The glowing incandescence of Austrian mid-baroque instrumental music could hardly be more effectively demonstrated than in the choice of repertoire and the performances on this disc. The harmonically sumptuous and tonally exotic programme is shared between the Vienna court musician, Schmelzer, and his younger Bohemian contemporary, Biber. Few if any of the pieces here are new to the catalogue but I can think of only one alternative approach – that of Nikolaus Harnoncourt – that matches feeling for tonal colour and expressive nuance shown here by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra Consort. The Schmelzer items have been selected from a variety of sources, among them the Duodena selectarum sonatarum (1659), while the sonatas by Biber belong to his first published work, the Sonatae tam aris, quam aulis servientes (1676). The menu has been thoughtfully chosen, capitalizing upon the vivid contrasts that exist at the two extremes, between the scintillating trumpet-dominated pieces by Biber, on the one hand, and Schmelzer’s affecting Sonata sopra la morte Ferdinand III on the other. Emperor Ferdinand was Schmelzer’s musically gifted employer, and his death in 1657 prompted not only this outstandingly beautiful piece by his Hofkapellmeister but also a comparable impressive keyboard Lamentation by his court organist, Froberger. This sonata is the most touching of Schmelzer’s three elegiac pieces assembled here, all of which however are harmonically distinctive and of sustained interest.
Biber’s Sonatae tam aris are in the church sonata tradition and call to mind Schmelzer’s Sacro-profanus concentus musicus (1652). The first and last sonatas of the set, both included here, contain parts for two trumpets, as does the Seventh Sonata, largely built upon a ground-bass. The Fourth and Tenth Sonatas, on the other hand, call for a single trumpet, while the remaining two on the disc, the Sixth and Eighth, are purely string textured. Violas play a significant role in all but one of them (No. 7), providing a vital element in Biber’s skilfully deployed and colourfully contrasted instrumental groupings.
The Freiburg musicians seem to revel in the wonderfully varied sonorities inherent in Biber’s consort textures, responding sympathetically to the composer’s colourfully imaginative tonal palette. The sonatas with trumpet are likely to make instant appeal but it is the more sorrowful utterances of Schmelzer which make a deeper impression on my senses. A fine release, with a scholarly introduction by Peter Wollny.'