Study Music - 8 February 2019

Opening this morning's listening, Music Antiqua Koln with a selection of German Chamber Music Before Bach (which is the album title funnily enough). It is mostly a collection of Sonatas, which meant something a little different in these early Baroque times to the more famous idea of a Sonata in Classical and Romantic periods. There is some ephemeral quality missing in these pieces, I'm sure musicologists don't find it so hard to define, but for me it's the stamp of JS Bach. That absence is not a lack however, it may even be a boon as the composers were not moulded by one man's genius and influence into something else but were what they were.

The sonatas are beautiful, I particularly love the one by Buxtehude who has over the past few years become a favourite early composer of mine. An exciting discovery for me though is Johann Paul Von Westhoff's Sonata 'La guerra', which has more movements than any of the others on the album, but they're all quite short. Each movement is very distinct in mood and the piece overall is a musical journey I hope to take again.

The last third of the album is devoted to Pachabel, the man who wrote that blasted Canon that eclipsed all the other work he did, which was a lot. Music Antiqua Koln sets some of that right with this recording of his Partie (Suite) in G, which surely rivals any suite Bach wrote. It is a sweet suite, rich in texture and tone, and nothing like the (in)famous Canon - which immediately follows it on this recording. It is a lively and swift rendition, much better than those slow schmaltzy ones that have made it as hated as it is loved. In fact, this version of the Canon may help you fall back in love with what is, after all, a very good piece of music. And, of course, being a decent group and great album, after the Canon comes the Gigue - they were written as a pair - and the Gigue is wonderful.

Inspired by Westhoff's La guerra sonata I looked for more of his music for the next album to listen to. I found a recording of a set of six Solo Partitas for violin performed by Gunar Letzbor. It was a good album, I enjoyed the music but it did drift into the background (which is good when studying of course). Two movements did stand out, a Sarabande from the Partita in A minor was the best, very emotive, and I added it to my Swoon playlist - not something that usually happens to Sarabandes. The other was the final movement on the whole album, a Gigue in D. Apparently I like Gigues.