MUFFAT: Concerti Grossi Nos. 1 - 6

A former pupil of Pasquini who also came into contact with Corelli, Georg Muffat -- born in Savoy in 1653 -- was the first example of a truly international composer who brought together elements of the German, French and Italian styles. He was primarily an organist, working in cities such as Paris, Vienna and Prague, and his Apparatus musico-organisticus, to which this release is dedicated, was the largest corpus of organ works published at the time -- an enormously popular volume, to the extent that it was considered among the foremost compilations of its sort in southern Germany.

The Apparatus originally consisted of 12 toccatas, but in a later edition three pieces were added to the set: Ciacona, Passacaglia and Nova Cyclopeias Harmonica. The organist is certainly put to the test, what with the scales, the leaps, double trills and a wide variety of figures that express 'contrasting affections' in the works -- the last of which alludes to the story of Pythagoras, who discovered the foundations of musical tuning by listening to the hammering of a blacksmith on various anvils. Brilliant Classics regular, Adriano Falcioni -- whose previous recordings for the label include Duruflé's Complete Music for Choir and Organ (9264) -- performs this magnum opus with aplomb, revealing the skill of a composer who is credited with being the first musician to introduce the Italian concerto grosso and the French suite to the German-speaking countries.

Other information:
- Recorded 15--17 May 2013.
- Georg Muffat was a cosmopolitan artist. In a time when no work permits were needed he travelled Europe and worked in Strassbourg, Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Rome and ultimately in Salzburg, at the court of the Archbishop.
- Like a musical sponge he absorbed every current style of his time in his music, which contains Italian melodiousness, French ornamentations and Germany's severe structures and counterpoint. He published a volume of organ works which became immensely popular among musicians, containing a series of Toccatas, Ciaconas and Passacaglias, works of the highest technical order: the Apparatus Musico-organisticus, a survey of all instrumental and compositional tricks and accomplishments of the time.
- Adriano Falcioni, one of the foremost organists of Italy, offers impressive performances of this complete collection, showing great insight into the styles and performance practice.
- Booklet contains information on the music, artist and the organ.

MUFFAT Propitia Sydera: Concerti Grossi Nos. 8, “Coronatio Augusta”; 9 , “Victoria Mesta”; 11, “Delirium Amoris”; 12, “Propitia Sydera.” Solo Violin Sonata • Stefano Rossi (vn); Irene De Ruvo (hpd); dir; La Concordanza (period instruments) • STRADIVARIUS 33897 (55:44)


In his study of the Baroque concerto, A. J. B. Hutchings noted that Georg Muffat had composed concertos on Arcangelo Corelli’s model even before Corelli had published his own (which finally appeared only as his last opus in the second decade of the 18th century, while these concertos come from the years between 1682 and 1689) and that his works rise higher than those of Giuseppe Torelli or Francesco Geminiani—or even than second-string Vivaldi. Be that as it may, early musicographer Robert Eitner gave Muffat’s nationality not as Italian like those he admired and codified, but as Scottish. Stefano Rossi and La Concordanza have selected four of his 12 concertos and he also plays the Solo Violin Sonata in D Major (of course at the widely adopted and now almost de rigeur tuning of A = 415). Muffat also served the concerto form by making suggestions in his preface about its performance and giving specific instructions in the preface to his sonatas about their realization.


Rossi’s program opens with the Eighth Concerto, a five-movement work resembling one of Corelli’s concerti da camera in its inclusion of dance movements (as well, however, as a Sonata, and Grave). La Concordanza’s performance includes two oboes and a bassoon (as do those of the 11th and 12th concertos), and their addition adds thumping weight to the textures that make them seem far removed from the older model. But the violins still weave a flexible ribbon of sound in Corelli’s manner above the bass in the slow movement. In the Ninth Concerto, without the addition of winds in this reading, the music still sounds as though Muffat had traded some of Corelli’s elegant seriousness for a cheerful smile. This concerto again falls into five movements, with a mix of Italian titles and dance movements. In the Aria in particular, La Concordanza has pointed up Muffat’s sensitivity to the spacing of voices, creating a sense of exceptional depth (the ensemble includes not only a cello but a violone, giving its sonorities a firm foundation). The ambiance of the Villa Sacro Curoe, in which the ensemble recorded the program in December 2010 and February 2011, must also have played a part in enhancing Muffat’s textures. The winds return for the 11th Concerto, again in five mixed (dance and abstract) movements. The violins chase each other in the central Grave with a very un-Corellian playfulness; La Concordanza makes the game seem well worth the candle.


The four-movement (slow-fast-slow-fast) Violin Sonata, also based on Corelli’s models (William S. Newman suggests that Muffat wrote his sonatas after hearing Corelli’s concerti grossi in Rome), it nevertheless appears from its first movement to take a more daring approach to melody and harmony than Corelli did, though the technique and passagework required of the violinist remain similar. Playing his 1740 Henry James violin, Rossi makes the work seem a bit more reflective than did the slightly harder-edged Rachel Barton Pine in her collection of German sonatas (Cedille 112, Fanfare 33:1), although he makes a great deal of the rapid passages in the gigue-like finale (which actually ends with a repeat of the sonata’s opening in an early glance at cyclical form). The concert concludes with a performance of the 12th Concerto—almost double the length of the others due to the inclusion of an elegant Ciacona that itself lasts 9:41 in this reading and traverses a wide range of Affekten —with the winds again included.


Peter Zajícek recorded the entire dozen concerti grossi with Musica Aeterna Bratislava (Naxos 8.555096 and 8.555743), and that ensemble, with bassoon providing an underpinning for its rather tart string timbres, should provide an adequate alternative for those wishing to hear the entire set. But for those who simply wish to make the composer’s acquaintance (perhaps after reading his views on the period’s performance practice), Stradivarius’s sonorous and zestful release should provide an engaging, propitious introduction.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham

What the largely unknown name of Georg Muffat may lack in dissemination and reputation, he makes p for in incredible variety, virtuosic power, and influence, especially on the development of instrumental music. The treasure trove of Muffat, which comes to light in particular in his sonata collection “Armonico Tributo,” is what the early music ensemble Concerto Copenhagen and its director Lars Ulrik Mortensen are taking to the discographic spearhead of their 30th anniversary in 2022. Concerto Copenhagen is one of Scandinavia’s most innovative and experimental baroque orchestras. Long known and celebrated beyond the borders of Denmark, the early music ensemble delights audiences throughout Europe with exciting border crossings between early and contemporary music.

Gottlieb Muffat was the most important Viennese harpsichord composer of the 18th century. He inherited and developed a compound style that fused high Italian Baroque with the lightness of the French school. From his father, Georg – one of the greatest organ and orchestral composers of his own generation – Gottlieb absorbed a gift for ballet movements. This is the third and final volume in Naoko Akutagawa’s critically acclaimed series of Muffat’s Harpsichord Suites.