In a kind of High Baroque version of the duelling guitars from
the film ‘Deliverance’, Alba have contrived to set Heinrich
Biber and Georg Muffat against each other as rivals in a virtual
virtuoso set-piece. The evidence for this is perhaps a little
thin, but what is true is that both of these almost exact contemporaries
worked for a while at the same time in the Court of the Prince-Archbishop
of Salzburg. This period in the 1670s and 1680s gives rise to
the not unreasonable speculation that there was a “rivalry that
in all probability existed between them for the favour of their
influential employer”, presumably with the ambition of ending
up as Hofkapellmeister.
Heinrich Biber is probably best known for his ‘Mystery Sonatas’,
and the scordatura or re-tuning effects used in his frequently
highly virtuoso violin writing. The Sonata in C minor and
Fantasia in D major are thought to be early works, with
stylistic similarities to works from the early 1680s. Played
with archlute accompaniment, and in the case of the Sonata with
lute and organ, these have a rich sonority, and are pleasant
vehicles for melodic variation and a certain amount of improvisation.
Both have variation forms in second or last movement, the Sonata
in C minor having a Passagagli adagissimo which allows
for maximum exploration of a limited harmonic basis over nearly
10 minutes. The Fantasia in D major is compact, but in
its four movements is more adventurous in terms of thematic
freedom, using a structure which approaches the ‘church sonata’
as a basis for free-form contrast building. The work with which
the disc begins, the Sonata in A major, is thought to
be a later piece, written while the composer was in the service
of the Prince-Archbishop. All of the features of the earlier
works combine here with a deeper experience of composition,
with plenty of emphasis on lasting expression and harmonic inventiveness
in the adagios, allowing for alternating sections of swift violin
extroversion.
Played off against Biber, we have some of the organ inventions
of Georg Muffat. Highly skilled as a performer, Muffat was also
widely educated as a composer, and able to bring together influences
from French, German and Italian styles. His publication Apparatus
musico-organisticus published in 1690 is the source for
the Toccata pieces here, as well as the Passacaglia
in G minor. As you might expect, the toccatas are rich in
virtuoso effects, with every kind of compositional technique
thrown into the mixture. The Passacaglia employs a rondo
technique in which the variations are structured around five
repetitions of a basic refrain. At around 16 minutes this is
the longest piece on this disc, but holds plenty of intriguing
variety and invention, which only occasionally is overtly to
do with sheer keyboard dexterity. With the final work on the
disc we have the opportunity to compare like with like, Muffat’s
Sonata in D major proving very much a match for Biber’s
sonatas, and with more surprising harmonies if fewer violinistic
fireworks.
This is a very fine disc indeed, with richly recorded instruments
in a generous acoustic. The organ of the Church of St. Lawrence
in Janakkala is a modern reproduction of the Baroque instrument
in St. Cosmae in Stade, North Germany, and very fine it sounds
too. There is plenty of rich bass, and the overall sound is
rounded and refined. The ‘close to mean temperament’ gives the
occasional authentic frisson of marginal tuning, but nothing
about this recording or any of its instruments or performances
are in any way hair-shirt. Petri Tapio Mattson’s violin playing
is very fine, rather in the school of players like John Holloway
and Andrew Manze, and not afraid of some extra colour and vibrato
where appropriate. The support of both organ and lute is magnificent,
resonant and restrained. The SACD sound is particularly fine,
bringing what is already a very good stereo recording marvellously
to life and adding extra dimensions in particular to the organ,
which can otherwise become just a tad muddy through the richness
of the lower notes in the CD mix.
Whatever your opinion about the concept of the title, these
two composers complement each other superbly, and the Sonata
in D major by Georg Muffat is quite a discovery. Does bow
beat rolled-up score in this game of rock-paper-stok? Who cares,
this is sheer Baroque delight.
Dominy Clements
Petri Tapio Mattson (Baroque violin); Markku Mäkinen (organ); Eero
Palviainen (archlute) 
