Céline Frisch harpsichord
76:56
Alpha 324
Suites in a (1706), e (1724-31) and G (1728)
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a re-issue of a recording from 2007. The instrument is a truly splendid Hemsch (1751) which may well have been played by Rameau himself. It is so resonant that the player modified her planned tempi for the recording, meaning that some repeats had to be omitted. (Personally, I’d prefer fewer, but complete, pieces.) This may also be why some of her tempi, particularly those in the moderato/andante zone struck me as a little on the spacious side. The packaging is a basic cardboard sleeve, from which the booklet and disc have to be removed with some care.
Blandine Rannou harpsichord
158:11 (2 CDs in cardboard wrapper)
Alpha 322
Suites in c, d, D, g & G
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a re-issue of a recording from 2008 packaged in a basic cardboard sleeve, from which the booklet and discs have to be removed with some care. The instrument may well be the same splendid Ruckers/Hemsch copy used by Justin Taylor on ALPHA 247 – it is certainly equally rich and threatens to overwhelm the microphones from time to time. In this specific repertoire this may be because so much of it lies in the lower half of the range but also because in these performances Blandine Rannou is inclined to gild the lily with enriched harmony (as suggested by figures in the bass viol versions of the music) and little continuo-type splashes of counterpoint. Why not just find a friendly bass viol player?
Stéphane Degout, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset
60:00
Aparté AP130
+Apothéoses de Lully & de Corelli
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s I have often remarked when writing for EMR, I do feel for performers when their art and scholarship is undermined by the bookleteers. On page 8 I read that ‘Couperin played around with key signatures, alternating French keys… and Italian keys.’ No he didn’t. He alternated what in English are referred to as clefs. Why aren’t translators used who know something about the subject in hand? Or, indeed, tenses. CR’s biography is a real tangle. But at least there is one, and notes on the ensemble and the music (Eng/Fre). Lovely though the instrumental masterworks are, the USP of this disc for many will be the inclusion of what may be a lost cantata by Couperin that is listed in a 1716 Roger catalogue. The attribution is certainly not without foundation or credibility, the music is up to standard and here sung very well by Stéphane Degout. Christophe Coin gives an equally distinguished reading of the active viol part. Couperin’s lovely instrumental tributes to his predecessors are also given excellent performances, though a less fussy approach to instrumentation would have been equally effective. The programmatic titles of each of the movements are announced on the recording. This does no harm though slightly slower and clearer speech might have been better in the context.
Stage music by Jean-Baptiste Lully
Les Paladins, Jérôme Correas
72:30
Glossa GCD923509
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s one might expect, these ‘bleeding chunks’ are mainly by Lully (extracts from six comédie-ballets), though items from Charpentier’s Le Sicilien and Le Mariage forcé are also included. I must say that the singers show great versatility in their ability to convey the essence of their several roles, though bass Virgile Ancely needs a little more weight in the lower register and, as usual for me, the soprano’s vibrato can be disturbing. More disturbing, however, is the use of a questionably disposed chamber ensemble – 2 each of violins and violas with basse de violon – rather than Lully’s famous orchestra with the three inner parts on assorted violas. I just feel that this rips the guts and/or the grandeur from most of the music: it just isn’t the Lully I know and love and I doubt that he’d have thought much of it either. The booklet offers tri-lingual notes (Fre/Eng/Ger) but the sung French texts are translated into English only.
Vivaldi | Handel
Gabriella Di Laccio soprano, Musica Antiqua Clio, Fernando Cordella
drama musica DRAMA001
Music from Handel’s Giulio Cesare & Rinaldo, Vivaldi’s Griselda, Juditha Triumphans & L’Olimpiade
[dropcap]A[/dropcap] well-performed, though musicologically slightly unadventurous, recital. Gabriella di Laccio is a fine dramatic soprano, with a formidable technique, ably displayed in the three Vivaldi arias recorded here. Fernando Cordella sets cracking tempi, to which di Laccio fully responds – the well-known ‘Agitata da due venti’ (track 2) is particularly scintillating, with the da capo suitably embellished. The three Handel war-horses are also creditably performed.
Musica Antiqua Clio are a new name for me; they come into their own in sinfonias to L’Olimpiade (Vivaldi) and Rinaldo (Handel), which are played with much energy and accuracy (with repeats in the latter meticulously observed).
One looks forward to hearing more from all concerned- perhaps a complete opera, or some Brazilian baroque rarities, done with similar verve?
