Tag: Chamber music

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Beethoven: Piano Trios

CD cover Rautio Piano Trio Beethoven trios vol. 2

Rautio Piano Trio
62:33
Resonus RES10337

The Rautio Piano Trio earned the highest praise from me for the first of what we can now safely assume will eventually be an extremely welcome complete set of the Beethoven Piano Trios. You can read the review of the last issue, which involved the first two trios of op 1 here. A particular joy of that disc was the success with which the Rautio Trio (Jane Gordon violin, Victoria Simonsen cello and Jan Rautio fortepiano) captured the sheer exuberance of the young Beethoven on their period instruments. Those include 17th-century string instruments whose splendid tonal qualities are enhanced by outstanding playing, for proof of which there is no need to go further than the exquisitely lovely opening of the Adagio of op. 11, perfectly shaped and played with gorgeous tone first by the cellist, then the violin counterpointed by the cello. The fortepiano is a copy of an 1805 Walter Viennese fortepiano built by Paul McNulty; as I noted in the earlier review, it boasts exceptional tonal quality across the range, with a silvery top and (when required) a surprisingly powerful bass. This raises another highly important aspect of these performances, which are throughout balanced to near perfection. To some degree, this is of course down to the performers – Rautio seems to have an instinctive feel for dropping out of the limelight when he needs to – but equally to the greater ease of finding the right balance when instruments appropriate to the period are employed.

Like its companions from op 1, the C-minor Trio is an ambitious four-movement work, the big-boned, muscly characteristics of its opening and closing movements apparent from the urgency of the first movement, with its bold opening, chunky sonorities and, particularly in the development, more than a hint of Sturm und Drang. But perhaps its most remarkable movement is the big Finale: Prestissimo, the energy and bravado of which are superbly conveyed by the Rautios. Throughout all three works, one notes the distinctive little hints of portamento and rubato that give the performances a distinctive character.

Op 11 dates from 1797 and is sometimes known as the ‘Gassenhauer’, a nickname referring to the popularity of the theme of the variations that form the last of its three movements. This was taken from a popular drama giocosa by Joseph Weigl, and was apparently so infectious that it was sung throughout the lanes (or “Gassen”) of Vienna. I can well believe it – the first time I heard the Rautio’s performance, it stuck in my head for days. It seems Beethoven had second thoughts about using such a low-brow ‘pop’ tune, but eventually decided he would use it. I’m glad he did, not least because it gave the Rautio Trio the opportunity to play the tune and its variations with such a sense of vitality and fun. Op 44 originates from 1792, but did not appear in its final published version until 1804. Based on a very simple tune presented in unison, Beethoven gradually works through a variation scheme to give each instrument prominence, the virtuosic demands of the writing increasing gradually. The Rautios, both individually and as a unit, grasp the many opportunities it offers but perhaps for me most memorably of all in the barcarolle-like variation 5 (I think!), where there is some wondrous sotto voce playing.

In sum, bravi tutti! – again. I await the ‘Archduke’ with impatience.

Brian Robins

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Music for two

CD cover Music for two Duo Coloquintes

Duo Coloquintes
53:19
Seulétoile SEC 02

When I offered this recording to our regular Byrd reviewer, he (rightly) politely declined. The “problem” with it is that the musicians have taken keyboard music from around the beginning of the 17th century and “arranged it” for violin and viola da gamba.

This might be a radical approach but – as someone who once wrote a rave review of Bach on the accordion (and convinced his father, an accomplished folk player of the instrument, to listen and enjoy it!) – I could hardly pretend that I was offended by the idea.

The present review will also be a glowing one, as violinist Alice Julien-Laferrière and her gambist colleague, Mathilde Vialle, argue very strongly for their approach; neither is afraid to introduce harmonies where their instruments allow, and there is so much more to their arrangements (purists will doubtless be horrified by plucked notes, and layered dynamics!) than simply seeing how much of the original they can include. These are well-considered and – most importantly – convincing accounts of the repertoire, and, let’s be honest, the music they’ve selected (mostly from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book) is not that familiar to anyone but keyboard specialists, and any recording that brings it more widespread attention is welcome.

Sometimes, it takes a radical approach to reveal new facets to something with which you thought you were familiar; having had to study TFVB as a set work at university, I can honestly say that nothing about it brought me any pleasure… Unfortunately, there were no such inspiring recordings as the present one around! And definitely, nothing as beautifully captured in spectacular sound!

