Categories
Recording

Schubert: Die Nacht

Anja Lechner violoncello, Pablo Márquez guitar
56:51
ECM New Series ECM 2555

This CD presents a selection of music by Schubert arranged for cello and guitar framed by three Nocturnes actually composed for cello and guitar by Schubert’s contemporary Friedrich Burgmüller. As Schubert himself played the guitar and there was a degree of flexibility about instrumentation at this time, it is perfectly conceivable that Schubert’s songs might have been presented in this way. The arrangement of the ‘Arpeggione Sonata’ is also very effective, and Anna Lechner’s cello fairly sings the lyrical Adagio as it does the Romanze from Schubert’s Rosamunde. The ECM New Series recordings are famous for their clarity and for making listeners rethink standard classics, but in my experience they are also notorious for their rather nebulous programme notes – a note which begins ‘Franz Schubert never felt inwardly secure’ is always going to tell you more about the writer than about the composer or the music. Here we could have done with more background about the prominence of the guitar in Viennese chamber music of this period rather than a lot of psychobabble. Notwithstanding, this is a very pleasant CD providing genuine insights into the music of Schubert, and providing a rare platform for the charming music of Friedrich Burgmüller.

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Le cor melodique

Mélodies, Vocalises & Chants by Gounod, Meifred & Gallay
Anneke Scott horn, Steven Devine piano
75:57
resonus RES10228
(Also Bordogni and Panseron)

With this CD and its very readable notes by Anneke Scott, we are dropped into the midst of the mid-19th-century Parisian debate about the relative merits of the natural and valved horn. Active as horn teachers in Paris were Joseph-Emile Meifred and Jaques-Francois Gallay, the former represented here by a set of vocalises from his horn method arranged from the works of Panseron and Bordogni and the latter by a series of very familiar Schubert songs arranged for horn and piano. The CD opens with music by Gounod, who also surprisingly wrote his own horn method, and who writes beautifully for the instrument. Anneke Scott plays natural horn and two- and three-valved piston horns, while her accompanist Steven Devine plays a lovely Erard grand piano. The authentic sounds of both instruments, played by these accomplished specialists, are very evocative and, if some of the music occasionally tends on the trite side, it is never less than beautifully played. The Schubert selection, arrangements by Gallay of lieder for his Horn Method, more than makes up for the musical shortcomings of the rest of the programme. Anneke Scott clarifies which horn she was using for which pieces on the CD, and it was interesting to read that Gounod seems to have recommended a degree of handstopping for certain notes, even when using a valve horn. This seemed to encapsulate the debate for and against valves as advocates of the natural horn felt that it had a unique tone, lost when valves were introduced. Also, listeners had become familiar with the different colours achieved by hand-stopping, so interesting to see that Gounod occupied the middle ground, enjoying the flexibility of the valved horn but retaining the character of the natural horn. A fine illustration of the distinctive effect of handstopping on the natural horn is to be heard in Schubert’s Marguerite (track 22), which turns out to be a particularly desperate-sounding account of Gretchen am Spinnrade. This enjoyable CD usefully illustrates an area of musicological research which is very popular at the moment and which marks an important turning point in the development of a key orchestral instrument.

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Matthew Locke: For Lovers of Consort Music

Phantasm73:10
Linn Records CKD 594

Of all the composers of Jacobean viol consort music, it seems to me that Matthew Locke is the one who makes most characteristic use of the viol while at the same time maintaining his roots firmly in the English idiom. The various four-part Suites and the two six-part Canons which Phantasm have chosen for this rich and varied programme show every aspect of Locke’s talent, ranging from music of profound intensity and seriousness to dancing episodes of felicitous energy. The sonorous texture of the viols is beautifully augmented by the theorbo of Elizabeth Kenny, which adds a percussive quality to the superbly smooth viol texture, points up the part writing and enriches the harmonies. These musicians are steeped in the music of this turbulent period, which saw the execution of a king, the temporary triumph of republicanism and then the restoration of monarchy, and they apply the full depth of their understanding to this unique music all composed in the potentially hostile England of Cromwell. As the group’s director Laurence Dreyfus suggests in his hugely readable programme note, this ‘hostile environment’ goes some way to explain Locke’s constant quest for novelty and originality. However, this is by no means music for those with a short attention span, as for every quirky body-swerve and unexpected change of tack there is an extended and eloquent passage in which a musical idea is more than fully developed. This is a lovely CD oozing musicality from every pore, and Phantasm and Elizabeth Kenny provide expert guidance through every twist and turn of Locke’s rich imagination.

