Tag: Baroque

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A. Scarlatti: Il Dolore di Maria Vergine

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Rosita Frisani Mary, Anna Chierichetti St John, Gianluca Belfiori Doro Nicodemus, Mario Cecchetti Onía SSAT, Alessandro Stradella Consort, Estévan Velardi
146:08 (2 CDs in a case)
Brilliant Classics 95534

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]omposed in 1717, in its composer’s maturity, Scarlatti’s Oratorio Sorrow of the Virgin Mary is probably his masterpiece in the genre, and possibly even overall in his work. A substantial work in two parts for four solo voices and strings with a selection of woodwind and brass, it presents the reaction of the Virgin Mary to the unfolding tragedy of her son’s condemnation and crucifixion in a series of dramatic arias, duets, trios and quartets with linking sections of narrative recitative, some of it accompanied. Rosita Frisani’s account of the part of Mary is beautifully expressive and musically accomplished, while she is well supported by an excellent cast of solo singers representing the supporting characters. Curiously Scarlatti sets the part of St John the Evangelist for soprano, perhaps serving as a dramatic distancing effect, while Nicodemus is an alto and Onia, the hostile High Priest, is a tenor. The crafting of the vocal lines is masterly indeed, while the sparing use of the solo wind instrument colours is deft and highly effective. You can tell that by 1717 Scarlatti is a skilled operatic composer, and the date coincides with his move from Naples to Rome, suggesting that the new oratorio was consciously written to appeal to Roman taste and to launch his musical career in the Eternal City. Performed here in a new edition by Estévan Velardi, it is interesting that this oratorio doesn’t even merit a mention in Scarlatti’s extensive Wiki entry – perhaps there is some evangelical work needed on its behalf.

D. James Ross

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The Duarte Circle: Antwerp 1640

Transports Publics, Thomas Baeté
68:02
Musica Ficta MF 8028

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he charming idea behind this CD are concerts given in Antwerp around 1640 by the Jewish heritage Portuguese émigré family Duarte. A letter from Anna Roemers Visscher who attended one such concert in 1640 provides details of the instruments the family played and also some of their repertoire, while the survival of some of Leonora Duarte’s compositions allows these to included alongside other likely pieces by English and continental composers of the time. Duarte’s sinfonias for five viols, performed imaginatively here on a variety of the available instruments, are in the English viol consort style and prove to be works of considerable accomplishment and attractiveness. The quirkily named ensemble Transports Publics are joined for this project by the delightful guest sopranos Olalla Alemàn and Gret de Geyter. It is easy to be transported into the public rooms of the Duarte family, cluttered with keyboard instruments and bedecked with fine paintings, for the duration of this evocative and eloquently performed programme, which includes a nod in the direction of the Duartes’ Sephardic roots with music by Salamone Rossi and the Sephardic song El paso del mar rojo. While this latter piece would be unlikely to have been performed openly in a concert by the Duartes, intent on cultivating their Catholic credentials, the fact that Leonora Duarte hid the tune in one of her sinfonias is perhaps highly significant.

D. James Ross

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Handel : Lotario

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Rennert, Lys, Hesse von den Steinen, Navarro Colorado, Perry, Boyce, Festspielorchester Göttingen, Laurence Cummings
187:00 (3 CDs)
Accent Acc 26408

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his live performance of the relatively unfamiliar 1729 opera Lotario by Handel comes from the 2017 Göttingen International Handel Festival. The title role, sung originally by the Italian castrato Bernacchi, is taken by mezzo-soprano Sophie Rennert – Bernacchi was initially poorly received in the role, being unflatteringly compared to the great Senesino, but was deemed to have improved in the face of criticism. In the dog-eat-dog operatic world of early 18th-century London, the opera itself was also deemed ‘very poor’, a verdict which it is hard to understand as this is a piece stuffed with powerful arias, beautiful ensembles and generally music of a very high order of excellence. At a recent performance of the oratorio Samson, I was struck simultaneously by how much superb music Handel wrote and what a small proportion of it is well known. And here is an entire score of music, which is never less than accomplished and often exquisitely beautiful. The libretto is of Byzantine complexity, but as usual with the operas of this period it simply provides a series of scenarios in which characters can sing of love, hate, triumph, desperation and a range of other high emotions. Lotario’s relatively delayed appearance, for instance, gives rise to the lovely aria Rammentati, cor mio, ravishingly sung by Rennert, by which time we have already heard extensively from Marie Lys, whose convincing account of Adelaide is also deeply moving. A strong cast brings this inexplicably obscure music vividly to life, while consistently fine playing from the orchestral forces is also a major factor in this performance’s success. Inevitably there is an element of background noise in this recording of a staged performance, although the one or two startling thumps are restricted to sections of recitative, while the arias are relatively distraction-free. While we might have expected drums and trumpets in the final chorus of a martial opera, Handel eschews this gesture, and in the present performance the ‘chorus’ would seem just to involve the soloists, which may seem a little underwhelming as a conclusion. The informative programme notes include an engaging series of contemporary responses to the opera, and this admirable package has done a fine service in bringing this neglected score to wider attention.

