Quicksilver
Released June 2011
The seventeenth century was a transformative moment in our Western cultural history. The world became modern: new technologies were emerging, our modern economic system was developing, the earth was no longer at the center of the universe. Among the cultural revolutions was one in music. Composers consciously began to create a nuove musiche or stile moderno of dramatic oppositions and vivid emotions. Their new invention was the sonata: a pure instrumental work, a piece simply meant to be “sounded,” with no agenda but the imagination of the composer . This “new music” is virtuosic, experimental, unexpected, and deeply moving: the closest we come to wordless rhetoric. Music by Castello, Fontana, Merula, Marini, Neri and Cima.
“There is a real physicality to this ensemble’s recorded performance, one that made me want to see them perform live…this is a terrific disc.”
– Early Music (Oxford Journal)
“technically expert, flexible in phrasing, and stylish in ornamentation, fully aware of this music’s rich sense of theater”
– Dan Sperrin, Fanfare Magazine
“Breakthrough of the Year could wind up going to Quicksilver’s breathtaking recital of the 17th century string music repertoire known as Stile Moderno. Written by increasingly less obscure composers…this music for strings, sackbut, lute and other plucked things ranges from ‘strange and extravagant trio sonatas to the spectacle ensemble music of the High Baroque,’ Quicksilver is pretty spectacular itself….Parents, it’s more okay than ever to raise your children to play the dulcian and theorbo.”
– Laurence Vittes, Huffington Post
Purchase Quicksilver's other releases:
New Release! EARLY MODERNS: The (very) First Viennese School
FANTASTICUS: Extravagant and Virtuosic music from 17th-century Germany
Quicksilver
New Release!
Music in Vienna had its first flourishing long before Mozart and Haydn. Quicksilver's new recording explores brilliant and sumptuously beautiful music one could hear in 17th century Vienna, including music by Schmelzter, Fux, Buonamente, Bertali, Biber, Rosenmüller, Kerll, Legrenzi and Valentini.
Purchase Quicksilver's earlier releases:
FANTASTICUS: Extravagant and Virtuosic music from 17th-century Germany
Quicksilver
Released October 2014
The seventeenth century in Germany was a time of incredible upheaval: wars of religion and politics swept the land, bringing famine and plague in their wake and an ongoing state of crisis. The chamber music of the time reflects this fraught, unpredictable cultural climate. Inspired by the experimental works of Italian composers, the virtuosos working in Germany explored the sonata as an abstract form of wordless conversation in music, delighting and astonishing the listener. They described this style as the “stylus Fantasticus,” “instituted to display genius” in the words of mathematician Athanasius Kirchner. Music by Weckmann, Buxtehude, Kerll, Bertali, Schmeltzer, Vierdanck and Oswald.
“The disc’s title is no exaggeration…extravagance and virtuosity…Everyone in Quicksilver commands attention…Fantasticus, indeed.”
– Gramophone
“enthralls the audience…it's truly a good sign that while listening, you forget about the virtuosity involved."
– Österreichische Musikzeitschrift (Austrian Music Journal)
“True avant-garde is only occasionally heard in the Baroque canon… diverse, unique, and exciting…accomplished, and beautiful…real vibrancy and imagination”
– Barry Brenesal, Fanfare Magazine
Purchase Quicksilver's other releases:
New Release! EARLY MODERNS: The (very) First Viennese School