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Recording

Bach Triples

Harmony of Nations, Laurence Cummings
75:48
edition raumklang RK3007
BWV1048, 1057, 1063, 1064, 1069

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Harmony of Nations Baroque Orchestra was founded in 2004 by musicians who had met in the European Union Baroque Orchestra as part of a pan-European determination to work across national and historic cultural divides and to share insights.

The music chosen for this CD is from J. S. Bach’s triple concertos of one sort or another, and is introduced by an admirable essay by John Butt. They play the early version of the Ouverture in D, BWV1069 (without the trumpets and timpani added in about 1730), which enables us to hear the fine playing by the three oboes and the fagotto, otherwise silent in the subsequent pieces. This is followed by the concerto for harpsichord and two recorders in F, BWV1057, a version of the Fourth Brandenburg transposed down a tone into F and with a harpsichord replacing the violin, Brandenburg 3, BWV1048, and two concertos for three violins in what is likely to have been their original form, re-adapted from what survives as concerti for three harpsichords (BWV1063 and 1064). Because 1064’s violin version involves a transposition back up into D, this score merits a distinct version in NBA VII/7, which is denied to 1063 in NBA VII/6 which remains in D minor. Following the harpsichord version of 1063, there was one small detail which would have eased the transcription: in measures 40 and 72 of the third movement there are three semiquavers in the bass parts of each of the cembalo parts which link the previous figure to the continuing semiquaver passage work in the first/second concertante violin part. In the absence of a score of this passage, I wonder if the transcription doesn’t need the connecting semiquavers? The ‘cello part in 1064 has some fine moments playing independently of the continuo line, and might that be a solution here?

The playing is engaged and exciting, but balanced when it needs to be to enable us to hear the delicate figuration in BWV1057, for example. The technical skills of the principal violinist in the D minor concerto, Huw Daniel, are amazing, and I was conscious all through of the extremely fine viola playing, where I often find this line too weak to sustain the harmonic gap between multiple violin lines and a strong basso continuo section.

I have the greatest respect for Laurence Cummings and the work he does with young musicians. This CD was recorded in 2010, and I would dearly like to hear companion discs exploring some of the other concerto transcriptions using wind like 1044, 1055 and 1060, for example. But I suspect that the players may have dispersed now, and anyway will the United Kingdom still take part in such fine examples of cross-boundary cultural initiatives after next March?

There are not that many recordings of these works available – I only know the one by Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque, and the version by the Freiburg Orchestra – so I am very glad to have it: get it while you can.

David Stancliffe

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Recording

J. S. Bach: Sonatas for violin and harpsichord

Guido de Neve, Frank Agsteribbe
(2 CDs in a jewel case)
Et’cetera KTC 1596

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a very well-researched project funded by the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp with the research group on Performance Practice in Perspective.

You may or may not like the violinist’s rather rhapsodic style which involves some – to my ears – rather aggressive (and 20th-century feeling) bowing. But de Neve is playing an instrument of 1692 by Hendrik Williams of Ghent and the pair have clearly made a detailed study of the rhetorical expressiveness of 18th-century music. This leads to some pretty slow tempi in some of the slow movements, as in the opening of the A major sonata for example, as well as a breakaway Presto, so fast as to appear almost unsteady. So expect a degree of engaged commitment to making the music speak as dramatically as a Baroque painting. In the liner-notes each sonata is prefaced by a quotation from Mattheson’s Das Neu-Eröffnete Orchester of 1713 on the particular key, for example: h-moll: Kombination aus Gefühlen der Unlust und Melancholie. Bizarr – wird deshalb selten gespielt. [B minor: Combines feelings of unease and melancholy. Slightly odd and therefore rarely performed.]

They also explain with a welcome degree of clarity why, due to the uneven distribution of the Pythagorean comma across the octave in historic tunings, different keys are sharply different from one another. It is a pity then that the information in the liner notes does not make specific reference to the particular system they use.

I think that the violin is recorded slightly too close, so the harpsichord frequently feels a less than equal partner. But this performance certainly offers an alternative reading to those, for example, by Rachel Podger with which my generation has been brought up.

David Stancliffe

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Bach Inspiration

Juliette Hurel flute, Maïlys de Villoutreys soprano, Ensemble Les Surprises, Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas
67:31
Alpha Classics Alpha 358
BWV1013, 1038, 1067 + extracts from BWV82A, 211, 244 & 249

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] reviewed a CD of keyboard music played on interesting period instruments by Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas in May 2017, and admired his elegant playing, but this CD will be somewhat of a disappointment to readers of the EMR, and I doubt if many will wish to buy it.

