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Recording

Scheidt: Cantiones Sacrae

Athesinus Consort Berlin, Klaus-Martin Bresgott
74:24
Carus 83.488
[+Schwemmer]

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here are eleven fabulous two-choir motets by Scheidt on this CD, which were published in 1620; seven are scored for equal SATB groupings, the remainder in what I think of as the Venetian standard, SSAT in one choir and ATBB in the other (the seventh voice in C4 clef but lower than the other two tenors). What I must confess to not expecting was the extraordinary quality of Scheidt’s music – if I’m honest, he’s always been overshadowed by Schütz (as I suspect he has for many people), and while I’m beating myself up in public, I have to admit to not being a great fan of his either… The handling of the four voices of each grouping, and the juxtaposition or combination of both is expertly done, with echoes and building dynamics (by stacking up the number of voices, not marking the pages with a pencil!) In this respect, too, the Athensius Consort Berlin is exemplary – no nonsense, just honest, clean singing, serving the music not making it fit anyone’s vision for it. If the composer’s own choirs were anything like as disciplined (and full of such easily balanced voices!), his sumptuous music must have resounded around the chapel in Halle. These are all premiere recordings, and there are another 15 such works in German and 12 in latin still to come. The music is also available from Carus Verlag in typically beautiful and practical editions. The other music on the CD (specially composed for the choir by Berlin composer, Frank Schwemmer) is beyond the scope of my review. Let’s just say that – although I didn’t dislike it to the extent of being forced to reach for the remote control – the following Scheidt came as a balm to my soul.

Brian Clark

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Si par fortune

Les Joueurs de Traverse
56:37
Son an ero 09
Music by Certon, Crécquillon, Gallus, Gombert, Hofhaimer, Le Jeune, Josquin, Lemlin, Lupi, de Manchicourt, Ortiz, Passereau, Senfl, de Sermisy, Stoltzer, Susato, Verdelot & Wolff

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ll too often people imagine that the transverse flute arrived on the scene fully formed towards the end of the 17th century in time to sweep away the recorder and poised ready to play the great flute music of the Baroque, but of course the flute’s history goes right back to the middle ages and far beyond. How lovely, then, to hear for a change Renaissance music played on a consort of appropriate flutes. Les Joueurs de Traverse range far and wide through much-loved Renaissance repertoire, and I found myself frequently singing along with a familiar chanson or madrigal. It is remarkable how different the sound of a flute consort is from a recorder consort, and the players exploit fully the enhanced dynamic range of the flute, which would lead it eventually to be preferred over the recorder. The consort has a fine sense of ensemble and achieves a lovely blended sound, while the unequal temperament produces some wonderfully pure chords. This is a beautiful package, visually and musically, and delightful to see the programme notes in French, English – and Breton.

D. James Ross

Visit the group’s website (seulement en français…) for more information: click here.

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Recording

Corpus Christi: Compline and Litany of the Most Blessed Sacrament for the Octave of Corpus Christi

Victoria Musicae, Josep R. Gil-Tarrega
63:48
Brilliant Classics 95263

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]rom the number of world premiere recordings on this CD, we are clearly being given a privileged insight into the relatively unfamiliar world of the early Baroque Maestros de Capilla of the Corpus Christi Royal College of Valencia. The music for Compline and the litany for the Octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi is composed by Maximo Rios, Antonio Ortells, Anceto Baylon, Jose Hinojosi, Marcos Perez and Joan Baptista Comes and linked together by plainchant. Given the present obscurity of the composers, the music is remarkably good, inventive and accomplished, while the performances by Victoria Musicae are also generally pleasing, with just occasional lapses in tuning. Dating from the second half of the 17th century, the music is performed by a choir, with five soloists, an organ, theorbo, violon and bajon. This is the best thing about low-cost labels such as Brilliant Classics – for very little outlay of money, you can achieve an unparalleled insight into an unsuspected body of music, which turns out to have its own unique virtues and charms. Fascinatingly, the music which to my ear it most closely resembled was the Spanish music of the New World, recently so in vogue.

