Mystery of Early Baroque

When musician and musicologist Pavel Klikar founded his new ensemble, the Musica Antiqua Praha, in 1982, it was truly a revelation and a breath of fresh air in the stale atmosphere – not only in terms of music performance – of the country conserved by a totalitarian regime. Klikar would look for, study and reconstruct period instruments, create an archive of scores and convey the magic of Baroque tuning systems to musicians. Previously unknown music of the Italian Early Baroque began to be performed in churches – played on period instruments and sung with purity, humility and lightness, without any impasto layers of quasi-Romantic emotionality. The ensemble was inspired by encounters with important music figures, such as Reinhard Goebel, Christopher Hogwood, Peter Holman and Andrew Parrott. Klikar managed to fascinate and win for his vision extraordinary singers and musicians, who would later found their own ensembles and become established among the best in the world of early music. The MAP recorded five albums for Supraphon with repertoire ranging from the Italian Early Baroque (Grandi, Legrenzi) to the unique treasures preserved at the Kroměříž Archbishop’s Archive to sweet and poetic Christmas songs from Czech Baroque hymn books. Although the ensemble no longer exists, there is something timeless in its recordings that does not allow us to think of them as “archival.” What still captivates the listener today and offers an ethereal experience is their humility, grace, deep contemplation and breath-taking purity.

Musica Antiqua Praha – the unique and eternal mysticism of Baroque music

The complete Supraphon recordings (1988–1996) of the pioneering Czech ensemble focused on historically informed performance of Baroque music. Baroque music from the Kroměříž archive (Schmelzer, Ebner, Flixius, etc.), Early Baroque Italian music (Uccelini, Donati, Turini, Picchi, Marini, etc.), Alessandro Grandi (1586–1630) and the Italian Baroque masters, Giovanni Legrenzi (1626–1690) – sonatas and motets, and Czech Christmas music (Michna, Rovenský, Bridel, Hammerschmidt, etc.)

Anna Hlavenková – soprano, Magdalena Kožená – contralto, Stanislav Předota – tenor, Michael Pospíšil – bass, and others; Musica Antiqua Praha, artistic director Pavel Klikar