Category: Recording

Categories
Book Recording

Bernardina: Une vie secrète à la Pietà

Cover of Bernardina Une vie secrète à la Pietà

A novel (in French) by Arièle Butaux with a historical postlude by Olivier Fourés, and a CD of Venetian music
Collectif Cordis & Organo
64:00
Seuletoile SE 03

Click HERE to buy this on amazon.co.uk
[These sponsored links help the site remain alive and FREE!]

Described as a ‘Livre-disque’, this is a short story set in Vivaldi’s ospedale in1741. There are supporting essays about this institution, its activities and the main characters in the story (all in French only), and tucked away at the back is a CD of chamber and keyboard music that includes attractive pieces by less well-known figures such as Gasparini and Laurenti, as well as Vivaldi and Albinoni. Where to shelve the package may be an issue for some, as it is significantly larger than a standard CD case but significantly smaller than any book I currently have within reach.

The recording was made in a Swiss church that boasts a 1786 organ and we hear this both as a soloist and used for the continuo – sometimes without a melodic instrument on the bass line. (In fact, we hear all three players together only in the opening and closing works.) This is a welcome and effective sonority, not least because the organ sound is so much richer than the ‘continuo boxes’ we usually encounter. The cello sonata by Benedetto Marcello, with organ only, is lovely and a further cello sonata (Vivaldi) with harpsichord only is also effective.

One small presentational issue clouds what is overwhelmingly a sunny musical picture. Here and there the gaps between movements and/or works feel slightly uncomfortable in their length. In a live context, this matter cannot always be artist-led, of course, but on CD .  .?

I will leave comment on the literary merits of the story to those more qualified, but I certainly enjoyed its musical complement.

David Hansell

Categories
Recording

Jesu meine Freude

CD cover Jesu meine Freude MDG Gold

Ensemble BachWerkVokal, Gordon Safari
65:35
MDG Gold 923 2207-6

Click HERE to buy this at amazon.co.uk
[These sponsored links help the site remain alive and FREE!]

The neat concept behind this recording is both fascinating and attractive, drawing together works inspired that take their cue from the famous hymn, and observing how it ripples through time and the various composer’s works, thus delivering a stylistic overview. The CD is book-ended with Telemann’s offering from his “French Cycle” (the 1714/15 Neumeister variant)* and the wonderfully crafted setting by Johnn Ludwig Krebs. In between, we have the translucent motets of Johann Friedrich Doles and Johann Sebastian Bach, for four and five voices respectively. Within the limited accompaniment of these motets, we get some subtle variations, which feel just right, and the vocal lines are intimate and radiant, pert and clipped at the right time. The Doles variant of this famous Johann Frank hymn applies some slick touches of drama that stand out and impress. The Bach version (BWV227) is filtered through his great musical mind for some more conventional motet writing, and then delivers the goods with clever contrapuntal vocal threads, never losing sight of the hymn itself. One word of warning, though: no translation into English of these works, so swim well those who can – no life-jackets are supplied!

The opening Telemann cantata (TVWV 1:966) offers many attractions in its nine movements: the opening aria, Geht ihr heissen Seufzer… Klopfet… features four recorders “knocking” with soprano Electra Lochhead in full flow, hits the mark, and captivates. Before the final chorale, there is further descriptive writing in another stand-out aria: Schlage bald, gewünschte Stunde, with a mesmeric bell-motif. Listening blind, many might easily mistake the fine setting by Krebs (KWV110) for a lost JSB piece. It is tightly and neatly woven music with two sprightly oboes capturing the radiant hymnal theme. It is fascinating to hear the Krebs variant take on Schlage bald, geliebte Stunde!, here sung with great skill by the agile soprano Zsófia Szabó. Indeed, the singing from BachWerkVokal Salzburg throughout the disc is a rare delight, picking out the finery and drama, especially in the exposed intimacy of the motets.