D. James Ross

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Mandolino e Violino in Italia

Anna Torge mandolin, Mayumi Hirasaki violin, Il cantino
61:34
cpo 555 050-2
Music by Arrigoni, Capponi, Hasse & Vivaldi

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his delightful collection of concertos, sonatas and trios by Vivaldi and his contemporaries Carlo Arrigoni, Abbate Ranieri Capponi and Johann Adolf Hasse features the mandolin skills of Anna Torge. With superb musicianship, her simple little instrument brings this music wonderfully to life, ably supported by violinist Mayumi Hirasaki and the small instrumental ensemble, Il cantino. The most famous Vivaldi mandolin concerto is in C major, but the present performers offer a delightful B-flat major concerto as well as a delicate trio in G minor and a sunny C major trio. It is fascinating to hear the equivalent compositions by Vivaldi’s largely unknown contemporaries, which include an atmospheric trio by Arrigoni and a charming sonata for mandolin, cello and lute by Capponi. Johann Adolf Hasse’s concerto, which concludes the CD, introduces a further level of sophistication, with a wider expressive range than the Vivaldi concerti. There is a painting of Hasse’s wife, the singer Faustina Bordoni, one of Handel’s star sopranos in London, playing the mandolin, and Hasse may well have composed his handful of mandolin works for her to play. In any event, it seems likely that her expertise allowed her husband to compose with authority for the instrument. These performances bring out the subtle side of this lovely mandolin and violin repertoire, avoiding the brash approach often heard in other recordings of Vivaldi. A warning for those who buy their CDs based on the cover picture – notwithstanding the prominent appearance of a recorder, no recorders feature on this CD!

D. James Ross

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Gorzanis: La barca del mio amore

Napolitane, balli e fantasie
Pino de Vittorio, La Lyra – Bor Zuljan
56:48
Arcana A450

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he music of the blind Renaissance composer  Giacomo Gorzanis has evidently long been known in his native Italy due to availability in modern editions of his villanelle  and lute music, but this is the first period-instrument CD devoted exclusively to his work. The lute Recercars  and Fantasias  are delicate fare, whereas his songs have a rustic folky quality, enhanced by the rather naïve vocal style of Pino de Vittorio. Gorzanis was active in the north east of Italy, and to my ear his songs share features with the contemporary music of nearby Venice. I found that Pino de Vittorio’s rather breathy and couthie vocal production wore a bit thin after a while, and I wondered how a different approach would change the tone of some of the songs, but on the whole this was an entertaining CD of catchy music by a composer I had hitherto never heard of.

D. James RossBrian Clark

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Jenkins: Complete four-part consort music

Fretwork
83:02 (2 CDs in a single jewel case)
Signum Records SIGCD528

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]ritain’s premiere viol consort gives wonderfully spirited and expressive accounts of Jenkins’ 17 Fantasias and two Pavans for four viols in this comprehensive and thoroughly engaging double CD set. Sometimes complete recordings such as these need to be dipped in and out of, but such is the variety Jenkins builds into his Fantasias, almost as if he anticipated them receiving complete performances, that boredom is never a danger. Compared to the other English masters of the viol consort, it strikes me that Jenkins displays two diagnostic features: his unerring sense of melodic direction which carries his music through every harmonic complexity, and his unfailing musical imagination which evokes constantly stimulating phrases from even a quite limited number of voice parts. Fretwork’s incomparable familiarity with this repertoire makes them the perfect guide through Jenkins’ rich collection of works, and just as their interpretations never flag neither does our interest. About halfway through the second CD it struck me that these are in general pretty upbeat readings of works, which could conceivably be played much more slowly, but Fretwork’s attention to detail means that we miss nothing in these charming and idiomatic performances.

D. James Ross

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Machaut: Fortune’s child

The Orlando Consort
60:40
hyperion CDA68195

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his CD features a sequence of secular songs  by Machaut on the theme of fortune. Whether you perform your Machaut purely vocally, or – as many younger ensembles do – with a mixture of voices and instruments, the frightening complexity and striking originality of Machaut’s music shines through. However, having listened to the Orlando Consort regularly live and on CD, I have puzzled over what it is about their sound that I don’t like and struggle to put my finger on it. The sound is a little opaque, the intonation is not consistently true, perhaps due to vibrato, and the overall sound never seems to me entirely comfortable. I have spoken to people who share my opinion and to others who have no idea what I am talking about, and perhaps this is my problem. Anyway, the CD offers the opportunity to judge for yourself, with a wide and varied selection of Machaut’s finest virelais  and ballades, sung by various combinations of voices from solo, and duet to trio. On the whole, I preferred the solo virelais.

D. James Ross

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In Sorrow’s Footsteps

The Marian Consort, Rory McCleery
63:19
Delphian DCD34215
Music by Allegri, Palestrina, [Jackson & MacMillan]

