Customer Reviews

Biber: Mystery Sonatas (Rosenkranz-Sonaten or Rosary Sonatas) - Goebel

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Biber's so-called "Mystery Sonatas" are among the most alluring, meditative, virtuostic and amazingly beautiful compositions ever written for the violin - which this fine recording captures most vividly. Three aspects of this recording stand out as superb and make this CD a highly recommended recording for Biber's "Mystery Sonatas." The first is the extremely vivid and crystaline sound quality from DG, who created an ideally-resonant sound ambiance that brings out the mystery and depth of this music. Stunning. The second aspect is the most unique, mysterious and musically innovative compositions from the Austrian violin virtuoso and composer, Biber. The depth of emotive effects and degree of virtusosity immediately catch the attention of the listener and draws one into their mysteries (of the life of Christ). In addition to the "standard" harpsichord and/or therebo continuo, these sonatas also add deeply-resonant organ bass pedal-points that create a powerful and alluring backdrop for the drama of the solosit to unfold. Several reviews below give some valuable background info on these compositions if you are not familiar.

The last aspect that makes this recording special is the accomplished playing of Reinhard Goebels that is of the highest caliber. His technique in the 32nd-note passages is flawless, crisp and worthy of the finest accolades while the sensitive and soaring tonality he exudes in the slower movements is extremely attractive and never grating to the ear. Goebels plays this music not only with the utmost virtuosity but also with a well-judged passion - bringing drama while respecting Biber's sacred and meditative musical intentions by not overly "attacking" the music. His smooth lyricism honors Biber's contemplative designs. Personally, I prefer Goebel's artistry and tone in these works compared to Holloway or Manze, but the fine continuo playing from Romanesca adds to the allure of that recording (Harmoni Mundi). So, the combination of these three aspects along with some interesting notes from Goebels on the music and scordatura techniques make this a most desirable and recommended recording from Musica Antiqua Koln. I cannot say there are any "dull moments" or uninspired playing or composing anywhere on the entire 2 CD's - only the most skillfully and mysteriously composed music for violin and Baroque continuo. It remains one of the more unique compositions and an ever-fascinating study of the art of violin playing. And Musica Antique Koln honors this sacred music with the highest art and musical sensitivity. 5 stars for sure.

Reinhard Goebel and members of the Musica Antiqua Köln give an almost effortless and very listenable performance of Heinrich Ignatz Franz von Biber's Mystery Sonatas here. This is no mean feat, in that each of these sonatas save the first, and the final Passacaglia, is in a different and weird -scordatura- tuning.

This means that the violin strings are tuned very unconventionally. The musical notation is in tablature, basically telling the violinist where to put his fingers, and how the instrument should be tuned for this piece. In effect, the violin is turned into several different instruments, and each tuning presents the player with a new and unknown landscape. In No. 11, "Resurrexit Christus Hodie," the two central strings actually are switched, so that the tones of the unstopped strings jump up and down rather than going from lowest to highest.

With this deliberate weirdness, you might fear that the results would be unmusical. This fortunately is not so. These are emotion-filled works from the seventeenth century baroque, usually dated to 1678. The sonatas track the meditations on the life and passion of Christ as presented in the Roman Catholic Rosary devotion, and as such are rich in expressive, occasionally even violent, musical ideas. Despite their technical difficulty, Reinhard Goebel succeeds in making them sing.

Fans of the violin, or baroque music in general, will enjoy this interesting collection of pieces subsumed under the title "Mystery Sonatas". All fifteen traditional "Mysteries of the Rosary"(compiled well before Pope John Paul II added 5 additional "mysteries" in 2002) are represented by a piece for violin, violincello, lute, organ, or harpsichord (with a concluding solo violin Passacaglia). Each segment of the work is gorgeously composed and performed. Overall the feeling is of contemplation, as if the piece were meant to provide a musical setting for contemplation of the mysteries. This theory makes sense prima facie, but the CD booklet reveals the abject paucity of information available about the work's origins and purpose. The date of composition is even in question. Biber did not choose to publish the work, and the title page of the manuscript is missing (the entire work had been considered lost until its rediscovery in the 1890s). It seems to have been a private work, not meant for public consumption. A lengthy dedication to Archibishop Maximillian Gandolph (reprinted in the CD booklet) sheds some much needed light on the who, what, and why of the piece, but regardless questions still remain. "Mystery Sonatas", consequently, aptly describes this work in more than one sense.

One of the remaining mysteries, and one of the amazing facts about any recording of this piece, is that each of the segments require different violin tunings. No one seems to know why the work was composed with such agonigingly varied tunings for violin (the manuscript apparently utilized tabulature). Now it's simply part of the "mystery". Regardless, the players here handle this piece amazingly well, and the results make for an amazing listen, however one wants to interpret the music. Violin aficionados could probably listen to this until their ears melt. I know mine are almost gone. The nearly two full hours of music are well worth the double CD price.

