Categories
Recording

Zelenka: Sei Sonate

Zefiro
104:10 (2 CDs in a cardboard sleeve)
Arcana A394

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hese two CDs were originally recorded and released by naïve in the mid 1990s; recorded out of numerical order, sonatas 5, 6 and 2 are on the first disk, while 1, 3 (in which a violin replaces one of the oboes) and 4 are on the other. Both sets involve a theorbo and deep string bass (contrabbasso on CD1 and violone on CD2), all played by different players. The wind soloists are constant (and what a stellar line-up – Paolo Grazzi and Alfredo Bernardini on oboe and Alberto Grazzi on bassoon); Manfredo Kraemer is the violinist. Where for most composers six trio sonatas would comfortably fit on a single disc, Zelenka’s expansive contrapuntal themes mean that it is not unusual for individual movements to exceed six minutes, and there is even one which lasts more than eight minutes! In these performers’ hands, though, the music unfolds organically and simply fills the space; it certainly never feels too long, and in some sense (at least as far as this listener is concerned) Zelenka could easily have sustained movements of even greater length, had he chosen to do so. Bravo to all concerned!

Brian Clark

[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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B01E06Q9F4&asins=B01E06Q9F4&linkId=070864796b685e351a0258f9572f0d15&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=2752138&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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01E06Q9F4&asins=B01E06Q9F4&linkId=4eb758486c7813f7858c7163b1a6f6d8&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

Categories
Recording

Telemann: Complete Violin Concertos Vol. 6

Elizabeth Wallfisch, The Wallfisch Band
62:18
cpo 777 701-2
TWV 51:a1, 55: F13, h4, 40:200

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his disc of two concertos proper and two “ouvertures in concerto style” was actually recorded way back in 2011; such is cpo’s extensive backlog that even fine performances – which form part of a very impressive series – must still wait five years for public consumption. The first work is essentially a concerto for four-part strings out of which a solo violin grows (TWV 40:200); the second (TWV 51:a1) also survives as an oboe concerto (and has appeared thus on a previous cpo disk), but is here given a very persuasive performance. For me, though, the most interesting music were the two overture-concertos (essentially, think the Bach “orchestral suites” with a solo violin part), both lasting over 20 minutes. The second is unfortunately referred to as a Concerto in B major on the cover (it’s actually in the minor), but the typo is the only thing wrong with it; Libby Wallfisch effortlessly emerges from the full band sound then blends marvellously back into it. This is all the more impressive when in concert (at least those I found online) she (and her fellow soloists) take the “modern” approach to concert giving by standing out front, but clearly she firmly believes in the primus inter pares approach to what is still essentially chamber music. I wonder how many more installments of this fabulous survey of Telemann’s concerted music with violin(s) remain in the cpo vaults for future release – I’m sure every single one of them will hold some new delight!

Brian Clark

[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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B01EM05SLO&asins=B01EM05SLO&linkId=db69f502eb84b6824468f5298ba48c44&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=2862177&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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01EM05SLO&asins=B01EM05SLO&linkId=e6d2cc2d90ce3b099fb18af3ccaf16fd&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

Categories
Recording

Fux: Concentus Musico-instrumentalis

Neue Hofkapelle Graz, Lucia Froihofer, Michael Hell
121:34 (2 CDs in a jewel case)
cpo 777 980-2

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ut of interest I played this in my car recently while ferrying colleagues to a meeting just to gauge their impressions of the music. Although what one might call fans of classical music, none of them has a particular interest in the HIP approach. One thought it sounded quite French, another more Italian, one thought it sounded like Handel, the other like Purcell. In fact, that was precisely how I myself reacted to hearing these seven richly varied works from Fux’s collection; with one exception (a “sinfonia” for recorder, oboe, “basso” and “cembalo”), they are primarily “orchestral”, though the texture varies from a4 (purely strings), through a8 (adding a woodwind trio) to a8 (a pair of trumpets add lustre to the sound). The Neue Hofkapelle Graz further vary the sound by using single strings for some pieces and multiples for the rest. This gives a great overall impression of the ways such music would have been performed in Fux’s day. The recorded sound is excellent and – apart from the occasional superfluous use of percussion – I thoroughly enjoyed both discs. While such additions are perhaps part and parcel of a live performance (which only lives on in the memory), for a recording they are an unnecessary distraction (and not something one can “un-hear” on subsequent listenings).

