Categories
Recording

De Visée: Intimité et Grandeur

Fred Jacobs French theorbo
65:50
Metronome MET CD 1090
Pièces de théorbe  in C, c, d, e, F, g & A

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is Fred Jacobs’ third and last CD of music by Robert de Visée. De Visée’s music is quintessentially French baroque, and Jacobs’ interpretation is spot on. He plays with a gratifying tone, and with carefully shaped melodic lines constantly supported by the sonorous bass strings. In his booklet notes Jacobs writes that, from about 1690, De Visée seems to have concentrated on the theorbo rather than the guitar, and there are descriptions of him playing to Louis XIV and his family at court. The music comes from two sources: the manuscript of Vaudry de Saizenay (Besançon, Bibliothèque municipale), and Rés. 1106 (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale). There is much variety – ten different keys, contrasting movements and moods, but always with an overriding feeling of gravitas.

The CD begins optimistically with a short Prelude and cheerful Gigue in C major. De Visée uses the long bass strings throughout, but it is far from ponderous. In contrast are the melancholic Pièces de théorbe  in C minor. They include La Plainte, ou Tombeau de Mesdemoiselles de Visée, Allemande de Mr. leur père, written by De Visée on the death of his two daughters. Slow-moving descending notes, a delicate texture interspersed with lush chords, sweet modulations, and bitter dissonance, all combine to create a heartfelt expression of grief.
The Pièces de théorbe  in D minor include intabulations of works by Jean-Baptiste Lully, and end with variations on the ever-popular tune La Furstemberg.

The opening Prelude of the Pièces de théorbe  in A major firmly establishes the key of A major, beginning with an ear-catching descending scale and insistent diapasons. The restful Allemande gently weaves its way along with soothing melodic lines; the Courante is quite unhurried, and the Sarabande has rich, low-lying, scrunchy chords. An elegant Gigue evokes a jolly old man hopping and skipping along, but somehow still maintaining his dignity. The suite is rounded off with a satisfying Gavotte, charming but never over-energetic. The mood changes noticeably with two pieces in E minor: a short Prelude, and a sombre Sarabande, with unexpected changes of harmonic direction, and anguished dissonance from appoggiaturas. The CD finishes with De Visée’s evergreen Chaconne in A minor, expressively played at not too slow a tempo.

It is unfortunate that the microphone has picked up some of Jacobs’ breathing in the background; it includes a variety of sniffs, snorts and gasps, which are faintly audible. This would not have been so prominent if the microphone had simply been placed further away. The closeness of the microphone also adds a slightly sharp edge to the sound.
Jacobs’ plays a French theorbo made by Michael Lowe in 2004, with string lengths of 83 and 144 cm. Lowe describes the instrument in the CD booklet, and explains how the French theorbo differs from the more commonly heard Italian theorbo. He argues convincingly that the French theorbo should be quite large, and tuned to A.

Stewart McCoy

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Recording

C. P. E. Bach: Keyboard Music

Giovanni Togni, Tangentenflügel
66:44
Dynamic CDS 7762

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his recital includes sonatas, rondos and a fantasia all drawn from the composer’s anthologies Für Kenner und Liebhaber, published between 1779 and 1787. Both music and playing are absolutely first-class and enhanced by the wonderful Tangent Piano – an original from 1797 in excellent condition – used for the recording. (Think piano but one in which the strings are struck by slim and bare wooden ‘hammers’). This has all the brilliance and clarity of a harpsichord, but also the expressive potential of the clavichord and piano further enhanced by mechanical devices (three knee levers and three hand stops) which raise the dampers or modify the tone in some way. The booklet (It/Eng) gives a full account of these, as well the background to the music and the player (‘graduated with full marks’ – I can believe it) and also includes a number of photograhs showing details of the instrument. The music is such that all these ‘toys’ can be deployed with taste and skill so we have a disc that is exciting, rewarding, instructive and entertaining – sometimes all at once. I don’t often give out stars with quite this enthusiasm – I’ve docked one from the booklet as it is in only two languages and the translation grates once or twice.

