Categories
Sheet music

Georg Friedrich Handel Alexander’s Feast; or, the Power of Musick, HWV 75

Score, ed. Michael Robertson.
Edition Walhall (EW 904), 2015. xvi + 256pp,
€88.50
Also available: Vocal score (EW 910), Parts (EW 248)

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]ärenreiter published Das Alexander-Fest in 1957, with German text placed above the English original. It is among a group of editions which have generally been considered as inadequate. Serie I Band 1, no. 4001, edited by Konrad Ameln, isn’t quite the first, but several early examples could hardly be thought as scholarly. I bought a copy through my subscription in 1960 (30 shillings. i.e. £1.10s), but my first use was at the Dartington Summer School in 1966, with Jennifer Vivyan, Kenneth Bowen and Neil Howlett (STB) with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields directed by Neville Marriner (who is still conducting in his 90s) and conducted by Louis Halsey – a few years later I shared the BBC Music Library canteen with Louis and Basil Lam. The performance failed to include the harp concerto (op. 4/6), though Act II was introduced by “The Celebrated Concerto in Alexander’s Feast”. Over the years, I became more and more annoyed with the score, but the Novello vocal score by Donald Burrows was, as far as it goes, useful. I never acquired the reprint of the work from Chrysander – one of the few copies I don’t have, though it is available on line via IMSLP – HG 14, 1862. From the same source, but more interesting, is the facsimile of the very early printed edition, though with no specific date.

It is virtually impossible to produce an accurate Urtext. Various changes took place between 1736 to March 1739, and it is likely that some of Handel’s performances were given in his absence. The editor claims that the performing score copied by the elder J. C. Smith (Hamburg Staats- & Universitätsbibliothek, MSM C/263) is the best source in that it clarifies what Handel intended. The most interesting feature of the new edition reviewed here is the inclusion of an independent organ part (British Library R.M. 19.a.1), which was probably written out in Handel’s period of bad health. This is valuable information which can guide players in other non-theatrical works. The organ often plays just in octaves at the pitch levels of cello and bass, with the bottom note F. Modern organs can negotiate that by using 16′, but that’s less plausible for organs of Handel’s time, though they have low Gs.

An asset is the Concerto per la Harpa (op. 4/6). I’m used to it sounding delicate, but it is does seem odd for the harpsichord to be added in brackets as well as having the organ plus the essential harp. The editorial additions are superfluous. The harpsichord disrupts the harp, and the two-stave organ part may well be the scribe copying the harp. Does the octave bass foresee the habits of pianists and play both basses in one hand, in which case the right hand could play the simplified upper parts? On musical grounds, however, there would be more musical sense in using two hands – so does the organist sit opposite the C below middle C! (I’ve never tried it.) I’m puzzled at an editorial [“play’d an 8. lower”] (bar 41), though the range is more-or-less the same as 25-28 with no indication of lowering the octave.

Another issue that is of interest occurs in The many rend the skies, where two oboes and two bassoons swap between one or two individual lines each or, occasionally, two parts for each. This provides an interesting texture, but the bassoons fall back on a single part from bar 19 and stays thus to the end (bar 137). Ameln makes the score seem much more sensible, with the oboes and bassoons each shown on one stave, though the Walhall edition spreads them onto two each, since it wouldn’t have been possible to leave space for two extra staves for the organ part even if the oboes and bassoons had been single-staved. I’m not sure what “Loud: an octave lower” means since after ten bars the notation is basically from the score and may well be played at pitch, especially if there is figuring, but bars 20-24 imply low octaves, irrespective of what is in the treble. An interesting piece of scoring is Revenge Timotheus cries, where at bar 49 a bassoon doubles each of the two violas, with a third bassoon on the bass line.

I haven’t mentioned Dryden’s text. It is good to have it printed in the original English with a translation by Stefan Gericke. I checked the details of the text which was presented in the style of 1736 as given in Robert Manson Myers’s Handel, Dryden, & Milton… (Bowes & Bowes, 1956). Cecilia volgi un sguardo was placed at the beginning of the work, though headed A Cantata perform’d at the Beginning of the Second Act. In the current edition, it was excluded. Act the Second opens with a Concerto for two Violins, Violoncello, &c (not in the edition, but there is an isolated work in C named “Alexander’s Feast”) and a further Concerto per L’organo before the final chorus: neither of these is added in the edition, and the reference on p. 215 should be referred to p. 236, not 234. I find the 1956 layout of the verse plausible, and retaining capital letters aids singers in the poetic shape. (I periodically complain that the Italian verse of the madrigal period was notated with capitals but is now ignored.) But I suspect that any further 18th-century English is too fussy as underlay.

