It was Prince Nikolaus of Esterházy’s increasing infatuation with the baryton that compelled Haydn, the prince’s Kapellmeister, to write an unprecedented body of 125 works for baryton trio. The instrument is more like a viola d’amore than a bass viol and has extra strings behind the neck that provide resonance and opportunities for plucking effects. The six works in this album are intimate expressions of great beauty with a sustained level of invention, all of which reflect the prince’s increasing confidence in the instrument. Volumes 1 and 2 are available on 8574188 and 8574504.

The Valencia Baryton Project is an international collective formed to perform the nearly 160 works written by Franz Joseph Haydn for the baryton as well as compositions by other composers, both modern and classical.

Vol.1 in this series is on 8574188. The Strad wrote ‘The six trios included have been very well chosen to demonstrate Haydn’s inexhaustible creative fantasy. While Matthew Baker has pride of place as the player of Nikolaus’ instrument, Haydn…has ensured the others are by no means reduced to accompanying lackeys. The trio prove themselves a well attuned team, always alert to the music’s mercurial nature’.

Vol.2 is on 8574504: ‘The dark sonority of three instruments pitched in the alto, tenor and bass ranges… makes for a curiously engrossing sequence of music… the Valencia Baryton Project, recorded closely in the airy acoustic of a Spanish castle, provide variety through ornamentation and a range of sonic alterations in repeats’.

The Valencia Baryton Project is an international collective founded in Valencia, Spain with the vision of performing the nearly 160 works written by Franz Joseph Haydn for the baryton as well as pieces by other composers, both modern and Classical. At the heart of the ensemble is the traditional baryton trio of baryton, viola and violoncello.

Led by Matthew Baker, one of only a handful of baryton performers in the world, the Valencia Baryton Project has inspired audiences in sold-out concerts and festivals throughout the Americas and Europe. Its work with the baryton, considered to have been the pinnacle of aristocratic instruments of the Classical era, has garnered wide acclaim, with the project being featured in full length articles in major international publications such as The Strad and Ritmo. The project’s educational work has brought the instrument to a wide range of institutions, from country farm schools to the Royal College of Music.