Pachelbel

Arguably Pachelbel's masterpiece, "Apollo's Lyre" is a series of six arias, each of which consists of a set of highly contrasted variations on the initial theme. As a composer, Pachelbel was perhaps most interested in the variation principal, in direct contrast to his great successor, Bach, who used the form only rarely (but then typically wrote the greatest variation work ever–the "Goldberg Variations"). The musical argument is easy to follow, and the tunes themselves simple and memorable. John Butt frames the work with two mighty chaconnes. A chaconne is basically the same thing as a passacaglia, namely a series of variations over a constantly repeating bass line. Try this disc. You're in for a pleasant surprise.

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), was better-known as an organist than an important Baroque composer during his life time, though he was a prolific and influential composer. It is said that his organ chorales preludes and his fugues had an influence on Johann Sebastian Bach. Pachelbel held the position of organist in several churches and cathedrals in Austria and Germany. While most of his compositions were for the organ, he also wrote some chamber and vocal music.

One of the best-kept secrets about Johann Pachelbel is his sacred music, both that he wrote it – his omnipresent Canon in D and imposing output for the organ tends to obscure this point – and that it is of such excellent quality as it is. Little of it has been recorded prior to British label Signum's Pachelbel: Vespers, featuring the commanding talents of the King's Singers and period instrument ensemble Charivari Agréable under the direction of Kah-Ming Ng, and the specific works on this disc have never been recorded by anyone.

For many years, Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) was beset by the same malady as Tomaso Albinoni, i.e., that of being recognized primarily for a single work. In Albinoni’s case it was the Adagio (composed by Remo Giazotto, using only a bass line from his countryman); with Pachelbel it was the all-pervading Canon in D which has been recorded so many times that one loses count and in an almost infinite variety of versions, ranging from the composer’s original for three violins and continuo to tuba quartet! However, some have chosen to venture further into the musical legacy left by Pachelbel and therefore uncovered a number of compositions whose quality—while variable and occasionally mundane—is overshadowed by their importance in the development of specific genre, including the sacred cantata.

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) was a prominent composer and organist of his era. While working at the Eisenbach court in Thüringen, he became a close friend of J.S. Bach's father, Johann Ambrosius Bach. As a parish musician, Pachelbel wrote most of his music for church services, especially for Mass and Vespers, when both singers and instrumentalists took part. His instrumental accompaniments are unusually rich. Although much of Pachelbel's music is lost, around twenty-six motets; nineteen "spiritual songs;" and thirteen Magnificats, geistliche Konzerte, and Masses have survived.

For anyone who ever wondered what Pachelbel was up to when he wasn't writing his Canon in D, this CD offers some lovely answers. (He was also playing the organ and teaching, and one of his students was Johann Sebastian Bach, in whose works it's possible to detect Pachelbel's influence.) While there is nothing as immediately catchy as the Canon, the sacred and secular arias and vocal concertos recorded here reveal a composer with a gift for attractive vocal writing and inventive instrumental accompaniments.

Anyone who has ever worked in any aspect of classical music retailing has been asked the question "Did Pachelbel write anything else besides the Canon?" The answer is yes, and some of it is just as pleasing to the general listener as the Canon in D major, originally for three violins and continuo. Finding recordings of these works has been the tough part, but with growing interest in German music of the late seventeenth century, more choices are beginning to appear. This release by German audiophile label MDG is somewhat geeky in looks, but anyone who's ever wanted a Pachelbel disc should check it out. Not least for the sound; MDG has devoted itself mostly to chamber music, but the results the engineers obtain from the organ at St. Peter's church in the German city of Freiberg are really startling.

Harmonie Universalle is formed by musicians from Western Europe and the Americas. Its director, German-born Florian Deuter, brings his wealth of experience to the group to bind the array of cultures and temperaments that manifest the voice of the ensemble. Alongside are Monica Waisman, Argentine violist; David Glidden, Canadian violist and violinist; and, forming the continuo, French harpsichordist Philippe Grisvard and Hungarian cellist, Dmitri Dichtiar.