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Recording

Telemann and Molter: Flute and Oboe Quartets

Camerata Bachiensis
69:12
Brilliant Classics 95621
Telemann: TWV43:F1, G12, C1 d2, TWV51:D (Premiere!)
Molter: MWV 9.19, 9.30, 9.16

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ccasionally, we stumble across a recording which perfectly reflects a dream selection, or notion of a splendid, imaginary concert. This is just such a recording. These fine works have been well chosen to display the qualities of the two composers’ artistic strengths and abilities, plus there’s a neat timeline conjunction too, where they passed each other a couple of times; particularly through Eisenach. Each would have been well aware of the other’s activities; indeed, a large number of Telemann’s cantatas were sent to Eisenach, even after his tenure there (1708-12). It is widely assumed in musicological circles that Telemann’s so-termed 4th Book of Quartets, published by Charles-Nicholas Le Clerc in Paris 1752, are actually revised versions of earlier quartets for strings, from the composer’s Frankfurt or early Hamburg period. Replacing the first violin with a flute turns these finely crafted works into a more familiar instrumentation for the Parisian ears and market, yet they exude some exuberant and delicate Italianate qualities. These are the best flute versions I have ever come across! Dazzling performances of three of the six quartets. (The original string versions can be found on MDG Label splendidly performed by Musica Alta Ripa)

The interspersed works by Molter give a most favourable impression of this oft-overlooked master, clearly a very competent exponent of the baroque musical idioms and forms. The Siciliana from the e-minor Sonata (MWV9.19) is quite beautifully defined, and the other works are most pleasing to the ear. The whole CD has caught the distilled refinements of each composer’s works and brought them together in a very fine programme of euphonic delights and melodious progressions, capped by the final concise Oboe Concerto TWV 51: D6, a nice premiere to boot! Highly polished, brilliant gems! (Pun intended!)

David Bellinger

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Recording

Blow: An ode on the death of Mr Henry Purcell

Samuel Boden, Thomas Walker, Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen
76:36
hyperion CDA68149
+Begin the Song!, Dread Sir the Prince of Light, The Nymphs of the wells, Chaconne a4 in G, Ground in g, Sonata in A

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter listening to these exquisitely turned performances I feel that we need more CDs and concerts dedicated to the music of John Blow (though Venus and Adonis does quite well). By and large, it is cathedral/collegiate choirs who have kept his flame burning with the motet Salvator mundi  and some of the Anglican canticle settings. Now, Arcangelo, with assistance from musicologist Bruce Wood, round out that rather restricted view by means of a programme of secular music centred on the setting of Dryden’s Ode on the death of Mr Henry Purcell. Inhabitants of EMR-land will surely know that this is a quite superb work for two singers, two recorders and continuo. The low pitch adopted here facilitates performance by high tenors and Thomas Walker and Samuel Boden do not disappoint, relishing the many choice verbal and musical moments poet and composer offer them. Their fellow singers, in the other vocal vocal works, also bring admirable qualities to their performances, not least the ability to deliver lines such as ‘But here comes a Druid and we must retire’ without corpsing! The string ensemble delivers crisp performances of three chamber works: Purcell wasn’t the only one who could knock off a cracking good ground. The only slight disappointment – of scale, rather than substance – is the final New Year ode. The booklet (comprehensive, though in English only) tells us that such works were performed by the full Chapel Royal choir and the Twenty-Four Violins. However, here the chamber forces used elsewhere prevail. If you know anyone who thinks that English music between the Restoration and the arrival of Handel means Purcell and little else, treat them to this disc. And don’t forget everyone else you know. And yourself.

Brian Clark

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Sheet music

Restoration Music for Three Violins, Bass Viol and Continuo

Musica Britannica CIII
Transcribed and edited by Peter Holman and John Cunningham
xlviii (incl. six plates) + 134pp
ISMN 979 0 2202 2517 8; ISBN 978 0 85249 953 5;
ISSN 0580-2954; Stainer & Bell Ltd £99.00

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s a violinist, there are few things I enjoy more than playing music for three treble parts, so the contents of this volume (much of which I know from recordings by one of the editors and his ground-breaking Parley of Instruments) are a delight.

