Categories
Recording

Berlioz: Romeo et Juliette

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra & Swedish Radio Choir, Robin Ticciati
94:00 (2 CDs)
Linn CKD 521

[dropcap]N[/dropcap]either on the grounds of period nor performance style does a review of this issue strictly speaking qualify for inclusion in EMR. Yet when the editor offered it to me, my reaction was ‘why not?’; after all Berlioz has played a major role in my concert experience over many years, having grown up alongside Colin Davis’ unforgettable performances of a composer who was to become for me very special. And there is the added interest that the conductor of this set is a protégé of Sir Colin.

Just as Monteverdi stretched the form of the madrigal beyond breaking point, so Berlioz did the same with his three symphonies. In the Symphonie fantastique, Harold en Italie  and Romeo et Juliette, Berlioz changed our perception of what a symphony might or could be. That applies particularly to Romeo with its seven movements, vocal sections and series of descriptive scenes more akin to an operatic scenario than a symphony. At its best – the Scène d’Amour or Queen Mab Scherzo – the work contains some of the greatest music Berlioz (or anyone else, for that matter) ever wrote, and even if we Berlioz enthusiasts would find if difficult to argue against a claim that it also has its weak moments (the final Serment, for example) it remains overall an extraordinary work.

The recording is taken from live performances given in Stockholm in November 2014, the audience being very well behaved. There is much to commend it. Ticciati’s direction is sympathetic, fervent when required and notable for its admirably sensible pacing, observation of Berlioz’ meticulous dynamic demands, and orchestral balance, though I do have a problem hearing the string harmonics in the central section of the Scherzo. Though not the world’s greatest, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in general copes well with Berlioz’s often-cruel demands, though there are places where string ensemble could ideally be better. The opening fugato is just one case in point among a number that might be cited. But there is some lovely playing in the ravishing Love Scene, which builds to a pulsating, tremulous climax. The Swedish Radio Chorus is quite good – more than that in the wonderful in lontano  exchanges between the revellers that preface the Love Scene – but their diction is often poor; they might be singing anything in ‘Jetez des fleurs’ (Juliet’s funeral procession, no. 5). Of the three soloists tenor Andrew Staples is pointed and characterful in the Mab vocal scherzetto, but mezzo Katija Dragojevic’s diction is also poor, while I’m sure Berlioz would not have expected so much continuous vibrato. Alastair Miles is a splendidly stentorian and authoritative Father Laurence, but the voice sounds rather worn and excessive vibrato is also a problem.

This recording has given me considerable pleasure and if, in the final analysis, it cannot compete with Colin Davis’ 1968 Philips version, that may partly be because I’ve now been wedded to that great recording for so long that I’m past conversion.

Brian Robins

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Recording

Serpent & Fire – Arias for Dido & Cleopatra

Anna Prohaska soprano, Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini
70:10
Alpha 250
Music by da Castrovillari, Cavalli, Graupner, Handel, Hasse. Locke, Purcell & Sartorio

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he idea of devoting opera recitals to characters is fairly recent. It’s an excellent one, too, since it encourages us to think more about the person being portrayed and the various aspects of their character. Most notably we’ve had award-winning recordings devoted to Semiramide by Anna Bonitatibus’ and to Agrippina by Ann Hallenberg. Now soprano Anna Prohaska turns her attention to arguably the two most famous of all operatic heroines, Cleopatra and Dido. Beyond the fact that both are African queens who took their own lives they have little in common: one is fact, the other mythological; one is a femme fatale, a byword for her sexual allure and playful approach to love, the other a wife who has remained loyal to her dead husband and also the archetypal abandoned woman.

The present selection concentrates on operas spanning a period from the mid-17th century to the mid-18th century. The earliest comes from Cavalli’s Didone  of 1641, a scena  addressed not to Aeneas but Iarbas, the would-be lover rejected in Virgil, but who in fact wins Dido’s hand in the lieto fine  of Cavalli’s mixed-genre opera. The next Dido  opera is Purcell’s from which there are two extracts (‘Ah Belinda’ and of course Dido’s lament), while the are four extracts from Graupner’s first opera, Dido, Königin von Karthago, first given in Hamburg in 1707, one an intensely dramatic and trenchant tempesta  aria in which Dido compares herself with a storm-tossed ship, a favourite conceit. Indeed it is repeated in the coloratura aria for Araspe, the confidant of Iarbas, in his aria from the most famous of all Dido librettos, Metastasio’s Didone abbandonata  (set more then 60 times) in Hasse’s version of 1742.

