MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW Plain text for smartphones & printers

Support us financially by purchasing this from

Music in Dresden in the times of Augustus II the Strong
Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741)
Sonata in G minor RV 26 (ms. Dresden 1717-24) [7:49]
Johann Friedrich SCHREYFOGEL (+ ca. 1750)
Sonata No. 1 in D minor [6:11]
Johann David HEINICHEN (1683-1729)
Sonata in D major [6:51]
Johann Friedrich SCHREYFOGEL
Sonata No. 4 in G minor [7:33]
Sonata No. 3 in F major [8:11]
Felippo BENNA (+ ca. 1750)
Sonata a violino solo in F minor (ms. ca 1716/17) [6:05]
Francesco Maria VERACINI (1690-1768)
Sonata No. 7 in A major (Dresden 1721) [12:18]
Johann Friedrich SCHREYFOGEL
Sonata No. 2 in D major [6:01]
Martyna Pastuszka (violin)
Marcin Świątkiewicz (cembalo)
Krzysztof Firlus (viola da gamba)
rec. 2013, State Music School in Bielsko-Biala.
DUX 0968 [61:01]

No sooner had I let Marcin Świątkiewicz’s superb recordings of Müthel’s Piano Concertos cool down than his name cropped up on this fine looking Dux label programme. Music at the court of Dresden was, as the booklet for this release teaches us, “striking in its cosmopolitan richness”, with Italian and French styles linking to the local German polyphony. Influenced by Louis XIV’s French court, the Saxon Electors including Frederick Augustus I – later King Augustus II the Strong – who had visited the French court several times and picked up the distinctive fashions and refinement there.

The music presented here can be found in the surviving part of violinist Johann Pisendel’s library, which included music collected in or copied from Italian sources while he was there in 1716. Pisendel was leader of the Dresden Hofkapelle, and keen to present the sounds of Vivaldi, Albinoni and the like on his return. His apparently rather hasty manuscript sketches have demanded a certain amount of reconstruction, but these musicians turn this weakness into a strength, the ‘careless’ writing inviting interpretations which best bring the music to life rather than in agonising over missing features.

It’s hard to beat Vivaldi, and his Sonata in G minor kicks off the recital with real panache, allowing us to gauge the qualities of these excellent musicians from the start. Perhaps least familiar is the name of Johann Friederich Schreyfogel, about whom very little is known. Indeed, his name only appears on the first of the sonatas played here, and the others have been attributed to him as they show similarities to other known works such as his violin concertos. There are some very fine slow movements from this composer, the opening Largo of the Fourth Sonata containing some lovely passagework, the Third Sonata also leaving plenty of space for improvisation over fairly simple harmonies.

Felippo Benna is another rare figure, his ‘solo’ sonata nevertheless accompanied with harpsichord and basso continuo, the music fitting in nicely with the rest but also heightening the superb lyrical quality of Veracini’s Sonata VII which follows. There is a certain amount of virtuosity expected at several moments throughout this programme, but the high register of the central Allegro in this sonata makes it stand out.

This is a nicely chosen, well recorded and superbly performed collection of music – a highly effective representation of “this new, committed musical style [for] the concert-going public at the Dresden court.” Martyna Pastuszka’s violin playing is colourfully expressive without becoming mannered, and Marcin Świątkiewicz’s accompaniments are rich and tasteful. Krzysztof Firlus doesn’t appear in every work but his contributions are always perfectly poised and ideally balanced.

Dominy Clements

 

 



Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing