The virtuosic young recorder player Lucie Horsch explores the music of baroque Europe, with the exquisite company of The Academy of Ancient Music.
Lucie Horsch was a teenager when she became the first recorder player to sign with the prestigious record label Decca. Now in her twentieth year, she is as joyful and curious as ever, and her new CD Baroque Journey has all the spark and expressive force that made her fall in love with the recorder in the first place.
Horsch was born into a very musical household. Both her parents are cellists (her father Gregor is principal cellist of Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra), and when they started her on the recorder when she was five, they imagined it as the beginning of a path toward a “real” instrument – probably one with strings. But Lucie loved being different. For her, the direct and simple way that the recorder’s sound is produced has always made her feel especially close to it. It hides nothing, she says, and it’s a lot like the relationship that singers have with their own voice.
The CD begins and ends with Horsch alone, beautifully recorded with just the right resonance. It’s as if she were in a dream, playing the music of her Dutch compatriot Jacob van Eyck. The piece called “The English Nightingale” that closes the recording is hauntingly pure.
Sammartini’s sparkling recorder concerto (tracks 9-11) is the highlight of the whole journey for Lucie Horsch, and the back-and-forth with the Academy of Ancient Music is joyous.
The stop-off in Germany features Bach and includes the powerful aria “Erbarme Dich” from the St. Matthew Passion (track 6). For this sublime corner of Bach’s output, Horsch uses the voiceflute, the recorder closest to the sound of the alto voice. The result is stunning.
The journey continues through France, England, and Italy. Check out the irresistible duo by Thomas Tollett (track 17) with bass recorder player Charlotte Barbour-Condini! It’s a crystalline toe-tapper.
Watch a trailer for the album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AJMrub11Lk
For more information and to purchase this album, visit ArkivMusic.
