Categories
Recording

Sons and Pupils of Johann Sebastian Bach

Hans Fagius (Močnik organ in Höör, Sweden)
79:19
Daphne 1052
Music by C P E Bach, W F Bach, G A Homilius, J L Krebs, J C Kittel & J G Müthel

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a thoughtfully devised recital played on a modern instrument that draws on the characteristics of the instruments by Silbermann and Hildebrandt so admired by JSB. The booklet (English/Swedish) includes both a stop list and the registrations used which will delight those who regularly complain at the absence of these things (me, for instance). There are some minor mis-translations and unidiomatic turns of phrase but nothing positively misleading. It’s still a shame that these things get through, though. The playing is always convincing whatever the style, with tempos and registrations always made to sound appropriate. I have to say, though, that most of the music is merely ‘interesting’ and only gets played because of the JSB connection. A conspicuous exception to this is the splendid CPEB Fantasy and Fugue Wq 119/7 which I shall add to my own repertoire at the earliest opportunity.

David Hansell

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Categories
Recording

Ritus Orphaeos – Il cantore al liuto

Simone Sorini
Baryton SO/11

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] really did approach this with an ‘innocent ear’ and thoroughly enjoyed it. We are offered an anthology of (mainly) Italian songs from the medieval and renaissance periods in which the singer accompanies himself on an impressive array of period-specific plucked instruments, played with an equally impressive array of period-specific techniques (various plectra and fingers) and textures (drones to polyphony). Doubtless specialists will criticise points of detail in the performance practice but it convinced me. The singing is an interesting mix of Sting (in his Dowland mode), Nigel Rogers (a willingness to experiment with technique) and Emma Kirkby (a strong engagement with the texts) and becomes increasingly ‘orthodox’ as the music becomes more modern. By our normal standards the booklet is a graphic disaster. Small and densely packed print is on a patterned background and the English ‘translation’ features regular mistakes as well as unidiomatic turns of phrase and the song texts are online only. But it’s worth persevering for the amazing amount of interesting information in there. Overall, the impression is of a performer passionately committed to what he does and I recommend this very strongly for slightly off-piste Summer listening.

David Hansell

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Recording

Clérambault / Marchand: Complete harpsichord works

Luca Oberti
62:55
Stradivarius STR 37025

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his 2014 recording was released in 2015 but has only just reached us. The instrument is a 1990 copy of a Goujon at A410, the resources of which are comprehensively, though tastefully, exploited and the 17th-century temperament used (the music was published in 1699 and 1702) makes a piquant contribution to the overall effect, especially in the minor key music.

Luca Oberti skilfully charts a route through the many minefields of this repertoire – the realisation of the ornaments within the musical lines and the préludes being particular strengths. Tempos are also very well chosen and executed – the quicker movements have life though never become a scramble. His essay (Italian/English) sets the music in its socio-historical context and also offers concise and pertinent comments on each piece.

David Hansell

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Categories
Recording

The Pleasures of the Imagination

English 18th-century music for the harpsichord
Sophie Yates
75:20
Chandos Chaconne CHAN0814
Music by Thomas Arne, J. C. Bach, Blow, Clarke, Croft, Greene & Jones

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]t a time when recordings incline towards ‘the complete’ this or that it is a pleasure to come across a themed but more varied recital. Sophie Yates’s survey of English keyboard music in the long 18th century is pretty much constant joy from start to finish. And the lack of Purcell and Handel is a real bonus. They are already ready well represented on disc anyway and their absence here makes space for the delights of others too often overshadowed. So let’s hear it for Blow, Clarke, Croft, Greene, Jones, Arne (especially Arne) and J. C. Bach. The booklet is an example of how to do it, the playing high-class and the instruments beautifully prepared, recorded and exploited. My only regret is that they are after French rather than English originals.