Brian Clark

[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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B01HOU7GMS&asins=B01HOU7GMS&linkId=d974a071eae8da4d5236e0a396edc7b3&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=7136656&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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01HOU7GMS&asins=B01HOU7GMS&linkId=a9ab13d7f786d2b1a99e888d3ac4d7e7&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

Categories
Book

RECERCARE XXVII/1-2 2015

Journal for the study and practice of early music
LIM Editrice [2015]. 222 pp, €24 (€29 outside of Italy) ISBN 978 88 7096 8125
recercare@libero.it; lim@lim.it – www.lim.it

The current issue of Ricercare  has six studies in English and one in Italian, all with summaries in both languages, and a list of books received, but no book reviews. The journal is dedicated to Italian musical culture, and, as usual, the articles are presented in roughly chronological order by subject matter. This time four are confined to the 17th century, the first two on earlier periods.

Lucia Marchi  is an Italian musicologist who teaches at Northeastern Illinois University and DePaul University of Chicago. She has done critical editions of Ingegneri and Marenzio and in ‘For whom the fire burns: medieval images of Saint Cecilia and music’ she takes us back to the 14th- to 16th-century iconographic and literary treatment of Cecilia (a Roman of the 5th century) rather different from the familiar Baroque image of her. There are numerous surprises, from her hatred of played music to the cult figure she cut in the Trecento for surviving her brutal tortures, and the theme of fire, which her chastity protected her from. A hidden reference to her as the object of a courtier’s love in a caccia  by Nicolò da Perugia opens the door to speculation on sacred symbols in secular music, and especially in the Middle Ages.

Bonnie J. Blackburn, of Oxford University, writes about Nicolò Sconvelt, a German lutenist and lute maker who achieved fame in the Scuole of 15th century Venice. Blackburn discusses a great deal of documentation, about other lute makers as well, and includes plates of Gentile Bellini’s ‘Procession in Piazza San Marco’ (1496) and Lazzaro Bastiani’s ‘Donation of the relic of the true cross’ (1494), containing portraits of the musicians who are known to have been hired for the event. Documentation tells us that Sconvelt became a maker of lute strings late in life, and the Bastiani painting shows him in the process of putting three new strings on a lute. Details about his last years are documented by two wills he made, one in 1498, the other five years later.

The lengthy title of Marco Di Pasquale’s study sounds more obscure than it is, and it doesn’t translate readily into English. A clarifying paraphrase would be ‘Giovanni Gabrieli and one union of organists, and four [unions] of other [sorts of] musicians: unpublished documents on musical [freelance] trade union cooperation in Venice at the beginning of the 17th century’. After the compagnia  of eight of the most famous organists, there were three unions of violinists and one of singers (priests or monks). Documents are included after this thorough discussion, but there are more questions than conclusions about other, undiscovered, such unions, and how they operated. Di Pasquale teaches history of music at the Conservatory of Vicenza, very close to Venice, but his main research is on the 19th century, so his study calls attention to the need for other scholars to delve into archives to fill out the picture.

Rebecca Cypress, whose new book is Curious and Modern Inventions. Instrumental Music as Discovery in Galileo’s Italy  (University of Chicago Press), contributes to this issue: ‘Frescobaldi’s Toccate e partite .. libro primo  (1615; 1616) as a pedagogical text. Artisanship, imagination, and the process of learning’. She wants to focus, also here, on the strategies of learning. Readers will find her examples of formal changes, rewritings, and substitutions that Frescobaldi made for the second printing of Book One noteworthy, but his keyboard works were already conceptually and technically advanced in their first printing. Comparison with the intabulations that Diruta included in Il Transilvano  obviously show an enormous development. Only Diruta was writing a tutor, to be used autodidactically, and Frescobaldi was publishing his music. In addition, some of the revisions were simply necessitated by changes in the layout – he removed or shortened some pieces in order to add or lengthen others. So it just isn’t a fact or logical assumption that Frescobaldi’s purpose was didactic, or that his toccatas and variations constitute a method for acquiring the skills to play them, as Cypress concludes.

Diruta, in his imaginary dialogue with an emissary from the Transylvanian court, was symbolically exporting the keyboard technique he had learned from his Venetian masters. The notational limitations of movable type for printing music make even his simple examples relatively hard to read, his economical verbal instructions essential. He warned that his apparently dogmatic Good/Bad paired fingerings would even have to be reversed, sometimes, to negotiate ornaments, accidentals or particular rhythmic figures smoothly. Therefore, regarding fingering and hand movements, his avant-garde pedagogy was based on the adaptation of the body when the mind had prepared for the physical realization of difficult passages.

