Search - Johann David Heinichen, Epoca Barocca :: Johann David Heinichen: Concerto & Sonatas

Delightful Concertos & Sonatas by an Almost-Unknown Composer

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 10/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Johann David Heinichen was born two years before Bach and Handel and two years after Telemann. He was a Thomaschüler and there he met and played underTelemann in the famed Collegium Musicum. After finishing law school he traveled to Venice and there came in contact with such composers as Vivaldi. His style, only now coming to light as the result of musicological research into the music archives at the Dresden court (where he spent most of his professional life), combines elements of both the German and Italian high baroque. He is blessed with an ability to write immediately memorable melodies as well as contrapuntal mastery. The only prior music of his I'd heard was that recorded by Reinhold Goebel and Musica Antiqua Köln which also contained a number of concerti and trio sonatas. If memory serves, there are no duplications between that 2CD set and this CD from Epoca Barocca. I recall being delighted by the Goebel discs, and the same is true here. This is utterly charming music played with grace and style by a variety of soloists.



Included are concerti and sonatas for oboe and bassoon, for oboe and viola da gamba, for viola and viola da gamba, for oboe and violin (two concerti), for oboe alone, all with basso continuo which, on this recording, is also varied as to instrumentation. Soloists include such well-known players as the amazing baroque bassoonist Sergio Azzolino and Alessandro Piqué, baroque oboe. Special mention must be made of the archlutist, Matthias Spaeter, whose playing is suave and apt.



The recorded sound is really quite good, with just the right amount of ambient air around the clearly recorded instruments. I had assumed the recordings were made in a small cathedral setting and was surprised to find they were made in the studios of Cologne Radio.



There is much more Heinichen yet to come to light. We could do worse than to hear more of it from Epoca Barocca, a group specializing in trio and quadro sonatas from the baroque era.



Recommended.



Scott Morrison"