"Who writes the
history of music?" begins the booklet
note by Hans Olav Gorset; a good question
indeed, to which the answer might be
a certain Mr. Grove. This is a prelude
to a passage implying that Nordic baroque
music has been unjustly left out. Certainly,
"Anonymous" is the only composer
here who is well-known and Herr B.xxx
(no, I didn’t copy it incorrectly) presumably
didn’t wish to be well-known. As far
as I can tell, this music is mostly
the product of the first half of the
eighteen century, the only dates which
seem to be known are the three given
above. Whilst easily identifiable as
baroque, the music is not obviously
Nordic. Generally it sounds as if it
could have come from an earlier period
and seems relatively uninfluenced by
the central European greats of the time
(i.e. Bach and Telemann). But it is
all attractive and the disc title "Northern
Delights" seems to be justified.
The disc opens with
a short piece by Ræhs which is
dominated by the flute and seems to
have come from a set of sonatas. This
is followed by the Suite and Murky from
Jacob Mestmacher’s manuscript. The former
is for quartet and the latter for solo
harpsichord. A "Murky" is
a piece with repeated octave patterns
in the left hand. Mestmacher was not
a musician but a tradesman who settled
in Bergen. The origin of the pieces
in his manuscript seems to be unknown
(and may not originally be Nordic).
Next comes Roman’s
Sonata in D, a three movement work for
tranverse flute and figured bass (here
played on the viola da gamba and harpsichord).
Lasting about ten minutes with frequent
variations in tempo (the first movement
is marked Vivace – Adagio), this is
perhaps the most attractive piece on
the disc. It is followed by Agrell’s
sonata for solo harpsichord which is
in three movements and concludes with
a Gigue.
The suite from the
Hertzberg manuscript in seven brief
movements has been put together by the
present performers. The manuscript consists
of more than a hundred pieces of mostly
unknown origin. They are notated for
baroque guitar, on which they are played
here by Vegard Lund with occasional
contributions from the others, notably
Hans Olav Gorset’s flute in the Sarabande
and Gigue. The final piece, a Passacaglia,
derives from Lully’s musical tragedy
of 1682 Persée and is
certainly the most profound music on
the disc.
Roman’s Sonata in E
and Ruffo’s Suite in F follow, both
in five movements and occupying the
complete quartet. The piece by Herr
B.xxx is a challenging set of variations
for solo flute on a well known German
tune. It comes from a collection belonging
to Chamberlain Giedde from Copenhagen
(1756-1816). Finally, the lively Angloisi
from Jacob Mestmacher’s manuscript was
originally used to accompany line dances.
Played by the full quartet, here it
rounds off the programme well.
These are committed
performances by fine musicians and the
recorded sound is excellent. The notes
in the booklet are detailed, if confusing
at times. Since the origin of much of
this music is murky, this may not be
fault of the author. If you like to
know exactly what you’re listening to,
then I suggest passing by this disc.
However, to just relax and listen to
some unfamiliar but varied and attractive
baroque music, this will do very nicely.
Patrick C Waller
Nordic Baroque Quartet: Hans Olav Gorset (tranverse
flute), Keren Bruce (viola da gamba), Vegard Lund
(lute, theorbo, baroque guitar), Urban Westerlund
(harpsichord) 
