GRAMOPHONE - Playing from a facsimile of the original publication, the spirited allegros during Sonata II in F major offer zesty panache but never at the expense of clarity, and elsewhere there are judicious contrasts, such as compelling storminess, battling assertiveness, exquisite gentility and convivial sunniness...
MUSIKWEB - With these performances you can't go wrong. The contrasts are very well worked out, and the ensemble is immaculate...
classical-music - This disc leaves us in no doubt about their disciplined ensemble playing and their feeling for lively characterisation if, on occasion, at the expense of gentler inflections...
THE STRAD, 05 April 2014 - Performing with taste and refinement, the players transform each sonata into a kind of wordless mini-drama, revealing many fine interior details...
CONCERTO 254 / März-April 2014 - In solchen Passagen werden bei Ars Antiqua die Bögen zum Florett, die instrumentalen Duette zu Duellen, die Erregung fängt Feuer. Erst recht in der rasant angegangenen sechsten Sonate in a-Moll, deren einleitendem Allegro Primarius Letzbor mit aufs zweigestrichene 11 ’hochgeschmierten’ Glissandi eine Prise Teufelsgeiger-Würze verpasst...
KLASSIK.COM 01/2014 - Ebenso komplexe wie klanglich edle Kammermusik von Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber in einer engagierten und intensiven Deutung durch Gunar Letzbors Ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria...
CLASSICS TODAY.COM - Like their previous efforts, the performances here are characterized by crisp articulation, imaginative rhythmic and dynamic diversity, lively tempos, and of course, peerless ensemble...
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/biber-fidicinium-sacro-profanum-sonatas-i-xii
Author: David Vickers
First-class recordings of Biber’s Mystery (Rosary) Sonatas are hardly rarities but there are fewer sets of Fidicinium sacro-profanum (Les Plaisirs du Parnasse or the Purcell Quartet’s broader survey spring to mind). The collection of 12 sonatas was printed in Nuremburg in 1683 (Gunar Letzbor’s engaging and personal essay gets the facts right but Challenge Classics inexplicably prints 1682 several times). The first half of the collection is set in five parts, for two violins, two violas and basso continuo, realised on this occasion by violone, archlute and keyboard; the second half of the collection dispenses with the second violin and confines itself to four-part polyphonic textures in which the florid double violas play a vibrant part.
Ars Antiqua Austria have laboured at Biber’s ‘sacred-profane fiddling’ for 25 years until eventually deciding that their interpretations were ready for this compelling recording. Playing from a facsimile of the original publication, the spirited allegros during Sonata II in F major offer zesty panache but never at the expense of clarity, and elsewhere there are judicious contrasts, such as compelling storminess (the agitated climax to Sonata III in D minor), battling assertiveness (the rapid dotted passage that ends Sonata V in C major), exquisite gentility (the conclusion to Sonata IV in G minor) and convivial sunniness (the Italianate opening of Sonata X in E major). Sometimes slow minor-key passages are loudly exaggerated where softer understatement might have served the music better, although the chromatic central Adagio in Sonata XII in C minor has melancholic poignancy.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2014/Sep14/Biber_ sonatas_CC72575p.htm
Heinrich Ignaz Franz VON BIBER (16441704)
Fidicinium SacroProfanum
The music of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber is quite popular among violinists and string ensembles as well as audiences. However, as Gunar Letzbor rightly points out in his liner notes, the interest is a little onesided: it is the Rosary (or Mystery) Sonatas in particular which attract performances. The music for instrumental ensemble is less frequently played, let alone recorded. The collection of twelve sonatas which is the subject of this disc has been recorded complete only a few times. If the information at the Heinrich Biber Discography is correct, it has been recorded only three times before.
The collection was published in 1683 and bears the title Fidicinium SacroProfanum tam choro, quam foro pluribus fidibus concinnatum et concini aptum. In translation: «Music sacred and profane for stringed instruments, arranged with art for the court and for the church." Today we tend to make a clear distinction between the sacred and the profane, but that was not the case in the pre romantic era. There are many examples of secular music adapted to sacred texts without fundamental changes, such as Bach’s secular cantatas. Some German hymns were originally written to a secular text. This explains why these sonatas include polyphonic sections in stile antico, but also sections with a theatrical character. The sense of contrast is emphasized by the relative shortness of each section. The Sonata III in d minor, for instance, takes less than three minutes in this recording, but comprises no fewer than six different sections. Although there are no names of dances, some have the form of a dance.
