Philipp Heinrich Erlebach is one of those
unfortunates whose name, for a number of reasons, has been overlooked
by the passage of time. He was music director at the court of Rudolstadt
in Thuringia for 33 years, a position which was no doubt entirely satisfactory,
but meant his music was produced in provincial isolation. No only this,
but almost all of his work was lost to fire. Listening to the music
on this very fine CD we can only lament at this loss. Despite the narrow
circles of his post Erlebach was apparently well aware of the music
of his contemporaries. Right from the start you gain a sense of fizzing
artistic energy and refinement in the French-styled
Ouverture No.
2, heard here in its première recording.
By introducing a representative selection Erlebach’s extant compositions
the Capricornus Consort Basel has done us proud, performing with a stunning
sense of detail and elegant period style. The first of two secular arias,
Meine Seufzer or ‘My sighs, my lament’, is given
velvety and poignant expression by soprano Miriam Feuersinger.
Trocknet
euch ihr heißen Zähren or ‘Dry up, ye heated tears’
is sung by countertenor Franz Vitzthum with one of the finest and most
natural sounding countertenor voices I’ve heard for a while. Sounding
more feminine than masculine, the final duet,
Süße Freundschaft,
edles Band or ‘Sweet friendship, precious bond’, you
can hardly tell which voice is which, so well matched are their timbres.
These beautiful arias are divided by a
Sonata Terza, one of a
set of six trio sonatas, this example being a suite of six richly rewarding
movements including a fine
Ciaconne. The
Ouverture No. 4
is as entertaining as
No. 2, inviting the imagination to conjure
the spectacle of formal dances in candle-lit halls. It is hard to describe
the qualities which make these performances so special, but a perfect
balance between melodic strings and a deeply enriching harmonic foundation
of plucked and keyboard continuo goes a long way in this context.
Of the few Erlebach recordings floating around the catalogues you might
find Trio Sonatas played rather well by the Chicago Baroque Ensemble
on the Centaur label CRC2323, further
Ouvertures and sonatas
from the Berliner Barock Compagney on Capriccio C67074, which are nicely
performed but a little distant and awash with acoustic when it comes
to the recording. Some gorgeous cantatas can be found on the CPO label
(see
review),
and there is some further chamber music from the
Linn
label which I haven’t heard.
If you know and love any of the above recordings you will
really
like this Christophorus disc, and if you are just embarking on your
Erlebach anabasis then this is a fantastic place to start. With a perfect
recording, ideal performances and fine presentation, this is a disc
to treasure.
Dominy Clements