David Hansell

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Categories
Article

Byrd and Elgar revisited by Bliss

[dropcap]D[/dropcap]uring 2016 there are two scheduled concert performances in England of all or most of Byrd’s Great Service, [note]The Odyssean Ensemble, Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London, June 2; Floreat Sonus, Church of St Mary, South Creake, Norfolk, August 15.[/note] a work that has under-achieved five complete recordings in the compact disc (CD) era. [note]The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge (EMI CDC 477712, originally released on LP 1987); The Tallis Scholars (Gimell CDGIM 011, originally released on LP 1987; omits Kyrie); The Choir of Westminster Abbey, Hyperion CDA67533, 2005); Musica Contexta (Chandos CHAN 0789, 2012; uniquely includes passage from Te Deum missing in all sources but one); The Cardinall’s Musick (Hyperion CDA67937, 2012).[/note] Because of its magnitude, being in up to ten parts with seven constituent movements, most requiring soloists and antiphonal singing besides full choir, the work can seldom be sung liturgically at the three Anglican services – Mattins, Holy Communion or Evensong – for which Byrd composed movements, or canticles. The sheer scale and the demands of the music have also militated against frequent recordings, broadcasts or secular performances. This renders the fact of two performances within one calendar year all the more welcome. Similarly welcome as all five CD recordings have been, its status as the finest setting of the complete Anglican Service ever composed demands more such attention. Recently some recognition from long before the CD era has come to light.

Byrd has been associated with Elgar to a significant extent in a small number of articles. [note]Porte, John F. “Byrd and Elgar”. The Chesterian  7 (1925): 13-16; Turbet, Richard. “Byrd, Birmingham and Elgar.” Elgar Society journal  6 (1989): 7-8; ibid. “Bits of Byrd at Birmingham, 1900”. Early Music Review  118 (2007): 9. Porte considers each composer as being the greatest in the England of their time; my articles look at circumstances surrounding the performance of Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices  during the same festival which witnessed the premiere of Gerontius.[/note] Recently, and entirely fortuitously, I came across an interesting reference in Elgarian literature to another circumstance in which a piece by Byrd – this time the Great Service  – impinged upon one by Elgar – for the third time, his The Dream of Gerontius. This circumstance has never been mentioned in the literature of early music, so it is worth recounting it briefly from a Byrdian perspective as part of the narrative concerning reception of Byrd’s music before the age of authenticity and historically informed performance, and before the release of any recording of even a complete canticle from the Great Service. [note]The Gloria of the Nunc dimittis was released on a 78rpm disc in 1923; two American recordings of the complete work were released on LP in 1954 and 1987; see A discography of Tudor church music, compiled and introduced by Timothy Day. London: British Library, 1989, p. 217.[/note]

