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Vivaldi: Serenata a tre (RV 690)

CD cover Vivaldi Serenata a tre

Vivaldi Edition Vol. 70
Marie Lys Eurilla, Sophie Ennert Nice, Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani Acindo, Abchordis Ensemble, Andrea Buccarella
72:03
naïve OP 7257

The Serenata RV690 is a two-part dramatic cantata for three soloists and orchestra set in an arcadian world of shepherds and shepherdesses and revolving around the romantic intrigues of the three central characters. Written as light entertainment for a special occasion, in this case an aristocratic wedding, Serenatas generally entertained through melodic felicity and colourful orchestration rather than intellectual demands, and the present work is particularly engaging in its musical originality. Three excellent and expressive soloists are sympathetically supported by a period string ensemble, enhanced by horns, oboes, and bassoon as required for local colour. There is evidence in the manuscript that Vivaldi originally intended to include recorders too, and it is interesting that he reworked the score several times, suggesting that he valued this composition and took time to perfect its details. This detailed and musically sensitive account is volume 70 in a superb projected complete recording of Vivaldi’s music, which has already unearthed several unsuspected masterpieces, and through the engagement of excellent Italian vocalists brought much overlooked material vividly to life. Thus too this apparently inconsequential occasional piece is revealed as much more important and substantial than it first appears, and a worthy companion piece to Vivaldi’s operatic writing.

D. James Ross

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Louis Couperin: Complete Harpsichord Music

CD cover Louis Couperin Complete harpsichord music Massimo Berghella

Massimo Berghella harpsichord
329:00 (5 CDs in a cardboard box)
Brilliant Classics 96238

There is a disparate cabal of musical individuals united in the belief that Louis Couperin is a greater composer for the keyboard than his more famous nephew Francois, and/or that Louis is the greatest of the French keyboard composers of the Baroque era, and/or that Louis is the greatest of all composers for the harpsichord. Given this degree of acclamation, it is appropriate that there should now be no fewer than three commercial recordings of his complete music for that instrument (numbering over 130 pieces in the 2022 Lyrebird edition by Jon Baxendale) of which the one under review is the most recent. It is also the best.

Even among those unfamiliar with the sheer extent of his oeuvre Louis Couperin is famed for his unmeasured preludes, and this recording goes off to the best possible start with the astoundingly beautiful example in G minor, number 3 in the collected edition by Davitt Moroney (whose numbering will be used in this review). This work also proclaims Massimo Berghella’s manner of performance, in which, like Pieter-Jan Belder in his recent complete recording of Byrd’s music for keyboard, he restrains himself from imposing overly elaborate interpretations on these already eloquent works, while still showing a cogent awareness of the appropriate playing style. Disc 2 begins with an equally memorable prelude, number 2, in D. Other keyboard genres in Louis Couperin’s output include chaconnes and their close relations the passacailles, with sarabandes, allemandes, courantes, a few gigues and gavottes, plus the legendary and very great pavane in F sharp minor. Two of the passacailles are quite the equals of the two preludes which I have cited: number 98 on disc 1, and number 27 concluding disc 3, both of which flaunt examples of Louis’s rare and discerning employment of the false relation; any English Tudor composer would have been immensely proud of either.

While every piece in this collection has been created fastidiously, they each exude a sense of inspiration which mere compositional technique has to accommodate, rather than technique circumscribing the inspiration. There is a wonderful inevitability about the stately progress of the sarabandes numbered 48, 49 (exquisite conclusions), 50, 51, 87, 109, 110 and particularly 65, in which Berghella unpicks some notably subtle rhythms towards the end. Along with the preludes already mentioned, number 7 shows a fine sense of momentum without excessive reliance on elaboration exhibited in other recordings. Also worth pointing out is the allemande number 58, sprightly but with an irresistible inner logic. And no discussion of music by Louis Couperin is complete without an admiring reference to his powerful yet poignant Tombeau de Mr Blancrocher, the admired lutenist so unfortunate to fall to his death, yet his memory so fortunate to be celebrated by two of the finest works ever composed for the keyboard, the tombeaux by Froberger and this one by Louis Couperin. Both pieces piteously depict his actual falling, and Louis Couperin includes a tolling motif which is wonderfully affecting in its sonorous and sombre dignity.