While the playing is gracious, this assemblage of flute music and soprano arias that contain obbligato flute parts is not what I was expecting. As the photograph of Juliette Hurel at the front of the booklet reveals, she plays a modern ebony flute, and the two oboists brought in for “Aus Liebe” from the Matthew Passion  play on cors anglais rather than oboi da caccia because this performance is at 440, and was recorded in the Abbaye aux Dames – perhaps in the outskirts of the festival last year? – in Saintes.

The performances are fine, although the singer is not one that I would choose for the three arias (from the Matthew Passion, the Easter Oratorio  and the Coffee Cantata) with her full voice and post-baroque style. The choice of music has the feel of a programme put together by a group of friends for a particular concert, and I am not quite sure why Alpha chose to publish it. Read what it says on the tin carefully before you think of buying it.

David Stancliffe

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Viola! d’amore, da braccio, da spalla

Anne Schumann viola d’amore, viola da braccio, Klaus Voigt viola da spalla, Sebastian Knebel harpsichord
66:03
Cornetto COR10047

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]lways the bridesmaid, never the bride – only rarely does the viola emerge from the orchestra to take centre stage in the 18th century. This CD tries to rectify that situation by presenting obscure repertoire (even by my standards!) and performing it in remarkable spaces on an array of precious instruments. Anne Schumann opens the disc with two lengthy anonymous suites of dances and arias with a mixture of French and Italian titles for viola d’amore on an original Bohemian instrument, then switches to a copy of a Wenger from 1718. She then switches to the most enormous viola I think I have ever seen; made by the Amati brothers, it is thought that this very instrument may have come to Dresden as part of an order made by Schütz on one of his Venetian trips for a consort of instruments from Cremona. As Anne Schumann points out, the instrument surely was not designed for virtuoso display (it is better suited to playing the tenor parts in string band music), yet she makes a gallant effort to overcome the technical problems set by the chosen repertoire (including a rather taxing test piece for violists wishing to join the royal band in Lisbon!) The bass line (and in the Trio by Johann Daniel Grimm the added obbligato voice!) is provided by Klaus Voigt on the increasingly popular viola da spalla; the notes draw attention to the fact that it is shorter in length than the Amati viola, yet what deep tones it produces – occasionally it buzzed a little like the growl in my childhood teddy, but that rather endeared it to me. Sebastian Knebel accompanies nicely on a Gräbner harpsichord; his instruments were known from Hasse’s time to Mozart’s – in fact, he directed the opening night of Don Giovanni from one. The viola and the harpsichord belong to the Museum of Decorative Arts section of the Dresden State Art Collection, so it is a real privilege to have the opportunity to hear them played.

Brian Clark

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Orpheus Anglorum

Lute music by John Johnson and Anthony Holborne
Yavor Genov lute
72:36
Brilliant Classics 95551

[dropcap]J[/dropcap]ohn Johnson (c. 1545-1594) was lutenist to Queen Elizabeth I, (a post coveted but never gained by John Dowland,) and he composed some very fine music, which was still being played long after his death. The first track of the CD is Johnson’s Flatt Pavan, and judging by the numerous surviving sources, it was one of Johnson’s most popular pieces. Yavor Genov has chosen the version from the Euing lute book. Where possible, it is important to stick to one source rather than conflate sources to create something which never existed, yet one must distinguish between acceptable variants and unacceptable errors. Genov reproduces what is clearly an error in bar 6 of the manuscript – a nominal C major chord (not very Flatt) instead of C minor. He starts the piece slowly with minim = 38, but reaches minim = 42 by the end of the first section. There is no copy of the Flatt Galliard  in the Euing manuscript, so Genov uses the version in Dd.2.11. He opts for a slow speed at minim = 42, which really should be a bit quicker as a contrast to the Pavan.

For Johnson’s Delight Pavan and Galliard  Genov turns to the Board lute book, c. 1620. A feature of this late source is the extensive use of ornaments, yet Genov misses most of them out. For example, the first section has 24 ornaments of which Genov plays two. Unlike other sources, the Board manuscript has two six-note chords in bars 2 and 4 of the third section. They are made special, because they have to be spread, since a player does not have six fingers on his right hand. Genov reduces them both to four-note chords, which are not spread, and not special. Most lute music of this period has final bars which involve a broken chord of some kind to sustain the sound. Genov is understandably keen to get quieter through the bar to give the music shape, but he often overdoes it, so that the last note of the bar is scarcely audible. At its most extreme the last note of the second section of the Delight Galliard  vanishes altogether both times through.