The shenanigans surrounding the now famous and feted first complete recording of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius  have been dramatically recounted by the late Carl Newton. [note]Newton, Carl. “The nightmare of Gerontius: the story behind a famous recording”. In The best of me: a Gerontius centenary companion, edited by Geoffrey Hodgkins. Rickmansworth: Elgar Editions, 1999, corr. repr. 2000, pp. 306-27, especially 313.[/note] During the Second World War in Britain, it was felt that Germany was successfully exploiting the music of the likes of Beethoven as cultural propaganda, so Walter Legge, the record producer at HMV with friends in high places, proposed that the United Kingdom should retaliate. The inevitable committee of the great and good was put together. Many and various pieces were put forward, from the rather vague suggestion of “madrigals” to modern works such as Rubbra’s third symphony. In the end, not by a process of selection but rather as a result of one or two proactive individuals taking the initiative, The Dream of Gerontius  was chosen to spearhead the project. It might seem surprising that the opponent of any work by Elgar was Arthur Bliss, once seen as a wild young man of English music after the First World War, but subsequently as a protégé of Elgar himself. By now Bliss was firmly installed within the British musical establishment, having been Director of Music at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from 1941 until 1944 (and later to become the Master of the Queen’s Musick, 1953-75). It was shortly after resigning from this post at the BBC in March 1944 that he made known his hostility to Gerontius  stating a preference for Dowland’s lute music, Delius’s Song of the High Hills  and Byrd’s Great Service. The rest is history and can be read in Newton’s stirring account. Although Bliss is not thought of as one who had a particular penchant for early English music, notwithstanding the Meditations on a Theme by John Blow, regarded by many as his finest work, he had some documented experience with the music of Byrd, having arranged three dances (pavan, galliard and jig) by the composer as part of his incidental music for a production of Shakespeare’s As you like it  at Stratford upon Avon in 1919. [note]Foreman, Lewis. Arthur Bliss: catalogue of the complete works. Sevenoaks: Novello, 1980, p. 65.[/note] Unfortunately the score does not survive, but it is possible that therein lay the seeds of his enlightened proposal for a complete recording of Byrd’s Anglican magnum opus; perhaps he had attended one of the three initial performances by the Newcastle Bach Choir of the work in London at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster during November 1924 [note]Whittaker, W. Gillies. “Byrd’s Great Service”. Musical quarterly  27 (1941): 474-90, especially 477-78. F[lood], G[rattan]. “A note on Byrd’s ‘Great Service’.” Music Bulletin  6 (1924): 372. Flood’s observation that “the crowded church … might have been filled nightly for at least a week”, alongside his unreservedly appreciative opinion of the first two performances under Whittaker, provoke a consideration of the possibility that a fashionable musician such as Bliss might have been one of those who attended.[/note] after it had been re-discovered by E.H. Fellowes in June 1919, who observed that “this was a work entirely unknown to modern musicians”. [note]Fellowes, Edmund H. Memoirs of an amateur musician. London: Methuen, 1946, p. 130.[/note] Nevertheless, depending upon which perspective is being used, it was known as late or as recently as 1849, when it was listed, including all its constituent canticles, by Joseph Warren in a memoir of Byrd, who knew at least its accompaniment from the Batten Organ Book which he owned at the time. [note]Warren, Joseph. “William Byrd”. In Boyce, William. Cathedral music. New ed. London: Cocks, 1849, pp. 18-24, especially p. 23.[/note]

Richard Turbet

Acknowledgment: Ellen Sykes, Mitchell Library, Glasgow.

Categories
Recording

Bruhns: Complete Cantatas

Harmonices Mundi, Claudio Astronio
139:06 (2 CDs in a jewel case)
Brilliant Classics 95138

[dropcap]E[/dropcap]ven though 20 years have passed since I first heard these works, which were recorded as part of Ricercar’s “German Baroque Cantatas” series, I have loved them. Perhaps even more than Buxtehude, Bruhns embraced both the French and Italian styles of the day and, combining them with extraordinary talents for word-painting and counterpoint, produced some utterly beguiling music. These new set has many virtues (not the least of which are the tenor singers), and at Brilliant’s low price it would be a shame not to add them to your library; it would be remiss of me, however, if I did say that there are voices here that are not to my taste, and surely cannot compete with the earlier sets. The texts are printed in the original languages only (one can forgive a bargain label for this!), and there is some serious clutching at straws in the accompanying essay (and its translation – what on earth are “acute notes”?) If you do not know these works, with this release you have no excuse for not getting to know them!

Brian Clark

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Recording

Cazzati: Mass & Psalms op. 36

From Bologna to Beromünster
Voces Suaves, Francesco Saverio Pedrini
61:55
Claves Records 50-1605
+two intonations by Sebastian Anton Scherer

[dropcap]E[/dropcap]ver since I became interested in 17th-century music the name of Maurizio Cazzati has been a familiar one, but I have never actually heard any; the present recording, which presents the Kyrie, Gloria and Credo printed in the composer’s op. 36 set of 1655 as a Messa Concertata  (without Sanctus or Agnus Dei) and two psalms (of the five printed) and the Magnificat. The original also includes a setting of Domine ad adiuvandum. All of the vocal music is scored for five voices (two sopranos), four instruments (rather unusually for the period a single “alto viola” joins the two violins) and three ripieno voices with continuo. Some of the other pieces in the print call for fewer voices, or no concertato instruments. A bassoon is included on the basis that some northern reprints of the publication included such a part. In order to show of the sound of the original organ in the church where the very fine recording was made (in Beromünster, which explains the CD’s sub-title…), two short pieces were added by the south German composer, Sebastian Anton Scherer. The music is glorious and gracious for the voices; the singers blend well, and the violinists especially have fun ornamenting Cazzati’s flowing lines, especially in triple time passages. I sincerely hope the same forces will now tackle the remainder of the print, as there is still plenty of fine music waiting to be heard!