There are 11 three-movement fantasia-suites by John Jenkins, a ten-movement suite by Thomas Baltzar, grounds by Bartholomew Isaack and Nicola Matteis, and five sonatas by Gottfried Finger (as well as the sole surviving part from a sixth).

After a broad introduction to the repertoire (including a footnote referring readers to a free download site rather than the English publisher, King’s Music/The Early Music Company, for early Italian sonatas for three violins, while modern German editions are credited in footnote 11), each of the composers and his output are profiled in greater detail.

The music itself is neatly laid out with repeats and ends of movements at line or page breaks. Editorial additions are printed in smaller type and if something is not clear, there are extensive notes on sources and discrepancies in the 18-page critical notes that complete this very handsome volume.

At under £100, this beautiful book is a bargain. Hopefully its true worth will be shown in renewed interest in the repertoire it contains. Although it states that performing material is published simultaneously, I was unable to find it on www.stainer.co.uk – perhaps they are “in preparation”. Let us hope so!

Brian Clark

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Uncategorized

Gamba Concertos

The Viola da Gamba in the Spotlight
Thomas Fritzsch gamba, Michael Schönheit pianoforte, Merseburger Hofmusik
66:42
Coviello Classics COV91710
Concertos and sonatas by Abel, J. C. Bach, Johann Carl Graf zu Hardeck, Milling & Raetzel

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is one of those booklets (Ger/Eng) that has to be read so that the full story of these works’ survival and restoration – a matter of luck, determination and musicological skill sensitively deployed – can be enjoyed and appreciated. I can be driven to distraction by mid-18th-century repeated note bass lines but here I rather enjoyed the gentle clucking of the 1805 Broadwood piano used on the continuo line, to say nothing of the melodic charms of the gamba above. It adds a particular frisson to know that the solo instrument belonged to the aristocrat in whose library some of these pieces are preserved. It also helps that it is extremely well played. The recording does a good job too, keeping the soloist in the foreground while still allowing us to hear the supporting (single) strings when they have something to say. I approached this with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation. I finished it smiling broadly.

David Hansell

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Recording

Telemann: Complete trio sonatas with recorder and viol

Da Camera (Emma Murphy recorders, Susanna Pell viols, Steven Devine harpsichord)
77:16
Chandos Chaconne CHAN 0817

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]emember LP boxed sets? One of my favourites was and is a collection of Telemann trio sonatas for violin/pardessus, recorder and continuo played by a starry ensemble consisting of Alice Harnoncourt, Kees Boeke, Wouter Möller and Bob van Asperen. Well, Emma Murphy (playing alto recorder and voice flute), Susanna Pell (treble and bass viols) and Steven Devine (harpsichord) are more than worthy neighbours for them on my Telemann shelf, with only a small overlap in the programmes. I do think that the bass line needs the greater definition that a bowed instrument would bring but I’m still going to splash the stars around as everything else is so good. GPT’s music is endlessly inventive and attractive and the players relish the opportunities he gives them. The varied sonorities (when did you last hear voice flute and bass viol in conversation?) are a bonus and the excellent playing is supported by a lively note (Eng/Fre/Ger) and full details of the music and instruments. Go on, treat yourselves.

David Hansell

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Recording

Mozart: Piano Duets, volume 2

Julian Perkins & Emma Abbate
70:43
Resonus RES10210
+ Clementi: Sonata in E flat, op 14/3

[dropcap]A[/dropcap] review of the first volume of Julian Perkins and Emma Abbate’s survey of Mozart piano duets appeared in February 2017. This second volume completes the survey and – as with vol. 1 – throws in an extra work by a contemporary. Also like its predecessor the instruments used come from the collection built up by Richard Burnett at Finchcocks, where the earlier issue was recorded. This time the Mozart sonatas are played on a grand fortepiano built by Michael Rosenberger in Vienna around 1800, the Clementi on an undated instrument built by the Clementi company in London in the 1820s. The Rosenberger is an instrument of rich tonal quality that suits the scale of the great F-major Sonata rather better than the early K19d, for which I found it rather too beefy. The sound, too, is a little more resonant than that on the earlier issue.

