Dear Friends of Zelenka,
It is our pleasure to announce the recent release of a new recording of Zelenka’s Capriccios, ZWV 182-5 & 190 on period instruments by The Bach Sinfonia (Washington, DC) and conductor Daniel Abraham. The recording was released on the Sono Luminus label (previously Dorian Records) and was recorded by Daniel Shores and produced by Daniel Mercerulo, both of whom are nominated this year for Grammy awards for Best Classical Engineer and Classical Producer of the Year respectively (the Zelenka recording will be eligible for Grammy consideration next year—if the recording academy sees fit to honor this project).
A few interesting things about this recording:
The recording space used was a “studio” but originally an old church, about 70 miles west of Washington, DC, now owned by Sono Luminus.
The principal horn is R.J. Kelley who is widely known as a specialist on high natural horn and one of the foremost natural horn player in North America (and the world). He is principal horn of both Philharmonia Baroque (Nicholas McGegan’s excellent ensemble on the US west coast in California) and of the American Classical Orchestra (New York City). He often plays for the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center as well and does more B-Minor Mass performance around the country on natural horn then probably anyone! He is a superb player. The second horn is Alexandra Cook, who plays with R.J. in the American Classical Orchestra.
Both R.J. and Alexandra are serious practitioner of "upright/bell-up" natural horn rather than hand horn for literature before 1740 so this is the first recording with these appropriate period instruments. The only other period instrument recording (Das Neu-Eröffnete Orchestre) uses hand horns.
The recording was made in both traditional two-channel stereo as well as surround sound and the hardcopy CD pack has both a standard stereo disc as well as a Blu-Ray CD for either 5.1 or 7.1 surround. The hardcopy CD with both CDs is being sold for only $2 USD more than a standard single and the CD packet also contains extensive linear notes and performer bios.
There are some candid photos of the ensemble in the recording sessions that show the cool configuration used for the recording in order to produce the surround sound disc as well as a traditional stereo mix.
The conductor Daniel Abraham prepared new materials from the original sources for the recording project. He is now is preparing a new critical edition for publication. In the meantime, he is open to offering materials to other ensembles interested in using this new edition.
I think you will find that the tempi on this recording to be more characteristic/reflective of what we know about the various dance forms of the 18th century found in Zelenka’s Capriccios. Some of the more brisk tempi allowed this recording to squeeze onto a single disc (although very close to the maximum length: about 78 minutes). Unlike some of the other older recordings, nothing was left out.
SPECIAL OFFER (expires Feb. 3, 2013)
It has been great for us to receive such strong support for this project and to hear from many individual readers of the Zelenka Forum. We hope to continue to receive your thoughts. As a special offer to members of the Zelenka Forum, we are currently offering the hardcopy CD with FREE SHIPPING to any address in the US or a flat rate of $4.00 USD for any address in Canada or overseas (including Europe and Scandinavia). If you purchase multiple copies of the Zelenka CD or any of our other titles, you will receive free domestic shipping or be charge only the one shipping fee if outside the US (limited to 15 CDs).
You will also find the CD and MP3 available at Amazon, iTunes and Arkivmusic.
In the meantime, please visit The Bach Sinfonia’s web page (http://www.bachsinfonia.org), sign-up for our mailing list, and like and follow us on Facebook!
Sincerely,
Caroline Levy
Personnel Coordinator and violinist, Bach Sinfonia
