PLUHAR/JAROUSSKY/SCHEEN

Het programma van dit prachtige album bestaat uit geestelijke muziek uit de zeventiende eeuw. Inderdaad Barokmuziek in de zuiverste vorm. De Oostenrijkse Christina Pluhar speelt met L'Arpeggiata uiteraard op originele instrumenten. Daarnaast wordt zoveel mogelijk de oorspronkelijke bezetting benaderd. De vocale bijdrage komt van Philippe Jaroussky en Céline Scheen, hun stemmen zijn perfect op elkaar afgestemd. Het album opent met een bijdrage van Johann Christoph Bach (een oudere neef) en wordt besloten met een werk van Johann Sebastiaan zelf. Een prachtig sfeervol album voor deze tijd van het jaar.




Himmelsmusik
L'Arpeggiata, Christina Pluhar


Himmelsmusik (‘heavenly music’), a programme of sacred songs and cantatas by German composers of the 17th century, presents a striking contrast with the previous Erato album from Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L’Arpeggiata: Händel Goes Wild.
Himmelsmusik sees Pluhar taking a more sober and traditionally scholarly approach. She and L’Arpeggiata are joined by star countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and the distinguished Belgian soprano Céline Scheen in a programme that includes the celebrated lamento ‘Ach, dass ich Wassers gnug hätte’ by Johann Christoph Bach (born over 40 years before his relative Johann Sebastian), Heinrich Schütz’s ‘Erbarm Dich mein, o Herre Gott’ and prompts discovery of works by such lesser-known figures as Johann Theile, Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, Christian Ritter and Franz Tunder. An instrumental piece by the Verona-born Antonio Bertali highlights the influence of Italian music on German composers of the time.
In an interview with the Bremen-based newspaper Weser-Kurier, Christina Pluhar provided some insights into the balance she strikes in her music-making with L’Arpeggiata.
“A way of escaping any categorisation as a specialist in improvisation is to undertake projects in which I play pure Baroque music. I always try to reinvent myself, to create something from my innermost being … I can be quite satisfied with music as it was originally written, and we will play this music without making excursions into other fields … But it is also always exciting to look at this music through the eyes of musicians who come from a different musical genre, since it opens up new perspectives and gives rise to a kind of new music. That can only work when you are well acquainted with the original music and its style, and have great respect for it … There are pieces that lend themselves to being developed into something new, and there are others that must simply be presented in all their purity and beauty – works which must be left as they are. Sensitivity is everything.”