Johann David Heinichen was a contemporary of Bach and one of an important group of musicians employed by the Dresden court during the 1720s and 1730s. As well as being an inventive composer, Heinichen was also a noted theorist and his treatise on the continuo bass was widely admired, earning him the sobriquet ''The Rameau of Germany'' in Charles Burney's History of Music.
All the music collected here was probably written for the excellent Dresden court orchestra and most of it falls into that rewarding category in which north and central German composers were pre-eminent—the Gruppenkonzerte employing a variety of solo instruments. Vivaldi had provided effective models but the predilection for drawing upon other influences, too, gives the concertos of the Germans greater diversity. Heinichen admittedly does not so readily venture into the Polish regions whose folk-music gives such a piquancy to Telemann's concertos and suites, but the wonderful variety of instrumental colour and deployment of alternating 'choirs' is every bit as skilful. My attention was held from start to finish.
Much of the credit for this must go to Reinhard Goebel and his impeccably drilled Cologne Musica Antiqua. Some of these pieces might well seem less entertaining in the hands of less imaginative musicians. But I found that Goebel's concept of how this repertory should be brought to life both convincing and irresistibly lively. It would be untruthful to claim that everything here is of uniform interest; there is an element of routine passagework, especially in the wind writing from time to time—it can be felt in the opening movement of the C major Concerto on the second CD, but by far the greater amount of this music is of high interest and very entertaining. Each concerto fields its own distinctive wind group drawing variously upon recorders, flutes, oboes, bassoons and horns, the latter always in pairs, in addition to concertante parts in many of them for one or more violins and cellos.
The Concertos in G major (S214 and 215)—two versions of the same piece—and another G major work (S213) with its French galanteries and Italian air make particular appeal. This last-mentioned concerto is published by Eulenburg in miniature score (372), though alas, as a three-movement work without the concluding air and dances, since the Editor considered them pieces d'occasion.
There is little need to say more. This is not only a welcome and refreshing break from interminable recordings of main-stream baroque repertory, but also an immensely worthwhile project in its own right. The same needs to be done now for some of Heinichen's colleagues and only then, if at all, shall we be able to hold our heads high and claim with confidence that we can tell our Heinichen from our Graupner or Stolzel. The recorded sound is first-rate, with a wider perspective than has been customary with Archiv issues, and Goebel's painstaking essay is fascinating to read. An outstanding release for which many thanks to all concerned.'