Fux - Sonate e Sinfone - Capella Agostino Steffani/Rovatkay

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A very enjoyable disc

I like this disc very much.  It is very good, often extremely charming music, very well played.

Fux was a rough contemporary of Bach, older by 25 years, who was a brilliant theorist on counterpoint and a long-standing composer to the Hapsburg court in Vienna.  His music has a charm and grace about it which is very appealing, I think.  It doesn't have the depth and sheer genius of Bach nor the fiery passion of Vivaldi, but it is melodically and harmonically inventive and is a great deal more than just the baroque wallpaper as which it is sometimes dismissed.

These performances bring out the best in the music, I think.  Fux needs a thoughtful and sympathetic ensemble and Capella Agostino Steffani are exactly that.  They play beautifully and bring meaning and elegance to these pieces.  This is not music to set the world alight but, as with people like Heinichen, it is still well worth hearing and giving proper attention.  There's a lot here to enjoy, and I can recommend this disc.