Recorder31 Day 4 | Featured Album: Erik Bosgraaf & filoBarocco

Every month we choose a recent release to be our Featured Album, and along the way we've highlighted a wide range of music for early instruments from medieval to contemporary. This month, our Featured Album comes from recorder virtuoso Erik Bosgraaf, already making his second appearance of this year's Recorder31, in collaboration with Italian ensemble filoBarocco. A fascinating programme of speculative music inspired by Telemann's visits to Poland forms the newly-released album, 'Folk Baroque'.

As always, we've put together a review and other information about the album – click here to visit our Featured Album blog and find out more! Here's what our reviewer had to say about the album:

Dividing the programme into four ‘acts’, there is an energy and playfulness to the performance that rings out from the first note. The opening piece draws the listener in with a more familiar baroque bassline, but punchy, accented chords quickly hint at wider influences. For a programme based almost entirely on one dance tune structure, the Polonaise, there is a huge amount of variety, from rousing, driving melodies, to dreamlike sounds. Read more...

And if the album isn't enough, here's a chance to watch Erik Bosgraaf & filoBarocco perform the programme in concert, recorded live at the London International Festival of Early Music in November 2024. Then titled 'Telemann Goes East', the programme went down an absolute storm, and the concert film has been made available online for free through the LIFEM Encore series on YouTube. (More on LIFEM later in Recorder31!)

If you enjoy the free LIFEM Encore series, please consider donating to LIFEM – the festival operates as a registered charity. Your generous contributions will accelerate their charitable work, enabling the festival to further support educational initiatives, nurture emerging talent, and present world-class performances.

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From the Aafab workshop in The Netherlands, Aura's most popular model, the Conservatorium, is available in a range of woods and configurations. This Conservatorium Alto in Pearwood with Double Key offers a mellow tone with the additional F/F# key reducing the stretch for those who find the lowest note uncomfortable. Check out the audio clips below or follow this link to find out more about this instrument.