Help
Skip to main content

Styrian Harpsichord Concertos

Wagenseil, Steinbacher, Casteli

Neue Hofkapelle Graz, Michael Hell

Styrian Harpsichord Concertos
Another valuable contribution to the catalogue, both erudite and really entertaining.

Styrian Harpsichord Concertos

Wagenseil, Steinbacher, Casteli

Neue Hofkapelle Graz, Michael Hell

Purchase product

CD

$19.00

1 available: usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Download

From$10.00

Download

Audio formats guide

44.1 kHz, 16 bit, FLAC/ALAC/WAV

$13.00

320 kbps, MP3

$10.00

This release includes a digital booklet

Stream now lossless, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit
Another valuable contribution to the catalogue, both erudite and really entertaining.

About

The term used to describe the epoch in which the works brought together on this album were composed is a matter of dispute. Did it come before the period of Viennese classicism, which means that it represents “pre-Classicism?” Or is it part of this period, that is, “Early Classicism?” The Austrian musicologist Rudolf Flotzinger came up with a pithy formulation for this phase of music history, terming it “the epoch between the epochs,” which means that it is no longer Baroque and not yet Classicism. During this period, in the middle of the eighteenth century and in the age of Empress Maria Theresa, the genres of instrumental ensemble music continuing even today to dominate the concert repertoire were developed – including the “clavier concerto,” which was performed in equal measure on the organ, on the harpsichord, and later on the pianoforte. The designation “clavier” current at that time merely generally referred to an instrument with claves (keys). A collection of clavier concertos extant in the Studies Library in Ptuj (Pettau), Slovenia, preserves the compositions recorded here in manuscript form. The harpsichordist Michael Hell, along with the Neue Hofkapelle Graz, led by him and Lucia Froihofer, performs these exciting works. Two highly outstanding instruments were available to Michael Hell for this recording: the harpsichord built by Johann Leydecker in Vienna in 1755, now freshly restored, and its copy built by Martin Pühringer in 2017. These instruments enable listeners to become acquainted with two instruments forming a perfect match for this repertoire: on an extremely well-preserved original instrument and on a copy that in its way is tonally just as suitable – after all, even during the time of its composition the music was performed on new instruments. The Ptuj collection shows how fragile and incomplete our knowledge of the musical practice from “the epoch between the epochs” really is. The transmitted manuscripts, above all the extant concertos by Wagenseil, document the variety of performance options, broad compositional palette, and widespread dissemination of music for keyboard instruments.

Contents and tracklist

I. Allegro
Track length3:45
II. Larghetto
Track length2:38
III. Allegro
Track length2:55
I. Vivace
Track length4:18
II. Andante alla breve
Track length3:41
III. Allegro
Track length4:04
I. Allegro
Track length5:08
II. Adagio
Track length2:31
III. Presto
Track length5:39
I. Allegro
Track length5:45
II. Adagio
Track length4:22
III. Allegro
Track length3:20
I. Allegro
Track length5:07
II. Adagio
Track length3:17
III. Allegro
Track length6:10
I. Allegro assai
Track length4:30
II. Adagio
Track length4:30
III. Allegro assai
Track length4:35

Awards and reviews

November 2019

Another valuable contribution to the catalogue, both erudite and really entertaining.
View download progress