The set is divided into two halves. The first six sonatas are in five parts, with two violins, two violas and violone plus basso continuo. The remaining sonatas are in four parts, but not as one would probably expect for two violins and one viola, but the other way round. In the Germanspeaking world it was quite common to give relatively greater weight to the lower parts. From Germany we know sonatas with even three or four parts for violas or viole da gamba. In the first half the four string instruments are treated on strictly equal terms. It is often hardly possible to tell the two violins apart, also because they often imitate each others motifs. In the second part the violin has been given a little more prominence. Even so, these twelve sonatas are fundamentally ensemble pieces.
The playing time of this disc is rather short. In comparison to other recordings the individual sonatas are also rather short, probably due to a different approach to repeats. In the score which I found on the internet I could not see any indications that some sections have to be repeated. This subject is not mentioned in Letzbor's liner notes. With these performances you can't go wrong. The contrasts are very well workedout, and the ensemble is immaculate. The theatrical episodes in particular are given more weight than I remember from other performances I have heard over the years. These compelling sonatas are performed by musicians who have a thorough knowledge of the composer and his historical context.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musicadeidonum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
http://www.classical-music.com/review/biber-fidicinium-sacro-profanum
Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum (Sacred and Secular Music) was Biber’s last sonata publication and has received less attention from record companies than some of the earlier collections of sonatas, suites and balletti. Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum was issued in about 1682 and consists of 12 sonatas. Six of them are scored for two violins, two violas and continuo while the remaining six (Nos 7-12) dispense with one of the violins. These wonderfully varied pieces reveal Biber’s consummate skill in writing chamber music as well as the diverse traditions upon which he drew. He was a contemporary of Corelli whose manner, both technical and expressive, is mildly evoked in the penultimate C minor Sonata. There are also echoes elsewhere of Biber’s contemporary Georg Muffat.
Gunar Letzbor and his Ars Antiqua Austria are among pre-eminent artists in bringing to life the Austrian and Bohemian music of the 17th century. This disc leaves us in no doubt about their disciplined ensemble playing and their feeling for lively characterisation if, on occasion, at the expense of gentler inflections. In some respects the B minor Sonata, with which Biber begins his opus, is the most interesting. Variation technique, whose diversely treated refrain is contained in an elegiac Adagio, forms its basis from which emerges colourful gestures, surprising harmonic shifts and expressive contrasts. To a greater or lesser extent these features recur in the remaining sonatas whose individuality is often strengthened by the rhythms of folk music.
Nicholas Anderson
The Strad's experts evaluate the latest string recordings
Biber: Fidicinium sacro-profanum
Saturday, 05 April 2014
Ars Antiqua Austria’s investigation of Biber’s instrumental music continues with Fidicinium sacro-profanum (1683), twelve sonatas scored for one or two violins, two violas and continuo. Combining sacred and secular styles, these brief sonatas subdivide into two groups of six, the first in five and the second in four parts.
Gunar Letzbor and Friedrich Kircher form a matching violin partnership in the first six sonatas and receive alert, colourful and stylish support in realising Biber’s intricate polyphony. Tempo changes are effortlessly negotiated – little is ill considered or misjudged. The ensemble’s vigorous, dramatic and sometimes highly extrovert readings make compelling listening, particularly when quiet, sober or cantabile sections are sharply contrasted with incisive and abrasively invigorating playing, percussive noises and so on, notably in parts of Sonatas nos.2, 3 5 and 6.
Letzbor’s contribution is particularly strong in personality in Sonatas nos.7–12. Performing with taste and refinement, the players transform each sonata into a kind of wordless mini-drama, revealing many fine interior details. Highlights for me are their lucidly balanced part-playing in no.7, their realisation of Biber’s adventurous harmony in nos.8 and 9, and their deft characterisation of sharply contrasting sections in no.11.
The recording is clean and vibrant, with enough background resonance to give the music a sense of space.
ROBIN STOWELL
CONCERTO 254 / März-April 2014
ÄQUILIBRISTIK DER GEGENSÄTZE
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber: Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum. Ars Antiqua Austria, Ltg. Gunar Letzbor (V1.). Challenge Chssics (72575) (p) 2013 (Vertrieb New Arts International) SACD
Da schlägt gleich mal der Blitz ein: Die beiden Allegro-Takte zu Beginn von Bibers erster Fidicinium-Sonate mit ihren gezackt umspielten Dreiklangsbrechungen klingen wie ein Stromstoß. Solche Hochspannung charakterisiert eine Qualität der Einspielung Gunar Letzbors mit seiner Ars Antiqua Austria: das enorme Energiepotenzial hinter wechselnden Klang- und Ausdruckskulissen, vom cholerisch-barocken Temperament über sonor-satte Intensität bis zur attackierenden Stile concitato-Verve. Doch erfreulicherweise Überspannen die Interpreten die Streicher-mit-Generalbass-Werke nicht zu einer Folge von Elektroschocks. Sie können auch anders: Gemessen organisch atmet die Phrasierung etwa in den Alla-breve-Teilen der vierten Sonate, hör- und spürbar werden die Regungen zarten Gemüts. Die elfte Sonate ebenso wie den Schlussteil der zwölften prägt ein entspannt fließendes Spiel - bis das gigueartige Zwölfachteltakt-Finale (Sonate XI) mit seinen heftig pulsierenden Tonrepetitionen im interpretatorischen Schrapnellstil bedacht wird, bis die beiden akkordischen Schlusstakte der zwölften Sonate energisch dreinfahren.
