Tag: Baroque

Erich Höbarth violin, Aapo Häkkinen harpsichord
119:35 (2 SACDs)
Aeolus AE10236
BWV 1014–1019, 1021–1023

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a fabulously recorded set – you can hear every detail of the music without the slightest hint of breathing or other incidental sounds. The balance between violin and harpsichord (huge dynamic range afforded by the variety of sounds available to Häkkinen notwithstanding!) is expertly managed. Bach’s lines are crystal clear throughout without the excessive bite that sometimes spoils recordings of Bach’s music for this combination. While Aapo Häkkinen explores every facet of his 1970 instrument (after Hass[note]He also uses a 2011 copy of Italian models for BWV 1021, 1022[/note]), I did not feel that Höbarth was as interested in varying his colour so much. Another difference of approach was evident in the Adagio of BWV1017 where the right hand keyboard part has triplets, the left hand has even quavers and the violin dotted quavers; while Häkkinen smooths these into triplets, Höbarth tucks his semiquavers in after the third of each group. This may be an interesting effect musically, but I fear it was not what Bach intended. While there is no denying that he is master of Bach’s notes, I was not entirely convinced by Höbarth’s ornamentation either. The thoroughly footnoted booklet essay only lightly touches on the possibility of BWV 1023 having been written for Pisendel, later the Dresden Konzertmeister. In summary, this set has a fine bonus by way of three other sonatas for violin and harpsichord (some may argue that BWV 2012 and 1023 need basso continuo – i. e., a sustaining string bass), and the harpsichord playing is impeccable, but I prefer the sounds made by various other violinists. Try for yourself, though!

Brian Clark

St Florian Sängerknaben, Ars Antiqua Austria, Gunar Letzbor
52:49
Pan Classics PC 10349
+Hugl: Organ works

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hy do musicians have to make outrageous claims for lesser-known composers? Referring to Aufschnaiter as “the Catholic Bach” is not what I would consider helpful in trying to raise the public profile of a composer whose music need only be given air time to acquire his own fan base. Anyone who goes out and buys this CD, expecting to be amazed by fabulous music they cannot believe they have never heard before is likely to be disappointed; neither by the music, nor the performances, I hasten to add, as both are perfectly enjoyable and uplifting. The programme is built around of the first of two sets of Vespers psalms published as his op. 5 of 1709, four years after he succeeded Georg Muffat as Kapellmeister in Passau. I love the sense of big open space and the combination of trumpets and sackbutts with a small vocal group (as is Letzbor’s wont) with a finely balanced string ensemble. I really would prefer just to hear the music on its own merits – it has plenty and they are gloriously realised here!

Brian Clark

Telemann, Pisendel, Schaffrath, Reichenauer, [Dieupart, Brescianello]
Radio Antiqua
59:28
Ambronay AMY305

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]adio Antiqua seem to have created a niche market for themselves. Consisting of violin, bassoon (or recorder/voice flute) and continuo, the five-strong line-up can cover lots of bases. Here they have opted for 18th-century music, including three works for the core line-up, one work each for the two “soloists” (Pisendel’s devlish C minor violin sonata and a Dieupart suite in D played on voice flute), and a “concerto” by Antonin Reichenauer in which the cello is liberated from its continuo role.

The final work on the disc, another chamber concerto, this time by Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello, is by far the most taxing. It is interesting, though, how complementary the timbres of the violin and bassoon are – the central movement of the Brescianello sees them in close imitative dialogue very much in the style of Zelenka’s trios, and is such a delight I had to listen to it quite a few times! Could this be that elusive “perfect Christmas present” for your early music friend?

Brian Clark

RossoPorpora, Walter Testolin
65:56
Stradivarius STR 37004

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] have known this work since the early 1980s and I have yet to find a recording of it that is utterly satisfying on all levels. This disc, alas, also fails to deliver the perfection which the work that is arguably Buxtehude’s magnum opus deserves. In fact, it is as if three totally different performances had been combined: the instrumental sonatas are rather understated and rather plain, the tuttis – despite what I have to commend as the best choral singing I have ever heard from Italy with a beautiful balance between the voices – are micro-managed (in my opinion) to a fault, and the solos (though once again well sung by different members of the choir) are overly fussy in their redistribution of continuo instruments. In the “choruses”, it is as if the conductor wants to wring every last drop of passion out of the notes – vast expanses of silence interrupt the flow (this also happens in some of the sonatas, where there is no indication in the score), then powerful forward-driving harmonic passages are drawn out – try “Quid sunt plagæ iste” (Tracks 14 or 18) for size; I’ve never heard the third word sung with a soft “g” before either… If you are unfamiliar with the music, you may not have the same reaction to these performances as I have – do try it for yourselves!

Brian Clark

Voces 8 : Les Inventions
59:57
Signum SIG CD 391

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] don’t normally approve of advancing the reputation of a composer at the expense of one of his contemporaries, but the statement in Patrick Ayrton’s that we would be more familiar with the name of Marcello if Vivaldi hadn’t sprung to prominence at the beginning of the 20th century undoubtedly has some truth to it. Marcello’s music has always struck me as having more heart than Vivaldi’s, and this is born out by these charming settings of the Psalms.

I am not convinced by the wisdom of presenting them here in the 1757 English adaptations by Charles Avison – perhaps these works are so unfamiliar that they deserve to be heard in the original Italian, a form in which they swept Europe and impressed Marcello’s musical contemporaries. And perhaps lines such as ‘his eyelids try the children of men’ and ‘my moisture is like the drought in summer’ are best left in the relative obscurity of Italian. The performances are generally idiomatic, although I found the rather roomy church acoustic made both voices and instruments sound rather indistinct and distant. Having said that, a nice variety of vocal colours and a lovely blend make for a convincing representation of Marcello’s largely unknown masterpiece Estro poetico-armonico. More please.

D. James Ross

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