Category: Recording

Vincent Lauzer recorders, Arion Orchestre Baroque, dir. Alexander Weimann
65:12
ATMA ACD2 2760

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]ancy a glide down the Grand Canal with some wonderful Venetian sunshine glinting off the water in shimmering reflections, then this marvellous recording will not disappoint; even the familiar works are played with poise and fine articulation without any blistering speeds that boggle the mind and defy one’s ears, or vice versa! The impeccable balance between the soloist and superbly responsive orchestra is felt at every step, along with the unforced excellence in capturing Vivaldi’s splendid virtuosic contours for both alto and sopranino recorders. The concerto transposed in F (Track 9-11) RV312R is an arrangement of the G major Violin concerto RV312 by Jean Cassignol, and it works especially well, so too the wonderfully atmospheric “La Notte” on alto recorder, which loses nothing of that spectral feel. It is particularly pleasing to have these works gathered together for comparison and variation. RV441 (circa 1728) is a real tour de force  with unfurling ritornelli and incredibly challenging solo passages, which can go easily astray or be over-played! RV442 in F major written a little earlier, between 1724-1729, the later date reflecting the date of publication of the closely related RV434 (with Largo e cantabile  in G minor), the fifth work from the Op. 10 set of concerti, finds a more tender, subdued mood, again beautifully captured by the mellifluence of soloist Vincent Lauzer, and the closely supportive Arion orchestre baroque; the recorded sound is as radiant as the music… bathing in that bright Venetian sunshine!

David Bellinger

Jadran Duncumb baroque lute
57:19
Audax Records ADX13713

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]or his first solo CD Jadran Duncumb has recorded music by Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783) and Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687-1750), composers who were good friends, and worked together as musicians in Dresden. Tracks 1-2 are from a manuscript (Leipzig, Musikbibliothek der Stadt, Becker III.11.46b) of four keyboard sonatas by Hasse intabulated for the lute (https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/198727/6/0/): “IV Suonate di Hasse accommodate per il Liuto fatte per La Real Delfina di Francia”. The dedicatee was Maria Josepha of Saxony, daughter of Frederick Augustus II, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. In 1747 she married the French Dauphin Louis Ferdinand and became mother to three kings of France: Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X. The original keyboard setting for some of the sonatas is given towards the end of the manuscript, but there is none for the fourth Sonata, the one recorded as a world premiere by Jadran Duncumb. However, the keyboard setting can be found on IMSLP (search for “Hasse, Johann Adolf” and “2 Sonate da camera per cembalo solo”). Duncomb sticks closely to the 18th-century intabulation for the Allegretto, adding his own tasteful decorations for repeated sections, which includes re-instating two answering phrases in the bass, which the intabulator had omitted to make the piece easier to play. Duncumb re-instates much that was left out of the Allegro, in particular pairs of thirds, turning it into a particularly difficult piece, which he plays with panache. Maria Josepha would have been impressed.

Tracks 10-12 are another keyboard sonata by Hasse in an arrangement for baroque lute. Both settings are in the same manuscript, Becker III.11.46c. The arranger intabulates the melody down an octave, which takes it as low as the 7th course on the lute. Many of the bass notes are intabulated down an octave too, resulting in a low tessitura, with the low, unstopped diapasons very much in evidence. Duncumb does well to maintain clarity at this end of the lute’s range, but he cannot prevent long open strings ringing on, muddying the water, particularly in fast passages. (A little Blu-Tack on the strings at the bridge might have helped.) Triplet semiquavers race effortlessly up and down the neck, and there are pleasing contrasts of loud and soft passages. His Allegro is spot on – fast, exciting, with lots of impetus to please a foot-tapping audience, yet far from mechanical, with subtle give and take between delicate well-shaped phrases, and somehow he manages to squeeze in some slick ornaments. Towards the end are three extraordinary bars of arpeggiated demisemiquavers, followed by a final flourish to top f”. As with all treble notes, the 18th-century arranger intabulates these last notes down an octave, but Duncumb will have none of it. He restores the original keyboard pitch, and shoots up to the 12th fret of his lute, where he waits with a dramatic pause before descending for the final cadence. It is a stunning performance. The Moderato is characterised by a succession of Scottish snaps, some of which he converts into triplets, together with a variety of extra notes, ornaments and fast little runs, to enhance the repeats. The Presto proceeds at a good pace, although at that speed many of the low, unstopped strings are a blur.

