Search - Zelenka, Thuri, Hoskovec :: Trio Sonatas 1-3

The Best of a Small fFeld

T. Porges | Washington DC, USA | 11/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Hollinger-led group on ECM probably has the most listeners, and the Camerata Bern box is the best deal out there, but this little gem, way way out of print, is more musical than the others, IMHO, and the most attentive to what makes this the woodwind equivalent to the Goldberg Variations, and also what makes Zelenka distinct from other "Baroque" composers.



Hollinger seems to want to reinvent Zelenka as Telemann, and presents him as relentlessly bouncy and harmonically uninteresting. If your favorite playing of the Goldberg Variations is Gould's really late one, then this will likely be your choice playing of the first three Trio Sonatas. Sadly, you'll go nuts looking for the companion disc of the other three, but there are copies out there. I don't doubt some early-instrument purists will say this version is too schmaltzy and modern, but to me it sounds more musical, more revealing of what's there in the score. If you ansolutely cant find this, the Camerata Bern box is, as noted, fine and solid, really worth listening too, but not quite as much as what's here."