Categories
Recording

Kaspar Förster

Les Traversées Baroques
67:56
Chemins du Baroque CDB001

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]ontinuing her mission of bringing to proper prominence the music of 17th-century Poland, Judith Pacquier has teamed up with director Etienne Meyer to showcase the work of Kaspar Förster. The music in this programme is smaller scale, more concentrated and more adventurous than the Mielczewski and the Zielenski of the previous recordings. Förster studied with Carissimi and it is impossible not to hear echoes of the latter’s Jepthe in the harmonic twists in the first psalm Confitebor tibi Domine. The excellent sleeve notes tell us that the introduction of such seconda practica  into the Hanseatic bridgehead of Gdansk gave rise to a “mini Thirty Years War” of musical controversy – only resolved, it seems, when more names were invented to give decent separations between ever more avant-guarde styles. Instrumental styles were also beginning to dominate musical lines, and the singing is suitably virtuosic. In particular, the soprano Anne Magouët creates line, life and energy, totally transcending the coloratura. Instrumental contributions (to both vocal and purely instrumental pieces) involve two cornettinos, two violins, dulcian and gamba. What makes the instrumental playing especially attractive is the fact that within each pair of instruments, each one says the same thing but finds its own voice to say it. (Judith Pacquer and William Dongois, cornettino; Stéphanie Erös and Josèphe Cottet, violin.) This personality, added to wonderful playing, makes the performance particularly engaging. The dulcian of Mélanie Flahaut combines complete fluency with marvellous bounce and life – taking hold of the shape of the music as a whole. There is music that plays with the edges of harmonic possibilities, beautifully shaped lines and a clear concept of the music in performance – recorded with an excellent natural balance and spacing. A gem.

Stephen Cassidy

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Recording

Corelli Bolognese – Trio Sonatas by Corelli and his Successors

Musica Antiqua Latina
52:11
deutsche harmonia mundi 88875174822
Music by G. B. Bassani, G. M. Bononcini, Cazzati, Corelli, D. Gabrielli, Torelli, Vitali & anonymous

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]orelli tends to be filed under “Roman” composers; this CD sets out to balance that assumption by contrasting three of his trios (including the Ciaccona that ends his op. 2 set) with music of contemporaries. While I enjoyed a lot of what Musica Antiqua Latina do here, several things irked me, too; the strumming guitar for one, the disconnect with the booklet note for another (lots about Corelli in Bologna, almost nothing about the music we hear), the programme’s sub-title (how can people who lived before or at the same time as Corelli be described as his successors?), the portrait of Sammartini purporting to be Bassani (OK, they have the same Christian names, but that wig is way too modern!), and – to crown it all, at least for me – a Balletto by Vitali in which the three voices play in different meters, except because of the “arty arrangement” (ironic use of language) we never hear it as it was printed in the composer’s op. 13 (Artificii musicali) so we don’t really get the point…

This sort of thing might work very successfully in live performance, so I could perhaps understand its inclusion if this were a DVD release; here it is plain daft. Like a rush of Red Priest to the head. When a group plays so beautifully together (as they do on the majority of this disc), why resort to gimmickery of any sort?

Brian Clark

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Categories
Recording

Buxtehude and his circle

Theatre of Voices, Paul Hiller
75:27
Da Capo 6.220634

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his recording owes at least something to a concert I heard in Copenhagen when I was there for the annual Renaissance Festival as the organiser’s guest, since I had suggested that they celebrate the 300th anniversary of the death of Christian Geist, who had lived, worked and died in that city. The programme is not quite the same, but there are still two works by Geist on offer: His setting of Dixit Dominus  (by using the Erbe Deutscher Musik edition, they missed out a whole passage of tenor part that had slipped the editor’s notice!) and his “affective” Die mit Tränen säen. Buxtehude similarly is represented by two works: His Gott, hilf mir  and Jesu, meine Freude  are both rightfully well known and their influence on the young J. S. Bach is undeniable! His father-in-law Tunder’s Dominus illuminatio mea  is an impressive piece, indeed, while Bruhns’ bass tour de force, a virtuoso setting of De profundis clamavi, is no less so, and Kaspar Förster (the younger)’s Confitebor tibi Domini  brings a wonderful survey of music with which Buxtehude was most likely familiar to a rousing close. Throughout the singing and playing are of the highest order, and the solo bass also contributes a fine booklet essay, tying all the composers together in a readable narrative. The sung texts are translated into English only, which I don’t suppose will pose much of a problem from the majority of Danes – I wonder how successful it would be the other way around!

