The Parley of Instruments, Roy Goodman, Peter Holman - Georg Muffat: Armonico Tributo (2005)

With all of the attention Heinrich von Biber had in terms of new recordings, it is a pity that none of it has rubbed off onto Biber's closest, and utterly worthy, contemporary Georg Muffat. Partly it is a problem of output; compared to Biber's 170-plus surviving compositions, which seems to grow by a piece or two every year as new manuscripts are uncovered, Muffat's slim catalog of just 46 works appears puny indeed. Yet it is not of secondary interest; whereas Biber's eccentric output seems eons away developmentally from the music of Bach and Handel, Muffat was the first Baroque composer to fuse French and Italian models into a single, "international" style. His contrapuntally busy upper voices and firm, eighth-note ground basses seem to predicate the style of Handel and Bach, even though the latter two were both only 19 years of age when Muffat was finally laid to rest in 1704.
Thankfully, English label Hyperion has restored to the catalog one of the finest recordings of Muffat's instrumental music ever made, the Parley of Instruments' Muffat: Armonico Tributo, and has made it more attractive by adding it to its mid-priced Helios imprint. Beautifully recorded at St. Jude-on-the-Hill in London, the Parley of Instruments is jointly led by Peter Holman and Roy Goodman, neither of whom allow any whiny string playing or desultory tempi; the playing is as crisp as the music is fresh. The two meltingly beautiful minor-key sonatas (Nos. 2 and 6 in G minor and E minor, respectively) are the selections that grab the listener first, but with repeated listens the virtues of all five sonatas in the Armonico Tributo set become easily apparent. Any listener who is fond of Baroque instrumental music should keep an eye out for this one, as it consists of great works, magnificent performances, and now, an excellent value as well.