Biber wrote each of the 15 Rosary sonatas and the final passacaglia in different scordature (16 different scordature!!). To make things even more difficult, the sonatas were scored for violin and B.C. so, except for the bass line, all parts for the other instruments were either composed or improvised by the performers. Rather than just providing accompaniments, the members of Musica Antiqua Koeln show their amazing musicality by realizing one of the most beautiful performances of baroque music you can find.

This is among the most prized recordings I own. I picked it up years ago before I knew much about Biber. He's become a small obsession of mine since. I've been a fan of MAK since the late 1980s, and attended one of their last concerts a couple years ago (sans Goebel). If there was an apex to this ensemble's career, this recording is it.

Biber's sonatas are full of wild twists and turns, written in his own particular "phantastic" style, each one a collection of changing sections by tempo, their rhythm, and mood. Add to that the complexity introduced with re-tuning your instrument between each of the pieces.

Some folks have chosen a very lean continuo (think Andrew Manze), while others have gone to include a large continuo group (think John Holloway). Goebel's recording, while it offers us variety in the continuo, some choices are fuller, some lean. I like this compromise.

The recording is done very close, and above all else, we can really enjoy the thick, luscious sound of his instrument(s). As I've read elsewhere, this really is a definitive recording. Since Goebel studied under E. Melkus, I found some interesting comparisons in both gentleman's sound and approach. The thick, juicy passion I feel was borrowed from Melkus, but the result is one that's cleaner, likely far more historically accurate, and precise.

5 + 1/2 stars.

Much can be written about the difficulty of this music form the 17th Century by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber - and other reviewers here have given superb descriptions of those complexities - but the end result of works such as this is in the response it produces in the listener. Driving along the freeways on Maundy Thursday and hearing and excerpt form the work ('The Agony in the Garden') made this listener hurry home and put on the full recording!

Biber wrote these Mystery Sonatas to represent the three sets of mysteries from the Bible: the Birth, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection of Christ. Reinhard Goebel conducts the Musica Antigua K?ln in this impeccably performed recording of impossible music: the music is impossibly difficult to play and impossible not to draw and emotional response form the listener.

The sixteen sonatas are named as follows: Part I: The Annunciation, The Visitation, The Nativity, The Presentation, The Finding in the Temple Part II: The Agony in the Garden, The Scourging of Jesus, The Crowing of Jesus with Thorns, Jesus carries His Cross, The Crucifixion Part III: The Resurrection, The Ascension, The Descent of the Holy Ghost, The Assumption of our Lady, The Crowning of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Passacaglia. With the simplest combination of instruments Biber was able to elicit the feelings of each of these mysteries.

For those who love Period Music this recording is a complete success and a treasure to own. For those who have yet to step into this ethereal world, this is a very fine beginning. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, April 06

Reinhard Goebel and members of the Musica Antiqua Köln perform the Mystery Sonatas by F.I. Biber who was born in 1644 and served most of his life as Kappelmeister of Salzburg until his death in 1700. Biber was a creative genius who composed various mostly liturgical works during his lifetime. Although not as well known as J.S. Bach and his reknown violin sonatas and partitas, Biber's violin sonatas are brilliant works in their own right that have much more free expression than Bach's highly technical sonatas.

Biber comes from the Italian and Catholic Baroque tradition of violin that was far more expressive in lyrical arrangements than contemporary German Protestant composers who were more restrictive and methodical in their works. Although it is sometimes the case with less known composers, Biber's works have not remained in obscurity because of any deficiency in style or ingenuity but simply more because the Baroque violin and its techniques had been abandoned for the use of the violin and new techniques advanced by High Baroque composers such as Correlli, Vivaldi, and Bach primarily. There are several renditions of this work presently on the market but this performance is technically superior in terms of both instruments and execution to each and every one. The works in here are extremely difficult to perform and Musica Antiqua Koln generally specializes in compositions in this style and their performance with traditional instruments. This album has the best overall performance in terms of proper technique and passion in its application bringing out incredibly rich pieces filled with both haunting and divine lyricism. The sound quality of this recording is also first class with volume and resonance while the others tend to be rather flat or static-like. Goebel really shines out in perfmorming these rather unconventional pieces and, out of every other performer who has played these pieces, he's the only violinist I've heard who could be given the honorary title of a being a Biber virtuoso.

I strongly recommend this recording to any one who loves the violin or Baroque violin pieces specifically. I warn any potential buyer that you will probably be disappointed with alternate performances by Manze/Romanesca as they tend to perform very academically and the differences in performance are very distinct. Manze's academic style is great for violinists studying Biber on technique and scale practice but, in my opinion, as a musician he is professionally inferior in every respect in comparison to Goebels who completely surpasses him in terms of fluidity and lyrical passion. Goebels doesn't get lost in fine tuning academic technique and emphasizes on performance while Manze fine tunes on technique and can't even realize how robotic and acoustically flat his performance is as a result.