Brian Clark

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Recording

Mozart: Piano Concertos KV482 & 491

Arthur Schoonderwoerd, Cristofori
65:52
Accent ACC24313

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his series is growing on me more and more; the intimacy of playing these gorgeous pieces one to a part is pleasure enough of itself – the horns and bassoon in the opening of the E flat major concerto (KV 482) are fabulous! There is just enough hint of improvisation in Schoodnerwoerd’s playing to make it seem as if he is making it up as he goes along, thereby communicating some of the excitement of hearing the music for the first time. As with previous releases, there is no hint on the front cover of one of the disc’s other principle attractions, namely a concert aria with piano obbligato, in thias case Vanessa Garcia Simón’s ravishing account of “Non temer, amato bene”; hers is a full voice, and boy can she project it – all the more impressively because she manages that while maintaining absolute purity of pitch; the chromatic scale passages are exceptional! The slight harpsichord soundalike nature of Schoonderwoerd’s Walther copy allows it to cut through the texture without every dominating the sound picture. All in all, this is a delightful disc and I have enjoyed listening to it several times.

Brian Clark

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Recording

Greensleeves: Folk Music of the British Isles

Armonico Consort, Christopher Monk dir.
52:17
Signum Classics SIGCD447

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is hardly folk-music – for instance, three items (Morley, Pearsall and Stanford) have nothing to do with folk, and much of the rest have irrelevant backing. The best is Holst’s version of I love my love, which develops from simplicity gradually into more elaboration that works. The original Greensleeves  from c.1580 is dubious as a folk song; the tune first appeared as a standard bass pattern, which has the first chord on B flat rather than G minor (in the usual pitch). Most of the rest are messed up by over-elaborate backing and prettiness. The title gives nothing to imply that this isn’t a recording of folk music: more plausible would be single voice or with a simple instrument. I initially wrote a more positive version of this review, but by the next day I felt more critical. The longer I live, the more I prefer unaccompanied or simple backing. There’s nothing on the cover that fits with genuine or imitated folk-song. There is some virtue, however, in the booklet.

Clifford Bartlett

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Uncategorized

Maria Weiss: favola in musica

New old music
51:16
1607 Records RC171114
Music by Bach, Caldara, Durón, Handel, Kapsberger, Machaut, Mitterer , Monteverdi, Purcell & Vivaldi

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ne outcome of the fragmentation of the Classical record industry has been the rise of artist-driven recording projects. Often highly personal, sometimes crowd-funded, I suppose they are the equivalent of so-called ‘vanity publishing’. Yet at their best such recordings can provide thought-provoking new insights into the music we listen to. This CD from the Austrian mezzo and actress Maria Weiss certainly falls into that category. To start with, it looks good, being superbly presented in a 216-page hardcover book that includes German and English texts in addition to dozens of sumptuous colour photographs of the singer’s native Carinthia and the artists. EMR readers will recognise the title of the CD as the subtitle of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, ‘a fable (or as Weiss prefers, ‘fairy tale’) in music, and this is indeed Maria Weiss’ own story in music.

Her voice is distinctive, a beautifully burnished and rounded mezzo that at the same time remains fundamentally pure in tone, vibrato being sparingly used for expressive purpose. All this can be heard on the opening track Machaut’s famous unaccompanied virelai ‘Foy porter’, which is perfectly pitched throughout and sung with arresting attention to the sense of the words. This close attention to text, doubtless a spin off from the singer’s other career as an actress, is a feature of the whole disc, on which Weiss sings in no fewer than six languages. Given that, it is hardly surprising that diction is not always perfectly clear.

Much of the repertoire is familiar, in this category tracks that deserve special mention including a well projected and appropriately ornamented account of La Musica’s Prologue to Orfeo  and an elegantly shaped ‘Qui d’Amor’ from Handel’s Ariodante  (though both here and certainly in the da capo  of ‘Cara speme’ (Giulio Cesare) I’d ideally have liked a few more ornaments and sadly Weiss does not appear to own to a trill.) The ‘Qui d’Amor’, by the way, is also included on an evocatively filmed video bonus, though I had problems finding it on my PC. There is also a touching account of Bach’s ‘Bist du bei mir’.

