This release combines selections from two self-published works by Georg Philipp Telemann. VI moralische Cantaten and 12 Fantaisies pour la basse de violle sold by subscription in 1735. Alternating between the two collections makes an appealing program. The Six Moral Cantatas are just that — music with a message. And whether the subject is luck, parsimony, time, or hope, the message […]
vocal music
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Max Kowalski Lieder – Unusual music, unusual presentation
I was not familiar with the music of Max Kowalski before listening to this new release. Kowalski was a mainly self-taught singer and composer (primarily of lieder), though professionally he was a lawyer. He survived Buchenwald, and died in London in 1956, a well-respected singing teacher and composer. Kowalski’s output is almost exclusively lieder, and […]
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Louis Karchin – To the Sun and Stars
I had to listen to this collection of Louis Karchin’s vocal music several times before I really felt I understand what was going on and could then evaluate it fairly. That’s a shortcoming on my part, but I will say that the exercise was not without reward. For the most part, Karchin sets his texts […]
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Alessandro Stradella: Composer and Cad
Few composers had as colorful history as Alessandro Stradella. He took part in a scheme to embezzle money from the Catholic Church and had to flee Rome. He was an inveterate womanizer, causing not one but two families to take out a contract on him (as he hastily left town). The first group of assassins […]
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New Hugo Wolf lieder collection yields insights
Most of Hugo Wolf’s slender catalog of works is lieder, and the bulk of his reputation as a composer rests with two massive collections: the Spanisches Liderbuch (Spanish Songbook), and the Italianisches Liederbuch (Italian Songbook). This new 3-CD set from Bridge presents both of these massive works with texts in both German and English. Both […]