Archive for Athene

Athene Announces Volume Four of Johann Jakob Froberger’s Harpsichord Suites

English harpsichordist Gilbert Rowland is preparing the fourth volume in his ongoing series presenting the complete Suites for Harpsichord by Johann Jakob Froberger.  The album is to be recorded at Holy Trinity Church, Weston, Hertfordshire in  July 2024, with engineer John Taylor who produced all of Gilbert’s previous Divine Art and Athene recordings. Earlier  volumes have attracted much praise:

Gilbert Rowland
Gilbert Rowland © Andrew Cockrell

“A glorious sound and enjoyable music recorded in a resonant acoustic, giving a truly luscious sound. Rowland plays with energy and a good forward drive.” —David Griffel (Harpsichord & Fortepiano) on volume. 1

“One of the finest recordings of Froberger’s harpsichord music I have heard, with a wonderful-sounding instrument and magnificent playing from Rowland.” —Stuart Sillitoe (MusicWeb International) on volume 1

“Froberger’s music is individual in nature and ground-breaking – he was one of the first composers to settle the ‘dance-movement’ style. These are thrilling and authoritative recordings by Gilbert Rowland of wonderful music.” —John Pitt (New Classics) on volume 2

“Froberger’s music – in this splendid rendition by Gilbert Rowland – reveals huge variety and baroque beauty. Clever, ingenious and melodious engaging and attractive works.” —Stuart Millson (Quarterly Review) on volume 2

“Impeccably noble performance… first-class engineering… an indispensible addition to fine recordings of early music.” – Rafael de Acha (All about the Arts)

Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1667) was a highly accomplished composer of the middle baroque and is usually credited with inventing the ‘baroque suite’ used with variations by Bach, Handel and countless other composers; certainly it was his idea to set the ‘backbone’ of the Suite as the four dance movements of allemandecourantesarabande and gigue. He was extremely prolific and indeed several works (including Harpsichord Suites) have been discovered only recently.

Gilbert Rowland first studied the harpsichord with Millicent Silver. Whilst still a student at the Royal College of Music, he made his debut at Fenton House 1970 and first appeared at the Wigmore Hall in 1973.

His mentors have included Kenneth Gilbert and Fernando Valenti. Recitals at the Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, appearances at major festivals in this country and abroad, together with broadcasts for Capital Radio and Radio 3 have helped to establish his reputation as one of Britain’s leading harpsichordists.

His numerous records of works by Scarlatti, Soler, Rameau and Fischer have received considerable acclaim from the national press. The recording of the 13-CD set of Soler sonatas with Naxos was completed in 2006. He also recorded a CD of Sonatas by Albero for London Independent Records, which was released in 2009. He joined Divine Art in 2010 to record the harpsichord suites by Handel, followed by those of Froberger and Mattheson.  Gilbert Rowland is assigned to Divine Art’s specialist early music label, Athene.

Froberger: Suites for Harpsichord, volume 4

Performer: Gilbert Rowland (harpsichord)

Label: ATHENE

Catalogue number: ATH 23215 (2CD set, double digital album)

Works: Harpsichord Suites by Johann Jakob Froberger 

  • Suite in G minor, FbVW 614
  • Suite in E minor, FbWV 622
  • Suite in F major, FbWV 621
  • Suite in D minor, FbWV 613
  • Suite in B flat major, FbWV Anh. IV/02
  • Suite in D minor, FbWV 639
  • Suite in G minor, FbWV 649
  • Suite in D major, FbWV 611
  • Suite in A minor, FbWV 628
  • Suite in E minor, FbWV 648
  • Suite in C minor, FbWV 644
  • Suite in F major, FbWV Anh. IV/08

Previous Divine Art group albums by Gilbert Rowland:

Gilbert Rowland To Record His Third Album of Froberger Harpsichord Suites

Gilbert Rowland at harpsichord
Gilbert Rowland © Andrew Cockrell

English harpsichordist Gilbert Rowland is preparing the third volume in his ongoing series presenting the complete Suites for Harpsichord by Johann Jakob Froberger.  The album is to be recorded at Holy Trinity Church, Weston, Hertfordshire on 11-14 July 2022, with engineer John Taylor who produced all of Gilbert’s previous Divine Art and Athene recordings. The first two volumes attracted much praise:

“A glorious sound and enjoyable music recorded in a resonant acoustic, giving a truly luscious sound. Rowland plays with energy and a good forward drive.” —David Griffel (Harpsichord & Fortepiano) on volume. 1

