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Wolf: Jesu, deine Passion will ich jetzt bedenken

Hanna Herfurtner, Marian Dijkhuizen, Georg Poplutz, Mauro Borgioni SATB, Kölner Akademie, directed by Michael Alexander Willens
81:23
cpo 777 999 2

[dropcap]A[/dropcap] native of Thuringia, the little-known Ernst Wilhelm Wolf (1735-1792) studied at the University of Jena, where he became director of the Collegium Musicum in 1756. After periods in Leipzig and Naumberg, he settled in Weimar, where he worked his way through the ranks in the service of the Duchess Anna Amalia, eventually in 1768 being appointed Kapellmeister, a position he would retain for the rest of his life despite Goethe’s dislike of him and an offer from Frederick the Great to succeed C. P. E. Bach at Potsdam. Wolf’s substantial output includes both secular and sacred works, among them no fewer than 35 symphonies and 20 Singspiele, the overriding influence on him being that of his mentor and lifelong friend, C. P. E. Bach.

However it is not C. P. E. Bach who will most strongly be brought to mind by Wolf’s Passion oratorio Jesu, deine Passion will ich jetzt bedenken, but Graun’s Der Tod Jesu  (1755), one of the most frequently performed religious works of the 18th century and one Wolf is said to have learned by heart. Jesu, deine Passion  is likely to be an early work, probably composed during Wolf’s time at Jena. It belongs to the new form of Passion setting that eschews a direct telling of the story as related in the Gospels in favour of a free, often picturesque poetic text that frequently owes much to Enlightenment sentiment. Such texts avoided the unfolding drama of Jesus’ Passion, in favour of a more contemplative, moralizing context placed between fragmentary episodes from it. Thus, for example, in Jesu, deine Passion, a gracious duet for two sopranos is a supplication to Jesus as he hangs on the Cross to be taught forgiveness rather than the reflection on his suffering one might have expected at this point.

Like the Graun that served as its inspiration, the work is a flexible succession of recitative (mostly accompagnato), arioso, aria, chorales and choruses. In addition to the duet there are just three arias, but all are lengthy numbers cast in full da capo  form. Those for soprano and tenor are reflective in character, but that for the bass, the words of Jesus, is a strongly rhetorical number in which the call ‘Hear it, Christians’ is supported by commanding horns on the sole occasion they come to the fore. Perhaps the most striking passage is the penultimate number, divided into 14 brief sections that include alternating the bass’s upbeat arioso ‘Seid getrost’ (Be consoled) as a refrain with tragic canonic interjections for soprano and tenor set to a chorale. While no forgotten masterpiece – there are moments when blandness seems close – Jesu, deine Passion  is overall an affecting and often touching contemplation on the Passion story.

If there are a few reservations about the work itself, there are only minor caveats occasioned by the performance under Michael Alexander Willens, the American director of the Kölner Akademie, who draws from both instrumental and vocal forces a very well-executed and sensitive premiere recording. His soloists, who also sing in the small chorus, are all excellent. Soprano Hanna Herfurtner opens her aria with a lovely messa de voce, though at times her vibrato can be intrusive. The excellent tenor Georg Poplitz has the lion’s share of solo work, projecting recitative with vivid purpose, while also giving his ‘sentimental’, flute-inflected aria a fine sense of line. The alto and bass have less to do, but are both good, and the bass aria referred to above, the most vocally demanding in the work, is notable for some of the best articulation I’ve heard from a bass in some while in the hands of Mauro Borgioni. Definitely well worth investigating.

Brian Robins

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Recording

The Lully Effect

Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Barthold Kuijken
62:47
Naxos 8.573867

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen one sees one of the Kuijken brothers at the helm of an orchestra, a kind of comfortable assurance sweeps over any major drifting worries about interpretation; he certainly knows his musical “onions”!

