Month: June 2015

Aapo Häkkinen
78:54
Naxos 8.573087
BWV818, 819, 832, 895, 896, 899-900, 917, 918, 922, 933-938, 952, 959, 961 & 993

In addition to the works listed on the title page of this CD, there are a large number of lesser-known works by Bach, some of which were quite unknown to me. They show Bach experimenting in a number of styles, sometimes sounding more like Telemann, sometimes more galant; at other times more rhapsodic or even more like an intellectual exercise in complex fugal forms. These factors alone would make this an interesting CD, but what makes the music work is the quality of the playing and Häkkinen’s choice of instrument. Recorded in a Finnish church, he uses a 1970 harpsichord by Rutkowski & Robinette after the 1760 Hass in the Yale instrument collection which has 1 x 16’, 2 x 8’, 1 x 4’ and 1 x 2’ (though this rank was not included by Rutkowski & Robinette), with buff stops to the upper 8’ and lower 16’. The instrument was beautifully prepared in a variety of temperaments for different sections of the pieces: 1/6 comma meantone, Kellner and Sorge. In the acoustic of the church and recorded exceptionally well, this gives a range of tone from the bell-like (the opening Prelude in A major is played on the 4’) to the ringingly rumbustious when the 16’ is used as well.

We know surprisingly little about Bach’s harpsichords. The only maker whose name is directly associated with Bach is Michael Mietke, the Berlin maker who delivered a harpsichord to Köthen in 1719, and none of his instruments that survive have a 16’. And while Zacharias Hildebrandt, who had care of the harpsichords in Leipzig churches at the end of Bach’s life, did build a large-scale instrument with a 16’ register, there is no evidence that Bach had one or used one. Yet on the evidence of the ringing clarity of the 16’ on this instrument in fugal writing as well as in the suites, I am persuaded that we should not dismiss the use of a large instrument of the Hildebrandt style being used in HIP of Bach.

David Stancliffe

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Trio Sonatas op. 3 Suite op. 8 Camerata Köln
75:15
cpo 777 867-2

I gave the first issue in this series a warm welcome and am happy to extend the same to this release. Indeed, the word ‘exemplary’ is not out of place here. Both flutes and recorders are played with a chunky rich sound to which the pitch (390) is a well-chosen contributing factor; instrumentation is varied, though within Hotteterre’s stated parameters; the playing is unfailingly stylish; and the lively booklet essay (German/English) addresses issues of context, content and performance practice. Oh – and it’s lovely music.

David Hansell

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Julia Doyle, Maria Valdmaa, David Allsopp, James Gilchrist, Roderick Williams, Peter Harvey SScTBB, Nederlands Kamerkoor, Le Concert Lorrain, Roy Goodman
127:45 (2 CDs)
Et’cetera KTC1517

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ne shouldn’t compare recordings of different works by different artists, even if the composer is the same. However, having just listened to FestspielOrchester Göttingen’s live recording of Joshua, I was deep into the world of Handel oratorio and thus expectant of a similarly absorbing oral experience thanks to this recording of Israel in Egypt. Much to my surprise, however, I found my attention wandering halfway through the first chorus. After listening to end of the first CD, I returned to the first chorus and was struck by the density of sound that it presented. On second listening, I didn’t find it so shocking as before, partly because my ears had adjusted to the difference in sound between Le Concert Lorrain/Nederlands Kammerkoor and FestspielOrchester Göttingen/NDR Chor. However, I realised that my expectation throughout the symphony was of a lighter introduction to the work, despite its dark and awesome beginning. The orchestral sound is, to my taste, too dense at all times in the choruses, lacking subtleties of phrasing. The choir, on the other hand, present a highly polished sound which conveys very well the sense of awe and majesty appropriate to the story. Their subtleties of phrasing are, unfortunately, not always audible over the orchestral sound. However, the arias are a completely different case. In each aria, the orchestra accompanies in a hugely sympathetic and imaginative manner. One can only assume, therefore, that the dense texture of the chorus accompaniment was an artistic decision.

Each of the soloists (this time very well known) is excellent, though with the odd fleeting moment of strain sounding in Peter Harvey’s voice, particularly in the quartet ‘The righteous shall be had’, which is rather high in tessitura.

