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Vitali: Sonate op. 5, 1669

Vitali op 5 CD cover

Italico Splendore
66:42
Tactus TC 632205

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CD cover of Vitali op 5 sonatas

Italico Splendore are exploring the riches of the Ducal Library of the Este family in Modena, and the present CD is devoted to the chamber music of Giovanni Vitali, who worked as maestro di cappella at the court there from 1674. Himself a virtuoso on the ‘violone da brazzo’, a forerunner of the cello/double bass, Vitali’s influence on the role of the violin as well as the standard Baroque musical forms was considerable. It is fascinating to observe in his opus 5 sonate side by side with standard trio sonatas, sonate a due (without an independent part for violone) but also sonate a quarto and a cinque. As with many composers of the second half of the 17th century, Vitali displays a freedom of thinking and a musical imagination which found itself somewhat tamed in the following century. Italico Splendore play with an easy spontaneity, with suitable episodes of bravura alternating with intensely expressive passages. The blend of solo instruments and continuo team is pleasing, and the overall sound vivid and engaging. When we reach the four- and five-part sonatas, the increasing richness of the texture is welcome. Each of the sonatas bears the name of a local aristocratic family, surely an astute way of attracting financial support for Vitali’s musical activity.

D. James Ross

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Akoé: Nuevas Músicas antiguas

Akoé Nuevas Musicas Antiguas CD cover

Taracea
51:13
Alpha Classics 597

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Anybody old enough like me to remember Jacques Loussier and his renditions of Baroque music in a jazz idiom will be slightly prepared for this CD of ‘reworkings’ of early music. There is certainly the same mellow, laid-back atmosphere here, as a broken consort to end all such (flute/recorder, vihuela, double bass, voice, percussion and serpent) go to work on Dowland, Caccini, Isaac, Encina, Josquin, le Roy, Hildegard and Claudin. I have to say that I disliked both what the ensemble was doing to the music and the end result. Unlike in the case of Loussier, there seemed no consistent style into which the music was being translated – this, to me, was just a mess of folky and experimental jazz influences mashed together. The pretentious programme note failed either to explain or convince – ‘This is the very core of Taracea’s Akoé : the thorn, the stinging spur of curiosity, and the memory of past sounds, the integral genetic inheritance of every composer and musician.’  Many of you will also remember pseuds’ corner… Annoyingly, the obvious musicality of the individual players could have been put to much more worthy ends, but there was a worrying inclination towards iconoclasm (e.g. track 3 Caccini’s Amarilli, mia bella being caricatured on a serpent) and a pretentious self-indulgence about this whole project which I found it very hard to warm to. Certainly not hip in either sense of the word!

D. James Ross

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O gemma clairissima

O gemma clarissima Music for St Catherine resonus CD cover

Music in praise of St Catharine
The Choirs of St Catharine’s College Cambridge, Edward Wickham
72:02
resonus RES10246
Music by Fawkyner, Frye, Gombert, Jacquet of Mantua, Mouton, Palestrina, Regnart, Senfl, Vermont, Willaert, anon + sarum chant

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The combined forces of St Catharine’s College and Girls’ Choirs are directed by Edward Wickham in this recital of hymns, motets and chants devoted to the martyr St Catharine, after whom both the Catherine Wheel and the Cambridge College are named. The elaborate and gruesome means of Catharine’s martyrdom captured the Medieval imagination, and Renaissance and Medieval settings of texts relating to the saint abound. The choirs sing relevant plainchant and polyphony by Regnart, Senfl, Willaert, Mouton, Frye, Gombert and Palestrina as well as by the less familiar Pierre Vermont, Jacquet de Mantua and Richard Fawkyner. The singing is generally nice and expressive, although there is a slight ‘herd ethic’ resulting perhaps from the combination of the two choirs. The particular demands of Walter Frye’s Kyrie ‘Deus Creator omnium’ and the Eton Choirbook intricacy of Fawkyner’s ‘Gaude rosa sine spinas’ (a 15-minute choral tour de force) inspire some of the finest singing on the CD. The Girls’ Choir also makes some lovely contributions on their own, while the combined voices generally produce a consistently full expressive sound. Edward Wickham’s intelligent direction brings out the full nuances of this largely unfamiliar music, while his wonderfully knowledgeable programme note both entertains and informs.

