Among the musical luminaries at the court of Frederick the Great in the 1740s was Ernst Gottlieb Baron, who by all accounts was not only a fine composer but also a virtuoso lute player who was quite adept at manipulating the emotions of his audiences through the expressiveness of his performances. His playing and his compositions advanced the traditionally refined and formal style of music for this instrument into more overtly affective regions that began to explore the lute’s farther-reaching expressive possibilities. Baron also wrote articles and an important treatise on lute history and performance practice. Few listeners will be familiar with the music on this disc, performed by Italian lutenist Pier Luigi Polato. Not only has it never previously been recorded, but most of it remains in manuscript, as only a handful of Baron’s works were ever published. To my ears, these sonatas and concertos–two sonatas for lute solo, one with oboe, concertos for lute with flute traverso or recorder, and a duet for lute and flute–are pretty middle-of-the-road, standard Baroque fare, nothing either tune-it-out boring or drop-everything-and-listen interesting. Obviously, Polato is an excellent musician; he plays without a trace of hesitation or unfamiliarity. He’s got these pieces under his belt and just dashes them off with a kind of charming casualness. It’s not that he isn’t involved, but the music just doesn’t demand the kind of virtuoso flair that you assume he could deliver if asked. This is very much to his–and his very able colleagues’–credit. He never tries to make something more than just very pleasing music. The disc’s problems all center around the sound, which in the solo lute pieces gives the acoustical impression of a deep, dark cave. The works with flute are slightly better balanced and tamed, and the one with oboe is just about right. I don’t understand these different sonic casts–everything was recorded in the same venue–but that’s how it is. If you’re a really, really serious lute fan, perhaps you will want this–particularly if you’re looking for some real sounds to go with what you may know about Baron’s reputation.
