Tag: Chamber music

Ensemble BariAntiquA
64:17
MV Cremona MVC 017/44

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Migali’s Sonatas for ‘doi violine, e violone, ò arcileuto, col basso per l’organo’ printed in Rome in 1694 are preserved in the archives of his home town Lecce in southern Italy. A professional musician, Migali’s op 1 sonatas – his only surviving printed work – appeared when he was around 60 (he lived into his 80s) so probably reflect the work of the mature composer, and indeed sound very confident in their style. This has been brought under the broad umbrella of the ‘Roman school’, later exemplified by Corelli, and indeed Migali may have been briefly resident in Rome around the time of the publication. These works have the same easy melodic flow and constant lyricism of Corelli and in these beautifully idiomatic performances their full charm is revealed. The ensemble go for the arcileuto option rather than the violone, alternating and augmenting it with a theorbo along with the stipulated organ. The light accompaniment is beautifully responsive and subtle, allowing the two solo violin parts, tastefully and expertly played by Dario Palmisano and Michele Saracino, to soar freely as intended by the composer. Intriguingly, in addition to stipulating so precisely his ideal instrumentation, Migali also seems to have added bowing marks to his scores – an unusual early example of this sort of intervention, but unfortunately not entirely clear in meaning.

D. James Ross

Music by Califano, Fasch, Heinichen, Lotti, Quantz, Telemann and Vivaldi
Zefiro, Alfredo Bernardini
77:52
Arcana A438

A few years ago I reviewed an intriguing recording of the Corelli op. 6 Concerti Grossi with added parts for wind instruments ‘as they might have been performed at the 18th-century Court of Dresden’, and this present CD further explores the rich context of the ‘Churfürstliche Sächsische Cammer-Musique’ in a series of chamber works for two oboes, bassoon and continuo. The music played in Dresden in the first half of the 18th century did much to shape the playing techniques and repertoire for these recently invented wind-instruments. Heinichen, Quantz and Arcangelo Califano all worked at the Saxon Court at some point, while Vivaldi and Lotti encountered musicians on tour from Dresden and were persuaded to compose for them. Telemann’s music, ubiquitous throughout the German lands, is extensively recorded in the Dresden Court archives. These are charming and very accessible pieces, played with complete technical assurance and considerable musicality by Zefiro, providing a window on an otherwise under-explored area of chamber music, a period of particular magnificence at the Court of Dresden, and a crucial stage in the development of the oboe and bassoon.

D. James Ross

Alejandro Marías viola da gamba, La Spagna
71:28
Brilliant Classics 95962

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A pupil of the great master of the viol, Marin Marais, to whom he dedicates his Premier Livre de Pièces de Violle of 1709, Morel has sunk into almost complete obscurity to the extent that his exact dates of birth and death are unknown. He takes the distinctive world of French music for the viol into the next generation, developing on the virtuosic and highly decorative style of Marais and others, while providing his Suites for Viol and continuo in score form rather than only in separate parts, suggesting perhaps that their increased complexity demanded that each of the three players needed to know exactly what the others were doing at any given moment! He also began to organise the various dance movements into more coherent sequences, avoiding duplication and marking an advance in the direction of the high Baroque Suite with its expected set of dance forms in a predetermined sequence. This more ordered approach to viol composition is apparent in these superbly expressive recordings by La Spagna, Alejandro Marías (solo gamba) and Pablo Garrido and Jordan Fumadó, (continuo gamba and harpsichord respectively). Marías’ accounts of the four Suites (three of which are world premieres!) are thoughtful and compelling, with a fine sense of the overall structure and lyrical charm of these varied and inventive works. For the concluding Chaconne, the only piece by Morel to be regularly performed nowadays and ironically one of the less imaginative pieces on the CD, the ensemble is joined by flautist Alvaro Marías.

D. James Ross

Ashley Solomon historical flutes, Reiko Ichise gamba, David Miller theorbo, Julian Perkins harpsichord
69:45
Channel Classics CCS 43020

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The repertoire on this beautiful CD is perhaps of secondary interest to the instruments it is played on. Fresh from a recording using George III’s Meissen porcelain and gold flute, the ever-enterprising Ashley Solomon has been exploring the historical flutes in a remarkable private collection of historical flutes in Frankfurt, the Spohr Collection. In all, he plays nine instruments, finding appropriate repertoire for each by Jacques Morel, Bach, Leclair, Hotteterre, Jean-Baptiste Barrière, Telemann and Locatelli. Beautifully illustrated on the CD cover, these spectacular Baroque instruments include particularly lovely instruments by Jakob Denner (inventor of the clarinet) and a couple of ivory instruments by Oberlender and Scherer (who also made a famous D clarinet in ivory). Expertly accompanied by his colleagues of Florilegium, Solomon’s consummate flute technique and superb musicality allow him to bring out the strengths of the various instruments. Even as only a very basic player of the Baroque flute, I was intrigued by the subtly different timbres of these instruments, and began to feel the eighteenth-century fascination with the instrument which verged on flautomania. I remember finding an 18th-century version of the complete Beggar’s Opera in the archives of Brodie Castle for unaccompanied flute, and wondering whether even I would want to sit through that complete performance – certainly if the player were Ashley Solomons and he had access to the Spohr Collection, I think I probably would!

D. James Ross