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Sheet music

Claudio Monteverdi: Voglio di vita uscir (SV. 337) for voice & basso continuo

Edited by Barbara Sachs
Peacock Press / Green Man Press Mv 2
£10.50
ISMN 979-0-708105-91-6

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his volume contains not one but two variant settings by Monteverdi of a text which is divided into two sections; the first (set over a ground bass) makes up around two thirds of the piece while the second (marked Adagio in one source, Largo in the other) begins over a descending fourth. In triple time throughout, the principal differences are pitch (they are a tone apart and a range of an octave and a fourth from the B below middle C and the C sharp above it respectively), and the presence of additional continuo-only bars in one and substantial repeated sections in the other. Sachs intelligently includes ossias of the two most divergent passages, allowing performers to create further versions that suit their taste.

The set includes a full score with a green cover and realized continuo, a second score without the cover but with all of the introductory matter and just voice and bass lines, and a continuo part with loose sheets to allow all three pages to be on the stand at once, thus avoiding the issue of impossible page turns. Similar care is taken over the layout of the score, though I would have tried to get bar 25 of the Neapolitan version on the previous line, and probably taken bars 77-78 on to the next line, but these are purely for aesthetic reasons (although arguably, repeats are more easily found at the beginnings of lines).

My only difficulty was that introduction. Of course, given that there are two divergent sources meant it was always going to be a challenge, but I found it confusing, for instance, that the two sources were referred to as Florentine and Neapolitan in one paragraph and then, in the next, being identified by the RISM sigla of the holding libraries (before the sources had been thoroughly – and I mean thoroughly! – discussed). Sachs also includes a nice translation of the text (including the three lines not set by Monteverdi, for the sake of completeness).

Brian Clark

Categories
Recording

J. S. Bach: ‘Celebratory Cantatas’

[Hana Blažiková, Hiroya Aoki, Charles Daniels, Roderick Williams SCTTB], Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki
70:23
BIS-2231 SACD
BWV206, 215

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hese two secular cantatas are closely linked. Bach was at work on BWV 206, a complex musical commentary on Augustus III’s role as both Elector of Saxony and King of Poland by describing the various claims to supremacy made by the four rivers that thread through his domains for his birthday in October, when it was suddenly announced that Augustus was coming to Leipzig for the Michaelmas fair in 1734 in person. So work on BWV 206 was shelved (it was eventually performed in 1736), and work hastily started on a grand celebratory cantata that must have been completed in about three days – Preise dein Glücke  (BWV 215) – that was performed in the open air on October 5th.

To meet the tight deadline, Bach re-used as the opening chorus a movement of a name-day cantata from 1732 that was eventually to become the Osanna in the B minor Mass, a couple of arias from existing cantatas for tenor (3) and bass (5), leaving himself the task of composing new recitatives, a soprano aria (7), later re-used in part V of the Christmas Oratorio, and the final chorus (9). Though clearly a great success, the occasion was marred by Bach’s trumpet player, Reiche, suffering a fatal stroke that night, said to have been brought on by inhaling the smoke from the six hundred wax tapers held by the University students.

The three soloists in 215 are all familiars at the top of their game, and the Suzuki machine works its magic, with the brass led by Jean-François Madeuf, so no fingerholes. The recitatives are by no means child’s-play, having decorative figures on pairs of oboes and flutes respectively in the Tenor and Soprano ones (2 and 6), and complex interplay with all three instrumental cori in the final one (8). Composing, copying and rehearsing just these new movements in three days would have been almost unimaginable, let alone re-setting, copying and rehearsing the other movements. This performance is particularly notable for the clarity and balance of the chorus work in the opening eight-part chorus, where each line is doubled and there is a fine central section which didn’t survive in the Osanna.

In Schleicht, spielende Wellen  (BWV 206), eventually performed in 1736 at the Café Zimmermann and again in 1740, the music is less generic and so was not subject to re-use in other contexts. This is a pity, as it is superb, and is, in consequence, less well known than its much-parodied companion pieces. Its inventive characterisation of the nationalities through their mighty rivers produces music from Bach unlike any other of his surviving compositions, including the soprano aria (9), which calls for three flutes. I particularly enjoyed the counter-tenor Hiroya Aoki in his aria with a pair of oboes d’amore (7), a complex imitative texture – vintage Bach.

Both these cantatas produce wonderful playing and singing from Suzuki’s forces and are a total delight. I cannot recommend this CD too highly, and am playing it frequently, discovering fresh nuances each time. Buy it at once and let it be your companion all summer long.