“One of the finest recordings of Froberger’s harpsichord music I have heard, with a wonderful-sounding instrument and magnificent playing from Rowland.” —Stuart Sillitoe (MusicWeb International) on volume 1

“Froberger’s music is individual in nature and ground-breaking – he was one of the first composers to settle the ‘dance-movement’ style. These are thrilling and authoritative recordings by Gilbert Rowland of wonderful music.” —John Pitt (New Classics) on volume 2

“Froberger’s music – in this splendid rendition by Gilbert Rowland – reveals huge variety and baroque beauty. Clever, ingenious and melodious engaging and attractive works.” —Stuart Millson (Quarterly Review) on volume 2

Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1667) was a highly accomplished composer of the middle baroque and is usually credited with inventing the ‘baroque suite’ used with variations by Bach, Handel and countless other composers; certainly it was his idea to set the ‘backbone’ of the Suite as the four dance movements of allemandecourantesarabande and gigue. He was extremely prolific and indeed several works (including Harpsichord Suites) have been discovered only recently.

Gilbert Rowland first studied the harpsichord with Millicent Silver. Whilst still a student at the Royal College of Music, he made his debut at Fenton House 1970 and first appeared at the Wigmore Hall in 1973.

His mentors have included Kenneth Gilbert and Fernando Valenti. Recitals at the Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, appearances at major festivals in this country and abroad, together with broadcasts for Capital Radio and Radio 3 have helped to establish his reputation as one of Britain’s leading harpsichordists.

His numerous records of works by Scarlatti, Soler, Rameau and Fischer have received considerable acclaim from the national press. The recording of the 13-CD set of Soler sonatas with Naxos was completed in 2006. He also recorded a CD of Sonatas by Albero for London Independent Records, which was released in 2009. He joined Divine Art in 2010 to record the harpsichord suites by Handel, followed by those of Froberger and Mattheson.  Gilbert Rowland is assigned to Divine Art’s specialist early music label, Athene.

J. J. Froberger: Suites for Harpsichord, Volume 3 (ATH 23213 – 2CD set, double digital album)

Works

Harpsichord Suites by Johann Jakob Froberger

  • Suite in A minor, FbWV 630
  • Suite in F major, FbWV 617
  • Suite in A major, FbWV 638
  • Suite in F sharp minor, FbWV 646
  • Suite in E flat major, FbWV 654
  • Suite in E minor, FbWV 651
  • Suite in D minor, FbWV 639
  • Suite in A minor, FbWV 601
  • Suite in D major, FbWV 624
  • Suite in G minor, FbWV 609
  • Suite in E minor, FbWV 623
  • Suite in B minor, FbWV 652
  • Suite in E major, FbWV 656

Previous Recordings

Mozart’s ‘Electress Elisabeth’ Sonatas in new recording from Peter Sheppard Skærved and Daniel-Ben Pienaar

Acclaimed and prolific violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved is in full flow with six recording projects underway including contemporary music, ancient works continuing his ‘Great Violins’ series for Divine Art, and more. On this new album he presents the brilliant set of six sonatas for piano and violin D.301-306 by Mozart, with the equally talented and critically praised pianist Daniel-Ben Pienaar.

Peter Sheppard Skærved & Daniel-Ben Pienaar
Peter Sheppard Skærved & Daniel-Ben Pienaar

In 1778 Mozart dedicated this set of six sonatas to the piano-playing Electress Elisabeth of the Palatinate. These extraordinary pieces, mark the beginning of his cycle of mature works for piano, accompanied by violin. This is a dazzlingly colourful, drama-filled, and emotional set of pieces, ranging from the concertante brilliance of the D Major, originally conceived as a concerto for the two instruments, to the sublime melancholy of the E minor, famously Mozart’s only work in this key.

Both of the artists are acclaimed for recording large-scale cycles from the 17th to 19th centuries. After years of collaboration, public and private, this recording is their long-awaited first disc together, and the first of their traversal of the Mozart set. These highly adventurous recordings were conceived in the spirit of conversation: the artists are inspired by the fact that this is music written for the salon, for the drawing room, for the home, and this informs their approach. They both play sitting down, sitting close to each other, enabling the lines and colours to intertwine, rather than be projected in ‘large-scale’, concert-hall fashion. The results are far from domestic – this approach enables refined rubati and shapings, whip-lash changes of direction and bubbling speeds, not unlike the talk of friends at table.

