CDs
as soloist:
as musical director:
Max Volbers | recorder and direction
Il Pomo d’Oro
Alfia Bakieva | violin I (concert master)
Jesús Merino Ruiz | violin II
Jonathan Ponet | viola
Ludovico Minasi | cello
Jonathan Álvarez | double bass
Rebecca Mertens | baroque bassoon
Neo Gundermann | theorbo, baroque guitar
Arianna Radaelli | harpsichord
Together with the internationally acclaimed ensemble Il Pomo d'Oro, Max Volbers delves deep into Georg Philipp Telemann’s musical treasure trove on his new album—that “stylistic chameleon” who effortlessly blended French elegance, Italian operatic bliss, and Eastern European dance rhythms, and who composed for the recorder with incomparable artistry.
Works by and after Georg Philipp Telemann
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Max Volbers | recorder
Alexander von Heißen | harpsichord, organ
For his first album as a Berlin Classics Artist, Max Volbers is travelling to 18th century London together with Alexander von Heißen (harpsichord, organ), where it was mainly musicians from abroad without whom musical life there would have been unthinkable...
works by G. F. Handel, G. M. Alberti, J. C. Pepusch, G. Sammartini, J. Paisible, G. S. Carbonelli, A. Corelli and others
‘cleverly curated works’
"(...) incredible musicality, the great virtuosity on both sides, which is not an end in itself, but always aimed at the interaction."
Bernhard Schrammek, Radio3 (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, review here)
"Every interpretation sparkles with a wealth of ideas and technical brilliance, the ensemble playing is precise, creative and joyful."
Thilo Braun, SWR Kultur (review here)
"The CD contains many sound colours, lively ones, dancing ones, melancholy ones. Two up-and-coming artists at the height of their abilities!"
Lars von der Gönna, WAZ 11.9.24
Volbers und von Heißen verstehen es, historische Musik lebendig werden zu lassen. (…) Das Spiel ist stets von Präzision, technischer Meisterschaft und musikalischem Einfühlungsvermögen geprägt. (…) Mit „Foreign Masters“ legen Max Volbers und Alexander von Heißen ein Album vor, das sowohl Alte-Musik-Enthusiasten als auch neugierige Hörer begeistern dürfte. Der kluge dramaturgische Aufbau, die Virtuosität und die Vielfalt der Instrumente machen diese Aufnahme zu einem wahren Kleinod.
Dirk Schauß, Onlinemerker (review here)
"(...) He goes into medias res with such freshness and daring as well as sensitive sound listening that it is pure delight. (...) In terms of articulation, Max Volbers is familiar with all the finesses for a richly varied and detailed interpretation and plays out these possibilities with relish in interaction with the keyboard instrument. (...)
With 'Foreign Masters', Max Volbers presents an attractively programmed album - with plenty of scope for unfolding for himself and his harpsichord partner Alexander von Heißen. This makes the trip to London really fun."
Dr. Matthias Lange, klassik.com (review here)
“Max Volbers avoids the recording's unmistakably baroque tone becoming monotonous, especially by using ten differently tuned and crafted recorders, with which he achieves a refreshing wealth of tonal colour.
Not to mention the flawless technique and creative intelligence of the flautist in homogeneous interplay with his partner on the harpsichord. An original and high-quality addition to the highly competitive offerings on the media market."
Pedro Obiera, Aachener Zeitung 20.09.24
"Next to Dorothee Oberlinger and Maurice Steger, the superstars of the recorder, there is still plenty of room, and the young Max Volbers conquers it with sheer dazzling verve. (...) Alexander von Heissen on the harpsichord provides equally virtuosic and skilful accompaniment. A dream team."
Nürnberger Nachrichten, 1.10.2024
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Max Volbers | recorder & direction
Alfia Bakieva, Jonathan Ponet | violin
Martin Schneider | Viola
Robert Smith | cello, viola da gamba
Axel Wolf | archlute
Alexander von Heißen | harpsichord
Elisabeth Wirth, Felix Gutschi, Jonathan Volbers | recorder
Anne-Suse Enßle | baroque bassoon & recorders
Arisa Yoshida | contrabass
Piotr Furmanczyk | recording producer & video
Theresa Pewal | photography
"Max Volbers (...) proves himself to be a recorder player of calibre who knows no technical limits: in terms of articulation alone, he offers a feast for friends of everything that is possible on the recorder. (...) he has a considerable instrument-specific and at the same time interpretative musical ability that goes far beyond this sphere in the narrower sense, which has rightly led him to (prize) heights at a young age." - Dr. Matthias Lange, klassik.com
"For the concertos and consort pieces, Volbers invited like-minded colleagues; solo, he delivers circus-ready virtuoso art. The delightful way in which his legato playing in the Purcell Variations transforms into glissando, with all the intermediate steps, is supreme mastery." - Eleonore Büning (RONDO)
"With his incredibly colourful and virtuoso debut album, he is certainly doing the very best advertising for his instrument." - Rainer Baumgärtner, rbb (album of the week)
With his debut CD "Whispers of Tradition" on GENUIN, recorder player Max Volbers presents "a stylistically very diverse program, with two concerti, a premiere, music with variable continuo instrumentation and consort. These are either the composer's own paraphrases, series of variations, arrangements, pastiche and so on - or, as in the case of the Dieupart Suite, arranged for the recorder by the composer himself. The piece "Please enter the Underground" was written by Thanos Sakellaridis for Elisabeth and me. What all the pieces have in common is a joy of discovery and a desire to create new repertoire for the recorder." Together with 11 musician friends and with a total of 26 different instruments - archlute, harpsichord, violin, viola da gamba and, of course, a wide variety of recorders - the winner of the German Music Competition 2021, who studied with Dorothee Oberlinger, among others, explores the possibilities of expanding the recorder repertoire and shows on the recording "in what different formations the recorder can act, and also what the roles are that it takes on."