It seems this was a long-held wish to perform/record these chosen works by these three important composers, showing the transmission of the overture-suite (suite de danses) from the early operatic epicentre of Paris, through Amsterdam’s publishers, and out into the wider Germanic realm, and then back. One of the very first works to make such a musical journey was Lully’s opera, Cadmus and Hermione  of 1673, published in 1682 in Amsterdam as “Ouverture avec tous les airs…fait a Paris par Monsr Jean Baptiste Lully”. Two of the early (first wave of Lullistes) were P. H. Erlebach (1657-1714) and J. S. Kusser (1660-1727) the latter maybe even a pupil of the famous French master? Their fine Lully-influenced works featured on a similar concept CD, “Lully in Deutschland” on Amati, with L’Arpa Festante München under Michi Gaigg. On this disc we have an overture-suite by one of the Baroque’s dynamic masters, a gifted “fusionist” of styles, who was no sluggard in producing a profusion of overtures, alongside their following movements, some being direct extracts from operas, some much more idiomatic readings of tasteful and witty insights, plus topographic, nationalistic and mythological depictions; at times with elemental and fanciful themes – Telemann. The work chosen to represent him here, TWV55: e3, from ca. 1716, incorporates some of these elements mentioned. There are some delightfully eccentric qualities and dynamic twists that make it perfect for inclusion. Finally, we have a return to Paris, with Rameau’s fabulously orchestrated Dardanus  (1739/44) suite; truly captivating music that just seeps and sighs with delicious “finesse” and “tendresse” – every single serious Baroquophile will recall the very first encounter with this ravishing, fantastical music which casts a potent, lasting spell. I wouldn’t like to guess how many versions there are out there… Amusingly, peeping out from the CD tray, I espy the EUBO under Roy Goodman doing: Dardanus!

The playing here is refined, never pushed to excess, yet might have had a touch more vim and pepper in the Telemann, and boisterous fun with the Rameau. The overall effect is steady and elegant at the helm! The Lully itself, a few extracts from Armide, could have been longer… and possibly selected movements from elsewhere (the afore-mentioned Cadmus and Hermione?) This is a fine recap for all those not already in the know.

David Bellinger

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Marenzio: L’amoroso & Crudo stile

Rossoporpora, Walter Testolin dir
79:30
Arcana A 449

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]nce in a while – rather more rarely than some would have us believe – a truly exceptional recording comes along, a recording of such musical merit and artistic quality that it stops us in our tracks. This is such a CD. It represents a debut for the Italian vocal ensemble Rossoporpora, which has perhaps unwisely chosen to call itself by the same name as an Italian underwear firm (if you want to see what I mean, google it). For their programme they have turned to Luca Marenzio, arguably the greatest of all ‘pure’ madrigal composers.

Marenzio’s extensive output is dominated by his secular works, in particular no fewer than 18 books of madrigals for five or six voices, published in Venice between 1580 and 1599, the year of his death. A single book of four-part madrigals appeared in Rome in 1585. A dozen of these books are represented on the present CD, performed in roughly chronological order, excellent planning that allows us to follow Marenzio’s development as a composer. Such evolution is concerned more with emotional weight and substance than with significant stylistic change, for Marenzio showed little inclination to break the mould of the unaccompanied polyphonic madrigal in the manner Monteverdi would do so dramatically just a few years later. Neither, despite his contribution to the famous 1589 Florentine wedding intermedio, did Marenzio show any interest in the emergence of the revolutionary stile recitativo.

It is customary to divide Marenzio’s madrigal output into two distinctive phases. The first, characterised by an easy grace, mellifluous elegance and ‘sweetness’ was widely praised by his contemporaries both in Italy and further afield. It was what won him his reputation throughout Europe. The second, heralded by the composer himself as being composed ‘in a quite different manner from the past, tending […] towards – I shall say – a sorrowful gravity’, is the ‘crudo (cruel) stile’ of the present disc’s title. This was marked, starting with the seminal Madrigali a 4, 5 et 6 voci of 1588, by a new concentration on serious texts by the great Italian poets of the past, above all the peerless sonnets of Petrarch. This division serves as a handy reference, but is also simplistic, as the CD shows, for as well as beguiling examples of Marenzio’s earlier style such as ‘Come inanti de l’alba’, with its ravishing ethereal opening, the dissonant pain of pieces such as ‘Dolorosi martir’ (from the 5-part Madrigals, Book 1 of 1580) plumb depths of emotion as searing as do such great Petrarchan madrigals as ‘Solo e pensoso’ or ‘Crudele, acerba’.

As suggested at the outset the performances are outstanding, indeed they are near-exemplary on both technical and interpretative grounds. The seven voices of Rossoporpora, all excellent in their own right, blend beautifully in whatever combination they are employed, being superbly balanced in contrapuntal writing, while perfectly chorded in the homophonic passages with which the composer so skilfully employs contrast. The realisation of the texts, so acutely understood and set by Marenzio, is achieved with a complete understanding of both musical and literary syntax perhaps only achievable fully in this repertoire by singing in one’s native language. Neither are the performances frightened of employing tempo fluctuations to expressive means, which to my mind pays big dividends in a long text like ‘Cruda Amarilli’ (from Guarini’s Il pastor fido). But these are performances not to analyse, but rather to admire, to savour, to delight in, to share exquisite suffering in.

