L’arpa festante

L’arpa Festante – Johann Christoph Pez: Duplex Genius (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:18:54 minutes | 1,52 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CPO

L’arpa festante was founded in Munich in 1983 by a group of musicians around the violinist Michi Gaigg, who also directed it until 1995. The ensemble borrowed its name from the dramatic cantata of the same name by Giovanni Battista Maccioni († c. 1678), which was performed in 1653 for the inauguration of the Munich Opera. L’arpa festante performs in changing ensembles, often with choirs or vocal soloists, using historical instruments.

After the main focus of the ensemble’s work was initially on the rediscovery and performance of unknown works of the 17th and 18th centuries, the oratorical and symphonic repertoire of the Romantic period has been increasingly coming to the fore in recent years. Depending on the musical needs of the works performed, arrangements from the solo concertino line-up to the full orchestra size of over 50 musicians are possible.

L’arpa festante has been led by Christoph Hesse (concertmaster, organization) in the second generation since 1995.

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L’arpa Festante – Antonio Rosetti: Der sterbende Jesus (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 55:28 minutes | 562 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CPO

L’arpa festante is a German chamber orchestra, specializing in the revival and performance of unknown works, especially from the Baroque era. It was established in Munich in 1983 by Michi Gaigg, who also led the ensemble as concertmaster until 1995. The ensemble takes its name from Giovanni Battista Maccioni’s dramatic cantata L’arpa festante (The Festive Harp) which was first performed in 1653, inaugurating what was to become the Bavarian State Opera.

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L’arpa Festante – Choral Cantatas around 1700 · From Buxtehude to JS Bach (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:29:21 minutes | 2,72 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CPO

The 12 vocal works on this new double CD with L’arpa festante follow without exception the type of the choral cantata “per omnes versus”, i.e. a type in which (almost) all the verses of a chorale poem are set to music, and represent a representative cross-section of the most diverse composers. This genre is to be distinguished from a cantata with chorale, which is characterised by a mixture of different texts. It is also distinguished from the historically older chorale motet, which does without obbligato instruments, and from the chorale concerto, which is often through-composed. The “heyday” of the chorale cantata “per omnes versus” mentioned at the beginning lies in the period after the Thirty Years’ War until shortly after 1700. After that, the chorale – including the chorale poem – loses its importance; it is only with Johann Sebastian Bach that the chorale is given a new, pre-eminent position in the church music of his time, albeit under changed stylistic conditions.

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L’arpa Festante – Telemann: Sacred Cantatas (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:15:04 minutes | 788 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © deutsche harmonia mundi

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767) is one of the most outstanding German Baroque composers and was an influential musical force in the first half of the 18th century. After initial success as a musician in Leipzig, in 1712 he was appointed the city director of music and Kapellmeister in Frankfurt am Main. He gained widespread international fame by 1737/38 at the latest by performing several concerts in Paris. Of his over 1,400 extant sacred cantatas, the maestro composed at least 54 for bass solo. The L’arpafestantechamber orchestra, which has already earned international critical acclaim for its Splendid Harmonyalbum featuring works by Schützpupils, has now made a recording with bass-baritone and Telemann expert Klaus Mertensof further undiscovered sacred cantatas for bass solo with period instruments. Discovered in archives, some of these cantatas were reconstructed for the recording. The opening chorus and the cantata “All’s Glückund Ungelücke” for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, the communion cantata “Fliehethin, ihrbösenTage” and “Sollichnichtvon Jammer sagen,” as well as the cantata “VaterunserimHimmelreich,” an exegesis of the first stanza of Martin Luther’s hymn of the same name, are world premiere recordings. The cantata “Herr! erhöremeineStimme” was also recorded for the first time for this release and stands out for the remarkable dramatic suspense which builds up and is only resolved in the third movement. The CD is rounded out with further Telemann works: two quartets for 2 violins, viola and basso continuo, the Sonata in F major and the Concerto in E minor.

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L’Arpa Festante – Splendid Harmony – 17th Century Instrumental Music by Students of Heinrich Schütz (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:17:13 minutes | 1,48 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © deutsche harmonia mundi

Nowadays, Heinrich Schütz – with his two friends and colleagues from the “SCH trio” by his side, named after their last names’ initials – is considered as one of the most important and influential composers of early German baroque, even if he also received this recognition during his lifetime. During the 55 years he served as Kapellmeister at the court of Dresden, he was a highly sought-after and esteemed professor, and a large number of his former students went on to have brilliant careers. Rarer still, Schütz took it upon himself to “place” his students, sparing neither his efforts nor his time to write well-meaning letters of recommendation. His influence on 17th-century German music therefore is paramount, directly through his students or even his disciples’ disciples. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these disciples are not recognised anymore: who remembers Clemens Thieme (recommended by Schütz for the position of music master and then Kapellmeister of the new chapel founded by Moritz of Saxe), Johann Furchheim, Johann Vierdank (appointed organist at St. Mary’s Church in Stralsund), David Pohle or Johann Jacob Löwe (even though he became Kapellmeister at the court of Wolfenbüttel in 1655)? The Arpa Festante, an orchestra founded in 1983 that specialises in ancient music, therefore set out to rediscover these real gems written by magnificently gifted composers, and we can only hope that other numerous works will soon reach our ears.

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