Tag: Chamber music

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Bach: Concerto à Cembali concertati vol. 4

CD cover Bach Concerto à Cembali concertati vol. 4

Concertos for 3 & 4 harpsichords
Aapo Häkkinen, Miklós Spányi, Cristiano Holtz, Anna-Maaria Oramo, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra
77:45
Aeolus AE-10107
+Müthel: Duetto in E-flat major

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This recording brings the set of four CDs of Helsinki Baroque Orchestra’s recording of Bach’s Concerti à Cembali concertati, with Aapo Häkkinen as the leading harpsichordist, to a conclusion. The first volume was released in 2012.

The playing is light and bright, and with one-to-a-part strings, the harpsichords – especially in BWV 1065 – are in no danger of being smothered. As in the previous recordings, the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra plays on an interesting array of instruments with violins by Stainer and Klotz, a viola by Leclerc c. 1770 and a ‘cello from Rome c. 1700. The odd one out is a Bohemian double bass dated 1840, and it sounds like it: much too boomy in some places. Clearly, they do not always play with a 16’ – there is a delightfully transparent Youtube video of their performance in Japan of Brandenburg V which not only eschews a 16’ violone but has only two other upper strings alongside the concertante violin! So why use a double bass when a slighter-toned violone would have matched the other strings far better?

The ‘filler’ in this volume – it has included pieces for single harpsichord in the earlier volumes like the Italian concerto – is a quite different piece: Johann Gottfried Müthel (1728-1788)’s Duetto in E-flat major of 1771 is in three movements played here on two closely-recorded clavichords from the very end of the 18th century, reminding us of the continuing popularity of the clavichord as a boudoir instrument, which is just what is right for this piece.

I have quite a few recordings of the complete set of harpsichord concerti: Ton Koopman with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra from the early 1990s, Trevor Pinnock with The English Concert, Lars Ulrich Mortensen with Concerto Copenhagen, and there is Pieter-Jan Belder with the Amphion Consort for Brilliant Classics and Davitt Morony with colleagues on historic instruments – all of which have strong claims as a complete set.

Only the more recent like Concerto Copenhagen, the Amphion Consort and the emerging (but not yet complete) series with Francesco Corti and Il Pomo d’Oro use (rightly to my mind) single strings, so this recording may be a good choice.

David Stancliffe

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Bach Unbuttoned

Bach Unbuttoned Brandenburgs

Ana De La Vega flute, Ramón Ortega Quero oboe, Alexander Sitkovetsky violin, Cyrus Allyar trumpet, Johannes Berger harpsichord, Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn
62:26
Pentatone PTC 5186 893

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This is a CD of Brandenburgs 5, 4 and 2 with the double concerto in D minor played enthusiastically by Ana de la Vega and Ramón Ortega on modern flute and oboe. ‘Regards to instrumentation,’ writes de la Vega in the liner notes, ’in those days it was usual to play a musical line on the instruments available, depending who was on your castle staff and up to the job. Hence we have taken similar licence, playing Brandenburg no. 4 with flute and oboe (instead of two flutes) and the famous double concerto with two different melodic instruments, that happened to be ‘at hand’. (No mention of the fact that in 4 it was two recorders, rather than traversi anyway.)

As an exercise in enjoying playing Bach, this is a polished and wizzy spree. The players are classy, and once you have got used to the high pitch, it sounds well. BUT – and there needs to be a warning ‘but’ – there are regrettable consequences. First, the balance between the instruments goes up the creek – the accompanying orchestra is many players per part, so it becomes the dominant sound with the bass particularly thumpy – and the harpsichord, even in the first movement of Brandenburg 5 is so reticent – why? Second, the ‘solo’ instruments need to have their volume ‘enhanced’ to compete and they lack the natural fluency of the period instruments and their unobtrusive blendability, which is cruelly exposed in Brandenburg 2.

Perhaps surprisingly, I found the slow movement of the D minor double concerto, with its almost trio sonata quality, the most plausible – it reminded me of playing the same work with just that same scoring in the 1950s before we had period instruments. Most Bach can be played on whatever is to hand with a degree of enjoyment. Viva la musica!

David Stancliffe

 

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Lamento

CD cover of Lamento Damien Guillon Cafe Zimmermann

Damien Guillon countertenor, Café Zimmermann
69:06
Alpha Classics Alpha 626
Music by J. C. & J. M. Bach, Bernhard, Biber, Froberger & Schmelzer