Brian Clark

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Categories
Recording

de Castro: Trio sonatas op. 1

La Real Cámara
57:26
Glossa GCD 920314

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hese ten trio sonatas from Castro’s 1695 Bologna publication Trattenimenti armonici  are delightfully inventive and unsurprisingly reminiscent of the trumpet music emanating from that city at roughly this time. The performers inventively alternate a continuo theorbo and guitar, although perhaps less imaginatively a harpsichord is also invariably present. The playing is generally tidy and musical, with appropriate degrees of passion and rhythmical whimsy. Lead violinist Emilio Moreno provides an exhaustive and very readable programme note. But now comes a considerable and unexpected BUT. Those of you who glance at the star ratings before reading the review will be surprised at my two-star rating for this Glossa recording. Glossa recording are normally of the very highest standard of clarity and depth, but there is something very far wrong here. The recorded sound is very shallow with a very narrow dynamic spectrum and suspiciously drops away instantly when the instruments stop playing. Has it been misguidedly fed through some filter? I am at a loss to account for it, but it is clear that La Real Cámara and Castro have been very poorly served by the Glossa engineers. As a dedicated reviewer I persisted to the end of the CD to see if the sound quality improved or if I got used to it, but actually it sounded more and more ridiculous, and I am afraid there is no way round the fact that this odd shortcoming is bound to limit anyone’s enjoyment of this CD.

D. James Ross

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Categories
Recording

Dowland: Lachrimae or Seven Teares

Phantasm, Elizabeth Kenny
57:00
Linn Records CKD 527

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen in his programme note Phantasm’s director Laurence Dreyfus describes Dowland’s Lachrimae as ‘the most sensuously tuneful hour of music ever written’ this is no small claim, but at the same time it is hard to contradict. The organic (in another age you could say symphonic) development of motifs, the constant attention to melodic beauty, the stomach-churning harmonic volte faces make the complete publication a masterpiece, a fact of which its composer, who afterwards signed himself as ‘Jo:dolandi de Lachrimae’, was clearly aware. This fine new recording by Phantasm speaks of extensive experience with this repertoire, while the vital contribution of lutenist Elizabeth Kenny is also wonderfully idiomatic. The first work ever published for notated lute and viols, Lachrimae was the father to a whole clutch of worthy offspring. The classic recording of this music is the 1985 account for BIS by The Dowland Consort directed by legendary lutenist Jakob Lindberg, and some direct comparisons are instructive. The earlier recording adopts more measured tempi, particularly in the pavans, taking some eight minutes longer over the complete recording, and this to my ear imbues their interpretation with a timeless magnificence. The Phantasm account is more flexible, with rushes of passion, but with some passages which to my ear are simply rushed.

The new recording benefits from Linn’s superlative modern recording quality, although the BIS recording is both more ‘toppy’ and ‘bottomy’, emphasizing the fundamental and occasionally shocking harmonic shifts. Lastly both recordings wisely resist the temptation to enhance the lute sound, allowing it to blend beautifully with the viol textures – I would say that Lindberg’s tone is marginally more prominent than Kenny’s, although given BIS’s pledge to reflect natural sound balance in their recordings we must assume he simply played louder. In the more animated movements later in the publication, there is definitely more definition in the Linn recording, as well as bolder and more daring playing from viols and lute. Rather randomly, Phantasm almost run some tracks together including the seven Lachrimae pavans, but also some of the later movements – it may be that I am too used to The Dowland Consort’s spacious account, but I found myself in need of an intellectual break occasionally. There is no doubt that this new Phantasm recording is a valuable addition to our understanding of this remarkable publication, and Dreyfus and Kenny’s excellent programme notes give us further valuable players’ insights into this extraordinary music.