The price in euros is surprisingly cheap. The English equivalent is around £63.00: I imagine that a new Bärenreiter edition would probably cost something over £200, judging by the larger works running into £400+. The commentary isn’t a thorough survey of all the variants, but significant ones are shown, and the introduction is helpful, especially with regard to avoiding the matters of pseudo-authenticity. There are, of course, places where it is obvious that Handel or his amanuensis start precisely but later simplify the music since the earlier notation will continue. However, that is much more common in opera than oratorio. The opening in the Ouverture in Donald Burrows’ Novello vocal score (1982) was following the editorial practice of its day by adding semiquavers above the quavers to show how they should be played, but there’s none of that here.

Another issue is the length of the chords in secco recits. The editor recommends that the harpsichord sustains no longer than a crotchet. But the very first chord (no. 2) begins on the first beat and needs to sustain until the voice enters on the fourth quaver: it makes it sound like making the voice keep quiet until the chord is stopped! In bar 3 the C can end with the voice’s “son” but the G sharp in bar 4 needs sustaining until the voice enters. It is probably not necessary now to cue a note a tone or a fourth above the closing note of the phrase. It’s up to the harpsichordist to be more flexible. The organ is tacet in secco recits.

Michael Robertson has made an excellent job of this edition: congratulations!

Clifford Bartlett

Categories
Recording

Louis XIV: Les musiques du roi-soleil

CD1 Charpentier/Lully – Te Deum
Le Poème Harmonique, Capella Cracoviensis, Vincent Dumestre
CD2 Du Mont – Grands motets for the chapel of Louis XIV
Ensemble Pierre Robert, Frédéric Desenclos
CD3 Versaille, L’île enchantée
Capriccio Stravagante orchestra, Skip Sempé
195:49 (3 CDs)
Alpha 961

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a re-packaging of recordings from 2013, 2004 and 2001 respectively. The note (Eng/Fre) gives a good general background to the music though says little about specifics and the texts/translations must be downloaded from Alpha. The booklet does, however, include more or less full details of who is singing/playing what.

CD1 is of sacred music – Te Deum settings by Lully and Charpentier directed by Vincent Dumestre. I’m sure that many will find these lively and colourful but I’m afraid they just irritate me. The composers knew what they were doing and their scores do not require the addition of recorders at unlikely pitches or the substitution of viols at the wrong octave for violins. And the choir ladies are prone to excess vibrato in moments of high excitement. On its own this would rank 2.5* for performance.

CD2 is quite different, though also of sacred music. Four noble examples of Henry du Mont’s motets are performed by Ensemble Pierre Robert with respect, restraint and an exquisite sense of style. When first released this was highly praised and nothing has happened to change this. 5* for performance – it is very fine.

CD3 offers a varied selection of secular music – harpsichord solo and duo, opera extracts and solo songs with Skip Sempé/Capriccio Stravagante. The programme is skilfully arranged to reflect the kind of evening that took place in the Versailles salons. As such it is an excellent French Baroque ‘sampler’ but is also rather good (4*), robbed of a full house by the occasional moments of ‘help yourself’ performance practice.

The ratings below are for the overall package.

David Hansell

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00X6MOA96&asins=B00X6MOA96&linkId=UTRESPEBG6ZEMJMH&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=7509844&bg=ffffff&tc=000000&lc=e5671d&s=120&t=1&i=1&b=1″ width=”120″ height=”214″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″]

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00X6MOA96&asins=B00X6MOA96&linkId=BCGWEDVZL6GOUQK4&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

 

[wp-review]

Categories
Recording

Gombert: Motets

Beauty Farm (Bart Uvyn countertenor, Achim Schulz, Adriaan de Koster & Hannes Wagner tenor, Joachim Höchbauer & Martin Vögerl bass
117:09 (2 CDs)
frabernardo FB 1504211
Motets a4 Domine non secundum peccata, O Domina mundi, Sancta Maria mater Dei, Salve regina, Si ignoras te
Motets a5 Ave mater matris Dei, Emendemus in melius, O beata Maria, O flos campi, Sancta et immaculata, Tribulatio cordis mei, Veni dilecta mea
Motets a6 Ave salus mundi, Benedicta es, Descendi in hortum meum, O crux splendidior, O Jesu Christe succurre miseris, Peccata mea sicut saguttæ, Si bona suscepimus

