The exuberantly baroque city of Dresden provides the peg on which to hang some well-contrasted string sonatas by composers associated at one time or another with its culturally sophisticated court. Venetian composer Pietro Andrea Ziani (1616-84), a contemporary of Cavalli, worked there for a couple of years in the mid-1660s. He is represented by two pieces. The music of the Austrian-born Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741) was popular in Dresden (though he never actually worked there) and this programme features an attractive Rondeau. Clemens Thieme (1631-68) and Johann Wilhelm Furchheim (?1635-82) both hailed from Dresden or its neighbouring countryside and were associated with the court Kapelle. Their music is, both rhythmically and texturally, perhaps the most interesting on the disc. What a wealth of ideas is contained in these pieces and what a civilized court it must have been, artistically at least, under all those Johann Georgs (II-IV) to have fostered such diversity and profusion of talent following the Thirty Years War.
Musica Antiqua Koln always seems to me to be at its very best when conveying the expressive variety and textural richness of seventeenth-century ensemble music. The string sound on this recital is first-rate throughout, disciplined, tonally clear with an intentional edge to it, and warmly communicative. Furchheim's Sonatas in E flat and A major bring us into close contact with the manner of Biber or Schmelzer, though in these instances without the former's virtuosity. To get the most out of this repertoire it is best to play two or three pieces at a time, rather than listen to the entire programme uninterrupted. My own favourites are Furchheim's A major Sonatella and Fux's seven-part Rondeau, played with fantasy and verve by these splendid players under Reinhard Goebel's experienced direction. Strongly commended.'