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Haydn: Die Schöpfung

Antonini directs Haydn's Die Schöpfung as part of Haydn 2032

Anna Lucia Richter, Maximilian Schmitt, Florian Boesch, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini
Haydn 2032
100:08 (2 CDs in a card triptych)
Alpha Classics Alpha 567

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No one following Giovanni Antonini’s challenging on-going cycle of Haydn’s symphonies is likely to be surprised by this questioning, deeply moving and exhilarating performance of The Creation, recorded live in Munich in May 2019. At the outset, the Representation of Chaos is notable not only for its evocation of profound, unfathomable mystery – initially near inaudible – but on a musical level the ear is conscious of near-perfect orchestral balance. Grinding lower strings remind of an unruly cosmos in dire need of the sense of order finally achieved by the chorus’s monumental outburst ‘es ward Licht’ (there was light).

The whole of this vividly theatrical opening sequence sets the scene for what follows, a performance in which an outstanding solo trio, fully committed choral forces and magnificent orchestral playing coalesce to produce an utterly compelling experience. The ever-shifting focus is already apparent in Uriel’s ‘Nun schwanden’, a description of the order achieved on the first day, handled by Antonini with a delicious lightness of touch. We have moved in a trice to the world of Die Zauberflöte (which will return even more strikingly in Uriel’s ‘Aus Rosenwolken’ [In rosy mantle]) at the start of Part 3). Like all Uriel’s music, it is sung with real musical insight and keen attention to text by Maximillian Schmitt, a light lyric tenor with a fast vibrato that can occasionally be a little disconcerting. The descriptive narrative of the division of earth into land and sea, of winds, of storms, or rain, snow and ‘dreary wasteful hail’ falls largely to Raphael, the outstanding baritone Florian Boesch. As befits one of today’s leading Lieder singers, Boesch proves not only to be an outstanding storyteller but equally the possessor of a voice of real intrinsic beauty and variegated colour. To hear that at its most ravishing, it is necessary to turn only as far as the final lines of the aria ‘Rollen in schäumenden Wellen’ (Rolling in foaming billows), where Boesch’s exquisite mezza voce evokes the ‘soft purling’ of ‘limpid brooks’ in one of many magical moments. At the end of the wonderful mimetic accompanied recitative ‘Gleich öffnet’, his outstanding technique becomes merged with humour, with a firm and totally secure low G# as the worm traces its ‘sinuous way’, a moment that brings a barely registered but none the less audible smile from the Munich audience.

An equally beguiling touch of subtle vocal humour, this time tinged with irony, comes in Part 3 as Eve promises her Adam that ‘his will is law to her’.  Anna Lucia Richter is another of the glories of the performance, a soprano possessed not only of a voice that soars with glorious freedom and vernal freshness but owns to a complete technique in which embellishments, including a finely articulated trill, are perfectly turned and judged. Gabriel’s ‘Auf starken Fittige’ (On mighty pens’) is a joyously confident experience in which the tenderness of the second part of the aria is expressed with dewy-eyed sweetness, the singer happy to indulge the conductor’s playful bending of tempo. Like others of Antonini’s indulgences, it’s a dangerous moment, but it works. Yet moments later Antonini has captured all the dignified nobility of Raphael’s quotation of God’s words, ‘Be fruitful all, and multiply’, the momentous command underscored by imperious divided string basses.

It is that kind of all-encompassing performance. I have no idea whether Antonini is exercised by the naivety some perceive in The Creation. If he is, he doesn’t for one moment betray any such concern. It is his inspiring direction, his multi-faceted conception of a work that runs a gamut from ultimate grandeur to near child-like wonder, that has produced this spellbinding, life-enhancing testament.

