Frans Brüggen
Frans Brüggen was considered as being among the foremost experts in the performance of eighteenth-century music. He was born in Amsterdam and studied musicology at its university. At the age of 21, he was appointed professor at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and later held a position as Erasmus professor at Harvard University and Regents professor at the University of Berkeley.
As a recorder player Brüggen was described variously as having an ability “to transcend all the instrument’s legendary limitations” and as the “John Lennon of classical music”. As Luciano Berio wrote of him, he was “a musician who is not an archaeologist but a great artist”. The Italian composed music for Brüggen, as did his Dutch compatriot, Louis Andriessen (including the encore piece, Ende, scored for “two alto recorders, one player”). In August 1991, Brüggen made his debut at the Salzburg Festival with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, an orchestra with which he became (along with Simon Rattle) a principal guest conductor. An eventful, packed, unpredictable, communicative, enriching musical career ensued and even in the years prior to his death in August 2014 (at the age of 79) Frans Brüggen had been extending his musical partnerships across the world. Some of the long list of such partnerships included the Philharmonia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Chicago Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony.
Among his many awards Brüggen was presented with the IMC-UNESCO International Music Prize in 1997 and was appointed Knight of the Order of the Netherlands (2003) and the Order of the House of Orange (2010).
In 1972 Brüggen had founded the recorder trio Sour Cream with Kees Boeke and Walter van Hauwe. A recording of this avant-garde ensemble, made in 1993, was released by Glossa under the title of The Passion of Reason.
The legacy of Frans Brüggen with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century on Glossa extended to recordings of music by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Rameau, Mendelssohn, Bach and Haydn. That legacy also extends to inspiring the Orchestra to continue. Brüggen had engendered an uncommon sense of loyalty and unity of purpose with members of the orchestra.
Frans Brüggen died in Amsterdam on August 13, 2014.
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Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
In 1981, Frans Brüggen – in his time the world’s most famous recorder player – founded the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century (along with Lucy van Dael and a group of friends), which consists today of some fifty-five members from 20 different countries. Three (or often more) times a year the orchestra assembles to go on tour. In its structure and size, the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century resembles the luxurious “Classical” orchestras of the period as are known from London, Paris and Vienna. The musicians, who are all specialists in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music, play on instruments from the period, or on contemporary copies. It is these musicians’ intention to try to achieve the most authentic-as-possible performances of the masterpieces of the late Baroque and Classical eras and beyond.
In concert Frans Brüggen’s wide-ranging repertoire with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century embraced works by Purcell, Bach, Rameau, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn. After nearly 50 CDs on Philips, the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century has been recording exclusively for Glossa since 1997, in co-production with its own production house, The Grand Tour. Notable recordings which were produced with Frans Brüggen included Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and music by a composer who Brüggen often returned to throughout his career: Jean-Philippe Rameau (a valedictory box set containing recordings of orchestral suites released on Glossa and Philips has since been issued).
Since the death of Frans Brüggen, the orchestra has continued to perform and record, now in the company of guest conductors, such as Daniel Reuss – who has led recordings of the Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem and the Beethoven Missa Solemnis – but also Roger Norrington and Kenneth Montgomery. Regular choral support is provided by Cappella Amsterdam.
At the time of its foundation the Orchestra was supported by friends throughout the world and the Prince Bernhard Foundation. From 1983 to 1988 the orchestra was sponsored by IBM Europe. From 1989 till 1997 Deloitte and the VSB Fonds took over the sponsorship. Subsidies from the Dutch Government guaranteed the Orchestra’s continuation from 1985 till now.
Johannes Brahms’ consolatory Ein deutsches Requiem receives a fresh and considered interpretation from Daniel Reuss and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. This renowned orchestra took the decision – following the death, some years back, of Frans Brüggen – to retain its founder’s dynamic process of alternating concert tours with recordings. And dispensing with the need for having a principal conductor, the orchestra now works with a range of musicians according to the repertoire being performed. [read more...]
The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century continues along its vibrant music-making journey, very much in the spirit of its founder Frans Brüggen, but now with invited conductors. In order to tackle the mighty Missa Solemnis by Beethoven, the orchestra has gone into partnership with the highly-regarded Daniel Reuss, who has recorded a sizeable number of critically-acclaimed choral masterpieces, many of them with Cappella Amsterdam. This fine example of a Dutch chorus is possessed of all the right skills needed for climbing this glorious mountain of a work, notably vocal agility and stamina. The chorus is joined by an out standing quartet of soloists in Carolyn Sampson, Marianne Beate Kielland, Thomas Walker and David Wilson-Johnson. [read more...]
The music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has always been one of the raisons d’être of Frans Brüggen’s Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century since its foundation back in 1981. In this sense, it’s no wonder that Mozart is the most represented composer on the 20-title strong The Grand Tour collection, the series within the Glossa label on which the orchestra has been issuing all its recordings since 1997. The Mozart output encompasses 6 titles on 8 CDs, now included in a new boxed set appropriately titled The Mozart Recordings...[read more...]
The morning of August 19 was a cool and strange one, with sunshine and rain following each other in rapid succession. At the door of the imposing Oude Kerk, in the heart of the old part of Amsterdam, the hearse bearing the body of Frans Brüggen, heavily laden with floral tributes, was ready for its departure; two accompanying black cars for family members – with yet more flowers – stood at its side, adding further solemnity to the scene. The bells of the church were tolling slowly and sombrely whilst a crowd of passersby and tourist visitors who had gathered respectfully in the vicinity, were looking on at the densely-packed and silent group of friends and colleagues who were seeing Frans Brüggen off on his last journey, all conscious that, once the hearse had turned the corner of the church and had advanced into the surrounding network of narrow streets and canals, and had disappeared from view, Frans would never more be among us.[read more...]
The collective artistic endeavours of Glossa have recently been recognized with an award of Label of the Year for 2014 by a Europe-wide panel of classical music media organizations – print and online magazines, as well as radio broadcasters – who form the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) jury. This is to be presented at the Award Ceremony and Gala Concert in the Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw in April 2014. The Glossa adventure began back in 1992, led by two pioneering Spanish instrumentalists – brothers José Miguel Moreno and Emilio Moreno – who set about creating a treasure trove of recorded excellence, notably in the ever-developing field of “early music”. To this day, the label remains focused on its artists, supporting their musical journeys and inclinations, with the artistic direction entrusted to Carlos Céster. With a small team around him Céster operates from San Lorenzo de El Escorial, surrounded by the abundant natural riches of the mountains around Madrid and with an austere Monasterio in sight to ever encourage him in the rigour of his work. [read more...]