Brian Clark

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Beethoven: Middle String Quartets

CD cover Beethoven Middle Quartets Narratio Quartet

Narratio Quartet
146:33 (2 CDs)
Challenge Classics CC72981

A review of the first release of what will ultimately be a complete set of the Beethoven string quartets appeared on this site in 2024. To paraphrase what I wrote on that occasion, what makes their performances so special is the quartet’s unique approach to performance practice. This embodies not simply the use of period instruments and playing them with a lack of continuous vibrato, but such matters as the employment of rubato, allowing for a greater flexibility of phrasing and rhythm, and, perhaps most radical to the modern ear, the use of portamento or glissando – the sliding of one note to another, borrowed from vocal music. All these innovations stem from a long and careful study made by the Narratios of performance practice in Beethoven’s day, while it is important to recognise their usage has one purpose and one purpose only: to serve the expressive qualities inherent in the music. So you won’t hear portamenti used indiscriminately but carefully judged to enhance expression. Probably the most striking example here is the outset of the third movement of opus 59, no. 1 in F. Marked Adagio molto e mesto, it is an elegy of the greatest profundity, the use of portamento here enhancing the inner qualities of the music. The revelation that results is further enhanced by rhythmic flexibility.

For those in need of a reminder, the middle quartets of Beethoven comprise the three quartets of op 59, in F, E minor and C respectively, and op 74 in E flat, sometimes known as the ‘Harp’ from the pizzicato figure in the opening movement. The quartets of op 59, composed between the end of 1802 and 1804 and published with a dedication to Count Rasumovsky, one of Beethoven’s patrons, represent a huge advance on the op 18 quartets completed two years earlier. This applies especially to the F-major Quartet, the spacious breadth and contrapuntal density of whose opening Allegro take the medium into new territory only transcended by the following movement, a scherzo as far removed from the traditional minuet movement as is possible to conceive. Both these revolutionary movements are splendidly brought off by the Narratios with an energy that captures the dynamism and sometimes quasi-orchestral textures with impressive bold strokes. At the other end of the scale, the intense, deeply felt slow movement is beautifully sustained, with some notably beautiful playing from violist Dorothea Vogel. Only with the final movement, marked Thème russe, does the overpowering effect of this extraordinary quartet, as remarkable in some ways as the late quartets, give way to a rumbustious buoyance, noting in this performance however the magical moment just before the final bars when Beethoven slows and quietens the headlong thrust to the end of the quartet.

The remaining three quartets offer fewer challenges to performer and listener, the ‘Harp’ in particular eschewing that kind of density and intensity in exchange for a friendlier ambiance, again finely judged in the present performance. At the start of the slow movement there is another subtle yet highly effective example of the use of portamento. This movement, a love song taken by the leader – splendid playing here from Johannes Leertouwer – into the realms of tragedy and the viola into a shadowy, more dramatic world is especially effective at showing up the splendid balance achieved by the Narratios, while the final set of variations underlines the exceptional technical prowess of the quartet with some particularly nimble bowing.

Doubtless most readers have their own favourite interpreters of these quartets, but for their ability to make strong declamatory statements alongside more lyrical pronouncements these performances are a special case that should be investigated by all who think they know them.

Brian Robins

 

 

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J. H. Roman: Assaggi

CD cover Roman Assaggi for solo violin Alison Luthmers

Alison Luthmers baroque violin
60:58
Rubicon Classics RCD1140

It is not very often that I listen to a CD from beginning to end when I am planning to review it. This beautiful recording held my attention longer than that – after a while, I sensed that I had heard some of the music before and realised that (because I was listening on the distributor’s JukeBox facility) it had seamlessly started over.

I have never knowingly heard Alison Luthmers play before; I say that because the Canadian-American violinist plays with most of Scandinavia’s leading ensembles, including the Bellevue String Quartet (whose recordings I shall now seek out!) She is at pains to thank her recording engineer (Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir) “for the gorgeous sound”; whilst I 100% agree that this is by far one of the cleanest capturing of a baroque violin I have ever heard, the fact is that she had to conjure up that captivating sound in the first place. This is no mean feat; in all of my previous encounters with Roman, I had never conceived of him as such a creative master of the instrument. These “assaggi” have variously been described as essays, experiments, or even studies; whatever meaning the composer had in his mind, they are substantial works – Luthmers plays one in three movements that last over 11 minutes, two in four movements (almost 12 and 17 minutes respectively), and opens her recital with one in five movements that takes over 21 minutes! I was blissfully unaware of time passing, what with the beautiful sound, Roman’s surprisingly (and I still don’t know why I hadn’t realised this before) accomplished writing, and just sheer enjoyment of a beautiful new thing.