Frescobaldi’s Toccate… of 1615, on the other hand, was the first engraved keyboard print for cimbalo, a print visually comparable to a fair manuscript. Cypress never mentions this crucial innovation, a highly enhanced opportunity to notate simultaneous passages, effetti  and affetti, in a tablature free of the constraint of voice leading, where the two staves showed which hand was to play which notes. His aim was to circulate his own challenging music, and not to write a keyboard ‘method’. His remarkable prefaces about the agogics of his often spontaneous-sounding music seem to me an obligatory reminder to players of their rhetorical role, not because the pieces themselves are didactic, but because even engraved music requires creative interpretation. He was writing for consummate musicians.

Let me make one more digression: many of Bach’s keyboard compendia were conceived for teaching expression, execution, and composition. So why do editions of the Inventions  and Sinfonias  not even respect their unique, methodical, original order, the order in which one is supposed to study them? Of Frescobaldi, Cypress says that many figurations are used repeatedly for practice in doing them! If it’s far-fetched to think his music had that purpose, it is not a criticism of Frescobaldi that he neither aspired to the methodical utility of Bach’s Klavierübungen  nor stooped to the mechanical approach we associate with Czerny. Let’s remember that Venice (and Rome) were full of valent’uomini  (virtuosi), but none played as famously well as Frescobaldi. He not only engraved his works for their benefit, but hinted at essential aspects of style beyond the pale of musical notation. Yes, these were instructions, but for those who would know exactly what he meant.

Chiara Granata  (‘ “Un’arpa grande tutta intagliata e dorata”. New documents on the Barberini harp’) and luthier Dario Pontiggia  (‘Barberini harp. Data sheets’) give us a thorough look at the instrument itself, the Roman instrument builders of the time, and hypotheses about the most plausible makers and the probable time of manufacture, based on new documents. In fact, Recercare, from its very first issue in 1989, is a periodical of studies, not about studies. The title means Research. In this joint article one finds a wealth of historical cultural information, as well as the most detailed drawings, photographs and measurements of the instrument. It is all here, from the sizes of every hole on the soundboard, to the string spacings in tenths of a millimeter, and much more.

Cory M. Gavito, a jazz keyboardist and musicologist at Oklahoma City University, is about to spend a year in Florence at Harvard’s Villa I Tatti, the best musicological library in Italy, to dedicate his sabbatical year to the theme of his present article: ‘Oral transmission and the production of guitar tablature books in seventeenth-century Italy’. His 2006 University of Texas dissertation The  alfabeto Song in Print, 1610 – ca. 1665: Neapolitan Roots, Roman Codification, and “il Gusto Popolare”  viewable at http://docplayer.it/7328855-Copyright-cory-michael-gavito.html was a detailed history of this vast subject, which should generate countless studies, analyses and discoveries of interest to singers and accompanists. The present article is just one. The widespread addition of chord progressions in a popular alphabetically coded notation (translatable into 5-course guitar tablature, but indicating by single letters specific positions of strummed chords) is also a suggestive adjunct or alternative to figured basso continuo. Here Gavito compares some lesser-known settings from this repertory, concluding from the concordances that as they circulated they became models for other songs. Loosely referred to as ‘oral practice’ (actually oral and instrumental, transmitted aurally or in writing), they infused and merged with new composed pieces by prominent composers. Thanks to the autodidactic function of these guitar books, starting from Montesardo, we have a multitude of them today, a vast amount of material from which we can plausibly trace music revised and incorporated in compositions by the likes of Monteverdi, Brunelli, Marini, Landi, Saracini… perhaps an ever-growing list extending throughout the 17th century.

