Lina Tur Bonet / Musica Alchemica LA BELLEZZA

LA BELLEZZA

Tatiana Chulochnikova MEDITATIONS AND REFLECTIONS

MEDITATIONS AND REFLECTIONS

Ricercar Consort, Sophie Gent, Maude Gratton Philippe Pierlot BIBER Imitatio

IMITATIO

Dorothee Oberlinger / Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca NIGHT MUSIC

Dorothee Oberlinger is one of the most amazing discoveries of recent years, an expressive virtuoso who - quite rightly - received numerous awards while still quite young. Today she is seen as one of the best recorder-players in the world. Her concerts have been received with enthusiasm by critics and audiences alike, earning her unanimous acclaim. Her CDs are regularly fêted as the best new issues on the market.

Dorothee Oberlinger has given solo recitals at festivals all over Europe, in America and Japan, for example at the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, the Musikfestspiele Potsdam, the Settimane Musicale Stresa, the Nederlandse Oude-Musik-Network, the Festival de Musica Antigua Sajazarra, the Warsaw Beethoven Festival, the Europäische Musikfestwoche Passau, the Rheingau-Musikfestival, the Tage der Alten Musik Regensburg and the MDR-Musiksommer. Other venues in which she has played include the Wigmore Hall in London, the National Philharmonie in Warsaw, the Marianischer Saal in Lucerne, the Rosée Theater in Fuji and the Philharmonie in Cologne.

She has been the guest soloist with leading international Baroque ensembles such as London Baroque and Musica Antiqua Köln directed by Reinhard Goebel, and she also plays regularly with modern symphony orchestras such as the WDR-Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester and the Detmolder Kammerorchester.

Dorothee Oberlinger collaborates particularly intensively with the top Italian ensemble "Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca", with whom she has given many concerts throughout Europe. Their joint CD of concertos by Antonio Vivaldi has received numerous awards from the international musical press.

She directs her own "Ensemble 1700", which she formed in 2003. Together they have realized a wide variety of projects relating to the music of the 17th and 18th centuries.

In 2004 Dorothee Oberlinger was appointed professor at the renowned Mozarteum academy in Salzburg.

Julia Schröder / Lautten Compagney MISTERIO

Julia Schröder received her first violin lessons from her father, and piano lessons from her mother. At the age of 15, she entered the conservatory “Gasteig” in Munich and two years later the Musikhochschule Basel together with Adelina Oprean.

Further studies led her towards Walter Levin and Hatto Beyerle, Rapheal Oleg, Lukas Hagen (Hagenquartett, Salzburg). Chiara Bancchini was her teacher for the baroque violin at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

Julia Schröder is a concertmaster and director of the Kammerorchester Basel since 2004. Under her leadership the ensemble played in major concert halls in Europe such as the Vienna Musikverein, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Cité de la Musique in Paris and the Barbican Center in London. In parallel she is a soloist accompanying artists such as Sol Gabetta, Giuliano Carmignola, Angelika Kirchschlager, Andreas Scholl, Giuliano Sommerhalder, Pieter Wispelwey, Angela Hewitt, Núria Rial, Franco Fagioli and Cecilia Bartoli.

In 2010 she was called at the Musikhochschule Freiburg (D) to be a violin professor. “Teaching satisfies me when I see young people growing up, not only as a violinist, not only as a musician but also as a human being. For me the way to a professional musician is also the way to the heart of his own humanity.” (Julia Schröder).

Julia Schröder is regularly invited as soloist and director of Lautten Compagney Berlin. Her enthusiastic playing technique makes her a very popular musician in the field chamber music. She enjoys playing with Maurice Steger, Marcelo Nisinman, Gerard Wyss, Werner Güra and Christoph Berner.

Meret Lüthi / Les Passions de l’Ame SCHABERNACK - A Treasure Trove of Musical Jokes

Swiss violinist Meret Lüthi is artistic director and concertmaster of the baroque orchestra «Les Passions de l’Ame», which she co-founded in 2008. She was a guest musician with the Freiburger Barockorchester and has worked as a concertmaster in the Belgian ensemble «B’Rock». She has also taught at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp. She has participated in CD recordings, opera productions, concert tours and radio and television broadcasts with René Jacobs, Ivor Bolton, Adam Fischer and Gary Cooper, among others. In addition, Meret Lüthi is deeply dedicated to chamber music: at the «Young Artists in Concert» festival in Davos, she was featured in a variety of programs; in 2010, she made her debut at the Lucerne Festival. 

Meret Lüthi completed her violin studies at the Bern University of the Arts with distinction, having been taught by Monika Urbaniak-Lisik and Eva Zurbrügg. She studied with Walter Levin as a member of the Amaryllis Quartet, before specializing in baroque violin under the tutelage of Anton Steck at the State Academy of Music in Trossingen, Germany. Her talent was recognized at master classes with Igor Ozim, Christian Altenburger, Thomas Brandis, Ingolf Turban and Gerhard Schulz. Meret Lüthi was awarded scholarships from the Kiefer Halblitzel Foundation and the Kiwanis Club of Bern; in 2007 she was a prizewinner in the German University Competition for Early Music. 

As a specialist in historically-informed performance practice, Meret Lüthi works as an orchestra coach and is regularly invited to share her expertise in radio broadcasts produced by Swiss Radio SRF 2 Kultur. She is a lecturer of baroque violin at the Bern University of the Arts. 

Rachel Podger HEINRICH IGNAZ FRANZ VON BIBER Rosary Sonatas

It is important to judge every disc on its individual merits. That can sometimes be difficult with the recordings of violinist Rachel Podger, who tends to record a disc and receive immediate praise without exception. But is easy with her new recording of Biber’s Rosary, or 'Mystery', Sonatas. 

She may have recorded Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, one of the pinnacles of solo violin repertoire, over 20 years ago, but to wait to record this Biber was a sensible decision. What has come out of that wait is a performance of such variety, insight and instinctive musicianship that it could, and should, define her talents as a performer.

The 'scordatura' (re-tuning) of certain strings on the violin to create different – and often challenging – harmonies, is a particular singularity of these pieces, but is only one element of the array of techniques on which Podger draws. The transformation of sound between the sonatas entitled 'Crucifixion' and 'Resurrection', for instance, makes it difficult to believe she is playing the same instrument from sonata to sonata.  That comes as much from the beauty of her playing, as well as that of the radiantly contrasting continuo parts, as the leg-up Biber gives the performer with the different colours naturally provided by the various tunings.

In the end, though, if this disc shows anything, it is that however established they are, the greatest performers are those that still have the power to surprise and gladden, whatever you previously thought you knew of them. (Caroline Gil)