Early Music America has a new rave review for Pacific MusicWorks and Tekla Cunningham’s Stylus Phantasticus album:
“There’s a passage in Johann Heinrich Schmelzer’s Violin Sonata No. 4, the central work in his Sonatae unarum fidium, that both meets and defies expectations. The violin melody hovers over soft organ chords, knotting itself in quick mordents before rushing downwards in a wild frenzy. Yet there is always a sense of songlike expressivity, the musical line present even in the thickest of technical flourishes. That is the sense conveyed by violinist Tekla Cunningham and Seattle-based Pacific MusicWorks in Stylus Phantasticus, a comprehensive exploration of a 17th-century performance style that dazzles as much as it brings resolution. … For this disc, Cunningham and company set their sights on nine Italian and German composers who each used the style to serve dramatic ends. Played with verve, the music presented here reaffirms the old notion that instrumental music can have the flair of any theatrical spectacle. … Cunningham makes the most of the wide leaps to capture a tender expressivity. Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major offers the album’s widest contrasts. With the robust sound of a country fiddler, Cunningham unfolds a series of figures that range from chant-like statements to sprightly flourishes. As the music progresses, her lines take on more energy, and she deftly tosses off the leaps, double stops, and quicksilver runs that resolve into a lilting dance. … The stylus phantasticus, this reading reminds us, is a stellar vessel for the boldest showmanship.”
—Aaron Keebaugh, Early Music America
See the full review on EarlyMusicAmerica.org