D. James Ross

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Passio Iberica

Passio Iberica CD cover

García Fajer: The Seven Last Words of Christ; dos Santos: Stabat mater
Divino Sospiro, Massimo Mazzeo
65:21
Pan Classics PC 10401

This revelatory CD presents music for Holy Week by two largely unknown 18th-century Iberian composers, Francisco Javier García Fajer and José Joaquim dos Santos. García Fajer’s setting of a Castilian text contemplating the seven last words of Christ on the cross, was written in the wake of and under the influence Haydn’s famous setting of the Seven Last Words of 1792, commissioned by the Brotherhood of Nuestra Señora de la Cueva of Cadiz. García Fajer writes for two soprano voices with strings, and the seven sections all running to just about three minutes each are wonderfully evocative and melodic. He trained in Italy, at the prestigious Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini, before embarking on a career which saw him compose operas and oratorios and enjoy considerable success. For the last four decades of his life, he returned to Saragossa Cathedral, where he devoted himself exclusively to composing sacred music. While much of the music in his Siete Palabras is recognisably in the classical Viennese tradition, some of the more contemplative sections are distinctively Iberian and very atmospheric. The Stabat Mater by the Portuguese composer José Joaquim dos Santos for two sopranos, bass and strings of 1792 is also heavily Iberian in style, although it also owes a considerable debt to earlier settings such as that by Pergolesi. Dos Santos never studied in Italy but had close contacts with many musicians who had and was clearly well versed in the Italian idiom. The singing by Bárbara Barradas, Lucia Napoli and André Baleiro and the playing by Divino Sospiro of this unusual and distinctive music is of a high quality, and the recording both gives a context to Haydn’s unusual instrumental Seven Last Words as well as filling in an Iberian dimension to sacred music at the end of the 18th century.

D. James Ross

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The secret life of carols

The Tellin Secret Life of Carols CD cover

800 Years of Christmas Music
the telling
51:17
First Hand Records FHR94

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This selection of Christmas carols is gleaned from the 12th to the 20th centuries, sharing a sort of folk music quality, which suits the performance style of The Telling. Playing and singing in groups of at most three and sometimes solo, the two voices and two harps are at their best at their simplest. On the odd occasion, like track 3 “O Jesulein Süß”, when the two voices combine in harmony, the blend is less than comfortable, although each sounds fine in solo verses. The geographical range of the music seems neatly to match the cultural heritages of the performers, so we have mainly English, Irish, German and Finnish carols. I would have liked some more details about the medieval, baroque and ‘celtic’ harps played by Jean Kelly and Kaisa Pulkkinen, as well more information on the approach to the instrumental accompaniments – the iconic Gruber setting of “Stille Nacht” has a perfectly good accompaniment for guitar, but the accompaniment here on ‘celtic’ harp seems to be largely improvised. The stylistic range of the carols The Telling have chosen demands a considerable degree of versatility in performance, and I would confess that I don’t think they are equally effective with all the material – I think the medieval material seems best suited to the voices particularly. Reading their group CV, I think that their live performances usually include a dramatic dimension, and perhaps their recordings suffer a little by being deprived of this.

