Jan Zelenka’s quirky, entertaining, and appallingly virtuosic orchestral pieces have received comparatively little attention from record companies. His entire output for the medium fits onto three CDs, and there has only been one complete set recorded: by Camerata Bern for Archiv, now out of print, like so much of the Universal (formerly Polygram) domestic catalog. That makes this ongoing cycle of Zelenka’s orchestral works all the more important, and fortunately the performances are excellent, as they were in Volume One. Das Neu-Eröffnete Orchestre is a period instrument band that doesn’t sound like a period instrument band, if by this we mean scrappy, thin, and acerbic. They play this music with warmth, affection, and with an ease that makes light of such difficulties as the composer’s atrociously stratospheric horn writing. All three works on this disc essentially fall into the Baroque suite pattern: an introduction followed by a group of dances or character pieces–and every one of them is a gem. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians cites Zelenka as one of the very few Baroque composers who could create “consistently fresh tonal imagery,” meaning simply that his acute harmonic sense, complex rhythms, and brilliant use of instrumental color constantly tease the ear. Yes, it’s true: he’s an ear tease! Now that the secret is out, you have no excuse for not giving your own ears a little Baroque tickle.
