Press

Whenever Reinhard Goebel speaks about Georg Friedrich Handel’s Messiah, his sense of wonder is unmistakable. The conductor and passionate music researcher describes this extraordinary score as “a miracle of a work” in SWR Kultur.

For the programme Treffpunkt Klassik, Goebel joined forces with SWR music editor Rafael Rennicke to create five radio features devoted to Messiah, exploring in depth both the music itself and the circumstances of its creation.

“I want to understand more about what I am doing,” says Goebel—and in the course of his research he even uncovered the source that inspired Handel’s most famous movement from Messiah: the “Hallelujah” chorus.

He has already cleaned windows today, annotated a Locatelli sonata, and completed his Austrian pension paperwork. So you can’t really say that the now 73-year-old Reinhard Goebel is resting on his laurels. And now he has time to talk a little about Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721–1783), whose eight symphonies he has just recorded.

Reinhard Goebel and Musica Antiqua Köln: these are names that still make every early music lover’s mouth water, synonymous with perfection in performance and exquisite repertoire choices. And even today, Reinhard Goebel never fails to bring something new to light…

“Der Kopf macht die Musik is not a book for music lovers seeking light entertainment,” writes Georg Waßmuth in his review of Goebel’s latest publication for SWR. “It demands a profound engagement with the subject and is addressed to readers who wish to discover more about music than a collection of casually stated clichés.” The book is, he concludes, “a publication of exceptional quality—nothing more and nothing less.”

In this Concerti interview, Reinhard Goebel takes part in a “blind listening” session of musical recordings, offering insights into his highly trained ear and his aesthetic standards. His uncompromisingly critical analysis of ornamentation, tempi, and questions of instrumentation is always grounded in profound knowledge and an unwavering passion for music.

“Bach Suddenly Sounded Like Rock ’n’ Roll”: With Musica Antiqua Köln, Reinhard Goebel set new standards in historically informed performance. To this day, he is regarded as one of the field’s most influential and knowledgeable conductors—a fiercely independent thinker with a keen wit and an inexhaustible curiosity for scores, historical sources, and musical contexts.