A couple of practical points. Two of the madrigals are performed in intabulations for two lutes, common practice at the time with popular pieces, while two others are given by solo voices and two lutes. Less successful is the addition of the two lutes to ‘Non vidi’, one of the 4vv madrigals, since they distract attention from the vocal polyphony. The loss of a star from ‘overall presentation’ is accounted for by booklet text of a size that would severely test the eyes of even an owl. But there can be no doubting that this is now unquestionably the finest available recording of a selection of Marenzio madrigals. It is, in a single word, magnificent.

Brian Robins

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Johannes de Lublin tablature (1540)

Keyboard Music from Renaissance Poland
Corina Marti Renaissance harpsichord
74:25
Brilliant Classics 95556

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his tablature is a significant source of music for the keyboard from the first half of the 16th century. According to the accompanying booklet, it contains 230 pieces of music, two theoretical treatises, and over 250 musical examples “with a didactic purpose”. The music, the majority of which remains anonymous, is mainly in the form of dances, preludes and intabulations of vocal works by European composers such as Josquin, Ribera, Senfl, Sermisy, Brumel and Walter, as featured on this disc, plus several others.

The succession of 39 short pieces in 74 minutes does not make for a riveting listen. The dances and preludes range from the charming to the uninteresting, and the intabulations of the vocal works can seem fussy or stilted compared with the originals, and no more than opportunities for the arranger and/or the performer simply to show off without adding anything.

Nevertheless, Corina Marti makes the best case that she can for every piece, and has evidently taken care over her interpretation of each one. It is a pleasure to listen to her modern “Renaissance” harpsichord after an anonymous Neapolitan model circa 1520, the beautiful sound of which compounds the excellence of her execution of these slight works. And it is also important that recordings such as these are made: beside their value as archival documents, they let us hear what keyboard repertory was being played at a certain time, in a certain place. They also alert us to the existence of these instrumental versions of certain vocal works, and the extent to which they were circulated – a matter of great interest when considering the reception of their composers’ works.

Richard Turbet

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Dowland: Lachrimae

Nigel North lute, Les Voix humaines consort of viols
59:03
ATMA Classique ACD2 2761

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his recent addition to the Lachrimae discography does not contain all the pieces in the original publication of 1604. Instead, the programme is built around the seven pavans titled “Lachrimae …” with alternative versions of the Lachrimae pieces themselves, works from other Dowland sources, some for lute solo, one for lute and bass viol. Besides the seven Lachrimae themselves the disc includes Captain [Digorie] Piper his galliard, The Earl of Essex galliard, M. Henry Noel his galliard, M. John Langtons pavan, M. George Whitehead his almand, and Sir John Souch his galliard from 1604, thereby omitting Semper Dowland semper dolens, M. Nicholas Gryffyth his galliard, M. Giles Hobies galliard, Sir Henry Umpton’s funeral, Mistress Nichols almand, M. Buctons galliard, M. Thomas Collier his galliard, and The King of Denmarks galliard. The single imported piece unrelated to the Lachrimae is Dowland’s adew for Master Oliver Cromwell (from The second book of songs or ayres, 1600), a pavan which is the work for lute and bass viol mentioned above. This Oliver Cromwell was the Lord Protector’s uncle.

So much for the contents, what of the performances? Nigel North needs no introduction, nor should Les Voix humaines, the Canadian viol consort. Both names guarantee excellence, so an assessment comes down to their interpretations of these familiar and frequently recorded works, with a nod to their choice of contents. (Obviously, anyone wanting a complete performance of the Lachrimae need not consider buying this record, albeit they should be interested to hear some or all of it. Recordings which include the entire contents of the 1604 print can be found on the Presto Classical website – www.prestoclassical.co.uk/classical/composers, then click on Dowland – where their listing is often accompanied by judicious quotes from informed reviews.) The versions of the Lachrimae pavans on this disc come across as reverential, occasionally a tad indulgent, with a tendency to lean into cadences, and to give the impression of the players standing back and admiring the sheer beauty of Dowland’s music and their execution of it. Quite rightly too. The sleevenotes are at best introductory, and thin on detail regarding the individual pieces and the performers’ attitudes to them. Between them, Les Voix humaines and Nigel North wring just about everything out of the pavans, but whereas individual parts come through strongly in the pavans, the balance is not always so good in the pieces played more briskly – or indeed, less slowly.

