From Tavern to Altar
Biber Sonatas for Every Event
{oh!} ORKIESTRA HISTORYCZNA (Poland)
Martyna Pastuszka – violin, artistic director
Adam Pastuszka – violin
Marian Magiera, Paweł Gajewski – trumpets
Dymitr Olszewski – viola
Justyna Krusz, Krzysztof Firlus – viola da gamba
Bartosz Kokosza – cello
Anna Firlus – organ, harpsichord
Wednesday 30. 7. 2014, 7.30 p.m.
kostel sv. Šimona a Judy, Dušní, Praha 1
Supported by the Polish Institute in Prague and Katowice Region.
Musicians’ lot is to travel from one place to another since true art always happens here and now. In our age of recordings this is more true than ever before and that is why the brilliant Silesian ensemble {OH!} Orkiestra Historyczna came to Prague. The famous composer and violinist Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber also had to travel on account of his talent and art, from archbishop’s services in Kroměříž to his employment and fame in Salzburg. A few years later, the baroque painter Josef Stern made his way in the other direction from Salzburg to Prague and authored an altarpiece in the Church of Sts. Simon and Jude. These two apostles were cicerones on the symbolic journey From Tavern to Altar as it is captured in Biber’s “Sonatas for every event” written for trumpets, violins, viols, and basso continuo.
Concert programme
H. I. F. Biber (1644–1704)
Sonatae tam aris quam aulis servientes (Salzburg, 1676)
Music for the Church and the Court
Opera PLUS, 31. 7. 2014, Lukáš Vytlačil
The musicians played well together and their harmony was brilliant even in the fast tempos.
Her [Martyna Pastusyka] performance was very precise, and her pleasant, sonorous tone was enhanced by perfect intonation. In her solos she made ample use of tasteful and natural sounding ornamentation.
The two trumpet players, Marian Magiera and Paweł Gajewski, were also excellent. […] They played with great intonation certainty even in the more intricate passages and their trills were also very well done.
The concert offered a very pleasant music experience, not least thanks to comprising scarcely performed music by one of the foremost baroque composers.
Delight and Grace
Harmonie 9/2014, Michaela Freemanová
The programme in this excellent performance met with an enthusiastic reaction from the audience […].
