Categories
Sheet music

Francesco Foggia: Masses

Edited by Stephen R. Miller
A-R Editions, Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era, B193
xxiv + 2 facsmilies + 354pp, $245.00
ISBN 978-0-89579-844-2

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ther than Stephen R. Miller, I must be among the only people on the planet actively publishing Foggia’s music; in fact, I had already started work on an edition of one of the pieces in the present volume (his parody mass on Palestrina’s Tu es Petrus  for nine voices). I had decided to explore mid-17th-century Italian music outside Venice, since it seemed to me odd that there were huge gaps in the available music, as if there were no composers worthy of consideration between Monteverdi and Vivaldi.

Foggia held many important positions in Rome and his considerable published legacy reflects that. Miller has chosen six representative masses: the Missa Andianne à premer latte, e coglier fiori  (ATB, continuo – based on the madrigal of that name by Pomponio Nenna), the Missa Corrente  (SATB, continuo), the Missa La piva  (SSATB, continuo), a Missa sine nomine (1663, SSATB, continuo), the Missa Exultate Deo  (SSATB, continuo)and the aforementioned Missa Tu es Petrus  (SSATB, SATB, continuo). The four-voice Missa Corrente  was reprinted as a Missa brevis and it omits the Benedictus.

Foggia was a skilled contrapuntalist with a strong sense of the overall shapes of his works; juxtaposing close imitation with homophonic (often triple time) passages holds the listener’s attention. Miller has done a fine job of editing these six masses, though I question his decision to treat alla breve  cut C as two-minim bars in some pieces and four-minim bars in others, while retaining a uniform three-semibreve bar for triplas, and even more so his decision not to transpose the Missa Tu es Petrus  down from its original printed chiavette  pitch (the lowest note currently is the C below middle C…)

I hope A-R Editions will release each of the masses separately so that small groups and choirs can perform this music and enjoy it – the volume is simply too expensive and too unwieldy for use in church or concert hall.

Brian Clark

Categories
Uncategorized

“Les Surprises” on tour

With a programme of 18th-century French music, this ensemble (voices, violins, flutes and continuo) have announced details of a tour.

You can find details of the programme HERE, and click on the links below for further information. All information is in French.

Festival Sinfonia en Périgord, Périgueux, 30/8/17

Festival Musica Divina, Malines, Belgium, 23/9/17

Festival Baroque de Pontoise, 24/9/17

Saison de concerts Cathedra, Bordeaux, 26/9/17

Categories
Uncategorized

Festivals in France 2017

Our colleagues at the agency Accent Tonique have sent promotional materials for four events this summer that our readers will be interested to know about. Click on the links below to download the PDFs:


Ambronay 2017

Bach Combrailles 2017

Saintes 2017

Vézely 2017

Categories
Recording

Telemann: The Grand Concertos for mixed instruments Vol. 4

La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider
59:30
cpo 777 892-2
TWV 44: 41, 52: c1, 53: D2, e1 & 54: F4

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he latest installment of cpo’s latest marvellous series devoted to Telemann’s music includes a double concerto (oboe/violin), two triple concertos (trumpet with two oboes and violin with two flutes), a concerto with eight instruments given solo roles, and another of the fabulous septets for pairs of violins, oboes, recorders and continuo. As ever with these performers and this director, the music dances and sings in both major and minor; I was surprised by the fact that some of the music was completely new to me – and yes, all you sceptics out there, it sounded  new! Not the same piece regurgitated, as I read recently on yet another tiresome Facebook posting. “He’s not exactly Vivaldi, is he?” commented one of the cognoscenti. [For those in any doubt, I intended that to be ironic.] Indeed, it is Schneider and co. who are at the very forefront of demonstrating beyond doubt that Telemann’s multifaceted music is ever-changing, all-embracing. I hope they will eventually do more of his church cantatas – what a genuine revelation that  would be!

Brian Clark

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Categories
Recording

Telemann: Ouverture-Suites

[Kirstin Fahr recorder], Neumeyer Consort, Felix Koch
70:41
Christophorus CHR 77412
TWV 55: C2, G4, g2, a2

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his year marks the 350th anniversary of Telemann’s death and one would have imagined that given that anniversary and the other big one of the year, groups might have sought out some of the many Lutheran cantatas that have never been performed, let alone recorded, in modern times, but so far the signs are not good… The four orchestral works on the present disc are nicely played, but they hardly fall into the “little known” category, having all been recorded umpteen times already. Every time I review such compilations, I apply a simple rule: do the perfomers bring anything new to the table? If a HIP ensemble considers adding percussion “as a result of the assumption that some of Telemann’s overture-suites may also have been performed as mime (at the Dresden court, for instance” fulfils this requirement, who am I to disagree with this “particularly plastic tonal quality”. The pieces themselves are nicely played (in the case of the recorder, very nicely) in a rather unforgiving acoustic; I doubt I will listen to it again, however; I prefer my Telemann without added extras.

