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Press Release — September, 2009

TRIO SETTECENTO'S NEW CD
BESTOWS 'A GERMAN BOUQUET'
OF BAROQUE SONATAS

Period-Instrument Ensemble Explores
Works by Bach, Buxtehude, Erlebach, Krieger,
Muffat, Pisendel, Schmelzer, and Schop

Rachel Barton Pine, John Mark Rozendaal,
and David Schrader Continue Their Country-by-Country
Survey of a Musical Era

Chicago-based period-instrument ensemble Trio Settecento (1700s Trio) performs a colorful cluster of Baroque sonatas on A German Bouquet, the second in a planned series of four CDs illustrating the character and complexion of the era's music as it developed in various regions of Europe (Cedille Records CDR 90000 114).

On A German Bouquet, the trio of violinist Rachel Barton Pine, viola da gamba player and 'cellist John Mark Rozendaal, and harpsichordist and organist David Schrader presents a program that goes beyond Bach and Buxtehude. While the CD includes works by those two giants of the German Baroque, it also offers rarely heard repertoire by Johann Schop, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Georg Muffat, Johann Philipp Krieger, Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, and Johann Georg Pisendel, some of whom were also among the greatest German violinists of the era.

Each composer makes a distinctive contribution to a variegated garland of works that synthesize Italian, French, and English influences with a German knack for counterpoint, balance, and folk-like melodies.

(d. 1667) was a German virtuoso violinist and composer who worked closely with English musicians in Copenhagen and Hamburg. "Nobleman" appears to be one of several Schop compositions in the English "divisions" style — like variations on a theme — and based on English sources.

Another renowned violinist, Schmelzer (c. 1620—1680) absorbed Italian influences while working at the Imperial Court in Vienna. Schmelzer's Sonata in D minor bears a striking resemblance to the sonatas of Biagio Marini and Dario Castello in the same key (previously recorded by Trio Settecento for Cedille Records).

Georg Muffat (1653—1704) learned the orchestral style of Jean-Baptiste Lully in Paris and was part of Arcangelo Corelli's circle in Rome. The Sonata in D major, Muffat's earliest surviving work, "is sui generis, unlike any other piece of its period (or any other)," Rozendaal writes in the CD booklet. "The single unbroken sequence of fast and slow sections . . . tells a dramatic story deploying extravagant harmonic excursions in the manner of the [quasi-improvisatory] German stylus phantasticus."

Krieger (1649—1725) opens his Sonata in D minor, Op. 2, No. 2, with an Italianate sequence of slow and fast passages. "The stately aria with variations that follows is based on a chorale-like theme clearly evoking the composer's Lutheran roots," Rozendaal writes.

Buxtehude (1637—1707) composed some brilliant and witty sonatas between 1694 and 1696 that depart from the established Corellian model of the day and recall Italian sonatas of earlier generations. The Sonata in C major, Op. 1, No. 5, "consists of an opening fugato, a gracious menuet-like dance with a variation, and an adagio in the fantastic style smoothly transitioning into a final fugato," according to the program notes.

Erlebach (1657—1714) wrote several sonatas for violin, viola da gamba, and continuo that call for alternative tunings of the violin (scordatura). In the Sonata No. 3 in A major, the tuning produces a brilliant and sonorous effect. The piece opens with a sequence of slow and fast sections in the manner of an Italian sonata, followed by a suite of dances in the French style. The sonata is noteworthy for its lengthy and thrilling chaconne followed by a poignant final adagio.

Pisendel (1687—1755) was the finest German violinist of his generation, and his Violin Sonata in D major makes extraordinary technical demands. The sonata appears to date from the period when Pisendel studied with and befriended Antonio Vivaldi in Venice; it falls neatly into the three-movement format of a Vivaldi concerto. According to Rozendaal, Pisendel's Northern roots are evident in the third movement, "where a gracious, galant, minuet-like subject evolves into a dramatic stürm und drang episode."

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685—1750) is represented by two works of widely different character. The Fugue in G minor, BWV 1026, is the earliest-surviving example of Bach's chamber music. In this piece, Bach adapted the Northern German organ fugue to the medium of solo violin with basso continuo accompaniment. The Violin Sonata in E minor, BWV 1023, shows the influence of Bach's encounter with the French instrumental style at Cöthen, Germany. Rozendaal writes that Bach "deploys Italianate virtuosity and Germanic harmonic invention to elevate two gracious French dance forms to a summit of poignant expressivity."

The Instruments

On A German Bouquet, Pine plays a 1770 Nicola Gagliano violin in original, unaltered condition and uses replicas of an 18th-century and early 17th-century bow.