D. James Ross

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Categories
Book

Charles Gannon: John S. Beckett: The Man and the Music

The Lilliput Press, Dublin
xx + 547pp, £30.00

[dropcap]J[/dropcap]ohn was an interesting man. Born and bred in Ireland but from a protestant background, for most of his life he had no interest in religion. He was primarily a musician, but in ways that were unusual. For instance, he scorned Handel and other late baroque composers. He and his colleague Michael Morrow provided certain elements in his style, but John was for many years involved in his Musica Reservata from 1956 until 1973. Many young early musicians were involved. The repertoire covered a wide range, but chiefly in the earlier stages revolving on music from the around the 13th century till the 17th. Strange that I didn’t hear him until their first concert at the South Bank on 1 July 1967, with 35 players: do read Anthony Rooley’s remarks from BBC Radio 3 in 1998 (p. 178). I was involved in a wide variety of concerts and meetings with small choirs. John coached a viol ensemble in Chiswick in the mid-1960s: it was much later that John learnt how to play the instrument. He had a rigorous beat – his value was ideal for some music, but there was little additional information. It took some time for him to use his left hand to clarify anything that might aid the performers.

John subsequently spent much of his time in Ireland, particularly for concerts of Bach cantatas – 39 between 1973 and 1983, though the religious aspects were of little interest: it was the music that mattered. In earlier days, John produced a harpsichord for the Passions – the idea that the organ is the appropriate was unknown and the size of the forces are still unauthentic! John presented a broadcast on Radio 3 called “Early Birds” on 23 September 1988 on the revival of early music, starting with Dolmetsch, including a clavichord. Violet Gordon Woodhouse was claimed as “the first person ever to record harpsichord music”. Wanda Landowska played a Scarlatti Sonata in G (how can it be identified?) on a Pleyel harpsichord. I’m puzzled that Nadia Boulanger was reluctant to play Monteverdi, though some was recorded; the item performed was Chiome d’oro  with two tenors and a piano, Thomas Brinkley (?) led the Studio for Early Music in Munich and August Wenzinger the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis – this sentence is far more plausible than the earlier ones. Michael Tippett was primarily a composer, though he did work at Morley College in the 1940s. Alfred Deller was the first distinguished counter-tenor, not then going above top C but they now sing higher. I was at the Dartington course one year, but I couldn’t stand Walter Bergman telling me how to play continuo! As far as I can remember, Thurston Dart was fine. In fact, this list needs to be updated – early music has improved enormously, though some of it may be excessive!

John’s partner bought a small house in Azof Rd, Greenwich, which often was let out, but eventually it became John’s home when he moved back to London and joined the BBC Music Department in Egton House – mostly providing introductions for programmes like Composer of the Week. John had given up composing, but earlier on, he provided music for radio, often in a contemporary style, including music for his cousin Samuel, who lived in Paris but visited England as well. He travelled widely: to perform, to visit friends, to take holidays, which he enjoyed. As he retired, he tended to enjoy music that he had originally avoided. He died suddenly on 5th February 2007 and was cremated at Lewisham Crematorium on 16 February 2007.

As far as I can tell, the book is accurate. It is readable, though I often needed to find the year of the date. The Appendices run through A (Compositions), B (Discography), C (RTE), D (BBC), E (Musica Reservata concerts), F (Bach Cantata Series at St Ann’s Church. Dublin). There are 25 pictures on 12 pages between p.268 & 269. Finally, there is a bibliography and an index. This is, however, a book about the man, but without much information on the music. It would be interesting if anyone who knew him as a musician, another book would be worth publishing – or perhaps covered by different writers, for instance between early-music events and contemporary modern bits for radio programmes.

Clifford Bartlett