Tag: Chamber music

Categories
Recording

Diego Ortiz: Trattado de glosas

CD cover Ortiz Cocset Balestracci

Bruno Cocset, Guido Balestracci, Les basses réunies
59:31
alpha classics 102

Click HERE to buy this on amazon.co.uk

Viol virtuoso and composer Diego Ortiz spent his working life in Naples and his Trattado de Glosas (a treatise on ornamentation of 1553) from which the music recorded here is taken, ranks alongside Ganassi’s La Fontegara as one of the most influential theoretical works on performance of the entire Renaissance. The variations on La Spagna, O felici occhi miei by Arcadelt, Doulce memoire by Pierre Sandrin, El passamezzo antiguo, La Romanesca and La folia respectively are played alternatingly on solo viol by Bruno Cocset and Guido Balestracci, accompanied by members of the consort. Light relief from these viol variations is provided by music for vihuela by Luis Mílan, variations for organ by Cabezón and a lovely consort account of Victoria’s O magnum Mysterium. The playing on this CD is of a consistently superb standard, and if you don’t already love the insistent timbre of the viol, you will after you have listened to this. It is also remarkable how much of what we take as standard ornamentation of Renaissance music originates with Ortiz.

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Beethoven: Complete Works for Cello and Piano

Cover of resonus Beethoven cello music CD

Robin Michael cello, Daniel Tong fortepiano
148:08 (2 CDs in a single jewel case)
resonus RES10254

Click HERE to buy this on amazon.co.uk

These effervescent accounts of Beethoven’s five cello sonatas and three sets of variations, two based on themes from Mozart’s Magic Flute and a third based on “See the Conquering Hero Comes” from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus, make a marvellous two-CD set. Both Michael and Tong are natural beethovenians and bring out the wit, lyricism and intelligence of some of Beethoven’s finest chamber music. I have sat through a live performance on modern instruments of the five sonatas, split into two recitals (afternoon and evening) and was made increasingly aware of the shortcomings of modern instrument performances of Beethoven, as the dense lefthand work on the piano tended to blur into a wall of sound. This is instantly solved by the 1805 Walter copy fortepiano, played here by Daniel Tong, which delineates beautifully the busy bass passages, while adding a silvery lightness to the upper range. I think too that Robin Michael’s 1695 Goffriller copy overcomes the other problem for modern instrument players, the tendency for the cello to ‘over-resonate’ in certain ranges, which is fine for later romantic repertoire, but tends to ‘clog up’ classical music. The lovely clean sound of these period instrument accounts is partly a testimony to these lovely instruments, but also of course to the skills of the players, both of whom also play modern instruments, but who have adapted their techniques admirably to bring out the best from these instruments. Anyone who doesn’t know the Beethoven cello sonatas is in for a treat, but I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed the variations sets. I am not a natural lover of Beethoven’s variations – indeed the set for piano trio on Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu is one of my all-time concert pet hates – but these translucent accounts won me over.

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

D’Amor mormora il vento

Cover of La voz galana's CD

Songs and Dances alla spagnola
La Boz Galana
69:42
Ramée RAM 1909

Click HERE to buy this on amazon.co.uk

Why you might ask is this delightful collection of 17th-century music alla spagnoletta largely Italian in language and origin? The solution is the lively printed music tradition in Italy at the time, which preserved the music inspired by Spain, sometimes composed and played by Spanish musicians and even the art of strumming accompaniments on the guitar, whereas in Spain itself these details went unrecorded. La Boz Galana (Sebastián León,  baritone, Louis Capeille, baroque harp, and Edwin Garcia, baroque guitar) provide beautifully engaging accounts of a selection of this repertoire by Landi and Kapsberger as well as less well-known composers such as Juan de Arañés, Giovanni Stefani, Carlo Milanuzzi and Antonio Cabonchi. Several of the pieces are anonymous, reflecting their almost pop-song status, and La Boz Galana capture perfectly this repertoire’s lightly innocent lyricism. Sebastián León has an effortlessly tuneful voice, which draws the listener in to this delightful material, while his instrumentalists accompany sympathetically while also injecting a distinctive alla spagnola flavour to their playing. The instrumental interpolations are not just padding but a genuine enhancement of this charming CD.