The earliest Cleopatra opera here is a rarity, La Cleopatra  by Daniele da Castrovillari, a Venetian Franciscan monk and a name new to me. First given in Venice in 1662, it is his sole surviving opera. Not surprisingly, the long scena  in which Cleopatra prepares for death is suggestive of the music of Cavalli, but the vocal ritornello scheme is interesting, the piece overall compelling. Dating from 15 years later, the two arias from Sartorio’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto  of 1677 show Cleopatra in light-hearted, kittenish mood, in complete contrast to ‘Se pietà’ from Handel’s 1724 setting of the same libretto by Francesco Bussani, the greatest of all Cleopatra operas. Just a year later comes Hasse’s serenata Antonio e Cleopatra, one of his first dramatic works. ‘Morte col fiero’ is a fiery show of coloratura defiance in the face of death.

I have mixed feelings about the performances. The German soprano Anna Prohaska sings a wide variety of roles and is not particularly noted as an exponent of early opera, though she has sung Poppea in Handel’s Agrippina. On the plus side the vocal timbre is lovely – creamy and lustrous without being too fulsome for this repertoire. At their best, as in the central section of ‘Se pietà’ or, perhaps more surprisingly, the Cavalli, these are most engaging performances. She copes well with coloratura as well, the showy ‘Morte col fiero’ in general coming off successfully, though there’s a nasty screamed top note in the da capo  repeat. But what worries me more is a tendency to slide down off the note in slower, more sustained music, often making the music sound lugubrious and heavy. Prohaska’s pitch in general is not infallible, while her diction is not all it might be either and although she overall shows a good grasp of ornamentation her attempted trills are apt to sound like bleating.

This being Il Giardino Armonico we expect and indeed get some eccentricities, some not especially helpful to the singer. Antonini also does some tinkering with some of the scores, not being able to resist adding recorder parts (played by himself) to several of the scores. But the actual playing, both accompanying Prohaska and in a number of instrumental interludes, is of the highest quality. Several of these seem to have been chosen arbitrarily, it being difficult, for example, to see the relevance of Matthew Locke’s incidental music to The Tempest  in this context. Still, it does provide an opportunity to hear some ravishingly rapt playing in the Curtain Tune from the Second Musick, an account that comes into the category of ‘naughty but (very) nice’. Not perfect, then, but plenty to appeal to anyone interested in Baroque opera.

Brian Robins

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Recording

Vulpius: Cantiones Sacrae 1

Volume 1: 6-7 voice motets
Capella Daleminzia, René Michael Röder
133:22 (2 CDs in a card wallet)
Querstand VKJK 1523

Volume 2: 9-13 voice motets
Capella Daleminzia, Vocalconsort Waldheim, Singschule Waldheim, René Michael Röder
67:30
Querstand VKJK 1524

[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]ou know how it is – you wait years for one Vulpius CD and then three come along at once! Part of the Capella Daleminzia’s complete recording of Vulpius’ Cantione Sacrae  I-III, these CDs suggest that in Vulpius we have a very prolific composer whose compositions are nonetheless worthy of attention. These are fine performances with passionate and musically pleasing singing ably supported by organ, and with cornets and sackbuts in one motet in the first volume. This is a splendid moment after so much music for voices and organ, but I felt that more varied instrumentation throughout the programme might have relieved the threatening onset of ‘boxed-set-itis’! The second volume suffers less from this uniformity of sound with a wider range of instruments employed throughout the larger motets. Vulpius’ music is pretty standard 17th-century fare – post-Gabrieli polychoral effects grafted to a post-Lassus germanic stock in the manner of Schein and Praetorius, but the fact that he can even be mentioned in the same breath as these latter master polyphonists is a testimony to his skills as a composer. His works seem to grow in status as they accumulate vocal lines in the second volume, and his huge 13-part Multae filiae congregaverunt divitias  is given an epic Praetorius-style rendition by the augmented Daleminzia forces. In recording all of Vulpius’ extant choral works, the performers clearly wish to restore him to his rightful place in the pantheon of prominent 17th-century church composers, and on the evidence of these CDs the mantle more than fits.

