Johannes Pramsohler puts the first version of Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in a cosmopolitan context of travelling virtuosos To make it clear from the start, a “travel concerto” genre does not exist. However, what one can observe time and again are certain characteristics that indicate that many a baroque solo concerto was conceived especially for journeys. The epoch of internationally touring virtuosos indeed first came into full bloom with Paganini and Liszt, and yet even a c

Johannes Pramsohler and Philippe Grisvard place Bach's Six sonatas for violin and obligato harpsichord in a new historical context and offer an intriguing snapshot of how Bach's immediate successors were influenced by his revolutionary sonata model. At the beginning of this project, the idea was actually to create a kind of counterpart to our album “Bach & Entourage” in which we wanted to present sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord from Bach’s milieu. However, during

Johannes Pramsohler explores the cultural context of the first French violin concertos France was traditionally the scene of major controversies in music. France? No, Paris! Although it brought forth only a very few great musicians itself (most of them came from the provinces!), the French capital had always seen itself as the evaluative and decision-making instance as far as stylistic questions were concerned. With the public and the music critics in the role of the canvasse

Artistic director Johannes Pramsohler discusses the programme of the new Ensemble Diderot album and explores the importance of an educational element in programming baroque music for today's audience Putting together a programme of baroque works - whether they are concertos or chamber music - is always a tricky undertaking when one doesn't want to focus on just one composer or a very specific theme. What overall mood should the concert have? How can I establish a memorable se

Johannes Pramsohler finds revelations in the music of Johann Jakob Kress, court concertmaster in Darmstadt. Why rediscover him today and why on modern instruments? “If the concerto [TWV 53:D5] was not written for Pisendel, it must have been inspired by another violinist of uncommon ability,” wrote Steven Zohn in his impressive work about Telemann (Music for a Mixed Taste, Oxford University Press). Could this “other violinist” possibly have been Johann Jakob Kress? Who else bu

In 1708, Rome saw the lavish production of Handel's oratorio La Resurrezione. The impressive orchestra of 47 musicians was led by the famous Arcangelo Corelli. But who was the violinist sitting next to him? On 8 January 1713 Arcangelo Corelli died. With his passing the community of string players in Rome lost not only its most internationally famous violinist and composer but also its recognized capo: the person with the twofold task of directing major orchestral performances

Reinhard Goebel about the splendor and misery of the violin recital Text by Reinhard Goebel. This essay was first published in Audax' very first album: Sonatas for violin and continuo by Corelli, Telemann, Handel, Leclair, and Albicastro - with Johannes Pramsohler (violin) and Philippe Grisvard (harpsichord). Once upon a time, in the days when lawyers, physicians, and professors still used to personally play the violin in the evenings and on weekends, that is to say, not all