Martin Christian SCHULTZE (18th Century)
Trattamento dell’Harmonia per Sinfonie da Camera a quatro istromenti
Sinfonia I in D [9:04]
Sinfonia II in G [11:45]
Sinfonia III in D [13:08]
Sinfonia IV in F [11:25]
Sinfonia V in G [16:08]
Sinfonia VI in c minor [8:51]
Ensemble Klingekunst
First recordings
rec. Kapelle des Kollegium Kalksburg, Vienna. 4-8 February 2018. DDD.
CPO 555225-2
[70:34]
Martin Christian Schultze is something of a mystery man: we don’t even know his
dates, but the 1773 Paris edition of the Trattamento gives his
initials as MC and adds DB, which indicates that he came from Berlin. These
six sinfonias, for flute, violin, viola da gamba or cello and harpsichord,
are performed here on period instruments. Though apparently intended
primarily for instruction, treatises on the Italian style, this first
recording shows them to be anything but dry as dust.
Not only does this appear to be the only recording of these works, I can’t
find any other generally available recordings entirely devoted to this
Schultze. He’s not to be confused with Johann Christoph Schultze
(c.1733-1813), who may have been a relative, and of whose music there are
one or two recordings.
Our Schultze’s music is as elegant as the fine lady depicted on the
cover, very easy on the ear and occasionally a little more than that,
especially for the many ways in which it shows the influence of some of the
greater composers of the period. It’s not a matter of slavish imitation, but
the combination of instruments echoes Telemann’s Paris Quartets (1730 and 1736).
The flute part, here played on a wooden copy of an eighteenth
century instrument, is
comparatively simple, but the violin part, with copious amounts of double
stopping, and that for the gamba are much more complex. If the music rises
for the most part above the commonplace, that’s as much thanks to these
performers, never content simply to let the music lull the listener, as to
the composer. I haven’t heard this ensemble before, but they have recorded
once previously for CPO (Flute Concertos from Vienna, 55076-2). We seem to
have missed that, but I sampled it from
Naxos Music Library
and enjoyed it. Sieglinde Größinger, who plays the fairly simple flute part
on the new recording, shows herself an adept soloist in the more demanding
music there by Wagenseil, Bonno, Gassmann and Monn. Appropriately, it’s
Empress Maria Theresa, no less, in lacey regal finery (Spitzenkleid)
who features on the cover of that CD.
Returning to the new CD, where the cover depicts Princess Maria
Leszczyńska, the third sinfonia of the Trattamento is especially attractive;
the booklet refers to it as
effectively Schultze’s Pastoral Symphony. Like No.5, it opens with a siciliano largo which would not have been out of place in one of
the Christmas Concertos that several Italian composers of the late seventeenth
century composed, while birdsong and other sounds of the country are easy
to imagine in the other movements. The notes in the booklet compare the
finale with Vivaldi and, while I wouldn’t go so far as to place the music
in the same league as most of the Italian master’s music, it does round off
in style
the highlight of the set of six.
On the other hand, it’s Telemann who comes to mind in the folksy Polonnoiza of No.5; despite the name, I don’t think it sounds as
Polish as several of Telemann’s finales – my favourite has to be the e
minor concerto for recorder and flute, TWV52.e1 – but it does have a
rustic feel to it.
The recording is suitably intimate, though not lacking in punch; while the
flute part is clear and prominent, the other parts are also well
detailed. The notes, appropriately for a composer who was completely new to
me, even as a name, are comprehensive and analytic in a way which should appeal
both to the musically learned and the uninitiated – I guess I’m somewhere
in the middle of that spectrum, along with most of the readers of this
review.
I can’t work up real excitement for this Schultze recording, but I did
enjoy hearing it, and CPO are to be congratulated on their usual skill in
bringing the neglected to light in persuasive performances, recording and
presentation. I’d like to hear Ensemble Klingekunst now in some more
challenging repertoire.
Brian Wilson