Marie-Sophie Pollak | Soprano
Concerto Köln
Max Volbers | direction, organ, recorder
release: 5. September 2025
Together with soprano Marie-Sophie Pollak, Concerto Köln, under the direction of Max Volbers, traces the history of the dispute between Johann Sebastian Bach and the now almost forgotten Johann Adolph Scheibe…
Werke von J. S. Bach und J. A. Scheibe
“Time and again, while listening to this fabulously beautiful album, one finds oneself guessing—or wanting to guess—who it is one is listening to: the great Bach or the lesser-known Scheibe?! The outcome of this guessing game varies from time to time. It is by no means always in Bach’s favor. The discovery of the quality of Scheibe’s arias and instrumental pieces alone makes the effort worthwhile.”
Kai Luehrs-Kaiser, Rondo (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, review here)
(…) Max Volbers, [der] Blockflötendonnerblitzbub, mit dem Faible für Fußnoten. Der hier nicht nur dirigiert, auch flötet und Cembalo spielt. Scheibes frühklassische „neue Einfachheit“ mit ihren stereotypen Dacapos tönt dank der feurig pointierten Volber’schen Lesart nicht halb so fad, wie sie ist. Andererseits: Bachs Musik würde auch schlechtere Musikanten gut überleben.
Eleonore Büning, Rondo 05/25
„Die glasklare, helle Stimme von Marie-Sophie Pollak, die auch die heikelsten Koloraturen mühelos bewältigt, erweist sich ebenso als Glücksfall wie das ausgezeichnete Concerto Köln.“
Martin Demmler, Fono Forum 12/25
„Max Volbers leitet das famos aufspielende Concerto Köln souverän und hat ein ausgesprochenes Händchen für die Affekte dieser Musik.“
„Pollak begeistert mit einer schlanken, glockenreinen, leicht schwebenden Stimme, die wendig und einfühlsam in den unterschiedlichen Ausschnitten aus Kantaten und Passionsmusiken von Bach und Schein die Affekte herausarbeitet. Concerto Köln zaubert atmosphärisch die Stimmungen und Farben dazu, bietet klingende Räume sowohl mit Weite und Intimität. Gerne mehr von solchen Gegenüberstellungen.“
„Concerto Köln wiederum spielt mit jener klanglichen Präzision und historischen Sensibilität, die das Ensemble seit Jahrzehnten auszeichnet. Unter dem Cembalisten und Blockflötenvirtuosen Max Volbers wird so aus einem historischen Disput ein spannender Dialog, der zeigt: Gegensätze können inspirieren. Und wieder gilt die alte Weisheit: Wenn sich zwei streiten, freut sich der Dritte – und das sind in dem Fall wir, das Publikum!“
„Ein Highlight!“
Dazu kommt das Concerto Köln unter Max Volbers, das die überwiegend gesetzten, langsamen geistlichen Werke, die von lebensfrohen, schwungvollen, hymnischen Stücken unterbrochen werden, in höchster Präzision und Spielfreude darbietet.
(…)
Ein rundum bereicherndes, etwa 70-minütiges Album (…). Eine Empfehlung für jeden Barock-Liebhaber und diejenigen, die neugierig sind und gerne unbekanntere Komponisten dieser Zeit entdecken möchten.
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Perfect Noise, 2024
"Scenes of Horror" is a kind of baroque chamber of horrors with music by George Frideric Handel, Attilio Ariosti, Antonio Vivaldi and Carl Heinrich Graun. As you can imagine, it wasn't just the baroque librettists who took sadistic pleasure in making their characters suffer: It was also a mischievous pleasure for us to chase Laila Salome Fischer through this programme and thus from one nightmare to the next.
kultura-extra.de (5/5 stars)
"With the ensemble Il Giratempo, the singer has congenial instrumentalists at her side. When she takes a break, the recorder of its leader Max Volbers, who also plays the harpsichord, takes over her role.
Laila Salome Fischer masters the colouratura with admirable ease, but also adds dramatic expression. Her vocal colouring comes close to that of a countertenor and, as we suspect, a castrato. The fact that she, who sings major opera roles from the 18th to the 20th century, but also operettas in major European theatres, knows exactly how to interpret baroque music is one of the special qualities of these recordings." - Thomas Rothschild - 7 February 2024Das Opernglas
"In Max Volbers and the Il Giratempo orchestra, she (Laila Salome Fischer) has found like-minded partners who accompany her with exuberant temperament and great precision. In the two purely orchestral pieces, the overture to "L'Olimpiade" by Antonio Vivaldi and the concerto "La notte", also by Vivaldi, they demonstrate the drama and power of these often all too innocuously played pieces. No friend of baroque music should miss this magnificent album." - Review by J. Gahre, issue 2/24
onlinemerker.com
"Montezuma's lament "Ah, d'inflessibil sorte" is therefore all the more poignant and immediate in this recording. The brilliant ensemble I Giratempo under Max Volbers is also able to convince in Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto "La Notte" in G minor with sophisticated dynamics and chromatic vigour. The eerie mood is captured here in a gripping way." - Review by Alexander Walther