in February? Most folks (even me) have our Christmas decorations dismantled and packed away for another year. Of course, these cantatas by Gottfried August Homilius don’t really have a Christmassy sound. Homilius wrote in the empfindsamer style, which supplanted the […]
Michael Alexander Willens
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Telemann Christmas Oratorios – stellar performances from the Kölner Akademie
For Telemann, 1730-31 was the “year of oratorios.” Given the rich musical resources of Hamburg, he wrote a series of oratorios for the liturgical year. Michael Alexander Willens and the Kölner Akademie perform three of these recently rediscovered works, all centered around Christmas. The Baroque oratorio was closely related to opera, and Telemann wrote accordingly. The […]
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Anton Eberl Emerges from the Shadow of Mozart
Pianist/composer Anton Eberl was a contemporary of Beethoven and a student of Mozart. Some of Eberl’s works were misattributed to Mozart, and that’s not surprising. As this new release shows, Eberl’s style is quite similar to Mozart’s. But not quite identical (a lot of the misattribution was done by unscrupulous publishers). The two sonatas for […]
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Carl Abel Symphonies Op. 1 and Op. 4
Carl Abel was a student of Johann Sebastian Bach and a business partner with his son Johann Christian. His music shares some of the qualities of the “London” Bach. The works on this collection come from two publications. Abel’s Opus 1 was published in 1760, his Opus 4 two years later. Both sets feature short, […]
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The Haydenseque Fantasies of Sigismund Neukomm
Sigismund von Neukomm was a student of both Michael and Franz Joseph Haydn. He helped with the production of some of Mozart’s late compositions, and worked with Haydn on the editing and arranging of Haydn’s music. At one point, he even taught Mozart’s son composition. As one might expect, his musical style shares many similarities […]