Le Poème Harmonique, Vincent Dumestre
58:43
Alpha 321
Music by Belli, Giulio Caccini & Saracini
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he centerpiece of this 2007 recording, re-released as part of the Alpha retrospective series, is Domenico Belli’s opera Orfeo Dolente, a composer and a work entirely unknown to me even by reputation. Dumetre and his Alpha label specialize in ‘the alternative’, and in this CD they are exploring the Florentine music and composers who came to be overshadowed by Monteverdi. As so often our focus on prime composers and works proves to be counterproductive, is this case eclipsing music of considerable merit and beauty. Like Monteverdi’s account of the Orpheus story, Belli’s is a court opera, modest in the resources it requires and highly refined in style. Dumestre has assembled a galaxy of superb young singers and instrumentalists who fully mine the unexpected treasures in this unknown masterpiece. To a great extent though it is the instrumental accompaniment, dark and harmonically unexpected, which is the particular strength of Belli’s remarkable setting. The opera is preceded by two equally intriguing sequences of instrumental and vocal music on related themes featuring works by Saracini, Caccini and Malvezzi. I admire immensely the courage of performers who research the unfamiliar backwaters of a period to unearth neglected treasures – it is so much more difficult, time-consuming and challenging than simply producing yet another recording of already familiar material, but so much more informative and valuable.
Les Witches
68:30
Alpha 323
Music by Bleyer, Borchgrevinck, Gistou, Hume, Lorenz, Maercker, Maynard, Pedersen, Robinson, Scheidt, Schop, Simpson & Vierdanck
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he star of this 2008 recording of music associated with the court of Christian IV of Denmark is undoubtedly the Esaias Compenius organ of 1610, which features on several of the tracks. Originally built for the royal court, it was clearly intended to play with other instruments, and Freddy Eichelberger charms some wonderful sounds from it in solos and in consort with the other instruments. Music by the maverick Tobias Hume and by Samuel Scheidt features as well as work by the less familiar composers, Robert Simpson, Thomas Robinson, Nicolaus Bleyer, Mogens Pederson, Johann Lorenz, Johann Schop, Johann Vierdanck, Matthäus Maerker, Melchior Borchgrevinck, John Maynard and Nicolo Gistou. Their names suggest the eclectic nature of the Danish court at the time and its close associations with England, Scotland and continental Europe. The music includes Pavans and Galliards among other dance forms and domestic sacred instrumental pieces – the two settings of the Lord’s Prayer are redolent of the Lessones on Psalms being composed at the time in Scotland – and the range of wind and stringed instruments offered by Les Witches ensures that the ear is always thoroughly entertained. The CD creates a beguilingly colourful picture of Christian IV’s court, thronged with gifted musicians and featuring the crowning glory of the characterful Compenius organ. The only disappointment with this CD is the programme note which takes the form of one of these staged conversations among the performers – heavy on impressions and light on information – which I always find maddening. Thankfully their day seems to have largely passed!
Guillemette Laurens, Le Poème Harmonique, Vincent Dumestre
64:22
Alpha 320
[dropcap]R[/dropcap]eleased as part of a retrospective series from the Alpha label, this CD of the music of Bellerofonte Castaldi is in many ways entirely representative of the label’s achievement. Seeking to bring the work of unfamiliar composers to wider attention in performances which are true to the values of these composers, in 1998 this recording was Alpha’s first release as well as being the first recording by Le Poème Harmonique. A wandering poet/composer exiled from Modena for a revenge murder, Castaldi’s life may be the ideal subject for a novel but did not lend itself to making its composer’s music well known, but coming fresh to his output I found it stimulating and engaging. A major factor in this is the expressive singing of Guillemette Laurens, a singer at her absolute prime on this CD, while the fresh and inventive soundworld conjured up by instruments of Le Poème Harmonique is constantly intriguing. This recording, nearly twenty years old, stands up very well indeed with a clear true recording and a thoroughly convincing approach to the constantly shifting world of authentic vocal style and accompaniment.
[dropcap]V[/dropcap]ol. 7 of Suzuki’s Secular cantatas explores the scoring of the Peasant Cantata that has soprano and bass soloists and a flute and horn in addition to strings and continuo, and so couples it with the two secular cantatas that set Italian texts, Non sa che sia dolore which has prominent flute obbligati with the soprano and Amore traditore for the bass.
