Muslca Antiqua Koln Bach

Nine chaconnes may sound a little too much of a good thing, but the wonderfully varied melodic patterns that skilful composers could develop over an ostinato or ground bass fully justify the programme. Disciplined and animated playing make the release stimulating and entertaining.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 not only opened the border to the West for seventeen million East Germans; it also allowed art lovers and researchers to gain access to the rich cultural treasures housed in Central European museums and libraries. As director of Musica Antiqua Koln, Reinhard Goebel was constantly on the lookout for musical treasures from the Baroque for his ensemble to perform. So he did not mingle with the souvenir hunters along the length of the Berlin Wall but headed straight on the treasure trail to Dresden. It was here in the 18th century that culture had enjoyed a golden age unprecedented in Germany thanks to the tireless patronage of Augustus the Strong and his successor: an active building programme turned the Saxon capital into the Florence on the Elbe immortalized in the wonderful canvases by Bernardo Bellotto (Canaletto).

Nach der atemberaubenden Einspielung der Concerti grossi nun ein Blick in das umfassende geistliche Schaffen Johann David Heinichens, jenes am Dresdner Hof des kunstsinnigen August des Starken tätigen Kompositeurs, um dessen Stelle sich 1733, vier Jahre nach Heinichens Tod, ein gewisser J. S. Bach aus Leipzig — vergeblich — bewarb.

Heinichen's Dresden Concertos created quite a stir when they were first released a couple of years ago, and for good reason. This is vital, colorful music scored for a large and varied ensemble. Like most composers of his day, Heinichen spent the majority of his compositional talent in the service of vocal music, for either the opera house or church. These pieces represent his only surviving set of concertos, and anyone who enjoys, for example, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos or the orchestral works of Zelenka will certainly want to hear these as well. These performances are simply the last word in style and virtuosity.

If you like your Baroque music loud and luscious, then this is the disc for you. When you play it first, be aware that the two introductory pieces are not as loud as the later ones, so set your volume low to start off with!
McCreesh, Goebel and their crew have recreated the full pomp and atmosphere of the time (as far as we can tell). The recording is well-defined and, perhaps surprisingly, for a work of this scale, it does not deteriorate into a miasmic wash of sound. The directionality is very good, even on "ordinary" two-channel stereo.

1998 is een bijzonder jaar voor Reinhard Goebel en zijn Musica Antiqua Koln. Dit jaar gedenken zij niet alleen dat Reinhard Goebel de groep 25 jaar geleden oprichtte, maar ook dat zij 20 jaar geleden hun samenwerking begonnen met Archiv Produktion. Hun nieuwste cd "Sonata pro tabula" bevat tafelmuziek om bij te watertanden. Samen met het Flanders Recorder Quartet speelt Musica Antiqua Koln werken van Valentini, Schmelzer en Pezel, steeds afgewisseld met een aantal "A due" voor twee trompetten van Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber.

Here is a case of expectations richly rewarded. Telemann's flute quartets are vibrant and tuneful, at times making great demands on the soloists. The Musica Antiqua Koln are in all ways up to the challenge, delivering a musical bouquet that is at various turns elegant, soothing, and exciting.

This new issue by Reinhard Goebel and Musica Antiqua Köln is one of their strongest to date. The programme is imaginative, the content varied and the playing of a very high order. At its heart lie Telemann’s three originally conceived and skilfully crafted concertos for four unaccompanied violins. Two of them featured in one of Goebel’s earliest recordings for DG Archiv but the new version surpasses even the elevated standards set by the other. Hard on the heels of a recent performance by the Berlin Academy of Ancient Music (Harmonia Mundi) comes another reading of Telemann’s Violin Concerto Die Relinge (The Frogs). Heavily dependent upon onomatopoeia, its humour wears a bit thin after a time; but the piece is tautly and rather untypically constructed and, in a performance of such vitality and mischievous humour as this, will probably find a good many takers.

Telemann was known to play a variety of wind instruments and composed numerous inspired compositions for seemingly every combination of them. Arguably the most intriguing selection here is the Concerto for two Chalumeaux - a rarely heard distant relative of the clarinet. Every work throughout this generous program is melodically rich and expertly-crafted (par for the course with Telemann) and the Musica Antiqua Koln deliver knowing animated original instrument performances guaranteed to delight all Baroque fans. Great sound too!