Author: EMR2015

Categories
Recording

XXIV Fantasie per il Flauto

Modern floral

Tabea Debus recorder
79:51
TYXart TXA 18105
Telemann+modern composers

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]nly very rarely do we get the chance to encounter musicians in full artistic control and bestowed with a technical ability that makes you sit and listen in awe. With these clever juxtapositions of Telemann’s original Fantasias for Flute, alongside these specially commissioned pieces by London’s City Music Foundation for this highly gifted recorder player in the composer’s anniversary year 2017, we have in effect, 12 new “Fantasias on Fantasias”! The notes in German on Fumiko Miyachi’s Air, described as “keck” (bold/daring) and “nachdenklich” (pensive/thoughtful), exploring the musical transition from Presto to Largo (after TWV40:6) could easily be two extremely apt headings for most of the newly conceived, commissioned works. This is a top-draw exposition of recorder playing that straddles not only the centuries, but has the clarity of tone of a Frans Brüggen, and the technical wizardry of a Piers Adams! The first encounter with these newly spawned “Fantasias” is a bit of a slap in the face, or hot coffee in the lap whilst on a comfortable train ride through the Baroque modes and “gouts réunis”, yet one does soon acclimatize to these departures which often still have a toe-hold in the original music. This is musical deconstruction at the highest level, and Tabea Debus matches her admirable skills with these new pieces, completely recognizable from their sources, like emergent Promethean offspring given new life! The return to Telemann often feels somehow spruced-up and informed by these new departures which hold you in their thrall. This well-conceived project lifts this recording above the many others that simply re-produce the neat formality and known qualities of the original set of Fantasias, with perhaps occasional flourishes, and takes it to a very impressive and imaginative level! On nine different recorders, too!! We are both enriched and informed by such an encounter.

David Bellinger

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Sheet music

Antonio Salieri: Requiem With Two Related Motets

Pink chrysanthemum

Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era, 108
Edited by Jane Schatkin Hettrick
xxv, 4 + 248pp. $360
ISBN 978-0-89579-859-6

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is Jane Schatkin Hettrick’s fourth Salieri contribution to the RRMCE series, following a mass in D (vol. 39), one in D minor (vol. 65), and a Plenary Mass in C with Te Deum  (vol. 103). Scored for SATB (solo and chorus), two oboes, English horn, two bassoons, trumpets, trombones, timpani, strings and organ, Salieri intended it to be performed at his own funeral (he started writing it in 1804…), along with one of the two motets of the title (Audite vocem magnum dicentem, which in the event was not part of the service; the other work in the volume, probably Salieri’s last, is a smaller-scale motet with string accompaniment only, Spiritus meus attenuabitur). The inclusion of music for English horn seems to follow a Vienna Hofkapelle  tradition, since both Bonno and Eybler used it in their Requiem settings. As one would expect with the distillation of years of study of her subject, the editor presents a clear picture of the works’ histories and a very clean edition. Completists will probably disagree with me, but I don’t fully understand why the clarinet part (a contemporary alternative for the English horn) for the Requiem is printed separately, and even less so why it merits a whole page of critical notes to itself – could those seriously not have been integrated into the main commentary? That is such a minor quibble in the context of such a magnificent volume which will hopefully encourage more performances of Salieri’s neglected music. Perhaps the two smaller works could be made available as off-prints so choirs could have a taster?

Brian Clark

Categories
Uncategorized

Gamba Concertos

Modern floral

The Viola da Gamba in the Spotlight
Thomas Fritzsch gamba, Michael Schönheit pianoforte, Merseburger Hofmusik
66:42
Coviello Classics COV91710
Concertos and sonatas by Abel, J. C. Bach, Johann Carl Graf zu Hardeck, Milling & Raetzel

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is one of those booklets (Ger/Eng) that has to be read so that the full story of these works’ survival and restoration – a matter of luck, determination and musicological skill sensitively deployed – can be enjoyed and appreciated. I can be driven to distraction by mid-18th-century repeated note bass lines but here I rather enjoyed the gentle clucking of the 1805 Broadwood piano used on the continuo line, to say nothing of the melodic charms of the gamba above. It adds a particular frisson to know that the solo instrument belonged to the aristocrat in whose library some of these pieces are preserved. It also helps that it is extremely well played. The recording does a good job too, keeping the soloist in the foreground while still allowing us to hear the supporting (single) strings when they have something to say. I approached this with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation. I finished it smiling broadly.

