Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745) occupies an uncomfortable place in music history: He is often relegated to the sidelines when discussing the music of his better-known contemporaries and has the distinction of being compared unfavorably to Johann Sebastian Bach. Zelenka’s chamber music, including the sonatas for two oboes, bassoon, and basso continuo, are among his more familiar and often-recorded works – quirky and demanding, and sometimes a bit long-winded. Yet they reveal a composer with a fine grasp of counterpoint and a unique sense of melody influenced by the folk music of his native Bohemia.
Zelenka fans have a new and impassioned advocate in organist and conductor Adam Viktora and his superb Prague Baroque Soloists and Ensemble Inégal…
