Szadejko / Smolka / Gottwald - Baroque Cantatas - SUPER-AUDIO CD [Super Audio CD (SACD)]

With an internationally-acclaimed career that spans career spans nearly 25 years, 10 Blues Music Awards, and a Grammy nomination, Danielle Nicole has turned the blues into a launchpad for a broader, bolder sound. That sound reaches a new height with her fourth solo record, Fireflies. Recorded with producer Tony Braunagel in Nicole's hometown of Kansas City, it's not just a record about roots - it's about the growth that occurs when reflection, resilience, and real artistry all combine. From nostalgic tracks like InchTake Me BackInch (featuring North Mississippi Allstars' Luther Dickinson) to empowered anthems like InchGaslightInch and InchTug of War,Inch Fireflies burns bright, deepening Danielle Nicole's exploration into soul, R&B, and the rich tapestry of American roots music.

A mere two years younger than Johann Sebastian Bach, his music already points to the next generation Johann Balthasar Christian Freislich was musically absolutely on the cutting edge. Far away from the traditional music centres of Europe, he created works that reconciled the highly topical gallant to sensitive style with the opulent taste of the probably rather conservative Gdansk bourgeoisie. Andrzej Szadejko and his Goldberg Baroque Ensemble present three of Freislich's secular cantatas; another jewel in the attractive MDG series of the rich Baltic musical heritage. Freislich was employed as Kapellmeister at St. Mary's Church, but he always found opportunities to compose on secular occasions, such as the 300th anniversary of the liberation of Gdansk and all of Prussia from the rule of the Teutonic Order in 1754. Of course, kettledrums and trumpets are an essential part of such a festival. Festive choirs and highly virtuoso arias in InchAuf Danzig, aufInch once again testify to the outstanding musical level of the Baltic metropolis. In Gdansk, grammar school teachers were still introduced in style in 1749, a cantata was written for the occasion, InchChildren of the MusesInch, which sang of the interaction of the arts and sciences. The immediate tone painting, which Freislich also uses here again and again, is marvelous, for example the blind groping, staggering, stumbling, wandering of the uneducated, who has lost the leader - i.e. The teacher. The solo cantata InchEilet, ihr beglückten SchiffeInch is particularly unusual and charming, which bassist Thilo Dahlmann knows how to render with a deft voice and acting expression. He praises InchSchnupftobak, Caffee und TheeInch as a panacea, Inchwise people panacéeInch. Here Freislich also knows how to make himself at home in various national styles Of course, the polonaise should not be missing, but French flair is als

It must have been splendid when the Council was newly elected in Gdansk. Music was played on all organs in St. Mary's Church, and the responsible Kapellmeister had to deliver festive multi-choral works for the occasion. Andrzej Szadejko and his Goldberg Baroque Ensemble convey a fascinating impression of this baroque practice in a spectacular first recording this album presents works by Johann Valentin Meder, who was Kapellmeister at St. Mary's until 1698, including motets with up to three choirs. Elsewhere, multi-choir singing had long since gone out of fashion, but in Meder's music, this opulent and therefore harmonically mostly simple movement style of earlier times is combined with the highly topical concertante style of the Italian Baroque. This leads to idiosyncratic, extremely attractive results. And Meder was always at the forefront one of the first operas in German language was written by him. In his motets, too, he skillfully combines dialogue with commentary - particularly impressive in the motet InchThe infernal serpentInch. And the two chorale motets InchAch Herr, mich armen SünderInch and InchMeine Seele säufzt und stöhnetInch point far into the late baroque future in their imaginative and varied treatment of verses. A special highlight of this lavish production the large, recently reconstructed late baroque Merten-Friese organ on the rood screen of Gdansk's Trinity Church is also used for the three-choir motets. Together with kettledrums, trumpets and trombones, it completes the tonal triangle with the top-class vocal choirs on the right and left, using the full-sounding pedal work - an exciting sound celebration, which can of course be experienced most impressively in three-dimensional reproduction.