Brian Clark

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Categories
Recording

Schütz: Johannespassion

Jan Kobow Evangelist, Harry van der Kamp Christus, Dresdner Kammerchor, Hans-Christoph Rademann
56:16
Carus 83.270
+Ach Herr, du Sohn Davids SWV-Anhang 2, Litania, Unser Herr Jesus Christus SWV496

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his excellent projected edition of the complete works of Schütz reaches volume 13 and the composer’s St John Passion. A superb line-up of soloists and exquisitely accurate and idiomatic singing by this first-class German chamber choir have produced authoritative accounts of some of the composer’s lesser-known masterpieces, and the series has grown in authority as it has progressed. The CD opens with Schütz’s lovely setting of the Litania ‘Kyrie eleison’, an unfamiliar gem of the highest order of invention, beautifully sung by the soloists and choir and unbelievably receiving its premiere recording here. It concludes with two haunting motets, Unser Herr Jesus Christus in der Nacht  and Ach Herr, du Sohn Davids, another gem receiving its premiere recording. The Passion itself, of course, consists for liturgical reasons largely of unaccompanied recitative, which for those expecting Schütz’s evocative polyphony throughout may sound a little bare. In fact, the excellent Jan Kobow as the Evangelist and Harry van der Kamp as a compellingly expressive Jesus keep the momentum going, and the Johannespassion is at least interspersed with a number of choral interjections. If this liturgical peculiarity prevents Schütz’s Passion settings from numbering among his most admired works, as for example those of J. S. Bach do, it is important to understand their role in the composer’s output, and the stunning effect when the choir chimes in with polyphony after an extended monophonic episode is truly powerful. Besides which there is more than enough stunning polyphony to enjoy on this CD. Brief mention should be made, beside the excellent soloists and choir, of the continuo team, who, of course, play no part in the Passion, but have made a consistently valuable contribution to the project.

D. James Ross

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Categories
Recording

Corelli’s Legacy

Szabolcs Illés violin, Dalibor Pimek cello, Ondřej Macek harpsichord & organ
61:35
Hungaroton HCD 32765

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his enterprising CD places music by Corelli next to works by several of his pupils Visconti, Somis, Mossi and Castrucci and the only one I had come across before, Geminiani. As such it is an interesting exploration of the initial influence of the great master, although of course his highly original shadow falls far and wide on the music of the whole Baroque era. Apart from Corelli’s opus 5 no 3 Sonata, all the works here are receiving their premiere recordings, and this alone makes the CD thoroughly worthwhile. The playing is sensitive and the music elegantly and appropriately ornamented, so I found myself slightly puzzled by what was lacking. Szabolcs Illés’s Baroque violin tone is slightly shallow and scratchy, either due to the acoustic or the recording, and his intonation very occasionally is a little slap-dash, but perhaps ultimately the musicians sadly don’t sound entirely ‘on top of’ this distinctive repertoire, and the music just sounds rather joyless. On the subject of pupils, Illes is a pupil of Sigiswald Kuijken, which is why I am surprised that the playing is not more passionate and idiomatic, but having returned to the CD several times I’m afraid it just isn’t. There are those who will want to own this CD simply because of the wealth of unfamiliar material here, but I couldn’t help wishing that it could have been more appetisingly presented.

D. James Ross

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Categories
Recording

Bach all’Italiano

Simon Borutzki & Ensemble
68:48
klanglogo (Rondeau) KL1517
BWV593, 971, 973-6, 978, 986

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a project after J. S. Bach’s own heart, as the arch-arranger’s keyboard arrangements (of Vivaldi, Marcello and anon) are further re-arranged for recorder and continuo! Much of this music inhabits a twilit zone in the composer’s oeuvre, by him and yet not by him, so much of it was unfamiliar to me, and it strikes me that these adaptations for recorder and BC work rather well, bringing some rather fine music into the spotlight. There are occasional passages which don’t sound entirely idiomatic for the recorder, but Borutzki’s stunning virtuosity carries the day, while his musicality and that of his continuo team mean that the performances are extremely engaging. We hear him play a selection of different recorder sizes all with a persuasive mastery, seven different instruments of four different sizes, which gives the CD a fascinating dimension as an introduction to the Baroque recorder in its many guises. Particularly delightful is an account of Bach’s own Italian Concerto  on a charming original anonymous Baroque descant instrument, alternating with a tenor recorder (with lute accompaniment) for the Andante. This refreshing CD is a thorough delight, usefully bringing music which clearly appealed to J. S. Bach to a deservedly wider audience in imaginative and musically thrilling performances.

