Jan Dismas Zelenka - 6 Sonatas ZWV 181

Jan Dismas ZELENKA (1679-1745) 

6 Sonatas ZWV 181

a 2 oboi, fagotto e 2 bassi obligati

Collegium 1704:

Xenia Löffler, Michael Bosch (oboe)

Jane Gower (bassoon)

Helena Zemanová (violin)

Luděk Braný (double bass)

Shizuko Noiri (lute)

Václav Luks (harpsichord)

Recorded: 3-5 March / 8-10 July 2016

Recording Venue: Church of St. Simon and Jude, 

Prague, Czech Republic

The collection of six sonatas by Jan Dismas Zelenka is composed- with the exception of the third sonata that includes the violin- for a pair of oboes, bassoon, and basso continuo. In the context of Baroque chamber music, this represents a true rarity. Here, Zelenka elevates the sonata da camera to a genre of enormous technical difficulty for the performers, making great demands especially on the wind players, and the composer confronts his listeners with a most intimate personal statement. Zelenka's sonatas are exceptional works in the repertoire of Baroque chamber music, but because of their great difficulty, they appear only occasionally in concert programmes. Recordings of these sonatas are equally rare. The last complete recording of all six sonatas on historical instruments was made over twenty years ago by Ensemble Zefiro in 1993, so this new recording by the Prague-based ensemble Collegium 1704, known for their excellent Zelenka interpretations and recordings, has been eagerly awaited.

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These ensemble sonatas, designated as being for "2 oboi (violino) e 2 bassi obbligati," were among the first works by the Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka to reach Western audiences, having been rediscovered by oboist Heinz Holliger in the 1970s. Still, they are not common works, and this new version by the Czech-based (although in this chamber recording, thoroughly international) early music group Collegium 1704, named for the year Zelenka came on the scene in Prague, is most welcome. The "2 bassi obbligati" consist of a bassoon and a continuo group, here a hefty trio of double bass, lute, and director Václav Luks' harpsichord. In outward shape, five of the six sonatas follow the four-movement, slow-fast-slow-fast layout popularized by Arcangelo Corelli, but a closer look reveals a composer who probably knew the music of Vivaldi and Bach well and was thinking along very similar lines by the early 1720s, when these works were probably composed. The fifth concerto, with its octave orchestral passages breaking out into ornate solos, shows the clear influence of Vivaldi, and the virtuosity of the solo wind writing is rivaled only by that of Vivaldi during this period. Bachian counterpoint is everywhere, with many of the solos consisting of unique and intricate oboe-bassoon duos. Sample the gigue finale of the fourth sonata to hear these, and also to hear how Zelenka intersperses among the gigue rhythms little breaks of a more cadenza-like character. The overall lengths of the sonatas themselves are also noteworthy. Luks' ornate, but never overdone, harpsichord continuo realizations are another major draw here, as is the comprehensive booklet that, among other things, describes (but doubts) a theory that these sonatas contain coded homosexual messages. A major Baroque release of music by a composer who looks better and better with each passing decade.