Codex Rost 1660-1680 (Musik der Habsburger Monarchie). Catherine Aglibut, violin; Open Chamber Berlin. Querstand (VKJK 2405). Total time: 54 min.
DIGITAL REVIEW – It’s a rare treat for early-music performers to get a first-hand sense of how old works were perceived when they were new. The fact that Franz Rost (c. 1640-1696) bothered not only to collect but also arrange 156 pieces by contemporary composers in his so-called Codex Rost gives an indication of their importance at the time. A new recording of 11 representative sonatas and other movements played by violinist Catherine Aglibut and her ensemble, Open Chamber Berlin, makes it easy to understand what appealed to Rost about this repertoire.
Codex Rost 1660-1680, on the Querstand label, is a beautifully produced window into instrumental music during the Habsburg Empire. Rost’s training was as a cantor, choral master, and transcriber; it is thought that a wealthy visitor to the court at Baden-Baden, where he worked, commissioned the codex.
Rost’s collection contains works by 27 composers plus many anonymous pieces (some are thought to be by Rost). He made multiple copies, which were destroyed or passed from one private owner to another until 1726, when the surviving copy was given to what is now the Bibliothèque national de France.
Because Rost (or his patron) seems to have been determined to collect pieces for the practical purpose of hearing them played, he changed some of the instrumentation based on what he had readily available: two violins, cello, and a continuo player. Therefore, he condensed some pieces requiring four or five melodic parts into a three-voice texture. Aglibut and Open Chamber Berlin have further re-arranged them, with very positive results.
It’s impossible not to be charmed by the new instrumentation of the anonymous Ciaconna that opens the album. Violins, recorder, and hammered dulcimer pass birdlike melodic fragments to each other, with viola da gamba occasionally taking a spin across the dance floor.
Most of the pieces are sonatas or related genres. Antonio Bertali’s Thousand-Gilder Sonata is a showpiece of late 17th-century ornamental flourishes. The ensemble has an unusually delicate touch, choosing against the typical intense leaning-in to emphasize dissonances. The result is an airiness that is constantly gentle on the ears; it can be disconcerting in slower passages, especially those with patterns of dissonant suspensions, but it’s good for the nerves.
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1620/23-80), the most-represented composer in the codex as well as on this album, contributes a gorgeous Sonata for Three Violins, here arranged to include the apparently fairy-inspired recorder playing of Martin Ripper as well as the violins of Aglibut and Elisabeth Wiesbauer. The deliciously bizarre chordal progressions of the “Stilus Phantasticus” (fantastical style) make for fun listening.
One of many funereal works in the Codex, Schmelzer’s Lament on the Death of Ferdinand III is a textbook example of the tombeau genre of the time, with long, aching phrases, sustained chords, and unpredictable harmonic wanderings.
By contrast, Schmelzer’s Polish Bagpipes is a “mimic” piece that uses grace notes, slides, and dissonant drones to make the combined strings sound like that instrument (which, in Poland, would have been used by shepherds to amuse themselves, not by warriors as a show of ferocity like the more famous Scottish equivalent). At least as fascinating as the bagpipe sections is how suddenly the music emerges into a tonal, courtly, elegant sound, a predecessor to the galant style of the coming century.
Another composer with a presence in the codex is Maurizio Cazzati (c.1620-77), now practically unknown despite having held important musical positions in both Bologna and Mantua. His La calcanigna, written during his tenure in Bologna, is considered an important model for the sonata da chiesa (church sonata) genre. Its opening slow section, here played on two violins and recorder, is accompanied with a patient, expressive touch on theorbo (Christoph Sommer). A faster yet stately gigue gives way to a duple-time dance that spins more and more quickly until it winds itself down into a final cadence.
Based in Cremona, Tarquinio Merula’s long life (1595-1665) and forward-thinking style kept him relevant into Rost’s day. His sonata called La Cattarina has been arranged to feature violins, recorder, and dulcimer (Margit Übelacker); that last instrument provides a brighter sparkle than the expected harpsichord would have.
Open Chamber Berlin is to be praised for bringing the Codex Rost to wider attention and with such skill, sensitivity, and beauty. (Baroque violist Marie Stockmarr Becker is currently working on her own arrangements for different instrumentation; for those curious to compare, see here.
Aglibut has a knack for coming up with creative projects and following them through at the highest level. OCB’s past programs include The Lamento Project (re-instrumentation, including clarinet and bandoneon, for works by Johann Christian Bach and others), East Meets West (a collaboration with sheng player Wu Wei), and Mysterio (comparing Christian and Islamic mystical works). Surely their next endeavor will be no less worth exploring.
