Oscar Verhaar, La Sfera Armoniosa, Mike Fentross - Freedom - Handel: Oratorio Arias

Barokowa Muzyka Klasyczna / Muzyka Wokalna
premiera polska: 2024-03-22
opakowanie: Jewelcaseowe etui
opis:
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Nie wszyscy wiedzą, że Georg Friedrich Handel w dwóch krajach uznawany jest za narodowego kompozytora. W Niemczech, gdzie się urodził, jak i w Wielkiej Brytanii, której obywatelstwo uzyskał w 1727 roku. Ten jego kosmopolityzm zdaje się dostrzegać dyrygent i lutnista Mike Fentross. Bowiem najnowsza płyta jego barokowej orkiestry La Sfera Armoniosa skupia się na temacie wolności, którą Handel uosabia jak mało który barokowy kompozytor.
Georg Friedrich Handel to muzyczna gwiazda epoki baroku. Pozostawił po sobie niezwykle bogaty dorobek, szczególnie obfitujący w muzykę wokalno-instrumentalną, z bogatą kolekcją oratoriów. Już za życia uważany był za żywego klasyka tej formy muzycznej. Te wielkie dzieła sięgają po tematy biblijne, będące ich osnowę dramatyczną, które dotyczą ucisku, oporu, niewoli i wolności. W jego twórczości znajdziemy efektowne chóry niewolników i wiele arii o (braku) wolności, z których osiem zaprezentowano na tej płycie. Taki program płyty pozwala dostrzec uniwersalność dorobku Handla, pokazuje, jak bardzo ten repertuar jest aktualny. Co rusz w różnych miejscach na świecie stajemy przed ostatecznymi wyzwaniami dotyczącymi rządów autorytarnych bądź totalitarnych. Walka o wolność nieustająco trwa od wieków, i z dużą dozą prawdopodobieństwa można założyć, że szybko się nie skończy.
Wszechstronny śpiewak - kontratenor Oscar Veraar z sukcesem wykonuje repertuar obejmujący czasy średniowiecza po XVIII wiek. Handlowskie theatrum wyczuwa perfekcyjnie, nasyca poszczególne ogniwa tej opowieści dużym ładunkiem dramatycznym. Nie brak tu zjawiskowych ozdobników i elementów improwizacyjnych, wykonanie zachwyca wielką dawką naturalności i płynnością narracji, która drży i pulsuje, co przy tak skrojonym programie nie jest łatwe.
Piękne, wartościowe i zasługujące na ocean burzliwych oklasków nagranie. Muzycy podchodzą do handlowskich szlagierów nie jak do zabytków teorii muzyki, tylko do żywego utworu, nie popadając przy tym w nadmiarowość i tanie efekciarstwo. Z partytury wydobywają różne brzmieniowe smaki. Znakiem rozpoznawczym ich odczytań są improwizacja, świeżość, bezpośredniość – jednym słowem wolność, i tak wracamy do głównego tematu płyty…
autor: Mariusz Wielgosz
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Editor's info:
The debut album by young countertenor Oscar Verhaar showcases eight arias drawn from Handel's English oratorios.
Freedom is a dominant theme in the English oratorios of Georg Friedrich Handel. These grand works are mostly based on biblical stories that deal with resistance, suppression, captivity and, finally, freedom. In his oeuvre we find impressive slave choruses and many arias about (the lack of) freedom, eight of which are presented on this album. As a versatile early music singer, countertenor Oscar Veraar has been performing major works by composers such as Bach and Handel next to lesser-known music from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. His interest in performance practice also leads him to do much of the required musicological research for these works. In this recording he can benefit from the invaluable support of an experienced orchestra like La Sfera Armoniosa, conducted by Mike Fentross.
La Sfera Armoniosa
La Sfera Armoniosa, founded in 1992, is a Dutch Baroque ensemble and orchestra specialized in the performance of music from the seventeenth and eighteenth century. Artistic director and conductor is Mike Fentross. In addition to the music of famous composers such as Monteverdi, Haendel and Vivaldi, the ensemble undertakes research into the manuscripts and printed works of the European libraries in order to provide a rich spectrum of music from lesser known composers. The English music magazine Gramophone wrote about their first cd: “How soon will we hear the enchanting La Sfera Armoniosa again, and what fresh buried treasure will they unearth?” La Sfera Armoniosa is known and praised for it’s lively and colourful sound and for its groundbreaking programmes. They created in 2004 a Schoenberg/ Monteverdi programme that they performed with great success in the Utrecht Early Music Festival and they performed modern world premiers from three almost forgotten opera’s: La Rosinda, l’Ipermestra and Granida. In 2012 the Concertgebouw asked La Sfera to design and perform a special program, the Amsterdam musical life before the concerthall was build, for their 125th anniversary.
La Sfera Armoniosa performed in main festivals and concert halls such as: Festival van Vlaanderen, Festival d’Ambronay, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Music Center Vredenburg, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Monteverdi festival Cremona, Festival de Musica Portico de Zamora, Festival Musica Antiqua Bruges, and the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam.
