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Gloriosus Franciscus

La music per San Francesco dal XIII al XVI secolo
Anonima Frottolisti
73:48
Tactus TC 250001

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his selection of sacred music devoted to St Francis includes some real musical gems, perhaps most strikingly the items from the 13th-century Reims Psalter which include a dramatic Kyrie and other liturgical items. The later material from the 15th and 16th centuries receives varied performances on a galaxy of instruments and voices. By doubling lots of different instruments, the ensemble of just 13 players and singers manages a dazzling variety of timbres and textures, including the unexpected sounds of for example the Renaissance psaltery. Meanwhile, the voices are cappella chanters, solo singers and narrators. This versatility adds enormous variety to a programme already diverse in its sources and material. I have just one small gripe – inexplicably and as happens so often the spoken voice inhabits its own boomy world of artificial acoustic. Why not just record it in the same natural acoustic as the singing voices? Anyway, this CD provides a varied and consistently interesting cross-section of Franciscan music from three centuries in performances which are arresting and impressive.

D. James Ross

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1717: Memories of a Journey to Italy

Scaramuccia (Javier Lupiáñez violin, Inés Salina violoncello, Patrícia Vintém harpsichord)
62:19
Snakewood Editions SCD201801
Music by Albinoni, Fanfani, Montanari, Pisendel, Giuseppe Valentini & Vivaldi

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he title of this excellent project refers to a study tour undertaken by Johann Georg Pisendel – at the expense of the Saxon court – which saw him rub shoulders with all of the leading Italian violinists of his day. As well as pieces written especially for him, there are sonatas written in collaboration or dedicated by one of them to another, and a couple of world premiere recordings. Albinoni’s B flat major sonata is far more virtuosic than most of the music you may know by him (probably inspired by the German’s virtuosity). The sonata in E minor by Montanari and the Vivaldi/Pisendel piece are both augmented by sets of variations (legitimately enough, since these are frequently a feature of the Red Priest’s works) by the violinist and harpsichordist of the group. Clearly, this is demanding music – Lupiáñez combines a fine bowing arm with some nifty fingerwork, seemingly undaunted by the technical challenges, while his continuo partners provide stylishly supportive accompaniment. It is a sobering thought that these six extremely fine works represent only the tip of the tip of the iceberg that is Pisendel’s library of works gathered from his Italian contacts – that the library in Dresden has made them all available online is encouraging groups like Scaramuccia (who have even established their own recording company to produce this CD!) to explore the vast riches which it contains. Given the high standards set here, I hope it will not be too long before we hear more from them!

Brian Clark

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German Cantatas with solo violin

Nahuel Di Pierro, Johannes Pramsohler, Andrea Hill, Jorge Navarro Colorado, Christopher Purves, Ensemble Diderot
77:40
Audax ADX 13715

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his programme of cantatas in Latin and German featuring parts for obbligato virtuoso violin opens and closes with the music of Heinrich Biber and visits the output of Johann Christoph Bach (first cousin of J. S. Bach), Nicholas Bruhns, Daniel Eberlin and Johann Pachelbel in the course of a varied and intriguing selection of works. Although I am sure I will have heard cantatas with obbligato violin parts before, I was unaware that there is a mini-genre in German music. The opening Biber piece is an interesting case in point as the showy violin part, possibly written by Biber for himself to play, seems to force the voice into an almost subservient role, reduced in its virtuosity by comparison with, for example, the showy vocal solos in Biber’s settings of the Mass. In the music by Johann Christoph Bach, the voice and violin share the limelight to a much greater extent, and it is always good to hear some fine original music by Pachelbel as a tonic to the ubiquitous Canon, where once again the solo violin and the voice take it in turns to shine. Andrea Hill, who sings the soprano part in the Pachelbel as well as the contralto part in Bach’s Ach dass ich Wassers genug hätte, sounds a little uncomfortable in the upper end of the soprano range, or perhaps she is just slightly wrong-footed by Pachelbel’s quirky vocal lines. This attractive programme, shining a spotlight on an unexpected genre of music, culminates in an impressive duet cantata for two basses and obbligato violin, which like most of the rest of the fine repertoire performed here would rarely have seen the light of day.

