Freiburger BarockConsortHarmonia Mundi HMC 902087 *****
The New Grove describes Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (ca1620-1680) as “the leading Austrian composer of instrumental music before Biber”. And if you’ve been following the now decades-long revival of interest in Biber’s music, that description will probably be enough to whet your appetite for this CD of 11 pieces by Schmelzer. Like Biber, Schmelzer sometimes adopted scordatura, the technique of retuning string instruments, and there are extraordinary resonances in his Sonata a due violini scordati. The colour of the music can be gauged from the titles, a Battle Sonata, Polish Bagpipes, Sonata amabilis. And there are also individual movements named after characters from the commedia dell’arte. With resourceful playing from the members of the Freiburger BarockConsort, this disc is a pleasure from beginning to end.