A rather general and brief overview of the context of the work’s composition (mostly recycling relatively well-known facts) makes up half of the booklet notes. The other half consists of ‘some personal thoughts’ from Roy Goodman. These start unfortunately as an exercise in self-advertisement but, after the initial paragraph, are actually very informative and interesting. The recording is of the complete original three-part version, performed at the premiere on 4 April 1739, and thus includes the opening Larghetto of the organ concerto, HWV 295) completed by Handel on 2 April and played by the composer as an introduction to Part II.

Violet Greene

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Johannes Pramsohler violin, Philippe Grisvard harpsichord
65:11
Audax Records ADX13703
J S Bach BWV1024, 1026, Anh. 153
J G Graun Sonata in G
Krebs Sonata in c
Pisendel Sonata in a

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his latest fruit (and a rich one at that) of the collaboration of two of the stars of the younger generation focuses on music for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach and his colleagues and pupils. Alongside world premiere recordings of works by Krebs and Graun are the G minor Fuga by Bach himself, the unaccompanied sonata in A minor by Pisendel and two works of uncertain origin – Anh. 153 might be authentic Bach, and Pisendel is a possible author of BWV1024. As the premise of the CD suggests, these two men were well acquainted, and Bach clearly knew Graun’s reputation since he sent Wilhelm Friedemann to him for lessons; Krebs, of course, was one of Bach senior’s pupils. As usual the combination of Pramsohler’s virtuosity in realising the demands placed on him by these composers – along with a genuine desire to give the music a heart and a soul – and Grisvard’s magical realisations (one minute providing harmonic support, then engaging in a keen dialogue with the violin, sometimes even grabbing the limelight for himself) is a joy to behold; if the photo on the cover of the packaging is all very serious, the one on the front of the booklet suggests they have tremendous fun together, too. And that is oh so audible! If Audax had a subscription series, I would recommend you sign up.

Brian Clark

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Nova Ars Cantandi, Giovanni Acciai
123′ (2 CDs)
Tactus TC 650290

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his world premiere recording of the composer’s op. 9 set of Vespers psalms “a quattro voci con violini, e suoi ripieni, con altri salmi a due e trè voci con violini” (printed in 1690 by Giuseppe Sala in Venice) should draw attention to a much neglected composer. Performed by an all-male ensemble (apart from Ivana Valotti on organ!), the entire contents of the volume are performed in the original sequence and not as part of a reconstructed service. After the Domine ad adiuvandum (2 sopranos, 2 violins, BC), the psalms are Dixit Dominus (tutti), Confitebor tibi Domine (SB, 2 violins, BC), Beatus vir (tutti), Laudate pueri (CAB, 2 violins, BC), Laudate Dominum omnes gentes (tutti), Laetatus sum (SSB, 2 violins, BC), Nisi Dominus (SAB, 2 violins, BC), and Lauda Jerusalem (tutti), and there are settings of the Magnificat and the Litaniae Beate Virginis Mariae. There being only four named singers, Nova Ars Cantandi (“a new way of singing”?) have obviously opted not to include ripieni in their performances of the larger works, and one is left to assume that the alto takes the 2nd soprano part in the two pieces that require one.

The performances is well paced and nicely recorded. The booklet notes are extensive, which is all the more surprising since little is known of the composer’s life apart from the places where he worked and the dates of such employment; I think the claim that composers such as Cazzati, Legrenzi and Colonna “were the first to give up the sixteenth century practice of ‘singing and playing with all sorts of instruments’ and to promote the emergence of a new kind of composition in which the concertante instrument could interact, at last, with the vocal parts, imitating their phrases of porposing new ones” is a little odd – surely Monteverdi and his contemporaries several generations earlier had already done that. The translation is by far the best I have seen from Tactus, yet there are still some little things that could be improved (and would have been easily spotted by a native speaker!); sonate a tre is rendered “trio sonata”, for example, and since we don’t really have a modern expression matching maestro di cappella, leave it in Italian rather than translating it into German! These are very minor points in an otherwise excellent presentation of some fine music.

Brian Clark

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