Johnson’s music has much variety; it has attractive melodies and exciting and sometimes unusual divisions. If we put academic considerations to one side, Genov plays the music quite well. Gathering of Peascods  from the Board lute book may be short of ornaments, but Genov instils brightness and jollity. He gives a nicely paced performance of Johnson’s variations on Carman’s Whistle, enlivened with some swift semiquaver divisions, and he produces an upbeat interpretation of Johnson’s Passing measures Pavan, with its quirky broken chords over repeated minim bass notes.

The second half of the CD is devoted to music by Johnson’s contemporary, Anthony Holborne (c. 1545-1602), beginning with the Pavan  from 17v of Lbl Add 31392. Genov sustains it well, albeit with rather a lot of rolled chords. However, there seems to be something wrong with the recording halfway through bar 6, where it suddenly skips straight to bar 7 omitting half a bar. Halfway through bar 22, something is not quite right either, which sounds more like badly patched takes rather than bad playing – two extra notes are clumsily inserted, which match the divisions for the repeat in bar 30. The next track, The New Year’s Gift, also suffers from something similar – the first two sections are played without repeats, but the third section has a repeat starting halfway through the second section.

The last two tracks, Muy Linda  and As it fell on a holiday, are played at breakneck speed. Muy Linda  races on apace, so that there is no way of telling where one section ends and the next begins. The unfortunate exception is when Genov goes back for the repeat of the third section. The last bar has a final flourish involving four semiquavers, which Genov cannot possibly play at the speed he is going. He slows down, as if bringing the piece to an end, to be able to play them at half speed; he then goes back for the repeat a tempo, sounding as if he had forgotten he had a repeat still to play. To avoid all this, he could have re-written the final bar for the first time around, as he does with a similar final bar in As it fell on a holiday, and saved those semiquavers up for a rallentando only at the very end. Alternatively he could have played the piece slower.

Stewart McCoy

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J. S. Bach: Concerti à Cembali concertati vol. 3

Concertos for 2 harpsichords
Pierre Hantaï, Aapo Häkkinen, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra
62:42
Aeolus AE-10087
+ W. F. Bach: Concerto in F, Fk 10

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hese are among my favourite pieces of Bach; although I know two of them in their “other” versions (and, if I’m totally honest, prefer them that way…), I have enjoyed previous keyboard performances of them, and this addition to the catalogue is as persuasive as any that has gone before. The two instruments have enough difference of tone (copies by the same maker, Jürgen Ammer – to whose memory the recording is dedicated – of a Harraß from around 1710 and a Hildebrandt of c.1740) to allow their distinct voices to be heard in dialogue. The accompaniment is nicely provided by single strings and the recording has a nice resonance to it. The outstanding soloists particularly enjoy the slow movements, where they have increased freedom to employ rubato. The programme is completed a little-known concerto for two harpsichords without accompaniment by Bach’s oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, dating from the early 1730s and was clearly known by Vater Bach, since he wrote out the two keyboard parts; it is clearly in a different style, yet it was clearly written by someone thoroughly schooled in both keyboard technique and counterpoint. In fact, hearing it made me wonder why we hear so little of his music – a quick check revealed an extensive list of works, so there is clearly no shortage of material; but then, he was born into that lost generation between the Class of 1685 and Mozart/Haydn. Surely their time must come soon? And not just their orchestral music, either!

Brian Clark

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Biber: The Rosary Sonatas

Hélène Schmitt violin, François Guerrier claviorgan, Massimo Moscardo archlute/theorbo, Francisco Mañalich viola da gamba, Jan Krigovsky violone
145:38 (2 CDs in a card triptych)
Aeolus AE-10256

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]egular readers will know that I am an admirer of Hélène Schmitt’s violin playing. Here, using only two violins for the entire cycle of five joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries and the peerless final Passacaglia, she lives up to everything I expect of her; a ringing clear tone (where the torturous scordatura permits), deliberate bow strokes that manage to make the strings sing out without delivering that sharp rasp that can mark some less subtle performances of this repertoire, and above all a great sense of where the music is going. The temptation in recording this set is to over-egg the continuo contribution; why the ever-changing timbre of the violin should not be enough puzzles me. I find this set satisfying in this respect because, although the colour of the accompaniment does change, it does so within distinct sections. It still does not quite accord with the fact that, in all the years I have been editing 17th-century music, I have yet to come upon a set of performing material with four copies of the continuo part. Yet, I do understand performers’ concerns that two full CDs of this music may be harder listening if the sound palette is restricted. Personally, I could listen to Hélène Schmitt playing these wonderful pieces even without accompaniment for hours. As well as an excellent essay by Peter Wollny on the historical background to the survival of Biber’s masterpiece, the booklet also includes a personal reflection on playing it by Schmitt herself. It is well worth reading.

