# Baroque Music Suggestions



## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Building upon my earlier thread on Medieval music, I thought it might be of some use or interest to also construct a few threads where we may post our favorites and/or discoveries in a musical era that gets a bit less attention than the 100 or so year period from Romanticism through early Modernism.

About two years ago I began to delve deep into the Baroque. I first came to classical music through Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel... and still loved them... but I recognized that my grasp of the era was nowhere near as in depth as my grasp of Romanticism and Post-Romanticism where not only was I well aware of Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, and Stravinsky... but also less-well-known composers like Hugo Wolf, Charles Koechlin, Henri Duparc, Max Bruch, Joseph Marx, Zemlinsky, etc... During my exploration of the Baroque I came to discover... re-discover... or discover in greater depth a great many composers... but for whatever reason I never got around to Johann Joseph Fux:










I'm currently listening to this disc of music by Johann Joseph Fux. I had heard his name bandied about for years... but never got around to exploring his music... not even at the height of my Baroque obsession a year or two ago. Yesterday I came upon his name again on the thread devoted to Zelenka. Hopping onto Spotify I found this and several other discs that absolutely captured me. This disc is especially lovely. I found myself thinking that the art work perfectly suited the contents. There is a "sweetness" and simplicity to the choral selections that suggest what Eric Whitacre or Morten Lauridsen strive for... but often fall short of. Perhaps this is due to Fux grasp of the complexities of Baroque musical form beneath the apparent simplicity. Whatever the case may be, I have this and two other Fux discs on order.

Any Baroque favorites... recent discoveries... or unsung heroes you'd like to call attention to? Here and Now is the place and the time.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739)'s _Requiem_ is an interesting piece. Discovering the source of Italian inspiration for Bach, Handel and many others is always revealing. That's why names like Alessandro Scarlatti, and Vivaldi for example are already recognised as Italian Baroque masters that shaped the "next generation" of composers going into 18th century Baroque before Classical.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Alessandro Marcello (1669-1747), brother of Benedetto I mentioned above, is probably more famous now for the oboe concerto in D minor, which JS Bach transcribed for solo harpsichord. A hauntingly beautiful work.


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## hocket (Feb 21, 2010)

I'm always a bit unsure in threads like these whether to mention people who are perhaps only under appreciated by people who aren't really into baroque music or whether I should go with the really obscure. The Zelenkas and Bibers are pretty widely renowned these days.

Anyway, here's a few I really like who have perhaps not acquired the superstar status I think they deserve:

Carissimi, Rosenmuller, Stradella, Saint Colombe, Charpentier, Kerll.

More obscure but still great:

Merula, Weckman, Bertali, Schelle, Bruhns, Aufschnaiter.

I always feel stupid for who I've left out of these things. What about Schein and Scheidt? William Lawes? Agostino Steffani or Caldara?

In any event, I guess my #1 Draft Pick would be Carissimi:


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## pollux (Nov 11, 2011)

I adhere to the Bruhns recommendation. If you can find the old Ricercare recording, you'll get all his surviving works contained on a 3 CD box.

I can also recommend the following:









Splendid performances of splendid violin sonatas.

And:









What a delicious record! Apart from Händel and Reinhard Keiser, it contains music by less-known composers such as Georg Caspar Schürmann, Philipp Heinrich Erlebach and Johann Christian Schieferdecker (althoug the latter is living a sort of renaissance with many new recordings).

And talking about Keiser:









This one is an absolute must. He was one of the most famous opera composers of his time and this is one of his masterpieces.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I'm always a bit unsure in threads like these whether to mention people who are perhaps only under appreciated by people who aren't really into baroque music or whether I should go with the really obscure. The Zelenkas and Bibers are pretty widely renowned these days.

Well... the idea of the thread was simply to promote Baroque music. I believe that Romanticism and Post-Romanticism into the music of the mid-20th century is well explored throughout this site, but broad blanket comments made dismissing this or that composer from the medieval period through the "classical" era has led me to suspect that a good many have rather limited experiences of those periods (as I have admitted myself, I am on something less than _terra firma_ when it comes the the classical era beyond Mozart, Haydn and a few others). Obscure names will surely interest some... but certainly do throw out those works by Zelenka, Biber... and even J.S. Bach... that you love. It has only been over the last 3 years or so that I discovered the absolute wealth of vocal/choral music of Handel, Vivaldi, and Alessandro Scarlatti... to say nothing of the whole of the French Baroque.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

You are a true master of Baroque (like me ) if you also appreciate its peak genre, and that which shaped all subsequent periods one way or another.

Let's start with a French example and a period interpretation.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Or if you prefer an English opera with some modern staging, try the following (one of the finest operas ever composed in the English language).


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Hmmm. The baroque string quartet never really existed in its current form [two violins, one viola, and one cello] until Scarlatti. Besides, it's the tedious wadings of infinite recordings of Mozart and Haydn which are probably responsible for turning me completely off baroque chamber music for years.

I've kind of rediscovered a sub-section of baroque chamber music: the flute sonata. Works by Quantz; Telemann, Bach (oh glorious JS Bach!) have really turned me on my head. Whereas I used to detest the frippy boppy middle class wig wearers with Rumpelstilskin lyrca tights and pointed shoes with oversized buckles, dancing to baroque music, I now so want to a pair of those tights to gag anyone who doesn't like baroque flute music.

