The Cabinet of Wonders project with Tom Foster
Tom Foster and I have given many concerts together in the past few years. As well as enjoying playing together as part of bigger ensembles, such as The English Concert, we really love playing chamber music together on the side. While we enjoy playing the well-known and loved Corelli, Handel and Bach obligato sonatas, we love to discover new repertoire together.
The aim of the Cabinet of Wonders project is to expose the lesser known violin sonatas from the Dresden Hofkappelle's famous music collection, the Schrank II. At the time of Saxon-Polish union (1697–1763), the centre of musical life was the Dresden Hofkapelle. Its fame spread throughout the world from 1733 under the direction of Kapellmeister Johann Adolf Hasse and his associate, the Vivaldi pupil and concertmaster Johann Georg Pisendel, who had belonged to the Hofkapelle since 1712.
In 1760, as a result of Prussian artillery fire, all the music in the court music archive was destroyed. Only music that was stored elsewhere or in use at the time has survived. Fortunately, it included the numerous instrumental music manuscripts with performance instructions in Pisendel’s own hand and the scores he had copied himself, which in part went back to his Italian trip in 1716/1717. About ten years after his death this music was deposited in Schranck No: II in alphabetical order and meticulously labeled.
The collection has an incredible variety of great, but not often played violin repertoire. Our aim is to find more exciting sonatas and share them with a wider audience. A significant proportion of the repertoire found in Schrank II is well known as they are part of the ‘main stream’ baroque canon, especially pieces which can be found in multiple sources. A large part of the collection is extensively played and recorded but there are still plenty of forgotten gems lying in the Cabinet waiting for us to play them. This a very exciting process for us from the beginning to the end. Undusting, discovering, editing, performing!
Vol.1
This opening volume to the series has 6 wonderful and varied sonatas on it.
It includes a premiere recording of Vilsmayr’s Partita for scordatura violin, two gorgeous sonatas by the Italian Gasparo Visconti, and three tremendous sonatas by Swiss-born Johann Freidrich Schreivogel.
“Together these artists have produced a disc which deserves to be part of every collection of baroque violin music. There is every reason to give it a special recommendation.” (RECOMMENDED, Musicweb International)
The second volume in the series contains works by Martino Bitti, Carlo Fiorelli and incredible sonatas by two different anonymus composers.
Vol.2
‘This is one exciting release of show-stopping performances…. Kinga Ujszaszi’s violin playing is wonderful—creative, expressive, and moody… Tom Foster’s harpsichord accompaniments are sensitive… Kinga Ujszaszi is a talented violinist. She has full command of the technique required, but also the musical sensitivity to pull off the lyrical movements. Lovely playing’ - American Record Guide
‘Vilsmayr’s Partita in E flat major, which opens the disc, is remarkable… The opening Prelude is arresting, with a ghostly sound initially from the violin, leading into a virtuosic Presto with beautifully sweet double-stopping here from Ujszászi… a fabulous Passacaglia is kicked off emphatically by Foster here, with Ujszászi’s rasping unison double-stops… Ujszászi’s virtuosic string crossing and rapid finger work is highly impressive and a delight to listen to.’ - Classical Notes
‘From the depths of the Dresden archives, violinist Kinga Ujszászi and harpsichordist Tom Foster bring wonderful, deeply felt and virtuoso sparkling music to light.’ - Concerti