Caldara: Works for Cello La Ritirata & Josetxu Obregón

• Antonio Caldara (1670 - 1736): Chamber Concerto for Cello, 2 Violins & Continuo:
• 1 Chamber Concerto for Cello, 2 Violins & Continuo: I. Allegro 02:51
• 2 Chamber Concerto for Cello, 2 Violins & Continuo: II. Larghetto 02:41
• 3 Chamber Concerto for Cello, 2 Violins & Continuo: III. Allegro assai 03:05
• Vicino a un rivoletto:
• 4 Vicino a un rivoletto: Aimè sento il mio core 10:50
• Cello Sinfonia:
• 5 Cello Sinfonia: I. Adagio 02:58
• 6 Cello Sinfonia: II. Allegro 01:12
• 7 Cello Sinfonia: III. Grave 01:28
• 8 Cello Sinfonia: IV. Presto 00:54
• Porgete per pietà:
• 9 Porgete per pietà: No. 1, Porgete per pietà 00:44
• 10 Porgete per pietà: No. 2, Amor quando sarà 10:14
• 11 Porgete per pietà: No. 3, Quanti sospiri e quanti 00:40
• 12 Porgete per pietà: No. 4, T’amai non niego è ver 06:33
• Antonio Caldara:
• 13 Cello Sonata No. 16 02:11
• 14 Cello Sonata No. 9 02:35
• 15 Lezione for Cello No. 6 02:24
• 16 Lezione for Cello No. 14 01:02
• 17 Lezione for Cello No. 20 02:34
• 18 Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo: Pompe inutili 07:35
• Cello Sonata No. 3:
• 19 Cello Sonata No. 3: I. Largo 02:37
• 20 Cello Sonata No. 3: II. Allegro 01:46
• 21 Cello Sonata No. 3: III. Aria andante 02:53
• 22 Cello Sonata No. 3: IV. Allegro assai 03:30
• Soffri, mio caro Alcino:
• 23 Soffri, mio caro Alcino: Dolce è pur d’amor l’affanno 04:39
• Antonio Caldara:
• 24 Cello Sonata No. 5 03:13
• Total Runtime 01:21:09

Info for Caldara: Works for Cello

In a lively and enterprising new disc devoted to the music of Antonio Caldara, cellist Josetxu Obregón leads his ensemble La Ritirata in instrumental and vocal works.

In his youth in Venice (in the 1680s/1690s), Caldara drew significant praise for his own cello playing, and his understanding of the instrument and its possibilities stayed with him throughout a career which saw him immersed also in the rich musical cultures of Mantua and Rome before he became a valued member of the Hofkapelle in Vienna; he worked there for the last twenty years of his life, contributing to the glories of the Austro-Italian Baroque at the Imperial Court of the highly musical Charles VI (whom Caldara had also served in Barcelona).

Here, the cello, ranging from the lyrical to the virtuosic, is called upon as a soloist in concerto, sinfonia and sonata pieces, but this recording is enriched further by the presence of two singers, soprano Eugenia Boix and mezzo Luciana Mancini – a cantata, Porgete per pietà, from the former and three arias from the latter. Mancini sings “Pompe inutili” (from the oratorio Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo), whose ravishing vocal lines are matched by the obbligato cello part.

Josetxu Obregón has made a number of previous Glossa recordings exploring the early history of the cello, and in the company of La Ritirata has also contributed to the burgeoning reassessment of this major composing figure with their Caldara The Cervantes Operas programme. Now comes a vivid and varied release to commemorate 350 years since the birth of Antonio Caldara!

Eugenia Boix, soprano
Luciana Mancini, mezzo-soprano
Anaïs Chen, violin
Pablo Prieto, violin
Ruth Verona, cello
Ismael Campanero, violone, double bass
Daniel Zapico, therobo, baroque guitar
Franziska Fleischanderl, psalter
Daniel Oyarzabal, harpsichord, positive organ
Josetxu Obregón, solo cello, direction

Josetxu Obregón
Born in Bilbao, he studied cello, chamber music and conducting at Bachelor and Masters level in Spain and Holland, where he studied baroque cello at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and was mentored by Anner Bylsma.

Josetxu performs on a regular basis at the most prestigious concert halls in 18 different European countries, the United States, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Japan and China; at venues such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Tokyo Opera City, Centro Nacional de las Artes de México, the Royal Festival Hall London, Yokohama Minato-Mirai, Usher Hall Edinburgh, etc. He has played with some of Europe’s most important ensembles, such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and in the context of Early Music with Le Concert des Nations (Jordi Savall), Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and as first cellist of L’Arpeggiata (Christina Pluhar), EUBO (European Union Baroque Orchestra) and Arte dei Suonatori, among others. He collaborates with leading figures such as a Enrico Onofri, Philippe Jaroussky, Fabio Bonizzoni, Lars Ulrich Mortensen, Pedro Estevan, and in the modern music world with Krzysztof Penderecki, Placido Domingo, Jesús López Cobos, etc.

He has recorded for Virgin, Verso, Arsis, Columna Música and The Gift of Music record labels and also for BBC3, NPS Radio 3 Holland, Mezzo, the Spanish National Radio and TV and the Macedonian TV, among others. Josetxu plays an original 1740 cello by Sebastian Klotz.

La Ritirata
Founded by Josetxu Obregón when he was based in The Netherlands, the ensemble La Ritirata takes its name from the final movement of the famous quintet composed by Luigi Boccherini in Spain, entitled “La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid”.

Dedicated to combining accurate historical awareness (through a knowledge of the instruments and aesthetics of a composer’s time) with the highest levels of artistic quality, La Ritirata is at home in Baroque musical traditions from all across Europe; Bach and Handel figure in the ensemble’s programmes as much as Italian and Spanish composers from the courtly traditions of Early Baroque who feature on the Glossa album Il Spiritillo Brando. And naturally, given the Boccherinian reference in its name, La Ritirata holds a special place in its heart for the Classical era composer from Lucca who settled in Spain: programmes of cello sonatas, string trios and other chamber works feature in the group’s repertory.

The talent of La Ritirata is taking the group to concert venues and festivals all over the world; recent examples include the National Theatre of Beijing, the CNART Early Music Festival (México City), the closing ceremony of the Spanish EU presidency (Tokyo), the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele (Germany), the Museo de Bellas Artes in Santiago (Chile), the Centro Studi Boccherini (Lucca), the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, as well as all across Spain including at Musika-Música for La Folle Journée in the Palacio Euskalduna (Bilbao), the Real Alcázar (Sevilla) and the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid (in a series organized by the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical). La Ritirata was also the only Spanish group to be selected for the first ‘Grande Audition’ of the European Early Music Network, REMA.

La Ritirata’s artistic director, cellist Josetxu Obregón (born in Bilbao), a student of Anner Bylsma among others, holds a teaching post at the Real Conservatorio Superior in Madrid and is the recipient of a substantial number of prizes from prestigious national and international competitions; his solo versatility encompasses all epochs as well as seeing him play with leading European early music ensembles such as L’Arpeggiata (Christina Pluhar) and Le Concert des Nations (Jordi Savall). Regular members of La Ritirata include some of the finest musicians of the younger generations of historically-informed performers, such as Tamar Lalo, Enrike Solinís and Daniel Zapico, as well as more-established players such as the renowned Hiro Kurosaki.

Booklet for Caldara: Works for Cello