Bach & Gubaidulina Ursina Maria Braun

• Sofia Gubaidulina (1931 - 2025): Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999):
• 1 Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999): I. Staccato - Legato 01:22
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012:
• 2 Bach: Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: II. Allemande 07:09
• Sofia Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999):
• 3 Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999): VI. Flagioletti 02:41
• 4 Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999): VII. Al taco - Da punta D'arco 01:13
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009:
• 5 Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: II. Allemande 03:56
• Sofia Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999):
• 6 Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999): VIII. Arco - Pizzicato 01:11
• 7 Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999): IX. Pizzicato - Arco 03:36
• 8 Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999): III. Con sordino - Senza Sordino 02:47
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008:
• 9 Bach: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: II. Allemande 03:45
• Sofia Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999):
• 10 Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999): II. Legato - Staccato 02:31
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 1010:
• 11 Bach: Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 1010: II. Allemande 04:17
• Sofia Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999):
• 12 Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999): V. Sul ponticello - Ordinario - Sul Tasto 03:07
• 13 Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999): IV. Ricochet 01:20
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007:
• 14 Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: II. Allemande 04:30
• Sofia Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999):
• 15 Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Cello Solo (1974, rev. 1999): X. Senza arco, senza Pizzicato 03:28
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011:
• 16 Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: I. Prélude 06:44
• 17 Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: II. Allemande 04:35
• 18 Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: III. Courante 02:31
• 19 Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: IV. Sarabande 03:24
• 20 Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: V. Gavotte I + II 05:03
• 21 Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: VI. Gigue 02:52
• Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007:
• 22 Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: I. Prélude 02:28
• Total Runtime 01:14:30

Info for Bach & Gubaidulina

An exciting listening adventure: The "Ten Preludes" by Sofia Gubaidulina from 1974 merge with the Allemandes from Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suites into a fascinating dialogue between past and present.

How do different kinds of music from distant eras interact with one another - and with the listener? This encounter between the past and modernity presented on this album proves to be an exciting listening adventure: The Ten Preludes by the Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina (1931-2025) are interwoven with Allemandes from Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suites into a fascinating dialogue spanning 250 years.

Gubaidulina, one of the most important composers of the former Soviet Union, wrote her Preludes in 1974 as technical and artistic instructional pieces. With his Six Suites, Johann Sebastian Bach also created a compendium which opened up a new range of expression for the performers of his time and enabled the instrument, rarely called upon in a solo capacity up until then, to catch up with the virtuoso capabilities of the violin.

In presenting these works directly alongside each other, something remarkable takes place: the seemingly antithetical sound worlds merge into a subtle dialogue between old and new. We can hear the extent to which Gubaidulina was inspired by her role model Bach - and at the same time expanded the boundaries of musical expression into the present. "This combination sheds new light on both the well-known music of Bach and that of Gubaidulina", says Ursina Maria Braun. She has chosen a modern cello for this experiment, while playing Bach's entire Fifth Suite on a historical instrument with gut strings - another testimony to how much the music world has developed and been enriched.

Ursina Maria Braun, cello

Ursina Maria Braun
musical career is characterised by its enormous versatility. A prizewinner of the Leipzig Bach Competition, she is active as a soloist and chamber musician as well as a solo cellist in renowned ensembles, and is also a sought-after composer.

She began her training as a junior student with Thomas Grossenbacher at the Zurich University of the Arts, where she also received composition lessons from Andreas Nick. Her Bachelor's and Master's studies with Clemens Hagen and Heinrich Schiff then took her to the Mozarteum University Salzburg and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Additional studies with Reinhard Goebel deepened her interest in historical performance practice, which she has made an essential focus of her work.

During her studies, Ursina Maria Braun received numerous awards, including first prize at the international CONCORSO 12 Enrico Mainardi in 2012, the study award of the Migros Kulturprozent in 2016, and second prize and the audience prize at the International Bach Competition Leipzig. During the coronavirus pandemic, she initiated an innovative concert series on the Kapuzinerberg in Salzburg and won second prize at the Musica Antiqua Competition in Bruges in 2021.

With her chamber music partners such as Kit Armstrong, Denes Varjon, Pietro de Maria, Florian Birsak, Reinhard Goebel, Julian Prégardien, Dmitry Smirnov, Lorenza Borrani, Alfredo Bernardini, Franziska Hölscher, Erich Höbarth, and Dorothea Oberlinger, she has performed at festivals such as Styriarte Graz, Carinthischer Sommer, Thüringer Bachwochen, Bachwochen Ansbach, Suoni delle Dolomiti, Stresa Festival, and Mittelfest and has already performed in concert halls such as the Wiener Musikverein, Teatro della Pergola in Florence, Wigmore Hall in London, and Konzerthaus Berlin. As principal cellist of the Concentus Musicus founded by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, she is part of one of the most respected ensembles for historical performance practice. In addition, she performs as a principal cellist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, and the Munich Chamber Orchestra.

As a composer, Ursina Maria Braun receives commissions from the Musikpodium Zürich, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Swiss Chamber Concerts, Azahar Ensemble, Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, and Sinfonietta de Lausanne. The Salzburg-based cellist regularly passes on her enthusiasm for music in projects with students at the Zurich University of the Arts, the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, and the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana and leads a cello class at the Tirolean State Conservatory in Innsbruck.

Booklet for Bach & Gubaidulina