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Quantz: Flute Concertos

Cover for resonus Quantz CD

Greg Dikmans flute, Lucinda Moon violin, Elysium Ensemble
70:37
resonus RES10252

Click HERE to buy this CD on amazon.co.uk 

It is important to note that the great theoretician of the Baroque flute, Quantz, author of the seminal Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte transversiere zu spielen (1752), much consulted by modern period instrument flautists, was also a very fine player himself as well as a talented composer. Quantz lives and breathes the galant (or empfindsam) style, and this sensibility in conjunction with his expertise on the flute produced works, which seem utterly redolent of the mid-eighteenth century. The Elysium Ensemble are entirely in tune with this sensibility, and they give wonderfully eloquent accounts of three of Quantz’s concerti with, as the programme note states it, ‘a bonus slow movement’, the beguiling Cantabile e frezzante QV 5:116. Played on muted strings and with ‘fizzing’ ornamentation, this charming ‘bonus’ in many ways sums up the group’s approach to Quantz’s music generally. A strong sense of melodic line is enhanced by deliciously appropriate ornamentation, while the wonderful sense of ensemble evokes perfectly the original performances of this music by Quantz himself and his colleagues at the Potsdam court. If ever an argument for one-to-a-part performances of concerti were needed, it is here in spades. In addition to providing some exemplary Baroque flute playing, intelligent and deeply moving, Greg Dikmans also supplies a very erudite programme note, which concentrates on applying Quantz’s theories of playing to his own music, while astutely leaving the biographical details to the group’s website.

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Vitali: Partite, Sonate op. 13

Cover of Vitali Partite CD

Italico Splendore
60:03
Tactus TC 632204

Click HERE to buy this on amazon.co.uk

This is, as they say, a disc of two halves: the first is devoted to 10 partite (or sets of divisions on popular basses) per il violone played on cello, the second beginning with two sonatas from the composer’s op. 13 set then another eight partite.

The fact that Vitali identifies each by a letter of the alphabet (which tells guitar players which chords to play, or here gives an indication of the piece’s home key) justifies the performers’ decision to fill out the original manuscripts’ solo lines. I understand that this is wise, given that an hour of variations on even more than one theme would be hard work, yet I find it difficult to justify the way the keyboardist shifts from one instrument to another between variations, or the (surely unnecessary anyway) cello switches from bowing one variation to plucking the next, and ludicrous to hear two instruments just playing unison.

Vitali’s music is definitely worth hearing and it is not at all surprising that he had a successful career and his published output frequently ran to multiple reprints. The musicians of Italico Splendore have clearly engaged with Vitali’s creative spirit but, for me, they have over-egged the cake – if you can bear track 20, you’ll enjoy the rest!

Brian Clark

Categories
Recording

Baroque

Cover of a box of CDs of Baroque music

Amsterdam Bach Soloists, Capella Tibernia, Collegium Pro Musica, Concerto Köln, Ensemble Arte Musica, Ensemble Cordevento, Ensemble Violini Capricciosi, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Insieme Strumentale di Roma, L’Arte dell’Arco, Musica ad Rhenum, Musica Amphion, Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, St Christopher Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Virtuosi Saxoniae
25 CDs
Brilliant Classics 95886

Click HERE to buy this set on amazon.co.uk

Doubtless there will have been some raised eyebrows while reading the “cast list” of this collection of music that includes discs dedicated to (in numerical order!) Albinoni (1), Bach (2-5), Corelli (6-7), Couperin (8-9), Handel (10-12), Locatelli (13-14), Marcello (15), Purcell (16), the Sammartinis (17), Alessandro Scarlatti (18), Telemann (20-22) and Vivaldi (23-25). My random selections (literally picked blind) were some truly lively and engaging accounts of Corelli’s op. 6 concerti from 2004 by Musica Amphion under Pieter-Jan Belder (7), an equally enjoyable disc of Marcello (proving that the ubiquitous oboe concerto is far from the only nice piece he wrote) by the Insieme Strumentale di Roma (10), a rather confusing disc of Bach violin concertos in which the stylish (earlier) recordings by the Amsterdam Bach Soloists were followed by a (later) rather stodgy account of BWV1043 with the Leipzig Gewandhaus (4) and, finally, Concerto Köln’s version of Handel’s Water Music in which the brass players seemed to be competing for the title of “Most Audicious Ornamenter”. I can see how a set like this might be useful for libraries or for school teachers who want to introduce children to baroque music, but it is something of a curate’s egg; the word “instrumental” might usefully have been deployed on the exterior of the box, too, since there is no vocal music in the set at all.

Brian Clark

Categories
Recording

French Baroque Flute Edition

Cover of the box of the French Baroque Flute collection of CD recordings

Berhard Böhm, Natalia Bonello, Anontio Campillo, Piero Cartosio, Kate Clark, Marion Moonen, Guillermo Peñalver, Manuel Staropoli, Jed Wentz with Les Eléments, Hedos Ensemble, Musica ad Rhenum
(17 CDs)
Brilliant Classics 95783

Click HERE to buy this collection from amazon.co.uk

While I am somewhat at a loss as to identify the potential audience for a boxed set of 17 CDs of French baroque music mainly for flute and continuo, I can see what a valuable resource it might be for libraries in music schools, etc. There is no denying that there is a wealth of beautiful and varied music here from the simplicity of Boismortier to the sophistication of Couperin, and from the suaveness of Hotteterre to the fire and energy of Blavet. Some of the music is without continuo, and some of it involves more than one flautist, and even violins! Mostly recorded between 2004 and 2020 (there is one disc dating from 1993), these are quality performances from some of the world’s leading flautists. I enjoyed dipping into the set every now and then, and I’m sure that anyone who invests in it won’t be disappointed.

