Adagio: A Consideration of a Serious Matter Ensemble Caprice & Matthias Maute

• Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679 - 1745):
• 1 Miserere in C Minor, ZWV 57: I. Adagio 02:21
• Tomaso Albinoni (1671 - 1751) & Remo Giazotti (1910 - 1998):
• 2 Adagio in G Minor 05:29
• Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981):
• 3 Agnus Dei 06:09
• Matthias Maute (b. 1963):
• 4 Prélude 02:06
• Erik Satie (1866 - 1925):
• 5 Gymnopédie No. 1 02:52
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750):
• 6 Ich Habe Genug, BWV 82a: I. Aria 06:48
• Giacomo Carissimi (1605 - 1674):
• 7 Jephte: Plorate Israel (Coro) 03:48
• Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849):
• 8 Prélude, Op. 28, No. 4 02:05
• Gregorio Allegri (1582 - 1652):
• 9 Miserere 11:19
• Arvo Pärt (b. 1935):
• 10 Da Pacem Domine 05:13
• Jan Dismas Zelenka:
• 11 Sepulto Dominum 02:53
• Charles Ives (1874 - 1954):
• 12 The Unanswered Question 05:00
• Total Runtime 56:03

Info for Adagio: A Consideration of a Serious Matter

Charles Ives gave two titles to his most famous composition. The piece generally known as The Unanswered Question, featuring a trumpet call repeating the same earnest question seven times, was also listed by the composer under the title A Consideration of a Serious Matter.

This wonderful title soon became the programmatic idea behind our recording of adagios throughout the centuries. Centered around Bach’s sad yet mysteriously joyful aria Ich habe genug, there emerged a colourful array of choral and orchestral pieces, all having one element in common: they are all meditations on the fundamental questions of life and death and express something impossible to communicate through words.

As we were recording the album we began to feel as if the different pieces were “reacting” to one another. It was almost as if the composers were having an intense conversation across the centuries, with no existing time barriers.

Jan Dismas Zelenka’s 1738 Miserere, an outburst of utter despair, finds a distant echo two centuries later in Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question. According to the American composer himself, the quartet of wind instruments expresses the growing unrest of human beings who feel increasingly unsettled as they come face to face with the inexorability of destiny, as rendered tangible by the ethereal sounds of the strings.

Throughout history, composers have attempted to express the seemingly endless pain of human suffering through music. The examples contained on this recording are among some of the most powerful explorations of this emotional space.

Ensemble Caprice
Matthias Maute, conductor

Ensemble Caprice
a baroque ensemble which performs on period instruments, was founded by acclaimed conductor, composer and recorder soloist Matthias Maute and has become known for its innovative and adventuresome approach to an increasingly expanding musical repertoire. In addition to its series of concerts in Montreal, the group tours extensively, giving dozens of concerts in Canada, the USA, Europe, and even Asia. The ensemble is a regular guest at many prestigious European festivals: the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music in London, the Bruges (Belgium) and Utrecht (Netherlands) festivals, the Felicja Blumenthal International Music Festival in Tel Aviv; and in Germany, the Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, the Regensburg Early Music Festival, the Händel-Festspele in Halle, and the Stockstadt festival. In November 2009, the New York Times published a lengthy article hailing the musicians’ innovative and refreshing approach, praising them as “imaginative, even powerful; and the playing is top-flight”.

The Ensemble’s recording activity is every bit as impressive. Their albums have gained many honours and much critical acclaim. The CD Gloria! Vivaldi and his Angels received a JUNO Award and three prestigious Prix Opus awards. Ensemble Caprice was also recognized for its artistic approach and the quality of its performances by being selected “People’s choice” and was a finalist in the music category for the Montreal Arts Council’s Grand Prix de Montréal. The group also earned a nomination for the Echo Klassic award in Germany and the acclaimed publication Gramophone magazine chose the group’s CD Telemann and The Baroque Gypsies as one of its recommended recordings. Ensemble Caprice produces videos for the website noncerto which promote classical music in a new way.

Matthias Maute
JUNO Award winning conductor, composer, recorder and flute soloist Matthias Maute has achieved an international reputation. Impressed by his artistic approach, The New York Times described the orchestra he conducts, Ensemble Caprice, as being “an ensemble that leads the listener to rehear the world”. He regularly appears at major festivals. In Canada he has performed at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, the Festival international du Domaine Forget and the Elora Festival among others.

Maute’s recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos juxtaposed with (his own orchestral arrangements of) Preludes from Shostakovich’s Op. 87 was hailed by The New Yorker’s Alex Ross as standing out “for its fleet, characterful approach” and “its fresh, vibrant colors”. Matthias Maute’s compositions are published by Breitkopf & Härtel, Amadeus, Moeck and Carus. His compositions are featured in numerous videos on the noncerto website. In 2014 and 2015, Maute’s 1st Violin Concerto was performed by soloist Mark Fewer and the St. John’s Symphony as well as by I Musici de Montréal. Matthias Maute has made some twenty recordings. He currently teaches in Montreal at both the Université de Montréal and McGill University.

Sophie Larivière
has participated in the International Recorder Symposium in Stuttgart, the Recorder Series in Schwelm, and the Recorder Festival of Stockstadt in Germany. She has been a member of Ensemble Caprice since 1997 and is the artistic co-director. In this function, she has contributed to the enrichment of the Ensemble, leading audiences to musical discoveries featuring both virtuosity and artistry. She has also been a guest performer with several early music ensembles, including Arion, Le Concert Spirituel, Les Idées Heureuses, Les Violons du Roy, Rebel, Le Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal, the New York Collegium and the Theatre of Early Music. In 2003 and 2004, under Jeunesses Musicales du Canada’s tutelage, Larivière took part in some 30 concerts throughout Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick. In June 2004, with Ensemble Caprice, she performed for the first time in Austria, and few months later took part in a series of concerts at the Boston Early Music Festival. In the fall of 2006, she made her debut in Israel with the Ensemble Caprice in a series of concerts in Tel Aviv and Yehiam.

With Le Concert Spirituel (Paris), she took part in an American tour that led her to Detroit, Chicago and Washington. She has performed under such renown conductors as Andrew Parrott, Hervé Niquet, Philipp Picket, Jaap ter Linden and Barthold Kuijken, She is second traverso of the REBEL Baroque Orchestra in New York under the direction of Owen Burdick. She has recorded with Ensemble Caprice, Arion, Rebel, the Theatre of Early Music, and the Violons du Roy.

This album contains no booklet.