There are three items by Silvius Leopold Weiss. The first is the Sonata in D minor (SW35), noticeably different in texture from the Hasse pieces, because it was composed for the lute, not adapted from keyboard music. There is a welcome freshness and clarity of line, enhanced by Duncumb’s 13-course lute built by Tony Johnson, as Weiss exploits the full range of the instrument. This Sonata is one of Weiss’s mature works, with some extraordinary shifts of harmony in the Allemande, Adagio, followed by a lengthy Courante. it is a fine Sonata full of surprises and imaginative changes of direction. Duncumb gives the final Allegro the passion of Beethoven at his fieriest. The other Weiss pieces are the well-known Passacaglia in D major (SW 18/6) and the Prelude in C minor (SW 27/1). The latter is listed correctly in the liner notes, but incorrectly on the back cover.
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Unfortunately there is a downside to this recording. I admire Duncumb’s skill, his impeccable technique, and his mature understanding of the music he plays. He really is a fine player, playing with sensitivity and vitality, yet his performance is marred by his loud, heavy breathing. Even before the first note sounds, he starts frantically gasping for air as if he were in danger of drowning, and the noise continues unabated up to the last note. When the music is over, the gasping stops, and he returns to normal. I don’t suppose he gasps like that when he plays football, so why do it playing the lute? It is an unwelcome distraction, and I sincerely hope he can do something to curtail it.

Stewart McCoy

The Gonzaga Band
Resonus RES 10218
68:27
Music by Carrone, Castello, Donati, Grandi, Biagio Marini, Monteverdi, Pesenti, Rè, Schütz & Tarditi

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a splendid CD exploring the annus mirabilis*nbsp; of 1629 in Venice, when Schütz made a second visit when his Symphoniae Sacrae I  were published there. But his was not the only publication in Venice that year, and this programme of music published there in 1629 was prepared by Jamie Savan and is performed by the talented musicians of the Gonzaga Band under his direction.

There are three reasons why it is so good: chiefly because of the exquisite singing of Faye Newton, the soprano, whose resonant yet crystal clear voice is just right for projecting the words as well as balancing the instruments – both cornetto and violin – perfectly; partly because the pieces chosen are all for treble instruments (cornetti and violins) and soprano with organ or harpsichord, and that brings an immediate clarity to the textures; and partly because the performances have an energy and vitality that frequently escapes the serious and worthy attempts at perfection which so often involve many takes and much editorial snipping and piecing. This CD, recorded in the generous acoustics of the chapel in Oscott, feels spontaneous, musical and is a pleasure to listen to from beginning to end.

There is one piece by Monteverdi, the towering genius of the period, but most are by his contemporaries: Schütz, Marini, Grandi, Pesenti and Castello, and then a number of less familiar names – Tarditi, Carrone, Donati and Rè. Motets for a single voice are mingled with canzonas and sonatas for several instruments, and some motets have rich instrumental textures weaving around the vocal line. These are a particular delight.

Schütz’s later settings reflect the changed world he found since his earlier visit. The large-scale polychoral splendours of Giovanni Gabrieli that he had imitated then in his Psalmen Davids  were no longer fashionable. It was the smaller scaled chamber works like the motets of Alessandro Grandi, scored for a single voice and a couple of treble instruments, that were the model he took back to the court at a Dresden in the middle of the Thirty Years’ War. More typically Italian are the sonatas by the virtuoso wind player Dario Castello – his Sonata decima settima, in ecco  (the final track) is an exquisite tour de force.