This gathering of noteworthy works based on Johann Frank’s hymn displays various forms and styles in a way that cleverly reveals the development of musical styles over time. It is an innovative concept that the group under Gordon Safari has previously applied to “Singet dem Herrn”. A successful CD wrapped in MDG’s golden sound, it is also the first recording of the Telemann work, possibly also of the Doles and Krebs.

David Bellinger

* The complete recording of Telemann’s French Cycle will start on cpo in the Autumn.

Categories
Recording

Schubert: Piano Trio No. 2, Arpeggione Sonata

CD cover Schubert Piano Trio no 2 Arpeggione sonata Hobarth Rudin Häkkinen

Erich Höbarth violin, Alexander Rudin arpeggione/cello and Aapo Häkkinen Graf fortepiano
79:55
Naxos 8.573884

Click HERE to buy this on amazon.co.uk
[These sponsored links help the site remain alive and FREE!]

Arguably the main talking point here is Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata in A minor, D 821 played on the instrument for which it was written in 1824. The arpeggione, a kind of bowed guitar with frets and six strings, had been invented only around a year earlier by one of the principal Viennese luthiers, Johann Georg Stauffer. It would enjoy a brief existence, its only noted performer being Vincenz Schuster, a guitarist who was a regular performer at the domestic concerts given by Schubert and his friends. Today the work is usually played on the cello, or, less frequently the viola, but given the greater compass of the arpeggione, it requires transposition and has been adapted for all manner of instruments, not to mention turned into a concerto. Schubert scholars tend to be rather snooty about it, but it is an affable, engaging and substantial piece in three movements, a playful Allegro moderato with a development section that builds a fair degree of tension, a song-like Adagio with some typically felicitous modulations and a good-humoured final Allegretto that sets out as an animated dialogue between the two instruments.

The performance is excellent. The arpeggione sounds (at least here) a little like a cross between a cello and a viol, but the upper register has a distinctive wiry sonority. It blends well with the fortepiano, a Viennese instrument built by Conrad Graf in 1827, the year of the E flat Piano Trio, and just a year before Schubert’s death. It would have been good to have been given more detail on it, for it is an instrument of exceptional tonal beauty, with a silvery top register capable of the most delicate scalic passagework and arpeggiations, but also a strong, firmly rounded bass, as the Finnish harpsichordist and fortepianist Aapo Häkkinen demonstrates throughout both works.

The Piano Trio No 2 in E flat, D 929, is of course one of the great products of Schubert’s last year, a massive four-movement work rich in all that is valued in the composer. The strong opening announcement of the Allegro sets out the stall with striking effect. This, Schubert seems to be saying, is going to be something impressive and of expansive breadth. Yet he is quickly into more lyrical territory with the cello’s statement and the movement will ebb and flow between moments of dramatic tension and flowing lyricism, all splendidly captured here by Erich Höbarth, Alexander Rudin and Häkkinen. Listen, for example, to the beguiling lyrical warmth of the secondary idea. A similarly treasurable moment comes at the same point in the succeeding Andante con moto, and again shortly afterwards with the keyboard’s arpeggiations, a passage marked con Pedale, appassionato, where Häkkinen conjures pure magic from the Graf. But throughout these are performances of the highest calibre, performances that given the bargain Naxos price tag should be snapped up without delay.

Brian Robins

Categories
Recording

Georg Philipp Telemann: Easter Cantatas

CD cover Telemann Easter Cantatas Willens Kölner Akademie

Johanna Winkel, Margot Oitzinger, Georg Poplutz, Peter Kooij, Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens
71:40
cpo 555 425-2

Click HERE to buy this on amazon.co.uk
[These sponsored links help the site remain alive and FREE!]