Brian Robins         

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Recording

Pisendel: Neue Sonaten

Lupianez plays newly identified sonatas by Pisendel

Scaramuccia
59:14
Snakewood SCD202001

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Through the meticulous and studious investigation, plus careful comparative studies of some formerly unattributed violin sonatas from Dresden’s Schrank II, now found at the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats -und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden, the astute director and violinist, Javier Lupiañez of Scaramuccia, has drawn on previously known works to build a convincing case for Pisendel’s authorship of these delightful “new sonatas”. The displays of ornamentation are drawn from those indicated by Pisendel, and Javier’s own inspired applications which seem perfectly placed within this frame. One can hear why Telemann was so enamoured by Pisendel’s obvious and fluent skills; indeed, I’d venture that emulation in some works by the former from the musical impetus of the latter’s abilities seem very clear. Excellent, too, to also have Telemann’s poetic memento mori (Published by J. A. Hiller, Leipzig 1766) reproduced in its original German (p. 14) with English translation (p. 18) from which we can glean a real personal sense of wonder and keen admiration: (3rd stanza) “Raised in Music’s bosom, surpassing great masters, and by quill, finger and bow, becoming their leader.” The fine 1682 violin (on loan) sails through these sprightly and wonderfully shaped sonatas with a blend of warm, melodious invention and applied virtuosity. A lovely, well-crafted yet anonymous D-major harpsichord sonata provides both a break and bridge before regaining the trail of these so-termed “Neue Sonaten” with the A-minor and concluding G-major works. The CD notes give some lucid insights into the approach to performance (p. 23). The final Allegro en Rondeau (Track 20) had in the draft manuscript ten different themes by Pisendel! The cadenza just before the last theme in the first movement of the A-minor piece is original Pisendel.

This is a fine new “clutch” of pieces by the Dresden-based master, displaying his own prowess and engaging style which encompasses that high-flown Italianate and a warm lyricism, the latter most often found in the heartfelt, slower movements. When baroque music is so convincingly and attractively presented it is hard to resist the charms and delights which begin with the booklet cover details of the delicate Chinese porcelain designs for a service made in the 1730s for the Dresden ruler. Images of dragon and phoenix together were traditionally used at marriages; here the marriage of Scaramuccia and Pisendel, a felicitous meeting worthy of attention and sincere accolades.

David Bellinger

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Recording

D’Astorga & Lalli: Cantatas · Sonatas

Les Abbagliati perform chamber music by D'Astorga and Lalli

Les Abbagliati
58:56
Ramée RAM1907
+G. Bononcini, Handel, Vivaldi

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The notes for this issue (by Ronan Kernoa, the cellist of the Belgian ensemble Les Abbagliata) open with a bizarre hypothetical account of an evening meeting in June 1731 of Bologna’s famous Accademia degli Invaghiti. Involved are Handel, the librettist Domenico Lalli and latter’s friend the Sicilian-born Baron d’Astorga (Gioacchino Cesare Rincòn), diplomat and composer. Given that Handel was in London in the summer of 1731 – he was involved with the revival of Acis and Galatea – that Lalli was at the time in the service of the Elector of Bavaria and that d’Astorga’s whereabouts at the time are unknown, the conceit seems rather pointlessly far-fetched, serving no purpose other than that of linking D’Astorga and Lalli to Handel.

Lalli and d’Astorga, exiled from Sicily in 1711, had met in Rome, thereafter pursuing flamboyant (and flamboyantly exaggerated) adventures across Italy and Spain. Whether or not Lalli was the author of the texts of the two cantatas by D’Astorga included here is unclear, though given their friendship it must be a reasonable supposition.  Both follow the format of alternation of aria and recitative while conforming to the expected pastoral take on topics relating to the vicissitudes of love. Neither strike me as especially memorable, rather confirming Burney’s view that the cantatas of D’Astorga that he’d encountered, ‘did not fulfil the expectations excited by his high character and the composition of his elegant and refined Stabat Mater’ (D’Astorga’s best-known work). Certainly they fail to match the melodic invention or charm of Bononcini’s ‘Sento dentro del petto’, the third cantata on the CD, which is occupied with happier aspects of love. All three cantatas come from a volume found in the Austrian National Library in Vienna. They are sung by Les Abbagliati’s soprano Soetkin Elbers with warmth and a winning freshness. However although it is evident she has taken care with the texts, Elbers’s Italian enunciation is not sufficiently clearly articulated to point them in the way a native Italian might have been expected to do. Her ornamentation is discreet to the point of reticence and embellishments are too often tentatively approached.

