Credits:

Anna Prohaska and La Folia Baroque Orchestra

Description:

Death" and "Life" as seen through the eyes of the prodigious Prohaska. With solid consistency, he has moved from the Middle Ages to the Baroque, and then to ......! Anna Prohaska has not only given masterful performances of various important works from the Middle Ages to the present day, but has also actively featured lesser-known pieces on her solo albums from her own unique perspective, and has continued to propose challenging programs with an eye on contemporary society. In the summer of 2020, when people around the world began to search for a new way of life due to the Corona disaster, the Bach album "Salvation" (ALPHA658), which was recorded during the quarantine regime, is still fresh in our minds, and a further album based on a theme with an eye on the pandemic is now available. The album features a collection of famous and unknown masterpieces from medieval music, folklore, and 17th- and 18th-century Baroque works, focusing on the themes of "life," "death," and "pestilence," sung in all directions with an ancient instrumental group established in Dresden. The famous Gregorian chant, quoted by Berlioz and Rachmaninoff, is chanted in the otherworldly sounds of the hurdy-gurdy, and Prohaska's beautiful voice, with its unmistakable presence, attracts listeners consistently to the diverse styles that lead through the exotic medieval music to the Baroque. Track 26 is a famous song that appears in Hermann Hesse's "Under the Wheel," and its melody has been incorporated into rock music and used in commercials in Japan, but the original lyrics are said to lament the spread of the plague.The album also includes pop classics with universal messages, such as the Beatles' "Elinor Rigby," in which the singer sings, "All the lonely people," "No one was ever saved," and "Nothing ever worked, but one day I will sing before the God of song, hallelujah," which many classical artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, have covered. The album also includes classic pop songs with universal messages, such as Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," which has been covered by many classical artists, including Yo-Yo Ma. The ensemble also features a number of old-time instrumentalists with attractive sounds on percussion and stringed instruments, and the richness of the interpretation, which focuses on the main axis of the program, adds depth to the music selections. Naxos Japan