Search - Philipp Friedrich Buchner, Parnassi Musici, Bayerisches Kammerorchester München :: Philipp Friedrich Buchner: Plectrum Musicum

Surprisingly Infectious Music by a Little Known South German

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 05/12/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had never heard of Philipp Friedrich Buchner (1614-1669) and he is not listed in any of the biographical dictionaries consulted (I was unable to consult the New Grove, however). He was a south German who spent time in Italy and possibly even met Monteverdi in Venice. His music straddles the styles of Italian monody and polyphony, with sections of each style side by side within a single work. In the instrumental music presented here that actually makes for a quite pleasing combination. This CD contains a selection from his Opus 4, a collection of 'sonatas' which he called 'Plectrum musicum,' and is played by a group from Bavaria calling themselves Parnassi Musici. Although called 'sonatas,' the 15 works contained herein are actually rather more like short instrumental works ranging from about 4 to 8 minutes in length. Instrumentation varies from work to work. All are accompanied by a keyboard continuo, sometimes harpsichord, sometimes organ (each played expertly by Helene Lerch), along with archlute (Hubert Hoffmann). Above the continuo are combinations of solo instruments, sometimes two violins, or violin/s and bassoon or, in one instance, two bassoons. Two of the sonatas have fuller instrumentation that includes two violins, two violas da braccia and cello.



Most of these individual works consist of strongly contrasting sections sometimes only a few bars long but occasionally quite extended, with maximum contrast between chordal and polyphonic textures. Melodies are memorable and in some instances downright Ohrwurm-like. (The bassoon tune, soon taken up by the other instruments, in Sonata 12 in G Minor, has been running through my head for days. It's a bouncy tune that is used in all registers, used in imitation and also as a ground bass, all ingeniously.) Varied moods succeed each other, often rapidly, with an emotional expressivity not often heard in baroque instrumental music.



The instrumentalists (all using period instruments) are expert. I would single out for particular praise the solo bassoonist, Sergio Azzolini, whose work I've been familiar with for some time. I had earlier praised his CD of Vivaldi bassoon concerti (and one bassoon/oboe double concerto) on the Naïve / Opus 111 label. His modern copy of a four-key 1700 bassoon has a luscious sound, and his virtuosity seems to know no bounds.



This one gets very high marks. And all the more because of my complete unfamiliarity with the composer; it is one of the joys of collecting CDs that one occasionally runs into first-rate works by unknown composers.



TT=73:00



Scott Morrison"