Barbara Sachs

Categories
Sheet music

E. A. Förster: Six String Quartets, op. 16

Edited by Nancy November
Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era, 101
xx+306
A-R Editions, Inc. ISBN 978-0-89579-827-5 $260

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t is only a matter of months since I reviewed November’s fine edition of the composer’s op. 7 quartets. Five of the pieces are cast in the four movement scheme, while the sixth lacks a Minuetto. Much of the introductory material is concerned with arguing against both contemporary and more recent criticism of the quartets (the former found them too heavy for polite entertainment, while the latter essentially laments the lack of more structural control – which could, of course, apply to music by anyone other than Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven!); even the most superficial of flicks through the volume argues against her assertion that the music is not dominated by the first violin, and although closer inspection does, indeed, reveal passages where the balance is more subtlely handled, it is surely by having to look for such things that the underlying truth of the accusation is confirmed. Whether or not the music is too expansive to support its own weight by its virtues will only be proven by period instrument performances and I would urge such a quartet of specialists to take up the challenge and support this venture in trying to expand the repertoire we hear in the concert hall. Since this is a reference volume, the placement of repeat signs a few bars after a page turn is not that important, but I feel it would be easier to gain an idea of the overall shape of a piece if the two things coincided and, in most cases, this would have been managed with a little typographical thought. Still, this is a fine piece of work, and I hope it will be rewarded by an up-turn in interest in Förster’s output.

Brian Clark

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=7136656&bg=ffffff&tc=000000&lc=e5671d&s=120&t=1&i=1&b=1″ width=”120″ height=”214″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″]

Categories
Recording

Tartini’s Violin

Sonatas for violin and b. c.
Črtomir Šiškovič violin, Luca Ferrini harpsichord & organ
50:29
Dynamic CDS 7744

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]lthough everyone thinks of Tartini as Italian, he was born in what is now geographically Slovenia, and this recording of four named sonatas is a collaboration between one musician from each of the two countries. They start with “Didone abbandonata” which, like the others, is in three movements (two are slow-fast-fast, the other two slow-fast-alternating). Then comes arguably the composer’s most famous piece, “Il Trillo del Diavolo”, followed by two less well-known pieces; a sonata in A entitled “Pastorale” (unique in the composer’s output in requiring the bottom two strings to be tuned a tone higher than usual, and accompanied on organ where Ferrari plays harpsichord in the others) and “Staggion bella” in B flat. My enjoyment of the recital was hampered by the sound quality – the acoustic lacked warmth, the violin was not really projecting into the space and the harpsichord lacks any resonance; the performances are fine, if they too slightly lack vitality – clean readings, but no real oomph.

Brian Clark

[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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B01KASHNE2&asins=B01KASHNE2&linkId=146c1ff216cccb600bd672876245003a&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=2993937&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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01EBNVJK6&asins=B01EBNVJK6&linkId=7370ea770c981283e6051230107d5139&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

Categories
Festival-conference

Itinéraire Baroque Festival

Dordogne, France – 28-31 July 2016

Actor and musicians
Comedian Lorenzo Bassotto, soprano Elena Bertuzzi and Accademia Strumentale Italiana

Picture a landscape of rolling hills, fields of sunflowers and maize. Intersperse with deeply shaded woodland, sleepy small towns and villages in which the most notable feature is almost inevitably a 12th or 13th century Romanesque church and you have the Périgord Vert, a largely unspoilt area situated in the north of the Dordogne region of France. It sounds an unlikely venue for a festival of Baroque music inspired by one of the great names in early music. Yet in 2016 Itinéraire Baroque reached its 15th edition, still enjoying the benign leadership of its co-founders Ton Koopman and festival director Robert Nicolas-Huet, the festival owing its genesis to the Dutch musician’s ownership of a house in the area.

Itinéraire Baroque may occupy a short space of time, but over four days it packs in a large amount of music. This year it was possible to attend no fewer than eleven events – I missed the final concert – covering a spectrum stretching chronologically from Josquin des Prez to Haydn’s late ‘Nelson’ Mass, stylistically from simple Dutch Calvinist contrafactas of Dowland songs to the splendour of Mozart’s ‘Coronation’ Mass.

Harpist in a French church
Harpist Emma Huijsser at the church of Bourg des Maisons

