JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH
PRESENTATION
The instrumental music of this program remains today too often unknown : yet she is refined, elegant, sensitive and appeals to the most contrasting affects. This original chamber music surprises and moves us, she also seduces with her brilliant and spirited character.
Johann Christian Bach is the last son of Johann Sebastian Bach, also called the London Bach, indeed spent part of his life in London.
The three quintets op. 11 are among the most beautiful productions of their author. They appear in 1774 with a dedication to the Prince Elector Karl Theodor but are mainly intended for chamber concerts of Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), wife of King George III of England.
this queen, very music lover and excellent harpsichordist, always favored the music of avant-garde German musicians of the time, such as Johann Christian. She did not hesitate to entrust him with prestigious official positions during her reign..
The sextet as well as the two quintets op. 22 appeared after the death of Johann Christian Bach but were composed during the years 1774-1778 during musical evenings organized by Queen Charlotte, in which the harpsichord plays a concerting role while it lives its last hours of glory before being definitively supplanted by the piano forte.
DISTINCTIONS
Diapason * * * * *
ResMusica “Take Away”
ConcertoNet 4 quavers
Classical * * * *
Muse baroque 5 muses
The World Selection
Fono Forum (Germany) 4****
Klassik.com 4****
WHAT THE PRESS SAYS
Muse baroque – presse internet { January 2012 } Alexandre Barrere
« Sensitivity. Sensitivity. This is the one and only word that comes to mind when listening to this gallant and refined recording..
[… Listening] reveals the multicolored beauty of the timbres perfectly rendered by a shot of his copy, and above all a flourishing sensitivity, that the ample and generous phrasings of Amarillis sublimate.
[…] We must uniformly praise the great cohesion of the whole, the climate of courteous equality of its members, the balance between timbres, and the difficulty of obtaining a melodic line with a clarity that borders on the obvious and the ease while the composer contrives to maintain the surprise in affects […]. »
The World Newspaper { 28 February 2012 } Marie‐Aude Roux
“This Music Party is a blessing as it takes precedence over gallant verve and refined. If the first quintets op. 11 stay in the spirit of entertainment, those of the op. 22 have fun with a game of contrasts between concerted expressiveness and concerted jousting. As for the sextet […] which highlights the luminosity of the oboe of Héloïse Gaillard, it reveals above all the combined happiness (as if conjugal) des Amaryllis. »
music education { February 2012 } Presse internet
"These executions, supervised by [Heloïse Gaillard], further demonstrate the excellence of the Baroque ensemble Amarillis, because they are sensitive, finely thought out, superbly dosed. A disc to listen to without reserve, such entertaining music. »
Gramophone { 18 May 2012 } International press
“These unfailingly excellent performances of attractive chamber works provide plenty of evidence to explain why the youngest child of the famous Leipzig Cantor was such an important musical role model for Mozart…conversational quick movements sparkle with witty use of beguiling instrumental sonorities; elegant slow music is played with idiomatic refinement.”
Klassik.com Matthias Lange Inspired chamber music.
“Performed with great intelligence in sonority and fidelity to structure. […] Amarillis makes its pleasure to play felt, shows us the beauty of its timbre and its elegance, inspired by a great collective momentum. Finely crafted musical phrases flow together at a technically perfect level, they are articulated in a dynamic way, precise and yet well controlled, carried by beautiful effects produced by the alternation of the different instruments. Origin of musicians, early music specialists, has a noticeable influence: their flourishing of wise sound gives the compositions a certain sobriety, because the idea of interpretation is more concerned with structures and eloquence than with the exuberance of sound. »
Release 2011
Label AgOgique
Distribution Harmonia Mundi
DISTRIBUTION
AMARILLIS
Heloïse Gaillard, baroque oboe
Violaine Cochard, harpsichord
Amelia Michel, crosswise
David Plantier, violin
Fanny Paccoud, alto
Annabelle Luis, cello
Lionel Renoux and Pierre-Yves Madeuf, hearts