On this page are high resolution RGB colour-format CD covers, artist and recording session photos, PDF booklets and more, for Prussian Blue by Passacaglia (BCR025) and The Library of a Prussian Princess by Ensemble Augelletti (BCR024).
If there’s anything else you need don’t hesitate to email Robin Bigwood: info@barncottagerecords.co.uk. Thank you.
Prussian Blue – Passacaglia (BCR025)
https://barncottagerecords.co.uk/product/passacaglia-prussian-blue/
Prussian Blue is Passacaglia’s exploration of early sonatas (1737-1747) by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. In this period Emanuel moved from his student haunt of Frankfurt to the court of Frederick the Great in Berlin, and the turbulent and impassioned music he wrote seems to be a conscious rejection of the baroque style that had come before. The chiaroscuro contrasts and wild harmonic leaps foreshadow music that would be written 50 years later; and yet there’s also exquisite galant refinement and balance.
Too often overshadowed in recent times by the work of his father, CPE Bach was highly regarded in his own lifetime. Charles Burney wrote that he was ‘one of the greatest composers that ever existed’ and that while his music could be ‘fantastical and far-fetched… his flights are not the wild ravings of ignorance or madness, but the effusions of cultivated genius.’
Passacaglia explore this brilliant, engaging, and hugely rewarding repertoire as a trio: Annabel Knight playing baroque flute, Reiko Ichise on viola da gamba, and Robin Bigwood at the harpsichord.
Available as a physical audio CD and instant audio file download (320kbps MP3, 44/16 WAV and 44/24 FLAC) with PDF booklet and tracklisting from www.barncottagerecords.co.uk
Tracks and repertoire
All works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach:
1-3: Sonata in D Major for flute and basso continuo Wq 131 (Berlin, 1747)
4-6: Sonata in E Minor for flute and basso continuo Wq 124 (Frankfurt, 1737)
7-9: Sonata in C Major for viola da gamba and basso continuo Wq 136 (Berlin, 1745)
10-12: Sonata in A Minor for unaccompanied flute Wq 132 (Berlin, 1747)
13-15: Sonata in C Minor for keyboard (from the ‘Prussian’ sonatas) Wq 48/4 (Berlin, 1741)
16-18: Sonata in B-flat Major for flute and basso continuo Wq 125 (Berlin, 1738)
Total running time: 67m 25s
Recorded at St Andrew’s Church, Toddington, Gloucestershire UK in May 2019 and August 2021. Produced by Adrian Hunter. Editing by Robin Bigwood. Cover graphic ‘Prussian Blue’ by Beth Munkli.
Passacaglia
Passacaglia specialises in music from the baroque era, played on recorders, flutes, violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord. The group has delighted audiences in the UK, Europe and USA, and their six albums (recorded for Linn, Naxos and BCR) have met with critical acclaim. Recently they received support from Continuo Foundation for a post-lockdown UK Tour of a new programme, ‘To Touch The Heart’: works by CPE Bach, Anna Amalia, Wilhelmine von Bayreuth and Anna Bon di Venezia.
‘Wonderfully passionate and detailed playing’
Early Music Review
‘A performance of irrepressible joy’
Gramophone
The Library of a Prussian Princess – Ensemble Augelletti (BCR024)
https://barncottagerecords.co.uk/product/ensemble-augelletti-the-library-of-a-prussian-princess/
Ensemble Augelletti, led by recorder player and researcher Olwen Foulkes, presents this beautiful, at times vigorous and sensuous, and always historically fascinating album centred on Anna Amalia, Princess of Prussia, Abbess of Quedlinburg (and sister of Frederick the Great). She was uniquely involved in the musical life of 18th Century Berlin, and as Olwen writes in the album’s extensive programme notes, this album ‘grew out of a desire to celebrate her astonishing musical life as both a composer, a patron, an organist, a promoter, and a curator of musical scores.’
Several of Anna Amalia’s own tuneful and expressive fugues are interspersed with major sonatas by J S Bach, Handel, Corelli, Geminiani and C P E Bach, exploring the important musical library this pioneering composer built up in her lifetime. Augelletti’s performances are suitably colourful, flexible, buoyant and refined, recorded in the warm and spacious acoustic of the National Centre for Early Music in York, UK.
The Library of a Prussian Princess received support from Continuo Foundation, Angel Early Music and many other organisations and individual donors.
Tracks and repertoire
1-4: J S Bach Trio Sonata in G Major BWV 1039
5: Anna Amalia Fugue in D Major Am.B 479
6-10: G F Handel Trio Sonata in F major Op. 2 No. 4
11-14: A Corelli Trio Sonata in B-flat Major Op. 1 No. 5
15-18: F Geminiani Trio Sonata in D minor Op. 2 No. 5
19: Anna Amalia Fugue in A minor Am.B 479
20: Anna Amalia Fugue in C Major Am.B 479
21-24: J S Bach Trio Sonata in G Major BWV 1038
25: Anna Amalia Fugue in C Major Am.B 479
26-28: C P E Bach Trio Sonata in C Major H. 571
Total running time: 60m 25s
Recorded at the National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, York, UK in May 2021. Production, editing and mastering: Robin Bigwood
Ensemble Augelletti
Founded by recorder player Olwen Foulkes, Ensemble Augelletti began exploring the chamber music and concertos that were performed on London theatre stages in the first decades of the 18thcentury. The name Augelletti means ‘little birds’ and references the aria ‘Augelletti che cantate’ that comes from the first act of Handel’s opera Rinaldo. The ensemble have performed on BBC Radio 3 ‘In Tune’ and ‘Early Music’ shows, in several UK Arts Festivals; London, Brighton, and York Early Music Festivals. Ensemble Augelletti were winners of the FBAS young artist competition in Italy in 2019 and are finalists of the York International Young Artists Competition in 2022.
A current project, ‘Pick a Card…’, kindly supported by the Continuo Foundation, explores the historical playing cards collection housed in the British Museum. This project is released in collaboration with Voces8 Foundation and Brighton Early Music Festival in 2022.
‘Ensemble Augelletti play with an impressive sense of consort and musical integrity’
Early Music Review