David Stancliffe

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Recording

Isaac: Nell tempo di Lorenzo de’ Medici & Maximilian I

I. Dalheim, K. Mulders, P. Bertin, D. Sagastume, V. Sordo, Ll. Vilamajö, D. Hernández, M. Savazza, Ch. Immler, P. Stas, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Herspèrion XXI, Jordi Savall
76:06
AVSA9922

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] find this disc tiresome. It contains fine music by one of the best composers of his day, performed by capable musicians. Yet if it were a meal, it would come over-seasoned to conceal an underlying blandness. There is too much contrived beauty or animation or suavity at the expense of the music itself – a sort of early music for airports. Bells are so ubiquitous that they become comical in their incongruity. Then to begin dolorous choral works there is the cliché of the funereal drum, beside the rather desperate jollity of some of the instrumental pieces. Sustinuimus is a lovely motet overlarded with an unnecessary accompaniment of assorted winds and strings, bowed and plucked. Innsbruch  is downright slushy, with too many different arrangements crammed into the one piece. Worst of all is Quis dabit  in which the fussy arrangement distracts from the merits of this fine if doleful work: shades of Glenn Miller from the accompanying instrumental ensemble, irritating percussion, fidgety alternating solo and full vocal passages, and tastefully exaggerated lamenting on the part of the singers. Isaac’s music can stand tall without this overindulgent treatment. The two following tracks are cut from the same cloth: more bells bong in the exquisite and undeserving Sancti spiritus, then Angeli, archangeli  rambles on while the sonneur has a field day. And so on, past an achingly, self-consciously beautiful Circumdederunt me  to the final track with the full String of Pearls treatment in the accompaniment, further fidgeting between solo and full choral passages, and enough tings and dings from the sonneur to render Evelyn Glennie envious. In all reluctant humility I entirely understand that many people will find a disc of this sort most attractive, and if it is going to draw folk to Isaac’s music, as presumably Sting’s disc drew folk to Dowland, then well and good; there is room for this sort of presentation, so long as there are recordings of Isaac’s music that let it speak, or sing, for itself, rather than as some in the 21st-century wish to attire it. Oh, noisy bells, be dumb.

Richard Turbet

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Categories
Recording

Schabernack: a treasure trove of musical jokes

Les passions de l’ame, Meret Lüthi
56:46
deutsche harmonia mundi 88985415492
Music by Biber, Fux, Schmelzer & Walther

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n the back cover of this recording we read: “Characters from the commedia dell’arte, playful birds, an astonishing virtuosity and a colourful instrumentation – the vivid imagination in late 17th century Austrian-German instrumental music loves to surprise”. Whilst this is true, and the lively performances certainly do the astonishing virtuosity proud, the colourful instrumentation might surprise you a little more than you expect: alongside the strings there are keyboards, guitar or theorbo, dulcimer and a wide selection of percussion. While I am sure the effect of this show live must be extremely entertaining, and I could imagine all sorts of “scene changes” as the scoring changed from trio sonata to ever larger ensemble, as a purely listening experience I think the atmospheric glissando scales on dulcimer, or rat-a-tat of some sort of drum might soon become a little tedious. That said, the playing is full of verve and vitality, with Fux’s reputation for being something of a dry peddler of strict counterpoint shot down in flames by this spirited rendition of his partita a tre, “Les Combattans”. The other three composers’ contributions are similarly exuberant, in a beautifully clear recording. The original approach to presenting the trilingual notes in the richly illustrated booklet also reflects the group’s attempts to shake up our expectations of the music they play; on balance, they are persuasive, even if I must stick to my opening gambit – I’d rather see the production live!

Brian Clark

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Recording

alta danza: 15th century dance music in Italy

les haulz et les bas
79:24
Christophorus CHE 0213-2 (c 1998)

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f the sound of shawms, sackbut and bombard floats your boat, then this CD is certainly for you. You will seldom hear these loud outdoor instruments more expertly played and at the same time with enormous flamboyance and yet with pinpoint intonation and balance. Having dabbled with shawm and bombard, I know just how hard it is to play extended dance pieces such as we have here and maintain pitch and unanimity. The brilliant thing about this ensemble is that, should you tire of the ‘alta’ consort, there is a quiet ‘bassa’ ensemble of fiddle, lute and tambourine to provide textural variety. Most of the music here, taken from dance treatises, seems to be by one or other of two 15th-century Italian composers, Domenico da Piacenza and Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro and it is presented in forms which would allow it to be danced to. This has involved arranging the music fairly heavily both as regards repeats, but also harmonizing music which survives only as melodies. Véronique Daniels, the group’s dance adviser, makes a cogent case in the notes for adapting the original melodies for mainly four-part ensemble, although this begs the question if the original owners of the treatises would simply have improvised the part music. It seems to me unlikely that they would have come up with such felicitous arrangements as we find here, but that is all to the good. It is lovely to hear this music in extended performances which would have permitted the often complex dances they were written for to be executed, and we have to assume that the advice of a specific dance expert will have ensured realistic tempi. This is a lovely CD, which cleverly and inventively sidesteps the two potential pitfalls that await projects of this sort – the danger of boredom from monochrome textures or very obvious harmonisations, and the stultifying effect of lots of tiny short dance episodes. And, as a bonus, we have some very funky bagpiping from the group’s director, Ian Harrison, and Gesine Bänfer!

