September 26, 2014

  • Trondheim in the 18th Century

     

    Johann Daniel &Johann Heinrich Berlin: Sinfonias & Concerto
    Alexandra Opsahl, cornet.  Norwegian Baroque Orchestra/Gottfried Von Der Goltz, violin
    Simax PSC 1331
    Total Time:  54:47
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    For those who pursue music education, the primary focus of study is on the great centers of music primarily in Italy, Germany, and maybe France.  Everything else tends to be looked at with a wary eye, often considered “lesser” important coming from the backwaters of Europe.  Scholarship over the last century has helped unveil a great deal of music from these “backwaters” through the world helping to shed light on music’s transference across the continent and seas.  More importantly, it helps provide a clear window on how style and musical rhetoric was changing and how far those changes had gone.  Nowhere is this more clear than in the Northern Europe courts of Norway and Sweden.  Swedish music fans are aware of one of their great Baroque composers, Johan Helmich Roman whose music straddles the Baroque and Classical periods quite fascinatingly.  The Norwegian Baroque Orchestra is now providing fans of this period an equally amazing window into the work of a father and son working in Trondheim, Johan Daniel (1714-1787) and Johan Heinrich (1741-1807) Berlin.

    The father, Johan Daniel, was born in what is now part of Lithuania, his family relocating into Russia.  His own father was a town musician and eventually Johan Daniel would go to Copenhagen to study music.  The Danish town was a center for many German musicians where he no doubt gained further knowledge of current musical trends.  In 1737, he was offered the position of Trondheim’s stadtmusikant and a few years later became the organist at the cathedral.  His responsibilities were to provide music for the whole diocese not only for church services, but for important festivals.  He is noted for publishing one of the first elementary music theory books (Musicaliske Elementer) which also included instructions on technical issues for wind and string players.   In 1751, he constructed a pedal harpsichord and explored a host of intriguing scientific endeavors from cartography, to architecture and meterology!  His inventions and life beyond music are fascinating to review and provided with great detail in the delightful notes accompanying this release.

    The disc opens with a sinfonia of Johann Heinrich.  This three-movement work is a great example of the transitions occurring as composers were redefining the purpose of the Italian sinfonia.  This is an equally delightful work with each movement in binary form, the central movement in a contrasting minor key.  A sense of the Baroque dance suite can also be heard in this work.  Pieces like these help us truly understand the developing shifts in formal and compositional approaches that were beginning to occur as the 18th Century progressed.

    Johan Daniel’s music sits right at the cusp of the Rococo, but we are not quite there yet in Trondheim.  Instead, we are really at the height of High German Baroque style.  The Italianate style of melodic ideas is sometimes apparent as well.  There are 3 “sinfonias” included here.  The first is really a cornet concerto with solo ritornelli and virtuosic displays that are quite fascinating often doubling first violin lines in tutti sections.  This Sinfonia a 5 for cornetto and strings in D Major otherwise has the feel of a Baroque suite with movements settling into comfortable binary form.  It is probably one of the many great surprises of the album.  The Sinfonia a 8 in D features clarinets and flutes in its ensemble which makes for a rather striking sound in this semi-Baroque style.  Clarinets often are used to add harmony (doubled here with trumpet).  The central “Andante” is equally striking with flutes being handed the somewhat Italianate melody.  Intriguing diminished chords are what provide additional interest in the final movement.  We are then treated to concerto for violin and strings.  The opening movement owes a great deal to the Italian concerto of the early 18th Century the solo violin taking a more prominent role in ritornelli—almost a rondo form.  The central movement is a mere 14 measures creating a more somber effect in the parallel minor.  The dance-like third movement provides a joyful conclusion.  The final sinfonia is also scored for clarinets and two traverse flutes.  Here the violin and viola/cello lines alternate melodic material with winds providing extra rhythmic vitality.  The music is striking in its early flirtation with what would become sonata form.  The second movement has the flute doubling violins with a final dance-like tripe meter finale with clarinets returning in their harmonic supporting role.  It all makes for a fascinating group of pieces.

    The music on this release is simply delightful.  Each work is quite engaging with perfect ensemble playing.  It is most fun to hear the syncopated sections, unique use of winds, and harmonic ideas that exist in these pieces.  The Norwegian Baroque Orchestra is perfectly engaged in these pieces helping communicate the sheer celebratory nature of these pieces.  It is a disc that fans of this period will likely hit the “replay” button when the disc concludes.  The only real unfortunate thing is the disc’s slightly low playing time.  Performances this good often leave one wanting at least one more piece!  Highly Recommended!!