Diminutions Maximilian Ehrhardt

• Bernhard Lang (b. 1957):
• 1 GAME 10-4-1 Diminuendo 08:34
• Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583 - 1643):
• 2 Ancidetemi pur d’Archadelt passagiato 06:04
• Kate Moore (b. 1979):
• 3 Susanna’s lament 04:53
• Manuel Rodrigues Coelho (1555 - 1635):
• 4 Susana 05:25
• Malte Giesen (b. 1988):
• 5 Neural Variations 06:02
• Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562 - 1621):
• 6 Est-ce Mars 05:24
• Chikage Imai (b. 1979):
• 7 Bucolic 07:06
• Francisco Correa de Arauxo (1584 - 1654):
• 8 Gaybergier de Toma Crequilion 04:56
• Ian Wilson (b. 1964):
• 9 A distant relation 03:44
• Peter Philips (1560 - 1628):
• 10 Amarilli di Julio Romano 03:32
• Natalia Domínguez Rangel (b. 1981):
• 11 Il Matto 05:45
• Giovanni Maria Trabaci (1575 - 1647):
• 12 Io mi son giovinetto 05:49
• Total Runtime 01:07:14

Info for Diminutions

Presumably in the second half of the 16th century, a type of harp was developed in Italy to enable players to meet the growing musical demands of the time. By adding one or two parallel rows of strings, the “Arpa Doppia” - a double harp - was created, which appears under this name in historical sources. This instrument was used prominently in Claudio Monteverdi’s opera “L’Orfeo” (1607), when Orpheus begs the ferryman Charon in the underworld to take him to the ruler of the realm of the dead in order to save his beloved Eurydice. However, apart from this famous ritornello, only a few compositions specifically for this model of harp have survived from the 17th century. Although the “Arpa Doppia” is listed as an accompanying instrument in several vocal collections of the time, apart from a few original solo works by the Neapolitan composers Ascanio Mayone (1570-1627), Giovanni Maria Trabaci (1575-1647) and Gregorio Strozzi (1615-1687), there are fewer than ten pieces specifically for this instrument.

Maximilian Ehrhardt, harp (Claus Hüttel, Düren, 2007)

Maximilian Ehrhardt
was born in Tettnang (Germany). After preliminary education as a young talent at the Landeskonservatorium für Vorarlberg (Austria) and the Konservatorium der Stadt Zürich, he studied the harp with Erika Waardenburg at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, from where he graduated in 2009 with the Master’s Degree with distinctions. In 2008 he started simultaneously his studies of historical harps with Mara Galassi at the Accademia Internazionale della Musica di Milano, graduating with the Master’s Degree in 2015, again with the highest marks. In 2013 he won the audition to perform the harp solo in Monteverdi’s ‘Orfeo’ during the 20th European Baroque Academy of Ambronay, which was followed by an international tour.

Maximilian is regularly performing in solo recitals, theatre productions, baroque orchestras and chamber music ensembles all over Europe. He has worked with ensembles such as the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, the Gürzenich-Orchester of the Cologne Opera, the orchestra of the Fynske Opera (Denmark), the orchestra of the opera in Wuppertal, the Neue Düsseldorfer Hofmusik (Düsseldorf opera), Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, Lautten Compagney, Weser-Renaissance Bremen, Les Talens Lyriques, I Fagiolini and the Choeur de Chambre de Namur. His performances include collaborations with Sylvain Cambreling, Reinbert de Leeuw, Lorenzo Ghielmi, Glen Wilson, Christophe Rousset and Leonardo García Alarcón. Maximilian has played concerts in the Early Music Festivals of Berlin, Utrecht, Ambronay, Namur, the Festival della Valle d’Itria, the Schützfest in Gera, Wratislavia Cantans, as well as the MITO Settembre Musica Festival in Milan.

He is a founding member of the ensemble L’Aura Rilucente, with whom he has performed internationally, including concerts during the International Young Artist Presentation in Antwerp, the Fringe Festival of the Festival Oude Muziek (Utrecht), the Festival de Teatro Clásico de Almagro (Spain), the REMA showcase in Marseille, the Festival Claudio Monteverdi in Cremona, the Festival of Ambronay and the Early Music Festival in Bucharest. The group has been named the winner of the prestigious young artist residencies of Ambronay 2013 and published their first CD with the Ambronay label in 2015 which was awarded with the ffff label by Télérama.

Maximilian has recorded many CDs and was nominated for the International Classic Music Award and the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik for his duo CD Viola Appassionata (2017). He has performed live on Radio Rai3, Radio Klara, Concertzender Nederland, Polish National Radio, Bayerischer Rundfunk and France Musique.

A keen researcher on the ‘forgotten’ repertoire of the harp, he is preparing an edition of unpublished manuscripts from the 18th century.

Booklet for Diminutions