D. James Ross

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Recording

Ombre amem: Giuliani & Sor

Gabriella Di Laccio soprano, James Akers guitar
55:10
Drama Musica DRAMA002

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] approached this CD with high hopes, as I have enjoyed James Akers’ previous explorations of unfamiliar repertoire, and indeed the solo guitar music by Fernando Sor and particularly the Grand Overture by Mauro Giuliani are enjoyable and executed with the finesse and elegance we have come to expect of this fine young guitarist. For me, things get seriously problematic, though, when he is joined by soprano Gabriella de Laccio in the ariettas, seguidillas  and cavatinas, which make up the bulk of the CD. Whether through nerves or some other reason, her voice has a distracting quaver to it, but – more importantly – her intonation is regularly inadequate, such that I, personally, was unable to enjoy any of the sung music. This is a pity, as much of it sounded as if it was reasonably interesting repertoire, and the seguidillas  by Sor had a distinctive Spanish flavour to them. I persisted in the hope that things might settle down, but, while some of the character pieces were a little more successful, the overall impression was distinctly uncomfortable. I wanted to like this CD so much that I have kept coming back to it and listening to tracks at random, but sadly I have to stick to my original evaluation.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Meraviglia d’amore : Love Songs from 17th-century Italy

Marco Beasley, Private Musicke, Pierre Pitzl
Accent ACC24330
Music by Bartolotti, Carbonchi, Calvi, Corbetta, Foscarini, Frescobaldi, Galilei, d’India, Kapsberger, Biagio Marini & Pellergini

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his delightful CD presents a series of instrumental pieces by the likes of Cario Calvi, Antonio Carbonchi and a whole plethora of largely unfamiliar composers interspersed with songs by the more familiar Kapsberger, d’India and Marini. The original slant comes from the fact that Private Musicke can call upon two Baroque guitars, theorbo, cello and gamba, producing a wonderfully rich and lively sound in the instrumental pieces and a full and imaginative accompaniment to Marco Beasley’s singing. Clearly letting their instruments lead them, the instrumentalists play with a winning mercurial quality, strumming and thrumming their way through the repertoire, with inspired cross-rhythms and exploratory introductory sections which set this music in a very believable context. My one reservation is about the recorded quality, which is very close, and in the case of the singer a little edgy, giving his voice a brittleness which a more generous recorded acoustic would have alleviated. One advantage of the close recording, however, is the placing of the various instruments, which allows very clear give and take back and forth between the various players. These are passionate and musically imaginative interpretations of this repertoire, which in the likes of the masterly O del ciel d’Amor  by Sigismondo D’India reach remarkable heights of expression and drama. It is easy to hear in these performances the theatricality of music which was being composed just as the medium of opera was taking shape.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Tinctoris: Secret Consolations

Le miroir de musique, Baptiste Romain
70:00
Ricercar RIC380

[dropcap]P[/dropcap]rimarily known as a musical theorist, it is perhaps unsurprising that with the increasing amount of his music available on CD Johannes Tinctoris has gradually emerged as an accomplished and prolific composer in his own right. In an intriguing and highly informative programme note David Fallows attempts to follow the composer’s erratic progress across Europe and to tie this in with his various sacred and secular compositions. At one point a series of rapid ‘yo-yo swings’ back and fore across many miles reminded me of a similar situation I encountered with a Renaissance composer, which turned out to involve two entirely separate people! In Tinctoris’ case the surprising conclusion is that the bulk of his compositions and theoretical works all date from one brief period in the 1470s when he was in Naples – an interesting lesson for those of us tempted to spread composition dates throughout the often blank canvas of a Renaissance composer’s lifetime. The emerging picture of Tinctoris simply pouring out music and musical theory in one brief burst of activity must also increase the likelihood that he has something to do with the six brilliant and anonymous L’Homme Armé  mass cycles from around this period associated with the Naples court. We are given the Kyrie of Tinctoris’ own brilliant L’Homme Armé  mass here, as well as movements from one of his three-part Masses sine nomine. There are also motets and instrumental music both by Tinctoris and composers in his creative orbit such as the English/Scottish composer Robert Morton and Alexander Agricola, from whom we have an instrumental arrangement of music by Ockeghem. Morton, who worked with Dufay and Binchois at the Burgundian court, is largely known for his simple setting of the L’homme Armé  tune (which some musicologists believe he may also have composed) but is represented here by an exquisitely lovely sung rondeau, Le souvenir de vous me tue. Taking their name from a lost theoretical work by Tinctoris, Le Miroir de Musique play and sing this music with enormous authority, producing a delightfully straight sound which brings out beautifully the subtleties of Tinctoris’ remarkable music. The vocalists are doubled up to two-to-a-part in the mass movements to produce a wonderfully rich and compelling texture, and these for me are the highlights of this highly enjoyable CD. Highly enjoyable too are the instrumental rondeaux featuring wonderfully abrasive instruments such as the rebec and the gut-strung bray harp.