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Music for Windy Instruments

Sounds from the Court of James I
The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble
59:50
resonus RES10225
Music by Adson, Augustine, Jerome & Jeronimo Bassano, Croce, Alfonso Ferrabosco I & II, Ferretti, Harden, Lassus, Marenzio, Philips, Vecchi & anon

For this CD by The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, their first for the Resonus label and part of their 25th anniversary celebrations, the musicians have chosen a particularly rich seam of early wind repertoire. Both Elizabeth I and her chosen successor James I cultivated truly cosmopolitan courts which attracted musicians from throughout the continent. So at a time when lavish music for wind ensembles flourished in the likes of Venice, such music was quick to reach the British court through the likes of the Venetian Bassano family who worked in London but who also maintained contacts with home. Thus it was that music by a range of the most fashionable European composers found its way into the repertoire of the various consorts maintained by Elizabeth and James, and into the manuscripts that they played from. The loss of one of the six part-books from one of the main sources has involved a degree of reconstruction by Ian Payne. Although slightly less bombastic than some of the repertoire which graced St Mark’s in Venice, this is wonderfully sonorous music, given an added edge of excitement in this recording by the superbly daring ornamentation of the upper lines. As intriguing as the virtuosic playing of the upper cornetts is, the contribution of the tenor and mute cornetts, the former providing a wonderfully rich inner voice to the texture, while the latter sound wonderfully husky in combination with the brass instruments, is exceptional. It is easy to understand the enthusiasm of Elizabeth and James for this profound and impressive music – both sprang from musical families and each was of a famously philosophical bent. Of all the courtly music to survive, it is this flamboyant repertoire which to me seems best to match the colourful costumes and extravagant manners of the 16th and 17th centuries. Silas Wollston provides pleasing contrasting works for solo harpsichord in addition to joining the wind consort on some tracks, although I must say that I could listen all day to the wonderfully evocative sounds of the wind instruments played with such musicality and sparkling virtuosity. Incidentally, the quirky title seems to derive indirectly from a quote from a 1534 volume dealing with health which recommends the playing of wind instruments to exercise the entrails…

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

A Restless Heart

Wayward Sisters
59:16
J. S. Bach, Brade, Corbetta, Corelli, Fontana, Geminiani, B. Marini, Matteis, Schmelzer, Schop & de Selma y Salaverde

This CD is something of a whistle-stop tour of 17th- and 18th-century European chamber music. The composers represented are not all the most obvious – Bach, Corelli, Marini Schmelzer, Matteis, Brade, Geminiani all feature but so do Giovanni Batista Fontana, Bartolomé de Selma v Salaverde and Francesco Corbetta. The ensemble, Wayward Sisters, comprises a violinist, recorder player, cellist and a theorbist/lutanist, and they play the music with an intimate awareness of Baroque performance practice and with considerable musicality and virtuosity. This is fortunate as a rather ‘off the wall’ programme note suggests very little understanding of the music’s context – in it, theorbist John Lenti opines ‘Pre-enlightenment western culture was weird’. Is he punning wittily on the group’s name? Elsewhere the statement that the name derives from ‘Henry Purcell’s vivid conjuring of Shakespeare’s witches’ (?) suggests not… The group acknowledges support through indiegogo, a crowdfunding forum, so (obviously) the packaging of this CD, including the devising of the programme notes, has been done on a shoestring. Probably the important point to make is that it has allowed a group of fine young musicians to bring their very pleasing playing to a wider audience. The recording is slightly ‘close’ for my taste, but certainly provides a ‘vivid conjuring’ of the group’s dynamic sound.

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Forgotten chamber works with oboe from the Court of Prussia

Notturna, Christopher Palameta
59:32
deutsche harmonia mundi 1 90758 21552 5
Music by J. G. Graun, Janitsch and Krause

In the retrospective painting by Adolph von Menzel, Frederick the Great of Prussia is shown as flute soloist with an orchestra led by CPE Bach and being listened to by a number of Bach’s musical colleagues. In the audience may well have been Johann Gottlieb Janitsch, Johann Gottfried Krause and Johann Gottlied Graun, all featured here on a charming collection of music with oboe from Frederick’s Court. Although music with flute was clearly favoured by the flautist King, his court boasted a fine orchestra allowing his composers to feature most of the instruments current at this time. The presence of a truly great composer such as CPE Bach has led to Frederick’s other musical employees such as the three represented here being portrayed as mediocre. However on the evidence of the fine chamber music recorded here, while they may have lacked the originality and profound genius of Bach they were not by any means without merit. Christopher Palameta is a highly accomplished exponent of the early oboe and plays and directs Notturna with equal assurance and musicality. Of the three composers here, Janitsch is new to me, and I think I enjoyed his Sonata in B flat for traverso, oboe, viola and bc best. Graun’s A minor Quintet for traverso, oboe, viola, cello, and obbligato harpsichord is a strikingly original piece, which underlines the flexibility of make-up of chamber ensembles at the time. Graun may well have composed the prominent harpsichord part of this piece to be played by the resident keyboard virtuoso, CPE Bach. It is interesting to note that several of these musicians may well have been present when JS Bach visited the Court in 1747 and improvised the bulk of his Musical Offering – what would these Galant composers have made of that?