Es ist also die Kunst der Übergangslosen Affekt-Kontraste, die Letzbor und sein Ensemble dank präziser Differenzierung und perfekter Äquilibristik der Gegensätze zu dramatischer Wirkung steigern. Zu beobachten auch in der fünften Sonate, wo das freundliche C-Dur in ein battaglia-artiges Finalallegro mit martialisch punktierten Sechzehntel-Repetitionen mündet. In solchen Passagen werden bei Ars Antiqua die Bögen zum Florett, die instrumentalen Duette zu Duellen, die Erregung fängt Feuer. Erst recht in der rasant angegangenen sechsten Sonate in a-Moll, deren einleitendem Allegro Primarius Letzbor mit aufs zweigestrichene 11 ’hochgeschmierten’ Glissandi eine Prise Teufelsgeiger-Würze verpasst. Andererseits werden namentlich die Adagio-Passagen der Sonaten mit ihren chromatischen Durchgängen und Vorhalten in aus- und eindrucksvoller Instrumental-Kantabilität affettuos ausgesungen. Dabei verleiht der Unterschied zwischen Letzbors forsch-fülligem Ton und dem silbrigen Glanz Friedrich Kirchers im zweiten Violinpart dem Klanggeflecht eine individualisierende Note - wenn auch manchmal um den Preis eines dynamischen Gefälles.
In der zweiten Hälfte der insgesamt zwölf Sonaten seiner 1683 gedruckten Sammlung reduziert Biber die Besetzung um eine der bei den Violinen, wechselt von der Fünf- zur Vierstimmigkeit mit einer relativ hoch geführten ersten Viola und einer bisweilen konzertant figurierenden Violine. In beiden Besetzungsvarianten reichen die Musiker in exzellent verzahnter Interaktion die Bälle weiter - erstaunlich etwa, wie bruchlos sich Violine und erste Viola in der zwölften Sonate die hoquetusartig auf beide Stimmen verteilten Sechzehntel servieren. Formal bleibt Biber zwar dem Sonatentyp des 17. Jahrhunderts mit seinen in Affekt, Satztechnik, Takt und Tempo kontrastierenden Abschnitten verhaftet, doch Überschreitet er die bloße Reihung durch motivische Korrespondenzen und eine integrierend wirkende, die meisten Sonatenglieder (insbesondere im fünfstimmigen ersten Teil) beherrschende Imitatorik. Mit hoher Transparenz und präziser Dramaturgie der Spielweisen, Temporelationen und Ausdruckssphären verleiht die prächtig präsent klingende Aufnahme just diesem Binnengeflecht der Werke eine geradezu theatralische Plastizität.
Martin Mezger
KLASSIK.COM 05.01.2014
Kritik von Dr. Matthias Lange, 05.01.2014
Österreichische Schätze
Ebenso komplexe wie klanglich edle Kammermusik von Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber in einer engagierten und intensiven Deutung durch Gunar Letzbors Ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria.
Das instrumentale Repertoire des reifenden Barock ist in Österreich, zumal im Umfeld des kaiserlichen Hofes, außerordentlich reich: Maßstäbliches findet sich von Fux, Muffat, Bertali, Caldara, Schmelzer und vielen anderen. Etliches davon haben der österreichische Geiger Gunar Letzbor und sein exquisites Ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria im Lauf der Jahre aufgenommen. Aktuell liegt nun eine Deutung vor, die sich in diese Reihe nahtlos einfügt: Letzbor hat sich dem 1682 veröffentlichten ‚Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum‘ von Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber zugewandt.
Die zwölf Sonaten der Sammlung für Streicherensemble sind feinste Kammermusik, geprägt von individueller Satzkunst, in höchster Expressivität bewegt und doch in ein dichtes kontrapunktisches Netz eingewoben. Diese strukturellen Qualitäten setzt Biber souverän ein, weiß sie klug zu disponieren. Denn es ist schon sehr auffällig, wie gebändigt diese Komplexität wirkt, wie deutlich Biber das Geschehen mit prägnanten Figuren und Motiven, mit scharf konturierten rhythmischen Momenten fasslich zu gestalten weiß. Musik mit einiger Ambition also, dazu hochkonzentriert.
