Category: Recording

Ensemble Marysas, Peter Whelan
69:00
Linn Records CKD 543
+Il pastor fido (Overture)

A sparkling new recording of Handel’s lovely pastoral cantata

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he composition of Apollo e Dafne  was probably begun towards the end of Handel’s extended youthful Italian tour, but it was completed (and presumably first performed) in Hanover, after he had become Kapelleister to the Elector, in 1710.

It is a work of considerable dramatic force and subtlety. Dafne’s well-known physical metamorphosis into a laurel tree, just as she is on the point of being ravished by Apollo, is matched by Apollo’s mental transformation, from self-satisfied confidence to humility; the music, as so often with Handel, characterises both with unerring skill. Try, e. g., either of Apollo’s first two arias – both are in major keys, with triadic and wide-ranging melodic lines and much showy coloratura. Then compare these with his (and the cantata’s) final movement – a deeply felt minor-key tribute to the newly-created laurel tree, with a sublimely simple, syllabically set, melody of few notes and narrow compass. Lest we should think Apollo’s change of heart too abrupt, Handel prepares the ground for us with his deeply lyrical ‘Come rosa’ in the midst of the cantata, with its luscious cello obbligato.

Dafne, too, is drawn with much care. Her delicious opening ‘Felicissima quest’alma’ is the essence of pastoral innocence, the upper strings pizzicato, the bass ‘arco’, a wondrous oboe obbligato and a vocal line of seemingly-endless melody. Her energetic next aria, after Apollo declares his passion, is in complete contrast – her repeated ‘sola’ makes her angry rejection of his advances abundantly clear.

Their two duets are also extremely cleverly contrasted; the first is a virtuoso slanging-match, with both voices hurling similar phrases back and forth. The next, however, pits Apollo’s slow, flute-laden lovesick yearnings against Dafne’s rapid rejections, with no shared musical material whatever. The lady is clearly not for turning….

The final chase is vividly portrayed – rapid solo violin figuration is pursued by slower solo bassoon, and all comes to an abrupt stop, just when one’s ear expects a da capo, in tumultuous accompagnato, as Apollo is thwarted.

Mhairi Lawson, as Dafne, and Callum Thorpe, as Apollo, are in complete command of all this glorious music, and bring it to life with enormous dramatic energy, ably partnered by Ensemble Marsyas’s superb playing (particular plaudits to all the splendid ‘obbligatisti’!) Peter Whelan shows equal virtuosity as bassoon soloist and as overall director.

The orchestra (and solo instrumentalists) shine further in the extended overture to Handel’s second London opera, Il Pastor Fido, (which may well have originated in Hanover as a separate orchestral work). I particularly enjoyed Peter Whelan’s bassoon solo in the Largo 5th movement, and Cecelia Bernardini’s sparkling passagework in the finale (Handelians might recognise the latter’s later reincarnation in the Organ Concerto, op. 7 no. 4)

The disc is completed musically by a couple of rarely heard movements for wind band (with energetically improvised percussion from Alan Emslie) which may have been written for Handel’s opera orchestra in the 1720s.

David Vickers provides characteristically scholarly and informative booklet notes.

Alastair Harper

Zefiro
104:10 (2 CDs in a cardboard sleeve)
Arcana A394

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hese two CDs were originally recorded and released by naïve in the mid 1990s; recorded out of numerical order, sonatas 5, 6 and 2 are on the first disk, while 1, 3 (in which a violin replaces one of the oboes) and 4 are on the other. Both sets involve a theorbo and deep string bass (contrabbasso on CD1 and violone on CD2), all played by different players. The wind soloists are constant (and what a stellar line-up – Paolo Grazzi and Alfredo Bernardini on oboe and Alberto Grazzi on bassoon); Manfredo Kraemer is the violinist. Where for most composers six trio sonatas would comfortably fit on a single disc, Zelenka’s expansive contrapuntal themes mean that it is not unusual for individual movements to exceed six minutes, and there is even one which lasts more than eight minutes! In these performers’ hands, though, the music unfolds organically and simply fills the space; it certainly never feels too long, and in some sense (at least as far as this listener is concerned) Zelenka could easily have sustained movements of even greater length, had he chosen to do so. Bravo to all concerned!

Brian Clark

Elizabeth Wallfisch, The Wallfisch Band
62:18
cpo 777 701-2
TWV 51:a1, 55: F13, h4, 40:200

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his disc of two concertos proper and two “ouvertures in concerto style” was actually recorded way back in 2011; such is cpo’s extensive backlog that even fine performances – which form part of a very impressive series – must still wait five years for public consumption. The first work is essentially a concerto for four-part strings out of which a solo violin grows (TWV 40:200); the second (TWV 51:a1) also survives as an oboe concerto (and has appeared thus on a previous cpo disk), but is here given a very persuasive performance. For me, though, the most interesting music were the two overture-concertos (essentially, think the Bach “orchestral suites” with a solo violin part), both lasting over 20 minutes. The second is unfortunately referred to as a Concerto in B major on the cover (it’s actually in the minor), but the typo is the only thing wrong with it; Libby Wallfisch effortlessly emerges from the full band sound then blends marvellously back into it. This is all the more impressive when in concert (at least those I found online) she (and her fellow soloists) take the “modern” approach to concert giving by standing out front, but clearly she firmly believes in the primus inter pares approach to what is still essentially chamber music. I wonder how many more installments of this fabulous survey of Telemann’s concerted music with violin(s) remain in the cpo vaults for future release – I’m sure every single one of them will hold some new delight!

Brian Clark

Neue Hofkapelle Graz, Lucia Froihofer, Michael Hell
121:34 (2 CDs in a jewel case)
cpo 777 980-2

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ut of interest I played this in my car recently while ferrying colleagues to a meeting just to gauge their impressions of the music. Although what one might call fans of classical music, none of them has a particular interest in the HIP approach. One thought it sounded quite French, another more Italian, one thought it sounded like Handel, the other like Purcell. In fact, that was precisely how I myself reacted to hearing these seven richly varied works from Fux’s collection; with one exception (a “sinfonia” for recorder, oboe, “basso” and “cembalo”), they are primarily “orchestral”, though the texture varies from a4 (purely strings), through a8 (adding a woodwind trio) to a8 (a pair of trumpets add lustre to the sound). The Neue Hofkapelle Graz further vary the sound by using single strings for some pieces and multiples for the rest. This gives a great overall impression of the ways such music would have been performed in Fux’s day. The recorded sound is excellent and – apart from the occasional superfluous use of percussion – I thoroughly enjoyed both discs. While such additions are perhaps part and parcel of a live performance (which only lives on in the memory), for a recording they are an unnecessary distraction (and not something one can “un-hear” on subsequent listenings).

Brian Clark

Corelli’s Heritage and the Roman School
I Musici
54:51
Dynamic CDS7752
Castrucci op 3/10, Corelli op 6/4, Geminiani op 5/7 (after Corelli), Locatelli op 1/11, Valentini op 7/11

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his group was among the pioneers of the re-discovery of baroque music, if not quite what we now call HIP. Their recordings of complete sets of Vivaldi’s publications brought him back into the mainstream. Given that attitudes to performance practice have moved on a great deal since those days, I was a little wary of even listening to this CD, even though the performances are from as recently as last year. In actual fact, however, although there are some hints of yesteryear (the trills, for example), these are lively and enjoyable accounts of some lovely music. I don’t mean to sound condescending or disparaging, but this would make an ideal gift for someone who likes less frequently recorded baroque music but does not have any special interest in how it is performed – this is bound to make them smile. Lots.

Brian Clark