Dance For Two Dorothee Oberlinger & Nils Mönkemeyer

• Hildegard von Bingen (1098 - 1179): O Ecclesia (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer):
• 1Bingen: O Ecclesia (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer)03:35
• Konstantia Gourzi (b. 1962): messages between trees II, Op. 84b:
• 2Gourzi: messages between trees II, Op. 84b07:52
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Invention No. 6 in E Major, BWV 777 (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer):
• 3Bach: Invention No. 6 in E Major, BWV 777 (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer)03:05
• Invention No. 1 in C Major, BWV 772 (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer):
• 4Bach: Invention No. 1 in C Major, BWV 772 (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer)01:20
• Musikalisches Opfer, BWV 1079, Op. 6:
• 5Bach: Musikalisches Opfer, BWV 1079, Op. 6: Canon a 2 cancrizans (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer)02:33
• Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080:
• 6Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Canon a due Hyperdiapason (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer)02:22
• Invention No. 8 in A Minor, BWV 782 (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer):
• 7Bach: Invention No. 8 in A Minor, BWV 782 (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer)00:57
• Morton Feldman (1926 - 1987): Only:
• 8Feldman: Only01:55
• Anonymous: Black Joke:
• 9Anonymous: Black Joke03:55
• Nicola Matteis (1650 - 1714): Fantasia in G Minor (Arr. for Viola by Nils Mönkemeyer):
• 10Matteis: Fantasia in G Minor (Arr. for Viola by Nils Mönkemeyer)02:35
• John Cage (1912 - 1992): Dream:
• 11Cage: Dream03:27
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Trio Sonata in G Major, BWV 1039, No. 3:
• 12Bach: Trio Sonata in G Major, BWV 1039, No. 3: Adagio e piano (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer)02:46
• James Oswald (1710 - 1769): The Reel of Tulloch (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer):
• 13Oswald: The Reel of Tulloch (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer)02:50
• Nicola Matteis (1650 - 1714): Fantasia in D Minor (Arr. for Viola by Nils Mönkemeyer):
• 14Matteis: Fantasia in D Minor (Arr. for Viola by Nils Mönkemeyer)04:00
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008 (Arr. for Recorder by D. Oberlinger):
• 15Bach: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008 (Arr. for Recorder by D. Oberlinger): I. Prelude03:27
• Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945): 44 Duos for 2 Violins, Sz.98, No. 35:
• 16Bartók: 44 Duos for 2 Violins, Sz.98, No. 35: Rutén Kolomejka (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer)01:00
• 44 Duos for 2 Violins, Sz.98, No. 32:
• 17Bartók: 44 Duos for 2 Violins, Sz.98, No. 32: Maramarosi Tánc (Arr. for Recorder & Viola by D. Oberlinger & N. Mönkemeyer)00:41
• Konstantia Gourzi: Dance for two, Op. 96:
• 18Gourzi: Dance for two, Op. 9606:34
• Total Runtime54:54

Info for Dance For Two

On their respective instruments, they have long been among the leading musicians of the present day: recorder player Dorothee Oberlinger and violist Nils Mönkemeyer. These two multi-award-winning artists are not only united by their unique virtuosity, with which they elicit completely new expressive possibilities from their instruments. Dorothee Oberlinger and Nils Mönkemeyer are immensely curious musicians and constantly on the lookout for unknown or new repertoire. All these commonalities - which naturally include mutual admiration - are also reflected on the first album of this exceptional new duo Dorothee Oberlinger & Nils Mönkemeyer: "Dance for Two" is the name of their debut album, on which they present music from Hildegard von Bingen to Bach and Bartók to John Cage. In addition, the title piece, commissioned by Dorothee Oberlinger and Nils Mönkemeyer and written by the composer Konstantia Gourzi, can be heard as a world premiere recording, sponsored by the Kunststiftung NRW.