This is a most attractive selection of Dowland’s consort music. Each of the pavans sounds absolutely gorgeous. The performances of some of the other items, like the Cromwell pavan, can seem pensive, close to navel-gazing. Nevertheless, for interpretations of the seven Lachrimae pavans that milk their sublime contents for all that they are worth, these are ideal performances, and the judiciously selected fillers give the listener time to digest the full implications of one pavan before another one begins, a more recuperative option than presenting them in sequence. This disc did not yield all its qualities in one initial hearing, but sufficient seeds were sewn to make return visits increasingly pleasurable and rewarding.

Richard Turbet

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Vivaldi’s Recorder Concertos

Vincent Lauzer recorders, Arion Orchestre Baroque, dir. Alexander Weimann
65:12
ATMA ACD2 2760

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]ancy a glide down the Grand Canal with some wonderful Venetian sunshine glinting off the water in shimmering reflections, then this marvellous recording will not disappoint; even the familiar works are played with poise and fine articulation without any blistering speeds that boggle the mind and defy one’s ears, or vice versa! The impeccable balance between the soloist and superbly responsive orchestra is felt at every step, along with the unforced excellence in capturing Vivaldi’s splendid virtuosic contours for both alto and sopranino recorders. The concerto transposed in F (Track 9-11) RV312R is an arrangement of the G major Violin concerto RV312 by Jean Cassignol, and it works especially well, so too the wonderfully atmospheric “La Notte” on alto recorder, which loses nothing of that spectral feel. It is particularly pleasing to have these works gathered together for comparison and variation. RV441 (circa 1728) is a real tour de force  with unfurling ritornelli and incredibly challenging solo passages, which can go easily astray or be over-played! RV442 in F major written a little earlier, between 1724-1729, the later date reflecting the date of publication of the closely related RV434 (with Largo e cantabile  in G minor), the fifth work from the Op. 10 set of concerti, finds a more tender, subdued mood, again beautifully captured by the mellifluence of soloist Vincent Lauzer, and the closely supportive Arion orchestre baroque; the recorded sound is as radiant as the music… bathing in that bright Venetian sunshine!

David Bellinger

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Recording

Steffani: O barbaro Amore

Duetti da camera
66:07
Musica Omnia mo0711
(Booklet notes by Colin Timms)

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he duets of Agostino Steffani play an important role in the development of vocal chamber music, reflected both in their own intrinsic merit and the influence they had on succeeding composers, not least Handel. Justly, their importance has started to be reflected on CD, the most recent issue emanating from the Boston Early Music Festival reviewed by David Hansell on EMR earlier in the month (August 2018), while my review of a disc by the Spanish Forma Antiqua ensemble can be found in the listings for July 2016. Since it included a fairly comprehensive introduction to Steffani’s chamber duets interested readers are referred to that review. Now those recordings are joined by this newcomer, which also emanates from the USA.

It is probably a measure of the challenges these duets present to their performers when I conclude that none of these recordings is truly satisfactory. A major difficulty is the communication of texts that deal with many aspects of love, not infrequently in ironic terms. As Steffani scholar Colin Timms perceptively writes in his valuable notes for the new issue (he also wrote the essay for the Boston issue), the ‘vocal writing […] reflects the rhythm, sound and meaning of the words, arousing a variety of affective responses…’ The problem is nowhere on these performances does it do so beyond generalised emotional gestures; it is surely not without significance that not one of the eleven singers featured across the three CDs has Italian as their native language. It shows.

The new disc features no fewer than five singers, of whom Canadian soprano Andréanne Brisson Paquin and mezzo Céline Ricci, the best-known name, have the lions share. Both they and their male companions, countertenor José Lemos, Steven Soph (tenor) and Mischa Bouvier (baritone) turn in good honest performances that in the final analysis fall some way short of ideal. Italian diction, Ricci excepted, is poor, while Paquin’s bright soprano has considerable character but the voice is too ill-focussed at times for this repertoire, though she and Ricci turn in a satisfyingly affecting performance of the more straightforward and exquisitely wrought ‘Lontananza crudele’. But one needs listen only to the searing chromatic lines of the opening ‘Occhi, perché piangete’ in the rival Spanish version, itself not ideal, to be aware of what is missing here. The continuo support on the new disc is unexceptionable, if at times somewhat stolid. It remains only to add that anyone who wants to investigate Steffani’s chamber duets – and that should include anyone interested in Baroque vocal music – the present recording involves no duplications with the Boston CD. But what we really need are interpretations by some of the fine present crop of Italian early music singers.

