After Ensemble Diderot established itself as an internationally renowned ambassador for the masterful late repertoire of the ‘sonata a tre’, having given new polish to well-known major works of the literature as well as adding unknown treasures to the canon, it takes up in this programme the repertoire of the ‘sonata a quattro’. Owing to its appearance shortly before the emergence of the string quartet, the ‘sonata a quattro’ was largely disregarded, yet occupied an important intermediary role between the baroque and the early classical era.

Johannes Pramsohler and his colleagues rummaged through Bach’s luggage and that of his contemporaries and found concertos that were probably conceived especially to be taken on journeys. Grouped around the first version of the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, these remarkable and brilliant pieces for up to five soloists are played with Ensemble Diderot’s trademark warmth and vitality.

The music recorded here encompasses a period of around a hundred years. The earliest works come from the time around 1600, which is considered one of the most profound watersheds in musical history. The new expressiveness unleashed above all by Monteverdi’s music was at the same time also potent in the increasingly independent instrumental music. This development is directly connected with the emancipation of the violin and its marvelous cantabile and virtuoso possibilities. When the composers started to make the individual sections of the ricercar into independent contrasting movements, and accordingly separated them from each other also in terms of tempo, the transition to a cyclical manner of formation, that is to say, to a stringing together of independent movements, was initiated and a meaningful musical organization adopted as a maxim.

Bach’s Musical Offering, one of the most fascinating works in music history, still raises questions even after countless interpretations and performances. Composed three years before his death, it embodies everything that makes Bach so captivating: magnificent music that is consummate in all parameters, hidden messages, romantic-transfigured history, enigmatic masterpieces, numerology… and most often it is met by nebulous, apprehensive respect.

Five years after their celebrated Dresden Album, Johannes Pramsohler and his colleagues of Ensemble Diderot continue their journey exploring the trio sonata in baroque Europe with a programme dedicated to works from Purcell’s London. Through a combination of well-known works and world premieres they show how English composers used the new Italian form as a vehicle for their creative output and how easily foreign composers picked up the English idiom to create chamber music that could hardly be more profound and expressive.

Ensemble Diderot continues to explore the development and dissemination of the trio sonata in baroque Europe with this exciting new release. Entirely dedicated to works from the era after Lully’s death, this album celebrates the newly found freedom at the time when composers started to combine French style with transalpine ardour. Johannes Pramsohler and his musicians bring their usual precision, passion and energy to this programme packed with new discoveries.