New Vivaldi Lautten Compagney & Wolfgang Katschner

• Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741): Canto de gl'uccelli (after Violin Concerto in E Major, Op. 8, No. 1 / RV 269 "The Four Seasons: Spring", arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget and Martin Ripper):
• 1 Vivaldi: Canto de gl'uccelli (after Violin Concerto in E Major, Op. 8, No. 1 / RV 269 "The Four Seasons: Spring", arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget and Martin Ripper) 06:15
• Pastorella Larga (after Chamber Concerto in D Major, RV 95 "La Pastorella": II. Largo, arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget):
• 2 Vivaldi: Pastorella Larga (after Chamber Concerto in D Major, RV 95 "La Pastorella": II. Largo, arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget) 04:55
• Pastorella Allegra (after Chamber Concerto in D Major, RV 95 "La Pastorella": III. Allegro, arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget):
• 3 Vivaldi: Pastorella Allegra (after Chamber Concerto in D Major, RV 95 "La Pastorella": III. Allegro, arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget) 02:25
• Trio Sonata in G Minor, RV 85:
• 4 Vivaldi: Trio Sonata in G Minor, RV 85: II. Larghetto (Arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Wolfgang Katschner) 02:06
• Weary Summer Heat (after Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8, No. 2 / RV 315 "The Four Seasons: Summer", arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget):
• 5 Vivaldi: Weary Summer Heat (after Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8, No. 2 / RV 315 "The Four Seasons: Summer", arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget) 04:54
• Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 12, No. 1/RV 317:
• 6 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 12, No. 1/RV 317: II. Largo (Arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Martin Ripper) 04:44
• Summer Slow Hot Blues (after Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8, No. 2 / RV 315 "The Four Seasons: Summer", arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget):
• 7 Vivaldi: Summer Slow Hot Blues (after Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8, No. 2 / RV 315 "The Four Seasons: Summer", arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget) 03:50
• Larghetto (after Concerto for 4 Violins and Cello in B Minor, Op. 3, No. 10 / RV 580, arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Wolfgang Katschner):
• 8 Vivaldi: Larghetto (after Concerto for 4 Violins and Cello in B Minor, Op. 3, No. 10 / RV 580, arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Wolfgang Katschner) 02:29
• Il Bajazet, RV 703:
• 9 Vivaldi: Il Bajazet, RV 703: Dov'è la figlia (Arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget) 01:47
• L'inverno largo (after Concerto No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 8 / RV 297 "The Four Seasons: Winter": II. Largo, arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget):
• 10 Vivaldi: L'inverno largo (after Concerto No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 8 / RV 297 "The Four Seasons: Winter": II. Largo, arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget) 02:59
• L'Inverno focoso (after Concerto in F Minor, Op. 8, No. 4 / RV 297 "The Four Seasons: Winter", arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget):
• 11 Vivaldi: L'Inverno focoso (after Concerto in F Minor, Op. 8, No. 4 / RV 297 "The Four Seasons: Winter", arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget) 03:41
• Juditha Triumphans, RV 644:
• 12 Vivaldi: Juditha Triumphans, RV 644: Veni, veni me sequere fida (Arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Wolfgang Katschner) 03:10
• Passacaglia (after Concerto in G Minor, RV 157, arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget):
• 13 Vivaldi: Passacaglia (after Concerto in G Minor, RV 157, arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget) 02:05
• In Furore Giustissimae Irae, RV 626:
• 14 Vivaldi: In Furore Giustissimae Irae, RV 626: Tunc meus fletus (Arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Wolfgang Katschner) 03:51
• Concerto Blues (after Flautino Concerto in C Minor, RV 444, arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Martin Ripper):
• 15 Vivaldi: Concerto Blues (after Flautino Concerto in C Minor, RV 444, arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Martin Ripper) 05:18
• Il Bajazet, RV 703:
• 16 Vivaldi: Il Bajazet, RV 703: Sposa son disprezzata (Arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Wolfgang Katschner) 04:22
• La Verità in Cimento, RV 739:
• 17 Vivaldi: La Verità in Cimento, RV 739: Dopo i nembi, e le procelle (Arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Wolfgang Katschner) 01:57
• Summer Tempest (after Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8, No. 2 / RV 315 "The Four Seasons: Summer", arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget):
• 18 Vivaldi: Summer Tempest (after Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8, No. 2 / RV 315 "The Four Seasons: Summer", arr. for Baroque Ensemble by Bo Wiget) 03:14
• Total Runtime 01:04:02

Info for New Vivaldi

The award-winning lautten compagney Berlin performs Antonio Vivaldi on deutsche harmonia mundi and opens up exciting new perspectives. The album "New Vivaldi" will be released in October 2022.

Antonio Vivaldi saw the light of day in Venice in 1678. And just a few years later, the young violin virtuoso would become one of Europe's most celebrated composers. It is hard to believe that his work was almost forgotten after his death in 1741. But since the Vivaldi renaissance that began in the 20th century, he has been one of the most frequently performed composers of all. This is not least due to his world-famous hit, his "Four Seasons".

As one of the leading baroque ensembles, the lautten compagney Berlin has also had Vivaldi in its repertoire for a long time. Since the musicians around artistic director Wolfgang Katschner always implement exciting sound dialogues with other styles and cultures in their baroque projects, an exciting, musically multilingual Vivaldi album has now been created, which will be released by deutsche harmonia mundi in October.