Brian Robins

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Recording

Weiss & Hasse

Jadran Duncumb baroque lute
57:19
Audax Records ADX13713

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]or his first solo CD Jadran Duncumb has recorded music by Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783) and Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687-1750), composers who were good friends, and worked together as musicians in Dresden. Tracks 1-2 are from a manuscript (Leipzig, Musikbibliothek der Stadt, Becker III.11.46b) of four keyboard sonatas by Hasse intabulated for the lute (https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/198727/6/0/): “IV Suonate di Hasse accommodate per il Liuto fatte per La Real Delfina di Francia”. The dedicatee was Maria Josepha of Saxony, daughter of Frederick Augustus II, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. In 1747 she married the French Dauphin Louis Ferdinand and became mother to three kings of France: Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X. The original keyboard setting for some of the sonatas is given towards the end of the manuscript, but there is none for the fourth Sonata, the one recorded as a world premiere by Jadran Duncumb. However, the keyboard setting can be found on IMSLP (search for “Hasse, Johann Adolf” and “2 Sonate da camera per cembalo solo”). Duncomb sticks closely to the 18th-century intabulation for the Allegretto, adding his own tasteful decorations for repeated sections, which includes re-instating two answering phrases in the bass, which the intabulator had omitted to make the piece easier to play. Duncumb re-instates much that was left out of the Allegro, in particular pairs of thirds, turning it into a particularly difficult piece, which he plays with panache. Maria Josepha would have been impressed.

Tracks 10-12 are another keyboard sonata by Hasse in an arrangement for baroque lute. Both settings are in the same manuscript, Becker III.11.46c. The arranger intabulates the melody down an octave, which takes it as low as the 7th course on the lute. Many of the bass notes are intabulated down an octave too, resulting in a low tessitura, with the low, unstopped diapasons very much in evidence. Duncumb does well to maintain clarity at this end of the lute’s range, but he cannot prevent long open strings ringing on, muddying the water, particularly in fast passages. (A little Blu-Tack on the strings at the bridge might have helped.) Triplet semiquavers race effortlessly up and down the neck, and there are pleasing contrasts of loud and soft passages. His Allegro is spot on – fast, exciting, with lots of impetus to please a foot-tapping audience, yet far from mechanical, with subtle give and take between delicate well-shaped phrases, and somehow he manages to squeeze in some slick ornaments. Towards the end are three extraordinary bars of arpeggiated demisemiquavers, followed by a final flourish to top f”. As with all treble notes, the 18th-century arranger intabulates these last notes down an octave, but Duncumb will have none of it. He restores the original keyboard pitch, and shoots up to the 12th fret of his lute, where he waits with a dramatic pause before descending for the final cadence. It is a stunning performance. The Moderato is characterised by a succession of Scottish snaps, some of which he converts into triplets, together with a variety of extra notes, ornaments and fast little runs, to enhance the repeats. The Presto proceeds at a good pace, although at that speed many of the low, unstopped strings are a blur.

There are three items by Silvius Leopold Weiss. The first is the Sonata in D minor (SW35), noticeably different in texture from the Hasse pieces, because it was composed for the lute, not adapted from keyboard music. There is a welcome freshness and clarity of line, enhanced by Duncumb’s 13-course lute built by Tony Johnson, as Weiss exploits the full range of the instrument. This Sonata is one of Weiss’s mature works, with some extraordinary shifts of harmony in the Allemande, Adagio, followed by a lengthy Courante. it is a fine Sonata full of surprises and imaginative changes of direction. Duncumb gives the final Allegro the passion of Beethoven at his fieriest. The other Weiss pieces are the well-known Passacaglia in D major (SW 18/6) and the Prelude in C minor (SW 27/1). The latter is listed correctly in the liner notes, but incorrectly on the back cover.
.
Unfortunately there is a downside to this recording. I admire Duncumb’s skill, his impeccable technique, and his mature understanding of the music he plays. He really is a fine player, playing with sensitivity and vitality, yet his performance is marred by his loud, heavy breathing. Even before the first note sounds, he starts frantically gasping for air as if he were in danger of drowning, and the noise continues unabated up to the last note. When the music is over, the gasping stops, and he returns to normal. I don’t suppose he gasps like that when he plays football, so why do it playing the lute? It is an unwelcome distraction, and I sincerely hope he can do something to curtail it.

