Search - Franz Vitzthum, Les Escapades :: Ich Willin Friede Fahren - Sacred Music

Here's a Whole Sheaf of Discoveries

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 07/16/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Four young German women, one of whom is an old friend, founded 'Les Escapades' in 2000, but I've been remiss in hearing their few recordings. This one is brand new in 2009, and it's sensational. I had begun to assume that one had to be English to play the viol da gamba -- or else a Savall -- but Franziska Finckh, Sabine Kreutzberger, Barbara Pfeifer, Adina Scheyling, and Barbara Leitherer have proven otherwise. What's more, they've recovered a whole repertoire of gamba consort music by Austrian and German composers that needs to be heard. The best known of them is H.I.F. Biber, whose suite of 'Balletti Lamentabili' for gamba quartet is completely unlike his famous sonatas for violin scordatura and continuo; the balletti are meditative explorations of counterpoint rather than fiery display pieces. The other gamba ensemble selections on this CD are by Giovanni Legrenzi, David Funck, and Clemens Thieme, the protegé of Heinrich Schütz.



This recording also introduces a fine young counter tenor, Franz Vitzthum, a student of Kai Wessel. Vitzthum, in my opinion, has a naturally more ample voice and more relaxed technique than his teacher. On this CD, he joins the gambists and continuo player Wiebke Weidenz in five small masterworks of "Sacred Music" by Johan Krieger, Johan Ahle, Giovanni Rigatti, Hapsburg Emperor Ferdinand III, and Heinrich Bach, the great-uncle of Johan Sebastian Bach. Don't let the obscurity of these composers deter you from listening to their music; they were all extremely competent at their art.



This is a performance, essentially, of music for 'spiritual' meditation -- gentle, mellifluous, yet deep-running in musical ideas."