David Hansell

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Recording

La Famille Forqueray

Justin Taylor harpsichord
79:15
Alpha 247
Music by F. Couperin, Duphly and A. & J.-B. Forqueray

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a very good programme – music by Antoine (including the player’s transcription of a suite originally for three viols) and Jean-Baptiste (including tributes to Couperin and Rameau) and tributes from Couperin and Duphly. The instrument is a Ruckers/Hemsch (1636/1763) copy and very good it sounds, especially in the lower registers which are always crucial for Forqueray. Justin Taylor is a Bruges laureate and it is easy to see/hear why.

Not only is his basic technique rock solid, but the embellishments – when and how fast to spread a chord, for instance – are all unerringly judged. From time to time the sheer resonance of the instrument gets the better of the microphones and the booklet is only just better than basic (we need more specific and detailed information about the instrument, for example), but there’s a lot of listening pleasure here.
David Hansell

David Hansell

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Recording

Alessandro Scarlatti: Opera omnia per tastiera Vol. V

Francesco Tasini organ
75:37
Tactus TC661915

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his Scarlatti’s output of keyboard music runs to six volumes in the modern Opera Omnia  and he can be credited with founding a distinctive Neapolitan school of keyboard composition. This release is all played on the organ (a charming small instrument from 1836/restored 1991), though three pieces are described as per cembalo, and consists largely of toccatas though this is a word that meant almost anything at the time. Francesco Tasini is very much a crusader on behalf of this music but his imaginative, though absolutely in style, textural and melodic enhancements cannot convince me that the repertoire is much more than a footnote to the composer’s vocal music. I also felt that his flexibility of pulse does not always serve the music well: the phrase ‘get on with it’ did cross my mind once or twice. In the final analysis I enjoyed the instrument more than the music.

David Hansell

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Recording

Rameau: Pièces de clavecin

Céline Frisch harpsichord
76:56
Alpha 324
Suites in a (1706), e (1724-31) and G (1728)

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a re-issue of a recording from 2007. The instrument is a truly splendid Hemsch (1751) which may well have been played by Rameau himself. It is so resonant that the player modified her planned tempi for the recording, meaning that some repeats had to be omitted. (Personally, I’d prefer fewer, but complete, pieces.) This may also be why some of her tempi, particularly those in the moderato/andante zone struck me as a little on the spacious side. The packaging is a basic cardboard sleeve, from which the booklet and disc have to be removed with some care.

David Hansell

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Categories
Recording

Forqueray: Pièces de viole mises en pièces de clavecin

Blandine Rannou harpsichord
158:11 (2 CDs in cardboard wrapper)
Alpha 322
Suites in c, d, D, g & G

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a re-issue of a recording from 2008 packaged in a basic cardboard sleeve, from which the booklet and discs have to be removed with some care. The instrument may well be the same splendid Ruckers/Hemsch copy used by Justin Taylor on ALPHA 247 – it is certainly equally rich and threatens to overwhelm the microphones from time to time. In this specific repertoire this may be because so much of it lies in the lower half of the range but also because in these performances Blandine Rannou is inclined to gild the lily with enriched harmony (as suggested by figures in the bass viol versions of the music) and little continuo-type splashes of counterpoint. Why not just find a friendly bass viol player?

David Hansell

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Recording

F. Couperin: Ariane consolée par Bacchus

Stéphane Degout, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset
60:00
Aparté AP130
+Apothéoses de Lully & de Corelli

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s I have often remarked when writing for EMR, I do feel for performers when their art and scholarship is undermined by the bookleteers. On page 8 I read that ‘Couperin played around with key signatures, alternating French keys… and Italian keys.’ No he didn’t. He alternated what in English are referred to as clefs. Why aren’t translators used who know something about the subject in hand? Or, indeed, tenses. CR’s biography is a real tangle. But at least there is one, and notes on the ensemble and the music (Eng/Fre). Lovely though the instrumental masterworks are, the USP of this disc for many will be the inclusion of what may be a lost cantata by Couperin that is listed in a 1716 Roger catalogue. The attribution is certainly not without foundation or credibility, the music is up to standard and here sung very well by Stéphane Degout. Christophe Coin gives an equally distinguished reading of the active viol part. Couperin’s lovely instrumental tributes to his predecessors are also given excellent performances, though a less fussy approach to instrumentation would have been equally effective. The programmatic titles of each of the movements are announced on the recording. This does no harm though slightly slower and clearer speech might have been better in the context.