Stewart McCoy

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Festival-conference

Early Nights in Edinburgh

D James Ross at the Edinburgh International Festival 2018

A Pair of Period Pianos

To be able to host two of the four ‘big beasts’ of the early piano world within four days of one another is the prerogative of an international festival, and we were uniquely privileged to be able to compare recitals by Ronald Brautigam and Robert Levin at Edinburgh’s attractive Queen’s Hall. Brautigam was playing a beautiful Erard piano of 1837 from the collection of Edwin Beunk, an instrument which was a feast for the eyes much admired by the audience before the recital even started. It turned out to be an equal aural treat, when Brautigan opened his performance with Mendelssohn’s Rondo capriccioso. A full tone in the middle register, with an added edge in the bottom range and a delightfully light upper register allowed the instrument to reveal the innermost secrets of the works by Mendelssohn and Chopin which made up the programmne, while Brautigam’s stunning technique and deft pedalling provided further revelations. Chopin’s B flat minor Scherzo  op. 31 provided a brilliant introduction to the two Nocturnes  of opus 27, where I have never heard the distinctive undulating arpeggios performed with more clarity and eloquence. Mendelssohn’s impressive Variations sérieuses  op 54 brought the first half to a spectacularly virtuosic conclusion.

The Six Songs without Words  op 19 proved a wonderfully melodic opening to the second half, with the venerable Erard fairly singing out Mendelssohn’s lyrical melodies, while Chopin’s op 60 Barcarolle  and op 57 Berceuse  continued in a similarly gentle vein. Brautigam’s wonderfully compelling and flamboyantly executed performance concluded appropriately with Chopin’s showy Polonaise-fantaisie  op 61 – a compositional and performance tour de force. A further delightful Barcarolle  provided a suitably calming encore.

The Queen’s Hall also hosted an all-Mozart recital by Robert Levin, this time on a modern copy by Paul McNulty of an 1805 fortepiano by Anton Walter & Sohn. The contrast in sound between this instrument and the 1837 Erard was striking, as Robert Levin conjured wonderfully silvery tones from an instrument which turned out to have a wonderfully percussive bass register and a charmingly rapid decay. In his witty verbal introduction, Levin cited a keyboard tutor by CPE Bach in which he advocates lavish ornamentation of repeats and valuably provides examples, which prove to be radical departures from the originals. Levin pithily explained why he was playing from printed music – ‘I need to know what not to play in the repeats!’ With improvisation high on the agenda, Levin had compiled an ingenious programme juxtaposing three Mozart sonatas with the composer’s flamboyant Four Preludes K284a. The recital opened a short piece reconstructed by Levin from a liminal fragment notated in a manuscript of the composer’s Grabmusik. The cascades of scales and arpeggios in the Preludes seemed to prefigure the keyboard fireworks of Chopin, and surely provide us with a rare window on Mozart’s much-admired skills as an improviser. Levin’s own stunning powers of improvisation in the repeat sections of the Sonatas were nothing less than breathtaking, surely showing the way for future performances of these concert staples. Mozart’s own piano arrangement of the overture to Die Entführung aus dem Serail gave full rein to the clashing bass register, seeming almost to beg for one of the pianos of the time which featured Turkish percussion effects! If Levin’s laudable decision to group the pieces together and his slightly annoying mannerism of rushing to cadences led to a slightly breathless impression, this was a recital which was never less than exciting and frequently absolutely thrilling. An enthusiastic ovation elicited an unusual encore – Levin had transcribed the music from the famous portrait of the boy Mozart in red livery and looking hauntingly straight at the viewer. It turned out to be a youthful showpiece, surely designed to advertise the boy’s precocious compositional skills.

