Tag: Chamber music

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La morte della ragione

Cover of CD La morte del ragione

Il giardino armonico, Giovanni Antonini
73:07 (CD in a hard-backed book)
Alpha Classics ALPHA450

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Under the title the death of reason, Giovanni Antonini has brought together a rather random collection of pieces from the 15th to the 18th centuries. If you don’t worry too much about finding a linking theme, you can just sit back and enjoy the accompanying lavishly illustrated colour book while wondering at the stunning virtuosity of Antonini (recorders) and his ensemble. In fact, the contents of the book amount to a rather slight essay translated into various languages, followed by a series of chunks of related source material on the music and aspects of performance in an extended appendix. So spontaneity, even anarchy, is the flavour of the moment, but there is some lovely music imaginatively performed here. We have works by Christopher Tye, Hayne van Gizeghem, Josquin, Agricola, Dunstable, Gabrieli, Gombert, Viadana, Gesualdo, Scheidt, and van Eyck to name but a few, performed instrumentally, imaginatively and never less than very musically by the ensemble – perhaps best to read the appendix section on ‘tremoli and vibrati’ to help with understanding Antonini’s idiosyncratic recorder playing. One of the chief joys of this set remains the wealth of colour illustrations from a range of Renaissance paintings and books to enjoy as an accompaniment and enrichment to the music. To sample the virtues and some of the randomness of this CD, listen to the group’s highly individual interpretation of the familiar Susato Battle Pavan (track 13).

D. James Ross

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Morel: Premier Livre de Pièces de Violle

Cover of Morel viol music CD

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

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The Spohr Collection

Cover of Ashley Solomon Spohr Collection CD

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

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Diego Ortiz: Trattado de glosas

CD cover Ortiz Cocset Balestracci

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Quantz: Flute Concertos

Cover for resonus Quantz CD

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

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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

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Vitali: Partite, Sonate op. 13

Cover of Vitali Partite CD

Italico Splendore
60:03
Tactus TC 632204

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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