Ensemble Telemaque - Suite de la Jeune Fille Aux Mains D'argent - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

B. Gigli - Gigli Edition 11 [COMPACT DISCS] date 10/18/2005

Celebrated Japanese pianist Yu Kosuge embarks on an exciting project four releases inspired by the Greek concept of the four elements, Water, Fire, Air, Earth. Many composers have been drawn to the properties of these elements when seeking inspiration for their music, but Kosuge's theme goes deeper, dating back to her successful Beethoven cycle InchWhen you understand that Shakespeare's plays, read ardently by Beethoven, refer to Greek mythology, or that Beethoven himself composed some works based on the Prometheus myth, you would know that an artist who is searching for human nature would surely look to Greek mythology or philosophy...Inch In Water, Yu Kosuge interprets a rich array of repertoire, from Liszt and Wagner to acclaimed contemporary composer Dai Fujikura. The 'barcarolle' takes it's rocking rhythms from the motion of a boat we hear examples by Chopin and Fauré, as well as Venetian Gondola 'Songs Without Words' by Mendelssohn.

Expert in Baroque repertoire and making period discoveries, the Philadelphia-based ensemble Tempesta di Mare extends the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Telemann's death with this unique album played on historically authentic instruments. This recording is the first to bring together Telemann's three surviving concerti-en-suite, from the intimate Concerto di camera to the more extravagant and impressive Concerto-Suites. Like many seventeenth-century German composers referring to their national idiom as a blend of French, Italian, and German styles, Telemann, who added rustic Polish music to this stylistic soup, quickly became the standard-bearer for this 'mixed taste' during the early eighteenth century, writing Italian concertos with a French accent, French overture featuring moonlighting concerto soloists, and Polish folk tunes that exuberantly dance their way into arias, concertos, sonatas, songs, and suites. One of his more interesting mixtures is the concerto-suite, a subgenre in which a soloist is featured in an opening concerto-allegro and in a following series of French dance movements. The three surviving works of this genre are brought together here for the first time.