Artist description CAPELLA MUSICAE stands at the forefront of Austria's new generation of specialist ensembles for historically informed performance. In this live recording, made at the monestary at Rein in Styria, CAPELLA MUSICAE joins forces with the vocal ensemble A Più Voci to present one of Mozart's most profound works within a liturgically correct musical framework. The ensemble concertizes throughout Austria and Central Europe; their recently initiated collaboration with the vocal ensemble Capella Nova and its leader, former King's Singer Colin Mason, has been warmly welcomed by audiences and critics alike. In November of 2000, members of CAPELLA MUSICAE and the Orchestra Barocca del Friuli completed their recording of Vivaldi's complete "La Stravaganza" collection (concerti for violins and strings). The recordings are currently being pre-released her

Music Style Baroque and Classical

Similar Artists La Petite Bande, Les Arts Florissants, Ensemble 415, Sonatori de la gioiosa marca, Tafelmusik

Artist History CAPELLA MUSICAE was brought to life in order to realize the common vision of Dario Luisi and Susanne Scholz. For years -- since 1991, in fact -- these two musical personalities have surrounded themselves with some of the most outstanding musicians in the international world of early music. All of these artists (primarily from Italy and Austria, but also from France, Hungary and other countries), bonded together by long mutual experience and deep friendship, have in common the ideal of performing music with respect for the original text, of bringing it to the listener in a new way that is historically informed, consistently realized and at the same time lively, expressively rich and emotionally moving. Thoughts quite in harmony with this ideal were brought to paper by Johann Joachim Quantz, in his flute treatise, "Versuch einer Antleitung die Flöte Traversiere zu spielen" (Berlin, 1752): "A speaker and a musician have, both in the preparation of their material, and the presentation of the same, one and the same intention, namely: to conquer the heart, to evoke or calm the passions, and to move the listener first to this, then to that Affekt." The last couple of years have witnessed over 30 concerts with CAPELLA MVSICAE, at important festivals as well as in great concert halls and magnificent churches. These performances took place in locations from the main auditorium of the Musikverein in Vienna to churches like Graz Cathedral or the churches at Rein, Pöllau and Schlägel Monasteries, and with concert organizers and festivals such as the Austrian Jeunesse, the Bach Festival of Schlägel, the MDR Musiksommer, and the Styriarte in Graz. CAPELLA MUSICAE's repertoire encompasses chamber music (sonatas, suites, solo cantatas) of the early Italian baroque, the music of the French Grand Siècle, the high baroque of various countries, the empfindsamer Stil of pre-classicism and, last but not least, Viennese Classicism itself. The ensemble also appears as a full orchestra where required, as it did recently for performances of the Bach Passions and Mozart's Requiem. The performance of staged works, combining instrumental music, baroque dance and singing, forms another important pillar of CAPELLA MUSICAE's concert activity. Special attention is given the oeuvre of J. S. Bach, in which CAPELLA MUSICAE places particular emphasis on the composer's (quite minimalist!) specifications regarding staffing of orchestra and choir, as well as on the constant re-evaluation of accepted performance traditions. CAPELLA MUSICAE, then, takes "historically informed" to mean not only the constant revelations emerging from instrumental choices and the intensive examination of primary sources, but also the driving desire of the musicians, through practice and experimentation, to revive and perfect all that which is undiscovered and new about so-called "early music"

Group Members Soloists on Requiem recording: Barbara Fink - Soprano; Ingrid Niedermair - Alto; Martin Fournier - Tenor; Ulfried Staber - Bass

Instruments Forces used for this recording: 3+3 violins, 2 violas, 2 celli, 1 violone, 1 organ, 2 basset horns, 2 bassoons, 2 clarini in D (no valves, no holes!), timpani, 3 trombones. Chorus (including soloists): 3 sopranos, 3 altos, 3 tenors, and 3 basses. A=430 Hz

Albums W. A. Mozart - Requiem (live performance), and coming soon: Vivaldi - La Stravaganza (with the Orchestra Barocca del Friuli and members of CAPELLA MUSICÆ)

Press Reviews EXPRESSIVE AND IMMANENTLY COMPETENT (4 May 1999 - Cantata Series "Bach XXI")". . . along with the period-instrument ensemble Capella Musicae Graz, who concertized with passion and expression. The main burden of the evening surely was placed on the instrumentalists, who once again presented undeniable evidence of their competence.."AN ALL-AROUND SUCCESS" (23 Dec. 1997 - Christmas Oratorio) . . . among the members of the original-instrument ensemble Capella Musicae Graz, Susanne Scholz and Dario Luisi (violins), as well as Klaus Hubmann (bassoon), stood out most favorably in their soli."BAROQUE PERFORMANCE PRACTICE" (St. John's Passion 17 April 2000) . . . the eight-singer-strong Ensemble Nova from Vienna, and Capella Muscae Graz (14 Italian and Austrian musicians on baroque instruments), were able to realize a dynamically nuanced and very finely balanced musical presentation; the minimalist staffing of the ensemble made the greatness of the compositional and expressive structures of Bach's passions all the more accessible, as well as serving to demonstrate what is assumed to have been Bach's performance practic

Location Graz, Styria - Austria

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