The instrumental works further the tenuous connections the CD is so keen to cultivate in that they are by composers that all set librettos of Lalli, though in the case of Handel’s four-movement Concerto a quattro in D minor there is a rival bid for authorship in the shape of Telemann (TWV 43/d3). Scored for flute, violin, cello and harpsichord, it’s an agreeable work with a spirited final Allegro that would steer me toward putting my money on Telemann. After an over-deliberate opening Adagio with heavily accentuated rhythms, the performance is fine. Indisputable Handel comes in the shape of his Trio Sonata in D minor (HWV 386b), a splendid work made memorable by its exquisitely lovely Largo (iii) based on an aria of Keiser’s. Again the opening Andante comes across as a little studied, but otherwise the performance is well-balanced and capably played, as are the briefer offerings by Vivaldi, Handel and Alessandro Scarlatti.

Brian Robins

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Recording

J. S. Bach: Trios pour clavier et violon

CD cover Encelade Bach trios for violin and organ

Odile Edouard violin & Freddy Eichelberger organ
162:15 3 CDs
Encelade ECL 1704

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An unexpected photo of the Railway Station in Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia, forms the cover of this well-presented 3CD recording of Bach entitled Trios pour clavier et violon. The three CDs are recorded using a different organ for each to which a different violin could be matched. Great care has been taken to find suitable organs built in the Thuringian style, though since most of the historic instruments are at Chörton (A=466hz) or higher, all three organs chosen for this project are all recent instruments at 440 or 415.

CD 1 opens with the Fantazia in C minor, BWV 562, played at A=440 on the 1997 organ by Denis Londe in Saint-Louis de Saint Étienne, after Silbermann, and chorale preludes in appropriate keys intersperse the violin works. The second organ (in the Temple de Boudry in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland) is a copy of the actual Silbermann organ in Großhartmansdorf, and the third is by Quentin Blumenroeder in the Temple du Foyer de l’Âme, Paris and is at A=415. Details of their specifications are given in the booklet, which is in French and English. Colour photographs of the three organs and of Edouard’s three violins – Klotz (1757), Bodart, after Stainer (2012) and Hofmans (c.1700) – are on the inner folds of the case.

The nine ‘violin’ sonatas recorded here are the set of six with an independent part in the keyboard’s right hand (BWV 1014-1019), plus two others that are not trios, but simply have a basso continuo (BWV 1021 and 1023 – more like an incipient suite) and BWV 1028, the D major sonata for viola da gamba, of which there is a Bach autograph for violin and keyboard. They make a good group, with their interspersed organ pieces, and are performed splendidly, given that you are happy with the keyboard instrument being an organ, not a harpsichord.

These CDs are celebrating thirty years of Edouard’s and Eichelberger’s longstanding friendship and musical partnership, much of it playing 17th century music. Edouard makes the point that the balance of voices is easier to achieve between the violin and a decent-sized gallery organ with characterful registrations than a harpsichord. The sonorities of the different instruments in the different acoustics are instructive, and have their effect on the tempi as well as the articulation.

From the outset, it is clear that this is a quintessentially French style of playing: the inégales of the opening quavers of the Fantasia are splendidly extreme. And as the C minor sonata begins, it becomes clear that the difference between the string sound and the organ is more pronounced in the slower movements where the warmer string sound with its (fairly restrained vibrato) seems a very different voice, even when the right hand of the organ uses a tremulant. This difference in the way the sound is produced is less obvious in the faster movements, when a more colourful registration is possible on the organ, and the distinction between the way the notes on the organ are produced does not contrast so sharply with the bow strokes and that sense of beginning and growing into a note that is so characteristic of the violin. But by track 12, I was becoming wooed by the sounds and the overall balance. Try tracks 12 and 13 (from the F minor sonata) to judge for yourself.