This label appears to be on a mission to explore the many varied facets of this prolific baroque master’s oeuvre, and here we have a fine selection of cantatas for Eastertide from some rather lesser-known cycles, notably the Lingen II and the “Cycle without Recitative”. There is also a work from the Brussels holdings which might just be in borrowed plumage of another’s colours or a “Cuckoo’s egg” in the nest as Prof. W. Hirschmann’s booklet note puts it. Hermann Ulrich von Lingen was court secretary in Eisenach; the first cycle was conceived in Hamburg 1722/23, the second in 1728/29. The show piece here is TVWV 1:1424, Triumph! ihr Frommen freuet euch, opening with a very fine Sinfonia for trumpets and drums, moving through some really resplendent and effective movements, concluding with two splendid choruses and a chorale. The triumphant sheen of Eastertide victory is delivered with extremely accomplished playing and singing. The CD opens with much more modest forces (two violins, viola and continuo*) which provide ample contrast from sepulchral textures to befittingly lively passages as per the text: Ich war tot und siehe, ich bin lebendig! [I was dead, and behold, I am alive!] The chorales here feel a tad rushed to my ear. Now to the possible cuckoo, Er ist auferstanden TVWV1:460. While it has some quite nice features, it is not as finely woven; it feels rather terse in expression and ends abruptly with the chorale, Nun danket alle Gott. The two remaining works fall comfortably back into home territory with some highly expressive writing for the strings. Brannte nicht unser Herz in uns TVWV1:131 (from the “Cycle without Recitative”) cuts along with some exceptional movements: the soprano aria “Ach wie selig” is a dazzling display of Johanna Winkel’s talent. The other soloists deliver cogent and most deft performances, notably Georg Poplutz, whose diction is amazing (just listen to track 30). Verlass doch einst, o Mensch TVWV1:1470 (from the Lingen II cycle) offers much to admire, even with modest forces.* The descriptive scope inspired by the text reveals a composer both musically and spiritually aware and able. These are tremendous explorations of lesser-known cycles outside the “Telegentzia”, and there’s plenty more where these came from. How some of these facets do truly sparkle!

David Bellinger

Categories
Recording

Handel: Messiah

CD cover Pentatone Handel Messiah Justin Doyle RIAS

Julia Doyle, Tim Mead, Thomas Hobbs, Roderick Williams, RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Justin Doyle
134:30 (2 CDs)
Pentatone PTC 5186 853

Click HERE to buy this on amazon.co.uk
[These sponsored links help the site remain alive and FREE!]

This is a beautifully crisp and clear account of the iconic Dublin 1742 Messiah with a fine period-instrument ensemble in the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, a fine choir in the RIAS Kammerchor and a stellar line-up of soloists and a sensitive and conductor. The pacing of the music is to my mind perfect, the English soloists decorate their da capos with imagination and authenticity, the smallish orchestral forces are seriously impressive (I love the inclusion of a lute in the continuo section and a contrabassoon in the orchestra, but would like to have read some sort of justification) and the choir sing with exemplary definition and clarity. So what is not to like? Well, let me tell you – inexplicably the entire programme note consists of a spurious and frankly silly dialogue between Handel (‘Freddie’) and his librettist, Jennings. I have to admit to hating the trend towards programme notes as dialogues between conductor and expert, or among performers, but surely a makey-uppy chat between composer and librettist featuring the phrase ‘Gladly. But after that we’ll keep arguing. Deal, Freddie?’ strikes an all-time low. Whose appalling idea was this? This shocker is compounded by the disrespect of including no biographical details about the soloists or the conductor – the ubiquitous and superb Roddy Williams requires no introduction, but the others do, and it is a great shame that they are denied the profile they deserve. I would suggest that you buy this recording, whose virtues are many, and particularly that you google the soloists and conductor, but please tear out the fortunately easily detachable programme note and throw it away before it annoys you as much as it did me!

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Sacred Treasures of Spain

CD cover London Oratory Sacred Treasures of Spain

Sacred Motets from the Golden Age of Spanish Polyphony
The London Oratory Schola Cantorum, Charles Cole
69:49
hyperion CDA68359

Click HERE to buy this on amazon.co.uk
[These sponsored links help the site remain alive and FREE!]