About their performance of the opera La Rosinda by Francesco Cavalli in Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci the press wrote: "This evening, the orchestra has proven that it is amongst the leading baroque orchestras. I will not soon forget the nuances that came from the orchestra pit. That was great art… Nothing more and nothing less."
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Mike Fentross
Conductor/lutenist Mike Fentross has largely earned his credits as an early music specialist. He is working all over Europe as a conductor, soloist and basso continuo player and he is professor of lute and basso continuo at the Royal Conservatory The Hague. In 2006 he founded the baroque orchestra La Sfera Armoniosa.
Mike Fentross conducted in many festivals and concerthalls like the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The Festival van Vlaanderen, Festival d’Ambronay, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Paradiso Amsterdam, Monteverdi Festival Cremona, Festival de Musica Portico de Zamora, Festival Musica Antiqua Brugge, Vantaa Early Music Festival, Bayreuth Barock and Muziekcentrum Vredenburg in Utrecht. For two times
he had the honour to conduct in the presence of Queen Beatrix of Holland. In 1988 Mike Fentross graduated at the Royal Conservatory The Hague where he studied with lute pionier Toyohiko Satoh. In 1994 he won the Van Wassenaer Competition in Amsterdam with violinist Helene Schmitt. He played chamber music with musicians as Yo Yo Ma, Ton Koopman, Janine Jansen, Marion Verbruggen, Sonia Prina, Maria Bajo, Wilbert Hazelzet, Bruce Dickey, Lucy van Dael, Andrew Lawrence King, Philippe Jarousski, Eduardo Lopez Banzo, Skip Sempe and Gerard Lesne. Mike has recorded more than 75 cd’s.
He studied conducting with Stefan Pas. As conductor he debuted in 1999 with La Dafne from Marco da Gagliano in a production of the New Opera Academie in Amsterdam. In 2006 he conducted in the presence of Queen Beatrix the modern world premiere from the opera l’Ipermestra from Cavalli in a prestigeous jubilee production from the Utrecht Early Music Festival and in 2008 he conducted a second unearthed Cavalli opera La Rosinda in a production from the Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci Potsdam. In 2009 he conducted for the first time in the big hall from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and in the same year he was musical director in the production Granida performed in the presence of Queen Beatrix. About his debut as conductor from the Dutch Chamber Choir in 2010 in the Concertgebouw the press wrote: Conductor Mike Fentross rivalled Caravaggio with the score of the Maria Vespers. His first time conducting the Nederlands Kamerkoor was a resounding success.
Mike doesn’t only conduct Early Music, in 2004 he conducted Pierrot Lunaire from Arnold Schoenberg. The press wrote: There was great enthusiasm for Mike Fentross as conductor of a double bill consisting of Monteverdi’s Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda and Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire. Mike Fentross gave a performance of Pierrot lunaire that ‘appeared to come from another planet’.
In 2012 Mike made his Austrian debut in the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt with great success in a program with coloratura soprano Simone Kermes and in the same year he conducted the pre jubilee concert for the Concertgebouw in a program with solo violinist Lucy van Dael and singers Henk Neven and Andreas Scholl. In 2013 he conducted the Fairy Queen with his orchestra and the Netherlands Chamberchoir.
Since 2013 he is regularly conducting the baroque orchestra and choir of the Royal Conservatory. In 2014 he was invited by Paradiso Orchestra to conduct Beethovens Eroica. In 2016 he conducted the Netherlands Chamber Choir in a Bach, Faure program live broadcast on national radio.

muzycy:
Oscar Verhaar (countertenor)
La Sfera Armoniosa
Mike Fentross: conductor

utwory:
01. All danger disdaining 04:23
02. Return, O God of hosts 09:17
03. Fury 06:03
04. I. Ouverture Susanne 02:16
05. II. Staccato e non troppo allegro 02:49
06. In the battle 07:24
07. O sacred oracles of Truth: I. Largo un poco piano 04:46
08. O sacred oracles of Truth: II. Accompagnato 01:22
09. O sacred oracles of Truth: III. Largo e pomposo 02:36
10. Joseph and his Brethern: I. Andante 01:19
11. Joseph and his Brethern: II. Larghetto 01:41
12. Joseph and his Brethern: III. Allegro 02:08
13. Joseph and his Brethern: IV. Menuet Larghetto e piano 01:26
14. Be Firm 09:17
15. O Lord, whose mercies numberless 04:25
16. Up the dreadful steep ascending 04:18

wydano: 05 April 2024
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