Mozart: The Palatinate Sonatas ATH 23212

W.A. Mozart:  Sonatas for Piano with Violin

  • K. 301 in G major
  • K. 302 in E flat major
  • K. 303 in C major
  • K. 304 in E minor
  • K. 305 in A major
  • K.306 in D major

Recorded in 2021: Engineer: Adaq Khan

Peter Sheppard Skærved is known for his pioneering approach to the music of our own time and the past. Over 400 works have been written for him, by composers Laurie Bamon, Judith Bingham, Nigel Clarke, Robert Saxton, Edward Cowie, Jeremy Dale Roberts, Peter Dickinson, Michael Finnissy, Elena Firsova, David Gorton, Naji Hakim, Sadie Harrison, Hans Werner Henze, Sıdıka Őzdil, Rosalind Page, George Rochberg, Michael Alec Rose, Poul Ruders, Volodmyr Runchak, Evis Sammoutis, Elliott Schwartz, Peter Sculthorpe, Howard Skempton, Dmitri Smirnov, Jeremy Thurlow, Mihailo Trandafilovski, Judith Weir, Jörg Widmann, Ian Wilson, John Woolrich and Douglas Young.

Peter’s pioneering work on music for violin alone has resulted in research, performances and recordings of cycles by Bach, de Bériot, Tartini, Telemann, and, most recently, his project, ‘Preludes and Vollenteries’, which brings together 200 unknown works from the seventeenth century, from composers including Colombi, Lonati, Marini and Matteis, with the Wren and Hawksmoor churches in London’s Square Mile.

His work with museums has resulted in long-term projects at institutions including the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, the Metropolitan Museum, New York City, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, Galeria Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City, and the exhibition ‘Only Connect’, which he curated at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Most recently his ‘Tegner’ commissioned by the Bergen International Festival, is a close collaboration with the major Norwegian abstract artist, Jan Groth, resulting in a set of solo Caprices, premiering at Kunsthallen, Bergen, and travelling to galleries in Denmark, the UK and even Svalbard/Spitzbergen. Peter is the only living violinist to have performed on the violins of Ole Bull, Joachim, Paganini and Viotti. As a writer, Peter has published a monograph on the Victorian artist/musician John Orlando Parry, many articles in journals worldwide, and most recently, Practice: Walk, for Routledge.

Peter is the founder and leader of the Kreutzer Quartet and the artistic director of the ensemble Longbow. Viotti Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music, he was elected Fellow there in 2013. He is married to the Danish writer Malene Skærved and they live in Wapping.  He has made many solo and chamber recordings – his titles for Divine Art group alone number 26.

Daniel-Ben Pienaar has garnered an international reputation for his unusual musicianship. He has a particular interest in early music, Bach, the Viennese classics and early Romantics, and is especially noted for his substantial discography. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London, and currently its Curzon Lecturer in Performance Studies. He has been a member of the Royal Academy of Music teaching faculty, assuming a variety of roles, since 2005. In addition to doctoral supervision his teaching has included elective courses on Bach, on Mozart, on Schubert and on Piano Sonatas (1778-1854), running an interpretation seminar for master’s degree students with cellist Neil Heyde and curating a series of repertoire and performance practice workshops for postgraduate pianists. Public talks on a wide range of performance-related topics are also a regular feature of his Academy work, including an on-going series ‘Listening to Recordings’. His discography is very extensive and as well as several albums for Avie and Deux-Elles, he has recordings of Byrd, Haydn and Bach awaiting release.

Recording of Schubert’s Violin Sonatas on Period Instruments To Be Released on Athene

Peter Sheppard Skærved backstage with the violin
Peter Sheppard Skærved (Photo Richard Bram)

Peter Sheppard Skærved (violin), and Julian Perkins (square piano) have recorded Schubert’s three 1816 Sonatas for Violin and Piano on period instruments: No. 1 in D major, D.384, No. 2 in A minor, D. 385 and No. 3 in G minor, D.408.

While Franz Schubert is one of the most popular and well–loved of the ‘Great Composers’ not all of his works are quite as well known and this is perhaps true of the threeeSonatas for Violin and Piano, composed at the age of 19. While certainly not rare, they are far less often heard than the Symphonies and Lieder.  Titled “Sonata” in the manuscript, the three works were published posthumously as “Sonatinas, Op. 137” and given their relatively intimate nature, and lyrical rather than virtuosic style, the name ‘Sonatina’ has been used often; the performers here insist that Schubert’s original title should be used.

