A true garden of delights

Gems of the Polish Baroque: music by Mikolaj Zielenski, Adam Jarzebsky, Marcin Mielczewski & Kaspar Förster

This album of early Polish Baroque music from the Ensemble Giardino Di Delizie is a true garden of delights. None of the composers' names rang a bell for me, but these two discs worth of music are full of marvellous tunes, infectious dance rhythms and a wide range of moods, from dark and brooding to bright and lively. Here is La Pazza, Sonata a 3 in D minor by Kaspar Förster, the Danzig-born composer who served for a time as kapellmeister to Frederik III of Denmark in Copenhagen. The fact that he manages to provide a small drama within these seven minutes of music is evidence of his studies with Giacomo Carissimi, and his visits to Venice, where he would likely have heard Monteverdi and Gabrieli, though both were from a previous generation.



All of these pieces have their charms, partly because of a careful choice amongst available sources, I'm sure, but also due to the scholarship of Ewa Anna Augustynowicz and the lively musical camaraderie she fosters among her ensemble. The blue jeans on the album cover are the sign of a relative informality that's always welcome in the sometimes buttoned down world of Historically Informed Practice. It's a delight!