Gyöngy Erödi J.S. BACH Cello Suites I, II, V

Silent and largely unknown for more than 200 years after their creation, Bach’s six suites for solo violoncello were recorded for the first time between 1936-1939 by the legendary Pablo Casals. In the 80 years since then, the suites inspired not only generations of cellists, but also other instrumentalists from tubists to marimba players to perform and record their own versions. Based on interpretation, historical background, research of instrumentation and performance practice, these recordings offer a colourful variety of different perspectives. In fact, one might wonder whether there is anything left that has not been researched, associated with or inspired by these pieces. 

Bach’s cello suites, composed some 300 years ago, have a quality of mystery. First, there is no exact dating of their creation partly due to the absence of a manuscript by J. S. Bach. One of the two earliest surviving manuscripts is by Bach’s second wife Anna Magdalena (the main source for my recording). The missing original score leaves musicologists without evidence about where, for whom, for what purpose and for what kind of a violoncello they were written. Furthermore, there are disputes surrounding areas such as articulation, bowings and even authorship, a topic of the latest debates among academics. 

Wonderfully, this lack of data leads to the very essence of the music, which, as I see it, is free of time and space. This means, that the meaning of the suites can only be fully understood by experiencing them in the moment and not by acquiring more information about them. Their past and future, being intangible, merge in the moment of now, when they are being played and heard. In the present, this resonating music is a medium of eternal human experience and emotion that connects us to ourselves and to each other. The deeper, unconscious sense of these pieces can only be gained by our sensory perception of vibrating sound: the reason why these particular works remain relevant today. (Gyöngy Erödi)

Toyohiko Satoh VIENNESE LUTE MUSIC

On this release, lutenist Toyohiko Satoh plays music from the court of Vienna from around the year 1700. A special discovery included on this album is the suite by Adam Franz Ginter, who was a famous castrato singer in that time, but also composed some pieces for the lute. This recording is a tribute to this largely forgotten musician who most probably had a short and rather sad life. The following suite by Saint-Luc contains a “tombeau for Francois Ginter” and was composed to lament the early death of this extraordinary singer, lutenist and composer. At Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Satoh studied music history with Tatsuo Minagawa and guitar with Kazuhito Ohosawa. He gave his first guitar recital in the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan concert hall in 1965. At Rikkyo, he also began his studies of the lute. Praised for his “intensity and sense of drama” and “electric tension and rhythmic spring,” he has performed and recorded both solo and with many chamber ensembles, and has been actively composing since 1981.

More Hispano / Vicente Parrilla YR A OYDO

Yr a oydo is an old Spanish expression for "going by heart" and is the name of MORE HISPANO's latest innovative project lead by the recorder player Vicente Parrilla. The young Spanish Ensemble presents Ancient Music of early 17th century Spain and Italy, completely improvised but not without cherishing the skills of historic performance - a goal that is as ambitious as it is unique.

MORE HISPANO holds ideal qualifications for this kind of music: the musicians have been in the business for many years, some of them performing together since childhood. Most have since come to belong to the best and most innovative specialists of their generation in Ancient Music in Spain. They perform solely on historic instruments and artful replica of instruments that were in use in the 17th century. The soprano Raquel Andueza not only performs with MORE HISPANO but also with a variety of internationally renowned ensembles and projects, among them L'Arpeggiata under Christina Pluhar.

This recording is the outcome of the musicians' experimentation and struggle with the historical standards, of their longstanding shared performances, and the playful interaction with their instruments, peer musicians and not least themselves. The aim therein was not to gain distance from the original historic compositions but an intense and often very personal involvement with those works which frequently leads to surprising results.

The record at hand stands in the tradition of the practice of improvisation: not one piece was played twice in equal manner, no solo was predictable, no one knew at the beginning of a piece when or how it would end.

As a result, the track titles are not work titles as such, but much rather hint at the structure of the piece (e.g. "Passacaglia" as a form of dance), or suggest the employed compositions (e.g. "Guardame las vacas"). In many ways, the style of making music here relates to Jazz, and oftentimes the inherent and uncompromising quest for emotion and expression will be more familiar to the fan of Jazz than it might be to the admirer of Ancient Music. It is this gap in today's musical landscape that Yr a oydo aspires to bridge. (Carpe Diem Records)