If you're willing to try baroque chamber music - the Musica Ad Rhenum group (Music for the Royal Court) are really outstanding - period reproduction instruments too. As a flute player - this is so important. Nothing worse than listening to a wispy horrible silver metal Boehm flute faking baroque music instead of a proper boxwood baroque traverso. Bach never intended his music for the metal flute with typewriter keys


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## MaestroViolinist (May 22, 2012)

Head_case said:


> I've kind of rediscovered a sub-section of baroque chamber music: the flute sonata. Works by Quantz; Telemann, Bach (oh glorious JS Bach!) have really turned me on my head. Whereas I used to detest the frippy boppy middle class wig wearers with Rumpelstilskin lyrca tights and pointed shoes with oversized buckles, dancing to baroque music, I now so want to a pair of those tights to gag anyone who doesn't like baroque flute music.


I "liked" that post just for that!


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Hey - I'm serious lol.

I guess, instead of being swamped by baroque overload, which will end up with being mostly commercial overload: exposure to the most populist (and therefore vulgar) pieces of baroque music. Some of which is great, but in my experience, rarely penetrates to the spirit of baroque, and mostly meets the commercial demands for sanitised baroque.

I like the flute as an instrument: however there are so many different concepts of 'flute'. Broadly speaking, wood or non-wood (metal/plastics):










The wooden flute has a special sound. I learnt baroque music on a metal flute. Metal was never made into flutes in the baroque era. So, the baroque repertoire of the most outstanding flute composers was all designed specifically for the baroque traverso, with its pitch range from low D to 3rd octave A.

The repertoire - Quantz; his pupil, Frederick the Great; JS Bach, Georg Telemann, Johann Hass and the French school - Jean Marie Leclair; Michel Blavet, Michel de la Barre, Jacques Martin Hotteterre and Michel de Monteclair...... as well as the British school - John Stanley and George Handel (well, he was kind of British umm..?) is huge! Just for the solo flute instrument! Not to mention, all the concertos etc.

Most of it passed me by...then when I picked up the traverso again, suddenly it dawned on me......all of the nuances of the various schools are easily lost in those awful generic 'baroque flute CD collections' which lose everything, in trying to cram in everything.

I susppose I found my favourite instrument, and just started exploring the repertoire from there. Kind of a shocker for anyone who knows me to suddenly find me playing baroque music instead of 21st century screechy string quartets


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Have you ever read Quantz invaluable text _Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen_ (1752) (titled On Playing the Flute in English), a treatise on traverso flute playing. It is a valuable source of reference regarding performance practice and flute technique in the 18th century.


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Yup! I've got a copy of it - dogeared and used. 

None of the techniques covered in Quantz were ever taught to me by my primary school flute teacher. I so missed out!


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Corelli, BIber, Albinoni, Telemann, Locatelli, Rameau, Tartini and etc. Basically the slightly less popular but still known Baroque Composers. I prefer Concertos and Suites over Operas or other vocal parts. 
For Telemann I like Tafelmusik
Corelli - Concerti Grossi Op. 6 (Pinnnock) and Violin Sonatas Op. 5 (Manze)
Biber - 8 Violin Sonatas with Manze
Albinoni - Op.9 
Rameau - Complete Harpsichord Works
Tartini - Devil's Sonata and Violin Concertos
Locatelli - Concerti Grossi


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## Tero (Jun 2, 2012)

Vivaldi 
French Connection 1, 2 CDs
brand new act with Vivaldi


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Perhaps as opposed to the continual useless Mozart vs Modernism debate we might engage in more suggestions of music and/or specific performances from various eras that we found interesting... inspiring...

Right now I have Gidon Kremer's most recent recording of _Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin_ on order. Of course, as a Bach fanatic I have several other recordings of this work... but what I have been able to hear of Kremer's recording on line has been quite intriguing. One critic suggested, and I quite agree, that Kremer's recent exploration of various Modernist composers has had a clear impact upon his taker on Bach. Anyone else familar?


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I know that several times I have happened upon comments here dismissive of Telemann. I always direct the individual toward Telemann's vocal music (cantatas, motets, oratorios, etc...) which I have found quite good. But I must admit that until recently I was not overly fond of much of Telemann's instrumental music. Picking up on member Harpsichord Concerto's recommendations for HIP recordings, I purchased the following:




























I have been aware and an admirer of Elizabeth Wallfish for some time now... she is one of the finest violinists specializing in the Baroque repertoire. Her recordings of Telemann do not fail... nor do the Epoca Barocca. Perhaps I should not be surprised. CPI records... a label that specializes in many composers who fall outside of the "core repertoire" is also behind many of the finest Telemann recordings of his vocal music that I already know and love.


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## anasazi (Oct 2, 2011)

I don't know if this counts technically as Baroque or not. 

I love the music of Bach. But as a pianist I am often reminded that my instrument is not what he was used to. But yet, I still persist on playing BK1 ot the WTC and the Inventions/Sinfonias. To me a day spent without any Bach, is a day wasted. A few years ago I purchased Myra Hess's transcription of "Jesu" from OUP. And I was having difficulties just figuring out what I wanted it to sound like. Then, by fortune, I bought a CD called "Two Hands" by Leon Fleisher. On that CD, he performs the same music.

Well, his performance, even though on a modern piano/forte was so moving and so demonstrated Hess's remarkable transcription, that I began to hear it that way myself, and have attempted to pattern my playing of it to mimic Fleishers. Of course, I am no Fleisher, and of course Mr. Fleisher would be the first to admit that he is not a Baroque music specialist, but still, he seemed to offer some insight into the music that I could not resist following. 

So I would submit Leon Fleisher playing Myra Hess's transcription of Bach's chorale: "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring" as a favorite.


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