 On sait bien peu de choses de Janitsch, dont le nom germanisé sent encore sa Silésie natale. Selon la seule source biographique disponible, il immigra en Prusse où il mena une double carrière de secrétaire/notaire dans les cercles du pouvoir et de compositeur. Il fonda à proximité de Berlin un salon musical devenu célèbre sous le nom de « Freitagsakademie », qu’il ramena ensuite à la capitale et auquel nombre de ses œuvres furent destinées. C’est au plaisir de jouer ensemble qui y régnait qu’on doit probablement le mélange élégant de style italien et d’Empfindsamkeit germanique, agrémenté d’un traitement spécifique des parties d’alto et de petites cadences où croiser le fer amicalement, qu’on entend dans les sonates enregistrées ici : toutes bâties sur un modèle unique (lent, vif, modéré), elles fourmillent d’idées destinées à divertir les interprètes avant tout. L’auditeur doit à l’ensemble Berlin Friday Academy (sans lien avec les hautboïstes de « Die Freitagsakademie ») de ne pas rester en dehors du jeu : une vivacité sans turbulence, des instruments qui se parlent et s’écoutent avec amabilité, mais rien de pâlot néanmoins… Pas révolutionnaire et un peu monochrome, certes, mais extrêmement sympathique et porté bien au-dessus d’une simple musique de fond ou d’ambiance. (Olivier Eterradossi) New recordings of elegantly crafted chamber music by one of the leading musical lights of Berlin during the mid-18th century. A contemporary biographical sketch of Johann Gottlieb Janitsch (1708–ca 1763) presented him as ‘cheerful and unpretentious’, which captures these five trio sonatas in a nutshell. Without emulating the contrapuntal sophistication of Bach’s works in the same medium, or the extrovert cosmopolitan spirit of Handel’s chamber music for his English patrons, Janitsch’s music offers pleasures of its own. Recognisably drawing on the trio sonata tradition handed down by Corelli and north- Italian contemporaries, the five pieces recorded here reveal subtle distinctions in sound, scoring, and individual musical ideas that would have been appreciated by members of the ‘academy’ which met every Friday at Janitsch’s home in the Prussian town of Rheinsburg during the late 1730s, and thereafter in Berlin, where the composer moved in service to Frederick the Great in 1740. Janitsch played the double bass, cello and keyboard instruments, and his practical experience lends the basso continuo parts of these trio sonatas a discreet individuality, while the two upper lines are shared between oboe, flute, violin and viola. Very much within the character of Frederick’s court, the expressive key signature of the sonatas is a lively seriousness distinct from the carefree gaiety of, say, Telemann’s Tafelmusik collection. Janitsch’s music is some of the most creative work from the 18th century, with rich melodies and harmonies that reflect the unbridled optimism of the Enlightenment. These works are not only a great joy to play, but are superb to listen to and engage with. The members of the modern-day ‘Friday Academy’, named after Janitsch’s ensemble, are young period-instrument musicians drawn from around the world and based in Berlin, specialising in the Baroque music written and played there. This release marks their debut on Brilliant Classics, and the first volume in a projected Janitsch series, reviving the name of an unjustly forgotten composer.
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