Tempesta di Mare - Johann Friedrich Fasch - Orchestral Music (2008)

Crisp, foot-tapping rhythms; clear-cut tunes; and occasionally weird-sounding harmonic shifts are all terms that well describe the four works on Chandos' Johann Friedrich Fasch: Orchestral Music, featuring Philadelphia-based Baroque ensemble Tempesta di Mare, a group formerly known as the Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra. All three-and-a-third works presented here are identified as being "premiere recordings." Fasch has so many things in terms of concerti and orchestral suites alone that it is not hard to imagine these works are new to recordings. The "and a third" signifies the Andante in D FWVL: D15bis, which is an alternate movement to the Concerto in D FWVL: D15. This, the Concerto in B flat, FWV L:B3, and the oddly titled Overture Grosso in D, FWV K:D8, are performed from freshly minted scores from Prima La Music Editions in England, a firm that has introduced a large number of Fasch's works to the realm of publication; Fasch did not publish during his own lifetime.

Fasch's instrumental works are difficult to date as his travels were very limited after 1722; nearly all of his surviving works were composed in Zerbst, where, like it or not, Fasch was obliged to spend the final 36 years of his life in service of its court. While in terms of quantity, all-Fasch discs are not numerous; the ones that are out emphasize the variety to be found in Fasch's music. This one does not; the suite and its attendant concerti sound about the same, and while the basic sound of it is attractive, as a whole this disc is kind of a snoozer. A couple of things about it, though, are additionally worth mentioning: for a group that consists of only 26 musicians, Tempesta di Mare has a huge, solid sound, and this 24-bit Chandos recording is louder and has more presence than anything that has come from this label in quite some time. So while Chandos' Johann Friedrich Fasch: Orchestral Music may not exactly seem like four-star catering, it could be a harbinger of exciting things to come.