A Biblical Epic

If you will forgive the innuendo, Samson  uncut is surprisingly huge. This became apparent as we sat down to the Dunedin Consort’s performance of Handel’s oratorio, which was projected to last no less than four hours. Written around the same time as Messiah, Samson has never enjoyed the success it deserves, and with the exception of the last two numbers, the spectacular show-aria Let the Bright Seraphim  and the ensuing chorus Let their Celestial Consorts all unite  little of the music has entered the standard repertoire. As I sat through a series of very fine arias and choruses I found myself musing upon why this vintage Handel isn’t more mainstream. One problem is that all the drama happens off-stage – Samson is already blinded and defeated when we first encounter him, and the concluding destruction of the temple is reduced to ‘noises off’. The unrelentingly melancholy subject, only very latterly transformed to triumph, also makes for painful listening. I found myself tearing up as Samson considered his blindness, singing heartrending words by blind Milton to moving music by Handel, already losing his sight, and who also would be blind within a few years. Paul Appleby’s account of the air Total Eclipse, as indeed his interpretation of the complex character of Samson, was immensely powerful, while his vocal technique in a long and demanding role was stunning. Sophie Bevan in the dramatically thankless role of Delila was simply superb as she purred, trilled and cooed her way through her seduction aria With plaintive notes, earning her the only individual ovation of the evening. Matthew Brook’s well-gauged Manoa, Samson’s father, was a powerful presence. Alice Coote, by contrast, seemed less comfortable in the role of Micah, composed by Handel for Mrs Cibber, although she did grow into the part as the piece advanced. Mhairi Lawson was an excellent stand-in second Philistine/Israelite Woman, and Hugo Hymas was vocally well cast as Israelite/Philistine Man. Of course, Louise Alder gets the best music in the show, Let the Bright Seraphim, a wonderfully sparkling show-stopper of an aria with obligato clarino trumpet, which is a gift to a soprano with the technique to enjoy it to the full. Wisely employing the Harry Christophers solution of segueing from the b-section of the aria straight into the concluding chorus ensured that the piece came to a terrific climax, and a deafening and extended ovation from the Usher Hall audience

As always with the Dunedin forces it seems, the orchestral playing was consistently superb under the detailed direction of John Butt, with wonderfully expressive string playing and fine contributions from bassoon, oboes, trumpets and a pair of wonderfully rumbustious horns, not always pinpoint accurate but infectiously energetic. Thomas Pitt and Stephen Farr provided unerringly supportive continuo playing, while the latter was also the organ soloist in the movements from Handel’s organ concertos that graced the intervals. This was a fascinating Dunedin experiment, copying Handel in filling intermissions with instrumental works, on this occasion on a copy by Goetz and Gwynn of an organ owned by Handel’s librettist Jennens, during which the audience was encouraged to walk around and chat. You will be pleased to hear that your reviewer selflessly eschewed a visit to the bar to move to the front to hear the organ more clearly! Perhaps the ultimate jewel in the crown of this superb performance was the singing of the Dunedin Consort chorus, twenty-four young singers who produced an impeccably accurate and wonderfully gleaming sound throughout. This was a lot of Handel to take in at one go, but it was very good Handel and wonderfully performed by Edinburgh’s local Baroque heroes, the Dunedin Consort.

A Beggar’s Opera for our times?

As the late great Nikolaus Harnoncourt said in a verbal introduction to a period performance of Haydn’s Surprise Symphony, ‘What would musicians have to do to surprise an audience to the same degree as an audience of the time was surprised by a loud chord?’. Leaving the question hanging, he started the piece, letting off a loud indoor firework at the relevant moment in the slow movement, smiling conspiratorially as the audience, aware of the recent terrorist bombings, screamed in shock. In many ways it is depressing how easily Gay and Rich’s social satire, The Beggar’s Opera  transfers to our own times. However the version performed in the King’s Theatre by the instrumentalists of Les Arts Florissants and the actors of Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord used a modernised edition by Ian Burton and Robert Carson in which much ‘f-ing and blinding’, street dancing, drugs deals, texting and social networking sought to place the piece in the same shocking relationship with a modern audience as the original work had enjoyed with the 18th-century public. And I think with a few reservations that it succeeded very well.

The stage was filled with a sheer cliff face of cardboard boxes at the foot of which slept a beggar, and through the action the boxes provided a very serviceable set of props and settings for the action. An onstage band of period instrumentalists sat at boxes with tablets propped up on them with their music, and provided beautifully energetic accounts of the ballad airs and dances. The singing actors of the cast coped generally very well with the musical aspects of the show, although just once or twice the geography of the set led to timing or tuning going a little adrift. Evoking a mixture of Eastenders  and TOWIE  (Google it…), Robert Burt as Peachum and Beverley Klein as his wife provided wonderfully sleazy central characters, always teetering on the edge of violence. Kate Batter’s vulnerable but equally sleazy Polly and Benjamin Purkiss’s dashingly macho Macheath were strongly characterised, while the host of whores, gangsters and corrupt officials that seethe around them were vividly brought to life by a gifted and versatile cast. The athletic street dancing of the behoodied gang was particularly effective.