D. James Ross

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Categories
Recording

Monteverdi: Madrigali Libri I & II

Le Nuove Musiche, Krijn Koetsveld
96:40 (2 CDs in a jewel case)
Brilliant Classics 94977

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hese CDs are part of a projected complete recording of all the Monteverdi madrigals – the ensemble has already released books III, VI, VII and VIII – and for this recording Le Nuove Musiche go back to Monteverdi’s prima prattica  roots in Cremona. Although perhaps less immediately recognizable than his later madrigals, these are extremely accomplished compositions, which must have raised a few musical eyebrows when they appeared in 1587 and 1590 respectively. In the slow sustained madrigals, Le Nuove Musiche produce a polished and well-balanced sound, although in some of the more hectic passages the intonation is not always all it might be and the upper voices in particular occasionally sound less than comfortable. Having said that, the recorded sound is very vivid and captures perfectly the warm acoustic of the Kapucijnenkloster in Velp, while the performances are consistently musical and intelligent. One of the fruits of Monteverdi 450 has been a plethora of performances and recordings of the master’s music, but Monteverdi is perhaps unusual in that, nowadays, there is very little of his music which has not regularly seen the light of day, and perhaps David Munrow already pointed an alternative way to celebrate his remarkable music by juxtaposing it with the less familiar music of his Italian contemporaries.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Monteverdi: Madrigals Book 8 ‘Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi”

Delitiæ Musicæ, Marco Longhini
221:41 (4 CDs in a crystal box)
Naxos 8.573755-58 (Recorded 2005)

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his lavish release, presumably timed to mark Monteverdi 450, includes the complete Book 8 Madrigals as well as other interpolated music. I went first to the very familiar Combattimento de Tancredi e Clorinda, hoping to gauge the general approach with a work which I know extremely well and I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, the opening music I heard wasn’t by Monteverdi at all but by Biagio Marini, a Sinfonia  which Longhini had interpolated. This was an indication of the radical approach taken to the music here, an impression soon born out by a male alto Clorinda and dramatic changes in tempo. I have to say that I was pretty well convinced by all of this, while Marco Scavazza’s account of the testo part complete with blizzards of ornaments and a stunning ‘patter’ section swept all before it. Longhini employs a veritable army of thirty musicians for these CDs, providing a wonderful choice of textures. He has a complete consort of viols as well as a quartet of Baroque strings to choose between, while his continuo instruments include harpsichords, organs, theorbo, lirone, harp, guitar and trombone. This allows him to vary the accompanying textures in a work such as the Combattimento  in a way which we know Monteverdi favoured in his operas. The result is a much more operatic and suitably epic account of the work than I have ever heard before. I found Clorinda’s falsetto representation trickier to take seriously. The account of the Ballo delle Ingrate is on an equally epic scale, and preceded by some excellent tamburi discordati and another Sinfonia  by Marini – it is entirely plausible that Monteverdi intended these works to be introduced by sinfonias in this way, either composed by himself or by a contemporary composer. The part of Cupid is taken appropriately by an excellent boy soprano Beniamino Borciani, although I found that the falsetto account of Venus grated. Notwithstanding, this expansive account of these proto-operas brings them firmly into the orbit of the great operatic masterpieces, and I found the approach utterly convincing. Elsewhere the madrigals for eight-part voices and instruments were wonderfully expressive and atmospheric, although I found the recorded sound made the louder sections rather too immediate and competitive. The use of all male voices worked very well, although surely there is ample evidence that the upper lines (like the part of Clorinda) would have been taken by women. This is an ambitious project, and while I have not always been entirely convinced by Marco Longhini’s previous engagements with the music of Monteverdi, I have to say I found these CDs stimulating and for the most part very convincing. To be able to buy the complete Book 8 Madrigals on four budget CDs is remarkable enough, and while these performances have their quirky aspects they are generally an excellent investment.

D. James Ross

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