‘New old music’ is represented by premiere recordings of three extracts from Sebastian Durón’s Italianate zarzuela El imposible mayor en amor, le vence Amor  (1710), Jupiter’s arietta ‘Otro adora’ being a real charmer, especially when sung in such beguiling fashion as it is here. Finally there are two items by the contemporary composer Wolfgang Mitterer that take their inspiration from early music and Maria Weiss’ voice. The first, ‘Remember Me’ is a take on Dido’s Lament (which Weiss also sings in Purcell’s version), uses a range of instrumental and electronic devices against the voice singing (largely) the original vocal line to create an impression of ever-growing melancholy and fragmentation. The effect is curiously compelling. But the second, ‘Niemand falle’ – which takes text from act 2 of Orfeo  rendered by Weiss in what I in my old-fashioned innocence would call Sprechgesang, but which I gather from the notes is an example of hip hop – left me struggling, I fear.

Adept accompaniments are provided by the rather tortuously named Milleseicentosette, from among whom theorbist Rasario Conte emerges to give intimate and technically proficient performances of two Kapsberger pieces. The whole CD is somehow immensely compelling in an at times ethereal way, drawing the listener into a sense of the other-worldly only enhanced by the church acoustic. It is certainly different and despite the rather short playing time I urge readers to hear it.

Brian Robins

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Sheet music

Emanuel Aloys Förster: Six String Quartets. Op. 7

Edited by Nancy November
Recent Researches in Music of the Classical Era, 99
A-R Editions, Inc.
xx+226pp
$240.00

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hese six four-movement works (in A, F, D, B flat, G and E flat major respectively) were dedicated to Friedrich Wilhelm, the cello-playing Prussian king who had inspired Mozart and Haydn to write music for him. Förster (eight years Mozart’s senior) was a multi-talented musician, teaching keyboard and musical theory in 1780s Vienna, while playing violin and viola in chamber music ensembles (having been an oboist in the Prussian army earlier in his life!)

After a quick opening movement, the tempo lessens for the second, then a menuetto-trio pairing leads into a lively finale. In fact, these are essentially what by that date had become standard Viennese string quartets. For much of the time the 1st violin dominates, though the cello (as mentioned at the beginning of the review) does regularly take the limelight, and the middle parts – though largely harmonic in function, with some neat figuration – are occasionally also allowed to join in (or even lead) the conversation.

The scores are elegant and spacious without being dominated by white space. As there is no need to worry about page turns, some of the layout seems a little random to someone (i. e., me) who spends his life typesetting music (such as turning a page for a single system of a trio, which then requires a turn back of two pages), but since these scores are for study and not conductors or players, such considerations (and observations) are perhaps irrelevant?

The Authentic Quartet have recorded Förster’s three quartets, op. 21, for the Hungaroton label but I have not been able to locate a version of these six works – now that they have been neatly edited (and A-R Editions do sell performing materials for the set) someone can rectify that situation.

Brian Clark

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Sheet music

Handel Neun deutsche Arien…

Nine German Arias for Soprano, Solo Instrument and Basso continuo…
Edited by Ullrich Scheideler
G. Henle Verlag (968).
ix +42pp +parts for solo instrument, basso and continuo €16.00.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he ‘German Arias’ were intended to be published in vol. 49 of Chrysander’s complete edition in the 1890s. Henle has now produced a cheap but thoroughly edited version. Normally Handel wrote quickly then got his amanuensis to make a clear version, which was then reproduced several times and sometimes he had it printed. In this case, it seems that Handel sent his only copy to Germany.

The Henle edition certainly looks better than the ones I have (or rather, used to have). It consists of a score and separate booklets for the solo instrument (not specified, though ad lib for violin, recorder or oboe) with smaller-stave for voice, basso (single stave), and continuo with the upper two staves in smaller print and sometimes pages spread out in three. The score has a realisation. The nine arias can be sung in sequence, though I’d favour more variety – alternative pieces could also be interspersed.

