557574-75bk Handel US 14/5/06 3:07 pm Page 12 Junge Kantorei The Junge Kantorei was established in 1965 by Joachim Carlos Martini for the Evangelical Church of Hess and 2 CDs Nassau. The choir has since then won a reputation for its many performances of music in Germany and abroad from HANDEL the Baroque to the contemporary and has enjoyed a happy collaboration with the Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra. The choir schedule has brought regular participation in festivals of major regional importance, notably the Whit celebrations at Kloster Eberbach im Rheingau and in the church of St Peter in Heidelberg, and has done much to inspire a love of choral singing. The Junge Kantorei has, in particular, given attention to a series of recordings of Solomon the work of Handel, including, for Naxos, the oratorios Athalia, Deborah, Saul, Gideon, Nabal and Il Trionfo del Tempo e della Verità. (Oratorio in Three Parts) Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra The Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra was established in 1986 by Joachim Carlos Martini and fellow musicians, in Wolak • Scholl • Wemyss • Schoch • Vieweg conjunction, in particular, with the work of the Junge Kantorei, and has joined in performances throughout Germany and abroad, notably in Paris, London, Oxford and Amsterdam. At the heart of the repertoire are the oratorios of Junge Kantorei • Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra Handel, although the orchestra also extends its activities to the classical and early romantic periods, in its special attention to the principles of early music performance practice. Joachim Carlos Martini Violin 1 Double Bass Bassoon Timpani Judith Freise Viola Martin Heinze Trudy van der Wulp Eckhard Leue Christoph Hesse Marinette Troost Mechthild Alpers Anne Schumann Dymitr Olszewski Flauto traverso Lute Seija Teeuwen Werner Saller Marion Moonen Horn Yasunori Imamura Tamara Mkrtychyan Wibke Oppermann Helen MacDougall Violin 2 Anneke Scott Cembalo Eva Scheytt Violoncello Oboe Ludger Rémy Frank Polman Anna Carewe Peter Frankenberg Trumpet Dorothea Vogel Cassandra Henriette Gröger Helen Barsby Cembalo / Organ Malina Mantcheva Luckhardt Mark Geelen Rien Voskuilen Joachim Carlos Martini Joachim Carlos Martini was born in Valdivia, in Chile, to German parents, returning with them to Germany, where he studied Philosophy, German Studies, History, Cultural History, Musicology and Music. His study of conducting with Kurt Thomas and Helmuth Franz was followed by conducting courses with Dean Dixon and Hermann Scherchen. In 1968, with the youth pastor of the Evangelical Church in Hess and Nassau, Fritz Eitel, he set up the Junge Kantorei, to the direction of which he has for some years chiefly devoted himself. At the same time he conducts the Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra, established together with friends, an ensemble that specialises in historical performance practice, bringing together for this purpose musicians from all over Europe. Both organizations have concentrated attention on the oratorios of Handel, with comprehensive performances of this repertoire. Joachim Martini has also, through the establishment of a Frankfurt Archive on musical life under National Socialism, conducted research into Jewish musicians in the Third Reich with publications that include Music in Auschwitz and Music as a Form of Spiritual Resistance, Jewish Musicians from 1933 to 1945. For information on the recordings of the Junge Kantorei see www.junge-kantorei.de 8.557574-75 12 557574-75bk Handel US 14/5/06 3:07 pm Page 2 George Frideric Nicola Wemyss The Scottish soprano Nicola Wemyss completed her study at the Birmingham Conservatoire with distinction, subsequently specialising in Baroque singing at the Royal Conservatorium of The Netherlands in The Hague with HANDEL Rita Dams and Marius van Altena. She took first prize in Baroque song at the 2000 Chimay Competition, the start (1685-1759) of her solo career. Since then she has appeared with leading orchestras and ensembles in Europe, including Les Arts Florissants, the Huelgas Ensemble, the Utrecht Barock Consort and the Bochum Symphony. She has collaborated with the conductors William Christie, Ton Koopman, Steven Sloane, Paul van Nevel and Jos van Veldhoven, among Solomon others. Her oratorio and concert repertoire ranges from the early renaissance to the late classical, and her operatic rôles have included principal female parts in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Polissena in Handel’s Radamisto, Juno in (An Oratorio in Three Parts) Lully’s Isis and the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. Her recordings include music by Charpentier with Les Arts Florissants and the rôle of Annio in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito with Musica ad Rhenum. Solomon . Ewa Wolak, Mezzo-Soprano Knut Schoch Pharaoh’s Daughter, Queen / Second Woman . Elisabeth Scholl, Soprano The German tenor Knut Schoch studied singing in Hamburg with Wilfried Jochens and Alan Speer, completing his Nicaule, Queen of Sheeba / First Woman . Nicola Wemyss, Soprano studies by attending a series of master-classes. With a repertory that