The German Baroque

Abstract

The musical hinterland around Bach, stretching from the early 17th century to the late 18th, has attracted many scholars and performers in a way unmatched by any other composer. This is more than just ‘quality by association’, for Austro-Germany in this period was awash with talented, imaginative composers with distinctive idioms and approaches. The 14 discs in this large group, with music ranging from Buxtehude to Benda, supply an excellent survey of the musical riches from the minor masters of this period. Recordings of Buxtehude's chamber music are becoming more plentiful, but what is also interesting are those anthologies which couple his works with those of his contemporaries. No fewer than five discs in this subgroup include Buxtehude, as well as music by Reincken, Becker, Weckmann, Kreiger, Thiele, Strungk, Kerll, Rosenmüller, Muffat, Erlebach and others—predictably, the phrase Stylus phantasticus makes its appearance, once as the title of a disc. The first CD, Dietrich Buxtehude & Johann Adam Reincken (Mirare MIR 096, rec 2008, 67′), is from the French ensemble La Rêveuse and concentrates on just those two composers. We are given three sonatas from the Uppsala manuscripts of the former and two from the latter's Hortus Musicus (1687); by way of a curious makeweight, there is an arrangement of Buxtehude's C minor Ciacona for two chamber organs. Recordings of Buxtehude's opp.1 and 2 being relatively plentiful, it is good to hear these unpublished sonatas, which are scored for two violins, gamba and continuo. All three are in the usual multi-sectional form, with up to ten short movements, for the most part alternating slow and fast. The Reincken pieces preface the usual Allemande–Courante–Sarabande–Gigue suite with a substantial introductory ‘Sonata’. Given the uniformity of scoring, La Rêveuse are wise to vary the continuo, with harpsichord, organ, harp and theorbo. Their performances are intense and focused rather than in any way self-consciously charming or beautiful, and this may have something to do with the music's current perceived ‘proto-Bach’ status; such sonatas and suites were written principally for private recreation, and I suspect 17th-century players were less likely to have tried to squeeze every last drop of profundity from the scores. Nevertheless, a fine disc of some attractive pieces.