Johann Gottlieb JANITSCH (1708 - 1763)
Darmstadt Sinfoniae:-
Sinfonia in E flat [7:43]
Sinfonia in G [9:49]
Sinfonia in E [9:21]
Sinfonia in B flat [9:26]
Sinfonia in G [10:37]
Sinfonia in F [8:27]
Antichi Strumenti/Laura Toffetti (violin), Tobias Bonz (cello)
rec. 25-27 May 2009, Evangelical Church of Pstrazna (Kudowa), Poland. DDD
CYPRES CYP1658 [55:27] 
In recent years the rich musical life at the court of the Crown Prince and
later King Frederick (the Great) of Prussia has been extensively explored.
This has resulted in discs devoted to the music of the Benda and Graun brothers
and composers like Quantz and Schaffrath. There is still much to discover,
for instance the music of Christoph Nichelmann, Christian Friedrich Schale
and Georg Czarth. Johann Gottlieb Janitsch also figures among the masters
of what has been called the Berlin School.
He was born in Schweidnitz in Silesia (now Swidnica in Poland) and was educated
at the bass viol. His first activities as a composer date from his time in
Frankfurt an der Oder where he registered as a law student in 1729. He played
an active role in the musical life of the city and received several commissions
to compose music for special occasions. In 1736 he joined the chapel of the
Prussian Crown Prince Frederick in Ruppin, later Rheinsberg. Here he started
a public concert series, the 'Friday Academies' which were highly successful
and were copied by others. When Frederick was crowned King and moved to Berlin
Janitsch continued his 'Friday Academies' there. The concerts were performed
by members of the court orchestra and other musicians, both amateur and professional.
The fact that he continued to receive commissions for occasional music bears
witness to his excellent reputation. In his days his quartets were especially
famous, rated by his colleague Johann Wilhelm Hertel as "the best specimens
of the genre". Today it is also his chamber music which is most often
performed, although the number of discs entirely devoted to Janitsch is very
small. That makes this disc especially interesting, and even more so as it
is devoted to the genre of the symphony. The composers of the Berlin School
were among the first to write symphonies, usually called 'sinfonia'. They
derived their form from the Italian opera overture, with its structure of
three movements: fast - slow - fast. They were mostly scored for strings and
basso continuo. The addition of wind was rare in the earliest specimens of
the genre as only after 1740 wind instruments became a standard part of Frederick's
orchestra.
Unfortunately the scoring of the six symphonies which are recorded here is
not given in the booklet. That is particularly regrettable as the performers
have taken some liberties in this respect. These six symphonies have all been
preserved in the archive of the court at Darmstadt where Christoph Graupner
was Kapellmeister. In his notes on the interpretation Tobias Bonz writes
that the performance practice at the court in Darmstadt has been chosen as
the starting point for the interpretation. As he believes Graupner often used
flutes and oboes to play colla parte with the strings this is practised
here as well. This seems plausible enough. More questionable is the decision
to distribute the upper voice among the violins, the flute and the oboe. This
way the various timbres should reinforce the rhetorical character of the musical
discourse. I am not convinced of the plausibility of this procedure. And I
am not convinced that this is in line with Graupner's performance practice
either. As we are not informed about the original scoring it is impossible
to say where the scoring has been adapted and exactly in what way.
I would have preferred to hear these symphonies in the scoring as conceived
by the composer. Their quality doesn't need to be improved as they are good
enough as it is. As one can gather from the track-list these are concise pieces;
the second movements are usually the longest. They are quite expressive even
though the symphonies are generally written in the galant idiom. The main
feature of this style is the importance of melody, and Janitsch certainly
knew how to write a beautiful melody. The counterpoint which is present in
his chamber music is absent here. The performances are quite good; only in
some fast movements a bit more boldness would not have been amiss. The andantes
are probably a little too slow, but generally the tempi are well-chosen.
This is an interesting release which closes a gap in the discography and considerably
enhances our knowledge of musical life under Frederick the Great. The recording
is good, the liner-notes are interesting, but unfortunately the English translation
leaves much to be desired: some phrases are hardly intelligible. Can't the
record company afford a professional translator who has a thorough knowledge
of music? In the list of performers the harpsichordist has been left out.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
Good performances of Janitsch's symphonies, but the adaptations of the scoring
are regrettable.