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he quirkily named Beauty Farm draws its membership from a number of top continental ensembles and sounds beautifully blended with accurate intonation. If the recorded sound gave an initial impression of claustrophobia, by no means inappropriate for Gombert, I soon warmed to it. What seemed lacking was a wide dynamic range, with long sections delivered at an amiable mezzo forte and little attempt at anything atmospherically quiet or dramatically loud. The performances seem to rely on Gombert’s often remarkable harmonic progressions, but sometimes these were just not enough to hold the attention, and I could certainly have done with more expressive singing.

The two discs offer a generous cross-section of Gombert’s motets in four, five and six parts, and if the performances were a bit unrelenting in large helpings, this may well be a collection best dipped into rather than consumed in its entirety. The notes make extravagant claims for the new editions being performed – ‘the new editions… reveal a dark, intricate, rough and vibrant music.’ This seems to be attributed to the new application of musica ficta. As a performer grown increasingly suspicious of the overenthusiastic application of these chromatic inflections, I would be wary of any suggestion that they reveal anything hidden about a composer’s original intentions – the lack any specific examples in the notes leaves the question open.

D. James Ross

Nicolas Gombert (c1495-1560) “was probably the most important composer of the generation of musicians between Josquin and Palestrina along with… Morales and Clemens.” His dense and complex polyphony is uncompromising in its demands, on both performers and listener alike, but richly repays the effort!

Beauty Farm (why the name??) and especially their editor, Jorge Martin, are to be congratulated on assembling this fine collection of some of Gombert’s greatest motets. Particular highlights for me were the opening track of disc 1, Veni Dilecta Mea, with its cantus firmus obstinatus ‘Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis’, the magnificent Peccata Mea on the same disc, with its wonderful cadential ‘Miserere mei’ closing both prima and seconda pars, and the remarkable polytextual Salve Regina on disc 2, with each voice having a different Marian text, all finally coinciding (to satisfying effect) on the closing ‘O Dulcis Maria.’

Performances are one-to-a-part, in the mellow acoustic of Kartause Mauerbach. Musica Ficta is convincingly and copiously applied, resulting in some absolutely astonishing harmonic clashes. Tone and blend are excellent, although words are often rather indistinct, and there is a certain sameness in the music-making; these wondrous pieces are, however, best listened to and enjoyed in small doses, so the latter need not concern one unduly. Jorge Martin’s sleeve notes are good, though one would have liked a little more detailed description of the individual motets.

Alastair Harper

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00XWVIYE8&asins=B00XWVIYE8&linkId=L7RP672XW5GMTHM2&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=7461052&bg=ffffff&tc=000000&lc=e5671d&s=120&t=1&i=1&b=1″ width=”120″ height=”214″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″]

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00XWVIYE8&asins=B00XWVIYE8&linkId=XSTKIO7KDRNNY6PB&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[wp-review]

Categories
Recording

Praetorius

Balthasar-Neumann-Chor und -Ensemble, Pablo Heras-Casado
Archiv Produktion 479 4522
Hieronymus Praetorius Magnificat quarti toni, O quam pulchra es, Quam pulchra es, Surge propera amica mea, Tota pulchra es, Vulnerasti cor meum
Jacob Praetorius Indica mihi, Quam pulchra es, Veni in hortum meum
Michael Praetorius Magnificat per omnes versus, Nigra sum sed formosa