At the heart of Itinéraire Baroque is the day that not only gives the festival its name, but also adds an innovative dimension. Each year the Saturday (in this case 30 July) is devoted to a magical musical tour that focuses on short concerts given in five of the historic churches of the region, buildings that in some cases otherwise rarely see the light of day. This year’s audience met early at the church St Cybard at Cercles, a mostly 14th century building, now beautifully restored and of somewhat grandiose pretensions for a community of some 200 souls. There we were regaled with a short Bach organ recital by Koopman (including a lovely performance of the Pastorale, BWV 590; so appropriate to these surroundings) before being split into five groups, each to follow a different itinéraire  to the venues, where a short concert is preceded by an introduction to the architecture and history of the building. Of the churches this year that at our first stop, the tiny but beautifully proportioned 12th century St Saturnin at Coutures, turned out to be a perfect gem. It was host to a largely satisfying concert, too, a recital of a group of charming Kraus songs and Haydn’s cantata Arianna a Naxos  by the Swedish mezzo Anna Zander and fortepianist Mayumi Kamata, whose strongly characterized performance of the Haydn was marred only by the sluggish tempos at which both arias were taken. We found awaiting us for the second concert an almost equally appealing church in the shape of that at Bourg des Maisons, where a recital of arrangements of lute music on Baroque harp was given by the accomplished young Dutch player Emma Huijsser, standing in for the indisposed Hana Blažíková. The church is especially notable for a ravishing and only recently revealed set of frescos, the earliest of which date from the 12th century, while Huijsser impressed particularly in a highly musical and finely articulated performance of Bach’s Lute Suite in D minor, BWV995. Following a generous break for lunch (well, we are in France, after all!), the next venue on the itinerary was the only non-ecclesiastical one. The lawns of the 15th century Château de Beauregard played host to a recital by Camerata Trajectina, one of Holland’s long-established early music ensembles. I fear a good lunch, the hot afternoon and routine performances conspired to make a programme entitled ‘Dowland in Holland’ less than enticing. For the following concert it was back to church, in this case the rather austere looking St Martin at Cherval, where the La Cetra Barockconsort played a potpourri from Die Zauberflöte  arranged in 1793 for flute and string trio by one Franz Heinrich Ehrenfried. Initially the skill with which he coped with the contrapuntal complexities of the Overture intrigued, but interest later lapsed and I fell to musing on the incongruity of a 21st century audience sitting solemnly in a church listening to an arrangement designed to fulfil no more profound a function than provide social entertainment. The final course of this richly diversified 6-course musical feast necessitated only a short hop to St Martial Viveyrol, where the Dordogne-based Le Vertigo gave a pleasant if unremarkable concert based on French music (and Purcell) that might have been heard at the court of Charles II. Unsurprisingly soprano Caroline Dangin-Bardot sounded more comfortable in French repertoire by Michel Lambert (the lovely air ‘Vos mépris), Sébastien Camus and Charpentier than in Purcell’s ‘The Plaint’ and ‘Fairest Isle’.

The festival had opened two days before with a Bach programme given by Koopman and his Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. The venue was the church of St Martin in Champagne, a building that has its roots in the Romanesque period, as evidenced by the magnificently decorated multi-arched doorway, but that was much rebuilt and enlarged in the 16th century. Sadly, it turned out to have treacherous acoustics and although I tried three different places it proved impossible to hear sufficiently clearly to come to definitive conclusions about the performances. This applied especially to the singing of soprano Yetzabel Arias Fernandez, replacing Hana Blažíková, whose full-blooded approach to Jauchzet Gott, BWV51 and the Wedding Cantata, BWV202 seemed only to exacerbate the inherent problems created by the building, the voice spreading alarmingly in its upper range. Elsewhere Koopman’s long-established and exceptional empathy with Bach’s music could be intermittently appreciated in vital performances of the Orchestral Suite no.1 and the magnificent Sinfonia from the cantata Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats, BWV42, but the poor acoustic made this overall a disappointing concert.

Soprano with orchestra
Soprano Yetzabel Arias Fernandez with La Risonanza directed by Fabio Bonizzoni

The following evening Arias Fernandez appeared to rather better effect in the event at which she was originally scheduled to appear. It took place at Cercles, which played host to all three concerts on 29 July. Performed by La Risonanza under their founder and director Fabio Bonizzoni, the programme was notable for a superb performance of Vivaldi’s trio sonata ‘La Folia’, RV63, a work that can outstay its welcome but one that on this occasion was given with such intensity and sense of fantasy that it gripped the attention from start to finish. Arias Fernandez sang chamber cantatas by Alessandro Scarlatti (the splendid Bella madre), Bononcini and Handel’s well-known Armida abbandonata. While the acoustic suited her lustrous voice better than that at Champagne, I still found her apparent inability to curb its power in the upper range disconcerting. Her ornamentation, too, left much to be desired and like so many singers of Baroque music today she has no trill. Given her approach, it was the big Handel cantata that worked best, Arias Fernandez rising well to its dramatic challenge.

