Biber: Sonatae Tam Aris Quam Aulis Servientes, Ars Antiqua Austria/Gunar Letzbor (Northstar)Caveat emptor, anyone buying recordings of Heinrich Biber's music. The Mystery Sonatas, Rosary Sonatas, Copper-Engraving Sonatas and quite possibly some recordings just called Sonatas are all the same thing. I didn't fall into the trap of buying several versions of the same music but since it is set for the unwary, it's a miracle I didn't.
These are not they but there's a further lesson for anyone who thought a sonata was a piece for a solo instrument, or accompanied by piano. These are for 5,6 or 8 musicians, namely violin, viola, trumpet and continuo harpsichord or theorbo. In places, where the trumpet takes the main line, they might be Handel's sketches for the Water Music. They are grand, more often grandiose than lachrymose. There are reflective passages, and one is grateful for the more sombre violin line in the third sonata after some glorious but bravado brass in the first two. Biber's output was large and so it can't all be the transcendent grief and solace of the solo Passacaglia and the trumpets here are heard in an acoustic that can presumably only hint at how they might sound in the right cathedral. One is reminded of Charpentier's most famous few bars that are used as the fanfare for Eurovision. The notes say that the title suggests the pieces could be used for sacred or secular purposes, a trustworthy translation is proving beyond me, but it encourages me in the notion that this is all-purpose baroque embroidery, exploring and exchanging ideas but not in pursuit of anything too profound. It moves through rejoicing, glorification, dance rhythms and slower interludes seemingly as the mood takes it which makes it a lighter cocktail than devotional music might be required to be. Like the Water Music or any suite of social, background music, I'd imagine it more as an accompaniment to a courtly occasion than a focus for any searching of the soul.
So, by all means, powder your wigs and pour out some fine wine, admire the trumpet's golden tone and the fingerwork of the silky, nimble strings but, without further distractions, one might be a bit bored by it all before the end. It's hard to care about this whereas care is all one ever does during the more famous sonatas.
It's 9/10 for the recording and, I'm sure, at least 8 for the performance but, in the context of all the vast wonder of the baroque period, it's no more than 6 for the music. Where to go next within Biber is a question to think about.