CD2 takes us to Switzerland and a cleaner acoustic and here I feel the balance between the organ and the 2012 copy of a Stainer instrument is more successful. Again the organ is at 440, but here we seem to be in a more equal partnership: the quality of the individual 8’ ranks certainly helps to achieve the desired equality, and the left-hand registrations speak with amazing promptness and clarity. I especially appreciated the unhurried tempo in the Presto in the A major sonata (track 15).

In CD3 we are with the only organ of the three at 415, and immediately the powerful open principal pedal notes make their presence felt in the concerto-like opening movement of BWV1019, where the organ’s sesquialtera is a more than equal match for the violin. This trio has many similarities in its concerto-like feel with the G major organ trio sonata. This organ is certainly pretty punchy throughout this CD.

So here is a partnership of instruments that grew on me musically over the entire programme. As one who is primarily an organist, I found the choice of instruments fascinating and the playing impeccable, as you would expect. It opens a whole alternative sound-world which I hope our violinists will be keen to explore, even if the right organs will be hard to find. For my money, the Swiss copy of the Silbermann organ in Großhartmansdorf by Jean-Marie Tricoteaux provides the organ that best partners Edouard’s violin (here the Hofmans) and brings out her best playing.

David Stancliffe

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Recording

Johann Sebastian Bach: Complete sonatas for obbligato harpsichord and violin

CD cover Bach Complete sonatas Degand and Cochard

Stéphanie-Marie Degand violin and Violaine Cochard harpsichord
91:00 (2 CDs in a card folder)
NoMadMusic NNM 071

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This recording of the six ‘sonatas for obbligato harpsichord and violin’, as the duo reminds us in the brief liner notes that all the copies of these six sonatas that date from Bach day are titled, is the fruit of many years friendship and musical collaboration since the pair were students in the 1990s. The violinist is a protégé of Emanuelle Haïm, and co-founder of Le Concert d’Astrée, but also plays a wide range of more modern music. The harpsichordist is also a singer, and both their biographies in the liner notes are gushingly superlative. In spite of this, I was not altogether taken with their playing of these Bach sonatas.

They tell us how important it is to hear the right hand of the harpsichord part equally balanced with the violin, yet in the recording, the violin is overwhelmingly projected above the harpsichord, and played for my taste with an almost Brahmsian lushness. Either the engineers hadn’t taken the equality of the harpsichord seriously, choosing to regard it as simply the accompaniment of a solo, or the microphones were placed much too close to the violin. Either way, the performers should have corrected this and re-balanced the recording, as especially in the quicker movements with a lot of canonic writing like the first Allegro in the C minor sonata (CD 2.2) or of the F minor sonata (CD 2.6), the harpsichord is not just an unequal partner, it is barely audible at times.

As I grew increasingly dissatisfied, I turned again to my favourite recording of these sonatas made in 2000 by Trevor Pinnock and a youthful Rachel Podger, which is streets ahead of this one, both in balance and clarity of the part-writing and also in the musical understanding of Bach’s interweaving lines. Just compare the first two movements in the F minor sonata in the two recordings and feel the flow and direction in the long phrases from Podger and Pinnock (CD 2.9/10) through the wonderful key-changes in the first movement, where Degand and Cochard (CD 2.5/6) seem to lose their rather self-indulgent way. You really have to know where you are going when playing Bach if you are to take your listeners along with you.

The violin is by Joseph Catenari, 1710 and played with a Tourte bow; the harpsichord is by Ryo Yoshida, after a German one by Gottfried Silbermann. There is no information about temperament or tuning, nor anything about Bach’s music. For that, you need to go to Podger and Pinnock (CCS 14798) and the essay by Jonathan Freeman-Attwood.

All in all, I am sorry to say that I cannot find much to like in this version.