D. James Ross

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Lully: Dies irae, Te Deum

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Allabastrina Choir and Consort, Elena Sartori
59:35
Brilliant Classics 95592

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hese performances of two great masterpieces by Jean Baptiste Lully are extremely beautiful in every respect. Concise and beautifully balanced instrumental playing is matched by choral and solo singing of a very high order. The ensembles have clearly digested completely the idiosyncratic style of this music, and their effortless and utterly convincing ornamentation, their smooth alternation between solo and tutti sections and their consistently beautiful tone and blend are simply exemplary. I was not as familiar with the Dies irae  as I am with the Te Deum, but this recording has won me over to the considerable virtues of a fine and powerful funeral composition. Elena Sartori is professor of choral singing at the Claudio Monteverdi Conservatoire in Bolzano, and her expertise both with the scores and with her choral forces is apparent. I am perhaps duty bound to mention a couple of omissions in this package – neither texts nor translations are provided, although of course both are easily accessed online, but curiously the accomplished soloists are also not identified. Perhaps this is a consequence of the Allabastrina ethos in which the group is regarded as ‘an alchemical combination of friendship, vocal and instrumental entente’. Often such mission statements come across as pretentious, but in this case the proof of the pudding is in the listening.

D. James Ross

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Music in 17th-century Wrocław

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Gli Angeli Genève, Concerto Palatino, Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, Stephan MacLeod
77:54
Claves Records 50-1805
Music by Bollius, Buchner, Bütner, Jarbęski, Legrenzi, Lilius, Biagio Marini, Mayer, Merula, Pacelli, Scacchi, Valentini, Zeutschner & Zieleński

[dropcap]D[/dropcap]on’t worry if some of the composers’ names look unfamiliar – I can guarantee that, if you like 17th-century music, you will totally love this disc. Covering everything from a duet for tenors by Merula to a piece by Pacelli for five choirs and voices and instruments, Stephan MacLeod guides his assembled forces through more than an hour of beautiful music, cleverly interspersing the choral works with slighter chamber pieces. Of many pieces I heard for the first time, my particular favourite was Tobias Zeutschner’s “Der Herr gebe euch vom Tau des Himmels” which is impressive from the opening sonata until the end almost nine minutes later. The performances are every bit as impressive as the music itself, and they are beautifully captured in the recording. My only slight criticism of the whole enterprise is the lack of texts and translations of the vocal pieces. Admittedly the booklet is already quite thick (including Polish amongst the languages!), but a better balance between publicity and useful information could surely have been found, or the texts made available online. That said, with singing and playing of this calibre, they could sing nursery rhyme texts and I’d be impressed! Magnificent recording.

Brian Clark

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Vivaldi: Concerti per due violini

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Giuliano Carmignola, Amandine Beyer, Gli Incogniti
70:01
harmonia mundi HMC 902249
RV505, 507, 510, 513, 527 & 529 (+127)

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]egular readers of these pages (and the printed ones before EMR moved online a few years ago) will know that I’ve been hankering for a good period-instrument account of these concertos for years. I first became aware of them (I think!) on a Deutsche Grammophon LP (remember them?) with Igor and David Oistrakh; brilliant violinists of their type, they made the music sparkle with excitement, the sequences being tossed back and forth between the two of them, often in the musical stratosphere. Here, Carmignola and Beyer, both outstanding violinists of their type, bring the same energy and élan to this effervescent repertoire. If Vivaldi’s solo concertos are showpieces, his concertos for two violins are like play-offs, with each of the soloists seemingly trying to out-do the other. Gli Incogniti feature two pairs of ripieno violins, and one each of viola, cello, violone, plucker and keyboard. (For RV127, a “ripieno concerto”, an extra violinist – coincidentally, the author of the booklet notes – is brought in to balance the sections, so presumably Beyer leads from the front.) These are finely paced and delivered accounts of some sparkling music – bravi!