Much the most important work here is K497, which dates from 1786, a year of exceptionally rich achievement for Mozart, including of course Le nozze di Figaro. From the outset of the beautifully poised Adagio that prefaces the opening Allegro, the work displays total mastery of intricate dialogue between the players, a real sense of contrasted textures between solo and concertante writing and, as one might expect at this period, considerable contrapuntal complexity. There is, too, as one might equally expect of a work dating from the year of Figaro, a strong dramatic element, tense in the development of the opening movement, of a more playful buffo  nature in the finale.

Mozart was already displaying an inherent sense of drama in K19d, composed just over 20 years earlier, almost certainly for him and his sister Nannerl to play, as the famous family portrait of 1780-81 probably illustrates. It is a work of considerable charm and fun that calls for much fleet finger-work of the kind impressively supplied by Perkins (who I throughout mention first not from any lapse of manners but because he plays primo) and Abbate, who as on the earlier CD add often witty ornamentation in repeats. Curiously, they here repeat the second half of the opening Allegro where Mozart did not ask for it, but fail to do so in the outer movements of K497, where he did.

The final Mozart work is an oddity, a hybrid work consisting of two incomplete movements originally published by Andre in 1853 and included in Mozart Neue Ausgabe  in this form. Later paper dating by Alan Tyson established that the opening Allegro had no connection with the following Andante, which is not only cast in a much simpler style but dates from three years later (1791). Nonetheless this has not prevented Robert Levin from undertaking a completion, which to my ears forms an uncomfortable juxtaposition between the inventive complexity of the opening movement and the Andante.

The Clementi sonata sits uneasily here, particularly since it follows K497 in the running order. It is indeed rather devoid of significant substance, being full of showy passagework that demands considerable dexterity from the performers but not a lot of concentration from the listener. Doubtless it might make a better effect in other company.
As already suggested, the stylish, fluent performances maintain the high level attained in the first disc. I did wonder if more might have been made of Mozart’s dynamic contrasts in K497’s opening Adagio, but that’s a minor point in the context of such thoroughly rewarding and sympathetic playing.

Brian Robins

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Recording

Music in a Cold Climate: Sounds of Hansa Europe

In Echo, Gawain Glenton
67:32
Delphian DCD34206

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his selection of music from around the fringes of the North Sea for a mixed consort of wind and stringed instruments includes some good-going dance music by William Brade and Anthony Holborne, as well as fine music by Antonio Bertali, Thomas Baltzar, Melchior Schmidt, Johann Sommer and Johann Schop. The programme emphasizes the musical links promoted by the lively Hanseatic trade network, but at the same time the musical diversity cultivated within the lands of the League. In Echo under the direction of cornettist Gawain Glenton play with tremendous authority and musicality, bringing out the diverse colours of the music they have chosen. To my taste, the inclusion of a contemporary work by Andrew Keeling, Northern Souls, which seems to owe more to Aaron Copland than the music around it, is a bit of self-indulgence, which adds little to the programme. In Echo are a new signing to Delphian Records, and on the basis of this fine CD they are quite an acquisition. We look forward to their exploration of further twilit corners of musical Europe.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Directed by Handel

Music from Handel’s London Theatre Orchestra
Olwen Foulkes recorder, Nathaniel Mander harpsichord, Carina Drury cello, Toby Carr theorbo, Tabea Debus bass recorder
64:04
Barn Cottage Records bcr019
Music by Blow, Castrucci, Corelli, Geminiani, Handel, Giuseppe Sammartini & anon

