Tag: Harpsichord music

Steven Devine harpsichord
77:17
resonus RES10100

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Steven Devine continues his splendid performances of Krebs’ keyboard works with this volume which comprises the substantial Overture in the French style (Krebs-WV 820), the Partita in B flat major (Krebs-WV 823) and the Sonata in A minor (Krebs-WV 838) – in all over 77 minutes of expert and beguiling playing.

Devine’s chosen instrument for this recording is a double-manual harpsichord by Colin Booth (2000) after a single manual by Johann Christof Fleischer (Hamburg 1710) at a=415Hz and tuned to Werkmeister III. The singing quality of this instrument is perfectly suited to the music – by turn lyrical, adventurous and complex, and for which Devine is a persuasive champion.

Bach’s favourite pupil, Krebs spans the shift from the essentially florid style of the toccatas and contrapuntal writing of the late 17th century to the gallant and appealing tunefulness of the 18th century. The Preludio and Fuga (tracks 10 & 11) in the B flat Partita give a good idea of the starting point of Krebs’ style, with the bold chromatic modulations, but for his more ‘modern’ leanings listen to Devine’s stylishly elegant Corranta (13). However, it is the genuinely post-Bachian music that is the most interesting to me. The inclusion of the A minor sonata gives us a foretaste of where music was heading with a modern, “Sturm und Drang” opening movement followed by a very grazioso middle movement and a finale full of classical gestures.

As you would expect, the playing is incredibly neat and stylish and blessedly free from those eccentricities which make repeated listening to some player’s recordings so irritating. Devine does us all a great service in producing this collected edition which couldn’t be bettered.

David Stancliffe

Simone Stella harpsichord
73:55
Brilliant Classics 95998

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Giovanni Picchi (1572-1643) is best known to harpsichordists for a single fine toccata which was copied into the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book in the early 1600s. He was organist at the church of the Frari in Venice from the mid-1590s until his death and later concurrently held the same post at the Scuola di S. Rocco. As well as a print of instrumental canzoni and a single motet, fourteen dance pieces for keyboard survive and are included on this recording. To fill the space, a representative sample of other Venetian keyboard music is also included, featuring toccatas, ricercars and canzonas by Annibale Padovano, Claudio Merulo, Andrea and Giovanni Gabieli and Vincenzo Bellavere. All this provides a rich illustration of what was being played in Venetian salons in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. For Picchi, it is a pity that we have only that one toccata which shows a singular intelligence at work, as well as providing the performer with opportunities to be creative. His dance music has its moments but inevitably relies a lot on repeated chord progressions and figuration. Stella does his best to bring some characterisation to the different dances, some of which are labelled ‘alla Polacha’, ‘alla Ongara’ and ‘Todescha’, while providing the necessary constant rhythmic pulse. He plays on a copy of a harpsichord by the Sicilian Carlo Grimaldi, made by Roberto Marioni. It suits the range of music recorded here very well, sounding almost virginal like, and allowing Stella to bring out the voices very clearly in the contrapuntal music. Perhaps inevitably, Giovanni Gabrieli’s three pieces at the end of the recording shine through most strongly – all three are classics (the Fuga IX tono, Ricercare del VII/VIII tono and the keyboard arrangement by Girolamo Diruta of the canzona La spiritata). Stella has recorded and engineered the CD himself with excellent results, apart from leaving rather long gaps between the tracks. There are some endearing Italianisms in the English liner notes, but they are informative, and the overall project is very much to be welcomed.

Noel O’Regan

Die Wohlklingende Fingersprache
Collin Booth harpsichord
69:47
Soundboard Records SBCD220

Colin Booth’s recordings are always worth looking out for and his latest is no exception, following on from his fine recording of Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues. His careful preparatory research is shown by his extremely informative liner notes covering Mattheson’s relations with his close contemporaries, Bach and Handel, as well as providing a running commentary on the Wohlklingende Fingersprache recorded here. This 1735 publication, dedicated to Handel, contained twelve fugues, as well as a number of shorter movements in the manner of galanterien. The fugues come in a carefully constructed key order, moving by fifths from G to E flat and back again. Some are quite extended, with two double fugues and one triple; this last is the longest at just over nine minutes here. As Booth points out, Mattheson wears his undoubted learning lightly, not being afraid to break away from strict writing now and again, while using singable subjects and a variety of musical styles. The result is an attractive programme, with the periodic insertion of the galanterien providing further contrast. Booth plays them straight, allowing the music to speak for itself. He uses the same instrument as he did for the Bach, his own enlarged copy of a 1661 French double, made by Nicholas Cellini. Its brass stringing and clear voicing allow all the contrapuntal parts to come through clearly, helped by the close recording which gives the instrument real presence. It is well worth listening to.