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Few chamber ensembles play the music of Baroque Germany with more authority than Café Zimmermann, and in their latest release they have unearthed some superb music associated with death and mortality – little can they have realised as they recorded the programme in May 2019 how relevant it would have become by the time of its release. The most remarkable aspect of the project is the discovery of so much unfamiliar music of superlative quality, in some cases by composers who are also virtually unknown. Principal amongst these are the two ‘regional’ Bachs, Johann Michael (1648-1694) organist at Gehren, and Johann Christoph (1642-1703), organist at Eisenach. The former is represented by an eloquent strophic aria and the latter by a powerfully expressive lament, both sung expressively by Damien Guillon, who also graces the setting of Psalm 42 by Schütz pupil Christoph Bernhard, as well as a quite mesmerising setting of O dulcis Jesu, attributed to Heinrich Biber. While, as Peter Wollny’s programme note points out, the writing for the obbligato violin in this striking piece is thoroughly Biberesque in style, the vocal writing bears no resemblance to any of Biber’s surviving oeuvre that I know of, and indeed I would be cautious of the attribution of this anonymous piece. And if we are tempted to think cynically of the relationship between Baroque patrons and composers, Schmelzer’s deeply heartfelt “Lamento sopra la morte Ferdinandi III” provides a useful antidote. This is a CD packed with unanticipated melancholy delights, and Café Zimmermann, with their ideal blend of authority and genuine lively curiosity, are the perfect ensemble in whose company to explore it. Perhaps the bravest decision of many is to conclude the disc with Biber’s extraordinary unaccompanied Passacaglia from the Rosenkranzsonaten for solo violin – it is a testimony to the superb technique and musicality of the group’s first violinist, Pablo Valetti, that we are riveted to the last!

D. James Ross

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Mascitti·Fornaci·Fenaroli: Arie e Sonate

Arie e sonate Mascitti Labirinto Armonico

Labirinto Armonico
56:06
Tactus TC 660004

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My response to this imaginatively programmed CD is largely dictated by my reaction to the voice of the group’s mezzo-soprano, Elisabetta Pallucchi. We spend about a quarter of the disc in her hands, as she sings the six dramatic arias by Giacomo Fornaci, and sadly I found her constant broad vibrato very much at odds with the music and indeed with the tonal purity of the instrumentalists. This is a pity, particularly as it is clear that she could sing without vibrato if she wanted, but allows it to flourish on any sustained note she sings. Quite why it didn’t strike anybody as odd, that the instruments were using one approach and she another, is puzzling. Fornaci’s Amorosi Respiri Musicali of 1617 sound interesting, but I was unable to enjoy them to the full. The unifying factor in this enterprising programme is geographical – all three composers are natives of Abruzzo (not the ‘Abruzzi’ of the programme note), the region of Italy east of Rome with an Adriatic coast. Born in 1598, Fornaci is the oldest composer represented. Next comes Michele Mascitti (1664-1760), represented by probably the best of the music, the last three of an opus 4 set of 12 Sonate for two violins and continuo, tastefully rendered by the ensemble. Last but not least is Fidele Finaroli (1730-1818), whose six organ sonatas are imaginatively presented by Maurizio Maffezzoli on the Sebastiano Vici organ of 1790 in the Chiesa di S. Lorenzo Martire in Mergo, an instrument illustrated and fully described in the programme booklet. Maffezzoli finds some intriguing registrations to bring this music vividly to life – significantly one stop that he uses features a wide vibrato as if to pre-empt my criticism of the group’s vocalist! Sadly, what suits 19th-century organ music, doesn’t suit early 17th-century vocal music.

D. James Ross

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Frederick II: Flute Sonatas

CD cover Frederick II Flute sonatas on Naxos

Claudia Stein flute, Andreas Greger cello, Alessandro De Marchi fortepiano
77:37
Naxos 8.574250

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Adolph Menzel’s stunning painting of Frederick the Great presenting a candle-lit flute concert with his chamber orchestra attests to the fact that the Prussian king was no mere dilettante, a fact reinforced by his cultivation of a number of the finest musicians in Europe at his court, as well as his own surviving music for flute. The performers here present six of Frederick’s flute sonatas, as well as a set of variations for flute and continuo by Alessandro De Marchi on one of them, the C major sonata, a cello piece by De Marchi and piano music by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg. The royal sonatas prove to be both imaginative, and perhaps unsurprisingly make superb use of the flute. These recordings are lent a rather distinctive colour by the continuo use of fortepiano and Baroque cello, but puzzlingly, and a little disappointingly, Claudia Stein plays a modern flute. She has a good grasp of the idiom of this music, but her tone is rather metallic, a feature exaggerated by the rather ‘close’ recording of her instrument. It does seem odd to me to combine a modern solo instrument with such a delightfully period continuo ensemble – the variety of tonal textures the fortepiano contributed is a revelation. On the other hand, four of the works here are receiving their world premiere recordings and the rest are hardly well known, so the musicians are to be congratulated in their presentation of this underrated repertoire.

D. James Ross

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Amavi

Music for Viols and Voices by Michael East
Fieri Consort, Chelys Consort of Viols
71:14
BIS-2503 SACD

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This admirable collaboration between the voices of the Fieri Consort and the viols of the Chelys Consort brings us the complete five-part fantasias by Michael East for viols of 1610, interspersed with madrigals and verse anthems by the composer. East seems to be a composer doomed these days to be a filler on CDs of more familiar composers of the period, and it is about time a CD like this declared his considerable virtues. This seems doubly relevant, as East gave Latin names to his eight fantasias, indicating a progression from guilt through repentance to love, and clearly suggesting that he viewed them as an integrated sequence. One of the chief delights of this CD is to be able to evaluate this collection in its entirety at the same time enjoying the superlative choral music – who realised for instance that East’s settings of “When David Heard” and “O Clap your Hands” deserve a place beside those of his more illustrious contemporaries? The Fieri Consort produce a wonderfully pure tone that complements perfectly the sound of the viols, and both young ensembles are to be congratulated for their technical and musical excellence, but also for their imaginative programming. The CD concludes with a newly commissioned work by contemporary composer, Jill Jarman, a restlessly charming setting of a text by Sir Henry Wotton.

