Description

Almost unknown until a few years ago, Berlin composer Johann Gottlieb Janitsch has became more familiar since Notturna began recording a series of his Sonata da quadro on the ATMA label. Janitsch was very active as a composer and contraviolonist at the court of Prussia since 1736, and left over 40 quadro sonatas which display the composer’s complete mastery of counterpoint.

One of the most appealing characteristics of the quadros is their heterogeneous instrumentation. Janitsch boldly and expertly explores combinations of timbre by grouping unexpected instruments together to form exciting palettes of tone colour.

Notturna’s “spirited and sensitive playing” (Early Music America) draws on the transparency and expressiveness of early wind instruments to paint fresh pictures of an unexplored historical repertoire. In collaboration with ATMA Classique as well as with the Scottish publishing house Prima la musica!, the ensemble has cultivated a unique rapport with Johann Gottlieb Janitsch’s music.