This episode: two recently released CDs with vocal works from Johann Pachelbel and violin sonatas from Aldebrando Subissati.
Most people only know Johann Pachelbel for his organ works and the Canon en gigue for strings; his vocal oeuvre is rarely performed. There is a large collection of sacred music from Pachelbel in England, probably sold by his son Carl Theodorus, on his way to America. This collection holds quite a number of arrangements of the Magnificat.
The Himlische Cantorey ensemble chose a selection of this collection to record (they released another selection in 2018). You can listen to a Magnificat, and a sacred concert set to German lyrics, with contains a strikingly virtuoso violin obbligato.
Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)
1. Magnificat in C major (PWV 1503)
2. Mein Fleisch ist die rechte Speise (PWV 1222)
Himlische Cantorey conducted by Jan Kobow
(CD: “Magnificat II” – CPO 555 515-2, 2024)
On the second CD, you can find all sonatas for violin and basso continuo that have been handed down from the Italian composer Aldebrando Subissati. He started his career in Italy, but also worked in other places, like Passau and Vienna, to end up at the Polish court. In 1654, he returned to Italy. At the end of his life, he composed a collection of sonatas that are considered his musical testament. They have never been published and only survived as manuscript. A number of these sonatas in all likelihood were created much earlier, perhaps during Subissati’s Polish period.
Aldebrando Subissati (1606-1677)
3. Sonata IV
4. Sonata V ‘Nativitas gloriosa’
5. Sonata VIII
6. Sonata IX ‘Ave Virgo’
7. Sonata XX
Joanna Morska-Osińska (violin), Pawel Zalewski (viola da gamba), Filip Michal Zielinski (theorbo), Marek Toporowski (harpsichord), Michal Sawicki (organ).
(CD: “Sonate per violino solo e basso continuo” – Dux 1959/1960, 2024)
In addition:
Aldebrando Subissati
8. Sonata III
Joanna Morska-Osińska (violin), Filip Michal Zielinski (theorbo), Michal Sawicki (organ).
(CD: see 3-7)
Image: cover CD Pachelbel