Brian Clark

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Invisible

Porpora, Monn, Haydn: Cello Concertos
Adriano Maria Fazio cello, Soloists of Cappella Neapolitana
64:51
Brilliant Classics 95570

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he “invisible is the tangible sign of our emotions,” writes the cellist inside the back cover of the booklet. I’m not quite sure what to make of that, and I’m equally at a loss as to what lies behind the recording of three concertos in such minimalist circumstances. There is no denying that Adriano Maria Fazio is a gifted cellist, or that the group formerly known as the “Cappella della Pietà de’ Turchini” has years of experience in HIP music-making of the highest order; so why strip away all but the bare essentials of the Haydn concerto (all three works are accompanied by only a string quartet with double bass and harpsichord)? While it may be true that dispensing with the horns and oboes is really just a simplification of the colour scheme, those were the sounds the composer chose (and surely Count Esterházy would have expected to hear from the orchestra he paid to maintain). I can’t find any reasonable explanation in the booklet and I leave it to readers to discover for themselves whether the approach works.

Brian Clark

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Recording

C. F. Abel: Symphonies op. 7

La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider
62:02
cpo 777 993-2

[dropcap]D[/dropcap]ifficult as it is to believe, it is nearly 25 years since I first heard Michael Schneider direct La Stagione in performances of symphonies by Abel. Then it was op. 10, while now we have the slightly earlier op. 7. This set’s “claim to fame” is the misattribution of the final work in the set to Mozart, since the young prodigy had made a copy during his 1764 London visit. Needless to say, the uplifting, exuberant playing of the previous release is a feature of the present performances. Re-ordered from the original print (3, 2, 1, 6, 4, 5), each has three movements and Schneider draws attention (rightly, I think) to the fact that the stand-out feature of each is the middle movement; none of Abel’s symphonies is in a minor key and, although the sonata form of the first and the dance character of the faster ones almost require passing references to minor keys, it is in the slow movements that he more deeply probes them. Graciously crafted inner voices and more than a hint of romanticism give these movements a forward-looking character that looks to Mozart (who, as we have heard, was acquainted with Abel’s music) and even brooding qualities of the Sturm und Drang  movement. But there is little time for the listener to be overwhelmed by such thoughts, for along comes a boisterous final movement to wake us from our daydreams and fill us with verve and excitement.

Brian Clark

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Recording

Tafelmusik am Dresdner Hof

Tobias Hunger tenor, Ensemble Fürsten-Musik
69:53
Querstand VKJK 1626

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]uge apologies to all concerned for the tardy review of this recording; it was prematurely transferred to my “definitely keep this CD” pile! Featuring music by two important composers who get precious little exposure, Adam Krieger (1634-66) and Johann Wilhelm Furchheim (c. 1645-82); the former is represented by four arias lasting from two to a little over four minutes, while we hear a trio sonata and the six ensemble sonatas from the latter’s Musicalische Taffel-Bedienung (literally “musical table service”). Both composers worked in senior positions within the Dresden Hofkapelle and the high level of virtuosity required of the violinists gives some indication of the standard of playing at Johann Georg II’s court. On Krieger’s premature death, efforts were made to complete a series of arias which he had published in groups of ten; none other than Furchheim composed the five-part ritornelli, and three of the four arias which the gifted tenor, Tobias Hunger, sings are from that posthumous set. The texts are given in German only; my favourite is the last one (and was the last of those published in 1657 while the composer was still alive): “Wer froh sein will, liebt Bier und Wein” (He who wants to be happy loves beer and wine”)! Ensemble Fürsten-Musik (two violins, two violas, cello, theorbo and keyboards) play neatly and with energy and excitement; there is real fire and a sense of harmless competition between the violinists in the trio sonatas (playing in the way that one might imagine Furchheim and his colleagues Walther and Westhoff doing). Great music, beautifully performed.

Brian Clark

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