Markus Eiche - Lieder 9 / Schubert's Friends - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The German tenor, Markus Schäfer, studied with Marga Plachner, Armand McLane and Evelyn Dalberg. Following his attendance at the Opera Studio in Zürich, Markus Schäfer's first professional engagement was at the Opernhaus Zürich in 1985. Since then guest appearances have take Markus Schäfer to many a prestigious musical location - the Salzburger Festpiele, the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, La Fenice in Venice, Liceo in Barcelona and the State Opera on Munich, to name but a few. He has undertaken principal roles in various operas by W.A. Mozart, Monteverdi, Alessandro Scarlatti, Johann Adolf Hasse and Rolle. He worked closely with René Jacobs and the Concerto Köln at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden, on Cosi fan tutte, and Krösus by Reinhard Keiser.

This product is an authorized manufactured on demand CD-R

The two concertos performed here by Michael Collins and the Philharmonia Orchestra were both intended for a specific player - Mozart composed his for Anton Stadler and Richard Birchall for Michael Collins himself. Both works - as well as Mozart's Clarinet Quintet - were also written for a particular instrument the basset clarinet, a slightly larger and deeper clarinet than the one in A which soon after Mozart had written his concerto became the standard. At the very core of the clarinet repertoire, the two works by Mozart have until recently been played on the A clarinet, with necessary adjustments being made to the solo part. Nowadays, however, they are more and more often performed on the instrument they were intended for. Richard Birchall, in his Concerto for Basset Clarinet, also makes the most of the basset clarinet's extended range, for instance in the third movement, Impossible Construction. That movement, and indeed the whole work, is inspired by the artwork of M. C. Escher and it's combination of surreal elements and mathematical precision. With the two concertos, Michael Collins continues his long-standing collaboration with the Philharmonia Orchestra, which includes an acclaimed recording on BIS of works by Vaughan Williams and Finzi. For the Clarinet Quintet he has invited his colleagues from the Wigmore Soloists, the chamber ensemble that he leads together with Isabelle van Keulen.