Tag: Baroque

Ana Quintans soprano, Concerto de’ Cavalieri, Marcello Di Lisa
deutsche harmonia mundi 8 88750 81922 2
Arias from Ardelinda,* L’Eraclea,* Le gare generose,* L’inconstanza schernita,* La Statira; sinfonia from Zenobia, Concerto a cinque op. 5/5, Sinfonia Si7 in g
*=world premiere recordings

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] have mixed emotions about this recording. I was moved to tears by Quintans as Jonathan in Charpentier’s sacred opera at the Edinburgh Festival a few years ago, but was not immediately taken by her interpretations of Albinoni’s unsurprisingly glorious music for voice. Repeated listening brought a change of heart; maybe the more Italian’s more virtuosic but (broadly speaking) less emotive writing was the “problem”? But hearing the disc several times actually convinced me that it was the overall approach to the music that niggled me most – the fast music felt uncomfortably hurried, especially by the time we reached the minutely manicured final cadences (complete with obligatory delay before the placing of the very last chord!) Some arias are accompanied by full orchestra (44221 + oboes – without bassoon – trumpets and drums, flute, plucker and harpsichord), while others are taken by a pair of solo violins – and very nicely, too. Interspersed with the vocal items are three instrumental pieces; here again, the outer movements go hell for leather, while the slower ones were dominated by harpsichord links and flourishes. The booklet note reads like a music dictionary article on “Albinoni and the theatre”, telling us all about the works and the venues where they were performed but nothing at all about the individual items; while that is printed in four languages, the poetic texts are given (on separate pages) in Italian and English only. It is only in the closing credits that one discovers that the flute obbligato (written “in the pure and fascinating Venetian tradition”) was reconstructed (to what extent is not shared with us!) by Guido Morini. To summarize, some delightful music and an elegant, virtuosic singer, but perhaps worthy of a less histrionic approach?

Brian Clark

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Les Ambassadeurs, Alexis Kossenko flute, Zefira Valova violin
70:23
Alpha 200
TWV 51: D1, D2, a1, 52: e3, 55: F3

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s the title suggests, this excellent disc has an orchestral suite (strings with pairs of horns and oboes plus bassoon) and four concertos, two for flute, one for violin and one for both. Regular readers will know that I am a fan of Telemann’s music, so it will come as no surprise that, when it’s as well played as it is here, I have no hesitation in recommending Les Ambassadeurs. The dance movements of the suite will have the most reticent of toes tapping, and each of the concerti – think elegant Albinoni or Marcello rather than virtuosic display à la Vivaldi and you’ll have the right idea – is finely crafted by composer and performers alike; I was particularly impressed by the opening of the A minor violin concerto – the throbbing upper string chords leading into Valova’s first entry are captivating, and her colourful interpretation of that sinuous solo line (a masterclass in the use of vibrato as an ornament, and right hand control) meant listening to that track over and over again. That astonishing control is key to Les Ambassadeurs’ approach, and I hope they will go on to explore more German repertoire.

Brian Clark

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Gaetano Nasillo violoncello, Sara Bennici violoncello, Michele Barchi harpsichord
79:03
Arcana A 385
Music by Alborea, Greco, Lanzetti, Pergolesi, Pericoli, Porpora, Ruvo, Supriani + CD of Neapolitan cello concertos with Ensemble 415, Chiara Banchini

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]suspect only Porpora and Pergolesi will be known to the majority of readers, and such names as Rocco Greco, Francesco Alborea detto Francischiello, Giulio di Ruvo, Francesco Supriani, Salvatori Lanzetti and Pasquale Pericoli will be names, hopefully to whet the listener’s appetite.

The disc covers the 70-year period 1699 to 1769, and the items are presented as far as possible in chronological order and are chosen show the development of the sonata in Naples at the time. The earliest are dance based, and one, by Supriani, is labelled ‘Toccate’. Lanzetti’s sonatas are interesting pieces which use passages in harmonics at some points – there are two examples on the disc – with some virtuoso writing, as is the Nicola Porpora sonata. Nearly all the movements are with harpsichord and a cello bass line, whereas some movements or works might have been more suited to one or the other, but otherwise this is an interesting disc for cellists. The booklet usefully gives the sources of the sonatas. A 70-minute bonus disc of five cello concertos by Fiorenza, Porpora, Leo and Sabatino with Nasillo and Ensemble 415 is included, which I found in general more interesting than the sonatas. This makes it a worthwhile purchase for those interested in exploring less well-known repertoire for the instrument.

