Recordings

In 1974, Holliger and a merry band of Baroque players unleashed six refreshingly oddball Trio Sonatas by hitherto-forgotten Bohemian composer Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745) onto unsuspecting turntables. “Aha,” some thought, “a neglected genius”; but as the freshness of discovery wore off, the early music movement moved on. Yet with the release of these brightly pointed, brilliantly played digital remakes by Holliger and some of the original players (their first Archiv set is out of print in the United States), you wonder why more musicians haven’t tried their hands at these sonatas. Zelenka’s invention rarely flags; the quick movements drive relentlessly in twisting, unpredictable directions; and the format-breaking Fifth Sonata is an eccentric, country-bumpkin satire unto itself. Sure, the music is technically difficult (some of the bassoon underpinnings are killers), but given today’s sky-high level of musicianship, that shouldn’t be a big obstacle.

Meanwhile, Goebel presses onward into the cobwebbed back rooms of early music with a collection of bits and pieces from nine virtually unknown (and one anonymous), mostly 17th century composers from the southern Baltic coast. But you won’t find a Zelenka-like figure hidden behind these dreary, predictable, rock-ribbed pieces that often stop dead in their tracks; only the two Johann Valentin Meder sonatas have some life in them.