Brian Clark

Categories
Recording

Chamber Music of Clara Schumann

CD cover Clara Schumann chamber music

Byron Schenkman 1875 Streicher piano, Jesse Irons violin, Kate Bennett Wadsworth cello
57:51
BSF191

Click HERE to buy this recording on amazon.co.uk

Byron Schenkman must be used to reading rave reviews in/on Early Music Review. Almost everything he does – across a vast range of musical styles – garners praise from whichever of our reviewers I send the discs to. This time, I decided to keep the disc for myself, mostly because I have long wondered why Clara Schumann remains outside the musical mainstream when the music I’ve heard by her is outstanding. With his colleagues, Jesse Irons and Kate Bennett Wadsworth, Byron has merely underlined my disbelief; the three Romances op. 22 are more than capable of holding their own in any violin recital (the first is in the challenging key of D flat major!), the G minor Piano trio op. 17 held my wrapt attention for the duration (and I have to confess that there are few such works that have managed that!), and the Romance from her teenage Piano concerto op. 7 (how audacious of a 16 year old to write the central movement of a work whose home key is A minor in A flat major!) which I had initially thought a miscalculated way to end the disc (after Schenkman’s immaculate readings of her husband’s Kinderszenen op. 15) turned out to be a poignant “yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is that talent that was the young Clara Schumann, who (being a dutiful wife) largely abandoned her creative genius in favour of supporting her husband”. In a short additional note, the cellist explains that research into 19th-century performance practice has broadened the palette of interpretative techniques at the group’s disposal. These are deployed appropriately and it is obvious throughout that the trio have an excellent rapport, such is the precision of their ensemble playing, despite the rhythmic ebb and flow. So full marks to performers, recording engineer, piano technicians and, last but not least, the still underrated composer! An hour of unmitigated pleasure.

Brian Clark

Categories
Recording

Quattro violini a Venezia

CD cover of Quattro violini a Venezia Clematis

Clematis
64:35
Ricercar RIC404
Buonamente, Castello, Cavalli, Fontana, Giovanni Gabrieli, Biagio Marini, Salomone Rossi & Uccellini

Click HERE to buy this CD on amazon.co.uk

Having already recorded some sonatas for four violins and continuo by Legrenzi on a previous Ricercar recording, it makes sense that Clematis would follow up with an exploration of earlier repertoire for the same line up. All of the “usual suspects” are there and aural variety is afforded by the inclusion of some sonatas for one, two or “only” three violins. The continuo varies across the duration of the disc and includes harp, organ, harpsichord, guitar, theorbo, bassoon and bass viol. As elsewhere, I’m afraid I find the harp an imposter, especially when the player is weaving treble lines through the polyphony of the violins (indeed, I was aggravated by it in the Gabrieli sonata for three violins – it is not a “concerto for harp with the accompaniment of three violins”! Do I want to hear Gabrieli or the harpist? Is the role of the continuo not to provide harmonic support? If the instrument is incapable of doing so without drawing attention to itself (just liste to the flurry of inappropriateness during the final chord!), perhaps it should not be used for continuo playing.

Apart from my reservations about the involvement of harpists, the playing is mostly excellent, the recording is typical Ricercar excellence and the booklet notes are very thorough, though an absolute pleasure to read.

Brian Clark

 

Categories
Recording

Finger: Music for European Courts and Concerts

Finger: Music for European Courts CD cover

The Harmonious Society of Tickle-fiddle Gentlemen, Robert Rawson
66:47
Ramée RAM1802

Click HERE to buy this CD on amazon.co.uk

The most striking aspect of this fabulous recording is the amazing diversity of Finger’s music. Having previously only known his sonatas for two pairs of treble instruments and continuo, it was a revelation to hear him move from almost Purcellian in the opening vocal exhortation into a Schmelzer-like sonata for three choirs, then a much more modern sounding Sonata a5 with Handelian counterpoint, a Lullian Chaconne a4, some French-inspired but English-sounding music for The Mourning Bride, and so on. His Sonata 9 is a re-working of “How happy the Lover” from Purcell’s King Arthur. The final track, “Morpheus, gentle god”, is scored for four voices with recorder consort and continuo, and reveals how effective Finger was at setting English – no wonder he was shocked at coming fourth (of four!) in the competition based on The Judgement of Paris.

Throughout the recording, the Tickle -Fiddlers are in very fine form, vocally and instrumentally. The speeds seem ideal, the recording bright, and the booklet notes are informative without bcoming stodgy. All in all, a most enjoyable experience – I hope Rawson & Co. will seek out more gems and share them with us!

Brian Clark