Ian Graham-Jones

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Ensemble Tourbillon, Petr Wagner
71:57
Accent ACC 24294

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]efore I move on to be critical, I would just like to say that the music on this CD deserved to be recorded and that when I wasn’t “ah, but…”-ing in my head, my toes were tapping along with the lively performances. Enjoyable as those are, though, they are unlikely to be quite what the composer had in mind for his music. Having told us that Schmierer (about whom biographical information is scant) was one of those German composers referred to as “Lulliste”, the booklet notes quote selected passages from the preface to the publication (readily available online) to justify changing the instrumental line-up. They do not, however, mention that a four-part texture is not traditional for Lully (who preferred a strong treble line, three violas and a strong bass); Charpentier did write in four parts quite often, but not for two violins – his top line (like Lully’s) split for trio sections. Reading the entire preface reveals that fact that Schmierer’s part names are Violin, Violetta, Viola and Basso; he suggests that the Violin be doubled, and the Basso… Just as one would expect from a Lulliste, in fact. So Ensemble Tourbillon’s decision to double all parts except the Viola in Suite 5 is slightly perverse – in fact, it would have been more in keeping with Schmierer’s instruction either to put both oboes on the Violin part, or to have double reeds play all four lines; since Suite 6 is performed by double reeds with plucker, the decision not to include the taille in Suite 5 is even stranger. Similarly replacing “Violin 1” of Suite 3 with a flute might have worked better if the Violetta part had been played on a soprano viola rather than a violin – the slightly darker timbre would allow the flute to ring out over the others more clearly. And why does the gamba play Bass in three sonatas and Viola in another? I am sure that in certain circumstances, musical ensembles in court and civic situations would have had to make do with whichever instruments were available at the time, but such line-ups were surely not what the composer hoped for, and surely we owe it to him to present these pieces in their very best light. If the overtures are Lulliste (though lacking any of the gravitas), the short dance movements that complete the suites (only six of the projected 12 survive – or perhaps were ever printed?) reminded me of Schmelzer’s balletti for insertion into Viennese opera productions with short phrases and often abrupt or oddly extended cadences. Beautifully played and as professionally recorded as these performances are, I would like to hear Schmierer’s music played by a larger ensemble.

Brian Clark

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Roel Dieltiens cello, Richte van der Meer cello, Konrad Jung-hänel theorbo, Robert Kohnen hpscd/org
TT
Accent ACC24304
G. B. Bononcini, de Fesch, Domenico Gabrielli, Geminiani, Marcello & Vivaldi

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hese recordings, made in 1990 and 1991, are attractively packaged, with the two CDs labelled ‘The Beginnings’ and ‘The Flowering’, the latter consisting solely of sonatas by Vivaldi and Geminiani. The pernickety might well query the inclusion of sonatas by Willem DeFesch (op.13 no. 6 in A minor c.1750) and Giovanni Battista Bononcini (Sonata in A minor from the ‘Six Solos for Two Cellos’) under the first disc’s title as being a little perverse. That apart, these are generally stylish performances, accompanied by theorbo, harpsichord and organ. The beginnings of the solo repertoire for the instrument are justly represented in the cello works by Domenico Gabrielli (d. 1690). Although they occupy more than half of Disc 1, taking up 16 tracks, they are confusingly listed as two sonatas on the CD box). In fact these tracks constitute the collection of unaccompanied Ricercari, the canon for 2 cellos as well as the two sonatas with theorbo and cello continuo. The Ricercari were virtuoso works in their time, with much free florid passage work adorned with multiple stopping, and the canon is an interesting piece. A strange feature in Dieltiens’ playing is his use of vibrato on expressive notes, the wideness of which at times sounded similar to the beaten vibrato specifically used in the French repertoire for the bass viol. With the three 18th-century sonatas on Disc 1 (the two mentioned above plus Benedetto Marcello’s Op. 2 no. 4), however, we are on more familiar territory.

The continuo texture chosen for three Vivaldi sonatas (RV 40, 42, 46) on Disc 2 is with organ and double bass, which some may find disconcerting. The three from Geminiani’s op. 5 set (nos 2, 3 and 6), published in 1746, employ the more customary harpsichord and cello continuo. The extremely slow tempi of the movements marked largo was worrying for, as we know, the indication implies a moderate speed, faster than adagio. Some may not like Dieltiens’ persistent spiccato-like style of playing in some of the allegro movements, often found in HIP performances in the 1990s and now more out of fashion. The booklet consists of a good essay on the develop-ment of the cello sonata in Italy with particular reference to the works on the discs, but lacked movement titles and track listings, with no detail on the instruments used in the performances, let alone any biographical information. I am surprised that Accent could not have found room to include at least the basic movement information. Overall I enjoyed Disc 1 more, especially for the rarely recorded Gabrielli pieces.

Ian Graham-Jones

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