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a fine recording of some little-known music. The Praetorius of the title is actually the trinity of Michael, of Dresden, and the unrelated Heironymus and his son Jacob, of Hamburg (the latter a first for me.) The programme combines settings of the Magnificat (by Heironymus and Michael) with motets with texts from The Song of Songs, many previously unrecorded. The performances are generally superb; the opening Heironymus Tone IV Magnificat is wonderfully exciting, with driving ‘Dispersits’, disappearing ‘Dimisit Inanes’ and a welter of antiphonal ‘Saeculorum Amens’. The second Magnificat (Michael this time) is even more interesting, set ‘per omnes versus’ and utilising the hexachord ‘Ut re mi fa sol la’ as both cantus firmus and as a contrapuntal point. It has a particularly splendid conclusion, with the hexachord up and down in long notes in the bass supporting closely contrapuntal upper parts. Jacob’s two wedding motets are gentler; Indica mihi has a lovely ending, with upper and lower voices (representing bride and groom?) echoing each other’s ‘Ego dilecta mea’ / ‘Ego dilecto meo’. The Michael motets abound with felicitous word-painting – try the charming wandering flocks (‘Ne vagari’) of Nigra sum, for example. Heironymus is at his best in the richly sonorous Tota pulchra es, with its crowding ‘Veni, veni, coronaberis’ conclusion.

The Balthasar-Neumann-Chor and -Ensemble respond brilliantly to Heres-Casado’s sometimes rather over-detailed direction; some of the manipulation of dynamics, for example, seems a little unnecessary. The sleeve notes are not so satisfactory; there is a good deal about Heres-Casado, less about the composers and almost nothing about the individual pieces, a particular omission being details of the vocal and instrumental scorings, which are an essential and integral part of this glorious music.

Alastair Harper

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00VJ285LE&asins=B00VJ285LE&linkId=XYPQGZNFO24ZYFE3&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=7229805&bg=ffffff&tc=000000&lc=e5671d&s=120&t=1&i=1&b=1″ width=”120″ height=”214″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″]

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00VJ285LE&asins=B00VJ285LE&linkId=UT2YRZT3IDCPLVWC&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[wp-review]

Categories
Recording

Frottole: Popular Songs of Renaissance Italy

Ring Around Quartet & Consort
60:06
Naxos 8.573320
Music by Capirola, Cara, Dalza, Festa, da Fogliano, Patavino, Pesenti, Tromboncino, Willaert, Zesso & anon

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hese performers take a free but ultimately convincing approach to the secular music of Renaissance Italy, singing with relatively ‘naïve’ vocal production and feeling free to introduce glissandi and other vocal effects. The instrumental playing has an attractive élan to it, nicely offsetting the sometimes rather opaque sound of the voices. Notwithstanding the sterling efforts of the performers there is an undoubted sameness to much of this material, and this is undoubtedly a collection to dip in and out of rather than to consume in its entirety as I have to as a reviewer. By the end I felt as if I had eaten an entire bag of dolly mixtures at one sitting!

I did particularly enjoy Atsufumi Ujiie’s winsome way with a recorder and Marcello Serafini’s idiomatic and imaginative guitar contribution. Many Naxos releases of this sort are recorded accounts of live performances, and very often you can’t help feeling that many of them would work better with the theatrical presence of the performers, an element lost in the recorded account. Naxos’s modus operandi often leads performers to record with them in order to have high-quality CDs to sell at performances, and the present CD may well fall into this category, but is nonetheless enjoyable as an independent recording.

D. James Ross

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00V872JZI&asins=B00V872JZI&linkId=QQLTAXGTX6E5BIG2&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=7308456&bg=ffffff&tc=000000&lc=e5671d&s=120&t=1&i=1&b=1″ width=”120″ height=”214″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″]

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00V872JZI&asins=B00V872JZI&linkId=MYDJ4JBGAXK3POI3&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[wp-review]

Categories
Recording

Sugarloaf Mountain – An Appalachian Gathering

Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra, Jeannette Sorrell
69:06
Avie AV2329

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he impetus behind this collection goes back to Jeanette Sorrell’s experience between 14 and 17 playing piano for the Greenway Southern Baptist Church and accompanying an Appalachian singer, Madeline MacNeil. She then turned primarily into a harpsichordist and conductor. Later, she returned to her interest alongside her serious musical activities – not that it’s a helpful distinction. But the music here isn’t like the Appalachian music when I have heard it on radio and previous recordings. I expected to find the tunes more rhythmic, and was disappointed. I happened to have a performance of one of Berio’s settings of “Black is the colour of my true love’s hair”, which is of the fuller version – sadly, I’ve lost the one for Berio’s wife and a viola , which somehow makes more of an impression than either of the tunes here. I expected “The Cruel Sister” to be sung without too much variety – a little gesture is for me more impressive than what is done here. I don’t know where my expectation of Appalachian singing comes from, but I suspect that the hymns were strict, and the method here seems to imply musicality of a different nature that has expanded with the “early music” aspects which Jeanette seems happy with.