This piece is also the only original work for recorder and viola. "There is no original literature for our instrumentation," says Dorothee Oberlinger. Therefore, several pieces that were actually composed for only one instrument have now been reworked for duo. "On our album, we take a journey through our musical history, from the Middle Ages to the present day," adds Nils Mönkemeyer. "At the same time, we combine the music with the sound of our instruments. There is no model or tradition in this kind of programming and combination, and I have found that to be decidedly liberating."

Right at the beginning of the album, a piece by the famous abbess and composer Hildegard von Bingen is heard, in which originally a solo singer and a choir sang in dialogue.

Oberlinger: "Because the viola sounds a bit fuller than the flute, you might automatically think of a choir." Similar sonic surprises are offered, for example, by selected dances written by Béla Bartók for two violins, which now harmonise perfectly with the Greek folk dances on which Konstantia Gourzi composed her commissioned composition "Dance for two". In addition, there are arrangements of rather meditative pieces by the Americans John Cage and Morton Feldman. And there is a focus on Johann Sebastian Bach, whose contrapuntal pieces from his "Musical Offering" and "The Art of Fugue" can be heard.

And how would Dorothee Oberlinger and Nils Mönkemeyer describe their first encounter together in the recording studio? "In the end, we are concerned with very elementary things: with folk music, with roots and traditions. About music that stands the test of time. So it's about a touch of eternity."

Dorothee Oberlinger, recorder
Nils Mönkemeyer, viola

Dorothee Oberlinger
is one of the most amazing discoveries of recent years, an expressive virtuoso who has received numerous awards. Today she is seen as one of the best recorder-players in the world. Her concerts have been received with enthusiasm by critics and audiences alike, earning her unanimous acclaim. Her CDs are regularly fêted as the best new issues on the market.

Dorothee Oberlinger has given solo recitals at festivals all over Europe, in America and Japan at some of the most prestigious venues such as the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, the Musikfestspiele Potsdam, the Settimane Musicale Stresa, the Nederlandse Oude-Musik-Network, the Festival de Musica Antigua Sajazarra, the Warsaw Beethoven Festival, the Europäische Musikfestwoche Passau, the Rheingau-Musikfestival, the Tage der Alten Musik Regensburg and the MDR-Musiksommer. Other venues in which she has played include the Wigmore Hall in London, the National Philharmonie in Warsaw, the Marianischer Saal in Lucerne, the Rosée Theater in Fuji and the Philharmonie in Cologne.

She has been the guest soloist with leading international Baroque ensembles such as London Baroque and Musica Antiqua Köln directed by Reinhard Goebel, and she also plays regularly with modern symphony orchestras such as the WDR-Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester and the Detmolder Kammerorchester.

Dorothee Oberlinger collaborates with the top Italian ensemble "Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca", with whom she has given many concerts throughout Europe. Their joint CD of concertos by Antonio Vivaldi has received numerous awards from the international musical press.

She directs her own "Ensemble 1700", which she formed in 2003. Together they have realized a wide variety of projects relating to the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. In 2004 Dorothee Oberlinger was appointed professor at the renowned Mozarteum academy in Salzburg.

Nils Mönkemeyer
Time and again, Nils Mönkemeyer demonstrates the wealth of characters and colours that can be conjured by the viola. He has dramatically raised the profile of his instrument, not least by drawing attention to the broad spectrum of the viola repertoire, from the transparent, rhetorical style of the Baroque to the music of the present day. His programmes comprise original literature, rediscovered pearls, his own arrangements, and first performances. As a soloist he performs with the world’s top-class orchestras, such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Mönkemeyer is not only a passionate performer, but also an equally passionate teacher, holding a professorship at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich, where he himself studied.

Furthermore, he is fulfilling a heartfelt wish as a musician to build bridges with music and make it accessible to the disadvantaged. To this end, Nils Mönkemeyer founded the chamber music festival «Klassik für Alle» in 2016, in collaboration with the charity Caritas Bonn.

Booklet for Dance For Two