Petri Tapio Mattson, Markku Mäkinen, Eero Palviainen - Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Georg Muffat: A Virtuoso faceoff (SACD)
- Product Code: ABCD 311
Virtuosos Face Off
The new album A Virtuoso faceoff features music by two major Baroque composers, Heinrich Biber (1644–1704) and Georg Muffat (1653–1704). The composers’ careers overlapped in the 1670s and 1680s at the court of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg—both were undisputed virtuosos on their respective instruments, albeit perhaps in slightly different ways. Muffat was one of the most cosmopolitan musical figures in the German-speaking world of the 17th century. Biber’s image as a composer was clearly more unified and Germanic than Muffat’s.
The outward-looking spontaneity and compositional style that makes use of technical virtuosity in Biber’s music appeal to many modern listeners as well. On the other hand, there may also be those who prefer the gentler aesthetic values and virtuosity of Muffat’s music.
The album features Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s Sonata in A major for violin and basso continuo, Sonata in C minor for violin and basso continuo, and Fantasia in D major for violin in scordatura and basso continuo, as well as Georg Muffat’s Toccata II for organ, Toccata VII for organ, Passacaglia in G minor for organ, and Sonata in D major for violin and basso continuo.
FORMAT: SACD
