RYBA Flute Quartets: in C; in F. Strings Quartets: in a; in d • M. Nostitz Qrt; Jan Ostrý (fl) • NAXOS CD 8.557729 (50:52)

Being a music reviewer has some definite disadvantages. The main one is feeling guilty, since I am always late with the reviews. Every time I come home, there is a little pile of CDs on my desk looking accusingly at me. Another minus is having the nagging sensation that perhaps I was too harsh with a musician who did not deserve the negative opinion expressed in the last Fanfare.

But the advantages slightly outweigh the disadvantages, and that is why I go on. And what might these advantages be? To me, the greatest plus is, every now and then, being introduced to a fine composer that I did not even know existed. I must confess that luckily this happens quite often, since, unlike my learned fellows in the magazine, my ignorance is still staggeringly ample.

Take Jakub Jan Ryba, for example. I had never heard anything from or about this Czech composer, who was born in 1765. And my loss it was. For his writing is delightful, creative, and full of humor. Ryba achieved his good reputation as a teacher, choirmaster, and writer on music. He also composed a very large number of religious and secular works. A lot of his music is unfortunately lost—these quartets, for example, are the only ones left of a total of 72 listed. They are light-hearted, elegant, brimming with joie de vivre. It is a shock to find out that the author of such solar music committed suicide in 1815. But almost as shocking is the obscurity into which his music has fallen. Maybe we are now in search of heroes and works of art that are larger than life, and we can only admire grandiose music, leaving the softer fare in the hands of the popular music composers. Or maybe Ryba, like so many other excellent Bohemian composers (among them, Druschetzky and Vorí?ek), was simply born in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Be that as it may, it would be a real shame to leave these small gems buried in some creaky drawer. Fortunately for us, Jan Ostrý and the M. Nostitz Quartet have decided to give them a new lease on life. They do so with complete conviction and the happy disposition that is so fitting for the music. Each phrase is caressed with loving grace. Even though he is portrayed with a silver instrument inside the CD’s booklet, the flutist’s instrument has a woody tone, relaxed and liquid, as it should be. The sound is never pushed, metallic, nor brilliant for the sake of being brilliant. Ostrý plays with verve, and is obviously having a great time with his part. The strings share his mood, and provide an equally beautiful framework for his flights of imagination. The alternation between string and flute quartets works perfectly, and one setting serves to rest the ears from the other, creating a pleasing balance.

It is not everyday that one gets to hear music that one has never heard before—music that immediately captures the ear and makes one sing inside. Even rarer is the opportunity to witness a little-known composer receiving such royal treatment from a group of top-notch musicians.

FANFARE: Laura Rónai