Rachel Podger – Mozart – Complete Sonatas For Keyboard And Violin, Vol. 1 (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:17:02 minutes | 2,71 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Channel Classics
In recording these Mozart Sonatas, a paradox quickly became apparent. I feel Mozart’s music is aimed at the heart. Approaching his music instinctively comes mostnaturally to me: it seems so effortlessly composed, and communicates to us directly. After all, why do children react so positively to this music of the heart? And yet I alsofound my experience of performing Baroque music helped me find a way of understanding and appreciating Mozart’s style.The inclusion of early, middle and late Sonatas on this disc conveys a balanced survey of Mozart’s music for violin and keyboard. Each Sonata stands out clearly in it’s ownright, revealing a snapshot in time of his developing personality. This is an ongoing voyage of discovery for me, and I feel I am only at the beginningRachel Podger
Read moreRachel Podger – J.S. Bach – Cello Suites (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:07:24 minutes | 4,29 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Channel Classics
This is the first time the famous J.S. Bach Cello Suites are recorded and released performed on violin. Who would be a better candidate for this adventure than the ‘Queen of the Baroque Violin’ (Sunday Times), Rachel Podger?
Read moreRachel Podger – J.S. Bach – Cello Suites (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 02:07:22 minutes | 1,25 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Channel Classics
This is the first time the famous J.S. Bach Cello Suites are recorded and released performed on violin. Who would be a better candidate for this adventure than the ‘Queen of the Baroque Violin’ (Sunday Times), Rachel Podger?
Read moreRachel Podger, Jane Rogers – Mozart & Michael Haydn: Duo Sonatas (2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:12:47 minutes | 2,24 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Channel Classics
These are splendid works. The combination of violin and viola is a remarkably sonorous one, and Michael Haydn’s two duos are masterpieces no less accomplished than Mozart’s. The team of Podger and Rogers is very well matched in terms of timbre, phrasing, and interplay between melody and accompaniment. They communicate the joy of the allegros vividly and with great spirit.
Read moreRachel Podger and Arte dei Suonatori – Antonio Vivaldi: La Stravaganza – 12 Violin Concertos (2003)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:43:52 minutes | 1,66 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Channel Classics
These performances of Vivaldi’s La Stravaganza – a collection of 12 violin concertos – are truly extravagant. They’re not designed to be listened to in one sitting and shouldn’t be: it’s not the sameness of the orchestration which might get in the way, it’s the intensity with which Vivaldi composed them and the manner in which the remarkable Rachel Podger plays them. Fans of Andrew Manze will love Podger for similar reasons.
Read moreRachel Podger, Christopher Glynn – Beethoven: Sonatas for Violin and Piano Op. 12 No. 1, Op. 24 & Op. 96 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:07:16 minutes | 2,28 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Channel Classics Records
Rachel Podger, “the unsurpassed British glory of the baroque violin” (The Times), and Grammy award-winning pianist Christopher Glynn recorded Beethoven’s Sonatas for Violin and Piano Nos. 1, 5 and 10. Following the critically acclaimed Mozart/Jones Sonatas “Fragment Completions” (2021), this Beethoven album marks Podger & Glynn’s second release together.
(more…)
Rachel Podger, Jane Rogers – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Michael Haydn – Duo Sonatas (2011)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 01:12:51 minutes | 2,87 GB | Genre: Classical
Source: ISO SACD | © Channel Classics Records B.V. | Front Cover, Booklet
The Duos for Violin and Viola by Mozart have long been favourite pieces of ours – pieces we’d take out and play when there wasn’t a keyboard player or cellist to hand, or busk as teenagers to earn extra pocket money. Back then, the audience’s response clearly indicated how appealing these pieces were as our takings always doubled when we played them!These works never cease to amaze – Mozart uses the two instruments so effectively and with such exquisite craftsmanship that he never leaves one wondering where the rest of the string quartet might have gone….They are also hugely engaging to play and so endlesslyrich and interesting that the appeal to the listener is guaranteed. Mozart’s reference to other genres is always fascinating. In this case the writing is dramatic, operatic even (the violin taking the role as soprano diva (!) and the viola as the heroic tenor?!). One could perhaps go as far to say that these duos are distillations of the art of chamber music as in the Haydn quartets, but more naturally recreational and less self-conscious.For a violist they are about as exposed as you can be; hitherto very few sonatas or concerti had been written for solo viola – and the accompaniment would seldom have been as scant as a single violin. The conversational and imitative nature of the writing allows for freedom andcharacterization, and it was refreshing and rewarding to be as spontaneous as possible in the recording sessions. It was also a diverting and enjoyable experience to record two of the Michael Haydn duos, previously unknown to us both. The character of these pieces is often reminiscentof Austrian folkmusic and it really seems as if you can hear the yodelling vernacular bouncing off the mountains in timely echoes. The challenges in these works are quite different to those of his friend Wolfgang – the demands placed on the violinist are obvious as the writing is busy,yet in need of a casual fluidity, whereas the violist has the task of being constantly inventive with material which is largely accompanimental (melody and bass, in effect). Who knows?Maybe Wolfgang and Michael tried these out during Mozart’s visit to Salzburg when he helped his friend complete a set of six Sonatas in 1783.Rachel & JaneDuos for Violin and Viola