David Hansell

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Recording

The Jommelli Album

Filippo Mineccia, Nereydas, Javier Ulises Illán
61:01
Pan Classics PC10352

[dropcap]N[/dropcap]iccolò Jommelli (1714-74) is one of those ‘transitional’ figures who so easily fall down the hole between the maturities of Bach/Handel and Haydn/Mozart. Just the kind of composer to benefit from an anniversary, then, and this tercentenary tribute (rec. 2014) does the job nicely. Not all the items are operatic; there are two arias from a 1749 Passion and an extract from a set of Lamentations  (1751). And in the middle of the programme is a short four movement sinfonia. Jommelli speaks the lingua franca  of his day, but he speaks it very well and with imagination (the opening of O vos omnes  is spine-tingling and its continuation scarcely less so) and the performers do him proud. Filippo Mineccia is a modern-school operatic falsettist whose tone can incline towards the billowy at times but he certainly has the technique for the virtuosic passage-work. The Spanish orchestra Nereydas give him whole-hearted support (sometimes at the expense of complete unanimity on sudden high violin notes) though I do wonder if continuo plucked strings, especially guitar, really belong in this repertoire. The booklet (Ger/Eng/Spa) includes a good essay, for once in credible English, and gives the sung texts though with English translations only. However, there is no information about the artists.
David Hansell

David Hansell

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Recording

Molière à l’opéra

Stage music by Jean-Baptiste Lully
Les Paladins, Jérôme Correas
72:30
Glossa GCD923509

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s one might expect, these ‘bleeding chunks’ are mainly by Lully (extracts from six comédie-ballets), though items from Charpentier’s Le Sicilien  and Le Mariage forcé  are also included. I must say that the singers show great versatility in their ability to convey the essence of their several roles, though bass Virgile Ancely needs a little more weight in the lower register and, as usual for me, the soprano’s vibrato can be disturbing. More disturbing, however, is the use of a questionably disposed chamber ensemble – 2 each of violins and violas with basse de violon  – rather than Lully’s famous orchestra with the three inner parts on assorted violas. I just feel that this rips the guts and/or the grandeur from most of the music: it just isn’t the Lully I know and love and I doubt that he’d have thought much of it either. The booklet offers tri-lingual notes (Fre/Eng/Ger) but the sung French texts are translated into English only.

David Hansell

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Uncategorized

A very brief note about Byrd’s “Nightingale”

The indefatigable John Harley has forwarded a piece of information to me. It is not relevant to his current project (which has to do with by Byrd’s The Barley Break) but neither of us have noticed it in Byrd literature, so to mark the passing of Early Music Review  and to continue its support of Byrd scholarship to the end, most notably in accommodating my Annual Byrd Newsletter  for ten fruitful years, I am offering this admittedly very slight item here as a fond and respectful farewell.

Byrd’s song in three parts The nightingale  is number 9 in his Songs of sundrie natures  (London: Thomas East, 1589), and the text begins “The nightingale so pleasant and so gay”. On page [3] of Lyrical poems, selected from musical publications between the years 1589 and 1600, edited by J. Payne Collier (London: Percy Society, 1844) Collier reproduces the text (having misspelt the East’s name as Este on page [1], though it appears elsewhere spelt this way) under the title “The Nightingale and the Lover”, and in footnote * states that “In a MS. of the time, in the possession of the Editor, the words are, “so gladsome  and so gay.” No author’s name nor initials are appended to the song.” The entry for this publication at page 1181 in the catalogue of Collier’s works in volume 2 of John Payne Collier: scholarship and forgery in the nineteenth century  by Arthur Freeman and Janet Ing Freeman (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004) states that “We have not encountered this reading elsewhere, nor identified Collier’s MS.” Fantasy? Forgery? Or, just to be fair, gone astray?

Richard Turbet