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his CD mixes modern and Renaissance music, which shares a melancholy mood. At the centre stands the ubiquitous Allegri Miserere, a work presented in the now fairly thoroughly discredited early 20th-century version. The programme notes rather disingenuously side-step the controversy by asserting that any version of the Allegri is simply one improvisation chosen over another – mmm. The performance, with the semi-chorus hidden somewhere in the bowels of Merton College chapel, is pleasant enough, although as both choirs are singing one to a part, the contrast between the two sections is not as marked as usual. The rest of the ‘early’ music is by Palestrina : his Super flumina Babylonis, Stabat Mater  and Ave Maria. The Marian Consort’s singing is never less than polished and beautifully crafted, but the choice of ‘early’ repertoire is entirely conventional bordering on the bland, and is clearly aimed at the easy-listening end of the market. Think of the less familiar but deeply affecting Renaissance music the group could have sung to illustrate Sorrow’s Footsteps. James Macmillan’s setting of the Miserere  makes a nice foil for the Allegri, while the opening account of Gabriel Jackson’s declamatory Stabat Mater  was enough to make this Renaissance-attuned reviewer spill his coffee. A pity the rest of the CD wasn’t more startling. And how did no-one at Delphian notice the typo on the actual CD? – ‘Sorrow’s Footseps’ sounds like an alarming form of foot fungus…

D. James Ross

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H. Praetorius: Missa Tulerunt Dominum Meum

Siglo de Oro, Patrick Allies
59:27
Delphian DCD34208
+ Music by A. Gabrieli, Handl (Gallus), Hassler, Lassus

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]lthough not related to the more famous Michael Praetorius, Hieronymus Praetorius is part of a musical dynasty based in Hamburg, a city in which he seems to have spent his entire life. This is slightly surprising in that his music exhibits a number of external influences, not least that of Venetian polychoral music, but it a useful reminder that, while some Renaissance composers accrued influences by working and studying abroad, many others simply studied the latest manuscript or printed music and learned its secrets that way. This certainly seems to be the case with Praetorius’ magnificent Holy Week Mass Tulerunt Dominum meum, which displays a heady mixture of influences, including that of the Gabrielis. The rich warm tones of Siglo de Oro recorded in chapel of Merton College Oxford are ideal for this opulent repertoire, but it is clear that both choir and conductor, Patrick Allies, carry a torch for this overlooked masterpiece. Praetorius’ music receives the ultimate test here by being placed in a context of some of the finest Holy Week music of the period written by composers such as Lassus, Handl, Hassler and Andrea Gabrieli. While all of these composers undoubtedly helped Praetorius mould his musical style, what is perhaps more remarkable is the individuality his music demonstrates. Through this remarkable mass, the motet on which Praetorius based it and a luminescent setting of O vos omnes, Siglo de Oro have cast a whole new light on a composer hitherto largely known for a few stock Christmas pieces and little else.

D. James Ross

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Telemann: The Concerti-en-Suite

Tempesta di Mare
62:34
Chandos Chaconne CHAN 0821
TWV 43:g3, 51:F4, 54: F1

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n some regards, the accomplished baroque ensemble Tempesta di Mare are emulating the very musicians for whom these two extravagant concerti grossi  or concerti-en-suite in F were almost certainly intended, the Dresden court orchestra under J. G. Pisendel. Telemann not only knew this famously skilled concertmaster well, but also the eminent abilities of the musicians active in this well-honed orchestra.

This recording opens with one of my favourite Telemann concerti-en-suite, TWV 54:F1, which for many years was only to be heard without the pair of Bourees I/II found only in the Schwerin source on an early Berlin Classics CD; and to compound matters further, it was often confusingly catalogued simply as “Suite in F”! Thankfully, Tempesta di Mare take into account both sources of this really vivacious and almost mischievous piece; they spread their musical wings wide and fly; additionally, Richard Stone has astutely filled in the “bridging” trio in the da capo menuet, with an excellent reconstruction after extant horn parts in Schwerin. This is now the fourth recording of a fine work, truly welcome for all the reasons above, and the lively and polished performance. The following concerto di camera  for recorder and strings now has more than a dozen recordings, and feels like a concession to the ensemble’s co-director Gwyn Roberts, who nevertheless exhibits her agility in Telemann’s fluent and accommodating music; that said, two other concerti-en-suite, TWV 53:g1, 53:a1, or even the later 50:21, would perhaps have better fitted the “billing”, i.e. main focus of this CD. Finally, we come to an outstanding example of the genre, in scope, instrumentation, style, and forward-looking, almost symphonic textures. TWV 51:F4 was definitely conceived with virtuoso violinist Pisendel in mind, and the seasoned orchestra behind him. The use of the very same paper as for the composer’s St. John Passion of 1749 TWV 5:34 gives a rough date of composition. Again Tempesta di Mare capture the ebullient drive and wonderful contours of this grandiose piece, flattering both the talents of the orchestra, and with Polish royal connections through Dresden’s Elector of Saxony, King Augustus III of Poland! One begins to sense what a well-aimed and perfectly conceived exposition of music this is. It is worth noting that they eschew Telemann’s alternative  trumpet parts for the penultimate “Pollacca” movement, before the closing stately menuets; a seven-movement tour de force  which Tempesta di Mare tackle with typical flourish and flair.

David Bellinger

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