D. James Ross

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Rore: Vieni, dolce Imeneo

Vieni Imeneo Madrigals by Cipriano da Rore CD cover

La Compagnia del Madrigale
69:27
Glossa GCD 922808

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The invocation of Hymen, god of marriage, in the title of one of these madrigals by Cipriano de Rore, which in turn provides the CD with its title, is indeed felicitous. These works, all from late or posthumous collections, demonstrate the clear marriage of text and music for which Cipriano was renowned in his lifetime and for some time thereafter. Monteverdi was a great admirer, and it is fascinating to hear how the latter master picked up the Cipriano baton and ran with it in his own madrigals. The singing of La Compagnia del Madrigale is generally stylish and engaging – just occasionally the voices do a little ‘settling in’ in the opening phrase of a piece, and (fortunately also only very occasionally) they do some of the newly fashionable expressive ‘drooping’ in pitch, by which I remain largely unconvinced. Mostly though, this CD is an unadulterated musical delight, and I found myself wondering at Cipriano’s sheer facility and confidence in this genre. In an excellent and comprehensive programme note, Marco Bizzarini puts each madrigal in its historical, cultural and political context. To provide variety, some of the madrigals are performed with a mixture of voices and instruments, an utterly convincing option which works beautifully here.

D. James Ross

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Monteverdi: Madrigals Book 9

Monteverdi Madrigals book 9 Longhini CD cover

Scherzi Musicali
Delitiæ Musicæ, Marco Longhini
74:37
Naxos 8.555318

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As Marco Longhini reaches the last of Monteverdi’s Madrigal Books, the posthumously published 9th Book, I find I still have many of the same reservations that I had at the start of the series. The use of an all-male ensemble entails the group’s countertenors being cast as a range of lovelorn maidens, nymphs and shepherdesses, and for all the gusto with which they throw themselves into these roles, I remain unconvinced, particularly as there is no evidence that there was any sort of restriction on women singing this music. I’m afraid I am also less than convinced by Longhini’s countertenors themselves, who in contrast to the other male voices never seem entirely comfortable vocally. I remain similarly unconvinced by the prominent participation of harpsichord in the accompanying textures – often a madrigal is beautifully introduced by a continuo ensemble comprising various plucked instruments and cello only for a harpsichord to muscle in on the texture. Having voiced my main reservations, Longhini’s instinct for the potential drama in this music has not diminished during the project, and if it could occasionally be accused of being a little over-theatrical, it is certainly never dull. The singing is generally good, with only occasional intonation lapses, and is musically pretty convincing and delicately ornamented. The madrigal performances are introduced by a lovely instrumental Sinfonia by Biagio Marini, and the balance of the CD is made up of the Monteverdi’s Scherzi Musicali, a collection of ariettas published in 1632 and of which only a single copy survives. Interestingly, Longhini makes plausible use of a number of instrumental ritornelli which appear in the original publication, and which are normally ignored by performers, to link in conclusion a selection of the ariettas together. I found myself wondering how much the oddly immediate acoustic was to blame for my discomfort with some of the singing – although the recording was made in the Chiesa di San Pietro in Vincola, there is little hint of any bloom in the performance. This ‘in-your-face’ ambience is emphasised by the opening madrigal, in which the countertenor soloist emerges from a resonant distance abruptly to jump out of your speakers at you! Certainly theatrical, but oddly unsettling. I wanted to enjoy this CD more, and can only hope that some listeners derive more consistent pleasure than I did from what is clearly an important complete account of the Monteverdi Madrigals.

D. James Ross

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Haydn and the Harp

CD cover of recording of music by Haydn with harp

Chiara Granata harps, Raffaele Pe countertenor, Anaïs Chen violin, Marco Ceccato cello
68:23
Glossa GCD 923517
Music by Bochsa, Eloüis, Sophia Dussek, Haydn, Kozeluh, Anne-Marie & Jean-Baptiste Krumpholtz, de La Manière & Ragué