The potpourri of folk music, tavern songs and social commentary in the ‘Peasant Cantata’ provide Bach with a licence to step outside his normal, serious style and let us see something of his social life and more rustic context.The music is tuneful, but rarely moving. I found Erdmann a more convincing soloist in this semi-operatic burlesque, with her nimble voice and dramatic sense of expression, and certainly she is very at home in the anguish of leave-taking that is the core of Non sa che sia dolore. Wörner’s background is in church music, and hitherto I have heard him most under Suzuki in the church cantatas. This suggests to my ears he is rather too ‘correct’ in a role where a certain amount of rustic jollity, rolling in the hay and raising a glass could do with a more plummy sound: he sounds a bit prim for his more racy lyrics! I though he was better in Amore traditore.The playing – specially the flute and horn (as well as the unattributed Dudelsack) – is fine, without, in the strings especially, quite capturing every dramatic innuendo. Suzuki’s players don’t, as far as I know, play many Mozart operas and you really need that sense of underscoring the drama that those who play in opera pits absorb over time.
But this is a worthy part of the Suzuki oeuvre, and given that there are few recordings of all the secular cantatas, will be widely welcomed.
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s noted in my report of the 2015 Ambronay Festival, an excellent reason for going to the last weekend of the festival in early October is its incorporation of a ‘festival within a festival’, the competition for young early music ensembles held under the auspices of eeemerging, an EU initiative (and, no, I’m not going there). Each concert of some 45 minutes length takes place before a team of judges from Ambronay’s festival partners and an enthusiastic audience, which is also encouraged to participate by selecting its own winner. Once again six ensembles were chosen, this year from 47 applications (down on last year). Once again the first, perhaps most important, thing to say is that it is immensely uplifting to see so many exceptionally gifted young musicians involved in this kind of exercise.
That said these gifts do not always take right the direction, as the opening concert on the morning of 8 October demonstrated. This was given by Nexus, an ensemble consisting of two recorders, cello and keyboard playing 17th-century Italian works by Legrenzi, Castello, Marini, in addition to featuring vocal items by Merula, Barbara Strozzi and Monteverdi sung by mezzo Marielou Jacquard. Sadly, as with one of the ensembles last year, Nexus showed scant evidence of having paid attention to 17th-century style, their performances showing little sign of nuance, colour or the bizzarie (imagination) so essential if this music is truly to come to life. I find it odd and not a little depressing that talented young musicians such as these are not getting (or seeking?) more guidance on matters of musicology and style. The succeeding program by I Discordanti, a vocal quartet with continuo support of gamba, theorbo and harpsichord featured repertoire from much the same period. They perhaps concentrated a little too heavily on chromaticism (it really is time Luigi Rossi’s ubiquitous ‘Toccata settima’ was given a rest), but brought a welcome sense of the stylistic needs of the music. This was particularly true of two extended cantatas by Rossi, which were well projected. I Discordanti are not yet the finished article, but they deserve every encouragement.
The opening concert of the afternoon session introduced Prisma, yet another ensemble that specialises in early 17th-century instrumental music (Cima, Bertali, Salomone Rossi etc.), its membership being violin, recorder, gamba and archlute. Their approach was a striking advance on that of Nexus. Violinist Franciska Hajdu not only possesses an excellent technique but has also taken the trouble to employ a 17th-century ‘Biber’ bow (though not yet to have her violin set up with low tension strings) and throughout played with a real sense of style well matched by her partner, recorder player Elisabeth Champollion. The continuo playing was equally of a high standard and I would not quarrel with voting that saw Prisma end up with the audience prize. For me their main competitors were the succeeding Goldfinch Ensemble, an ensemble of former students of The Hague Royal Conservatoire comprising of violin, flute, gamba and harpsichord. They were particularly impressive in technically accomplished and expressively musical performances of two fine trio sonatas by Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre. This is another group that is certainly worth keeping an eye on.
On the following morning two remaining ensembles presented programmes, the first of which was mainly devoted to Haydn’s wonderful late String Quartet, op 77/1 in G. The performers were the very young-looking Consone Quartet, who had a very good shot at a work they will play better when their own maturity comes closer to matching that of the music. This was particularly true of the Adagio, one of Haydn’s most deeply profound quartet movements. Finally The Curious Bards, an ensemble based in nearby Lyon that specialises in the research and performance of traditional Irish and Scottish airs and dances. Their programme of 18th-century arrangements was put across with great accomplishment and verve, but I would question the validity of its inclusion in this context. And isn’t there something rather ridiculous about an audience sitting in serried rows in a 21st-century concert hall listening to music that was never intended for such a purpose? Still, to avoid ending what was overall another joyous experience on a sour note, it must be confessed that said audience loved The Curious Bards.