This is an excellent edition, and good value.

Clifford Bartlett

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Categories
Recording

Conversed Monologue

Concerti by J. G. Graun, J.-M. Leclair & W. F. Bach
Fantasticus XL
70:08
resonus RES10166

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]egular readers will know that I am a fully paid-up member of the Fantasticus fan club, so it will come as no surprise that in their latest venture – which sees the three regular members (Rie Kimura on violin, gambist Robert Smith and harpsichordist Guillermo Brachetta) take centre stage as soloist in a concerto, accompanied by a slightly enlarged group (two more violins along with viola, cello, bass and theorbo, as required for a one-per-part ensemble in each piece).

As with all their previous discs, the playing is accomplished and virtuosic, but without letting the difficulty ever take centre stage – demanding the three works may be, but each of the three stars still manage to produce ravishing sounds from their instruments.

Robert Smith is outstanding in Johann Gottlieb Graun’s Concerto in C; his gamba music seems to be drawing ever-wider attention from virtuosos on the instrument, and this captivating performance will surely only enhance both composer and performer’s reputations. Rie Kimura opts for one of the less well-known concertos by Jean-Marie Leclair (op. 10/6 in G minor) and, having previously demonstrated what a natural she is in German and Italian repertoire, she now shows that she is equally at home in the world of the French baroque. Wilhelm Friedemann Bach is surely the least heard of the junior Bachs and Guillermo Brachetta’s rendition of his Concerto in F (BR C13/Falck44) makes me wonder why; here is everything one expects from C. P. E. Bach and more besides…

This is yet another rewarding and entertaining release from Resonus; I hope there are many more to come!

Brian Clark

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Sheet music

German Settings of Ossianic Texts, 1770–1815

Edited by Sarah Clemmens Waltz
Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era, 100
A-R Editions, Inc.
liv+156pp.
$260.00

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here are thirteen songs in this volume; one by Christian Gottlieb Neefe, two by Karl Siegmund Freiherr von Seckendorff, three each by Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg and Johann Friedrich Reichardt, and one each by Friedrich Ludwig Aemilius Kunzen, Friedrich Götzloff, Friedrich Heinrich Himmel and Carl Friedrich Zelter. There is no cause for alarm if these names mean next to nothing to you; Sarah Clemmens Waltz has done a fabulous job, not only in explaining the phenomenon that was Ossianism and its popularity in Germany, but she discusses each of the composers and their contributions in considerable detail. In short, this volume has everything you could possibly need for an Ossian-themed recital – she even gives the range of the piano parts of each!

The texts inspired a rich variety of response from the composers; von Seckendorff’s setting of “Dauras Trauer” is a simple strophic song with a coda that consists of a reprise of the opening eight bars, while Zumsteeg’s “Ossians Sonnengesang” has an additional violin part and moves from the opening B flat major through E major (with some challenging looking double stops for the fiddler in bars 61–63!) and F minor before somehow managing to get back to the tonic 270 bars of arietta, recitative and a slow, surprisingly quiet conclusion. The following number, Zumsteeg’s “Ossian auf Slimora” is even more extensive – 515 bars, again ending slowly and quietly. Himmel’s “Ossian an die untergehende Sonne” also has an independent violin part and is given here with separate voice lines for the German and English version of the text.

Unlike the two other A-R Editions I have reviewed this month, this volume does have to take into consideration that fact that at least some users will want to perform these songs. Thus it strikes me as odd that, for example, the music for song 8 (Reichardt’s “Armins Klage um seine Kinder”) is not placed on facing pages to avoid page turns. The fact that a third page is used for a further five verses of text makes such a layout even more impractical; surely two verses could have been printed below the notes and the remainder in the space below the final system. Götzloff’s “Ossians Klage um Uthal und Ninathona” (the only song in the volume for a bass) is also better suited to a facing pages layout.

The edition itself is impressive, though I wonder if using “[sim.]” might obviate the need for bar after bar of bracketed editorial accents which, no matter how hard the most professional typesetter in the world might work, also strike my eye as rather ugly.

I don’t want to end this review on a negative, though – Clemmens Waltz has done an excellent job in putting together an impressive volume that I sincerely hope will be used as the basis for recitals and recordings!

Brian Clark