Tag: Baroque

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Handel: Ode for St Cecilia’s Day

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Carolyn Sampson soprano, Ian Bostridge tenor, Polish Radio Choir, Dunedin Consort, conducted by John Butt
61:15
Linn CKD 578

Handel’s glorious paean to the patron saint of music has understandably been the subject of numerous recordings. Without claiming to have kept track of all of them, my loyalty has tended to remain with Trevor Pinnock’s 1985 recording with Felicity Lott and Anthony Rolfe Johnson as outstanding soloists. Coming back to it yet again by way of comparing it with this version from John Butt, I was once again struck by the remarkable vitality and freshness it has retained over the three decades since it was issued.

Butt’s new recording represents a departure from his usual work with his Dunedin Consort insofar as it emanates from his artistic directorship of the 2018 Misteria Paschalia Festival held in Kraków in Poland, an edition that made a special feature of music from Britain. As a mark of co-operation the choral section of the Dunedin’s is restricted to only two singers per part, who are supplemented by members of the Polish Radio Choir. They prove to be a responsive, well-balanced body who respond to Butt’s direction with enthusiasm, and whose English pronunciation and diction prove to be first class. One of the major pleasures of Butt’s performance is tempos that with one exception strike this listener as being ideally judged, avoiding the extremes that are presently so much a part and parcel of the performance of Baroque music. The exception comes with the soprano air ‘But oh! What art can teach’, which I feel Butt takes at a tempo that is marginally too stately and one that induces Carolyn Sampson to apply excessive vibrato, also a lesser problem with both singers elsewhere.

Elsewhere both she and Ian Bostridge contribute greatly to the success of the performance. Dryden’s wonderfully illustrative and mimetic text is ideally suited to Bostridge’s inimitable way with the English language and his singing of the opening accompagnato ‘When nature…’ and the stentorian air ‘The trumpet’s loud clangor’ are object lessons in communication. Sampson brings great sensitivity to the gentler, contrasting soprano airs, ‘The soft complaining flute’ in particular being enchantingly phrased and floated, the gentle trills expressing the ‘warbling lute’ beguilingly brought off.

In addition to the ode, the disc includes a very fine performance of the Concerto grosso, op. 6, no. 4, again notable for well-judged tempos, the beautifully played and shaped Largo e piano (iii) an object lesson in the right speed for an 18th-century largo. This is most certainly a recording to place alongside the long-serving Pinnock, its qualities further enhanced by notes from John Butt that manage to be both scholarly and eminently readable, an increasingly rare phenomenon.

Brian Robins

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Recording

Les maîtres du motet: Brossard & Bouteiller

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Les Arts Florissants, directed by Paul Agnew
67:05
harmonia mundi HAF 8905300

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he concentration on Paris as the hub of musical life has tended to obscure the work of French 17th- and 18th-century composers active in the provinces. The disc to hand includes music by two such composers, who if not totally neglected – both major works on the CD have received previous recordings – are not exactly household names. The better known is Sébastian de Brossard, but even he is today probably more famous as an indefatigable collector and historian who published the first French dictionary of music than as a composer. An aristocratic cleric, Brossard spent most of his life at the cathedral at Strasbourg, to where in 1687 he was one of those sent by Louis XIV to restore Catholicism after the re-capture of Alsace. In 1698 he went to Paris, hoping to be appointed maître de musique at Sainte Chapelle, but the post went to Charpentier. Brossard’s final post was at the cathedral in Meaux, where he died in 1730.

It is to Brossard that we owe the survival of the known sacred music of Pierre Bouteiller, who was born around 1655. A shadowy figure, he is first heard of as director of music at Troyes Cathedral in 1687. Following a period in the equivalent post at Châlons-en-Champagne, Bouteiller returned to Troyes, remaining there until 1698, when he moved to Paris. There he established himself as a performer on the viola da gamba ‘and other instruments’. Other than a commissioned Te Deum no record of Bouteiller’s being active as a composer in Paris exists, although he apparently remained in the city until his death, which occurred around 1717.

