Author: EMR2015

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Recording

The Edward Lewis Viol of 1703

CD cover The Edward Lewis Viol of 1703

Henrik Persson
72:44
Barn Cottage Records BCR 028

This venerable bass viol by the London maker Edward Lewis, which has been through a number of manifestations since it was built, including a spell as a cello, has been restored in 2020 to its original form. The remarkable survival of an original label dates it to 1703, while its elegant decorations undoubtedly ensured the survival of the instrument itself. Violist Henrik Persson has selected a programme of music which could plausibly have been played on the viol, including a couple of the now familiar Telemann Fantasias, music by that flamoboyant violist/composer Tobias Hume and less familiar repertoire by Benjamin Hely, Thomas Brown and Richard Sumarte as well as anonymous music from the Williamsburg Musick Song Book, attesting to the fact that some of the early American colonists from England brought music and their beloved viols with them. While Henrik Persson plays with complete technical assurance and a wonderful musical expressiveness, the star of the show has to be the Lewis viol, which, in its restored state, has an absolutely beautiful, rich voice and a freshness which it must have had when it was first made. Clearly, from its lavish adornment and its stunning sound, this was a prestige instrument, but just think how many such fine instruments fell victim to changing tastes and musical demands. It is a testimony to the art of restorer John Topham that this remarkable instrument was saved from adaptation and dilapidation, and to the art of Henrik Persson that it has been allowed so eloquently to play the sort of repertoire so perfectly suited to it.

D. James Ross

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Recording

The Ghosts of Hamlet

CD cover The Ghosts of Hamlet Roberta Mameli

Lost arias from Italian Baroque operas
Roberta Mameli, Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, Franck-Emmanuel Comte
68:04
Arcana A574

Who knew there were so many Italian Baroque operatic representations of Ambleto? Composers such as Giuseppe Carcani, Francesco Gasparini and Domenico Scarlatti turned their hand to operas based on Hamlet, albeit not the iconic play by Shakespeare, but the earlier story contained in the 12th-century Gesta Danorum picked up and adapted by the Venetian librettist Apostolo Zeno. In addition to arias from these now almost entirely forgotten Hamlets, we have a pasticcio version of arias by Carlo Francesco Pollarolo and Handel, the latter a textual rewriting of “Tu ben degno” from Agrippina to press it into service as a Hamlet aria. These are augmented by a stormy D-minor sinfonia by Scarlatti, which, given the composer’s interest in the Hamlet narrative, may be seen to reflect the mercurial moods of the Danish prince. Produced in the first half of the 18th century in Venice and Rome, this wealth of Hamletiana, augmented by the London pasticcios, is not without merit – these were competitive times in musically dynamic milieux in which almost nothing mediocre saw the light of day, and these tuneful arias, dramatically sung by Roberta Mameli are a testimony to the quality of the many operas of the time which have fallen into neglect along with their composers. Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, an ensemble new to me, plays with an admirable precision and musicality, avoiding the extremes of articulation which have become the fashion with other specialist Baroque ensembles, and under the direction of their founder Frank-Emmanuel Comte they produce authoritative accounts of this unfamiliar material. Roberta Mameli is a technically assured Baroque specialist who invests the music with a memorable passion.