David Hansell

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Categories
Recording

Couperin: Leçons de Ténèbres & motets

Floral design

Chantal Santon Jeffrey, Anne Magouët, Benoit Arnould SSB, Les Ombres, Margaux Blanchard, Sylvain Sartre
62:00
Mirare MIR 358

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]’m not unsympathetic to these singers’ desire to explore the drama and passion of Couperin’s remarkable Leçons, but as soloists they are too heavy in tone with too much vibrato for my taste. In duet they sing more gently but much of the delicate filigree ornamentation is still very laboured. I enjoyed the shorter, much less familiar items that complete the programme rather more (one first recording here) and was rather surprised that they rate scarcely a mention in the notes. And quite what a brief movement from an organ mass is doing in the middle of the programme I have no idea. I’m afraid that on several counts this is a case of ‘should have done better’, though the singing of bass Benoit Arnould is consistently of a high standard.

David Hansell

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Recording

Rameau: Complete Solo Keyboard Works

Floral design

Steven Devine harpsichord
219:39 (3 CDs in a card triptych)
resonus RES 10214

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he first two discs of this comprehensive survey of Rameau’s keyboard oeuvre were released in the anniversary year 2014 to great acclaim. Here they are joined by a volume of transcriptions which, unusually for ‘complete Rameau’ collections, includes the lengthy suite from Les Indes Galantes. These movements have not always been accepted by players as genuine keyboard music, but Devine certainly makes an eloquent case (with help from Robin Bigwood in the three-hand pieces). His general approach inclines towards the thoughtful and restrained which is a welcome contrast to those virtuosos who set out to demonstrate that they are exactly that. Certainly, it seemed very suitable that the final volume ends not with the quite extraordinary La Dauphine  but with Devine’s own transcription of the delicate Air pour Zéphire, played on the 4’ stop alone to mirror the piccolo of the original. There is a substantial introduction to the music (though in English only). However, the star that might have been withheld for this is re-instated as an acknowledgement of a rare outing for tempérament ordinaire!

David HansellBrian Clark

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Recording

Charpentier: Leçons de Ténèbres

Floral design

[Samuel] Boden, [Stéphane] Degout, Arcangelo, [Jonathan] Cohen
73:31
hyperion CDA68171

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]ine performances of fine music are on offer here. The disc’s title is justified in the sense that the three leçons do take up more than half the programme but the preceding works are far more than mere starters. The Litanies, especially, show M-AC at his very best, imaginatively deploying a lush six-part vocal ensemble topped out by two instrumental parts, all under-pinned by continuo, of course. The first and third Tenebrae  pieces are scored for baritone and small ensemble, the second for haute-contre and continuo, from which the gamba sometimes emerges as a melodic foil to the voice. Samuel Boden’s singing of this exquisite music is simply superb – just the right mix of passion and dignity. The booklet essay (Eng/Fre/Ger) tells us what we need to know but the sung Latin texts are translated into English only. This is a notable release.

David Hansell

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Recording

Wandering Shades – Les ombres errantes

Floral design

The Final Harpsichord Works of François Couperin
Katherine Roberts Perl harpsichord
78:47
Music & Arts CD-1284

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]ouperin’s last four ordres  are here played almost complete (selections only from no. 24) in a way that to me emphasises the melancholy tinge of this lovely music. Pacing is very deliberate, though not ponderous, the ornaments never sound crammed in and the phrases have time to breathe. The harpsichord (modern, after Dumont 1707) is well recorded and has an even tone with distinct yet blending registers. In this anniversary year especially it is a shame that the booklet (English only) is not a little stronger. The player’s note on performance is valuable but the Couperin biographical summary is more about reception history and we are told virtually nothing about the specific music recorded. Neither is there any attempt to even translate, let alone explain, the pieces’ titles. In these days of the download, I think that those who still purchase CDs deserve a bit more.

