Tag: Choral music

Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens
74:34
cpo 555 155-2

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is the first CD devoted solely to Johann Schelle that I am aware of since Robert King’s “Contemporaries of Bach” series. In some ways, that is understandable, since Schelle is not always shy in employing all the forces available to him, so performing his music can be expensive. The rewards are, however, commensurate with the outlay and effort, as these fine performances confirm. I wish I had had time to digest it and write about it ahead of Christmas, and I hope that anyone who saw it before the Festive season grabbed it with both hands – there is something about the story of Christmas that really sets composer’s imaginations alight, and Schelle is no exception. Any excuse to have glorious trumpets for the herald angels, and recorders for the shepherds; that is not to suggest, at all, that the music is derivative or cliched… Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the repertoire chosen is the composer’s varied handling of the Lutheran chorales that form their backbone; the phrases are broken down into fantasy episodes (much in the way Bach would do in his chorale preludes or the opening movements to his cantatas), but some are not so much treated as thematic material for contrapuntal ingenuity but merely introduced by the first few notes played by instruments (perhaps reflecting contemporary practice in congregational hymn singing?); in other movements, both techniques are used. I confess that I found some of the narrative sections of the Actus Musicus auf Weyh-Nachten  a little “challenging” (much in the same way I find Schütz’s Passion “recitative” – frankly – boring…), but the more I listened, the more I “got it”, and it dawned on me that the whole point was that this is not art music, it is real-life liturgical music, speaking from the musical pulpit to the gathered Christian church, relating one of their greatest stories – and they would both know and hang on the Evangelist’s every word. So, an educational experience as well as a valuable musical one. Let’s hope more people will explore Schelle’s music (and Rosenmüller’s and Knüpfer’s before him!)

Brian Clark

Hannah Morrison, Angela Hicks, Charlotte Ashley, Reginald Mobley, Eleanor Minney, Hugo Hymas, Gianluca Buratto, Jake Muffett SSSAATBB, monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner
73:53
Soli Deo Gloria SDG728
+BWV151

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]ecorded in December 2016 in the spacious acoustic of St Jude’s, Hampstead Garden Suburb and released for this Christmastide, this elegantly produced CD couples some delightful music with the early version of the Magnificat, that was probably a show-piece for Bach’s first Christmas day Vespers in Leipzig in 1723.

From the start, the swirling polyphony of the opening Kyries of the Missa in F, where the ‘cantus firmus’ of Christe, du Lamm Gottes  on the corni tethers the energetic polyphony in this adaptation of an earlier Weimar Kyrie, introduces the energy and direction of this CD. The following Gloria uses material from (among other sources) Cantata 40, performed on the 2nd day of that Christmas in 1723, and BWV 151 was written for the 3rd day of Christmas in 1725, so all the pieces are appropriate for a Christmas-tide CD of Bach.

The roulades of the corni and the close imitation of the voices in the opening of the Gloria in the Missa give an almost hunt-like urgency to the chase, and Gardiner’s crisp and energetic delivery is helped by a smaller than usual choir (9.5.4.4) from whose ranks singers step forward to sing the arias and recitatives. Star among them are the more established Hannah Morrison, Reginald Moberly and Hugo Hymas, but a welcome new voice to me was Angela Hicks who sings the long and difficult aria that opens Süßer Trost  (BWV 151). Here the balance between the singer, the strings topped with an oboe d’amore and the single traverso is captured wonderfully, the voice balancing the tender flute marvellously – yet fully capable of the sudden brightening up in the quick triplets of the central section of the aria before recovering the cradle-like calm of the da capo. Gardiner’s use of his chorus singers provides us not only with excellent and stylish performances of the arias, but with consistency of sound throughout the vocal scoring and the consequent easy blend between singers and instruments. He seems increasingly confident not just in his singers’ accomplishments – as he properly should – but in creating this newly-minted overall sound, which to me is most welcome. As a result, the cumulative effect of the (individually) quite short movements of the Magnificat has a coherence and momentum that some of his earlier recordings lack.

