Since its creation in 1933, the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB) and its working philosophy have lost nothing of their topicality. Founded by Paul Sacher and close colleagues in Basel, Switzerland, this University of Early Music (since 2008 part of the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland) remains to this day unique in numerous respects. From the very beginning, musicians gathered here who decisively influenced the course of historical performance practice. The scope of activities at the SCB ranges from the early Middle Ages to the 19th century.
And as a result of the close co-operation between performers and scholars, a dynamic interaction exists between research, professional training, concerts, and publications. In all of this, the SCB operates with a broad definition of music. This arises from a particular approach which explores the historical context of past musical production to create musical interpretations that inspire the listener today – often combined with a fascination for the previously unknown. The CD productions play their part in bringing important projects and performers at the SCB to a wider audience. Around 75 such recordings have been produced on different labels since 1980. From 2010 the CD productions of the SCB have appeared on Glossa.
Out on Glossa is the first-ever recording of one of the most important preserved dramatic works by one of the major figures of the European full Baroque, José de Nebra: Vendado es Amor, no es ciego, a 1744 summertime zarzuela success in Madrid. Alberto Miguélez Rouco conducts an animated vocal sextet and Los Elementos in a production prepared for and executed under the auspices of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. [read more...]
Some 15 years ago, the hitherto unknown “Carlo G Manuscript” was purchased at a Vienna jumble sale for the princely sum of 60 Euros. Once a doctoral thesis had been prepared based on this document and it had been made available on the internet in theform of scanned images, the manuscript was sold by Sotheby’s at auction to an anonymous buyer in 2007, as a consequence of which it has once again disappeared. The fact that the surname of its author had become illegible as a result of a smudge deepens the mystery surrounding the manuscript even further – however, although being from the same time as that of the famous Carlo Gesualdo, everything points to the fact the prince of Venosa was not the composer being searched for… [read more...]
The release of a new recording from La Morra is always an exciting moment for creative and imaginative artistry, not just within the realms of late medieval and early renaissance music. With a disc focusing on the 15th-century composer Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz, in a production from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, the ensemble is set to repeat its happy knack of alighting upon an area of largely untravelled repertory and preparing an enjoyably fascinating programme from it. [read more...]
Two former students of the Schola Cantorum in Basle, both now captivating audiences each with their individual violinistic artistry, Amandine Beyer and Leila Schayegh, join forces for a new Schola Cantorum Basiliensis recording devoted to the trio sonata music of Antonio Caldara, and issued with Glossa. [read more...]
It is not only discerning music lovers around the globe who are giving a warm welcome to the recordings which are being published on Glossa; critical approval in the specialist media has been joining in as well. One example of the latter is the newly-instigated International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) which, for its inaugural 2011 edition, has chosen no less than nine of Glossa’s recent releases in its initial nominations. [read more...]
Central to the research into and the performance of early music since the beginnings of the renewed interest into music from previous centuries the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB) remains an extraordinary powerhouse of talent ranging over music from the early Middle Ages through to the 19th century. Today its pupils are legion, as too are its teachers, amply fulfilling the aspirations of Paul Sacher when he founded the institution in Switzerland in 1933. In an agreement recently made between Glossa and the SCB fresh new life is being breathed into the desire to bring the fruits of all this musical activity to a much wider worldwide audience through recordings. [read more...]