D. James Ross

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Lulier: Cantate e sonate

Francesca Boncompagni, Accademia Ottoboni, Marco Ceccato
54:16
Alpha Classics 406

5455

[dropcap]G[/dropcap]iovanni Lorenzo Lulier flourished in the burgeoning music scene of late 17th-century Rome, moved in the privileged musical circle surrounding Cardinal Ottoboni, and undoubtedly rubbed shoulders with the likes of Corelli and Sir John Clerk of Penicuik. His secular cantatas and sonatas would be pretty unexceptional early Baroque fare, except for the unusual prominence given to the cello, for which he writes with genuine vision and striking originality. In the Sonata in D major for violin, cello and basso continuo, for example, the cello very much duets on equal terms with the violin, while in the cantatas it steps forward from its continuo role to interact dynamically with the voice. In the Accademia Ottoboni, the cellist Marco Ceccato is also significantly the director of the ensemble, and his plangent cello tone is a constant presence in this programme. The playing of the instrumental ensemble is wonderfully idiomatic and delicately ornamented, while the vocal contribution of Francesca Boncompagni is technically impressive and beautifully dramatized. I found the recorded sound a little ‘toppy’ and brittle, but nothing to disturb the enjoyment of this interesting repertoire. This revelatory CD emphasizes the point that in Italy at the turn of the 17th century, there were dozens of musical circles similar to Cardinal Ottoboni’s each boasting several fine composers contributing to a truly vast body of fine instrumental and vocal music.

D. James Ross

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Mya Senhor Velida

Medieval Lais & Cantigas from France and Spain
Maladança, Francisco Luengo
61:52
Brilliant Classics 95689

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]inger Maria Giménez is accompanied by a consort of medieval instruments derived from sculptures including the organistrum, five-stringed vyola, vyolón, citole, Romanesque harp and skin-faced medieval lute (all beautifully illustrated in the programme booklet). Daringly the performers open with a 16-minute account of the Plainte de la Vierge au pied de la croix, and, as it turns out, the compelling singing and creative use of the instrumental accompaniment more than hold the attention. Xurxo Varela provides a wonderfully contrasting male voice for the Recordare for the Feast of Mary Mediatrix, but it is Maria Giménez who chiefly holds our attention for what turns out to be a riveting sequence of medieval Marian music. The narcotic effect of drones and Giménez’s engaging narrative style lead us through a couple of lengthy but compelling items, concluding with one of Alfonso X’s Cantigas de Santa Maria, Virgen Madre groriosa. This is a very atmospheric and informative CD, presenting music which can be challenging to the modern listener, but which they perform so persuasively that we are drawn in. Helpful would have been texts and translations so that we knew what was being sung, but otherwise this is an admirable package.

D. James Ross

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The Piper and the Fairy Queen

Camerata Kilkenny, David Power
68:29
RTE lyric CD 156

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n its own words this CD is ‘exploring the common heritage of traditional Irish tunes and Baroque dances’, a project for which the string ensemble is joined by uillean piper, David Power. It is widely known that Baroque composers frequently drew on the ‘traditional’ music they heard around them for their instrumental music. Telemann, in particular, makes very distinctive and daring allusions to the folk traditions of eastern Europe. The Camerata Kilkenny do play some Telemann, but (unfortunately, perhaps) they go with the subtitle of their CD and choose his rather conventional Suite La Musette and the witty Gulliver Suite for two violins, neither of which frankly have much of a common heritage with traditional music. The other major Baroque suite seems similarly ill-chosen as it is music from Purcell’s Fairy Queen – fine for a title but adding little to the declared theme. The playing of the ensemble in this Baroque repertoire is competent enough, but they don’t seem to me to transfer any of the flair of traditional playing to the Baroque repertoire. The participation of David Power on uillean pipes includes several pipe solos relating to the CD’s title and several more interesting collaborations between pipes and strings such as the account of Handel’s famous pifa from Messiah and Leclair’s Musette and Menuets from Scylla and Glaucus. In these, the tuning isn’t always entirely comfortable. I think if this CD had focussed on its declared aim of finding links between the Baroque and traditional heritages it would have been more engaging than I found the CD which was eventually produced.

D. James Ross

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An English Sett for Trumpet

Johathan Freeman-Attwood trumpet, Daniel-Ben Pienaar piano
58:04
Linn CKD 588

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ell, I should perhaps start by telling you what this is – it is a CD of arrangements for modern trumpet and piano of Elizabethan and Jacobean music by Timothy Jones. As we all know the English music of this period is tuneful and attractive rhythmically and melodically, but what is to be added to it by playing it on a trumpet and piano? The answer is nothing that I can discern. When I picked up the CD, I had hoped it was an exploration of the still underexplored world of the Renaissance trumpet, but whatever trumpeters did in the Renaissance, it certainly wasn’t this. I could see the role of one of these arrangements as a novelty encore at the end of a trumpet and piano recital, but the idea of sticking a whole hour of them together on a CD is (to my mind) a non-starter. The two players perform the music with style and elegance, but the value of the whole project is questionable. If you are reading EMR reviews, this probably isn’t for you – it certainly wasn’t for me. And this is a case where our star system falls down – a fine performance, recorded beautifully and well presented with comprehensive notes, but something of a baffling travesty.

