New Tafelmusik recording set for October 11 release

HAYDN SYMPHONIES 43 & 49: Mercury & La Passione
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
Rachel Podger, Principal Guest Director

Tafelmusik is delighted to announce the release of Haydn Symphonies 43 & 49: Mercury & La Passione, its first recording with Principal Guest Director Rachel Podger. The album was recorded live in concert at Jeanne Lamon Hall and features two dynamic and contrasting symphonies performed on period instruments. Haydn Symphonies 43 & 49 will be released on all major digital platforms starting October 11. Rachel Podger will sign a number of limited-edition CDs, which will be available for purchase at Tafelmusik’s opening concerts of the 2024/25 season, Sept 27, 28 & 29 at Koerner Hall.

Led from the first violin by Rachel Podger, Tafelmusik revisits these Haydn symphonies with its signature nimbleness and spontaneity. This new album offers a fascinating pairing with Tafelmusik’s acclaimed 1990s Haydn symphonies recordings for SONY Classical, conducted by Bruno Weil.

“We are thrilled to release Tafelmusik’s first album since 2019, featuring Haydn’s scintillating, charming, and visceral symphonies 43 and 49, directed by newly appointed Principal Guest Director and British baroque violin superstar Rachel Podger,” says Cristina Zacharias on behalf of Tafelmusik’s Artistic Co-Directors. “This recording captures our live concerts together, filled with passion and infectious vitality—performances that ignited the idea of a larger partnership between Tafelmusik and Rachel, and we are very proud to be able to share them on this album.”

Hailed as “the British goddess of the gut-stringed violin” by The Times, Podger begins her two-year tenure with Tafelmusik in September. Her latest recording, The Muses Restor’d, received international acclaim including a Diapason d’Or award, “Disc of the Day” from Radio France, and “Record of the Week” from CBC Radio.

“The live concerts with Tafelmusik felt like a homecoming—exciting yet easy, like a team of friends that had always belonged together,” says Podger. “There is this shared musical language, a desire to create and go on an adventure together which we hope can be felt in this recording.”

Tafelmusik has been praised by Gramophone for “determined beauty to their sweetly rich, gently vibrating sound … precision and poetry come wonderfully together,” and the combination of Tafelmusik and Podger has been defined as an “intoxicating combination of power and grace” by the Toronto Star.

Following the release of Haydn Symphonies 43 & 49, Podger will lead Tafelmusik’s Bach and Baroque Brilliance South Korea Tour from Oct 22 to Nov 3, 2024. Generously supported by Brookfield, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council, the tour includes seven concerts in five cities.

Haydn Symphonies videos

Tafelmusik’s Haydn Symphonies 43 & 49 recording is supported, in part, by Alec and Joyce Monro.

Tafelmusik gratefully acknowledges the support of BMO, Presenting Sponsor of the 2024/25 concert season, as well as support from Brookfield and Power Corporation of Canada. We are also grateful to our government partners Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation. 

ABOUT RACHEL PODGER

“Rachel Podger, the unsurpassed British glory of the baroque violin,” (The Times) has established herself as a leading interpreter of baroque and classical music. Fresh from being announced as the winner of two 2023 BBC Music Magazine Awards for Instrumental Recording and Recording of the Year, as 23/24 Artist in Focus for Kings Place, and with two new albums released this month, Principal Guest Director Rachel Podger was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Prize in October 2015, Gramophone Artist of the Year 2018, and the Ambassador for REMA’s Early Music Day 2020. A creative programmer, she is the founder and Artistic Director of Brecon Baroque Festival and her ensemble Brecon Baroque.

Following an exciting and innovative collaboration, A Guardian Angel, with the vocal ensemble VOCES8, Rachel was thrilled to be one of the Artists in Residence at the renowned Wigmore Hall in 2019/2020. Alongside this, Rachel and Christopher Glynn released the world premiere of three previously unfinished Mozart sonatas as completed by Timothy Jones (2021). Their second disc together of three Beethoven Sonatas was released in March 2022. Recent recordings include a disc of solo repertoire along with a recording of C.P.E. Bach sonatas with fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout.

ABOUT TAFELMUSIK

Every now and then a group of musicians comes along and changes the way we think about music. For over four decades, Tafelmusik has been synonymous worldwide with dynamic, engaging, and soulful performances informed by scholarship, passion, and artistic excellence. Performed on instruments and in styles appropriate to the era, 17th- to 19th-century instrumental and choral music share the stage with exciting multimedia programs, bold new commissions, and intriguing cross-cultural collaborations. From a vibrant home season in Toronto, to international tours, award-winning recordings, and inspiring education programs, Tafelmusik is a musical powerhouse with a reputation for thrilling and delighting audiences.

Website: tafelmusik.org
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Media contact:
Luisa Trisi, Big Picture Communications
luisa@luisatrisi.com | 427 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M5S 1X7