Don’t be put off by the title: this is wonderful music, and all the words indicate is that the pieces can be used in church or court. Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber is the finest of the 17th-century Bohemian baroque composers whose music explores the rich sonorities of strings and brass. There is great instrumental variety here, as violin and violas antiphonally echo or imitate two trumpets, and while there is limited harmonic interest compared with the later baroque, what you get in these 12 sonatas is the music of gesture: sweeping roulades, folksy melodies, plangent fanfares. Fiercely incisive playing from Ars Antiqua, the six strings led by Gunar Letzbor, and unforced accuracy from the trumpets.