Read moreRachel Podger, Pavlo Beznosiuk, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment – Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante; Haydn: Violin Concerti 1 & 4 (2009)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 01:08:06 minutes | 2,68 GB | Genre: Classical
Source: ISO SACD | © Channel Classics Records B.V. | Front Cover, Booklet
It was a joy and an honour to record Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante – such a beautifully crafted masterpiece with those memorable, elegant and distinctive themes in the first movement and both soloists weaving in and out of symphonic textures, the remarkable poignancy of the second movement with its dramatic dialogue which is then dispersed by sheer delight and comic playfulness in the Presto.Delving into these moods was personally enriching and helped me gain a little bit more insight into Mozart’s genius and being. Pavlo and I had the extreme good fortune to play a Strad each! Generously loaned to us by the Royal Academy of Music for this project, we savoured every minute of having these esteemed and valuable instruments in our hands! ‘Mine’ is a proud instrument which demands careful negotiation and warming before it will expose it’s beautiful colours. An amazing experience in itself to play an instrument like this, it was even more of an event when the two Strads met and ‘spoke’ to each other with a feeling of being acquainted, perhaps not for the first time…
Violinist Rachel Podger has secured a name for herself as a master interpreter and performer of all things Baroque and early Classical. Her recent recordings of the complete Mozart violin sonatas thrust her career forward from her already prestigious beginnings as a member of the Palladian Ensemble and Florilegium. This Channel Classics album finds Podger in front of the innovative Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment performing two Haydn concertos written during his time in the employ of the Esterházy family, as well as the instantly recognizable Mozart Sinfonia Concertante. Written for Luigi Tomasini, the concertmaster of the Esterházy Court Chapel, the two concertos are filled with dazzling pyrotechnic displays and soulful, sustained melodies, characteristics that play to Podger’s strengths. Any hints of stuffiness or rigidity conjured up when thinking of period instrument performances are at once dispelled with Podger’s vitally enthusiastic but well-controlled approach to her instrument. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment likewise focuses on spontaneity, vibrancy, and beauty of tone. Joined by violist Pavlo Beznosiuk, the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante is treated with similar energy and excitement. A change of instrument, bow, and strings results in a warmer, more hushed tone from Podger that provides a nice contrast to the brightness heard in the Haydn. Keen listeners will also notice that the viola is tuned a half-step higher than usual, which was indicated in Mozart’s original score. The result here is a brighter, more clearly projecting instrument.
Rachel Podger, Gary Cooper – Mozart: Complete Sonatas for Keyboard & Violin (2004-09)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 09:22:52 minutes | 22,2 GB | Genre: Classical
Source: ISO SACD | © Channel Classics Records | Front Cover
We bundled the eight Mozart cd’s that Rachel Podger and Gary Cooper recorded over the last ten years into an atrractive box, with an informative note from producer Jonathan Freeman-Attwoord. The duo partnership Gary Cooper and Rachel Podger has taken them worldwide. These recordings of Mozart’s Complete Sonatas for Keyboard & Violin have received countless awards and accolades, including multiple Diapason d’Or awards and Gramophone Editor’s Choices, and hailed as ‘benchmark’ recordings.
“Finally, one asks why there hasn’t previously been a complete recording on historical instruments. From my ‘privileged’ position as listener-in-chief, I can tell you it is because no pair can make such transparent and difficult music sound so effortless, elegant, witty, emotionally persuasive and enjoyable. Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, producer
Read moreRachel Podger – Tutta sola (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:07:45 minutes | 2,35 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Channel Classics Records
On this album entitled “Tutta sola”, violinist Rachel Podger plays solo repertoire from five European composers who all lived to celebrate new year’s eve in 1700. It is a wonderful baroque programme of selected solo violin pieces, preludes, dances and fugal movements. One person, at least with regards to the repertoire for Baroque violin, springs immediately to mind: Johann Sebastian Bach. But the german composer was not the only composer to experiment with “senza basso” – music without accompanying bass –, and neither was he the first. In addition to Johann Sebastian Bach, this recording features solo violin music from Johann Joseph Vilsmayr, Nicola Matteis Jr., Johann Paul von Westhoff, and Giuseppe Tartini.
Read moreRachel Podger, Pavlo Beznosiuk – Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante; Haydn: Violin Concerti 1 & 4 (2009)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & DST64 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Digital Booklet | 3.61GB
FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000) 24bit/88.2 kHz | Digital Booklet | 1.15GB
Two rarely recorded Haydn violin concertos frame Rachel Podger’s performance of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat on this disc. Both concertos have only string accompaniment, here provided by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and a discreet harpsichord (the player’s name unaccountably omitted from the list of the orchestra personnel in the accompanying booklet). Rachel Podger has chosen to play both concertos on her own Pesarinius violin (1739) that she feels is most suited to the style of these works and few would disagree with her choice. Her agile and spirited playing in the outer movements is complemented by her pure cantilena in the slow movements. As is to be expected, both works are full of baroque idioms and, while neither presents Haydn at his most inventive, they make an enjoyable pairing. The C major concerto is the more interesting of the two with a beautiful slow movement in which Podger’s rapt playing over pizzicato strings is a pleasure to hear.
Read more