David Starobin: W.T. Matiegka Six Sonatas, Op. 31
Bridge Records

It would be hard to imagine a better match of musician and composer than classical guitarist David Starobin (b. 1951) and W. T. (Wenzel Thomas) Matiegka (1773-1830). That's certainly borne out by the performances captured on what's purportedly Starobin's final studio recording. Playing a Viennese style guitar, the native New Yorker demonstrates repeatedly why he's held in such high esteem in the classical guitar world.

Testifying to that stature, Starobin has been the dedicatee of more than 300 new compositions, including ones by George Crumb, Elliott Carter, Milton Babbitt, and Gunther Schuller. In 2011, he co-founded (with Jason Vieaux) the guitar department at the Curtis Institute of Music and also teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, which he joined in 1993. Though this 2011 inductee into the Guitar Foundation of America's “Hall of Fame” retired from the concert stage in 2018, Starobin hasn't been idle. He's co-authoring with his wife, Becky, the libretto for the opera The Thirteenth Child (its score by Poul Ruders) and continues to serve as Director of Artists and Repertoire for Bridge Records, the label he founded in 1981 and which also features Becky as the company's president.

A lawyer, multi-instrumentalist, and church musician, the Czech-born Matiegka moved to Vienna in 1800 where he made the acquaintance of Schubert, and the shift from classicism to romanticism that's characteristic of him is also heard in Matiegka's sonatas, of which he published twelve. (Detailed liner notes by guitarist Paul Cesarczyk provide a thorough account of Matiegka's life and the sonatas featured on the release).

In the Six Sonatas, Op. 31, each one in three movements, the guitarist's delivery is distinguished by clarity of articulation, poise, and technical mastery. It takes mere seconds for the recording to captivate when the first sonata (in C Major) enters with charming melodic figures, engaging call-and-response patterns, and stately march rhythms. Evident immediately too are the artistry and precision with which Starobin executes the material and the clarity that characterizes both the writing and playing. While some passages are multi-layered, others appeal for their sparsity and for granting the melodies space to breathe. As charming as the first sonata's opening movement is its irresistibly playful closer and its own jaunty call-and-response.

The subsequent five endear in different ways. The central movement in the A Minor second is lovely for the hush of its haunting expression and the flawlessly paced reading it receives from Starobin; its third movement is likewise memorable for presenting stately variations on the French Renaissance tune “Vive Henri IV.” The G Major third exudes youthful joy in its breezy opening part and rustic, folk dance-like appeal in its rondo closer. The E Minor fourth engages for the authority of the opening movement's stately rhythms and the allure of the middle part's pastoral tone. The D Major fifth sonata sings sweetly, with Cesarczyk even calling its elegant opening part “Mozartian” and suggesting parallels between a three-chord motif and the “March of the Priests” from The Magic Flute. A lovely, tranquil central movement paves the way for a high-spirited rondo, after which the B Minor sixth caps the release with dazzling counterpoint in a robust opening movement and assertive finale.

July 2022