Heinz Ignaz Franz Biber - Battalia für Streicher und Basso continuo | WDR Sinfonieorchester

Heinz Ignaz Franz Biber - Battalia for strings and basso continuo, played by members of the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the direction of concertmaster José Maria Blumenschein. Recorded in early June 2021 at the WDR Funkhaus, Cologne. ► For more on the symphony orchestra, concerts and current livestreams, visit https://sinfonieorchester.wdr.de ► The WDR Symphony Orchestra on Facebook   / wdrsinfonieorchester.de   ○ Introduction to the works A curiosity of baroque ensemble music is the "Battalia" (after ital. battaglia: battle), a musical battle painting, by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. The Bohemian violin virtuoso and The intention of depicting military scenes onomatopoeically fired Biber's compositional imagination. In the score, he gave precise instructions for this: Cannon thunder, for example, was to be created by strongly snapping the strings back onto the fingerboard; with the help of paper pushed under the strings, a rattling drum sound was to be produced. Biber characterizes the singing of drunken soldiers in the second movement in an unembellished manner: their eight songs, performed simultaneously, lead to a babble of voices that is unprecedented for the 17th century. All in all, probably a more tongue-in-cheek than accusatory view of warlike activity. (Text: Tilla Clüsserath)