Musica Antiqua Köln

Musica Antiqua Köln lives up to its promise, and delivers everything that we have come to expect over the years: clean playing that is never cold, exuberance that is never blind, tech¬nique and emotion perfectly matched . . . this CD is truly a thing of beauty.
Fanfare, New Jersey, January 2006 (CD review Telemann Flute Quartets)
Reinhard Goebel was born on 31 July 1952 in the Westphalian town of Siegen. He studied violin at the Cologne Conservatory with Franzjosef Maier, leader of the period-instrument ensemble Collegium Aureum, then with Saschko Gawriloff at the Folkwangschule in Essen, followed by an extensive course with Eduard Melkus and several years under the guidance of Marie Leonhardt. Goebel also laid the foundation of his vast knowledge of early music through several years of studying musicology at Cologne University.
1973 Goebel and fellow students from the Cologne Conservatory found Musica Antiqua Köln, initially devoted to the performance of Baroque chamber and sacred music.
1977 First Archiv Produktion recording: concertos for recorder and strings by Mancini, Sarri, Barbella and Valentine.
1978 Musica Antiqua Köln and Reinhard Goebel become exclusive artists of Archiv Produktion. Recordings include Le Parnasse français (works by Marais, Rebel and François Couperin), an LP of late chamber music by Leclair and one of Early Italian Violin Music.
1979 International breakthrough in a triumphant debut at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. They record chamber concertos by Telemann, Bach’s Musical Offering and two cantatas by Clérambault.
1981 MAK makes the first of many international tours which will regularly take the ensemble all over Europe, to North and South America, Australia and the Far East. Named “Artist of the Year” by the Deutsche Phonoakademie.
1983 On the occasion of their tenth anniversary, Goebel augments the ensemble, thus enabling them to perform orchestral music more frequently – both in the concert hall and in the recording studio. Recording projects: Couperin’s Les Nations and the completion of a 7-LP set of chamber music by J. S. Bach, begun in 1981.
1984/85 Releases include Telemann’s Water Music and 3 Concertos and Bach’s Art of Fugue. MAK tours China in the “Bach Year” 1985.
1986 Recording projects include Alt-Bachisches Archiv – cantatas by members of the Bach family – and the beginning of Musica Antiqua Köln’s complete set of the Brandenburg Concertos by J. S. Bach (completed in 1987).
1989 CD release: Telemann’s Musique de table (CD Compact Award, 1990).
1993 Their recording of Dresden Concerti, a 2-CD set of concertos by the previously neglected Baroque composer Johann David Heinichen, becomes an overwhelming international success, winning five awards in 1993 and 1994: the Gramophone Award, Prix Caecilia (Brussels), Echo Award, CD Compact Award, and Jahres¬preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
1994 Recording of Rebel’s suite Les Élémens and Gluck’s ballet Alessandro (Choc de l’Année, 1995). Releases include the Marian Cantatas and Arias by Handel with Anne Sofie von Otter (CD Compact Award, 1995).
1995 CD release: concertos by Heinichen, Dieupart, Fasch, Pisendel, Quantz and Vera¬cini, as a follow-up to the Heinichen set.
1997 Reinhard Goebel is honoured by the German state of Nordrhein-Westphalia for his “exemplary performances with Musica Antiqua Köln of both familiar and unknown music of the 17th and 18th centuries” and for the “exciting new findings that have resulted from his research into music of the Baroque, Rococo and Early Classical eras”. CD releases include Salve Regina (works by Johann Adolf Hasse, with Barbara Bonney and Bernarda Fink).
1998 Released this year: Lamenti – works by Monteverdi, Bertali, Legrenzi, Vivaldi, Purcell and Piccinini, with Anne Sofie von Otter and the grandiose Missa salisburg¬ensis recording, a joint venture with Paul McCreesh (Echo Award, 1999), which is also released on SACD in 2003.
1999 MAK records the soundtrack to the theatrical film Le Roi danse, directed by the Belgian Gérard Corbiau, famed for his film Farinelli. The soundtrack album, fea¬turing music by Lully, is released in 2000 (Echo Award, 2001). Releases include cantatas by J. S. Bach including the Wedding Cantata BWV 202, with Christine Schäfer.
2000 In the studio for Archiv: Bachiana, recently rediscovered music by older members of the Bach family (released in 2001). Releases include string concertos by Telemann.
2002 Reinhard Goebel is awarded the Telemann Prize by the city of Magdeburg. Re¬leases include another volume of Bachiana to follow up the critically acclaimed first album: double concertos by sons of J. S. Bach and Sinfonia spirituosa – the follow-up to the highly successful disc of string concertos by Telemann (Echo Award, 2002).
2003 30th anniversary of MAK’s founding and the 25th anniversary of their collabora¬tion with Archiv Produktion. Acclaimed Lamenti tour in the Netherlands, France and Switzerland with Anne Sofie von Otter and a South American tour with Ger¬man Chamber Music and Bach’s Art of Fugue; other appearances include Pachelbel and His Contemporaries at the Flanders Festival followed by performances of Biber’s Harmonia artificiosa in several German cities. American tour with Pergo¬lesi’s Stabat Mater. Release of their Charpentier CD.
2004 Engagements include tours of Germany, Salzburg, Italy and Russia with Harmonia artificiosa, performances of Telemann quartets in Germany, Poland and Portugal, plus concerts throughout Europe with music by composers including Handel, Tele¬mann, Charpentier and Mozart. CD release: Biber’s Harmonia artificiosa (Record Academy Prize, Tokyo, 2004).
2005 Among numerous other appearances this year, Bachiana tour with Magdalena Kožená in Germany, France and the Netherlands; Bach’s Art of Fugue and Musical Offering in Germany, Finland, Israel, France and Italy; Canadian tour with Bach’s Art of Fugue. Releases include Lamento, arias, cantatas and scenes by the Bach family, with Magdalena Kožená – and a disc of Telemann flute quartets.
2006 Concerts in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Denmark, Spain, Croatia, the USA, and a tour of the Far East. The ensemble will be disbanding at the end of the year; Reinhard Goebel will then turn his energies entirely to conducting, most notably to his work with “modern” orchestras.
8/2006