Friday night was the Nupen programme on Ashkenazy. I watched it last night. There was a good mix of professional - filmed concerts, recording sessions etc. - and personal - showing the camera round his empty Icelandic house. Particularly interesting were Ashkenazy's comments about the troubles he faced as a Russian playing in the west - no matter how well he might have played, a critic (seeing the Russian credentials) would immediately say 'this person can't play Beethoven'. Of course he objected to this.

"Music is the highest expression of the human mind. I'm not ashamed to say it, because I know that Beethoven thought so too."

A very inspiring film.

Really? A well-known music dictionary may need updating if so ...

Yes, more information please!!  I wouldn't have thought it was by Biber myself.  Perhaps the Gigue has a Biberesque brio about it, but not enough to convince me he wrote it.

Hmmm...  I think Herr Goebel has a Biber in his bonnet (perfectly understandable, I think most baroque violinists do at some point, I know I do).

There is an ease about the C&G, both in character and playability, that doesn't mesh well with Biber's style.  Biber may well have written canons in unison, but the ones I know are very different from the one in question.  Biber intersperses rests in the line to allow individual voices to poke out every now and then, usually with some sort of bravura flourish.  He also mixes up his long sets of variations with a slower moment, or a faster moment, or a moment in triple time, or something contrasting like that.  His passagework is usually quite tricky while still lying very well in the left hand.  It's unusual not to see any double-stopping in his works.  He makes tremendous demands on the right hand, asking for rapid bow movements in passagework or on single notes as a shimmering sort of ornament, or staccato notes under slurs, arpeggiations, stuff like that.

None of these things feature in the "Pachelbel" Canon.  The Gigue may be closer to his style, but I can't help thinking Biber would have made it more complicated somehow, a little more of a struggle, and about ten times as much fun.

Thinking geographically, I expect Biber would have been familiar with the early 17th century Italian strain of works for three violins - and of course Schmeltzer wrote a piece for that combination that Biber must have known.  It's surprising that such an avid and virtuosic violinist didn't seem to turn his hand to that combination.  But Pachelbel did study in Vienna for a while, so would have had the chance to become more familiar than most Germans with early Italian repertoire (Austro-Hungary being similarly Catholic, and there having been many political marriages/alliances between them and various Italian states).  And the Germans were also writing works for three violins in the mid 17th century, most of which have been lost.

Hmm.  If you do find where Reinhard Goebel made this conjecture, Richard, I hope you'll share it with us.  I'd like to know more about "(c) other stuff."  And I have a particular interest in works for 3 fiddles - I'm hoping to start a group based around it (hopefully more on that anon).

Once, in the dear, dead days beyond recall, R3 did a series entirely devoted to the organ music of Pachelbel. It served only to confirm my impression (formed by hearing the Canon played too slowly) that Herr P. was one of the most boring composers who ever lived. Then I heard some of his motets (particularly Jauchzet dem Herrn) and realised that my judgment had been hasty.

It seems such a strange thing to have this idea coming from somebody who has played so much Biber. I'd be very much interested in further exploring the reasoning behind it.

Easily my favorite genre! 

Does this include Biagio Marini?

That sounds like an excellent idea. The Gabrieli is a favourite of mine (and possibly the earliest piece in this repertoire, do you think?), and I do like all the others you and the Turfman mention too. And there's Purcell's Three Parts on a Ground as well, his most beautiful piece of instrumental music IMHO.