What's a Croatian ensemble doing with the Italian name "I Solisti di Zagreb"? I'm not sure, but it might have something to do with its founder and director, Antonio Janigro, being from Milan.
Janigro, noted as both a cellist and conductor, spent most of his career in Zagreb, and founded the Zagreb Soloists chamber ensemble in 1953. Today it is usually called by its Croatian name,
Zagrebački solisti.
This traversal of some familiar holiday fare comes from 1957, when the group had begun recording for Vanguard Bach Guild. They had already become an impressive, secure ensemble, well led by Janigro and nicely recorded by Vanguard.
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| A giant Janigro attempts to behead a Zagreb violinist |
The repertoire here begins with the Corelli Christmas Concerto. Then we have three J.S. Bach chorales in respectful arrangements by Croatian composer Milko Kelemen. Following is the Toy Symphony once thought to be by Haydn, then by Leopold Mozart and now by who-knows. And finally there is the Torelli Concerto Grosso known as the "Pastoral Symphony for the Nativity."
The sound is excellent.
10 comments:
Link (Apple lossless):
https://mega.co.nz/#!TU8hhKLS!eoH8Gn3Pc-gTNwHpzkSKZ0tbs4eIH3wJhdkvIua9Fho
https://www.mediafire.com/?avxs36e4qkdwxi2
Thanks Buster for this festive program: Janigro remains a good historical reference !! By the way Kelemen is a fantastic composer......
Thank you very much for this! This is delightful.
Hello,
May I thank you for all your hard work and dedication in posting all the beautiful music during 2014.
It is very much appreciated.
All the very best for the Festive Season and in 2015.
Cheers,
Douglas (UK)
Thanks again for another unusual disc Buster
Just the thing to digest the turkey with!
Kindest regards
Jolyon
Hello everyone - May I wish you all a merry Christmas, with my thanks for all your many comments during the year. It means so much to have such a dedicated readership!
Thanks so much for this and all your years of wonderful work. (Sorry to hear a few thumps late in the disc, but great to have this reminder of the fine work of Janigro with I Solisti).
Ray Pratt, Bozeman, MT
Thank you for this, Buster, and best wishes for the new year!
Can you please add O Tannenbaum - Christmas On The Rhine (Decca Records)
By Werner Muller I can not find it anywhere!
Most appreciated, Buster! I was thinking about AJ, one of my favorite chamber artists from the repertoire of the great old 1950s Westminster records. I don't even know which one would be my favorite--they are all fantastic! I think my own personal choice amongst his Solisti di Zagreb albums would be the album "Music for Strings" on RCA Victor LSC-2653, with Janigro's delectable performance of the arrangement of Couperin's "Piece en Concert", recently remastered in a precious collectable collection by BMG; the original sixties' recording is so spectacular that a mediocre web upload just CANNOT do it justice--so I won't try!
That makes me think of the OTHER fine records on Bach Guild of small-orchestra ensemble music, and one that I used to own on LP, but have NEVER been able find on CD; do you have it, Buster?
It's a marvelous album by Wildried Boettcher and The Wiener Solisten: Telemann's Don Quichotte Suite; Purcell's "Fairy Queen" selections; and Haydn's Divertimento "Das Echo". These performances are so *insouciant* that I feel that virtually every other one I've heard seems downright staid and boring! Delicious, liquid sound quality, too.
This is perhaps the No. 2 or No. 3 item in my all-time digital want list. Any lucky collectors here who own a clean copy?
8H Haggis
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