There were days not so long ago that that very feeling was the whole point of the HIP “early music” world, so it is refreshing to know that there are still undiscovered masterpieces (every baroque violin student should be made to play these as a counterfoil to Bach and Biber!) out there with fantastic musicians (and record companies!) prepared to champion them!

I’d better stop before I get a repetitive strain injury of the exclamation mark… Buy this – you won’t regret it. If we still had a stars system, this would be 6 out of 5 🙂

Brian Clark

 

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Telemann: Paris Quartets Vol. 1: 6 Quadri

CD cover Telemann Paris Quartets volume 1 London Handel Players

London Handel Players
74:03
SOMM recordings SOMCD 0698

It would not be an idle boast or some wild hyperbole to say that Telemann wrote unfailingly well for the flute in the chamber setting, and the Quadri (1730) and the Nouveaux Quatuors (1738) give clear proof of this facility. These works collectively known as “Paris Quartets” show a master of the “mixed taste” in full control of the musical assemblage at his fingertips; these works even foreshadow L-G Guillemain’s Conversations Galantes et Amusantes (1743) by several years.

Indeed, there are several stylistic and rhetorical devices that performers can get to grips with. From the CD booklet alone, we can tell the London Handel Players have understood the make-up of these Quadri (first published in Hamburg, reprinted in Paris 1736 without composer’s consent by Le Clerc) to wish to tackle these elegant and eloquent gems of the chamber repertoire. There is already a good shelf-load of recordings; some are absolute benchmarks (Sony-Vivarté 1997, Kuijken brothers with Gustav Leonhardt) and Jed Wentz with Musica ad Rhenum on Brilliant Classics to name just two. The latter versions push the tempi with exhilarating effect! Here Rachel Brown and players carve a middle ground with a pleasing focus on the details of these cleverly conceived pieces. The two Balletti (i.e. French dance suites with an italianate designation to match the Quadri in the publication’s title) exude a playful amalgam of French style mixed with new idioms. The Réplique movement gives responses in turn as if saying: “Bonjour”! The two Airs almost certainly come from Telemann’s cantatas, the E minor one closely mimicking the first aria of TVWV 1:448, Ergeuss dich zur Salbung, (printed in 1725-6), which Handel also liked enough to re-deploy.

Typical of the composer, there are plenty of devices, twists and turns for the players to get to grips with, and the joyful interplay of “passing the baton” in these uniquely blended forms is every present. What is astounding, is just how the composer pulled these cleverly crafted works together during a period of such frenetic activity, as 1730 was for him. Does this ensemble pull it all together? Gladly, it is a pleasant and passable joint effort to present these aforementioned elements in their correct guise, without surpassing those two formidable benchmark recordings previously cited.

David Bellinger

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Vivaldi incognito

CD cover of Vivaldi-Incognito

Hexaton, Guillaume Rebinguet Sudre
60:00
Encelade ECL 2302

Whatever the artistic merits of this recording (and I do not deny that Hexaton and its violinist, Guillaume Rebinguet Sudre, are outstanding artists), there are elements of the project itself that I find baffling. The recital does not consist of some freshly discovered works, but rather three sonatas from the “Manchester” manuscript (two of which also survive in the Saxon State Library in Dresden), and another from that German repository which was copied out by Johann Georg Pisendel – Konzertmeister of the renowned Hofkapelle in Dresden under Augustus the Strong, and a pupil of the Red Priest. It is odd (I think) that the booklet notes do not mention that RV6 (the Dresden manuscript of which is online HERE) is headed “Suonata a Solo fatta per Mr Pisendel”, or that Pisendel himself wrote the second source of RV12 (online HERE). The third Pisendel-related sonata RV10 (see his manuscript HERE) is similarly in the German’s handwriting… In the booklet note, the first movement of RV10 is listed as “(Preludio a Capriccio)”, as if there is no heading in the original – it is clearly marked “Suonata All[egr]o:”.

So much for the musicology. Now to the music. To be fair, in a live performance, these might be terrifically exciting. The violinist certainly has flair, and his exuberance is echoed by the continuo team of cello, theorbo and harpsichord. While I am mostly open-minded about whether or not a particular instrument might have been involved in an 18th-century performance (how can we ever be sure that certain combinations really were frowned upon?), I struggled here – especially in slow movements – with the competition for my ears’ attention! The violinist went full William Babell on his rapid octave scale ornaments, while the harpsichordist and lutenist spread chords, flew all over their respective ranges (even when the manuscript is clearly marked “Tasto solo”!), and even picked out some (unfigured) dissonant notes at cadences (I’m talking about the horrendous B flat in the antepenultimate bar of RV10’s opening movement!)