D. James Ross

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Categories
Recording

Bach and Friends

Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas organ/harpsichord
79:54
Ambronay AMY048
Böhm, Buxtehude, J. C. F. Fischer, Georg Muffat, Pachelbel, Scheidemann

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a recital by a young prizewinning organist/harpsichordist from the Southwest corner of France. He plays a harpsichord by Philippe Humau – a copy of an instrument made by Johann Heinrich Gräbner in Dresden in 1722 which has been in the Villa Bertramka in Prague since 1787. It has a mature and resonant tone. The organ is a 3 manual instrument by Dominique Thomas built in the north German style of Arp Schnitger for the church at Ciboure in 2014. The plain, flat wooden roofed church has dry acoustics, that do the instrument no favours, but every note – even when manual 16’ ranks are drawn – is clear, and the sound is not only powerful in the tutti but elegant and characterful when only a few ranks are used. This is an exciting instrument, and I hope that there will be an organ by Thomas in the UK before too long.

The programme title ‘Bach and his friends’ is a slight misnomer. Scheidemann died in 1663, and Buxtehude and Pachelbel at least cannot be called friends in the normal sense of the word. But it makes a good selection and gives a context to Bach’s works we do not often hear. For an example of Louis-Nöel Bestion de Camboulas’ – what a splendid name! – fine playing, listen to his articulation of the entries in the fugato sections of Buxtehude’s Praeludium in G minor: each entry is beautifully phrased and given the clarity and shaping it deserves without the onward rhythm being in any way distorted. This is elegant playing, and apparently straightforward pieces like Pachelbel’s Aria Sebaldina from Hexachordum Apollinis  acquire a lyrical presence.

When he comes to the organ, the registrations – it would have been good to include details in the booklet as well as the specification – are varied and displays the colours and richness of Thomas’ organ. There are six manual reeds, and four on the pedal, and a rank with a Tierce on each of the three manuals, but in the Böhm Vater unser  the decorated chorale is given to a single principal rank, and its sweet, singing tone illustrates the builder’s skill as well as the player’s.

So this is a fine introduction to a skilled and elegant player as well as two splendid instruments. I recommend this disc to connoisseurs of both.

David Stancliffe

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Categories
Recording

Vaet: Sacred Music

Dufay Ensemble, Eckehard Kiem
224:50 (4 CDs in a plastic box)
Brilliant Classics 95365

[dropcap]J[/dropcap]acobus Vaet had the misfortune to fall out of favour twice. A prominent composer in the middle of the 16th century, he ended up as imperial Kapellmeister in Vienna, although like all but a handful of his contemporaries he lapsed into obscurity within fifty years. Curious then that it was Vaet whom Friedrich Blume chose to feature beside the great Josquin in the opening 1929 volume of his seminal Das Chorwerk. Sadly where the latter went on to be completely rehabilitated, the former somewhat sank back into obscurity. This four CD set of his choral works, a drop in the ocean of his large output but a generous helping nonetheless, serves to outline his strengths and weaknesses by providing a representative cross-section of his sacred music. This proves not to be an unalloyed delight for a couple of reasons. The Roches’ authoritative Dictionary of Early Music  describes Vaet’s early work as ‘solidly imitative’, and this is true of a fair percentage of the music recorded here, before we get into the later, more daring repertoire influenced by Lassus (and perhaps, as the programme note claims, the Venetians, although I found this harder to pin down). The polychoral repertoire is to my ear the most successful, particularly the Lassus-like setting of Ferdnande imperio, while the rather extravagant claims made in Peter Quantrill’s programme note for his mastery of dissonance seem to me a little overblown. The other slight drawback to this set is that the singing is not quite as confidently accurate as it might be – perhaps the main reason why the project has appeared on the budget Brilliant Boxes label. A lot of the singing sounds tentative and a bit workaday, and there is some distinctly uncomfortable intonation. This is a pity, but together with the decidedly patchy quality of the music it makes this set an informative resource rather than a listening delight. Having said that, many of the works here are receiving their premiere recordings, so anybody genuinely particularly interested in the music of Vaet or more generally in the repertoire of the Renaissance Viennese Hofkapelle will want to invest.

D. James Ross

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