D. James Ross

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Recording

The Gentle Shepherd

CD cover Alan Ramsay The Gentle Shepherd Makaris

Makaris
71:23
Olde Focus Recordings FCR924

Alan Ramsay’s pastoral opera of 1725 is a remarkable piece which I feel has never received the attention or status that it deserves. Written/compiled three years before the iconic Beggar’s Opera, it essentially kicked off the whole ballad opera vogue of the early 18th century and remains one of the finest examples of the genre. Borrowing from a wide range of traditional and ‘classical’ sources of the time, Ramsay has produced a work with genuine folky charm and elegance. The text itself, in literary Scots, is linguistically accomplished, with a wicked ironic squint, which it bequeathed to the later ballad operas. The ensemble Makaris takes a very creative approach to the music, with imaginative use of a variety of early/traditional instruments. Amongst them is the stock-and-horn, a mainly Scottish woodwind instrument, which came into prominence in the 18th century, and has an oboe-like body ending in a cow-horn bell. It has a free-vibrating single reed, making it an early member of the clarinet family, and it has a pleasant and mellow tone. It appears as a prop in many 18th-century engravings and paintings of Scottish rural scenes, including some depictions of Ramsay’s Gentle Shepherd. In this recording, lively and convincing accounts of the 21 songs are peppered with six well-chosen instrumental interludes selected from 18th-century sources. Just occasionally, a couple of the singers struggle with the upper register of the implausibly extensive tessitura of these mock rustic pieces – I have often wondered if this suggests that originally a semi-spoken delivery might have been employed by 18th-century actresses? The original ballad opera has an extensive rhyming text and a cast of eleven – the present recording rationalises a few of the characters and features radio broadcaster David ‘Jock’ Nicol as narrator, who sets scenes and links the narrative. Talking over some of the music and sounding very much like an electronic add-on, I found this aspect less than successful. A semi-staged performance of the complete ballad opera some years ago directed by David McGuinness with his Concerto Caledonia and a full cast demonstrated the merits of the complete work, and perhaps like The Beggar’s Opera, this important piece deserves to be committed to CD in its entirety. McGuinness went on to produce an authoritative edition of the piece and to record all the songs. In the meantime, this sympathetic and entertaining account of the songs by Makaris speaks powerfully for more attention to be paid to this neglected work – and perhaps it is overdue another production!

D. James Ross

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Recording

Jacquet of Mantua: Motets & Secular Songs

CD cover Jacquet of Mantua Motets and Secular Songs

The Choir of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, Kirsty Whatley harp, directed by David Skinner
80:18
Inventa Records INV1017

A disciple and student of Josquin, like so many of his contemporaries, Jacquet was drawn to leave his native France for Italy, undoubtedly in search of fame and fortune, and his soubriquet derives not from his place of birth but his ultimate destination and the place of his death at the age of 75. Regarded as one of the leading composers of choral polyphony between Josquin and Palestrina, Jacquet held various positions throughout Italy under the patronage of the Este and Gonzaga families, and intriguingly research by David Skinner indicates that he may have spent some time in England at Magdalen College Oxford, where an Italian named Jacquet directed the collegiate choir for some years and where a copy of Jacquet of Mantua’s motet Aspice Domine (recorded here) is found in the Peterhouse Partbooks. Whether these Jacquets are one and the same man remains inconclusive, and at any rate there is little evidence of English influence on Jacquet of Mantua’s music. The Choir of Sidney Sussex College is perhaps less prominent than other Oxbridge Choirs, but the college has a long tradition of musical activity, and since the admission of women in 1976 has established a considerable reputation for performing contemporary and Renaissance choral music – in 2009, choral composer Eric Whitacre was appointed Composer in Residence. The combination of this established Oxbridge choral group and the renowned musicologist and choral director David Skinner, whose work particularly with The Cardinall’s Musick was ground-breaking, is a winning one, and these performances are meticulously prepared and beautifully executed. Mention should also be made of Kirsty Whatley, who contributes solo harp accounts of three of Jacquet’s three-part motets and also joins the singers for three of his secular songs, for one of which she switches on her brays! This is an important CD which can only enhance Jacquet’s reputation as a leading master of polyphony.

D. James Ross

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Recording

In Chains of Gold

CD cover Chains of Gold vol 3

The English Pre-Restoration Verse Anthem vol 3
Magdalena Consort, Fretwork, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Signum SIGCD931
83:39

This third volume in the excellent “Chains of Gold” series entitled Ah His Glory: Anthems of Praise, Prayer and Remembrance brings together three leading ensembles, the choral group the Magdalena Consort, the viol ensemble Fretwork and the wind consort His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts in performances of verse anthems composed before the Restoration of Charles II. These consort anthems, as they are probably more accurately termed, were composed partly during the reign of Charles I but also during the ‘distracted times’ of the Civil War and the ensuing Protectorate and are generally on a modest scale with the notable exceptions of the lavish setting of This is a joyful, happy holy day by John Ward and Know you not by Thomas Tomkins, which respectively open and close the programme. The former was written in the reign of Charles I, the latter during the Protectorate and probably written by the aging Tomkins more in hope than expectation of performance – his chosen texts mourning a fallen Prince were hardly ‘on message’ for Cromwellian England. There is a wonderful clarity about these accounts by the Magdalena Consort and Fretwork – the more intimate numbers achieve a perfect balance between the voices and viols, while the two larger-scale works incorporating the wind instruments manage to sound wonderfully opulent without any loss of definition. The concluding work by Tomkins is a tantalising taste of ‘what might have been’ in the history of English music if Puritanism had not triumphed so thoroughly. Tomkins was clearly aware of the magnificent music for voices and instruments being composed in Italy at the time, but here is a distinctively English voice using these rich textures to express a distinctively English idiom. A number of less well-known composers are also represented here – John Amner, William Stonnard, Richard Nicholson, William Pysinge and Simon Stubbs – a reflection of the decentralisation of music-making to the provinces at this period of disruption, where music collections had more of a chance of surviving warfare and puritanical purges. Reflecting the limited resources available, this music is on a much more modest scale, but is nonetheless expressive and beautifully crafted.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Love Divine

