Monica Waisman - Pocket Mozart - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The Salzburg court conductor Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber is known today as a composer of excellent violin literature. His works are appreciated by violinists for their great artistry and virtuosity. Max Gandolf, the art-minded prince archbishop of Salzburg, also appreciated the violin virtuoso at the time and brought Biber to his court. In public, Biber was mainly active at the cathedral in Salzburg, but Baroque splendour and representation were also in demand at the nearby residence the same festive instrumental music was heard in the liturgy as well as at courtly ceremonies and banquets. Biber's collection of twelve magnificent sonatas therefore bears the title InchSonatæ Tam Aris, quam Aulis ServientesInch - Inchto be used both at the altars and in the banquet hallsInch. The instrumentation of strings with two trumpets indicate festive occasions in the presence of the prince - in Salzburg it was customary for two trumpeters to blow fanfare pieces during the princely table in the Residenzhof. The twelve short trumpet duets from Biber's pen, which the Ensemble Harmonie Universelle placed between the twelve princely sonatas, are probably also related to this.

Johann Sebastian Bach is always seen as a keyboard virtuoso, but he must also have been a very good violinist. At least that is what his son Carl Phillip Emanuel reports and that he was better able to lead the orchestra with his violin than from the harpsichord. Whether Bach wrote his violin concertos for himself or for a guest soloist - possibly the virtuoso Johann Georg Pisendel, who was a friend of his - can no longer be determined today. Two of Bach's violin concertos have survived, which the violinist duo Florian Deuter and Monica Waisman split between them, as well as the Double Concerto in D minor for two violins and orchestra BWV 1043. The two soloists and their ensemble Harmonie Universelle complete the programme with a second Double Concerto in C minor BWV 1060R, the original version of which has not survived. However, Bach himself had arranged the work for two harpsichords, from which this version for two violins could be reconstructed.

Essaka Hoisa, the thrilling, brand new LP of 'minyo footwork' by renowned Japanese musicians Shigeru Ishihara (DJ Scotch Egg / Seefeel) and Kiki Hitomi (ex-King Midas Sound) under their mind-bending Waqwaq Kingdom guise, lands this 15th November via Phantom Limb.Waqwaq Kingdom's endless range of stylistic adventures sees them uniquely draw lines between traditional Japanese and contemporary electronic, between Jamaican dancehall and 8-bit techno, African polyrhythms and experimental music, with plenty more helping to colour a powerful, vibrant palette.