For this recording of music by Buxtehude, Jonathan Cohen, founder of the ensemble Arcangelo, is joined by a distinguished trio, including two regulars on the Alpha label, Sophie Gent and Thomas Dunford, alongside the gambist Jonathan Manson. Although Dietrich Buxtehude is famous above all for his organ music and cantatas, and for the long journey the young Bach undertook to meet him, his chamber music is virtually unknown. In the mid-1690s, at the height of his fame, Buxtehude published two collections in rapid succession, each comprising seven sonatas for violin, viola da gamba and basso continuo. It is the works of the first collection (1694) – designated Opus 1 in the print – that Arcangelo has recorded here. These sonatas are characterised by pronounced experimental features in both the scoring and the handling of the instruments.
This exquisitely balanced recording instantly captures the sense of conversation between the instrumental parts, highlighting the egalitarian approach of Buxtehude's melodic writing. What's more, the content of these conversations allows us to gloimpse the composer's esteemed artistic stature in miniature...Let's hope a sequel is due.
A factor that has allowed Arcangelo to be so adaptable is the ever-effective policy of employing to-rate musicians; and, with violinist Sophie Gent and gambist Jonathan Manson proving master of this music’s sometimes virtuoso demands and Thomas Dunford among the most sought-after continuo lutenists of the moment, the standards here are as high as ever.
For those who may think of Buxtehude mostly as a dusty precursor to the great baroque composers, the sensuousness and joy of the music on this disc will come as a very pleasing surprise...Sophie Gent’s violin and Jonathan Manson’s viol chase, imitate and dance with each other, while Cohen and the lutenist Thomas Dunford provide buoyantly beautiful accompaniments, full of detail yet light as air.
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