Ensemble Marsyas with Monica Huggett - Jan Dismas Zelenka: Sonatas (2012)

×

Ensemble Marsyas with Monica Huggett - Jan Dismas Zelenka: Sonatas (2012)

Close

Czech Baroque composer Jan Dismas Zelenka was a near contemporary of Bach, who admired him (and not too many other composers). The pieces on this album, which unite intense technical and contrapuntal virtuosity with lightness of spirit, make it easy to see why. They were roughly contemporaneous with Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, and may have been written for similar purposes (as a kind of audition). These pieces are what were called quadri or quadro sonate ("quartet sonatas," to be distinguished from the earlier sonata a quattro). They are for two oboes, bassoon, and continuo, or in one case oboe, violin, bassoon, and continuo. The oboe and bassoon are not easy instruments to play; the Baroque oboe and bassoon are harder still; and to play difficult lines in intricate ensemble work on these instruments is nothing short of miraculous. Yet that is what happens in this reading of three of the sonatas plus an excerpt from one larger work that better exemplifies Zelenka's tendency toward the bizarre. The three sonatas, for all their difficulty, are graceful pieces, and Scotland's Ensemble Marsyas carries them off with enviable smoothness and even quietness. It's an extraordinary performance, and the sweet pastoral sounds of Peter Whelan's Baroque bassoon will be worth the price of admission by themselves for many listeners. The Linn label contributes strongly as well with fine engineering, scaled to the intimate conception of the music but not sitting right on top of the players and picking up the clicking of keys and the like. There are a few other recordings of these pieces (Heinz Holliger popularized them), but this is an excellent choice for first exposure to the still-underrated Zelenka as well as for those already hooked.

Review by James Manheim, Allmusic.com

×

Ensemble Marsyas with Monica Huggett - Jan Dismas Zelenka: Sonatas (2012)

Close

The baroque oboe and bassoon inspired the great Czech composer Zelenka. This disc reminds us why, nudging aside rival recordings by virtue of its charm. We are led from Zelenka's boldly Vivaldian Sonata No. 5 - heart-rending lyricism encased by crisp outer movements - in the ingenuity of his four-part counterpoint in Sonatas Nos. 3 and 6. The Ensemble Marsyas impresses me with their nimble fingers in the breakneck Sonata No. 5, but it's the group's nuance that's transfixing. When textures become sparse, delivery intensifies; when the line expands, the tempo stretches; when counterpoint thickens, articulation is leavened.

The players are audibly intelligent, at once humorous and illuminating.

Non-interventionist engineering shows that less can be more when the artists are first rate.

Also striking is how the wind players draw guest violinist Monica Huggett into their idioms. While maintaining her hallmark precision, Huggett joins their swells during sustained notes, Hesitates tenderly with them before resolutions, and shares their emphases on the sometimes bizarre modulations.

The recording's climax is the subtle transformation of the minuet in Sonata No. 6 into a zany gambol Zelenka and the players combine wit, taste and an earthy Bohemian wink to win the heart.

Review by BBC Music Magazine

×

Ensemble Marsyas with Monica Huggett - Jan Dismas Zelenka: Sonatas (2012)

Close

×

Ensemble Marsyas with Monica Huggett - Jan Dismas Zelenka: Sonatas (2012)

Close