D. James Ross

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Continuum Scarlatti:Ligeti

Justin Taylor harpsichord
69:20
Alpha Classics ALPHA 399

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f you like your Scarlatti harpsichord music spiced with Ligeti, then this is the CD you have been waiting for. Issued under the umbrella of ‘outhere music’ (presumably ‘out there’ rather than ‘out here’), these performances by the young French harpsichordist Justin Taylor aim to let the music of two vastly different periods engage in a musical dialogue. Taylor’s playing of the Scarlatti repertoire is stunningly good – I am less able to judge his playing of the Ligeti but this also seems deeply idiomatic and effective. Indeed, although I am not a natural fan of this type of recontextualization, I found myself drawn into this project in spite of myself. So in fact, for me, the Ligeti did comment on the Scarlatti and vice versa, although I do wonder whether such dialogues are better designed for concerts rather than CDs – how often will I want to hear this dialogue repeated? Anyway, as I have said, the Scarlatti performances stand very much on their own merits as well, so it would be entirely possible to ‘program out’ the Ligeti should you so wish, and there would still be a highly enjoyable programme to listen to. Grouping the individual Scarlatti movements into three-movement pseudo-sonatas, Taylor seems to find the ideal balance between momentum and rhythmical freedom, never seeming to linger just for the sake of it and always maintaining momentum. He plays a Ruckers harpsichord made in 1638 (and adapted in 1763 by Hemsch) which has an appropriately bright tone for the Scarlatti – and, for that matter, also seems to suit the Ligeti well.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Gamba Sonatas

Krzysztof Firlus viola da gamba, Anna Firlus harpsichord
53:48
DUX 1471
Sonatas by J. S. & C. P. E. Bach, Christian & Christian Wilhelm Podbielski

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]f the repertoire on this attractive CD EMR readers are likely to know the gamba sonatas by J. S. and C. P. E. Bach, but frankly are unlikely to know the two very pleasant sonatas by Christian Podbielski. It could be argued that this is largely because the latter was born and grew up in Königsberg (now the Russian enclave city of Kaliningrad) which in the 18th century was a hub of artistic activity but which subsequently found itself marginalized culturally and politically. Podbielski published a fairly extensive body of work, and the present sonatas are full of felicitous touches and original textures and melodic ideas. It was around this time in the late 18th century that the gamba was being replaced by the cello, and there are many aspects of these sonatas which suggest the cello rather than the gamba. Pleasantly galante in style rather than intensely Baroque, their full charm and elegance is brought out by the stylish playing of the Firluses, who – in addition to enjoying as husband and wife a special rapport with one another – also clearly have a close rapport with this repertoire. Their performances of the more familiar Bach sonatas show that they are able to cope well with the more musically demanding repertoire of the period just as well. They are to be congratulated for uncovering the music of Podbielski, fine music from a cultural context not yet extensively explored, and which is clearly worthy of attention.

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Music of the Warsaw Castle

Music of French masters
{oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna, Martyna Pastuszka
64:57
DUX 1382
Music by F. Campra, Corrette, Couperin, Lully & Marais

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] think on reflection the Warsaw Castle bit of the title denotes a series of recordings as no attempt is made to show that any of this music was performed in Warsaw Castle. The burgeoning world of HIP early music performance in Poland is fully in evidence in these energetic and engaging performances of music by Lully, Couperin, Marais, Corrette and Campra. The recording is live and there is a degree of background noise although nothing intrusive, mainly in fact sounds generated by the orchestra, but there is also a pleasing resonance to the acoustic of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra Chamber Hall which enhances the music, if just occasionally we lose a little detail. There is some delicate and appropriate ornamentation and some dramatic operatic sound effects such as a thunder sheet. There is familiar music here, such as Lully’s Suite from Armide and Marais’ Suite from Ariane et Bacchus but also music which was new to me such as Couperin’s Quartet Sonata, La Sultane, and Corrette’s D major Concerto, Le Phénix. The programme is a cleverly constructed concert programme with tutti Suites alternating with the quartet and the gamba concerto in which the considerable skills of Krzysztof Firlus are on dramatic display. What is delightful about all the performances is the freedom with the scores and a fizzing spontaneity which is infectious.

D. James Ross