Various Artists - Senza Parole: Opera Without Words / Various - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Camerata Trajectina - Painter & Storyteller [COMPACT DISCS] date 05/09/2006

Both born in 1810, Schumann and Chopin nevertheless followed very different paths. One drew on literary and poetic sources and found inspiration in the turmoil of his own life; the other championed pure music and formal clarity. Schumann admired Chopin, while Chopin showed little more than polite indifference towards his contemporary's work. However, the Kreisleriana and Ballades brought together on this album share the same sense of fantasy and mystery, moving between impetuous outbursts, reverie and tenderness. Simon Bürki embraces their enigmas with virtuosity and depth.

Songs Without Words is the first purely instrumental recording in the history of Camerata Trajectina. Poetry in the 16th and 17th centuries was usually set to popular melodies. Camerata Trajectina has had years of expertise in researching the source melodies underlying these texts. The most beautiful melodies of the Dutch Golden Age were omnipresent. They rang out on the carillon and sounded on the organ in church, they were whistled and blown by city pipers and flutists, and they were whirled and capered to at weddings and balls. Camerata Trajectina play classics of the 17th century in our own arrangements and improvisations, recycling famous melodies, madrigals, songs and harmonies.