Rewind

This month: ANDREAS SCHOLL Countertenor

MY FINEST MOMENT

Kantate

Andreas Scholl (countertenor); Basel Consort, Concerto di Viole Harmonia Mundi France HMC901651 (1998)

I recorded this with an ensemble that was a group of friends. I knew them from Basel and it was such a fantastic moment recording this in the Swiss Alps, close to Sion. My friends were much more knowledgable about viola da gamba repertoire, so they suggested pieces and this is how the programme came together. It features repertoire that isn’t frequently recorded: there’s Erlebach, Tunder – names that people most likely haven’t heard. Then there’s Heinrich Schütz, which is absolutely amazing; for me, it is a natural step from Schütz to Bach.

I like what we did and I still listen to it; I think it still has a message and value today with all the other recordings. I look back at this album and think that, for my age at the time, there was a good dose of maturity in the interpretation. There are other things I look back on and think they were beautifully sung, but I didn’t really reach the depths of the pieces. But with this recording, even at that young age, I was able to touch the root of each piece and bring out what the piece needed.

And this happened within a wonderful group of friends, so I have a very happy memory of this recording.

MY FONDEST MEMORY

The Family Songbook

Andreas Scholl (countertenor), Tamar Halperin (piano) et al Berlin Classics 0301167BC (2018)

We always had big Sabbath dinners at my wife’s family home in Israel and they’re all very musical, so at the end of each dinner we would go to the music room. It was wonderful, everyone singing together.

I’d had the idea to record an album of lullabies, because our daughter was born and I thought maybe it would be nice to do an album dedicated to the children. But then we had the idea to make it a family affair, so we had over 20 guests from Israel at our home. We set up catering – it was a huge logistic enterprise, mainly organised by my wife I have to say. We had a friend who was a sound engineer, guest musicians, and put together the repertoire. Everybody had an idea; my wife’s nieces played piano and flute, her brother played guitar and my brother and sister joined in singing. The spirit was wonderful and we had huge banquets in the courtyard at the end of each day.

It’s a fantastic memory and I realise that when I have the album in my hand, or when we listen to songs in the car, we always say ‘Wasn’t it a fantastic time? What a great