Earlier in the day the Austrian ensemble Vivante had presented a compelling programme of Monteverdi tenor duets and solos culled from the 7th and 8th Books of Madrigals and the Scherzi Musicale of 1632. If the singing of neither Tore Tom Denys nor Erik Leidal displayed truly

Monteverdi duets
Tenors Tore Denys & Erik Leidal and Vivante Ensemble

Italianate qualities, both proved themselves to be well versed stylistically, with Leidal showing an edge in this respect, being more confident with ornamentation, while it was Denys who won the plaudits for vocal beauty, Leidal’s lower range tending to be a little grainy. I’ve left until last the concert that quite unexpectedly gave me the most pleasure. This was given by the Accademia Strumentale Italiana and consisted of an exploration in words and music of the world of the commedia dell arte. Music by a wide range of composers stretching alphabetically from the ubiquitous Anonymous to Adrian Willaert was linked by a brilliant performance (in French) by the comedian Lorenzzo Bassotto, exploring the humour, pathos and vulgarity of commedia dell arte  with immense panache. The instrumental playing was of high quality, with some wonderfully subtle percussion work by Sbibu. And I’ll nominate the vivacious soprano Elena Bertuzzi as my discovery of the festival. She boasts outstanding technique, a lovely vocal quality and moreover is a real personality who knows instinctively how to communicate to an audience. If she can reach the point where she can sing this programme without the aid of music books, she’ll be even more irresistible.

Brian Robins

Photographs: © Jean-Michel Bale (Itinéraire Baroque)

Categories
Recording

Re-releases from Glossa

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e have had another batch of “previously loved” recordings from the extensive Glossa catalogue. The first, Concerti, Sinfonie [and] Ouverture  by Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello (GCD C82506, 64:33) features La Cetra Barockorchester Basel in two sinfonias for four-part strings, concertos for violin & oboe, violin solo and violin & bassoon, as well as a G minor ouverture with oboes and a gorgeous chaconne in A for five-part strings. I was thrilled by the recording when it first came out and have absolutely no hesitation in recommending this reincarnation.

[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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B01GO8EWXC&asins=B01GO8EWXC&linkId=9fc5c40085ab131c1e1db38e537dbeb0&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=3600469&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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01GO8EWXC&asins=B01GO8EWXC&linkId=a78a7dfbc9201eb348adea8dc743e8cb&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

Pièces de viole avec la basse continuë  by Forqueray père & fils (GCD C80412, 146:36, two CDs in a cardboard wallet) features the fabulous playing of Paolo Pandolfo with an impressive continuo line-up (a second gamba, two pluckers and harpsichord). The recordings from 1994/5 sound fresh and lively. I had never explored much of the solo viol repertoire, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to these discs.

[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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B01GO8F0HO&asins=B01GO8F0HO&linkId=0c038bb21929abf7fee64e4caac1167e&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=3600481&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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01GO8F0HO&asins=B01GO8F0HO&linkId=6a90e69a4dc39209279b4024907de288&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

The featured musician in Chamber music with flute  by Telemann is Wilbert Hazelzet; he is partnered in an interesting array of the composer’s smaller-scaled music by Jaap ter Linden, Konrad Junghänel and Jacques Ogg (GCD C80803, 63:45). The works range from two of the solo Fantasias to two “concertos” for all four members of the ensemble. Again, this was a pleasant hour’s listening.

[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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B01GO8F0HY&asins=B01GO8F0HY&linkId=82397e0e277e2b96c32a97a7bb66d21c&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=3600463&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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01GO8F0HY&asins=B01GO8F0HY&linkId=c81a559dacf3602148f94a3e1d7e2287&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

Two Mozart releases follow. The first, Music for basset horn trio  (GCD C80603, 58:23) by Wolfgang and his contemporaries (Druschetzky, Martín y Soler, the little-known – to me, at least – Vojtech Nudera, the much-maligned Salieri, and Stadler) explores something of a niche market from the turn of the 19th century, and I must confess it did not overstay its welcome, as I had feared (with the best of intentions!) it might.

[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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B01GO8EUXO&asins=B01GO8EUXO&linkId=fd4582ade7b159f2bdf8343409ac4db4&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=3600472&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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01GO8EUXO&asins=B01GO8EUXO&linkId=3b0ead0619d5bebb479e80dc684efff7&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

Frans Brüggen directs the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and the Netherlands Chamber Choir (with soloists Mona Julsrud, Wilke te Brummelstroete, Zeger Vandersteene and Jelle Draijer) in Mozart’s Requiem, paired with the Mauerische Trauermusik KV 477 and an adagio for single reeds KV 411 (GCD C81111, 65:01). This is a live recording from 1998, and always has something interesting to say.