D. James Ross

All of these links are to the volume of 6- and 7-voice motets:

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Recording

Mater ora filium – Music for Epiphany

Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Graham Ross
72:44
harmonia mundi HMU 907653
Music by Byrd, Clemens, Lassus, Mouton, Palestrina, Sheppard, etc.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his eclectic collection of choral music for Epiphany ranges from the director’s own arrangement of traditional material through the music of English and Continental composers to 20th-century masters. Focusing on the Renaissance music, we have full-blooded accounts of Lassus’ eight-part Omnes de Saba  and Sheppard’s six-part Reges Tharsis, both beautifully nuanced. Byrd’s four-part Ecce advenit dominator Dominus  and Palestrina’s Tribus miraculis  both exploit the choir’s more lyrical side, while Clemens non Papa’s Magi veniunt ab oriente  and Mouton’s Nesciens mater  show this versatile choir’s approach to Franco-Flemish polyphony.

The performances of what boils down to some twenty minutes of early music are all accomplished, with neat clarity and impeccable intonation throughout. Their selection of more modern music is also discerning, leaving as the only slightly disappointing aspect Graham Ross’s own rather hackneyed ‘cathedrally’ arrangements of tradition melodies. Aimed at the American market, this CD provides a very pleasing overview of the celebration of Epiphany in a modern College Chapel with all the many virtues of an accomplished College Choir fully on display.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Adieu m’amour : Music from the time of Agincourt

Amici Voices, Terence Charlston
59:51
Amici Sounds ASO 1415

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his CD is the musical equivalent of the growing fashion for self-publishing in the book world – a minimally packaged account of what looks like a concert programme, committed to CD primarily for sale at concerts and enabled by financial support, in this case from Agincourt 600. What it contains are pleasantly stylish performances of mainly mainstream sacred and secular choral music from the 15th century as well as contemporary music for keyboard performed on a reconstruction of the earliest surviving harpsichord in the world (c. 1480). The by necessity terse programme notes make at least one rather sweeping claim for the programme, that it ‘forms an unusual and unique response in words and music to this pivotal and controversial historical event’ when, in fact, most of the repertoire has absolutely nothing to do with Agincourt. This sounds more like a statement which survived from a grant application than anything of relevance to the actual CD. Having said that, the performances of the albeit very familiar choral music are all engaging and accomplished, and the music for keyboard performed on the reconstructed upright harpsichord is intriguing. I’m not sure that it adds anything to our understanding of the music of this period, but it would serve as an authentic and inexpensive general introduction to those coming afresh to the music of the time of Agincourt.

D. James Ross

The disc is available directly from the group’s website.

Categories
Recording

Jean Hanelle: Cypriot Vespers

Graindelavoix, Björn Schmelzer
76:06
Glossa GCD P32112

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] recently struggled to enjoy these performers’ account of Machaut’s Messe de Notre Dame, but I thought they might be back on more fruitful territory here with a speculative liturgical reconstruction of Cypriot Vespers of the 15th century featuring the music of Jean Hanelle, the Flemish composer now credited with the entire contents of Turin manuscript J:II:9. Framed as a service in Cyprus where Hanelle spent most of his creative life, the CD juxtaposes traditional Maronite and Greek- and Arabo-Byzantine chant with Hanelle’s polyphony. I tried to just let this mélange wash over me, but I found musicological alarms going off left, right and centre. Why do some of Hanelle’s motets (such as 9. O Clavis David) deserve relatively straight if quirky polyphonic performance while others (such as 8. O Radix Jesse) are subjected to an amorphous, floaty rendition which all but destroys all concept of the rhythms and overall structure? Even assuming that 15th-century incomers to Cyprus applied the same performance conventions to their music as present-day ‘traditional’ singers do (and when you think about it that is quite a conceptual leap), why is there such variation of approach within the way Graindelavoix present this repertoire? And remember the bad old days when the ‘living’ Solemnes school of plainchant singing dictated the way everybody sang historic chant? This is a CD which is enjoyable in parts, ironically in my opinion at the two extremes of pretty conventional polyphonic singing and ‘traditionally’ presented eastern chants, where the Byzantine chanter Adrian Sirbu has clearly provided useful advice, but I found the cross-over attempts unconvincing and poorly justified in the notes (another of these pesky mock interviews!). It is impressive to find Björn Schmelzer continuing to plough his distinctive furrow, questioning many of our fundamental assumptions about the performance of early choral repertoire, and his CDs continue to provide food for thought as well as continuing to attract the attention of a loyal following. And perhaps my growing disconnect with them is more a sign of my advancing age and hardening attitudes than his increasing self-indulgence. But I hope not.