I’m pretty certain that if I went to a concert, I’d enjoy lots of it, though would imagine that the expression is rather excessive. But in their own way, they are extremely skilful.

Clifford Bartlett

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00VKWZLTC&asins=B00VKWZLTC&linkId=DSKWDLYWNHRGFMC2&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=7239109&bg=ffffff&tc=000000&lc=e5671d&s=120&t=1&i=1&b=1″ width=”120″ height=”214″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″]

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00VKWZLTC&asins=B00VKWZLTC&linkId=3PYIWMWGXYMYUIHG&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[wp-review]

Categories
Recording

C. P. E. Bach: Zweyte Fortsetzung: Sonatas 4–6

Miklós Spányi clavichord
75:30
BIS-2046 CD
Wq52/4–6, 65/47 & 49 [H37, 163, 129, 248 & 298]

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n this, volume 29 of the BIS complete C.P.E. Bach keyboard series, Miklós Spányi makes a strong case for the clavichord, both in his playing and in the useful sleeve notes. He gets a wide range of dynamics and articulation, and the recording quality is excellent, picking up every nuance. The five sonatas in this volume come from a range of periods: there is one early one from the 1740s (Wq 52/4), two from the middle period and two late sonatas. The most impressive is that in E minor, composed in Zerbst in 1758 (Wq 52/6), a classic combination of CPE Bach’s control of extended structures with very quirky moments. Spányi plays on a copy by Joris Potvlieghe of a 1785 clavichord by Gottfried Joseph Horn of Dresden, now in the Leipzig Musikinstrumentenmuseum. These are very persuasive accounts and contrast well with similar works recently recorded on the pianoforte by Riccardo Cecchetti.

Noel O’Regan

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00OYKKZD4&asins=B00OYKKZD4&linkId=YYGRBPQACC6R5HMX&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=6405027&bg=ffffff&tc=000000&lc=e5671d&s=120&t=1&i=1&b=1″ width=”120″ height=”214″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″]

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00OYKKZD4&asins=B00OYKKZD4&linkId=5JJPUMK5XMGQLGYP&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[wp-review]

Categories
Recording

Handel: The Musick for the Royal Fireworks, Concerti a due cori, nos 1-3

Zefiro Baroque Orchestra, Alfredo Bernardini
68:57
Arcana A386 (© 2006)

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Fireworks were not quite fitting with any particular manner: I’ve heard much worse, but somehow it didn’t always get enough rhythm – e.g. starting a triple phrase when the opening bar moves towards the stress in the first note of the 2nd bar – but don’t expect regular stress imitations. There is not quite enough vigour.

The three Concerti, however, had much more success! They were composed around the same period, with movements from various oratorios and the like, all of which were brought together with great success. The booklet is extremely thorough – though three of the pages concern the Fireworks whereas only one page is devoted to the three Concerti.

Clifford Bartlett

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00VW66YX8&asins=B00VW66YX8&linkId=V76VKRGUC5EVPLYO&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=7356218&bg=ffffff&tc=000000&lc=e5671d&s=120&t=1&i=1&b=1″ width=”120″ height=”214″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″]

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00VW66YX8&asins=B00VW66YX8&linkId=AWGTCFOAUS77HRUM&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[wp-review]

Categories
DVD Recording

Purcell: Dido & Aeneas

Vivica Genaux Dido, Henk Neven Aeneas, Ana Quintans Belinda, Marc Mauillon Sorceress/Sailor, Le Poème Harmonique, Chœur Accentus /Opéra de Rouen Haute-Normandie, Vincent Dumestre
80′ (1 DVD)
Alpha 706