Brossard recounts a meeting with Bouteiller in Châlons, at which time the latter gave the collector manuscripts of 13 ‘excellent’ petits motets, and a ‘very good Mass for the Dead’ in exchange for Brossard’s recently published first book of motets. Brossard took great care of the manuscript, which he considered to be ‘one of the best I have’, the works included in it remaining all that is extant of Bouteiller’s output of sacred music. The present disc includes the Missa pro defunctis (Requiem), which is scored in five parts with continuo accompaniment. Many hearing it in this wonderful performance will likely consider Brossard’s description to be an exceptional example of masterly understatement. Anyone who regularly reads my reviews will know I’m not prone to hyperbole, but my verdict be that the work is a sublime masterpiece, a largely polyphonic setting in stile antico that throughout demonstrates Bouteiller’s mastery of contrapuntal technique and manipulation of varied textures, including telling touches of affective chromaticism. Especially lovely is the in alternatim setting of the Kyrie, the plainchant set off to great effect by the polyphony. Equally as impressive is Bouteiller’s response to his text, which concentrates on the consolatory and even uplifting, the latter exemplified by the buoyant, confident setting of a verse from Psalm 23 in the Graduel (‘Though I walk’ etc). Yet the overall impression left by this exquisitely lovely work is of heart-easing transcendence.

The major work of Brossard’s here is his Stabat Mater, a large-scale 8-part setting. Divided into 17 sections, it is richly diverse, ranging from grand motet passages like the opening to the chamber-like ‘O quam tristis’ a grief-filled setting of the utmost beauty for solo quartet. The final sections, at first deeply penitential then increasingly ecstatic, culminate in an animated radiance that brings this splendid work to a deeply satisfying peroration. In addition there are two further works by Brossard, a Miserere mei Deus in which two soprano soloists alternate verses with the choir, made especially effective by the recessed placing of the latter, and a 5-part a capella setting of Ave verum corpus, a tiny gem that the brings the disc to an ineffably satisfying close.

As already suggested the performances are outstanding, with beautifully balanced choral singing in the more fully-scored passages and unfailingly sensitive solo work from the seven soloists selected by Paul Agnew from within Les Arts Florissants. This is not only the most deeply affecting CD I’ve heard in some time but also unquestionably one of my records of the year.

Brian Robins

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Recording

Mayr: Psalms from Sacri Concentus 1681

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Ars Antiqua Austria, Gunar Letzbor
59:13
Challenge Classics CC72759

OFTEN THESE DAYS groups attempt some sort of liturgical reconstruction when they perform and record selections of Vespers music. Not so here. Even though there is plenty of room for another psalm and a Magnificat, Letzbor (whose booklet note spend six pages talking about the training of choir boys before devoting two to the little that is known with much certainty about Rupert Ignaz Mayr) is forced by restricting himself to a single publication to give us four psalms performed by four different singers with four-part string accompaniment and a similarly scored hymn setting. Boy treble Fabian Winkelmaier sings Laudate pueri, tenor Markus Miesenberger Confitebor tibi Domine, alto Markus Foster Beati omnes, bass Gerd Kenda Nisi Dominus and male soprano Alois Mühlbacher Venite gentes. These are what Letzbor calls “honest” recordings with no extra engineering to “nicefy” the sound, so the sound is quite dry which pays dividends at the ends of phrases where the decay is fairly rapid. I am disappointed that at least one more piece from the 1681 publication was not included – there are some really nice moments on this recording!
Brian Clark

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Recording

Jenkins: Complete four-part consort music

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Fretwork
83:02 (2 CDs in a single jewel case)