D. James Ross

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Recording

De Grudenz: Fifteenth-century music from Central Europe

La Morra, Corina Marti & Michael Gondko
64:54
Glossa GCD922515

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he rediscovery of an entirely obscure 15th-century composer of the greatest merit is a rare event, but this is undoubtedly what eastern European musicology has achieved in the unearthing of the music of the Pomeranian composer Petrus Wilhelm de Grudenz. A contemporary of Du Fay and associated now with some forty composition, on the evidence of the music recorded here, Grudenz’s is a talent to be reckoned with and one which in the fullness of time may prove to deserve the same elevated status as the likes of Du Fay, Binchois and Ockeghem. Belonging very much to the mainstream of 15th-century polyphony, Grudenz seems nonetheless to demonstrate certain individual compositional traits such as a penchant for catchy syncopations and occasionally unconventional harmonic progressions which may be an individual or a regional inflexion.

In bringing us a cross-section of Grudenz’s music, La Morra, working under the auspices of the Schola Cantrum Basiliensis, have set it in a context of other eastern European music of the period by other unknowns such as Nicolaus de Radom and Othmarus Opilionis de Jawor, while at the same time pointing out that the Eastern European convention at this time of encrypting the composer’s name or leaving it out altogether means that the anonymous works on the CD may also be by Grudenz, or may conceal further composers of considerable merit. The performances by the voices and instruments of La Morra are elegantly understated but beautifully poised, allowing this wonderfully crafted music to speak for itself. As Howard Weiner’s excellent programme note points out, perhaps the true value of this unexpected discovery is to challenge our perception of musical development as relying on ‘centres of excellence’ with diminishing peripheries, as opposed to a model encompassing a widely disseminated language with local inflexions and local practitioners with something valuable to add.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Music for a Prussian Salon

Boxwood & Brass
72:53
Resonus RES10177
Music by Baermann, Crusell, J. Stamitz & Tausch

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]omprising two clarinets, bassoon and two horns the period ensemble Boxwood & Brass does very much what it says on the tin. Exploring the music of Franz Tausch is a project which is long overdue. Tausch’s frighteningly virtuosic music for his own instrument, the clarinet, was often cited in books on the early clarinet, sometimes with a degree of skepticism as to whether it could ever actually have been played, and his seminal role as the teacher of the next generation of virtuosi: Heinrich Baermann, Bernard Crussell and possibly Spohr’s clarinettist, Johann Hermstedt. Taught clarinet by his clarinettist father Jacob at the court of Mannheim, Franz Tausch may have played the clarinet concerti of Johann and Karl Stamitz, and indeed it is chamber music by the former, his attractive Three Quartets  for clarinets and horns, which provides some of the context in this programme. The exquisite Adagio  from Heinrich Baermann’s clarinet quintet, ingeniously arranged for clarinets and horns, is also given a airing, while Crusell’s virtuosic Concert-Trio  for clarinet, horn and bassoon is also give a welcome performance.

Perhaps surprisingly in light of the fiery concertos he has left us, it turns out that Tausch’s chamber music is relatively tame, almost conventional, but with occasional unexpected twists of harmony confirming that this is very much ‘romantic’ music. The performances by Boxwood & Brass of this little-explored repertoire are beautifully prepared and executed, with a polished tone from both clarinettists and an authoritative and focused contribution from horns and bassoon. Perhaps reflecting their conceit of a salon recital, the acoustic is quite intimate, but undoubtedly highly appropriate for this charming repertoire. While this CD makes a valuable contribution to our wider understanding of an important aspect of the history of the clarinet, it also provides a very entertaining and rewarding listening experience for the general listener.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Jacques le Polonois: Pièces de Luth

Paul Kieffer
67:13
Ævitas Æ-12157

[dropcap]J[/dropcap]acques le Polonois (c. 1545-55 – c. 1605), otherwise known as Jakub Polak or Jacob Reys, was born in Poland, and moved to Paris probably in 1574, where he became one of the most outstanding lutenists of his generation. According to Henri Sauval in his Histoire… de Paris, Jacob Reys attached no importance to money and drank heavily, which apparently helped him play. Interestingly, Sauval describes Jacob’s playing technique: “he hardly raised his fingers and seemed to have them glued to the lute.” I take this to mean that Jacob probably played with a thumb-outside technique, as does Paul Kieffer for this recording. A modern edition of Jacob’s music is available: Jakub Polak (Jacob Polonois), Utwory Zebrane Oeuvres Collected Works, ed. Piotr Pozniak (Kraków: Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, 1993). His music is distinctly French in character, and foreshadows the development of lute music in France in the 17th century, in particular the style brisé.