[dropcap]‘[/dropcap]Dido-on-Sea’? Or ‘Dido and Aeneas go to the Circus’? Whatever construct is put on this conception it will hardly be sufficient to convey just how bizarre it is. Where to start? Well, as is not uncommon in these benighted days, the stage directions are largely ignored. At no time are we ever in Dido’s Palace (act 1), a Cave (act 2/1), or a Grove (act 2/2). Only in act 3 do we have some semblance of place, where we see the prow of a ship. Otherwise we are located on a rocky seashore, which makes something of a nonsense of Belinda’s ‘Thanks to these lonesome vales’, among much else. The dances are largely given over to a troupe of acrobats, whose performances both aerial and earthbound are described in an astonishingly pretentious – and in places inaccurate – note by Vincent Dumestre as being ‘sometimes the protagonist’s projections’, while at other times ‘allegories of the characters described in the songs of the chorus’ (which performs throughout off-stage). Most notably, in the Cave scene they are slithery, writhing sea creatures, the accessories of a (male) Sorceress who is … wait for it … an octopus with a rather nasty bump protruding from the back of her/his head. Really. Otherwise the costumes in what is a quasi-period production are odd – Dido wears striped pantaloons under her gown, while Aeneas looks like Trapper John, the fur round his neck hardly compatible with his location in North African desert territory.

It would be pleasing to report that it was a relief to turn to the music. But it is no such thing. Dumestre has seen fit not only to flesh out the scoring with an utterly anachronistic continuo group including a harp, guitars, theorbos, but also – and equally anachronistically – an orchestra that includes recorders, oboes and bassoons. The effect of the plucked arpeggiations and pretty ornaments in such numbers as the Ritornelle that opens act 2 is about as inimical to Purcellian style as it is possible to imagine. While there is certainly room for improvisation in the Dido dances, Dumestre’s owes far more to his mistaken belief in the influence of Lully on the score. As Richard Luckett pointed out all those years ago in his notes for the famous Andrew Parrott Chandos recording, the musical accent of the opera is – aside from the overture and a few dances – not at all Lullian, but cast in Purcell’s wholly distinctive style. It is this aspect of Dido that Dumestre and his performers have fatally missed. Not one of the cast display real comprehension of either the linguistic or musical syntax. Vivica Genaux’s Dido is especially disappointing, the voice marred by obtrusive vibrato and even pitch problems, while at times taking on a curiously plummy quality. Her Dutch Aeneas is better, but ultimately, well, the Aeneas we all love to despise and his inability to articulate ornamental phrases cleanly is another disadvantage he shares with the Belinda.

Vincent Dumestre is a director for whom I have great respect for the many outstanding things he has done on record, not least the marvellous DVDs of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. But I fear here he is way out of his comfort territory. And I say that not because he is French; it is perfectly possible for non-English musicians to give convincing, moving performances of Purcell’s operatic masterpiece, witness that given last year in Bruges by the Italian Fabio Bonizzoni with a Spanish Dido. The film emanates from performances given at the Rouen Opera in 2014.

Brian Robins

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00SBVHG8E&asins=B00SBVHG8E&linkId=EDUVQ2YCX52PQJBO&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=6731110&bg=ffffff&tc=000000&lc=e5671d&s=120&t=1&i=1&b=1″ width=”120″ height=”214″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″]

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00SBVHG8E&asins=B00SBVHG8E&linkId=T6BXTO5OZ7VJG4GJ&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[wp-review]

Categories
Recording

Vinci: Catone in Utica

Juan Sancho Catone, Franco Fagioli Cesare, Valer Sabadus Marzia, Max Emanuel Cencic Arbace, Vince Yi Emilia, Martin Mitterrutzner Fulvio, Il pomo d’oro, Riccardo Minasi
233:42 (3 CDs)
Decca 478 8194

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]irst given in Rome at the Teatro delle Dame in January 1728, Catone in Utica was the first collaboration between Leonardo Vinci and Metastasio. In accordance with the Papal decree forbidding women on the Roman opera stage, it was given with an all-male cast, a format followed in this first recording, with countertenors taking the female parts. To those familiar with Handel’s operas, the libretto may seem excessively lengthy, with much longer stretches of secco recitative than London audiences were prepared to take. For anyone prepared to remember that in the 17th and for much of the 18th century the librettist took precedence over the composer, a reading of Metastasio’s masterly book as literature will prove rewarding. It tells of the power struggle between two giants of the Roman world, the dictator Julius Caesar (Cesare) and Cato the Younger (Catone), the upholder of traditional republican ideals.

