CCL CDG1214

Cover image: Girl with a Pearl Earring

Jan Vermeer (163275) Mauritshaus,The Hague/
Bridgeman Art Library
This compilation & 2007
Classical Communications Ltd
Made in Great Britain
1 Vita in ligno moritur, prima pars
Ludwig Sen (c.1486c.1543)
Lynda Sayce, bass lute
2 Pavana dolorosa
Peter Philips (c.15611628)
Martin Souter, virginals
3 Partita in D minor BWV1004 Chaconne
Johann Sebastian Bach (16851750)
Ilya Ioff, violin
4 Sonata in C minor K457 Adagio
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (17561791)
Martin Souter, piano
5 Pavane
Gabriel Faur (18451924)
Sam Piha & Martin Vishnik, guitars
6 Symphony No 5 Adagietto
Gustav Mahler (18601911)
Radio Symphony Orchestra Ljubljana conducted
by Anton Nanut
7 Sonata in F minor Op2/1 Adagio
Ludwig van Beethoven (17701827)
Martin Souter, piano
8 Piano Concerto No20 in D minor, K466
Romance
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Felicja Blumental, piano, Innsbruck Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Robert Wagner
Tracks 1 & 2 recorded at Jericho Farm Studios
Tracks 3, 6 and 8 courtesy of Countdown Media
GmbH
Tracks 4 & 7 recorded by kind permission on historic
keyboard instruments in The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York
Track 5 recorded in Summertown, Oxford
A Musical Moment
Profound music for contemplation
Quiet music crossing four centuries, from the calm lute of the sixteenth century to the
rich harmonies of the nineteenth, in a programme of some of the most profound music
ever written. Long adagios contrast with a series of short but moving pieces.
For our complete range of high quality
CDs, please ask for a catalogue or visit
our website: t: +44(0)1865 882920
www.thegiftofmusic.com
Classical Communications
Worton, Oxfordshire OX29 4SZ, UK
A
PROFOUND MUSIC FOR CONTEMPLATION
Moment
Musical
CDG1159 Booklet 4pp T.indd 1 200921728 17:01:36
This album begins in the world of the girl with a pearl earring with lute music that
she might have heard in the houses and artists studios of Delft. Ludwig Sen, the
composer of the rst track, was one of Northern Europes most famous musicians. He
sang in the Imperial chapel and, like so many musicians of the day, became involved
in the religious controversy between Catholic and Protestant which raged at the
time and which affected even Jan Vermeer, a Reformed Protestant who married
into a Catholic family. Sen composed mainly choral music, but many of his works
were arranged for other instruments, particularly the lute, thus allowing his calm
and austere musical style to be played in the home. Peter Philips was also involved
in the religious issues of the day, an Englishman who ed to Northern Europe and
eventually to Italy. He was a prolic composer, although only a relatively small
amount of keyboard music has survived. The Pavana dolorosa is played here on a
virginals, a small oblong keyboard instrument of the type which appears in many
Dutch paintings of the period.
Johann Sebastian Bach composed a sublime set of partitas for solo violin.
A partita is a suite of dance movements, and the chaconne from the D minor
suite is one of his most famous works. The music unfolds gradually in a series of ever
A Musical Moment Profound music for contemplation
more elaborate patterns over a standardised chord sequence. Mozart and Beethoven
were famous in their day as keyboard players, and they both wrote substantial
amounts of piano music for publication during their lifetime. Both adagios heard
here are sublime works: calm and reective while retaining an inner luminosity and
thus suited to Vermeers style of painting. Mozarts Piano Concerto in D minor
is one of his best known. Calm outer sections regulate a more turbulent central
development, as if any troubling thoughts which emerge from the initial calm are
eventually resolved.
Two more composers are represented on our album of calming music. Gabriel
Faur was a teacher and composer in Paris around a century ago. He often wrote
music in deliberately antique style, and his lovely Pavane is his own tribute to the
music of previous centuries. Mahler famously wrote lengthy symphonies which
explored through music the full range of human emotion and thought with an
intensity rarely equalled. The Adagietto comes from the Fifth Symphony and is
pure bliss in music.
CDG1159 Booklet 4pp T.indd 2 200921728 17:01:37