This CD provides a lovely cross-section of choral music from Renaissance Spain, combining some very familiar works by Victoria and Guerrero with some perhaps less widely known repertoire by Vivanco, Ribera, Robledo and Esquivel. The male voices of the Schola Cantorum, ably directed by Charles Cole, sing with a high degree of focus and expression, giving powerful readings of this superb repertoire. A major factor in the recording is the very large and resonant acoustic of the recording venue, St Albans Church, Holborn, which more or less dictates sedate tempi and encourages a degree of unhurried ‘lingering’. I have to say that I was in no way averse to this, feeling that it brings out the full magnificence of these motets, but the absence of any ‘rapid’ passages does give the CD something of a two-dimensional quality, and even a slightly dated feel. I seem to remember that the London Oratory has an equally rich acoustic, and it is clear that the singers feel very at home with this degree of resonance. Certainly, Charles Cole never allows the music to wallow, and the performances are never less than dynamic and expressive. The choir has a wonderfully stable sound, with admirable intonation throughout as well as impeccable balance and blend.

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Boccherini: Complete Flute Quintets

CD cover of Boccherini Flute Quintets

Rafael Ruibérriz de Torres, Francisco de Goya String Quartet
158:29 (3 CDs)
Brilliant Classics 96074

Click HERE to buy this on amazon.co.uk
[These sponsored links help the site remain alive and FREE!]

Luigi Boccherini composed three sets of six flute quintets – namely his opera 17, 19 and 55 – the two earliest sets in 1773 and 1774, just after his appointment as chamber musician to Prince Luis Antonio de Bourbón in Spain. The two early sets, the product of a thirty-year-old composer, have a delightful freshness and individuality to them, with the flute playing the ensemble role of a primus inter pares rather than dominating the texture with virtuosity. The nevertheless demanding flute writing suggests the presence in the royal circle of a player of considerable technical and musical ability, but sadly he or she has not as yet been identified. Boccherini’s reputation (in my opinion undeserved) as a composer of slight and often superficial music is belied but this constantly imaginative and beautifully crafted music, which is played with enormous flair on period instruments by flautist Rafael Ruibérriz de Torres with the  Francisco de Goya String Quartet. There is a wonderful sense of ensemble, as well as a witty and fruitful interaction among the players, bringing out the full charm and elegance of Boccherini’s music. Twenty-five years later, inspired by the flautist Gaspar Barli Boccherini returned to the flute quartet, composing his opus 55 set in 1797. What a lot has changed since the earlier sets! Boccherini has made the subtle but significant stylistic move from galant to classical, while he has fully embraced his adopted Spanish heritage, including no fewer than three fandangos in the set, as well as adopting a notably folk-related idiom elsewhere. He is also less coy about letting individual instruments, most notably the flute and his own cello, step out of the more homogenous textures into the spotlight. The result is music that sounds much more profound and rhetorically powerful, and the performers rise magnificently to the challenge with highly eloquent performances. Recorded in two dramatically contrasting venues (namely a church and a recording studio), the Brilliant engineers do a very fine job in creating the same lively and sympathetic acoustic for all three CDs, and the tone of the period strings and Signor de Torres’ Wenner copy of an 18th-century Grenser flute is captured extremely vividly. This is a delightful set of recordings, adding valuably to our impressions of Boccherini as a composer of imagination and substance.

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Forqueray Unchained

CD cover of Forqueray Unchained Lislevand

André Lislevand, Jadran Duncumb, Paola Erdas, feat. Rolf Lislevand
61:49
Arcana A486

Click HERE to buy this on amazon.co.uk
[These sponsored links help the site remain alive and FREE!]