And then there are what, for wont of a better word, I shall call “the fillers”… Presumably unable to find any pieces by other incognito composers for solo harpsichord and theorbo, the violinist composed his own.* Even though they are relatively short, and might be adjudged to be reasonable pastiches, why on earth not champion some real neglected works by some of Vivaldi’s contemporaries? Surely this would have been an ideal opportunity (given that the CD is only 60 minutes long) to promote some obscure Venetian(s)? And what did the poor cellist do that meant he didn’t get a new piece and instead had to make do with the slow movement of one of Vivaldi’s concerti?

As I say, there are many things here to enjoy. I found that repeated listening – instead of broadening my mind – convinced me even more that the soundscape is too busy for too much of the time. They are violin sonatas after all, not sonatas for violin with a competing backing group…

Brian Clark

*As if to prove that he IS the Baroque man, Rebinguet Sudre also built the harpsichord!

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Gregor Werner Vol. 4

CD cover Werner Caldara vol. 4 Rovatkay

Voktett Hannover, la festa musicale, Lajos Rovatkay
59:41
audite 97.833

For the fourth volume of this excellent series, director-cum-musicologist Lajos Rovatkay has chosen to focus on Gregor Joseph Werner’s relationship with his teacher, Vice-Kapellmeister to the Viennese court, Antonio Caldara. As well as tracing the birth of the two-movement church sonata from sinfonie to the elder composer’s oratorios to an excellent sonata a4  by the pupil, it compares and contrasts their church music, culminating in a performance of a Requiem in G minor by “Werner”, which Rovatkay identified as featuring music by both composers (whether with or without the permission/knowledge of the teacher is not made explicit in one of the densest booklet notes I have ever read… faced with such an impenetrable text, I’m not surprised that even a highly skilled translator like Viola Scheffel struggled to save us from some of its obscurity!)

All eleven (!) singers of the Voktett Hannover (only one tenor and one bass sing on all the vocal tracks) are excellent; they blend beautifully and take the solos stylishly though I did long occasionally for some ornamentation when the dense counterpoint (for which both composers are rightly famed) allowed. Similarly, the string playing (33211 strings with chamber organ and lute) is stylish – nicely pointed bow strokes give the contrapuntal lines shape.

At a little under an hour, some might feel hard done by. However, with music of this quality (speaking as a self-confessed lover of fugal writing), I feel this is just about right. I also found myself hearing pieces of a musical jigsaw falling into place, hearing echoes of Legrenzi (reputedly Caldara’s Venetian teacher) and foretastes of Haydn (who followed Werner as Kapellmeister at Esterházy). It is remarkable that audite has thusfar produced four outstanding CDs of music by a relatively unknown composer and I for one hope there are more in the pipeline!

Brian Clark

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Brahms: Cello sonatas

CD cover Brahms Cello sonatas Amy Norrington Piet Kuijken

Amy Norrington cello, Piet Kuijken fortepiano
61:55
Etcetera KTC 1820

It is not often Early Music Review strays into the second half of the 19th century, or indeed that I do when it comes to reviewing. The reasoning here is that the performances of the two Brahms cello sonatas are played on period instruments, the cello being a 1695 Francesco Ruggiero with covered gut strings while the piano is a Johann Baptist Streicher from 1868. As will be seen both play a prominent role in contributing to the success of the performances. And many readers will doubtless guess from the names that the performers have strong connections with early music, Amy Norrington being the daughter of Sir Roger, while Piet Kuijken is the son of Wieland Kuijken, a distinguished member of perhaps the most prominent of all early music families.

A period of over twenty years separates the two sonatas for cello and piano. The first, the three-movement op 38 in E minor, dates originally from 1862, but three years later Brahms replaced the slow movement with a new fugally-orientated finale. The sonata is dominated by its expansive opening Allegro non troppo, here running for over 14 minutes. It opens with a gently lyrical statement for the cello which is immediately answered by the piano, and already in the laying of the foundations of this movement we hear a number of features that will come to typify the characteristics of these performances. The first is the beautiful shaping of the cello theme and the tone produced by Norrington, a long line in which the purity is maintained without recourse to a distracting degree of vibrato. And although Norrington proves in many places she has the technique for the more strenuous writing, it is these expressive cantabile passages more than anything that remain in the mind. Secondly, the piano proves to my mind ideal for this music, perhaps unsurprisingly given that apparently Brahms himself owned a Streicher constructed in the same year as the instrument employed here. The top has a beautiful silvery tone in lyrical writing, but across the range produces a rich tonal quality of real character. Most importantly, the balance between cello and piano is near ideal in denser, more intense passages where the cello can tend to be swamped by a modern piano.

