ICR004

"...stunning and textured"

"...incredible artistry and deep musicianship"

Jon Mendle's debut album consists of 18th Century German lute and keyboard music. The featured works by CPE Bach, Adam Falckenhagen and Sylvius Weiss were arranged for the 11-String Archguitar by Mr. Mendle. Below are Jon's thoughts on his album, "L'Infidele".

 "German music from the 18th century has always had a very natural appeal to me – it’s very beautiful, serious music. Of course the most famous composer from this time is JS Bach. However, there are a lot of recordings of Bach on guitar, and while I love his music and have played a number of the lute and keyboard works, I wanted to show a different side of the era. There’s still a Bach on the album, but it’s CPE Bach, who was the most successful musically of Bach’s sons. The CPE Bach and Falckenhagen suites are examples of the galant style, which in today’s musical world of post-genres (post-rock, post-punk, etc) could perhaps best be described as post-baroque. It is a transitional style which had a great influence on the development of the mature classical style of composers like Mozart and Haydn, and CPE Bach is perhaps the greatest proponent of this style. Aside from being one of his most popular suites, Weiss' L’Infidele is also a departure from tradition in some ways, as it is influenced by Turkish music and culture. The title means “the unfaithful.” In the 1680s, the Ottoman empire lay siege on the city of Vienna. While the siege failed, it gave birth to a rage for all things Turkish, including music, art, and or course coffee. Weiss wrote this suite around 1719, while he was in Vienna, and he was no doubt influenced by this. The title refers to the reluctance of the Islamic Ottoman forces to embrace Christianity. I heard a recording of the Falckenhagen suite in 2004 and had always wanted to learn it. The first movement especially is one of the most powerful pieces of music I have ever come across. One of my favorite things about his piece is his use of space in the second movement – there are entire measures of rest written into the piece! One really has to play the silences, rather than just wait them out in this case, as I believe they are as important to the success of this movement as the actual notes are."