Ensemble Altera pars
Altera pars is an international ensemble with the residence in Cologne. Our members are soloists/leaders/founders of the leading European orchestras on historical instruments: Concerto Köln, Orchestre Wiener Akademie, Hofkapelle Munich, Orkiestra Historyczna Katowice and are also active in musicology research. The ensemble’s main concerns are the performance and research of lost or forgotten works by composers of the 18th – 19th centuries. It’s a pleasure for the musicians to rediscover and work on works that have long been believed to be lost.
Altera has issued 2DCs (2021, 2023) with first record from chamber music by German composers in Russia 1770-1800. Recordings have a very positive reviews in the international press and had broadcasts on, SWR, Radio Berlin-Brandenburg, WDR, Deutschlandfunk, Stephansdom.at and ORF.at.
Ensemble founded a much-praised concert series in Oldenburg Castle, numerous concerts on, renowned festivals in Estonia (Tallinn early music Festival), Austria, the Netherlands (Gergiev Festival Rotterdam) and in Germany (Telemann Festival Magdeburg and ZAMUS Cologne, West German broadcast concrerts).
The ensemble line-up varies from three to seventeen musicians.
NEW CD:
A Lifelong Journey
While working on the first CD “Les Barbares Galantes – Masterworks of German composers in Moscow 1770-1800”, the musicians of the ensemble came across other completely unknown and exciting works by the German composer Sebastian George. There were certainly reasons why Sebastian George has completely disappeared from music history along with his music, but certainly not for the reason that his music was not fresh, lively, original and well-written.
Sebastian George (ca.1745 – 1796) came from Mainz and was a very adventurous and active person. He worked as a composer, piano teacher and conductor and came to Moscow around 1767.
On this CD you can hear six of his chamber music works in six different formations from duet to quintet.
Les Barbares Galantes
On the current CD Les Barbares Galantes, rediscovered masterpieces by German composers in Moscow from 1770 to 1800 can be heard.
The Russian musical culture of the 18th century gave mankind thousands of excellent compositions, many of which are wrongly forgotten in archives. It is all the more interesting for us today to explore these treasures of the past.
This CD features works by Sebastian George (1740-1796), Johann Joseph (Ivan) Kerzelli (1752-1820), Johann Heinrich Facius (1759-1810) and Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
