75 years of Helmuth Rilling
More than 175 hours of Bach’s music
172 CDs make up the Hänssler Edition Bachakademie, the only one of its kind in the world.
It took more than 25 years to record all the works of this genius.
One conductor had the vision and creativity and, in the end, the perseverance necessary to breathe life into this unique project.
One label had the courage to start this undertaking and see it through.
The list of those involved comprises the stars of classical music, such as Thomas Quasthoff, Christoph Prégardien, Christine Schäfer, Juliane Banse and many more high-ranking soloists, ensembles, choirs and orchestras.
This recording impresses thanks to its wide range of interpretations and the quality of the research on Bach done by the International Bachakademie Stuttgart.
When it was released in 2000, there was a gigantic echo in the international press and media, and thus it is little wonder that Grammophone, Der Spiegel, the Wall Street Journal, CNN World and other high-ranking press media fell over themselves in their praise. An uncountable number of awards and honors were given to this milestone of Bach performance, including the Scala Award, the Cannes Best Label Award and the Echo Klassik Preis, as well as Grammy nominations of select CDs in the Edition.
It started as one of a kind, and it is continuing in the same vein. The intention of this unique edition of all Bach's works is to invite you to enjoy these timeless masterpieces of the highest quality at any time.
Make it your haven of rest in a restless world.
Enjoy timeless music that is always up to date on a medium that stands for the innovation and creativity of the modern age.
The set contains:
• Digital Bach-Edition with the complete works of Bach (175 hours of music)
• Original Apple iPod classic with 80 GB (color: black) and original accessories
(earphones, USB cable, instructions) with the complete Bach-Edition prerecorded
• 3 Backup DVDs with the complete Bach-Edition (to load into iTunes)
On the creative spirit of the Bach-Edition:
"Music must never be comfortable, never become a museum-piece, not placatory. It must stir up people, reach them at a personal level, and get them to thinking."
The biography:
In 1954, Helmuth Rilling founded the Gächinger Kantorei, and in 1965 the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart was added as its instrumental partner. This marked the beginning of Helmuth Rilling's work on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, which has made his name more closely tied to it than that of any other interpreter. Moreover, he has made decisive contributions to the rediscovery of Romantic choral music and promotes contemporary music by regularly commissioning compositions. Most recently, four new settings of the Passion were composed in 2000, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Bach's death. Helmuth Rilling plays concerts all over the world with his ensembles and is a sought-after guest conductor with leading orchestras in Europe, the U.S.A. and Canada. For more than 25 years, he has had a special friendship with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 1970, he has been artistic director of the Oregon Bach Festival, which he co-founded and which is one of the most prominent music festivals in the U.S.A.
In 1981, Helmuth Rilling founded the International Bachakademie Stuttgart, devoted to the person and works of Johann Sebastian Bach and all facets of his influence on music from 1750 to the present day. It organizes concerts, master courses for singers and conductors, symposia, the European Music Festival in Stuttgart and the Stuttgart Bach Festival, as well as a series of concerts featuring oratorios from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century. Working with young people at the international level is a central feature of Helmuth Rilling's work; the high point so far was the founding (in 2001) of the Stuttgart Festival Ensemble, which brings together young singers and instrumentalists from more than twenty nations. In addition, he regularly heads workshops for young musicians from all over the world, the so-called Bach Academies. Rilling considers his role as conductor to be that of an intermediary, which is why he developed the form of the lecture concert, in which he "looks over the composer's shoulder" and explains the many and varied aspects of a composition using live music examples.
A large number of recordings and radio and television productions document the broad scope of Helmuth Rilling's work. He was the first and thus far the only conductor to record all of Bach's cantatas (1970 – 1984); in the Bach anniversary year of 2000, the EDITION BACHAKADEMIE was released, Bach's complete works recorded under his artistic direction on 172 CDs. Helmuth Rilling is exclusive artist at hänssler CLASSIC.
Helmuth Rilling has been awarded many distinctions for his wide-ranging work, including the International UNESCO Music Prize (1994), the Theodor Heuss Prize "Taten der Versöhnung" (1995) and in 2003 he was chosen to be honorable member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His recording of Krzysztof Penderecki's "Credo" won him the Grammy Award for the best choral performance and he was nominated again in 2001 for his recording of "Deus Passus" by Wolfgang Rihm.
In January 2006, Helmuth Rilling was a guest of the Israel Philharmonic for three weeks and played concerts together with the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa. His program featured the Magnificat in D major by Johann Sebastian Bach, the Requiem in D Minor K. 626 and the Mass in C Minor K. 427 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, both in the versions completed by Robert Levin. Rilling had already played the premiere of Mozart's C Minor Mass in New York in January 2005.
Further guest appearances in 2006 took the conductor to Washington, Prague, Chicago and Caracas, as well as to Italy, Canada, Poland and Hungary. In 2007 Helmuth Rilling again performed at Carnegie Hall, among other places, conducting Bach's St. Matthew Passion. In addition, he made guest appearances in Italy, Spain, Denmark, Switzerland and Slovakia, as well as conducting Benjamin Britten's War Requiem at the European Music Festival in Stuttgart.
In the autumn of 2007, Helmuth Rilling was a guest in the U.S.A. and Hungary, and in 2008 he will be appearing as guest conductor in Milan, Taipei, once again in several American cities and at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. In 2009, Helmuth Rilling will be conducting the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart in concerts with the New York Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2008, Helmuth Rilling will be distinguished with the European Church Music Prize of Schwäbisch Gmünd and the George Frederick Handel Ring of the German Concert Choir Association. Most recently, works by Haydn, Handel and Gubaidulina have been released on CD; a recording of the War Requiem is in preparation.
On May 29, 2008, Helmuth Rilling celebrated his 75th birthday and one of the many honors he will be awarded on this occasion will be the Staufer Medal of the State of Baden-Württemberg.
