Outstanding violin music from Vienna

Aurora Germanica: music by Biber, Capricornus, Schmelzer, Krieger, Vilsmayr, Westhoff

I've spent a lifetime as a classical music lover on the lookout for the next obscure composer who's about to make it big. It happens occasionally: Florence Price is starting to get attention, which is very much deserved. Before that there was CPE Bach, Clara Schumann, Heinrich Biber, Carlo Gesualdo. The early Baroque is a good place to look, and this new disc on the Chateau de Versailles label has a number of composers that are new to me. One of them, the Bohemian Samuel Capricornus (1628-1675), has struck my fancy. 

Now Capricornus has his own Wikipedia page, with more than a few recordings listed, so this is on me for not recognizing his value before. On the evidence of the sonata from the second book of his Prothimia Suavissima played here, Capricornus is an imaginative composer who indeed could become as well known as his contemporary Heinrich Biber (1644-1704). Works by Capricornus can be found on albums by Chatham Baroque, Agave Baroque and the baroque string ensemble ACRONYM. There's even a group named Capricornus Ensemble Stuttgart. Pay attention, Dean!

Biber is the best-known name in the group on Aurora Germanica, a fine collection of music by composers closely connected with the court at Vienna. He was one of the composers who imported from Italy a new way of using the violin as a solo instrument. Virtuosity is an important part of the innovations of the German violin composers, but just as important are the expressive capabilities of the instrument, which in Biber's case can go beyond the purely musical, becoming transcendently spiritual.

Biber is joined here by one of his pupils, Johann Joseph Vilsmayr, whose Artificiosus Concentus pro Camera for solo violin points the way to J.S. Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin. This is a work that deserves to be played much more often, perhaps in a Bach concert to demonstrate how first steps can evolve into works of genius.

Otherwise we have music by Johann Paul von Westhoff, Johann Philipp Krieger and the much better-known Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. All of these works are played beautifully on a lovely sounding violin made by Christian Liebel in 1758 by Louise Ayrton. She has fine support from her continuo group: Salomé Gasselin, alto de viole; Lucie Chabard, harpsichord & organ; Sergio Bucheli, archlute & guitar; and Gauthier Broutin, cello. A highly recommended release!

The photo of Louise Ayrton on the album cover is by Hubert Caldaguès.

Here is the Samuel Capricornus sonata; isn't this wonderful? And lest you think of him as a One Hit Wonder, there's also a very fine Ciaconna from his Partiturbuch Ludwig. I love me a Chaconne! Enjoy!