David Stancliffe

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Recording

Bach: The English Suites BWV806-811

CD cover of Paolo Zanzu playing Bach's English Suites on harpsichord

Paolo Zanzu harpsichord
130:40 (2 CDs)
Musica Ficta MF8032/3

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This recording of the English Suites by Paolo Zanzu, the young Italian/French harpsichordist, appears to be his debut solo Bach recording. A well-known and trusted collaborator in music projects of a wide variety, Zanzu teaches at the Brussels Conservatoire, and is the founder of Le Stagioni. He posts an impressive list of the people and groups with whom he has played and to whom he has acted as assistant director, including Bill Christie’s Les Arts Florissants, John Eliot Gardiner’s Monteverdi 450 project and the English Baroque Soloists, in the very brief liner notes in French, English and Italian.

He plays with a mature rhythmic flexibility, and I found myself warming to him the more I listened. As you might expect, his playing is not just note-perfect but carefully prepared, and the instrument is well-suited to the complex English Suites. It was built after a historic instrument of c. 1730 from the school of Gottfried Silbermann by Anthony Sidey and Frédéric Bal of Paris in 1995, with 8’ & 4’ on manual 1, and 8’ with harp and lute stops on manual 2. It is tuned at A=405hz in a Silbermann temperament.

The registration possibilities of the instrument are very distinctive. The upper manual’s 8’ is pretty uncompromising in tone, and when used with the lute (and harp?) stop in the 2nd Bourrée of the First Suite, for example, is not only extremely rustic but bordering on the unpleasant. It reminds me of the coarseness of some rustic dances in the Brueghel mode!

This is presumably intended, as the rest of the Suites swing along with that fluency and attention to the patterning of threes and fours in the groups of quavers and semi-quavers that reveal how well aware he is of the very complex interplay of rhythmic nuance that is so characteristic of Bach. This maturity only comes to a secure, established and confident player who is at ease with himself as well as with the Bach. This is an enormously musical performance of a complex work which is not as frequently recorded as it might be.

I would urge those who do not have an up-to-the-moment recording of the English Suites on a characterful instrument to consider this one, played by a real musician who knows how to stroke life out of an instrument rather than batter it into submission.

David Stancliffe

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Vivaldi: Tamerlano

Dantone conducts Vivaldi's opera Tamerlano for the naïve complete series

Bruno Taddia Bajazet, Filippo Mineccia Tamerlano, Delphine Galou Asteria, Sophie Ennert Irene, Marina De Liso Andronico, Arianna Vendittelli Idaspe, Accademia Bizantina, Ottavio Dantone
Vivaldi Edition vol. 65
155:00 (3 CDs in a box)
OP 7080

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Volume 65 of naïve’s remarkable Vivaldi integrale brings us one of the last of the complete opera’s still to be recorded. Il Tamerlano is one of Vivaldi’s later operas composed not for Venice but the historic Accademia Filharmonica of Verona, whose appointment of Vivaldi as impresario for the 1735 Carnival season resulted in two operas, Adelaide and Il Tamerlano, both probably premiered in January.

Of the now lost Adelaide, we know nothing beyond the fact its libretto is most likely by Antonio Salvi (a text set by Handel as Lotario in 1729), while Il Tamerlano is a pasticcio assembled by Vivaldi from previously composed operas of his own and those of Giacomelli (3 arias), Hasse (3) and Riccardo Broschi, Farinelli’s brother, two of whose arias were incorporated. They are all identified in the booklet, though it’s quite fun to listen first and see how many one can identify as not being by Vivaldi. One of the most remarkable to my mind is ‘Sposa son disprezzata’ (As a bride I am despised), taken from Giacomelli’s Merope (Venice, 1734). It is an aria for Irene, the woman abandoned by her fiancée Tamerlano for Asteria, the daughter of the imprisoned Bajazet, who he has conquered in battle. Full of stabbing pain and dissonance, it serves as a reminder that Giacomelli still remains undeservedly neglected. Vivaldi was thus left with just the recitatives, including several accompagnati, to compose from the libretto by Agostino Piovene, a book first set by Gasparini as Il Bajazet in 1711 and subsequently by several others composers including Handel in 1724. The piecemeal nature of Il Tamerlano thus serves to remind present-day opera lovers that far from being a despised form it is often characterised as today, the 18th-century pasticcio was a valid form in itself, utilised by just about every major opera composer of the day, including of course Handel.