The notes by Jamie Savan set the context of 1629 and are full of historical interest, and the Resonus website has an even fuller version with footnotes and references. The instruments and their makers are listed, and there is a substantial section on how the digital Hauptwerk organ, using pipework sampled from the organ in St Mario d’Alieto in Izola on the Adriatic coast of Slovenia, was set up. The original sources of the music are given as well as the editors of the pieces chosen. The Latin texts and their English translations are in the centre of the liner notes: this detailed information is a model of good practice.

But this CD would be a treat even if the whole apparatus that surrounds the recording has been less satisfactory: it is top of the range in every respect.

David Stancliffe

Ensemble Masques, Olivier Fortin; Vox Luminis, Lionel Menier
85:17
Alpha Classics ALPHA 287
BuxWV10, 34, 41, 60, 62, 255, 267, 272

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his latest CD from Vox Luminis indicates the attractiveness of their style. The winsome group Ensemble Masques directed by Olivier Fortin shares the disc’s title billing on equal term with Lionel Meunier and Vox Luminis: they are partners, not accompanists. This indicates how the quality of ensemble for which Vox Luminis is so justly renowned is achieved: there are no maestros or prima donnas in these performances, only first-rate musicians whose supreme gift is the ability to listen – to listen to each other and to the composer. It is Buxtehude who is centre stage.

This CD has five vocal works interspersed with three trio sonatas for slightly unusual combinations of instruments and illustrates the variety of Buxtehude’s music that might have been heard at his Abendmusiken – the evening concerts which he established in the Marienkirche in Lübeck, held in the extended season of Advent.

The vocal works range from a substantial setting of Gott hilf mir, a section of Psalm 69 (perhaps the model for J. S. Bach’s Aus der Tiefe, BWV 131) via a simple evening prayer setting Befiehl dem Engel with its pre-echos of Bach’s BWV 150 to an extended cantata on the chorale, Jesu, meine Freude. Herzlich lieb hab ich dich  is a developed chorale setting while Jesu, meines Lebens Leben  is set as a ciacona after an instrumental sinfonia that includes a recorder that largely doubles the first violin as well as the five-part string group. These vocal pieces move from the arioso passages for single voice through small vocal ensembles to a ten-voice ensemble, letting us marvel at the quality and blendability of the individual voices, whether combined with strings of sustaining a single line.

In the instrumental sonatas, the texture of the gamba with the violin makes an interesting sonority when much of the music is in canonic imitation, especially in the extended ciacona-type movements as in the Bb trio’s opening section (track 16), preparing us for Jesu, meines Lebens Leben.

In these performances, the clarity of each line – vocal and instrumental – is beautifully balanced with the sonority of the whole sound. The feeling of the darkened, expectant church full of listeners waiting for the revelation, for deliverance from the present gloom is palpable. As they attend to each others lines, the singers and players alike manage to convey a palpable sense of urgency. There are the underlying models for what was to become some of J. S. Bach’s earliest cantatas, but I was chiefly struck by how pervasive the ciacona model is – vocally and instrumentally – where the quiet insistence on the repeated motif in the bass line forms the bedrock for the ever more frenetic and insistent lines above. How powerful this is, and how much of the fine music of this period depends on this. I was sent back not only to Johann Christoph Bach’s Meine Freundin, du bist schön  from the Altbachisches Archiv and to the concluding ciacona in BWV 150, Meine Tage in dem Leide  but also to Buxtehude’s ciaconas for the organ and to the great Passacaglia in C minor by Bach.

This is a fine, atmospheric CD and would serve as a splendid introduction to anyone who thinks of Buxtehude simply as the father or the North German school of organists. There is a wealth of choral music there, which many people hardly know and these are alpha class performances.

David Stancliffe