Hoor Barock & Dan Laurin – Johann Helmich Roman: Golovinmusiken, BeRI 1 (2019) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

In 1728, the recently appointed court Kapellmeister Johan Helmich Roman was approached by Count Golovin, the Russian ambassador in Stockholm. Golovin was organizing a celebration of the recent coronation in Moscow of Tsar Peter II, and naturally wanted music to add to the festivities. His six years in London – where he made the acquaintance of Handel among others – and subsequent experience as assistant court Kapellmeister, made Roman the obvious choice for the count. The result was Golovinmusiken (The Golovin Music), an autograph score consisting of 45 movements of varying lengths. These are the facts as we know them, and everything else is conjecture: Roman’s manuscript lacks vital instructions regarding instrumentation, dynamics or tempi, and although the first three movements are in four parts, the rest are in three parts or (in a few cases) two. When a performing edition was being prepared in the 1980s, the editors came to the conclusion that the material was in fact incomplete, and a second violin part was added. It was also deemed that the order of the movements was probably not the one in which they would have been performed. The edition in question formed the basis for a partial recording of the work, comprising 22 movements. 290 years after Count Golovin’s feast, as Dan Laurin and his colleagues in Höör Barock recorded the complete work, their approach was a different one. Making use of a total of 18 different instruments – from sopranino recorder and oboe da caccia to bassoon, strings and baroque guitar – and featuring highly imaginative continuo playing from Anna Paradiso at the harpsichord, their performance sounds as full and varied as one might wish for, without any added parts. Laurin’s performing version also follows the order of Roman’s score, creating a number of smaller suites out of this greater whole that a wider audience now can enjoy for the very first time.

Tracklist:
1. No. 1, Allegro
2. No. 2, Ouverture
3. No. 3, Larghetto
4. No. 4, Allegro assai
5. No. 5, Gigue
6. No. 6, Allegro
7. No. 7, Allegro
8. No. 8, Presto
9. No. 9, Aria
10. No. 10, Sinfonia
11. No. 11, Allegro
12. No. 12, Bourrée
13. No. 13, Menuet
14. No. 14, Bourrée
15. No. 15, Presto
16. No. 16, Aria
17. No. 17, Allegro
18. No. 18, Allegro
19. No. 19, Aria
20. No. 20, Allegro
21. No. 21, Bourrée
22. No. 22, Gigue
23. No. 23, Lento
24. No. 24, Aria
25. No. 25, Bourrée
26. No. 26, Ouverture
27. No. 27, Allegro
28. No. 28, Hornpipe
29. No. 29, Presto
30. No. 30, Andante
31. No. 31, Presto
32. No. 32, Comodo
33. No. 33, L’istesso tempo
34. No. 34, Presto
35. No. 35, Tempo di gavotta
36. No. 36, Loure
37. No. 37, Bourrée
38. No. 38, Andante
39. No. 39, Bourrée
40. No. 40, Allegro
41. No. 41, Siciliano
42. No. 42, Gavotte
43. No. 43, Gavotte
44. No. 44, Siciliano
45. No. 45, Gigue