This battle of political wills forms the backdrop to the military action in which Cesare and Catone are engaged. Within this context the love interest for once takes on a background role, though it remains as complex as ever. It involves primarily the love between Catone’s daughter Marzia and Cesare, revelation of which not surprisingly leads to rejection by her father, a heroic man whose stubborn pride is his Achilles heel. Catone’s ally, the Numidian prince Arbace, also loves Marzia, while a secondary couple is formed by Pompey’s widow Emilia and the Roman legate Fulvia, though Emilia is rather more interested in revenge on Cesare than romance. The denouement is unusual, with the defeated Cato dying on stage after stabbing himself and Cesare lamenting the loss of his one-time friend in a final few lines of plain recitative. It was a genuinely tragic denouement that did not go down well with Roman critics; Metastasio, ever sensitive to criticism, subsequently produced a second, less austere ending used by most composers who later set the libretto.

Vinci’s score is richly orchestrated for pairs of oboes and horns, trumpet, the usual strings and continuo, here including theorbo and guitar, neither to the best of my knowledge listed in any early 18th-century Italian theatre orchestra. Equally anachronistic are the timpani added – excessively noisily – to the overture and Cesare’s ‘Se in campo’ (act 2); I’ve become increasingly irritated by so-called HIP conductors (usually Italian) who see fit to add timpani as soon as they catch a whiff of a trumpet part.

While not without weaker moments (mostly in act 2), the arias maintain a high level of interest and variation. Vinci takes particular care to show both sides of Cesare’s character, the tenderness he displays toward the grieving Emilia and his love for Marzia in two gracious cantabile arias in act 1 contrasted strongly with the martial coloratura of ‘Se il campo’ and the ‘simile’ aria ‘Soffre talor’ (both act 2). The role is sung and projected by Franco Fagioli with real distinction, the beauty of his cantabile matched by the accuracy of his divisions, impressive chest notes and accomplished ornamentation, including trills. Even better are the superb arias Vinci provided for the proud Catone, a tenor role here well essayed by Juan Sancho with strongly confident singing and a fine technique tested to his detriment only when he asks too much of himself by over-elaborating da capo repeats. Especially memorable is his furious dismissal of the Roman legate Fulvio, ‘Va, ritorno’ (act 2), the orchestral contrapuntal chromaticism underpinning a magnificent display of defiance. Cato’s daughter Marzia also displays distinctively contrasting character traits, haughtily dismissive toward her would-be admirer Arbace while fiercely guarding her love for Caesar and concern for her father. Valer Sadabus’ singing of the role is marred only by an occasional lack of control. Max Emanuel Cencic’s Arbace, a weak character in the face of Marzia’s strong personality, is sung with his customary authority and tonal beauty, the pain of the intensely chromatic act 2 aria ‘Che sia la gelosia’ touchingly conveyed by Cencic’s finely poised singing. Emilia is a less rounded figure, driven by her hatred of Caesar, who she blames for her husband’s murder, the story of which she recounts in a dramatic accompagnato, one of such passages unexpectedly encountered in a opera of this date. Vince Yi’s distinctive – and here at least very feminine sounding – timbre allied to a highly accomplished technique is ideally suited to the role, while her admirer Fulvio is sung with real style by the young German tenor Martin Mitterrutzner; his love-sick ‘simile’ aria ‘Piangendo ancora’ (act 1) has a text whose beauty is matched by Vinci’s exquisite music.

If the vocal contribution maintains a generally high level, Riccardo Minasi’s direction begs a number of question marks. While the playing he draws from his Pomo d’Oro maintains throughout an admirable level of fiery dramatic conviction in allegros and Italianate lyricism in andantes, it is regrettably also prone to the kind of foibles frequently encountered among Italian early music groups. They include eccentric exaggeration of tempo, rhythm, and dynamics, apparent here on rather too many occasions. An especially bizarre example can be heard in the triple chord bass figure in Arbace’s ‘È in ogni’ (act I). Despite such reservations, there is no doubting this is a highly significant and important release that casts fresh light on Vinci’s standing as one of the major figures in earlier 18th-century opera.

Brian Robins

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00VA57QFG&asins=B00VA57QFG&linkId=RQ7QBJEIGOSE2VIC&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=7218830&bg=ffffff&tc=000000&lc=e5671d&s=120&t=1&i=1&b=1″ width=”120″ height=”214″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″]

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00VA57QFG&asins=B00VA57QFG&linkId=6TTB77LKSVUVRY7T&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

 

[wp-review]

*Brian allocated 4 stars for the singing and 3.5 stars for the orchestral playing.