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his intriguing and imaginative programme takes as its starting point concerts given by recorder players prior to and after the arrival in London of Handel. Jacques Paisible had popularized the instrument towards the end of the 17th century, and Olwen Foulkes makes the reasonable assumption that instrumental concerts from then onwards would have featured popular works transcribed for recorder and continuo. Assuming that many of these transcriptions would have remained in repertoire, it is not inconceivable that Handel could indeed have directed such diverse programmes. Olwen Foulkes is a lovely recorder player, with a fulsome tone and very musical approach on a range of recorders including descants, treble and voice flute. Her phrasing and effortless decoration are exemplary and extremely persuasive, and she is ably supported by a range of other fine musicians. This barn-storming performance will delight recorder players everywhere, but is also of much wider interest as a window on a period when musicians happily ‘borrowed’ extensively from each other to satisfy public demand.

D. James Ross

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Facco: Master of Kings

Guillermo Turina cello, Eugenia Boix soprano, Tomoko Matsuoka harpsichord
[Cantatas and Sinfonie di violoncello a solo]
71:54
Cobra Records COBRA 0063

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]orn and raised in Venice, Giacomo Facco took a post with the Spanish Spinola family who rose to power in Sicily before being expelled and returning to Spain, where Facco joined them for the rest of his life. The present CD selects music from his major publications consisting of cantatas for soprano, cello and continuo, interspersed with sinfonias for cello and continuo. While the cantatas he published while working in Italy are a little pedestrian, the later Spanish-period works sound more convincing. However, none of the cantatas sound as interesting as Facco’s innovative and engaging sinfonias for cello and harpsichord. This is partly due on the present CD to Guillermo Turino’s exciting technique on the Baroque cello, which brings these latter works to life, and contrasts with Eugenia Boix’s rather swooping accounts of the cantatas, which I found a little wearing after a while. Frankly, it is hard to account for the enormous enthusiasm shown by Facco’s fans, including his first biographer Uberto Zanolli, who entitled his book ‘Giacomo Facco : Master of Kings’. To my ear, Facco’s idiom is very conventional, and it came as no surprise to read in the notes that he was sidelined from his final post at the Spanish Court in Madrid by the arrival of the great Farinelli.

D. James Ross

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Categories
Recording

Vivaldi Undercover

Passacaglia Baroque ensemble
70:08
Barn Cottage Records bcr017
Transcriptions of Vivaldi by Bach, Chédeville & Passacaglia

[dropcap]P[/dropcap]assacaglia are renowned for their wonderfully passionate and detailed playing, and for their custom of arranging Baroque music to suit their instrumental ensemble. This CD illustrates both these characteristics. It features arrangements by later composers – J. S. Bach and Nicolas Chédeville – of Vivaldi’s music, which then undergoes a further transformation at the hands of Passacaglia, who re-instrument it all over again. While I love their lively playing, I find that some of their arrangements have something of a ‘mock-Baroque’ feeling to them, with some of the instruments, particularly the recorders, being asked to do rather unidiomatic things in rather unidiomatic keys. Of course, in the hands of the wonderfully virtuosic Annabel Knight and Louise Bradbury, the playing is never less than superbly accomplished, but sometimes it all sounds a little contrived. The group’s rearrangements of Chédeville’s transcriptions for musette or hurdy-gurdy of two of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, where a hurdy-gurdy is ‘enhanced’ by recorders and a violin along with continuo instruments, seems to me to be neither one thing or another – or rather a whole new thing conjured up by Passacaglia. We have all heard the Vivaldi original and I have heard Chédeville’s transcription on a hurdy-gurdy, both of which are very effective, but what is this? I am always puzzled by Baroque ensembles who feel bound to create their own versions of Baroque music, given that there is such a treasury of music from the period out there which has never seen the light of day. You will enjoy the wonderfully fresh playing on this CD, but I must say I prefer my Baroque music less comprehensively ‘under cover’.

D. James Ross

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