Stupende Stilisten
Gunar Letzbor bekennt in seinem einführenden Text, dass es dem Ensemble lange schwer gefallen sei, Bibers fein ausbalancierte Sätze zu einem echten Erfolg in den Konzerten der Formation zu machen. Heute jedenfalls, so viel lässt sich nach dem Hören der Platte sagen, kann man sich etwas anderes als Begeisterung des Publikums nur mehr schwer vorstellen. Wie auf mancher Vorgängerplatte begeistern die Instrumentalisten mit ihrem hochintensiven Spiel, mit ihrer hochklassigen kammermusikalischen Interaktion, mit der schönen Balance der Stimmen. Alles wirkt ausgewogen disponiert, alle Stimmen geben Bibers feinem Klangsinn viel Raum. Zugleich erweisen sich die versierten Stilisten als Meister der entschlossenen Attacke: An rhythmischer Präzision, explosiver Tongebung und punktgenauer Kraftentfaltung macht der Formation so leicht niemand etwas vor. Natürlich lebt das Geschehen von der außerordentlich reich nuancierten Artikulation, auch das klare, spannungsvoll geordnete Tableau der Tempi liefert wichtige Impulse für die Interpretation. Das Ergebnis ist eine echte Ensembledeutung – lebendig, vibrierend, klangvoll.
Ars Antiqua Austria hat sich eine enorme Expertise in der Instrumentalmusik des österreichischen Barock erworben und belebt auch diesen hochkomplexen Zyklus überzeugend. Es ist bemerkenswert, wie kontinuierlich hier auf hohem Niveau am Repertoire gearbeitet wird.
Biber’s Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum Reinterpreted
Review by: John Greene
Biber’s 12 string sonatas titled Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum (Sacred and Profane fiddle music) are relatively unassuming works designed to be performed during church services. They are based primarily on the Italian church sonata form and, like other similar string settings of the period, are moderately complex yet beautiful works abundant in rich chromaticism, harmonic diversity, and textural intricacy. Whatever “profanity” inferred by the title has to do with Biber’s clever lacing of subtle dance motifs and programatic allusions throughout the sonatas that belie the limitations of the score’s typical Allegro, Adagio, Presto, etc. indications.
I’ve been a fan of Ars Antiqua Austria and its illustrious director, Gunar Letzbor, for many years. With the lone exception of their bizarre, unusually mild-mannered recording of Bach’s Orchestral Suites (Chesky), I’ve admired all of their recordings, which typically feature unfairly neglected repertoire–a prime example being a program of Georg Muffat chamber sonatas (see reviews archive)–and this one is no exception. Like their previous efforts, the performances here are characterized by crisp articulation, imaginative rhythmic and dynamic diversity, lively tempos, and of course, peerless ensemble. There are however, a few interpretive disparities, as well as generally questionable tempo choices that at times seem inappropriate for performance in an ecclesiastical setting.
Their intensely brisk rendering of the final Allegro of the 5th Sonata and the first three Allegros of the 6th Sonata (spiced with percussive violin) is certainly exciting yet hardly contextually fitting as an interlude during a Mass. Compare as well Ars Antiqua Austria’s timings with the Clemencic Consort’s premiere 1988 recording (Accord). Like Ars Antiqua Austria, the Clemencic Consort also performs on period instruments, articulate just as clearly, and benefit from excellent sound–yet their performance never has a tendency to undermine the reverential aspect of these brief, intentionally passive works. For example, Ars Antiqua Austria completes that previously mentioned 6th Sonata in 3:45; the Clemencic Consort takes 5:37. The Clemencic Consort finishes its complete cycle in 66 minutes; Ars Antiqua Austria does so in (an admittedly often thrilling) 46:40.
The sound is quite good with excellent clarity especially in the upper strings. Letzbor’s informative and enthusiastic notes (notably his often emotional telling of how this recording came to be) are a joy to read. This is Ars Antiqua Austria’s sixth Biber recording, and, taking into consideration his stunning cycle of Biber’s well-known Mystery Sonatas (see reviews archive), Letzbor’s seventh. If you’re a Biber enthusiast (and if not, why not?) and somehow are not familiar with this extraordinary ensemble and director, you’d do well to seek out some of those earlier, though now sadly out-of-circulation offerings. Recommended with reservations. -
See more at:
http://www.classicstoday.com/review/bibers-fidicinium-sacro-profanum-reinterpreted/#sthash.M5DC1Sth.dpuf