Massimo Berghella plays throughout with clarity and insight. It is as though he acknowledges that we were not there at the time, and he relies on Louis Couperin’s notation and the surviving evidence of his contemporaries plus the best of modern research for his interpretations, without resorting in them to exaggeration or swagger. It is of course possible to listen to “a little but often” from this recording, but such is the variety and quality of Louis’s oeuvre and such is the judiciousness and sheer excellence of Massimo Berghella’s playing that listening to an entire disc is both pleasurable enrichment and spiritual illumination.

Richard Turbet

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Recording

Senfl

CD cover Senfl Singer Pur Ensemble Leones

Singer Pur, Ensemble Leones
66:30
Oehms Classics OC 1726

This collaboration between the vocal group Singer Pur and the instrumental Ensemble Leones presents a programme of motets with a block of Senfl’s secular music in the middle. This latter element consists largely of no fewer than seven settings of the song “Ich stund an einem Morgen” and three of “Was wird es doch” – perhaps as much of both as one could wish for. While, with the exception of the extended consort piece ‘Das lang’, Senfl’s secular idiom is perhaps quite familiar and ultimately pretty conventional, his sacred music is altogether more complex and interesting and generally underperformed and recorded. A student of Heinrich Isaac, Senfl found employment with the Hofkapelle of Emperor Maximilian I in Vienna and Munich, so it is hardly surprising – with considerable musical resources at his disposal – that Senfl wrote such demanding and richly textured sacred music. Singer Pur present most of the sacred music unaccompanied, and produce their usual lovely vocal blend and intelligent readings of the music. The rich combination of voices and stringed instruments in the opening “Sancta Maria virgo”, such as would have been commonplace in the Munich Hofkapelle, home of the Bavarian State Orchestra, made me wish that both groups had combined forces in more of the sacred music on the CD. Be that as it may, this CD makes a strong case for Senfl’s sacred music being afforded more attention and respect than it is currently. His setting of “Media vita in morte sumus” is a masterpiece.

D. James Ross

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Recording

The sword & the lilly

The sword & the lilly Fount & Origin

15th-century polyphony for Judgement Day
Fount & Origin, James Tomlinson
67:57
Inventa INV1008

This CD of choral music from the 15th century is – in the words of the programme note – ‘a meditation on van der Weyden’s The Last Judgement’, a magnificent painting in the ‘doom’ tradition, dominated by a wonderfully winged St Michael. Rather than exploring the theme of the Last Judgement in music, the programme takes us on a tour of the painting in the manner of the Radio 4 “Moving Pictures” series, finding works or movements from works which reference its various visual elements. Thus we open with an episode from Ockeghem’s Requiem before moving on via a number of anonymous motets to the Missa L’Homme armé/Dum sacrum mysterium by Johannes Regis, a Magnificat by Johannes Martini and the Dies Irae from Brumel’s Requiem. The singing is elegantly idiomatic and expressive and perhaps the greatest virtue of the recording is the high percentage of anonymous pieces, works which tend to be overlooked when choirs are selecting repertoire for recordings. I am not a natural admirer of picking and choosing movements from larger works and combining them with a fairly random selection of shorter pieces from throughout Europe, and I found myself wanting the rest of pieces such as the Ockeghem, Regis and Brumel. As a taster for these larger works, I suppose this programme may serve to draw listeners unfamiliar with these pieces into exploring them further, while also offering the parts in a wider context of anonymous smaller works. Ultimately for me, this CD seemed a rather unsatisfying random selection of works, which had at best a tangential connection with one another.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Miércoles de Tinieblas

Ensemble Semura Sonora directed by Clara Espinosa Encinas & Lucien Julien-Laferrière
50:40
Seuletoile SE 07

This CD presents a set of Lamentations and a Miserere associated with Zamora Cathedral in Castilla y León in Spain by two composers new to me, Juan Garcia Salazar and his student, Alonso Tomé Cobaleda. The music demonstrates the quirky charm of late-17th- and early-18th-century Spanish composition and is performed with passion and musicality by the voices and instruments of the Ensemble Semura Sonora. There are impressive solo performances from alto Gabriel Diaz Cuesta as well as some engaging ensemble singing, ably supported by the instrumental ensemble. From the outset, I felt that a more resonant acoustic might have served this cathedral music better, and this became more apparent in the more lavishly scored numbers. Having said that, the occasionally pinched sound didn’t interfere too much with my enjoyment of this unusual repertoire, and the Ensemble Semura Sonora played and sang idiomatically and expressively. Particularly striking was the very pure and penetrating soprano singing, interacting wonderfully with the cornetto. The lack of an English translation and my limited French put much of the programme note out of my reach, but the internet served well to introduce these two very capable composers to me.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Septem dies: Seven Days with Music at Prague University (1360-1460)

