Venice to Hamburg

This is the ninth Bach Players recording. Like its predecessors it shines fresh light on European music, as well as offering much immediate pleasure to listeners. Previous CDs have focused on the effects of the French style on German music (Every one a chaconne, Nun komm!, and Bach’s library), the repercussions of Italian music in France (An Italian in Paris), and the comparison of these styles (Italy versus France). Now Venice to Hamburg charts the passage of a style from Italy to Germany.

We hear how the Italian ‘stylus fantasticus’ crossed the Alps to the centres of Habsburg culture, then on north to Hamburg, with music by Valentini, Schmelzer, Weckmann, and others. The CD centres on pieces for an unusual combination of instruments – violin, cornetto, sackbut (trombone), dulcian (bassoon), and basso continuo – improvisatory in character, and jazz-like also in the way that each instrument is in turn given a solo spot. This is a new turn in the development of The Bach Players.