CD cover Love Divine luminatus

Renaissance & Contemporary Choral Works
luminatus & David Bray
75:18
Convivium Records CR102

Dedicated to the performance of new and previously unrecorded choral music, luminatus under their director David Bray present music by the Renaissance masters Cipriano de Rore, Philippe de Monte, Ippolito Baccusi, Tiburtio Massaino, along with contemporary music by female composers including Agneta Sköld, Becky McGlade and Eleanor Daley. The unfamiliar Renaissance material is of high quality and is performed with languid elegance by the ensemble. Particularly impressive is the de Monte Mass based on a de Rore motet. The music of Massaino and Baccusi contains few surprises – Baccusi’s small body of compositions was published in Venice but little is known about his life and he is little performed. Massaino, by contrast, travelled widely and composed prodigiously in a variety of sacred and secular genres, occasionally betraying a musical debt to de Monte, whom he met in Prague and where much of his music was published. The contemporary choral music, settings of English texts, is uncontroversial and makes for unchallenging if pleasing listening. If I might have wished for more animation from the choir in some of the Renaissance repertoire, the contemporary music draws more dynamic singing from them. The ensemble is performing a valuable service in bringing this neglected early repertoire to our attention in such polished performances, while recordings of contemporary choral music, particularly with an emphasis on female composer,s are always welcome.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Schubert: Sonatas for Violin and Fortepiano op. 137

CD cover Schubert Sonatas for Violin and Fortepiano op. 137

Peter Hanson violin, Andrew Arthur fortepiano
resonus RES10383
62:38

The three op. 137 violin sonatas (D384, 385 and 408) were composed in 1816 and embody many elements of the Lieder Schubert was composing at the time. Playing a copy of an early 19th-century Walther & Sohn fortepiano, Andrew Arthur’s delicate touch matches perfectly Peter Hanson’s lyrical playing of a copy by Dominik Wik of a 19th-century violin. The duo present all three sonatas as a continuous musical arc, as they might have been performed at one of the famous Schubertiade. It is easy to imagine this gently tuneful and inventive music interspersed with Lieder being enjoyed by the composer’s friends as they clustered round his piano for an informal evening concert. They were published in 1836 by Diabelli after the composer’s death under the diminutive title of “Three Sonatinas”, a description which perhaps may have served to diminish their status in the minds of violinists, who nowadays rarely include them in recitals. This is a shame, as these present performances amply demonstrate that they are works of subtlety, with hidden musical depths – the enigmatic opening of the A-minor sonata being a good case in point. The three works together with their imaginative interplay of the two instrumental textures, one in a major key and two in a minor, take us on a rewarding musical journey, and this talented duo have done us a good turn in drawing these works to wider attention. 

D. James Ross

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Recording

Cupid’s Ground Bass

CD cover Cupid’s Ground Bass Bellot Ensemble

Music by Biber, Cavalli, Farina, Kapsberger, Monteverdi, Strozzi, Uccellini
Bellot Ensemble
First Hand Records FHR183
60:55

