Pachelbel Estravagante

Dieterich Buxtehude is one of the key figures of the baroque period. Other musicians and composers like the young Johann Sebastian Bach came from all over Europe to listen to and to learn from him, since his virtuosi abilities on the organ and his knowledge of compositions were legendary. When he was quite old Buxtehude published two collections of instrumental chamber music. Apart from a few occasional works, these are the only examples of his art that were printed during his lifetime. Opus 1, containing seven sonatas for violin and viola da gamba with harpsichord continuo, is undated but probably appeared in 1694.

In 1705, Giuseppe Sala published in Venice the Suonote do camera a tre, due violini o violone o cembalo op.1 of Antonio Vivaldi. This set of trio sonatas marked the official 'debut' of a composer who was already more than a mere youth (the 'Prete Rosso' was then 27-years old), and probably contains the earliest works of his that have come down to us. It is very likely, though, as Michael Talbot has pointed out, that the copy of 1705 is in fact a reprint of a now lost first edition published in 1703.

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 is unfairly viewed as a one-work composer, that work being the popular Canon in D major, for three violins and continuo. He was an important figure from the Baroque period who is now seen as central in the development of both keyboard music and Protestant church music. Some have summarized his primary contribution as the uniting of Catholic Gregorian chant elements with the Northern German organ style, a style that reflected the influence of the Protestant chorale. A Lutheran, he spent several years in Vienna where he was exposed to music by Frohberger and Frescobaldi, which influenced his work with the chorale-prelude…