THERE ARE 17 four-part fantasies by the English composer John Jenkins (1592-1678) and they really ought to be far better known! On the international stage, England is really all about Purcell, Elgar and Benjamin Britten… this is so unfair to a large number of composers whose music deserves recognition; Jenkins, “a very gentle and well bred gentleman” according to the writer Nigel North (with whose family he lived for eight years), is one such. There is a charm and an ease about these fantasies, a fluidity of texture and effortless of counterpoint which means one can listen for long periods of time without even being aware that one piece has ended and another begun; the four voices interact in a way that is at once inevitable and deeply satisfying. In the hands of performers of the quality of Fretwork, it is a relaxing and purifying experience; no one voice dominates the others, especially in the two four-part pavans which complete the programme. The recordings, which were made in 2016, are accompanied by an informative booklet and will surely prove popular with fans of Fretwork and John Jenkins – I sincerely hope, though, that they will also draw new admirers to this sublime music.
Brian Clark

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The Battle, the Bethel & the Ball

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(Music by Heinrich Biber)
Acronym
68:15
Olde Focus Recordings

ONE MIGHT WORRY that five of the seven works on a CD are only attributed to the composer whose name it bears, but when the attribution is sanctioned by an expert like Charles Brewer, one need have little real anxiety. While Biber was far from being the only “crazy” composer of his day (Schmelzer wrote music in 5/4 time, Valentini’s harmonic shifts are sometimes reminiscent of Prokoviev, to name but two!), the works in question do bear too many of his signature traits for there to be any serious doubt. The programme is bookended by a remarkable Sonata Jucunda a5 which pushes 17th-century harmony to the limits and the composer’s Battalia with its renowned combination of folk songs in different keys. Sandwiched in between are solo motets for soprano and baritone with distuned violin, solos for gamba and violin with continuo (the latter is the longer version of the increasingly popular Ciacona) and another attribution, this time a set of dances for two instrumental groups, which plays very cleverly with the imitative possibilities of the music. As with their previous recordings, ACRONYM (aka Anachronistic Cooperative Realizing Obscure Nuanced Yesteryear’s Masterpieces!) absolutely throw themselves into this wild world and relish every note – soprano Molly Quinn and baritone Jesse Blumberg need no introduction to regular readers of these pages, and their contribution matches the instrumentalists perfectly. The recording is beautifully clear – try the opening of track 2 (O Dulcis Jesu), where the string bass, organ and theorbo are all distinctly audible, while Molly Quinn’s voice floats effortlessly across the top. The booklet notes are brief but pertinent and translations are given of both of the sung texts. I hope I don’t have to wait too long for ACRONYM’s next release!
Brian Clark

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Recording

Quer Bach 2

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SLIXS
47:44
Hey! Classics LC 29640

CROSSOVER IS NOT really our thing, but these Bach arrangements for a cappella voices reminiscent of The Swingle Singers are actually quite revelatory in the way in which the original lines are vocalised to different sounds, meaning not only the timbres of the individual voices but also the vowels and consonants they choose, and how they are sometimes shared between voices to cover the wide ranges. For me, it was frustrating to have so many bleeding chunks – two of three movements of the A minor violin concerto, for example, are separated by the theme and seven of the Goldberg Variations and the slow movement of the D minor concerto for two violins. While I found the theme a little languorous, the first half of Variation 1 (especially with two voices sometimes singing the “top” line to give added colour) babbled along, though parts of the verbal exchanges of the second half were a little too “hard” for my ears. This was not always a problem, as the “Fuga Canonica in Epidiapente” from The Musical Offering really gained from the same treatment – the complex counterpoint became so clear! Not one for purists, I fear, but possibly something to put on during a dinner party to see if anyone can guess what it is.
Brian Clark

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Book

Fasch und die Konfessionen

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Bericht über die Internationale Wissenschaftliche Konferenz am 21. Und 22. April 2017 im Rahmen der 14. Internationalen Fasch-Festtage in Zerbst/Anhalt
Fasch-Studien 14
Ortus Verlag om243. 432pp. €40.50
ISBN 978-3-937788-58-6

2017 MARKED THE 500TH ANNIVERSARY of the beginning of the Reformation. Martin Luther, whose Wittenberg Theses set the whole thing in motion and who, to a very large part single-handedly, established the liturgy (including its music) of the church which still bears his name, had very close connections with Zerbst, so it was thought appropriate to theme the conference that took place there during the Fasch Festival that year against a religious background. At various points in his life, the composer was employed by Catholic and Protestant nobles, and struggled with his own Pietist beliefs which were considered heresy by the Anhalt court censors. The present volume includes the texts of the 13 papers given, a comprehensive index and biographies of the authors.

