Valencia Baryton Project

The Valencia Baryton Project devotes itself to the revival of music for the baryton, a rare stringed instrument for which Haydn wrote some 160 works. The group has also performed music by Haydn's contemporaries as well as by modern composers. The baryton has been described as a cross between a viola da gamba and a lirone, both Baroque-era instruments that hardly have general familiarity among contemporary listeners. It is a viol that rests between the player's legs and, on its reverse side, has ten additional strings, which resonate with the bowed strings and may also be plucked. Matthew Baker, the leader of the Valencia Baryton Project, encountered Haydn's baryton trios in 2004 and was fascinated by them; the works, although they make up a substantial section of Haydn's output, were rarely played. After becoming a member of the faculty at the Berklee College of Music campus in Valencia, Spain, he continued to study the instrument, and in 2017, he began lessons with José Manuel Hernández, Spain's only baryton player, and eventually purchased an instrument belonging to Hernández. Baker and Hernández are thought to be among just a handful of baryton players worldwide. In 2018, Baker, also a double bassist with the Valencia Opera House Orchestra at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, joined with colleagues from that group and the Orchestre Nationale Montpellier in France to form the Valencia Baryton Project. The other regular members are violist Estevan De Almeida Reis and cellist Alex Friedhoff. The ensemble of baryton, viola, and cello was used in Haydn's roughly 125 baryton trios, written for his patron, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, who played the instrument. Haydn also wrote works including the baryton for other combinations, and to play these, the Valencia Baryton Project might expand to as many as eight players. The group's repertory also includes works by Andreas Lidel and other 18th century composers who wrote for the baryton, as well as by modern composers, including Steve Zink, John Pickup, and Baptiste Bailly. The Valencia Baryton Project has collaborated with chamber groups, including the Quarteto Radamés Gnattali, the Elan Quintet, and Trio Vanguardia, and it has appeared with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, and the RTVE Symphony Orchestra. Baker has also formed a baryton jazz trio with pianist Baptiste Bailly and electronic producer IMGL (Gianluca Tavaroli). In 2021, the Valencia Baryton Project released its debut album, Haydn: Baryton Trios - Treasures from the Esterháza Palace, on the Naxos label. The group returned in 2023 with a similarly titled second volume.
© James Manheim /TiVo