The reason it was possible to swap arias from one opera to another is because arias fall almost exclusively into one of two forms: generic expressions of human emotions such as love, hate, jealousy and so on, emotional expressions obviously as valid today as they were in the 18th century; or more impersonal so-called ‘simile’ arias that compared feelings or impressions with something in nature, like a storm at sea. Plot came a long way behind poetic expression and Il Bajazet is unusual in this period in having a strong, direct storyline that concerns the all-conquering Tamerlano’s relationships with the defeated, yet still proud and stubborn Sultan Bajazet and his daughter Asteria, the true heroes of the story (the original libretto was called Il Bajazet). Only with the death of Bajazet does Tamerlano renounce his philandering and turn to being the nobly forgiving and repentant ruler the sentiment of opera per dramma dictates he must finally be.

Ottavio Dantone and his Accademia Bizantina have for a while now been the performers of choice for the operas in the Vivaldi Edition (along with a number of orchestral issues). It is not difficult to see why. In 2019 they produced a superlative account of Il Giustino (1724), an issue matched by this Il Tamerlano, which might be described in a single word: electrifying. Rarely does a studio recording have the febrile excitement we encounter here, a performance in which Dantone has galvanized every one of his performers into singing or playing with an intensity that ranges from anger to distress, from tenderness to evocation of the gentleness of the turtledove. It is founded on Dantone’s belief in the sanctity of text, a belief that provides a foundation for all his opera performances and which involves extensive work on recitative. Virtually every word is invested with meaning and expressed by an outstanding cast that has bought totally into the approach. It would be difficult to envisage more convincing performances of Bajazet, originally a role for tenor, but here commandingly sung by the light baritone Bruno Taddia, of Asteria, a glowing, finely-nuanced assumption by Delphine Galou or the supremely accomplished Tamerlano of Filippo Mineccia, now surely well up near the top of the countertenor league in a crowded field. Of the remaining roles soprano Marina De Liso is a near-flawless Andronico, the Greek Prince who would save Bajazet and loves and is loved by Asteria. Arianna Vendittelli (Idaspe) and Sophie Rennert (Irene) complete a cast that matches Dantone’s fervent advocacy, though neither is free from the common failure of lack of vocal control above the stave. It remains only to note that ornaments are mostly fluently and stylishly added, though as usual cadential (and other) trills are largely noticeable by their absence. But we do get an even more rarely heard ornament from Vendittelli in the shape of a perfectly executed messa di voce in Idaspe’s opening aria.

It hardly needs saying in conclusion that Dantone’s Il Tamerlano is a magnificent achievement, unquestionably one of the most important issues of a wretched 2020 redeemed in part by some truly remarkable recordings.