The CD gets off to a good start with Prelude Polonois (Pozniak XI) from Lord Herbert of Cherbury’s manuscript. Kieffer plays it twice, adding a few graces here and there, and playing with a delicate touch, which I find subtly expressive. The tonality of Gall[iard] Polonois (track 2) reminds me of the lute music of Robert Ballard (c. 1572-5 – after 1650). I like Kieffer’s interpretation, with added graces and his own tasteful divisions for repeats. The similarity with Ballard becomes a reality in track 3, the first half of which is a Courante by Ballard, and the second half by Jacob. In Volte (track 4) Jacob creates contrasts of timbre with a wide range of melodic notes – down to the 6th course in bar 24, and then up to the 8th fret of the 1st course a couple of bars later. In bar 40 he switches octaves after a passage of descending thirds, to have the unexpected bright sound of a high b’ natural. The piece ends with a hemiola, a device Jacob often uses. His setting of Susanne un Jour (not based on the familiar setting by Lassus) is a nice piece of polyphony, with a section where a slow-moving melody is accompanied by flowing quavers below. One pleasing aspect of Kieffer’s playing is not to spread or roll chords excessively. He uses them here and there for a special effect, e.g. in bars 21-4 of a prelude (track 6) for some chords high up the neck, but generally he plucks notes neatly together, which enables polyphonic lines to come through clearly. Puzzlingly he makes what I think are unnecessary changes in the Fantasia (track 8) from 21v of Besard’s Thesaurus Harmonicus  (1603), simplifying fast notes at cadences. Jacob’s music is more akin to 17th-century French lute music as far as his choice of flat keys is concerned. Prelude Jacob (track 9) is flat enough in A flat major, but Fantasie Jacob (track 10) is in the extraordinary key of A flat minor – the transcription has a key signature of seven flats. In contrast to the many preludes and fantasies, there is a lively Sarabande, played with panache, and which literally gave my spine a tingle. According to the play list, 18 of the 28 tracks are premiere recordings. Kieffer plays an 8-course lute by Grant Tomlinson, strung in gut, and with the lowest two courses retuned where necessary.

Stewart McCoy

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Categories
Recording

Schubert: Symphony no. 5; Works for violin & orchestra

Capella Savaria, Nicholas McGegan
58:19
Hungaroton HCD 32794

[dropcap]A[/dropcap] much-loved symphony plus three shorter lesser-known works for violin and orchestra which have in common dating of 1816-17 make for a more than usually interesting Schubert collection.

The Symphony No. 5 in B flat of course needs little introduction, a near-perfect work of Classical poise and elegance that has frequently lead to it being termed the most Mozartian of all Schubert’s symphonies. Yet what particularly struck me listening to the present performance is the young Schubert’s skill as a contrapuntist, perhaps an aspect of his writing that we don’t always sufficiently appreciate. That my attention should be drawn to this aspect of the composer’s writing is in itself a tribute to the poised and finely balanced performance Nicholas McGegan draws from Capella Savaria, the Hungarian period instrument orchestra with which he has worked for 30 years. Listen, for example, to the way in which the imitative writing is so clearly yet unobtrusively laid out after the first double bar in the Andante. I like, too, the way in which McGegan gives the cellos and basses real presence. Add to that sensible tempos throughout and a truly affectionate approach to this most lovable of symphonies and the result is a performance that needs no further recommendation.

Of the three works for violin and orchestra the most appealing to my mind is the least known, the Polonaise in B flat, D.580, a work of great charm here given with spirit and elegance by Zsolt Kalló, Capella Savaria’s leader, who produces some especially delicious playing in the central trio section of this brief work. Both the other pieces, the Concert Piece in D, D.345 and the Rondo for Violin and Strings, D.438 are more ambitious, the latter, the only one of the three for which a full manuscript has survived, in particular aiming high. It opens promisingly with a portentous theme that gives way to allow the soloist to steal in with a lovely lyrical melody replete with arabesques and roulades, but once the main dance-like rondo theme is introduced there is insufficient interest to sustain the 14 minutes or so of its duration. That is certainly no fault of Kalló, whose playing both here and in D.345 is exemplary.

Brian Robins

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