Michael Maul opened proceedings with an introduction to the development of musical establishments within the Lutheran church; likening the push to educate boys in the art of singing to Germany’s determined efforts to rebuild their football team after a disastrous World Cup competition, he portrayed Luther’s drive as political expedience and a formative influence on the way music held a central place in the new church. Jan Brademann then explained developments in Zerbst where the court remained Lutheran while the town adhered to the Reformed church and the reaction of both to the rise of Pietism (of which Fasch was a proponent) and the consequences for musicians.

An important figure in the early 18th century was Johann Baptist Kuch; Rashid-S. Pegah took over 50 pages to fill out his biography and details of music in Zerbst immediately before and during his tenure as Capell Director. After several readings, I still feel I have not absorbed all the information he gives! Gerhardt Poppe’s paper focuses on Fasch’s settings of the mass for Zerbst. His studies of the Dresden chapel repertoire are well known, but there are clear gaps in his knowledge of the Fasch literature; firstly, [now Dr] Maik Richter was certainly not the first person to recognise the regular use of mass movements in the Zerbst liturgy; secondly, the Latin movements were not replaced by German hymns on the third days of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun, but by settings of the German mass text (of which there were two settings in the “Zerbster Musikstube”); and thirdly, as I explained to him at the conference, the chronology of the F and G major versions of the mass known as FR 1260 is reversed, so movements he calls “new” in his analysis are actually “old”…

Gottfried Gille surveyed the contents of the surviving editions of the Zerbster Gesangbuch, the bespoke hymn book used in worship throughout the principality, including discussions of local poets whose works are included. My own paper focused on a set of part-books that contained music for an annual cycle of chorales; the fact that the text of the first was by one of the local poets Gille had identified (Johannes Betichius) led me to realise that the chorales were those Fasch used in 1738 to craft two cantata cycles from a single cycle. The only cantata from the cycle that had survived (without the central chorale!) was performed in its 1738 version in the church service that took place in the Bartholmäikirche on the Sunday after the conference.

The next four papers investigated figural music in the court chapel. Nigel Springthorpe’s “Roellig in charge” set out to establish which cycles were performed in which years, and Marc-Roderich Pfau introduced details of a cycle by Christopher Förster. Beate Sorg and Evan Cortens are recognised Graupner specialists: Sorg explored his contributions to the so-called “Dresden Jahrgang”, which Marc-Roderich Pfau had postulated Fasch compiled in advance of his sabbatical in the Saxon capital, and challenges some of Pfau’s conclusions. Cortens sought to demonstrate how the musical origins of Neumeister’s “new” cantata form lay in the opera house, and argued that the crippling financial impact of even attempting to maintain such an institution was alleviated by moving the musical style into the liturgical sphere.

The final three papers concerned music for funerals. Barbara Reul established the format of funerals in Zerbst and produced new evidence about the locations where such things were held. Irmgard Schaller’s focus was on the texts written (and printed) for such events. From a Fasch perspective, perhaps the most important revelation came in Maik Richter’s paper which introduced a series of letters he had found in the Cöthen court records concerning music that he was commissioned to write for a funeral there that (in conjunction with his previous archival research that had established that Fasch was paid for birthday and New Year cantatas) suggest that he was pretty much considered the Kapellmeister for all of the Anhalt lands. Personally, I see no point in speculating which musicians from Zerbst might have taken part in the services in Cöthen. On the other hand, it is invaluable to have the full texts of the three cantatas, and – obviously – to have letters in which the composer explains how he will set about dealing with the texts he had been sent.