This charming collection of love-songs and instrumental pieces explores the joys and sufferings of love in a selection of 17th-century music with an emphasis on Italy. The solo voices are soprano Lucine Musaelian and tenor Kieran White, whose vocal contribution is individually very fine, before they symbolically finally come together in Monteverdi’s Zefiro torna. The instrumental playing, both as accompaniment and in the instrumental interludes, is also wonderfully imaginative and lyrical. Recorder, violin, viola da gamba, cello, baroque guitar/theorbo and harpsichord/organ blend together beautifully in music ranging from the delightfully celebratory to the plangently affecting. The Ensemble specialises in ornamentation, consulting a number of historical sources but ultimately embodying the rules and bringing them to impressive fruition in rehearsal and performance. Several highlights for me were the Sinfonia and Act I aria “Delizie contenti che l’alma beate” from Cavalli’s hit opera Il Giasone, sparklingly played by the Ensemble and ravishingly sung by Kieran White, and “Che si può fa” by Barbara Strozzi, exquisitely sung by Lucine Musaelian, while accompanying herself on the gamba as in the famous Strozzi portrait. This is mainly musical territory which has been explored previously, but the Bellot Ensemble and their engaging vocal soloists give even the very familiar material a novel twist, providing us with a programme which is constantly intriguing and enjoyable.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Vivaldi: Quattro sonate per due violini

CD cover Duo Gelland Vivaldi

Duo Gelland
Olde Focus Recordings FCR 925
45:50

These four charming duets for two violins RV 68, 70, 71 and 78 differ from Vivaldi’s opus 1 set of duos for two violins in that these are ‘senza il basso’. Published after the composer’s death, they possibly date from the 1730s when Vivaldi toured central Europe with his father – certainly the option of performing without continuo accompaniment would lend itself to the unpredictable conditions of international touring. On the other hand, the mature style of the writing and the technical demands suggest that they were probably composed later for Vivaldi to play with one of the talented violin soloists of the Ospedale della Pietà.

The Duo Gelland, a married couple of violin virtuosi, take a wonderfully fresh and spontaneous approach to this music, living up to the group’s ethos ‘never to perform anything exactly the same way twice.’ In this way, the duets they play are treated as ‘live’ dialogues between the two players, and any performance, including this recording, is just one of many options. An element they don’t mention in their notes (perhaps understandably) is the strongly competitive element of these accounts! Whatever the circumstances, these duets could hardly hope for a more vivacious and electrifying performance than this short but charming recording.

D. James Ross

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Book

Unpeeling Bach

Book cover Unpeeling Bach David Stancliffe

By David Stancliffe
The Real Press 2025
372pp. ISBN
Available from Amazon

This is an engaging and comprehensive study of the music of J S Bach, which places it expertly in a historical and religious context. A former Bishop of Salisbury, Stancliffe is ideally placed to consider the spiritual dimensions of Bach’s sacred music, an important aspect of this devout composer’s essence and world view which is often glossed over in other studies of his music. While this understanding pervades the whole book, we also have appendices, including one dealing with Bach’s understanding of St John’s theology, drawing on his St John Passion, which are fascinating. However, intriguing as this is, it is just one aspect of a wonderfully wide-ranging approach to Bach. We have an updated treatment of Bach’s musical context, taking into account the surprising range of earlier polyphonic music still in currency in Bach’s time. We are cleverly drawn into the issues relating to the historically informed performance of the music by an account of Stancliffe’s own journey into grappling with these issues. As a performer/director as well as a scholar, he has a rewardingly ‘hands-on’ approach to the music, extending to the most successful layout for performances as well as a detailed treatment of instrumentation, voice-types, and voice production. Again, in a very practical approach, he cites performances and recordings by leading ensembles at work right now on the music of Bach, evaluating the success of their various approaches. In this way, his reader can easily access illustrations of the points he is making, and as so often in this volume, his encyclopaedic knowledge speaks of extensive listening, which matches his voracious reading. Just occasionally, the author makes a throw-away comment which opens a thought-provoking doorway – for example, in mentioning the pair of Litui which accompany the motet O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht (BWV 118), he moots the idea that the nature of their accompaniment ‘argues for at least an outdoor if not processional performance’ – intriguing! My review copy is a pre-release edition, with editorial corrections, but as these are mainly layout issues, I assume they have all been addressed in the final edition. Stancliffe’s writing style is fluent and expressive, and the structure of the book makes the material easy to access and to enjoy either by dipping in and out or simply consuming it as a good and satisfying read. Although there are regular informative quotations from contemporary sources, there are no musical examples or visual illustrations – I was initially struck by this omission, but found myself less and less aware of it as I read on. On the back of the book, David Stancliffe is described as ‘an enthusiast and expert’, and in ‘Unpeeling Bach’ we find that this is a compelling combination which gives the author a unique perspective on Bach’s music.

D. James Ross