David Hansell

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Recording

Telemann: Complete trio sonatas with recorder and viol

Floral design

Da Camera (Emma Murphy recorders, Susanna Pell viols, Steven Devine harpsichord)
77:16
Chandos Chaconne CHAN 0817

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]emember LP boxed sets? One of my favourites was and is a collection of Telemann trio sonatas for violin/pardessus, recorder and continuo played by a starry ensemble consisting of Alice Harnoncourt, Kees Boeke, Wouter Möller and Bob van Asperen. Well, Emma Murphy (playing alto recorder and voice flute), Susanna Pell (treble and bass viols) and Steven Devine (harpsichord) are more than worthy neighbours for them on my Telemann shelf, with only a small overlap in the programmes. I do think that the bass line needs the greater definition that a bowed instrument would bring but I’m still going to splash the stars around as everything else is so good. GPT’s music is endlessly inventive and attractive and the players relish the opportunities he gives them. The varied sonorities (when did you last hear voice flute and bass viol in conversation?) are a bonus and the excellent playing is supported by a lively note (Eng/Fre/Ger) and full details of the music and instruments. Go on, treat yourselves.

David Hansell

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Recording

Telemann: Fantasias for Viola da Gamba

Floral design

Robert Smith
79:15
resonus RES10195

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he discovery of Telemann’s long-lost fantasias for viola da gamba is one of the great musicological events of recent times. But this music brings joy not just to scholars and players: it is also most attractive for those of us who ‘only’ listen. As always, Telemann writes with idiomatic flair for the instrument, making use of chords and changes of register to enrich what is, inevitably and for the most part, single-line music. And in Robert Smith he has an eloquent advocate – even in tone, sure in the judgment of pace and space, and technically adroit in music that is not without technical challenges, even if was written for the amateur market of the day. The recording venue (a small church) gives the sound just the right amount of bloom and the player’s note (in English only) neatly summarise both the music’s content and context. A release both welcome and exciting.

David Hansell

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Recording

Majesté

Floral design

De Lalande: Grands motets
[Emmanuelle De Negri soprano, Dagmar Šašková soprano, Sean Clayton haute-contre, Cyril Auvity tenor, Andre Morsch basse], Ensemble Aedes, Le Poème Harmonique, Vincent Dumestre
74:32
Alpha 968

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]ew composers of grands motets  did grand  with quite the instinct for brilliance of Michel-Richard de Lalande. Even in these relatively early works he displays a sure structural hand as solo récits, ensembles and grand choruses succeed each other in subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) praise to and of kings both divine and earthly. The performing forces are large, though not implausibly so, and the orchestral strings correctly distributed across a single violin line above three viola voices and the basses de violon. Splendid though the two shorter pieces are, they are inevitably over-shadowed by the powerhouse that is the Te Deum  – core repertoire at the Concert Spirituel as well as at court – in which the choral writing reminded me more than once of Handel in ceremonial mode. As usual I wish that the lady soloists could display a little more care over their use of vibrato but the gentlemen are splendid, especially in ensemble. I have in the past found this director a little free-and-easy in matters of performance practice in earlier music and here, too, this is a bit of an issue. I just don’t believe that Lalande ever deployed recorders at the pitch we hear at the opening of the Te Deum. They really don’t add further lustre to what is already a colourful sound: it’s just an annoying squeak to me. But as with pretty much any Lalande programme there is much here that both impresses and gives joy. The booklet offers Fre/Eng/Ger essays but the sung Latin texts are translated into Eng/Fre only.

David Hansell

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