Robbo Is Currently Listening To….

I came across this lovely (and delightfully played) little trio sonata of Johann David Heinichen and just had to share.  Heinichen (1683-1729) was an almost exact contemporary of Bach (1685-1750).  Indeed, they served together as young men at the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Kürthen.  However, Heinichen spent much of his career in Dresden and is probably most famous nowadays for his so-called Dresden Concerti, an excellent recording of which I own.  At his best, Heinichen reminds me of  Telemann because of his inventiveness and energy.

I must admit that of all periods of Western musick, Ol’ Robbo’ is most firmly wed to the Baroque.   There’s just something about the combination of reason and emotion, head and heart, served up in finely-crafted polyphony, that most satisfies that part of Robbo’s soul watched over by St. Cecilia.  I’d much rayther listen to even mediocre Baroque musick than all but the best of any other period. (And even the “best” of some other periods, come to think of it.  The 20th Century atonalists can all go to hell in a handbasket so far as I’m concerned.)