Debut Album the flutefancier's delight released in january 2024
Description
In the period between 1680 and 1740, the recorder enjoyed extraordinary popularity in England with its outstanding cultural center London. The London publisher John Walsh alone, the most productive music publisher of the Baroque period, published over a sixth of all works for the recorder from the early 1690s onwards! While these publications were primarily aimed at amateurs, the multi-part Baroque recorder, which was brought to England by French court musicians in 1673, was also played by outstanding virtuosos in concerts in opera houses and theaters. These were mainly professional musicians from England, France, Italy and Germany. They were particularly attracted by the newly emerging public concert scene, which offered them an economic existence outside the courtly structures.
All these conditions led to a unique musical diversity in England, in which the Italian and French styles not only existed alongside the British tradition, but in which Italian, French and English elements with different emphases were also profitably mixed - a fascinating plurality that is also reflected in the compilation of works on this CD.
Founded in 2021, the Acanthus Baroque Ensemble is made up of the recorder player Magdalena Spielmann, the violinist Christophe Mourault, the harpsichordist Sobin Jo and the cellist Szczepan Dembiński. Magdalena Spielmann also performs internationally as a soloist. Her personal focus is on the interpretation of early music according to historically informed performance practice, whereby she also repeatedly realizes projects with contemporary music.
"Firstly, it should be noted that Magdalena Spielmann can do without all the nerve-wracking gimmicks à la Steger and Oberlinger, with overdone tempos and spat staccatos, because her technique and tone production simply work naturally and effortlessly. She also must have been the top of her class in Historical Improvisation, otherwise her ornaments would not be so confidently timed."
Thomas Baak (Klassik heute 07.03.2024)
"Magdalena Spielmann and Acanthus Baroque celebrate a festival of courtly-cultivated joy in playing on their debut CD. Finally, a recording that fully exploits all the registers of Baroque ornamental art. Definitely recommended – not just to recorder players, to whom it is especially recommended – and already noted for the yearly list."
Thomas Baak (Klassik heute 07.03.2024)
"...Magdalena Spielmann and the Ensemble Acanthus Baroque, founded in 2021, present themselves as technically brilliant interpreters with a pronounced sense for musical rhetoric. Surprising endings without ritardando, breakneck figurations, and artful ornamentation alternate with contemplative and sound-loving passages, felt more than played, without bar lines, so to speak “timeless” – wonderful!"
Thomas Sander (sander-klassik.de, 29.01.2024)