Brian Robins

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Recording

Colista: Sinfonie a tre

CD cover of Colista Sinfonie a tre

Ensemble Giardino di Delizie
74:53
Brilliant Classics 96033

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Lelio Colista seems the classic example of a prolific and admired composer, who (having failed to publish his music) has slipped into obscurity, with many of his compositions having been lost. He moved in the culturally rich ambience of late 17th-century Rome, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Cesti, Stradella and even Corelli, and as the ‘go-to’ continuo lutanist played in all the ground-breaking performances of the day. These nine Sinfonie a tre and single Ballo a tre are all taken from the Giordano 15 manuscript at the Biblioteca Nazionale in Turin, and reveal an inventive and accomplished composer at the height of his powers. The Ensemble Giardino di Delizie playing in the pleasingly resonant acoustic of the Church of St Francis in Trevi, take an energetic and imaginative approach to this fine music, alternating organ and harpsichord, and archlute and guitar in their continuo group and playing with sensitivity and considerable musicality. Undoubtedly reminiscent of the music of Corelli, there is a busy freshness about Colista’s writing which makes the loss of much of his larger-scale music disappointing, but certainly makes these world premiere recordings a very welcome addition to the catalogue. These days, a strikingly high percentage of my review CDs feature performances by Italian ensembles of Italian music of the late 17th and 18th centuries, and both the quality of the music and the standard of the performances is generally very high indeed. Notwithstanding the ubiquity of Corelli and Vivaldi, it is good to see these musicians delving further into their very rich and still largely unexplored Baroque heritage.

D. James Ross

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Leopold I: Il sagrifizio d’Abramo, Miserere

CD cover Leopold I oratorio

Weser-Renaissance, Manfred Cordes
76:00
cpo 555 113-2

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Leopold I inherited the imperial crown unexpectedly in 1654 on the death of his brother, having been groomed as the second son for a career in the church. He never fully adjusted to his imperial role, relying on a team of advisers and politicians to run the empire, intervening only occasionally when necessary. This had the advantage that while his contemporary Louis XIV (unfortunately labelled Louis IV in the English translation of the notes) engaged in a series of expensive and largely disastrous military adventures, Leopold consistently managed to stay out of these. Instead, Vienna flourished culturally, and Leopold engaged fully in its burgeoning musical life. His surviving compositions suggest a man with more than dilettante musical skills, and this is borne out by his oratorio Il Sagrifizio d’Abramo, remarkably his first attempt at the genre and generally pretty persuasive. In his own lifetime, as here, Leopold’s compositions would have benefited from being performed by the very finest singers and instrumentalists, and Weser-Renaissance give their customary very polished account of this music. His setting of the Miserere for four voices and strings is strikingly impassioned and extremely effective, all the more powerful for its pared-down textures. Weser-Renaissance recorded this CD at the end of their 2015/6 season exploring music composed by and associated with Leopold I, and there is an impressive authority about these performances which reflects the understanding they gained from this approach.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Beethoven Arranged

CD cover of Beethoven arrangements for tenor and chamber ensemble

Ilker Arcayürek tenor, Ludwig Chamber Players
71:09
cpo 555 355-2
12 Variations on a theme from Handel’s oratorio Judas Maccabaeus, Septet op. 20, Adelaide, An die ferne Geliebte

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This CD features a performance on modern instruments of Beethoven’s famous and seminal Septet in tandem with modern arrangements for instruments and tenor voice by Andreas N Tarkmann and M Ucki of the Beethoven songs ‘Adelaide’ and the extended ‘An die ferne Geliebte’, and an octet arrangement of Beethoven’s homage to Handel – a set of variations for cello and piano of ‘See the Conquering Hero Comes’ from his Judas Maccabaeus. The performance of the Septet is delightfully detailed, while the modern arrangements for chamber ensemble use the Septet as their model, and make very effective use of the available combinations of wind and stringed instruments. It is easy forget how ground-breaking and influential Beethoven’s Septet was when it first appeared in 1800, directly inspiring Schubert’s (in my opinion far superior) Octet and much of the larger-scale chamber music of the Romantic period. My favourite track on the CD is the Tarkmann arrangement of ‘An die ferne Geliebte’, possibly because it was the strongest composition to start with, but also I think because of the way the imaginative octet instrumentation enhances the original. Iker Arcayürek is a thoughtful and highly expressive solo tenor, who responds positively to being accompanied by a chamber ensemble rather than the customary piano. My one reservation is that in allocating the original piano part, the arrangements feel free to make demands on the modern instruments (particularly the clarinet) which would simply have been beyond the scope of the instruments of the period. Playing modern instruments, The Ludwig Players make light of this, but these remain obviously modern arrangements for modern instruments.

D. James Ross