Instrumental Theatre of Affects

Two years ago, Ensemble Arte dei Suonatori and its dynamic conductor and harpsichordist Marcin Swiatkiewicz presented the "Hamburg Symphonies" by C.P.E. Bach (jpc 11816216) - extremely expressive and personal works. Restless, full of unexpected turns, surprises, contrasts and "affects", in short, they are characterized by sensitivity. "This time Arte dei Suonatori and Marcin Swiatkiewicz present six "Berlin" symphonies composed between 1755 and 1758, thus before the "Hamburg" symphonies. Arte dei Suonatori and their conductor chose the original versions for strings alone with harpsichord continuo, making this recording the first to present all these works together in their original form without the wind parts added later. The chamber music character of the composition is emphasized here by the compact ensemble, in which each musician participates on equal footing and everyone is audible. Swiatkiewicz also points out that their interpretation, based on historically oriented performance practices, "is based on a constant search for analogies between music and poetry and close attention to prosody and dance forms", which music lovers of the 21st century will undoubtedly appreciate.