Markus Becker / Michel Godard / Capella de la Torre / Katharina Bäuml RENAISSANCE GOES JAZZ

Renaissance ensemble Capella de la Torre on the one side, tuba player and composer Michel Godard and pianist Markus Becker on the other, combine jazz with the alien distance of the renaissance instruments by letting the past and the present meet and collide. They give worlds of differing memories a new form and let the heterogeneous become something new and homogenous. A co-production with NDR 1.

 "With the Renaissance ensemble Capella de la Torre on one side, and tuba player/composer Michel Godard and pianist Markus Becker on the other, jazz collides with an alien universe of renaissance instruments. The result in this live recording is entirely unexpected and brilliant, capturing the flavor and zest of the Renaissance's addictive mix of old and ancient instruments, providing an elusive, ingenious musical experience that refuses to be generalized." (Huffington Post)

Alban Gerhardt / Markus Becker REGER Cello Sonatas

Alban Gerhardt’s profound musicality and charisma have made him one of the most sought-after cellists of his generation. His ebullient personality is present in all his performances; he is nevertheless passionately committed to the intentions of the composer, and his recordings are always the product of an intense personal journey into every aspect of the music. Gerhardt’s espousal of Reger’s cello sonatas and suites is thus greatly welcomed. Pianist Markus Becker has released twelve discs of Reger’s keyboard music and is an ideal interpreter.

Reger’s cello sonatas and suites demonstrate every facet of this complex composer and individual. The composer’s passionate commitment to German Romanticism and his neo-Classical inspirations are both here: the great influence by Brahms and then the conscious shrugging-off of that mantle in the face of a complex and progressive stylistic advance. The sonatas span the duration of his career and culminate in the late unaccompanied suites, whose ambition to emulate J S Bach is both patent and largely fulfilled. The duo sonatas demand—and receive in this recording—not only a cellist of unusual powers of empathy and bravura, but also a first-rate pianist. This is fascinating and difficult repertoire, wonderfully performed and recorded.

'Exceptionally rewarding … it would be difficult to find more persuasive advocates than cellist Alban Gerhardt and pianist Markus Becker, both of whom are steeped inside the idiom and know exactly how to present the music with cogency and a sure sense of direction. The Four Cello Sonatas provide a fascinating overview of Reger's musical development, moving from the Brahmsian warmth of the First to the highly expressionist and unsettling Fourth. With the aid of excellent sound, Gerhardt and Becker map out this musical journey with wonderful sensitivity … Hyperion's decision to add to this already challenging progamme the Three Unaccompanied Suites of 1914 is fully vindictated by an outstanding performance which once again demonstrates Gerhardt's formidable control of musical line and breathtaking virtuosity' (BBC Music Magazine)