A dialogue between Gardiner and Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, himself a trumpeter and recording producer as well as Principal of the Royal Academy, forms the bulk of the well-produced booklet. The discussion touches on the question of the performing pitch for the E flat Magnificat, but the central question – is the E flat Magnificat one of those earlier works where the wind parts are in E flat and played at 392, so the sounding pitch holds to 415? – is only tangentially referred to, and Don Smithers’ careful arguments in 1996 arguing for the lower pitch are dismissed rather than refuted. E flat is a surprising key for trumpet parts – notated as usual in the score in C – to sound in, so what was the actual pitch at which this Magnificat was first performed? Did a set of parts for strings in E flat ever exist? In the end, you have to make informed choices about these matters, but I am not wholly convinced that the Magnificat ever actually sounded in E flat at 415. And unless and until some parts for the Magnificat performance of 1723 come to light, we will never be sure.

David Stancliffe

Bettina Pahn, Julian Podger, Peter Harvey STB, Cappela Brugensis, Collegium Instrumental Brugense, Patrick Peire
64:00
Et’cetera KYC 1605 ((c) 2003)

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he 18th-century Dutch composer Henri-Jacques de Croes served a number of noble households throughout Europe, including the Thurn und Taxis family in Frankfurt and Charles of Lorraine. These motets are essentially cantatas with sections for chorus and solo voices, all with string accompaniment, and stylistically owe a lot to the music of Antonio Vivaldi. We also find him falling under the musical spell of more modern composers such as Handel, but – as he lived until 1786 when he would have been over eighty – his music must have sounded quaintly old-fashioned by the time he retired. Just occasionally, de Croes does something a little more distinctive and idiosyncratic, such as the bagpipe drone effects at the opening of Confitemini Domine, but these are fleeting instances of originality in a style which is generally almost entirely conventional and derivative. These performances are attractive, with beautifully measured solo contributions, and fine choral and orchestral performances throughout. Sadly for de Croes, the 18th century was packed with gifted composers, well-known and neglected, who had much more to say musically than he seemed to.

D. James Ross

[Julia Doyle, Ben Johnson, Peter Harvey STB], Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Howard Arman
138:27 (2 CDs in box with sleeve)
BR Klassik 900520

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ritten in anticipation of the Hanoverian victory over the Jacobites at Culloden in 1746, Handel’s Occasional Oratorio  had to be written in considerable haste, and, as a result, the ageing pragmatist naturally resorted to recycling on an industrial scale. It is entertaining to listen to this piece and to try to place where the reused material came from originally. The composer’s own opus 6 Concerti Grossi  are not for the first time a rich source of raw material, but most powerful is Handel’s reuse of the “Zadok the Priest” music conceived for George II’s coronation some twenty years earlier to conclude the oratorio with the words “God save the King long live the King!” The German-born composer knew what side his bread was buttered on, and, in addition, addition to have felt a considerable personal loyalty to the House of Hanover. As the programme note points out, another snag with a celebratory oratorio written prior to the victory it celebrates is the risk of tempting fate, so Handel and his librettist, Newburgh Hamilton, endeavour to couch any direct hero-worship in general terms, while trusting in the good offices of Jehovah. Truly remarkable, but perhaps unsurprising in a composer with Handel’s lifetime of experience, is the way in which every corner of the oratorio is beautifully crafted. This recording benefits from lovely instrumental playing both from orchestral soloists, strings and woodwind, and from the full orchestral body. While Ben Johnson occasionally sounds a little uncomfortable in the generally low tessitura of the tenor part, bass Peter Harvey and soprano Julia Doyle make a tuneful and idiomatic contribution. Sometimes I felt that the Bavarian choral forces were a little on the large scale for some of the detailed music they were given, but they sing with an admirable precision and clarity. This is a live recording made in the rich acoustic of the Munich Residenz Herkulessaal, and apart from one noticeable cough near the beginning it is remarkably distraction-free. Generally speaking this is a committed and effective account of the Occasional Oratorio  in the new 2009 Halle Händel Edition.