Brian Clark

[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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B01GO8EZS4&asins=B01GO8EZS4&linkId=016056ff1e2e8a32dc8ee7a5946b4498&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=3600474&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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01GO8EZS4&asins=B01GO8EZS4&linkId=bdc070f0d9b625ad16e93ceb0e241e5d&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

The final CD in the set Duets for violin & viola  by Alessandro Rolla (GCD C80011, 64:42) was another unexpected treat. His is a name to string players around the world, but – like me? – most will never have played a note of his music. Famed in his own lifetime as a viola player, the five duets (from four different sets – anyone interested should check out the extensive lists on imslp!) on the disc reflect that; while many duets for this line-up tend to favour the more agile violin, Rolla makes no concessions to those who dare to play his instrument… That said, technical difficulty is not what this music is all about; if it had been, I would never have been able to listen to the whole disc once, let alone several times!

Brian Clark

[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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B01GO8EYJY&asins=B01GO8EYJY&linkId=fee1de56c48080676c3e10cc5ed382ad&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=3600596&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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01GO8EYJY&asins=B01GO8EYJY&linkId=04a3c8a7710937da3a60b6ec4e8f89b3&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

Categories
Recording

Concerti Romani

Corelli’s Heritage and the Roman School
I Musici
54:51
Dynamic CDS7752
Castrucci op 3/10, Corelli op 6/4, Geminiani op 5/7 (after Corelli), Locatelli op 1/11, Valentini op 7/11

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his group was among the pioneers of the re-discovery of baroque music, if not quite what we now call HIP. Their recordings of complete sets of Vivaldi’s publications brought him back into the mainstream. Given that attitudes to performance practice have moved on a great deal since those days, I was a little wary of even listening to this CD, even though the performances are from as recently as last year. In actual fact, however, although there are some hints of yesteryear (the trills, for example), these are lively and enjoyable accounts of some lovely music. I don’t mean to sound condescending or disparaging, but this would make an ideal gift for someone who likes less frequently recorded baroque music but does not have any special interest in how it is performed – this is bound to make them smile. Lots.

Brian Clark

[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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B01GF7CQ62&asins=B01GF7CQ62&linkId=8ebf1df6f9985bebbd2bedb951499900&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe src=”http://www.jpc-partner.de/link.php?partner=ngr&artnum=3715935&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=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01GF7CQ62&asins=B01GF7CQ62&linkId=485676d1fe83325605f6a2125ffdf2d5&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

Categories
Sheet music

Telemann: Gott der Hoffnung erfülle euch

Cantata for Whit Sunday, TVWV 1:634
Edited by Maik Richter
Bärenreiter BA 5898 (Full score) v+30pp, £15
BA 5898-90 vocal score vi+22pp, £9
Winds £12, Organ £9, Strings £3.50 each

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his cantata was once attributed to Bach (though there is no mention of that anywhere in the present volume), and consists of a chorus (setting a Biblical text), arias for soprano and alto separated by a recitative in which all four voices participate and rounded off with a chorale setting. The edition seems to be an extract from a volume in the on-going Telemann edition, which explains why much of the introductory material is about the cantata cycle from which this work comes, though the chronology of its history and the various authors involved and performing centres is way too complicated and might have been better expressed as a table; I’m also not sure, given that there are footnote references to two excellent monographs on such issues, why it was felt necessary to give such a wealth of detail. Conversely the discussion of this particular piece is minimal and there is no editorial commentary. I don’t live within a couple of hundred miles of a library that has even the old volumes of the Telemann edition, so goodness knows where I could see the volume this piece comes from; but that is the only way I would be able to work out how the solo Tenor is supposed to start – does he sing with the Tutti and then go his own way (halfway through a word!) in Bar 18? Or is he silent up to that point? Should some marking indicate the answer? There are a couple of slips in the English introduction (“generell” for general in a footnote and “successfull”…) As you would expect, the edition is clear and attractive. I’m not sure why quavers at the opening of no. 4 are beamed in pairs at the opening but subsequently in sixes (as per modern notation); again, this is something that a paragraph on editorial methods could have shone some light on, perhaps. The music is lovely and it is always nice to have a cantata with a pair of horns that is not too taxing for the choir; the alto will need an agile throat, though. I’m fairly certain there should be some mention of a bassoon in the score…

Brian Clark