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Bonporti: Sonatas op. 2

Labirinti Armonici
58:01
Brilliant Classics 95718

The first nine of the ten trio sonatas that make up Francesco Antonio Bonporti’s op. 2 consist of four dance-based movements, while the final sonata is a Ciaccona in G. Superficially they resemble Corelli’s sonate da camera, but there is a greater degree of contrapuntal complexity (the imitations come thicker and faster, for example) and Bonporti has a wider harmonic palette. Labirinti Armonici opt to perform the sonatas out of order; that of the printed set forms no pattern, so this seems sensible. The playing is generally of a high order – there is an occasional lack of ensemble in some of the quick triplet passages, but the overall effect is of a highly professional group at home with the repertoire. So little of Bonporti’s works have been recorded to the highest standards; let us hope this is a start of a revival!

Brian Clark

Categories
Recording

Corelli: Violin Sonatas op. 5

Rémy Baudet violin, Jaap ter Linden cello, Mike Fentross theorbo & guitar, Pieter-Jan Belder harpsichord
119:53 (2 CDs in a single jewel case)
Brilliant Classics 95597

As I have written in these pages so many times in the past, recordings of such important repertoire really need to have something new to say about the music as well as the performers; oftentimes, this results in some hot-shot young fiddler taking the 12 sonatas by the scruff of the neck and decorating the living daylights out of them – the overall effect, of course, is that Corelli is lost in a whirlwind of notes and artificial conceits ranging from subito pianissimo to triple fortissimo just for sheer dramatic effect.

Quite to the contrary, this set (which features two “blasts from the past” in ter Linden and Fentross, a relative newcomer in Belder and – I am ashamed to say! – an unknown violinist in Rémy Baudet) is Corelli as the composer would probably have played it! Baudet has for many years led both modern and period ensembles across Europe as well as playing with the Quartetto Italiano and writing a book about developments in violin technique from 1770-1870. He is also quite the violinist, more than capable of shaping Corelli’s most complex part-writing, weaving the delicate filigree of the ornamentation of the slow movements, and actually dancing the dances. He is, of course, in splendid company, and the whole enterprise is beautifully captured by Brilliant’s engineers.

If – for some strange reason – you don’t already have a set of these pieces, buy this one. Even if you have, buy this one – at Brilliant’s amazingly low prices, this will be something against which to measure your favourite!

Brian Clark

Categories
Recording

Salterio italiano

Romina Basso mezzo soprano, Il Dolce Conforto directed by Franziska Fleischanderl
62:16
Christophorus CHR 77426
Martini, Perotti, Girolamo Rossi, Ubaldi & Ugolino

But for a cpo CD by Salzburger Hofmusik with 18th-century music chiefly by Telemann featuring Salterio, which I actually bought for the contribution from chalumeaux and Baroque clarinet, I would have been as unaware as I guess most people are of the 18th-century vogue for the instrument. This programme includes delightful instrumental music by Fulgenzio Perotti, Florido Ubaldi and Vito Ugolino featuring the instrument as well as two works for solo alto by Giovanni Battista Martini and Girolamo Rossi which feature salterio in the accompanying ensemble. In Martini’s fine Motetto, due to the prominence of the solo voice, the salterio is initially just part of the accompanying texture, although presently in a couple of items it steps out of the shadows to take a more prominently solistic role alongside the vocalist. In Rossi’s Lezione Quarta, by contrast, the salterio plays a much more fundamental role. The hand-plucked strings of the salterio have a delightful tinkling quality, which allows it to contrast with the harpsichord when the two are playing together, and imbues music it participates in with an elegant and charming timbre. Although I have little to compare it with, Franziska Fleischanderl’s playing is beautifully effective and effortlessly elegant, while Romina Basso’s solo singing and the playing of the ensemble Il Dolce Conforto are both models of musicality and expressiveness. This whole unsuspected repertoire definitely deserves more general attention, and the musicians here have done us a great service in bringing it to a wider.

D. James Ross

Categories
Recording

Les inAttendus: Poetical Humors

Vincent Lhermet accordion, Marianne Muller viola da gamba
62:26
harmonia mundi musique HMM 902610
Transcriptions of Bull, Dowland, East, Gibbons & Hume, etc.

A review of this CD of music by 17th-century masters Tobias Hume, John Dowland, Orlando Gibbons, Michael East and John Bull and contemporary composers Thierry Tidrow and Philippe Hersant played on modern button accordion and viola da gamba probably has no place on the EMR website. However, I found the arrangements and the playing so charming and idiomatic that I decided to include it. The plain vibrato-free sound of the accordion (yes, they can switch off that offensive warbling effect!) blends absolutely beautifully with the viol’s elegant tone, and at times you forget you are listening to what on paper looks like a bizarre combination, and hear instead the sound of a viol consort or a viol and organ combination. Of the two contemporary pieces receiving their world premiere recordings, I preferred the Hersant, but actually the early music is the main strength of this CD. Both accordionist Vincent Lhermet and viol player Marianne Müller have a fine sense of the idiom of this 17th-century chamber repertoire. This CD is a testimony to the fact that fine musicianship and a feel for idiom can transcend the mere mechanics of HIP performance. I play clarinet in a duo with a button accordionist, and we shall now be exploring some of this earlier repertoire!

D. James Ross