Such a fine volume – handsomely printed by ortus verlag – could not have been produced without an enormous amount of editorial work; two former presidents of the Internationale Fasch-Gesellschaft e. V. (Konstanze Musketa and Barbara M. Reul) are to be commended for seeing another fine volume of Fasch-Studien through the press.
Brian Clark

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Recording

Mysterien-Kantaten

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Buxtehude, Bruhns, Pachelbel…
Ensemble Les Surprise, Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas
58:22
Ambronay AMY051

THERE ARE FOUR vocal works in this programme and the same number of instrumental. The soprano Mailys de Villoutreys sings Buxtehude’s Klag Lied (“Muss der Tod denn auch entbinden?”) and the beautiful “Herr, wenn ich nur dich habe” on a ground bass with wonderful control – she has a rich, warm vibrato which she deploys as an ornament, just as it should be. Her partner in Christoph Bernhard’s “Wohl dem, der den Herren fürchtet”, baritone Etienne Bazola, is the perfect match; his rendition of Bruhns’ “De profundis” is as dramatic as one could hope for – his ability to master the wide leaps (especially in the amazing final Alleluia section!) is remarkable. The success of the whole recording, however, is in no large part down to the instrumentalists – perfectly matched violins, sympathetically supported by a continuo line-up of theorbo and claviorganum. The director’s arrangement of the Ciaccona by Pachelbel which opens the disc is very convincing, as is the similarly doctored Passacaglia in D minor by Buxtehude (BuxWV 161). He plays a Praeambulum in D minor by Scheidemann (WV34), using both sounds offered by his instrument, which was built for him in 2000.
Brian Clark

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Vivaldi: Concertos

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Capella Savaria
67:59
Hungaroton HCD 32742
RV91, 241, 332, 428, 437, 472, 484

ONLY ONE PIECE on this recording can be said to be “well known”, the D major flute concerto nicknamed “Il gardellino”; the others including two concertos for violin, as well two for bassoon and another for flute, and finally a chamber concerto that features all three of those instruments (RV91). Zsolt Kalló is the artistic director of the enterprise and solo violinist; his counterparts are László Feriencsik on bassoon and Andrea Bertalan on flute. For this project, Capella Savaria field 44221 strings with harpsichord and archlute continuo. As far as the performances go, there are no surprises in store here – the three soloists are outstanding and the orchestra support them with sensitivity and style in buckets. Vivaldi does pull the occasional stunt, such as the bassoon solo at the very opening of RV472! The orchestra is well established as one of Europe’s best and this CD will enhance that reputation – as well as that of the soloists.
Brian Clark

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Porpora: Opera Arias

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Max Emanuel Cencic, Armonia Atenea, George Petrou
75:59
Decca 483 3235
Arias from Arianna in Nasso, Carlo il Calvo, Enea nel Lazio, Ezio, Filandro, Ifigenia in Aulide, Meride e Selinunte, Poro & Il trionfo di Camilla

INTENDED IN PART to mark the 250th anniversary of Porpora’s death, this recording is yet more evidence that the composer’s star appears to be in the ascendant; Cencic already appeared in a much-lauded recording (also on Decca) of his fine opera, Germanico in Germania – with some critics even suggesting it should be welcomed back into the regular repertoire! Here, 14 contrasting arias from nine operas (including no fewer than seven world premiere recordings) reveal how Cencic has grown in authority as he grows older; his voice has matured into a mean machine that relishes Porpora’s famed “singer’s music” – as a demanding vocal coach, he wrote music that exploited his abilities and those of his pupils to the full. There are many gems on this disc, but I must confess that I particularly enjoyed those with wind and especially with brass; something about those instruments drew something imposing and impressive from the composer and, in Cencic and Armonia Atenea (who really do play very beautifully under George Petrou), he has found great champions. If you are finding it difficult to cope to the early darkness now that the clocks have gone back, listen to “Se tu la reggi al volo” from Ezio and feel your energy levels rise!

Brian Clark