Septem dies Corina Marti, Schola Gregoriana Pragensis

Schola Gregoriana Pragensis, Corina Marti
63:51
Supraphon SU 4282-2

In their efforts to provide a snapshot of the complete musical lives of students at Prague University in the century from 1360-1460, Corina Marti and the Schola Gregoriana have drawn on the work of a number of musicologists on the University’s considerable collection of musical manuscripts to provide sacred and secular monophony and polyphony for this varied and beautifully executed programme. The singing is wonderfully idiomatic, the singers sounding equally at home in plainchant and polyphony, while Marti provides instrumental interludes and accompaniments on the clavisimbalum. In this way, liturgical music relevant to the seven-day round of religious services is punctuated by student songs and instrumental pieces of the sort they would have played for entertainment. A lavish book of background information provides an intriguing context for the music, and the whole package is a testimony to the very fruitful interaction of scholars and performers. Much of the music here has been freshly transcribed and is receiving its first performance in modern times. The whole team behind this admirable and vivid recording, made in the generous acoustic of the Basilica of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary in Milevsko, has more than achieved its stated aim of representing the musical landscape that would have confronted a student at Prague University in the 14th and 15th centuries.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Sigismondo D’India: Lamenti & Sospiri

Sigismondo D’India Lamenti & Sospiri

Mariana Flores, Julie Roset, Cappella Mediterranea, Leonardo Garcia Alarcón
91:08 (2 CDs)
Ricercar RIC 429

Sigismondo D’India is a composer who has been somewhat overshadowed by his fellow Italian and near-contemporary Claudio Monteverdi. Both were strong advocates of the seconda prattica which prized the expression of passion above any formal considerations, and this two-CD collection of arias, laments and duets underlines the importance of D’India in this vital stage in the development of music. The two sopranos Mariana Flores and Julie Roset split the solos between them and combine for the duets – both have lovely pure and expressive voices, perfect for this repertoire, and they blend beautifully when singing together. The vocal ornamentation is not overdone and executed with deft precision. They are ably and sympathetically supported by a consort of bass viol, harp, theorbo/guitar and archlute led from the harpsichord/organ by Leonardo Garcia Alarcón. The interaction of voices and instruments is a masterclass in empathy, and the resulting performances are consistently persuasive and utterly enjoyable. In addition to their considerable musical merits, these performers manage to inject an element of languid Mediterranean sunshine into their music-making which shines through in these CDs. Too often D’India features as a filler on recordings of the music of other composers such as Monteverdi, but these CDs more than make the case for his own considerable merits as an important composer in his own right. The two extended laments, the Lamentatione d’Olympia and Infelice Didone, are considerable masterpieces worthy of wider acquaintance.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Byrd: Complete harpsichord & organ music

CD cover Pieter-Jan Belder Byrd Complete harpsichord & organ music

Pieter-Jan Belder harpsichord, muselar, virginals and organ
9 CDs
Brilliant Classics 97074

This album of Byrd’s complete music for keyboard is in every way a worthy successor to Davitt Moroney’s pioneering boxed set released in 1999 (Hyperion 66551-7, reissued 2010 as CDS444617). Musically the fact of the music being by Byrd is self-recommending. He was the first great composer for the keyboard, writing music that is not only attractive on its own account, transcending the liturgical parameters of preceding repertory, but also idiomatic to the harpsichord, comfortable under the fingers as well as to the ears! As for performance, Belder’s strength is in allowing Byrd to speak through the music rather than inflicting an interpretative regime upon the music. The sheer variety among the pieces, well over a hundred in total, is mind-boggling, and thanks to the clarity of Belder’s readings, lesser-known jewels such as the Pavan and Galliard BK 16 glow in their own light, while the neglected Pavan and Galliard BK 76-77 (probably intended as a pair but not presented as such in their unique source) positively bask in the glow of Belder’s performance. More familiar masterpieces and classics such as The barley break, Walsingham, Ut re mi fa sol la (BK 64) plus the great sequence of Nevell pavans and galliards, the grounds and the fantasias (especially BK 13 in A minor, the first true masterpiece for the keyboard) flourish in this environment.

