Writing about Bach's six sonatas and partitas for solo violin often focuses on the nature of the music: Are the pieces humanistic in tone? Do they reflect deep spiritual-numerological concerns? But the first thing the average listener is likely to notice about them is their sheer difficulty: their monumental quality comes in part from the fact that, as with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the musicians are struggling to re-create the music. That's partly the result of playing the music on a violin that wasn't built for it, and although there are plenty of recordings on a Baroque violin there are fewer players who have the means to deliver the music cleanly and confidently on one.

The Freiburger Barockorchester, directed from Gottfried von der Goltz’s violin, released a brand new recording of Telemann’s rare Passion, entitled Seliges Erwägen (Contemplative Meditations). More than just setting to music the story of the passion of Christ, such as Bach did, we hear in this score a succession of meditations. If we know little about its genesis, it is acknowledged that the success of this work was considerable, even more than that of his Passion after Brockes or his oratorio The Death of Jesus. The clear diction and the transparency of the voices in the chorals perfectly convey the dramatic expression, typical of these sacred works.

Gottfried von der Goltz, first violin and conductor of the first-rate Freiburger Barockorchester comes back with a new album dedicated to the violin sonatas of a young - and already brilliant - Telemann. Rarely recorded, these works show a very surprising form as they allow the musician total freedom of expression and ornamentation. These features demonstrate also the unique creative inventiveness already in germ in Telemann’s music.

This is an excellent and varied selection of composers from the very well known like Palestrina, Monteverdi, Bach and Vivaldi, through the less famous but familiar like Frescobaldi, Sainte-Colombe and Zelenka, to the downright obscure. It is all delightful: the musicians are uniformly excellent, and include such great names as Gustav Leonhardt, Cantus Colln, Christopher Hogwood and so on. They give fine performances both of the familiar works and of the less familiar ones. Obviously there will be discs you like more than others and you may already have favourite versions of some works, but these discs are never less than very good and are often outstanding.

Diese CD zeichnet das Porträt eines hervorragenden Musikers: Drei Violin- konzerte, drei Orchesterkonzerte, eine Fantasie für Orchester und die Alternativfassung eines Mittelsatzes bieten Musik, die an Vielfalt keine Wünsche offenläßt.​Ideenreichtum, Charme und eine ausgefeilte Kompositions- technik ergänzen sich zu einem Stil, der den besten Leistungen der Epoche nicht nachsteht.

Tafelmusik (table music) is a term used since the mid-16th century for music played at feasts and banquets. Some of the most significant composers of Tafelmusik included Johann Schein and Michael Praetorius, who wrote about the genre in his Syntagma musicum of 1619. Composed in 1733, Telemann s Tafelmusik has been compared as a collection to the renowned Brandenburg Concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach in clearly demonstrating the composer s supreme skill in handling a diversity of musical genres and a variety of instruments. Played here by the Freiburger Barockorchester under the direction of their leader Gottfried von der Goltz, these Baroque gems shine as never before.

For those new to Mendelssohn's music, this might look like a recording of some major works of the composer; be aware that they're virtually unknown music of Mendelssohn's early teens, first published in complete form only in 1999. For those already a fan of Mendelssohn, however, they're very intriguing works that show the developing talents of the young composer in a different light than do the set of twelve-string symphonies that are his most frequently performed works of the period.

The eighteenth century is probably the most extraordinary period of transformation Europe has known since antiquity. Political upheavals kept pace with the innumerable inventions and discoveries of the age; every sector of the arts and of intellectual and material life was turned upside down. Between the end of the reign of Louis XIV and the revolution of 1789, music in its turn underwent a radical mutation that struck at the very heart of a well-established musical language. In this domain too, we are all children of the Age of Enlightenment: our conception of music and the way we ‘consume’ it still follows in many respects the agenda set by the eighteenth century. And it is not entirely by chance that harmonia mundi has chosen to offer you in 2011 a survey of this musical revolution which, without claiming to be exhaustive, will enable you to grasp the principal outlines of musical creation between the twilight of the Baroque and the dawn of Romanticism.

Haydn's importance in the development of both the symphony and the string quartet is well known and his works in those genres have become staples of the repertoire. However, the great composer's piano concerti are not performed nearly as often as those of Mozart or Beethoven. After listening to these glorious performances by fortepianist Andreas Staier, originally released in 2005, you will wonder why.

This recording of works by Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, the least well-known of the four composer sons of Bach, marks the completion of the FBO’s highly acclaimed series “Bach’s Sons” on the Carus label. Unlike his prominent brothers Carl Philipp and Johann Christian, the “Bueckeburg Bach” never ventured beyond the provinces, serving as a court musician for forty years at the court of the Count of Schaumburg-Lippe. But his music is anything but provincial. It moves impressively between the styles of both brothers, combining the artistic demands of Carl Philipp with the light Italian tone of the younger brother Johann Christian, and so defies easy musical categorization.

In the 1770s Johann Christian Bach may have been among the most successful and prosperous musicians in all of Europe. In the 18th century the youngest son of Bach was regarded as the most famous and successful members of the Bach family. However, it appears his reputation faded even during his lifetime – today he is known by many only as a forerunner of Mozart. The new recording of five of his orchestral works, a sequel in the Carus CD series with instrumental music of Bach’s sons, shows that his music has been unjustly forgotten and that definitely it breathes its own independent spirit. Similar to Mozart, the “Milan Bach,” later known as the “London Bach” knew how to pour his varied musical experiences into his works and thus achieve his own unique style.

When Bach was in the service of Prince Leopold in Coethen, he had his own orchestra and was contracted to compose a great deal of instrumental music. This gave him an opportunity to try new techniques and to develop his own instrumental style. The six Brandenburg Concertos belongs to these masterpieces for a small ensemble. This joyously infectious performance of these famous landmarks in the history of music by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra demonstrates both the musical satisfaction and the high professional standard that can be reached with period instruments.

This is probably Mozart’s least interesting opera–if indeed it is an opera at all. Composed at the end of 1771 in honor of the 50th anniversary of Salzburg’s Archbishop Schrattenbach, its performance was cancelled due to the archbishop’s sudden death. Mozart re-dedicated it to the new archbishop (Colloredo). There is still doubt as to whether it was ever performed. It’s in one act of just under two hours and is concerned with the Roman general Scipio, who in a dream is made to choose between the godesses Fortune and Constancy to guide him through life. Needless to say, he chooses Constancy over luck, and we don’t care.

It is true that images have the power to keep a trace of the past. Gottfried von der Goltz and the Freiburger Barockorchestra prove with this recording that music too conceals the secret of the memory deep within. Though rarely played, much less recorded, Mozart’s youth symphonies bear the reminiscence of the child the composer used to be, as well as including the seeds of his future masterpieces.