Monika Mauch, Ensemble Caprice, Matthias Maute - Alla Turca (2007)

The delightfully unusual disc Alla turca takes its initial inspiration from the failed 1683 siege of Vienna by the Turks and never looks back. The music explored here belongs to the Holy Roman Empire of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, an empire that celebrated both the arms that held back the Islamist hordes, and the more gentle arts of music that several Emperors personally studied. Alla turca brings a seldom-heard Baroque repertory to life in vivid musical color. The relatively young Ensemble Caprice brings to most of the recording a wonderfully nimble wind sound, a vibrant sense of musical line throughout the group, and an extremely tight sense of ensemble. In addition, there are several moments that highlight the musical prowess of individual performers: the mellifluous technique of ensemble founder Matthias Maute in Fux's solo recorder sonata, and the similarly luminous obbligato playing of Maute in counterpoint to soprano Monika Maush's compelling performance of Carlo Badias cantata La Fenice (a world-premiere recording). The single drawback to the album is a certain inconsistency in the recording quality. The brightness of the overall sound sometimes makes the leading recorders just a bit shrill in comparison to the solid continuo sonorities; the percussion when present can be somewhat heavy, and for a few times important vocal lines such as the cantus firmus in Fux's Ave Regina coelorum retreat too far into the background.