Bohemian-born
Johann Baptist Vaňhal enjoyed a long and successful career,
and wrote around 75 symphonies and a large number of concertos,
vocal masses and vast quantities of chamber music. Arriving
in Vienna in the service of Countess Schaffgotsch, Vaňhal found
himself in the midst of a cultural melting-pot, with rich families
competing with each other to hold the most glamorous music soirées.
The works on this disc are thought to have been written around
1771, and while there are seventeen works listed as ‘Flöten-Quartette’
in Alexander Weinmann’s thematic catalogue of Vaňhal’s
work, only a very small number survive today.
With
the variety of published sources and versions for different
solo instruments for these works, Uwe Grodd must have had his
work cut out for him when creating his own edition. The music
comes up sounding very good however, and one is left wondering
at the ‘World Première’ label given to these recordings, such
is the quality of the music on offer.
You
may well be thinking, ‘not more obscure 18th
century chamber music, booooring’, but I feel Naxos and
the performers on this recording have done a superb job, and
will do my best to convince you to think again. For a start,
the sound is excellent on this disc, with a big acoustic helping
the flute especially. This is no hair-shirt listening experience,
and can genuinely be enjoyed on many levels. Uwe Grodd plays
a modern instrument, but has a restrained vibrato, a refined
sound, plenty of dynamic range and an excellent sense of line
and phrasing. Unlike some works in this genre, the flute part
is not a virtuoso showcase for some bewigged player wanting
a vehicle to show off his technique. The parts are more equally
distributed among the voices, and the Janaki String Trio is
more than equal to the task of making the ‘accompaniment’ into
a fully rounded ensemble. As the booklet notes point out, “[these
works’] contemporary popularity rested less on their technical
accomplishment than on their melodic freshness and unfailing
air of quiet sophistication.”
For
flute players, this can be the springboard for creating new
repertoire for yourself, expanding beyond the Mozart Quartets,
or, assuming you can find a spare violinist somewhere, growing
from works like Haydn’s ‘London’ trios. The same
goes for record-collecting chamber music fans. This music is
of that open, clean, transparent kind which makes few emotional
demands, but which hides a verdant garden of rich colour and
variety, and all at bargain price.
Dominy Clements
See also Review
by Jonathan Woolf
Uwe Grodd (flute)