I’ve been hoping for some Forqueray (who was born in 1671) in this anniversary year and here we have three artist-compiled suites in which his music is predominant, but complemented by selections from the work of Marin Marais, Robert de Visée, and Louis Couperin. The gamba is mostly accompanied by theorbo, though occasionally (and unnecessarily) also by harpsichord. I did, however, enjoy the keyboard’s rich solo – Couperin’s Passacaille.

Forqueray’s demands on his interpreters are considerable, but André Lislevand is absolutely on top of his game and not afraid to explore the extremes of his instrument’s aesthetic world though without ever losing touch with le bon goût. From time to time he is perhaps a little too gentle compared with the more incisive theorbo, though it might be, of course, that the latter needed to curb his enthusiasm in places. But theirs is an audibly happy collaboration and the actual programme is excellently conceived.

The booklet (in English, French, and Italian) contains the usual biographies and three short essays which, as seems to be the current fashion, give us the music’s context but say little specific about its content, though this would surely be welcomed by anyone new to the repertoire.

David Hansell

Categories
Recording

Couperin: Leçons de ténèbres

CD cover Couperin Leçons de ténèbres Versailles

Sophie Junker, Florie Valiquette, Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal, Stéphane Fuget
53:03
Château de Versailles Spectacles CVS034

Click HERE to buy this on amazon.co.uk
[These sponsored links help the site remain alive and FREE!]

I usually end with a few comments on the booklet of the releases I review for EMR, but here I’m going to start with it. It’s odd! The essays (in French, English, and German) are a very general survey of ornamentation practice in France and an equally all-purpose biography of Couperin which devotes just half a dozen lines to the recorded repertoire. And the Lalande Cantique, the second-longest item in the programme, is not mentioned anywhere. At least the sung texts are translated into all the languages used elsewhere.

I’m sure that EMR readers will be aware of this brilliant music, and the equally brilliant recording by Emma Kirkby and colleagues. For me, that remains the benchmark for its purity of line and overall ability to let Couperin’s music speak to us directly. Here, I find I am over-aware of the performers: the singers just try too hard, and this leads to the upper voice dominating the duet sections. Also distracting are the changes of continuo sonority within a piece. Couperin does suggest both harpsichord and organ as possibilities but I doubt that he imagined this alternation.

It was brave of the ladies to programme the Easter motet Victoria as Emma and co. did. I’m afraid they don’t really come up to the mark, with a lack of clarity in the coloratura sections and some very clipped phrasing. And the balance in the duet sections is not good – again the higher voice dominates.

Overall, therefore, this has to go down as a disappointing release from a source that usually offers more joys.

David Hansell

 

Categories
Recording

La Famille Rameau

CD cover of La famille Rameau Justin Taylor

Justin Taylor harpsichord & piano
78:41
Alpha Classics Alpha 721

Click HERE to buy this on amazon.co.uk
[These sponsored links help the site remain alive and FREE!]

Justin Taylor’s La Famille Forqueray now has a sequel of the highest standard. This programme includes a number of Jean-Philippe’s more popular pieces and music by one of his sons, his younger brother and a nephew. In addition there are two tributes: a set of variations on Les sauvages by J-F Tapray and (pause for fanfare and drumroll) Debussy’s Hommage à Rameau. This is played on a lovely 1891 Erard piano, a worthy complement to the fine double-manual harpsichord attributed to Donzelague used for the bulk of the programme.

Such splendid instruments deserve splendid playing and from the multiple-award-winning Justin Taylor they certainly get it. He is not afraid to go his own way with the ‘standards’ (though I did find his tempo for J-PR’s famous gavotte a little ponderous, even if the variations did not disappoint) and unfamiliar repertoire has been well chosen and thoroughly prepared.

Taylor also wrote the contextualising essay (the booklet is in French, English and German) though I doubt that it was his decision to print his biography as a page all in upper case type! This looks quite bizarre and is actually difficult to read.

But the playing and programme are tremendous. Treat yourself!

David Hansell