The new recording features two of the country’s foremost performers: Peter Sheppard Skærved (violin) and Julian Perkins (square piano).  Both have accomplished enormous success as soloists and chamber musicians.  Skærved has already made many recordings as soloist for Athene and its sister ‘new-music’ label Métier (both divisions of Divine Art Recordings).  Importantly this is believed to be the first recording of the Sonatinas using a period piano and violin thus reproducing much more accurately the works as originally envisioned and heard.

Julian Perkins
Julian Perkins (Photo Richard Bram)

The new album is likely to be released in the summer.

ATHENE ATH 23208

Schubert: Sonatas for Violin and Piano
Peter Sheppard Skærved (violin)
Julian Perkins (square piano)
Recorded in London in the summer /autumn of 2019

Works

THREE SONATAS, Op. 137:
No. 1 in D major, D. 384
No. 2 in A minor, D,385
No. 3 in G minor, D.408

Athene Records Announces Great Violins, Volume Three With Peter Sheppard Skærved

Featuring the World Premiere Recording of Complete Solo Movements of the Historic Klagenfurt Manuscript of 1685

The Great Violins series from Divine Art’s Athene historic music label reaches Volume 3 with an exceptional historic work – the Klagenfurt Handskrift of 1685. Violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved accessed the original manuscript at the Landesmuseums Kartnen, in Klagenfurt (southern Austria) and studied a facsimile for many hours with great dedication, coming to terms with its ancient tablature notation. Skærved says: It was only as this work progressed that I began to realise the beauty in front of me. That dawning realisation, alone, at my desk, with violin, bow, and pencil, was one of the most moving experiences of my artistic life.”

The Klagenfurt Manuscript is a vellum-covered book of 80 leaves, nearly all of which are in the same hand.  Seven different tunings are utilized.  It was found in the convent of St. Georgen am Längsee, in Carinthia and while the massive manuscript is anonymous, Skærved strongly believes that it is the work of a Benedictine nun (all of whom worked anonymously at the time) or a lay sister working at the convent.

The recording, which as with previous volumes in the series has been wonderfully produced by Jonathan Haskell, consists of about 100 movements for solo violin,  which indeed make up the major part of the whole manuscript, though it does also include some four-part pieces and some with basso continuo.  The majority of movements are in recognisable dance forms, although many of them are unlabelled. They include allemandes, minuets, gigues, passepieds, courants, correntes, sarabandes, sicilianas and a number of movements which are less capabale of categorization!

For this recording Peter Sheppard Skærved has chosen an extraordinarily fine Stradivari violin of 1685 which is in the collection of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. It dates from the same decade (possibly the same year) as the manuscript – but more than this, the music and the instrument proved to the performer to be ideally suited to each other – each illuminated the other, in Skærved’s words.  It is a beautiful instrument of maple, smaller than the modern ‘standard’ and of the type sometimes referred to as ‘violino piccolo’. Slight alterations were made to neck and bass bar at some point in the 19th century.  Skaerved plays with gut strings, and a period-style bow, to achieve as closely as possible the sound that the maker and his original customer would have expected.  The bow, of typical 17th century design and smaller than the modern bow, was made by the Genoese bowmaker Antonino Airenti.

A detailed essay on the manuscript, its notation and style (which includes several scordatura sections), and on the instrument, will appear in the album booklet.

Peter Sheppard Skaerved is among Britain’s (and the world’s) most accomplished violinists. Alongside his work at the Royal Academy of Music in London, he is tireless in his performing and recording career, both ‘solo’ and with his ensembles, Kreutzer Quartet and Longbow. He is the dedicatee of over 200 works for solo violin alone, and is a champion of music of all ages. He was recently described by MusicWeb International as ‘an aristocrat among violinists’. Peter is also a brilliant writer, painter, and a genuine cognoscente of the arts in general.

The album is scheduled for release at the end of 2019 or early 2020 and pre-release promotional copies may be available by the autumn.

Great Violins, Vol. 3 – Die Klagenfurt Handskrift (Athene ATH 23206)

2-CD set, and double digital album for release in late 2019/early 2020 and featuring Peter Sheppard Skærved performing a 1685 Violin by Stradavari on over 100 movements/sections/tracks.