Raphaella SMITS
xxx
RECORDINGS -Johann Kaspar Mertz -The eight-stringed Bach -CD ACR -CD Walter-Brouwer-Henderickx -CD Mertz-Giuliani2 -CD Spanish Folksongs -CD Legnani-Sor -CD Manjon -CD Vila-Lobos a.o. -CD Weiss-Bach -CD Sor-Coste -CD 20th Century -CD Mertz-Giuliani -LP Tedesco -LP Coste -LP Sor-Kaufmann -LP Dowland -LP Blauwe Steen

home

newsletter

subscribe

discography

biography

instruments

interviews

schedule

press kit

reviews

links

contact

NEDERLANDSE
VERSIE

Ave Maria

PROGRAM

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750) / Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
1 - Prelude (BWV 846), Ave Maria (M�ditation)

Silvius Leopold WEISS (1687-1750)
2 - Ciaconna, Suite no.10 (SW14)

Henry PURCELL (1659-1695)
Suite no.2 (Z 661)
3 - Prelude
4 - Almand
5 - Corant
6 - Saraband

Georg Philipp TELEMANN (1681-1767)
Fantasie no.9 (TWV 40:22)
7 - Siciliana-Vivace-Allegro

Silvius Leopold WEISS (1687-1750)
8 - Fantasie no.9

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
9 - Ciaconna, Partita Secunda (BWV 1004)

FEATURES

artist: Raphaella Smits

title: AVE MARIA - Baroque Recital

composers: Johann Sebastian BACH, Silvius Leopold WEISS, Henry PURCELL, Georg Philipp TELEMANN.

instrument: John Gilbert guitar #46 (1980), (2018, maintenance and good care by Geert Vermeiren)

label: Soundset Recordings
CD number: SR1106

recorded: at Rockaway Studios, Castell�n de la Plana, Spain, September 2018.

 

AVE MARIA - Baroque Recital

PROGRAM NOTES by Raphaella Smits

�This recording of Baroque music was quite a challenge: originally written for violin, lute or keyboard, all these pieces are my own 8-string guitar adaptations.
To transcribe to an instrument that didn�t even exist in that period, I had to go to the essence, to the very soul of the music. I had to comprehend fully the language of the Baroque composers, to rediscover their sound, the structure and the meaning of their works, all on a completely different setting. I had to stay as close as possible to what was written originally and then use all capacities of my eight-string guitar to create my own versions. My guideline: It�s all about the music and the rhetoric.

During my research I came across some wonderful settings, transcriptions by Francisco T�rrega (Ave Maria, Bach-Gounod), Kazo Kanatani (Purcell) and Ruggero Chiesa (Weiss). They all were an inspiration to me.

The cooperation with Javier Salvador as the engineer of the recording studio was an added value: he is definitely part of the result you hear. He managed to give me all the space a musician needs to be creative.�

DOWNLOAD CD or per TRACK

Soundset Recordings - SR1106


ORDER PHYSICAL CD

Soundset Recordings (USA)
Academix (worldwide)

WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAY

CD HotList :

"This is not your typical baroque guitar recording. For one thing, guitarist and arranger Raphaella Smits has selected a somewhat unusual program of compositions originally for keyboard or violin as well as the more common lute pieces: Bach's Prelude BWV 846 (in an arrangement based on Charles Gounod's adaptation) and second keyboard partita (BWV 1004), selections from a Purcell keyboard suite, a gorgeous arrangement of one of Telemann's fantasias for solo violin, and a couple of lute pieces by Silvius Weiss. Smits plays an eight-string guitar, which gives her quite a bit of additional range and stops her having to make the kinds of register adjustments that might be required with a conventional six-string guitar. Her playing is marvelous, virtuosic without being showy, and emotionally expressive within the constraints of the baroque idiom. Highly recommended."

Classical Guitar Review :

"There are almost as many arrangements and transcriptions of Johann Sebastian Bach's Chaconne (from the second partita for violin in D minor, BWV 1004) as there are instruments in the world. Some of the best transcriptions have taken on rather legendary status—Segovia's transcription for guitar, Busoni's for keyboard, Helga Thoene's weaving into the Chaconne of various melodies from the cantatas and chorales for violin and vocals (with the Hilliard Ensemble). These have such nostalgic value it may be difficult to hear something new in other, newer transcriptions . . . that is, until you hear Raphaella Smits play her own transcription on her 1827 Mirecourt guitar.
This is some of the most mournful, beautiful, and rich playing - clear separation (and interconnection) of voices, convincing phrasing, dynamics, space for the music to breathe - that I have ever heard, and it really brings new life to this familiar piece."
CHACONNE

< Top of page > < Subscribe now! >