No, not Irving Berlin, but the father and son of a fascinating Norwegian musical family who were active in 18th-century Trondheim. As well as a composer, Johan Daniel (1714-87) was also chief fire station sergeant and then water inspector of the city, a compiler of theoretical treatises and an inventor of useful gadgets. His most striking work, newly recorded here, is the Sinfonia for cornetto and strings: charming to hear that instrument familiar from music a century earlier in this new guise, with Alexandra Opsahl an expert soloist. His son Johan Heinrich’s Sinfonia a 6 takes us into the world of the galant, played with great verve by the Norwegian Baroque Orchestra under the experienced leadership of Freiburg’s Gottfried von der Goltz. A curiosity, but fun.
