Schmelzer: Unarum Fidium /Holloway * Assenbaum * Mortensen

Anonymous (Artist), Antonio Bertali (Artist), Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (Artist), Lars Ulrik Mortensen (Artist), Aloysia Assenbaum (Artist), John Holloway (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 25, 2000)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ecm Records
• ASIN: B00002R0ZJ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,013 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gentle Music, Beautiful Performance, September 19, 2007

By 

Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schmelzer: Unarum Fidium /Holloway * Assenbaum * Mortensen (Audio CD)

Schmelzer is well-known to wind musicians as a composer of suitable occasional music, well-constructed, sonorous, and not over-challenging. These pieces come as a revelation of a deeper musical spirit. They are modest and serene, and very thoughtful. What makes this CD special is the superb playing of John Holloway. I've heard him play many times, on disks and live, and I've never enjoyed his musicianship more. His tone on the gut strings of his baroque violin is as smooth and vibrant as fine dark chocolate.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is this classical??, May 23, 2006

By 

John Willoughby "Zebrafish Mutant" (Amherst, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schmelzer: Unarum Fidium /Holloway * Assenbaum * Mortensen (Audio CD)

That "Is this classical??" was a question from a colleague when I first put this CD on at work. The organ and harpsichord continuo produce such a "beat" that I could understand him needing to ask the question. The the violin begins to weave it's complex thread. By the second track my colleague had the answer to his question but was hooked.

It's a very seductive, atmospheric piece. Surely obscure stuff like this shouldn't be so accessible?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Beauty of the Austrian Baroque, August 20, 2008

By 

M. De Sapio (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schmelzer: Unarum Fidium /Holloway * Assenbaum * Mortensen (Audio CD)

Those of us who have come to love the solo violin works of Biber have been gratified to learn that there are more riches to be fished from that 17th-century Austrian stream. Case in point, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1620-1680), a composer/violinist who very possibly was Biber's teacher. In 1664 Schmelzer published his SONATAE UNARUM FIDIUM (Sonatas for one violin), the first collection of violin sonatas published by a German-speaking composer. Variation sets form the backbone of the first four sonatas, while the last two dispense with variations entirely, mingling dance movements with wonderful ruminative "monologues". Much of Biber's flavor and fragrance are in the music of his older colleague as well, although Schmelzer's music is more gently lyrical and less flamboyant.

There is only one earthly image that can be compared to John Holloway's violin playing: a fine stream of molten gold. A "rival" Schmelzer set exists in the form of Andrew Manze's recording on Harmonia Mundi; Holloway's general approach to the baroque violin is more mellow and introspective than Manze - more appropriate to the "elegiac, meditative, serene" qualities of Schmelzer which Holloway alludes to in his program notes. (At the same time, Holloway's stately style misses some of the dramatic potential in the powerfully emotional Fifth Sonata.) Holloway here experiments with an unconventional and sumptuous continuo combination: organ and harpsichord, each "realising the figured bass to the full harmonic, contrapuntal and rhythmic potential of their instrument" (to quote Holloway again). The recorded sound is a little more dry and intimate than others of Holloway's recordings which I have heard, with none of the "mystical" reverb of his Biber ROSARY SONATAS, for example. But as with the ROSARY SONATAS, Holloway brings out a spiritual dimension in these pieces which is far beyond mere technical showmanship. This CD is a must for lovers of 17th-century violin music.