Noel O’Regan

Gilbert Rowland
116:56 (2 CDs in a single jewel box)
athene ath 23209

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Gilbert Rowland follows up his first volume of Froberger Suites with a further twelve, again taken from a mixture of sources, and played in no particular order. Sources include the autograph manuscripts of 1649 and 1656 as well as a variety of other manuscripts; they include suites which, though anonymous in the sources, have been ascribed to the composer on stylistic grounds. These are pointed out in the substantial liner notes and their presence allows the listener to explore for themselves the validity of the ascription. They certainly contain some of the more recognisable features of Froberger’s style. The composer’s patron, the dowager Duchess Sibylla of Württemberg, wrote that the true interpretation of Froberger’s notes could only be discovered from the composer himself. Rowland has clearly thought deeply about his interpretations, particularly in the allemandes, which tend to have Froberger’s most profound thoughts and where Rowland is particularly sensitive. He uses inventive ornamentation on repeats in these and other movements, giving them an improvisatory feel – almost amounting to a recomposition at times – but always convincingly so. The courantes are fluent, with lots of French swing, though perhaps a bit stately. Sarabandes, on the other hand, are played quietly and meditatively, while Gigues are generally loud and brash. Rowland uses the same double-manual harpsichord, after a Goermans 1750 instrument, by Andrew Wooderson as he did for Volume 1. While not the most obvious choice of instrument for the music, it does allow a variety of timbres and is cleanly recorded. If I have a criticism, it is that the registration becomes a bit formulaic over the twelve sonatas: it might have been good to have played around with our expectations now and then, being more playful in a Courante or Gigue, perhaps, or making a Sarabande more loud and solemn. Rowland probably feels that he is laying down a definitive version, and there is nothing wrong with that. He is certainly a persuasive advocate for Froberger’s particular blend of styles and influences and well worth listening to.

Noel O’Regan

Julian perkins, Timothy Roberts
76:34
Toccata Classics TOCC 0375

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The name of John Worgan (1724-1790) was new to me, not having heard Timothy Roberts’ earlier recording of his complete organ music (Toccata Classics TOCC 0332). A member of an extended family of musicians, he was organist at a number of minor London churches, as well as at Vauxhall Gardens; in both capacities he was particularly famed for his improvisations. Both Domenico Scarlatti and Thomas Roseingrave were early influences on his compositional style. Little of his music survives and what did appear in print was mostly geared to educational purposes and doesn’t necessarily give us a sense of what, or how, he actually played, presenting a challenge to the modern performer. Timothy Roberts elects to play it pretty straight in Worgan’s thirteen short exercises in paired keys for young players, delivering them largely as published in 1780, on a Dulcken copy by Klaus Ahrend. Julian Perkins takes a more adventurous approach in the six sonatas from 1769. These post-Scarlatti works show a considerable variety of forms and styles, in either two or three movements (the sixth is a virtuosic Sarabande with Variations) and allow Perkins to showcase his own virtuosity and sense of whimsy. 

They also allow him to exploit the dozen or so different timbres available on the newly restored double-manual harpsichord of 1772 by Jacobus Kirckman (or his workshop), now in Dumfries House. This instrument is particularly well suited to Worgan’s music; it is beautifully recorded, and it is a pleasure to have the chance to hear it. The same instrument is used for the final item here, Worgan’s New Concerto for the Harpsichord of 1785. No string parts survive, and the work is a bit of a curiosity, in an eclectic mix of styles, but Perkins manages to bring it off with some panache. Roberts’ highly informative sleeve notes conclude by saying that Worgan’s music ‘needs no deep musicological understanding to be enjoyed’. It represents a public, rather than a profound, expression but it is good for the spirits and certainly well worth a hearing. Both players have done the composer proud in this welcome recording.

Noel O’Regan

Richard: Professeur du Roy Soleil
Fabien Armengaud harpsichord
70:00
L’Encelade ECL 190

The Bauyn manuscript is most famous as a major source of keyboard music by Chambonnières and Louis Couperin, but it has a third layer in which can be found the music of Richard, harpsichord teacher to none other than Louis XIV. There are three suites by him in the programme, surrounded by the music of his contemporaries, both illustrious (d’Anglebert, etc.) and shadowy (Jacques Hardel, etc.). The suggestion is that these pieces may have been part of Richard’s teaching repertoire, though the point is not forced.

The instrument (modern, but ‘in the spirit of French instruments of the last decades of the 17^th century’) is quite brightly voiced and closely recorded so you may find a lower than usual volume setting is desirable, especially if listening through headphones. It is very well-tuned, both in terms of the temperament chosen and the accuracy of the octaves, and I didn’t mind the occasional mechanical noise – usually the shove coupler being (de)activated – though there are a few moments when the dampers could have done a better job at the end of a piece. Its resources (three registers on two manuals) are deployed sensibly.

This is very committed playing, with sprightly ornamentation, determined (in a good way) to make the best possible case for this little-known music though an extra layer of enjoyment can be detected in the luxuriant textures of the Louis Couperin Passacaille that closes the programme.

The supporting essay (in French and English) is informal in style but manages to stay on the right side of ‘gushy’ and tells us what we need to know. This is a valuable issue, not just in itself but for the wider context that it provides for the keyboard masterpieces of the period and the insight into the Sun King’s skills and taste.

David Hansell