Rozendaal plays a 1650 bass viola da gamba in all pieces but the Pisendel, where he plays an 18th-century Tyrolean 'cello. The rare viola da gamba was made by William Turner in London.

Schrader plays a harpsichord made by William Martin of Bethlehem, Pa., in 1997, based on a design that originated in the early 17th century; and a positiv organ by Gerrit Klop of the Netherlands. "Both instruments are quite authentic in a categorical sense," Schrader wrote in an e-mail to Cedille Records. "Anything that could play chords was welcome as a member of an ensemble needing thoroughbass harmony."

The harpsichord was chosen as the "normative continuo instrument" for A German Bouquet, Schrader wrote, because "it has a strong, rhythmic attack well-suited to the agogic use of time in Baroque music [in which notes are accented by lingering on them]. We used the organ when we went for a calmer rhythmic attack — the pieces by Schmelzer, Krieger, and the fugue by Bach seemed to want that. There is no cookbook-like 'recipe' or 'rule,' in either case."

The Artists

Pine, Rozendaal, and Schrader first came together as an ensemble in 1996 to record Handel's complete violin sonatas for Cedille Records. The Handel CD, released in 1997, became Cedille's top-selling CD for most of the following decade. The artists enjoyed their collaboration and decided to continue as a period-instrument ensemble, taking the name Trio Settecento. The Handel disc led to invitations to perform throughout the U.S., including an acclaimed New York debut at the Frick Collection in 2006 and the ensemble's debut at the Boston Early Music Festival in 2007.

Trio Settecento launched its CD survey of the European Baroque with the commercially and critically successful An Italian Sojourn (Cedille Records 90000 099), released in 2007. On future discs, the ensemble will focus on music from France and the British Isles

More about Trio Settecento is available at www.myspace.com/triosettecento and at www.jmrozendaal.com/trio/index.html.

Pine has been described in Fanfare magazine as "one of the rare mainstream performers with a total grasp of Baroque style and embellishment." American Record Guide, in its review of An Italian Sojourn, said the "truly wonderful survey of Italian Baroque violin music . . . allows Pine to show off the range of her skills: sweet but on-target tone, beautiful phrasing, tasteful embellishment, and sometimes hair-raising virtuosity." Among her many awards and credits is a gold medal from the 1992 J.S. Bach International Violin Competition in Leipzig, Germany, where she became the first American and youngest performer to win this honor. Her Web site is www.rachelbartonpine.com.

Rozendaal specializes in performing and teaching stringed instrument music from the Baroque and Renaissance eras. He was founding artistic director of the Chicago Baroque Ensemble and has performed solo and continuo roles with many period instrument ensembles, including the Newberry Consort, Orpheus Band, Boston Early Music Festival Violin Band, the New York Consort of Viols, and others. His Web site is www.jmrozendaal.com.

Schrader is equally at home in front of a harpsichord, organ, piano, or fortepiano. He has appeared with the Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, and Colorado Symphony orchestras and at a host of prestigious festivals and music conventions. He performs regularly with Chicago's Music of the Baroque, the Newberry Consort, and the venerable Bach Week Festival in Evanston, Ill. He is a founding member of Baroque Band, Chicago's premier period-instrument orchestra. His Web site is www.davidschrader.com.

Cedille Records

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2009, Grammy award-winning Cedille Records (pronounced say-DEE) is dedicated to showcasing the most noteworthy classical artists in and from the Chicago area.

Cedille is the independent nonprofit label of The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation. For a free catalog and the locations of local retail outlets, contact Cedille Records, 5255 N. Lakewood Ave., Chicago, IL 60640-2220; call (773) 989-2515; e-mail: info@cedillerecords.org. Web site: www.cedillerecords.org.

Cedille Records is distributed in the Western Hemisphere by Naxos of America and its distribution partners, by Metronome Distribution in the U.K., and by other independent distributors in major international classical music markets.

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A German Bouquet
(Cedille Records CDR 90000 114)

Johann Schop: Nobleman (1:56)
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer: Sonata in D minor (5:49)
Georg Muffat: Sonata in D major (11:33)
Johann Philipp Krieger: Sonata in D minor, Op. 2, No. 2 (10:37)
Dietrich Buxtehude: Sonata in C major, Op. 1, No. 5 (8:22)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Fugue in G minor, BWV 1026 (3:54)
Philipp Heinrich Erlebach: Sonata No. 3 in A major (14:06)
Johann Georg Pisendel: Sonata in D major (10:31)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonata in E minor, BWV 1023 (11:00)

Trio Settecento
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
John Mark Rozendaal, viola da gamba and 'cello
David Schrader, harpsichord and organ