German Baroque

Abstract

The rediscovery of music from the German-speaking parts of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries has been accelerating in recent years, led mainly by the recording companies. Thus this present batch of CDs features a good deal of music that has yet to appear in a modern edition, mostly by composers who were hardly known even to specialists a generation ago. Not all of the music is worth repeated listening, though collectively it is eloquent testimony to the vitality of German musical life at the time. The earliest music is on Schein & Scheidt: German consort music of the 17th century (Globe glo5214, rec 2005, 66′), played by the Brisk Recorder Quartet of Amsterdam: it is taken mostly from Schein's Banchetto musicale (1617) and Scheidt's 1621 volume of Ludi musici, though there are also three sets of variations from Scheidt's keyboard Tablatura nova (1624), two of them arranged for ensemble. Most of the music is in five parts, so the four recorder players have to use viols or keyboard instruments to make up the numbers. When they use a low-pitched recorder consort this works reasonably well (though the instruments are rather lacking in drive in the lively dance music), but the use of one or two gambas to play lower parts with a high-pitched consort leaves a gap in the texture that just sounds wrong. Also, the free ensemble arrangements of the Tablatura nova variations are not at all convincing, and inadvertently make the point that Scheidt's florid keyboard writing is quite different from his consort idiom. Similarly, Scheidt's five-part Galliard battaglia sounds ludicrous partially played just with solo recorder and pizzicato gamba with the harpsichordist trying ineffectually to fill in for missing parts. In general, the CD would have been much more satisfactory had a full consort of recorders been used, and some of the pieces demand the attack and dynamic variety that can best be provided by a violin consort. But the playing is very good (apart from a few tuning problems caused by the continuo instruments), and the music is delightful throughout.