Brian Clark

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Tartini: Sonate, op. 1

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Evgeny Sviridov violin, Davit Melkonyan cello, Stanislav Gres harpsichord
65:00
Ricercar RIC391

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s well as three sonatas from Tartini’s op. 1 (nos. 5, 10 and 12), this excellent recording features two of the sonate picciole that survive in manuscript and a Pastorale for scordatura violin, all of which clearly demonstrate the composer’s (and Sviridov’s!) prowess as an exponent of the instrument. Indeed, the disc was part of Sviridov’s prize for winning the International Competition Musica Antiqua at the Bruges Festival in 2017. He (and his colleagues) take all of Tartini’s demands in their stride. I particularly enjoyed the sonatas from the manuscript – either unaccompanied (as Tartini notes that he normally played the,) or sometimes with cello (having supplied a bass line to conform with expectations…), but not just a simple bass line; Melkonyan plays chords and ornaments, so these are true duos. Throughout Sviridov is compelling and exciting.

Brian Clark

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Misterio

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Julia Schröder, Lautten Compagney
70:49
deutsche harmonia mundi 8 89853 44082 5
Biber + Piazzola

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]inding suitable bedfellows for Biber’s amazing set of Rosary Sonatas is a real challenge. Julia Schröder and her colleagues have gone about as far as it is possible to go in pairing them with music by the Argentine tango king, Astor Piazzolla. (They also include a funky, violin-free version of the Passacaglia from Biber’s Harmonia Artificiosa no. 5). I confess that my eyebrows did arch when I opened the envelope that brought the disc; after a good few listens, though, this fine quartet had drawn me into their soundworld and, if I’m honest, I didn’t even notice the move from one composer to another on a couple of occasions. For those who like to know such things, Schröder performs sonatas 1-3, 9, 10 and 14. I’m not sure that I would want a second such disc, nor do I think I want a set of all of the Biber which had been given the same treatment, but I cannot deny enjoying (a lot!) what I heard.

Brian Clark

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Recording

Sebastiani: Matthäus Passion

Floral design

Colin Balzer, Christian Immler, Ina Siedlaczek, Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble, Paul O’Dette, Stephen Stubbs
65:38
cpo 555 204-2

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is an important recording of an important work. Sebastiani’s telling of the passion according to St Matthew is punctuated with judiciously chosen Lutheran chorales which would have been known to the congregation in the Königsburg church where it was presumably first performed, though the score stipulates performance by a solo soprano and viol consort. Elsewhere in the work, singers are joined by a pair of violins. The success of any performance rests on the casting of the two principle voice parts – in this case, Colin Balzer’s reading of the Evangelist balances a rhetorical reading of the narrative with just enough colouring of the voice to bring it to life, while Christian Immler’s Christus is very much a real person, turning Sebastiani’s lines into real believable dialogue. The other parts are taken well and the whole is well paced and nicely recorded.

Brian Clark

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Categories
Recording

A German Christmas

Floral design

17th-Century Music for the Time of Advent and Christmas
Margaretha Consort, Marit Broekroelofs
78:15
Naxos 8.551398

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his recording follows a pattern familiar from several other recent releases, presenting various settings of the same text within single tracks. Thus, for example, we have the Lord’s Prayer (Vater Unser…) by Hans Leo Hassler, Johann Steigleder and Jacob Praetorius. The performances are given by nine solo singers (SSSAATTBB), a congregation and a group of instrumentalists playing viols, a cornetto, drums and bells, a chamber organ and the church organ. Taking the aforementioned track as an example, the Lord’s Prayer is performed instrumentally, but the first version (Hassler) is noticeably quicker than the second (viol consort) and the third (bass viol playing the melody under organ ornamentation) is at another speed; then comes a mysterious “Part 4” which appears to be an arrangement (of what?) featuring some beautifully executed, incredibly intricate ornamentation on the cornetto. All of this is wonderful and provides a rich, varied and valuable insight into the world of musicians of the time, but ultimately it is artificial since no 17th-century performance could ever have actually been like this. The booklet notes explain this away convincingly enough, but they do not mention the (to me, at least) unnecessary and unnecessarily polyrhythmic percussion parts added at various junctures – they’re just a needless distraction (again, my opinion). In short, this is a nice recording of fine performances in a variety of styles of popular music for the festive period.

Brian Clark

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