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This CD is a genuine eye-opener. We tend to ignore the instruction ‘for piano or harp’ in the published versions of Haydn’s arrangements of British folk songs, but Chiara Granata has taken it literally and presents here a selection of music by Haydn and his contemporaries. Using two lovely restored harps of 1790 and 1825, she is joined by countertenor Raffaele Pe, violinist Anaïs Chen and cellist Marco Ceccato for these delightful accounts of songs and chamber works. The Haydn songs are beautifully sung by falsettist Raffaele Pe, while particularly intriguing amongst the music by Haydn’s contemporaries, mainly reworkings of the master’s music, are Louis-Charles Ragué’s arrangement for violin and harp of Haydn’s 71st Symphony and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa’s extraordinary medley for harp of melodies from The Creation. From his earliest days at Esterhazy to his late visits to London, Haydn had regular and close contact with amateur and professional harpists, and it seems natural that he would want his compositions to be available for them to perform. In fact, having heard these evocative performances, Haydn’s concise and sparkling idiom seems to lend itself very well to the tone of the harp, and Chiara Granata’s admirable project seems long overdue. Her discovery of the complementary music by Krumpholtz (Jean-Baptiste and Anne-Marie), Kozeluh, Louis-Charles Ragué, Bochsa, Joseph Eloüis, Exupère de La Maniere and Sophia Dussek is a revelation, and the entire programme is wonderfully evocative. The very musical playing and singing of the ensemble make them the ideal advocates for this neglected area of classical music, and the light they shine on it is a revelatory and valuable one.

D. James Ross

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Barbara Strozzi: Virtuosa of Venice

Barbara Strozzi CD cover Fieri Consort

Fieri Consort
67:18
Fieri Records FIER003VOV
With music by Ferrari, Fontei, Kapsperger, Maione, Monteverdi & Selma y Salaverde

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It is good to see Barbara Strozzi’s music receiving more attention – as more of it becomes familiar, it is clear that she deserves her own place in the history of early Baroque music. As a female composer and performer, her considerable success was greeted with some suspicion in her own lifetime, and even in our own day, acceptance of her skills has been slow and grudging. Her image as a serious performer/composer is perhaps not helped by the familiar bare-breasted portraits, but she was a pupil of the Monteverdi’s pupil, Francesco Cavalli, and was a prolific composer with seven books of madrigals, arias and cantatas plus a collection of sacred music to her name. That this large body of work was published is sometimes ascribed to the prominence of her father as a member of the prestigious Accademia degli Incogniti, but, as more and more of her stylistically varied music comes to be performed, it becomes clear that she was probably being published entirely on her own merits. The Fieri Consort fields six voices in various permutations with gamba, lute/theorbo and harp to present a selection from throughout the composer’s musical life. Thus we travel from the flirty music of the early madrigal collections to the more intense music of the late more profound lagrime. The fact that her music stands up very well beside the pieces by Monteverdi, Nicolò Fontei and Kapsperger with which the consort alternate her songs is a mark of their quality.  The singing and playing are generally good, if the ornamentation occasionally sounds a little laboured, and I like the variety of voices, which appear mainly in dialoguing pairs, as well as the subtlety of the instrumental accompaniments. 

D. James Ross

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Dowland: Lachrimae

Opera Prima Consort play Dowland Lachrimae CD cover

Opera Prima Consort, Cristiano Contadin
59:32
Brilliant Classics 95699

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This is a delightfully fresh look at the very familiar Lachrimae Pavans with associated Pavans, Galliards and Almands. The use of alto viola and violins on the upper lines is entirely authentic and gives the overall sound an engaging edge, while some daringly adventurous and ultimately beautifully musical divisions on the repeats of each section transform these performances into something very special. In addition to breaking the traditional viol consensus, Cristiano Contadin also introduces a recorder, which brings its own heightened level of intricacy to the repeat divisions. I am not entirely convinced by the recorder sometimes popping in and out, playing only on some repeats, and am happier with it playing the written line first time and then embarking on its divisions on the repeat having established its presence already. This is very much a personal whim, and I have to say that in practice both Contadin’s solutions, if a little unorthodox, work very well. The performances of the ensuing Galliards and Almans are wonderfully free and inventive, quirky and virtuosic, casting a bold new light on this terrific music. The playing is wonderfully expressive throughout, recalling my hitherto favourite 1985 account by Jakob Lindberg and the Dowland Consort on BIS. I have to say that the felicitous mixture of violins and viols and the deft ornamentation of repeats may just have won me over to this exciting new account! Highly recommended.

D. James Ross