Johan Helmich Roman

290 years after Count Golovin’s feast, as Dan Laurin and his colleagues in Höör Barock recorded the complete work, their approach was a different one. Making use of a total of 18 different instruments – from sopranino recorder and oboe da caccia to bassoon, strings and baroque guitar – and featuring highly imaginative continuo playing from Anna Paradiso at the harpsichord, their performance sounds as full and varied as one might wish for, without any added parts. Laurin’s performing version also follows the order of Roman’s score, creating a number of smaller suites out of this greater whole that a wider audience now can enjoy for the very first time.

Johan Helmich Roman was one of the leading Swedish composers of the Baroque era, and his music is steadily being recorded, thanks to harpsichordist Anna Paradiso and her period ensemble, Paradiso Musicale, who have led this modest revival on BIS. Paradiso has released hybrid SACDs of Roman's solo keyboard sonatas and the first five of his Flute Sonatas, and here she joins recorder player Dan Laurin, cellist Mats Olofsson, and guitarist Jonas Nordberg in performances of the remaining Flute Sonatas, Nos. 6-12.

Swedish composer Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758), born 308 years ago today, was the son of a violinist in the Royal Opera Orchestra in Stockholm, and was employed there in the same capacity as his father. After a year or so, he was allowed to travel to complete his studies. He played in Handel's opera orchestra in London, earning the nickname 'the Swedish virtuoso' and worked for the Duke of Newcastle, before being summoned back to Stockholm, where he was swiftly promoted to vice concertmaster and later, in 1727, to concertmaster.

In the 18th century, Leufsta Bruk – some 140 kilometres northwest of Stockholm – was the centre of a major industry producing iron both for Swedish needs and for export. It was a little principality in the middle of the forest governed by the descendants of Louis De Geer, the Belgian financier who had developed the ironworks. Highly cultured and musical, the family gathered together a remarkable collection of musical scores, a collection which mirrors the development of music and music publishing on the Continent, as well as the musical activities at a flourishing Swedish manor of the period.