The later four-movement Sonata in F, op 99, dates from 1886 and is technically more demanding in some ways, particularly the urgent, thrusting third movement, its dynamism alleviated to some degree by the more lyrical central section. The briefer, fleet-footed final Allegro molto also demands considerable agility, again more than convincingly met in the present case. Finally, and especially rewarding for the present writer, are three song transcriptions – presumably made by the performers – ‘Es träumte mir’ from op 57 especially inducing some of the magically sensitive playing on the disc, the little touches of portamento in particular perfectly judged. It was a pleasing idea to include the texts and translations of the songs; it adds to the excellent impression left by what is for this writer an unexpectedly rewarding excursion into unfamiliar territory.

Brian Robins

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Baroque Arabesque

CD cover Baroque Arabesque

Fiori Musicali Austria
62:19
Gramola 99279

‘With this album Baroque Arabesque the ensemble Fiori Musicali Austria invites a variety of thought-experiments’ – I open my review with a sentence from the programme note as it perfectly sums up what this CD is aiming to achieve. At a time of mass migration, the musicians are conjecturing about cultural interactions in earlier centuries. They alternate tracks of Sephardic folk music and other traditional music with eastern elements with mainstream western Baroque music by composers such as Caccini, Athanasius Kircher, Handel, Tomaso Vitali and Couperin. So far so good, but actually if they had left it at this, the obvious contrast between the two idioms is considerable – this is where the thought-experimenting comes in. The group’s percussionist, who plays a seminal role in the traditional music, is let loose on the Baroque music, ‘Arabesquing it up’ in a way which to my mind is entirely implausible. The most extreme example of this is the group’s version of Tornami a vagheggiar from Handel’s Alcina, where a lovely Baroque aria is well and truly put through the mill with oud and percussion additions triggering some alarming responses from the group’s vocalist and other instrumentalists. We can’t of course say categorically that performances of this kind of mainstream Baroque repertoire never took place, but this is surely modern ‘makey-uppy’ performance practice of the most ridiculous kind. I have been consistently critical of lazy attempts to overlay music of one cultural genre with the practices of another – more than once I have felt that the great Jordi Savall has engaged in cross-cultural fantasy at the expense of the music – but this thought experiment is of another order. Shoe-horning oud and ethnic percussion into the self-contained world of Baroque music is at the same time unconvincing and pointless. I do hope that Fiori Musicali Austria spend more of their time engaging honestly with early repertoire, as their performances are not without merit, but sadly this project seems to me a misconceived and fundamentally dishonest waste of everybody’s time.

D. James Ross

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Navigating Foreign Waters

CD cover Navigating foreign waters

Spanish Baroque & Mexican Folk Music
Maria Cristina Kiehr, Krishnasol Jiménez, Roberto Koch 51:30
Brilliant Classics 96205

This CD arose from the quest of three musicians based in South America to explore the Spanish roots for their folk music. The already distinctive son of much Spanish music in the 16th and 17th centuries underwent further transformation on contact with the Spanish colonies in Mesoamerica, most notably the jarocho music of Mexico. Krishnasol Jiménez plays the famous Stradivarius ‘Sabionari’ guitar of 1679 (beautifully illustrated inside the CD package), while Roberto Koch improvises a bass line on a colascione, a sort of three-stringed bass lute employed in folk music and also known as the liuto della giraffa on account of its long neck! The sound of these two plucked instruments in combination with Maria Cristina Kiehr’s pure and expressive soprano voice is very pleasing. I find it interesting that these musicians from Mexico, Venezuela and Argentina respectively, performing with a genuine New World perspective, take a much more restrained approach to the Mexican idioms than do many Old World musicians. Their performances are often languidly charming rather than spikey with cross-rhythms, although at the same time, I don’t want to make them sound dull – where appropriate they are infectiously toe-tapping. There is even a bit of ‘body-tapping’ of one of the stringed instruments – one would hope of the colascione rather than the venerable guitar. Perhaps it is the participation of this priceless survivor, which dictates the generally respectful approach of the performers. In any case, the performers’ backgrounds and musical experience as well as the instruments they employ give their performances of this repertoire considerable authority, and this minimal ensemble of three performers has a delightful completeness about it.

D. James Ross