All
bar one of the works on
this disc
are world
premiere recordings.
The quality
of music
on this CD
makes it
absolutely clear
that the
average person's
knowledge of,
and exposure to, the classical music
repertoire simply
represents the
tip of
an enormous
iceberg.
It is
quite incredible
that a
composer of
the obvious stature
of Pisendel should be so little known
and regarded (and similarly with a Hoffmeister
disc that I also recently
reviewed).
It
is interesting
to trace
the development
of violin
music in
Central Europe
from the
16th century
onwards.
The centres
of excellence
of violin
music did
not reside
in Germany
but in
Italy and
France.
It was
Heinrich Schutz
who attracted
the virtuoso
Italian violinist, Carlo
Farina, from
Mantua to
come to
Dresden in 1625
and thus began
the development
of the
violin school
there.
Nearly 90
years later
Pisendel joined
the electoral
Kapell Orchestra
in Dresden
as a
young man,
eventually taking
over as
Kapellmeister in
1730.
He is
considered by the Dresden 19th
century musical historian, Furstenau,
to be the
"first German violinist
who mastered
the whole
of the
great Italian
school and
laid the
foundations of the development of
violin-playing
in the
German Fatherland".
It
is a
great shame
that Pisendel,
like the
composer and
publisher Hoffmeister,
should have
written so
little music
due to
the pressure
of work
elsewhere;
as the director
of the
Dresden orchestra,
he was more
concerned with
violin playing
and directing music
than composing.
The disc contains
two violin sonatas
which are
indisputably by
Pisendel, the sonatas
in D
major and
E minor.
Some of the scores
of music in the
Dresden music library are
entirely in
Pisendel’s hand
but not autographed
by him.
Scholars presume
that much
of this
music is
indeed by
Pisendel himself and
on this CD we
have two
other violin sonatas,
both in E
flat, which
are presumed
to be
by
him. Also included on this CD, and
of much interest, is a sonata for solo
violin by Pisendel. Research seems to
suggest that he may have known and possibly
been influenced by the unaccompanied
violin work of Bach, a composer he met
as a young man in Weimar. Other sonatas
included here are one
in C by Pisendel’s contemporary
and role model, Johann David
Heinichen, and
one in B (No. 6) by
a younger
contemporary Johann
Adolf Hasse.
Also on this disc is a
harpsichord sonata
by J.S. Bach’s
eldest son, Wilhelm
Friedemann Bach,
who lived
for many
years in
Saxony, demonstrating
the influence
of the
Dresden School
developed by Pisendel, albeit
this time
for harpsichord
rather than
violin.
Although
Pisendel’s music
is very
characteristic
of the
period,
it does have
a certain
individuality.
It should
be pointed
out that
these violin
sonatas are
not sonatas
in the
modern sense
of the
term,
as they are not written for
violin and
solo keyboard
instrument but
for a combination
of instruments - cello,
lute,
theorbo, harpsichord
and so on - all accompanying the violin.
In some cases
they begin
to resemble
miniature concertos.
These works do
not have
the exhilaration,
excitement and
boundless energy
that one
associates with
the composers Telemann
and Vivaldi
(the latter
composer well-known
to Pisendel as
he visited
him in
Italy).
However they
have an
elegance and
refinement which
repays repeated
hearings.
Much of this
grace and refinement
must be
put down
to the
excellence of
the playing,
especially by
Martina Graulich
on the
Baroque violin,
and one is grateful
that these world
premiere recordings
have received
such sympathetic
and idiomatic performances.
This disc comes
highly recommended.
Em Marshall
see also
Johann
Georg PISENDEL (1687-1755)
Violin Sonatas Sonata
for violin and bc in D [10:04] Sonata
for violin solo in a minor [12:44] Sonata
for violin and bc in e minor [11:22]
Sonata for violin and bc in c minor
[12:12] Sonata for violin and bc in
g minor [14:37] 
Anton Steck, violin; Christian Rieger,
harpsichord (period instruments) Recorded
in April 2003 at the Studio of the Deutschlandfunk,
Cologne, Germany. DDD
CPO 999 982-2 [61:11] [JV]
Sonatas
by one of the greatest violinists of
Bach’s time – fascinating music in a
brilliant performance ... see
Full Review.