There are influences from jazz and blues as well as from world music, especially from the Arab world. And right at the beginning of this Vivaldi update, the recorders in "Summer" from the "Four Seasons" transform themselves into a delightfully chirping and warbling chorus of birds. For "New Vivaldi", individual movements were selected not only from the "Four Seasons" cycle, but also from other instrumental concertos, stage and church works. Ensemble members Bo Wiget and Martin Ripper have created arrangements that are entirely tailored to the special instrumentation of the lautten compagney Berlin; that is, to a baroque orchestra enriched with saxophone and numerous percussion effects.

The orchestration, the amount of improvisation, the tempo and the arrangement of the movements are comparatively free. The high respect for the originator is not lost in the process. On the contrary: with their arrangements, the lautten compagney Berlin puts old compositions into a new, contemporary context. You have never heard and experienced the music of Antonio Vivaldi like this before!

Lautten Compagney
Wolfgang Katschner, musical director

Wolfgang Katschner
studied classical guitar at the Hanns-Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin and lute at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main.

In 1984, together with Hans-Werner Apel, he founded the lautten compagney BERLIN in what was then East Berlin. Today it is one of the leading and most innovative German ensembles of historically informed performance practice, which maintains an extensive international presence with performances and projects from Berlin.

Wolfgang Katschner conceives and plans the lautten compagney's content, its creative work processes and its integration into the historical repertoire. This includes extensive preparatory and research work. The results of these complex and labour-intensive studies are the trademark of the lautten compagney and account for its specific sound as well as the great variety of programmes and projects.

In addition to his work with the lautten compagney, Wolfgang Katschner also works successfully as a guest conductor at German opera houses. For example, he was musical director of the "Winter in Schwetzingen" in 2012-2016. After guest appearances in Bonn (Handel's "Rinaldo" and "Giulio Cesare") and Oldenburg (Hasse's "Siroe"), he has been responsible for three opera productions at the Nuremberg State Theatre since 2018: Monteverdi's "Ulisse" at the end of the 2017/18 season and Handel's "Serse" in November 2018, as well as a highly acclaimed premiere of Cavalli's "La Calisto" at the end of 2019. In the 2020/2021 season, he will conduct Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at the Semperoper in Dresden.

Wolfgang Katschner is also increasingly involved in the training of young artists. He was a guest professor at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, at the SingFest in Hong Kong, artist in residence at BarockVokal in Mainz, worked with singers at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Weimar in 2018 and 2019, and will conduct a student production of Handel's Alcina at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden in spring 2020.

Lautten Compagney
The history of historically informed performance practice in the GDR has not yet been written - astonishing, considering that two of today's most important German ensembles were founded in the early 1980s in East Berlin, the lautten compagney BERLIN and the Akademie für Alte Musik. While in the West, playing on period instruments was inexorably pushing its way out of the niche and into the concert halls thirty or forty years ago, it was not yet part of official culture in the GDR. Those who wanted to deal with such things usually did so alongside their work in the orchestra.

Wolfgang Katschner and Hans-Werner Apel, on the other hand, were still students of classical guitar when they met at the East Berlin Academy of Music "Hanns Eisler" and discovered their common interest in early music. They delved into old manuscripts and prints, scores and tablatures, the composers being William Byrd, John Dowland, Matthew Locke or William Lawes. They couldn't get anywhere with this music with their modern guitars. So they got themselves lutes and theorbos, laying the tonally intimate and delicate foundation for the lautten compagney BERLIN, which today is a multi-award-winning and one of the world's most original, exciting, imaginative and versatile early music ensembles.

The fact that singers such as Dorothee Mields, Lynne Dawson or Simone Kermes perform with the lautten compagney again and again is proof not only of their musical qualities but also of the special conceptual intelligence that drives this ensemble and Wolfgang Katschner, who still picks up the lute but has long since become conductor, artistic director and generator of ideas:

Programmes and CDs are created here that combine the familiar and the unfamiliar with dramaturgical sense and are also played with a vitality that mocks the term "early music". This brings us to the core, to what distinguishes the lautten compagney from other ensembles. It cultivates its traditions, such as the Christmas Oratorio on Boxing Day or the Bach Passions on Good Friday. It performs a deeply moving Marian Vespers and has celebrated great successes with Handel operas.

But such repertoire works shine in a special, contemporary light with the lautten compagney, because in such performances the ensemble also tells of countless artistic adventures beyond these summit works. Wolfgang Katschner is not only curious about music, but also about new ways of presenting it in concert. The idea of interweaving music by Tarquinio Merula and Philip Glass, for example, was ingenious - the CD "Timeless" was awarded the ECHO for these unique and magical sounds that hover between old and new. With the AEQUINOX Festival in Neuruppin, the lautten compagney has had its own individual platform for experimentation since 2010.

The lautten compagney does not seek abstract truths about the past and is not interested in competitive virtuosity - even if it were available to it. It makes music for today's listeners. If the light-hearted slogan "historically informed, interpreted in a contemporary way" applies at all to an ensemble, then it applies to the lautten compagney.

The fact that historically informed performance practice only ever allows approximations to what once was is cause for frustration for some and for academic philology, which is pursued all the more doggedly. For the lautten compagney, this uncertainty opens up creative freedom, not only conceptually but also interpretatively. There is a very particular grip on sound, often also a very particular humour, which gives the performances and recordings of this ensemble an unmistakable tone.

When the rhythm becomes so light-footed that the music begins to swing, the old seems very close. But at the same time, across the centuries, with all the seriousness of that time, a sound touches us whose warmth and love, whose wisdom and humanity carries and enriches us.

Booklet for New Vivaldi