Mitis

Joseph Wölfl is known – after a fashion – as the pianist who played Ludwig van Beethoven to a draw in a famous cutting contest in Vienna in 1795. To far fewer listeners, Wölfl is a composer of negligible merit who died just a little too young and left behind compositions too slight in substance to enter the pantheon of classical music's greats, or even near-greats; this is pretty much the verdict of his Grove's biography, as well. From Russia comes a disc that puts this easy summation to a rigorous test……..

Uncle Dave Lewis @ AllMusic.com

Caro Mitis has chosen an intriguing and amusing title for a disc of Antonio Rosetti as performed by Russian period instrument group Pratum Integrum Orchestra: Bohemian Mutineer. Its front cover is emblazoned with an old etching of a gigantic fish that would certainly stir up mutiny if it swam up to a vessel filled with nervous sailors.

Old Russian recordings of Bach can impress with their sheer sensuality even if you feel they're not terribly idiomatic, and something similar happens here with this Russian release. Russia's Caro Mitis label has plunged into the audiophile market in a big way and has generally delivered clear, spatially balanced recordings that are satisfying to experience, right down to the label's juicy-fruit logo. In oboist Alexei Utkin they have found an ideal collaborator. His music-making is, in a word, gorgeous.

Very interesting as a companion to Fischer's Parnassus harpsichord series. A few of the sections are very similar to the Parnassus pieces, but different of course. Also an excellent view of the musicologic and fundamental compositional theory and style that led directly to JS Bach's work in the next few decades, and on which JS Bach based or patterned his works in part. Excellent performance.