D. James Ross

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Around Mozart

CD cover Around Mozart The golden age of the oboe quartet Bernardini


Quartetto Bernardini
67:29
Arcana A 482

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This delightful CD brings to wider attention oboe quartets composed throughout Europe in the context of Mozart’s Quartet in F, K370/368b. Playing a selection of oboes from 1750 to 1810, virtuoso oboist Alfredo Bernardini brings his stunning technique and pleasing tone to bear on music by J. C. Bach, Charles Bochsa père, Justus Johan Friedrich Dotzauer, Alessandro Rolla and Georg Druschetzki. This unfamiliar repertoire is utterly charming, and Alfredo Bernardini’s highly informative programme note confirms the fact that this is very much a pet project, and one which we should all welcome with open arms. He is very ably supported by his Quartetto Bernardini – fortunately, he is the father of Cecilia Bernardini, until very recently the simply superb leader of the Scottish Dunedin Consort, and more than able to match her father’s technical fireworks! The first-class musicianship of all the players here raises this CD above the level of something of interest to oboists, to a highly entertaining and revelatory survey of chamber music in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

D. James Ross

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Song of Beasts

CD cover of Song of Beasts Ensemble Dragma

Fantastic Creatures in Medieval Song
Ensemble Dragma
52:15
Ramée RAM1901

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Ensemble Dragma have combed the surviving output of Johannes Ciconia, Paolo da Firenze, Jacopo da Bologna, Francesco Landini, Magister Franciscus, Donato da Firenze and Trebor in search of music associated with animals, real and imaginary. This is an excellent theme, well worth exploring, and takes us into the world of the medieval bestiary. They have got around the fact that much of the charm of these books is their illustrations by producing an accompanying film which draws on more than 40 medieval bestiaries to which a link is provided – this is a substantial entertainment in itself, running to more than an hour, beautifully constructed and with scholarly commentary in German with English subtitles, while also incorporating all the music on the CD. The ensemble make light of this technically demanding repertoire, producing performances which are musically satisfying and highly evocative. The solo voice is supported by harp, vielles, viola d’arco and lute, producing sparse but engaging textures as well as enjoyable instrumental interludes. Since the establishment of the group in 2012, Ensemble Dragma has established itself as one of the leading medieval consorts in the field.

D. James Ross

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Vitali: Sonate a due violini op. 9, 1684

CD cover Vitali op 9 Italico Splendore

Italico Splendore
77:17
Tactus TC 632207

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Giovanni Battista Vitali spent the most fruitful years of his life at the Este court of Modena, and it is in the Bibioteca Estense that the bulk of his music survives, albeit in the case of his op 9 in manuscript only and in a fragmentary state at that. A degree of reconstruction has been necessary to allow these recordings to take place. Vitali’s compositions played an important role in establishing the trio sonata as a classic Baroque chamber genre, as well as raising the profile of the cello, which was apparently his principal instrument. His early publications enjoyed frequent reprints, so it is doubly puzzling that the op 9 church sonatas survive only in a single damaged manuscript copy. In these compositions, we can see Vitali experimenting more extensively with chromaticism in a way that influenced Torelli and Corelli, and even Purcell, suggesting that the op 9 was at some point more widely available and more widely disseminated than the single surviving copy at first suggests. These performances are fresh and idiomatic, drawing attention to Vitali’s musical originality and ready imagination.

D. James Ross

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Besseghi: Sonate da camera op. 1

CD cover of Besseghi Sonate ca camera op. 1

Opera Qvinta
109:27 (2 CDs in a single jewel case)
Tactus TC 670290

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One of the very few uncontested biographical facts about the Bologna-based composer Besseghi is that he played a Guarneri violin. His publications and even the style of his compositions reflect the dominating influence of Corelli, and indeed his limited surviving output has been almost entirely eclipsed by his more famous contemporary. Besseghi spent some time, possibly the bulk of his career, in France in the service of the wealthy Fagon family, who in turn enjoyed close contacts to the court of Louis XIV and rubbed shoulders with the likes of Rameau. It has to be said, however, that you would search in vain for any influence on the course of French Baroque music from Besseghi’s compositions which remain entirely Italianate in style. These accounts of the opus 1 Sonate da Camera of 1710 are played with imagination and considerable musicality by Fabrizio Longo and his ensemble, who continue to cast an informative light on the regiments of Italian Baroque composers upon which the fickle light of celebrity has long since ceased to shine.

D. James Ross