To my mind, it was a mistake to cut the Beggar and his prologue, as the lack of framework left a problem at the end, not convincingly solved by a change of government and all the beggars becoming cabinet ministers – ironically not as preposterous a conclusion as Gay and Rich’s original cynically contrived ending. Indeed the wit and cynicism of the 18th-century original shone through this performance, which remained almost entirely true to the narrative and many of the resonances of the text, while retaining the original song texts with just a few minor tweaks. As promised in the promotion, the musical dimension did have a fine improvisatory quality, in which the two Baroque violins, viola, cello and double bass joined by a recorder, an oboe, an archlute and percussion all directed from the harpsichord by Florian Carré sounded wonderfully spontaneous and energetic. If the band occasionally came across as a little underpowered against the ‘mic’d up’ voices in the theatre acoustic, the playing was always wonderfully expressive and imaginative, with very effective elaborations and ornamentation.

This riotous outing at the end of my Festival visit seemed a million miles away from the world of the elegant period piano recitals with which I have begun, but this has got to be the chief joy of an international festival, which can offer such variety even within the realm of early music. And bear in mind that while I was attending events in the ‘official’ Festival, on the Fringe elsewhere in town the Edinburgh Renaissance Band were wowing the crowds with innovative early programmes, and Cappella Nova were filling Greyfriars Kirk with the distinctive tones of Robert Carver!

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Venice 1629

The Gonzaga Band
Resonus RES 10218
68:27
Music by Carrone, Castello, Donati, Grandi, Biagio Marini, Monteverdi, Pesenti, Rè, Schütz & Tarditi

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a splendid CD exploring the annus mirabilis*nbsp; of 1629 in Venice, when Schütz made a second visit when his Symphoniae Sacrae I  were published there. But his was not the only publication in Venice that year, and this programme of music published there in 1629 was prepared by Jamie Savan and is performed by the talented musicians of the Gonzaga Band under his direction.

There are three reasons why it is so good: chiefly because of the exquisite singing of Faye Newton, the soprano, whose resonant yet crystal clear voice is just right for projecting the words as well as balancing the instruments – both cornetto and violin – perfectly; partly because the pieces chosen are all for treble instruments (cornetti and violins) and soprano with organ or harpsichord, and that brings an immediate clarity to the textures; and partly because the performances have an energy and vitality that frequently escapes the serious and worthy attempts at perfection which so often involve many takes and much editorial snipping and piecing. This CD, recorded in the generous acoustics of the chapel in Oscott, feels spontaneous, musical and is a pleasure to listen to from beginning to end.

There is one piece by Monteverdi, the towering genius of the period, but most are by his contemporaries: Schütz, Marini, Grandi, Pesenti and Castello, and then a number of less familiar names – Tarditi, Carrone, Donati and Rè. Motets for a single voice are mingled with canzonas and sonatas for several instruments, and some motets have rich instrumental textures weaving around the vocal line. These are a particular delight.

Schütz’s later settings reflect the changed world he found since his earlier visit. The large-scale polychoral splendours of Giovanni Gabrieli that he had imitated then in his Psalmen Davids  were no longer fashionable. It was the smaller scaled chamber works like the motets of Alessandro Grandi, scored for a single voice and a couple of treble instruments, that were the model he took back to the court at a Dresden in the middle of the Thirty Years’ War. More typically Italian are the sonatas by the virtuoso wind player Dario Castello – his Sonata decima settima, in ecco  (the final track) is an exquisite tour de force.

The notes by Jamie Savan set the context of 1629 and are full of historical interest, and the Resonus website has an even fuller version with footnotes and references. The instruments and their makers are listed, and there is a substantial section on how the digital Hauptwerk organ, using pipework sampled from the organ in St Mario d’Alieto in Izola on the Adriatic coast of Slovenia, was set up. The original sources of the music are given as well as the editors of the pieces chosen. The Latin texts and their English translations are in the centre of the liner notes: this detailed information is a model of good practice.

But this CD would be a treat even if the whole apparatus that surrounds the recording has been less satisfactory: it is top of the range in every respect.

David Stancliffe

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