An interesting talking point, possibly controversial to some, is Belder’s choice of “fringe” repertory. Most of the accompanying booklet is written by Jon Baxendale, experienced co-editor (with Francis Knights) of such important sources as My Lady Nevells’ Book, Will Forster’s Virginal Book and the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, though parts of his text must be read with caution: Byrd is now known to have been born in 1540 or late 1539, not 1542/3 as stated; he was appointed to the Chapel Royal in 1572, not 1573; he moved to Stondon Massey in 1595, not 1594; and pace Mr Baxendale, the anonymous variations on Robin Hood are not attributed to Byrd by Will Forster anywhere at all in his Virginal Book (WFVB), the work’s unique source. In a brief but informative personal note in the booklet about the recording project, Belder is “up front” about some inclusions, and one of these is Robin Hood (previously performed by Bernhard Klapprott on his complete recording of Thomas Tomkins Keyboard Music MDG 607 0704-2 with circumstantial evidence for Tomkins’ authorship on p. 12 of the booklet; and subsequently recorded by Bertrand Cuiller on Mr Tomkins his Lessons of Worth, Mirare MIR137, as by “Thomas Tomkins?”) but Belder cites the less assertive comments of Baxendale and Knights in their edition of WFVB (p. 372) merely suggesting tentatively that it offers traces of Byrd’s style. Half a dozen of Byrd’s songs survive in contemporary arrangements for keyboard. Two had already been recorded: Lullaby and Susanna fair. None are thought to be by Byrd himself, but rather than record all or none of them, Belder has decided to include a couple that “work” for him as works for keyboard. One such is the album’s single premiere recording! This is the arrangement for keyboard of Care for thy soul from the Psalmes, sonets and songs published in 1588; the original song has already been recorded twice. The other is Susanna fair. He also includes two settings of Dowland’s If my complaints. BK 103 is attributed to Byrd in its source but rejected as being by him, while BK 118 is anonymous but accepted as likely to be by Byrd. Belder explains this in his note so listeners can agree or disagree with scholarly opinion, or simply just enjoy both settings! In the same generous spirit, those pieces attributed uniquely to Byrd in contemporary sources, but considered improbable or impossible to be by him, are also included. A few works receive two “versions” performed on different instruments, such as the arrangement of Robert Parsons’ In nomine on harpsichord and on organ.

It remains wholeheartedly to welcome and recommend this fine discographical achievement. Pieter-Jan has recorded the pieces from Nevell and Fitzwilliam before but, given the many extra works here which include some gems which are outstanding even by Byrd’s elevated standards, and at its reasonable price, this boxed set is worth the attention – and outlay – of everyone who is already aware of this music, or who is moved to discover it.

Richard Turbet

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Recording

Torelli | Perti | Pollarolo | Colonna – Concertos and Cantatas

CD cover Torelli Perti Pollarolo Colonna – Concertos and Cantatas

Nuria Rial soprano, Kammerorchester Basel directed by Julia Schröder violin
57:29
DHM 19658813432

‘For the most part, nothing can be heard in their [the Italians’] music apart from a consistently elaborated basso continuo, often consisting of a kind of barrage of chords, with arpeggios added to throw dust in the eyes of those who are no judges of such things’. What was true for the Mercure galant in 1713 is equally as true of the 2020s, with the exception that the contagion is now widely spread throughout early music and not just applicable solely to the Italians. I’ve opened in this rather unusual way to highlight that the present recording provides one of the most severe examples of theorbo-itis I’ve encountered, with inappropriate twanging, passaggi, bangs, and arpeggiated janglings throughout the performances. Especially damaging examples appear in ‘Aurae sacrae amati ardores’, a charming solo motet by Pollarolo (c. 1653-1723). Both its arias (it ends in typical motet-fashion with a virtuosic Alleluia) feature lovely cantabile writing for the soloist, here the lovely warm, but pure voice of the enchanting Spanish soprano, Nuria Rial. Both however are virtually ruined by the distraction of the theorbist, who seems unaware that the arias are intended to evoke tranquility and contemplation by twanging away as if playing a concerto, masking the lyrical line of Rial’s voice. The result sounds ridiculous and is totally unmusical.

The foregoing would alone be enough to stop me wanting to hear the CD again, but given that the orchestral playing is excessively mannered there is little to attract any but the most tolerant of listeners. Allegros are invariably taken too fast, the performances skating over the surface with clipped chords and meaninglessly superficial runs. Slower movements are played in a mannered style in which I suppose some may find elements of sprezzatura and certainly there’s some virtuosic solo violin playing by director, Julia Schröder, though I don’t care much for her rather thin tone.

