In the booklet of this
disc Scott Metcalfe, one of the ensemble’s
violinists, has written a thorough essay
on the characteristics of German music
of the 17th century. I would recommend
reading it before listening to this
recording, since it explains many things
the listener encounters in the music
played here.
In this essay Metcalfe
underlines the huge influence of Italian
music all over Europe. Musicians went
– or were sent by their employer – to
Italy to learn the new theatrical, flamboyant
and expressive style in vogue there.
And Italian musicians travelled north
to find employment and spread the new
musical ideals. "This program attempts
to convey some of how German and Austrian
composers absorbed the lessons of Italian
musicians and adapted Italian style
to their own ends – perhaps more sober,
less effusively emotional, less Mediterranean,
if we permit ourselves to indulge in
a bit of geographical stereotyping".
The two sonatas by
Johann Kaspar Kerll with which this
disc starts are a good illustration
of many of the characteristics of Italian
music being "brilliantly virtuosic,
overflowing with passionate affect and
theatrical effect, freely dissonant,
full of contrast and variety".
The affect of the two
sonatas is quite different, as the keys
of g minor and F major indicate. Sharp
dissonants appear in the Sonata in F,
which is mainly a dialogue between the
two violins, which underlines the theatrical
character of Italian music. It doesn’t
come as a surprise that we find this
reflected in Kerll’s sonata. After all,
he had been in Rome in the late 1640s
to study with Giacomo Carissimi, the
founder of Italian oratorio.
Sequences of contrasting
sections are another feature of Italian
music and of the pieces on this disc.
Some contain a variety in scoring: in
Kerll’s Sonata in g minor for 2 violins,
viola da gamba and bc the second section
is set as a solo for the viola da gamba.
The fact that German
composers embraced the Italian style
doesn’t mean German music lost its own
character. The Germans had a preference
for serious music, something which Heinrich
Schütz called ‘gravitas’. This
is reflected in the continuing love
for counterpoint which appears in several
pieces on this disc.
A good example of the
seriousness of German music is the Sonata
‘Giardino corrupto’ by Johann Erasmus
Kindermann, which has given this recording
its title. ‘Giardino corrupto’ refers
to a maze. "Kindermann provides
just one part for both violinists to
use. While the first violinist begins
at the upper left corner of the first
page and proceeds left to right, line
by line, as usual, the second violinist
begins in the lower left-hand corner
of the second page and follows numbers
placed above the measures to play up
the left-hand side of page two, to the
right across the top, down the right-hand
side, backwards across the bottom (reversing
notes) and thence across the bottom
of page one, turning upwards at the
corner, and so forth." This is
a typical example of the often intellectual
character of German music. A composition
like this is mainly a challenge to the
composer rather than to the performer.
And the listener certainly won’t hear
anything unusual.
The liner notes show
the musicians know what they are dealing
with. They clearly understand the character
of the music they are playing. That
doesn’t automatically mean they are
able to realise what the music asks
for. But fortunately they are playing
the pieces on this disc quite well.
The interpretation of music as ‘speech’
isn’t just theory here, but applied
in regard to the differentiated treatment
of notes, an eloquent articulation and
the emphasis of some elements of the
musical texture.
Even so I believe that
maybe about 70 to 80 percent of the
music’s expressiveness is realised here.
In some cases – for example the only
sonata for violin and bc by Muffat –
the contrasts don’t come through strongly
enough. In its recording of this same
sonata The Rare Fruits Council (Astrée
E 8840 – which I reviewed here in September
2003) goes much further in
showing off the content of this sonata.
But let us not be too
picky here. The number of really convincing
recordings of German instrumental music
of the 17th century is very limited.
And this is definitely one of the best
interpretations available. The programme
is very interesting and of a consistent
high quality, the performance is very
good and the liner notes give a clear
insight into the character of German
baroque music.
Johan van Veen