Fasch, Jf; Fasch, C

Johann Friedrich Fasch belongs to that gifted generation of north and mid-German composers whose reputations in modern times have been dulled by those of their contemporaries Bach and Telemann. But it’s all beginning to change with our renewed interest in Messrs Graupner, Heinichen, Pisendel, Stölzel, Fasch and a few others. While a student in Leipzig, Fasch, like Telemann before him, established a collegium musicum, but early promise was not, perhaps, entirely fulfilled since for the greater part of his life he remained a Kapellmeister at the little court of Zerbst.

Our rating

4

Published: January 20, 2012 at 1:18 pm

COMPOSERS: C,Fasch,Jf; Fasch
LABELS: CPO
WORKS: Psalm 119
PERFORMER: Maria Zádori, Veronika Winter, Annette Müller (soprano), Lena Susanne Norin (mezzo-soprano), Hans Jörg Mammel, Bernhard Scheffel, Michael Schaffrath (tenor), Klaus Mertens, Stephan Schreckenberger (bass); Rheinische Kantorei, Das Kleine Konzert/Hermann Ma
CATALOGUE NO: 999 594-2

Johann Friedrich Fasch belongs to that gifted generation of north and mid-German composers whose reputations in modern times have been dulled by those of their contemporaries Bach and Telemann. But it’s all beginning to change with our renewed interest in Messrs Graupner, Heinichen, Pisendel, Stölzel, Fasch and a few others. While a student in Leipzig, Fasch, like Telemann before him, established a collegium musicum, but early promise was not, perhaps, entirely fulfilled since for the greater part of his life he remained a Kapellmeister at the little court of Zerbst. Fasch’s music is of interest to us today for its transitional features linking Baroque with Classicism. It also possesses great charm, deriving both from a felicitous melodic gift and from a flair for instrumental colouring. The disc contains two short, intimately scored sacred cantatas, an excellent Overture (suite) and an extended a cappella motet by his son Carl. Several of the arias of the cantatas have a pleasing galant bias but it is the overture for strings and woodwind – the only item here to have been previously recorded – that more consistently reveals the composer’s fine craftsmanship. The Rheinische Kantorei and Das Kleine Konzert are on their customary dependable form under Hermann Max’s sympathetic direction. A delightful issue.

Nicholas Anderson

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