For those interested, that might be more forgiving than the present writer, a word or two about the programme. The instrumental part is devoted to four of the concertos from Torelli’s Concerti grossi, op 8. Composed in 1709, but only published posthumously, they are, like Corelli’s famous op 6 of five years later, intended to make a grand sonorous effect, with the body of concertante strings creating breadth and depth. That doesn’t happen here because of the clipped phrasing and the solo contribution being dominated by the solo violin. The other vocal solo items sung by Rial are a brief scena comprising a fluid alternation of air and recitar cantando from Giovanni Colonna’s oratorio Salomone amante (Bologna, 1679) and a spirited cantata, ‘San Tomaso d’Aquino’ by Giovanni Perti (1661-1756). In these, there is some enchanting singing. Rial demonstrates not only lovely cantabile lines but impressive agility in passaggi and ornamentation, though regrettably she has no trill and her words might have been projected with greater clarity.

Sadly for all the quality of the singing the disc is a non-starter for the reasons given above. A pity given that the repertoire is unusual and of considerable interest.

Brian Robins

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Recording

Lully: Grands Motets – Volume 3

Lully Grands motets Volume 3

Les Épopées, conducted by Stephane Fuget
72:40
Versailles Spectacles CVS087

Volume 3 of the Versailles edition of Lully’s motets – part of a more extensive series devoted to motets of the 17th and 18th centuries – brings four grands motets: Plaude, laetare Gallia of 1668; a setting of the Benedictus of unknown date, but probably the late 1660s; the tiny Domine salvum fac regum, an undated early work that lasts under four minutes; and the dramatic Notus in Judaea Deus, a late work probably dating from around 1684 or 85. Also included is a splendid Magnificat composed between 1663 and 1666 by Henri Du Mont (1610-1684), composer of the Chapelle Royale from 1672 to 1683. The recording was made in the Chapelle Royale at Versailles and has an imposing depth and resonance, though I always feel the acoustic of this wonderful building is at its best when it has an audience, which is not the case here.

The grands motets of Lully and contemporaries such as Du Mont always carry with them a question mark as to whether they are directed more at praise of the king, Louis XIV or God. There is little doubt here in the case of the grandest and most panegyric of these works, Plaude, laetare Gallia for it owes existence to the christening of the Dauphin at St Germain-en-Laye (then the royal palace), an occasion attended by so many it had to be held in the courtyard rather than the palace chapel. Like all the grands motets it is cast in contrasting sections that include solos, chamber-like writing for a small group of soloists (the petit choeur) and the full chorus (grand choeur). The orchestral writing is often elaborate and, in a ceremonial work such as this, intended for the large forces employed here. As one might expect for such an occasion the overall mood is bright and often exuberant, though the heart of the work is a more supplicatory and lyrical passage based on the text, ‘O Jesu, vita credentium! (O Jesu, life to those who believe), its long lines beautifully sustained by the unidentified tenor soloist. It would indeed have been helpful to have the excellent soloists drawn from the chorus identified as they deserve to be in the context of performances that convey outstandingly all the varied features of these works.

The most ambitious work as to scale is the Lully Benedictus, which is divided into nine sections ranging from the measured opening tenor solo, via the chamber-like intricacy of ‘Sicut locutus est’ for tenor and bass and solo instruments and the full choral texture of ‘Salutem’ to reach a magnificent peroration in the sublime solo bass ‘Per viscara misericordiae’ and the theatrical contrast of ‘in tenebris, et in umbra mortis sedent’ (in darkness and in the shadow of death) and ‘ad dirigendos pedes nostros in viam pacis’ (to direct our feet into the way of peace). The text of Notus in Judaea Deus, based on Psalm 75 (76) and the most colourfully orchestrated of these motets allows for even greater theatricality, its invitation to word painting at references such as ‘the earth trembling and then becoming still’ not passed up by Lully. The Du Mont setting of the Magnificat is a supreme example of his work, combining polyphony that displays a clear influence of Venetian sacred music in addition to exquisitely lovely beautiful cantabile writing at a passage such as ‘Et misericordia’, a tenor and bass duet with choral interjections.

It has already been made clear that the performances are of outstanding quality, leaving this an essential addition to a series of great value.

Brian Robins