ranges from the medieval to the contemporary and includes oratorio, chamber music, Lieder and Baroque and Classical opera, he specialises particularly in the Zadok / Attendant . Knut Schoch, Tenor historical performance practice of music written before 1800, notably the oratorios of Handel and Bach’s Passions. Levite . Matthias Vieweg, Bass He is much in demand as a soloist both at home and abroad and regularly appears at leading festivals including the Fête d’Automne in Paris, the Göttingen Handel Festival and the Schwetzingen, Schleswig-Holstein and Vienna Festivals. Radio and television recordings as well as CDs reflect the breadth of his activities. He has worked with many well-known ensembles, including the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Musica Fiata of Cologne, the Dutch Bach Society and the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble, and has appeared with conductors of the highest distinction. Among the awards that Knut Schoch has received are the 1995 Masefield Grant from F.V.S. Society and first prize at the 1999 International Musica Antiqua Competition in Bruges. In 1993 he was appointed visiting professor of Junge Kantorei historical performance practice at the Hamburg Conservatory, and from 1999 to 2002 served as professor at the Hamburg Musikhochschule. Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra Matthias Vieweg Joachim Carlos Martini The baritone Matthias Vieweg was born in Sonneberg in Thuringia, and grew up in Mengersgereuth-Hämmern. He had his first piano lessons at the age of five, and his musical education took him later to Wernigerode, where he was a member of the Radio Youth Choir and completed his schooling. He studied singing at the Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule with Günther Leib, qualifying also in piano and piano accompaniment. He participated in master- classes with Hans Hotter, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Rudolf Piernay and Peter Schreier. He has participated in opera productions at the Berlin Staatsoper, the Komische Oper, the Potsdam Hans-Otto-Theater, the Rostock Volkstheater, the Berlin Konzerthaus and in various festivals. He has won success in a number of competitions, taking First Prize in the Richard Strauss Society Competition in Munich in 1997 and in 1998 the Bach Prize at the Leipzig International Bach Competition. He has appeared on the concert platform with Wolfgang Sawallisch, Helmut Froschauer, Helmuth Rilling and René Jacobs, and with ensembles including the Cologne Radio Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and others. He was a guest performer at the Nuremberg International Organ Week, the MDR Summer Music, the Halle Handel Festival, the Innsbruck Festival Week and the Potsdam Festival at Sanassouci, as well as the Dresden Music Festival. 8.557574-75 2 11 8.557574-75 557574-75bk Handel US 14/5/06 3:07 pm Page 10 receives her with great friendliness and attention and a great caravan of numberless camels. Solomon is no CD 1 81:06 asks his singers and musicians to play for the royal guest less generous. With moving words they praise God, & of human passions, of lovely music, of the blasphemous together with the priests, and with mutual good wishes PART I Air: Indulge thy faith (Zadok) 2:44 aggressiveness of men, of mortal despair that scorned they take leave of each other. 1 Ouverture 3:41 * Recitative: My blooming fair (Solomon) 0:14 love brings, finally to let the music sound once more, as ‘The name of the wicked shall quickly be passed / 2 Allegro 2:31 ( Air: Haste to the cedar grove (Solomon) 3:07 it can, to soothe rebellious feelings and lead souls into But the fame of the just shall eternally last’. With this ) Recitative: When thou art absent from 0:12 the state of rest. comforting promise the oratorio comes to an end. Scene 1 my sight (Queen) The Queen of Sheba is overwhelmed. She gives 3 Chorus of Priests: 3:39 ¡ Air: With thee th’unshelter’d moor I tread 2:08 thanks with the gold, precious stones, incense and spices Joachim C. Martini Your harps and cymbals sound (Queen) that she has brought with her from Sheba on the backs of English version: Keith Anderson 4 Air: Praise ye the Lord (Levite) 4:44 ™ Recitative: Search round the world (Zadok) 0:17 5 Sung texts for this release are available as PDF files online at www.naxos.com/libretti/solomon.htm Chorus of Priests: With pious hearts 4:26 £ Chorus: May no rash intruder 3:16 This measure is designed to help keep our releases at an affordable price and maintain Naxos’ position as 6 Accompagnato: Almighty pow’r! (Solomon) 2:27 leader in the budget-priced market. 7 Recitative: Imperial Solomon (Zadok) 0:44 PART II 8 Air: Sacred raptures (Zadok) 4:16 Scene 1 Ewa Wolak 9 Chorus of Israelites: 3:11 ¢ Chorus: From the censer curling rise 5:21 The Polish mezzo-soprano Ewa Wolak was born in Wadowice and began her musical education at the age of six. Throughout the land Jehovah’s praise ∞ Recitative: Prais’d be the Lord (Solomon) 1:07 At the age of fourteen she entered the Kraków Conservatory to study singing and viola, graduating with distinction 0 Recitative: Bless’d be the Lord (Solomon) 0:24 in the vocal department of the Kraków Academy.