D. James Ross

Allabastrina Choir & Consort, Elena Sartori
58:59
Christophorus CHR 77414
Deus judicium tuum, Laudate Jehovam omnes gentes, Magnificat  + two concertos arr. Walther

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] quite enjoy inviting people to identify the composer of music I happen to be listening to when they visit; I fear I would not do particularly well if the present CD was randomly played to me. Of course, familiarity with Telemann’s vast output has taught me that he is something of a musical chameleon, but here he excels himself – where director Elena Sartori hears pre-echoes of Mozart in the brief setting of Laudate Jehovam omnes gentes, I had gone a generation earlier in Italy… The booklet claims Deus judicium tuum  is closer to Rameau and Lully than the composer’s German cantatas, but – when good quality recordings of the latter are so sparse – I wonder how valid that point is. Similarly, the use of trumpets in the Magnificat  points to J. S. Bach in Leipzig… Really? Trumpets weren’t used throughout Germany on any festive occasion? While there are some interesting moments on the recording (the bass duet with trumpets and drums in the Magnificat, for example), I’m afraid there are also weaknesses; the singing is a little fruity in places (and too much thought went into the phrasing of Track 3, for sure!) I sincerely hope that it will persuade others to explore Telemann’s larger scale church music (in whatever language).

Brian Clark

Wegener, Allsopp, Hobbs, Harvey SATB, Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart, Frieder Bernius
49:03
Carus 83.282
BWV80, 235

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]ecorded in June 2017, the CD is among Carus Verlag’s celebrations of the Reformation anniversary while promoting its good new edition of Bach’s choral works. The excellent soloists and experienced chorus, orchestra and conductor make these reliable performances, and it is good to have the opening page of the full score of the new Carus edition by Klaus Hoffman (2014) reproduced in the liner notes.

Carus – and many German choirs and conductors – are still wedded to performing Bach cantatas with substantial choirs (here 7.5.5.4) and you can only buy instrumental parts for the cantatas online in sets of 4 first and 4 second violins, 3 violas and 4 bc parts. They also sell a pack of the W. F. Bach additional brass parts that got included in the BG in the 19th century, and are still sometimes passed off as Johann Sebastian’s today. This performance is still in this tradition.

That said, the balance between singers and orchestra is good, and between individual singers in the single voice or duet numbers and obbligato instruments. The A/T duet Wie selig sind doch die  (7 in BWV 80) is beautifully done; and Und wenn die Welt voll Teufel wär  (5) goes with a great swing. But at a running time of 49:03, would there not have been room for Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild  (BWV79), that other great Reformationsfest  cantata? Perhaps the reason is that Carus has now produced another CD with BWV 79, that includes the Missa in G  (BWV 236) and Cantata 126.

David Stancliffe

Mields, Schachtner, Kristjánnson, Berndt SATB, Gaechinger Cantorey, Hans-Christoph Rademann
59:07
Carus 83.311
BWV79, 126, 236

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hese cantatas and the Mass in G, which parodies several numbers of BWV 79, are given a full-blooded performance with the substantial band of the Gaechinger Cantorey which uses 6.5.4.3.2 strings and 8.7.8.7 voices. They use both harpsichord and a small organ reconstructed for them after one by Gottfried Silbermann recently discovered in Seerhausen, Saxony. Unfortunately, no details are provided of this instrument in spite of their website saying ‘The Gaechinger Cantorey is basing its new approach on this kind of sound and orchestral arrangement, starting off with the sound of a replica Silbermann organ’. This is welcome news, as a number of photos on the website show modern orchestral instruments (a bassoon and a horn are visible), and the large numbers in both choir and band make the sound rather solid.

The liner notes in German and English have an abridged (in English) version of the essay on Bach the Reformer, placing the cantatas and the mass in their historical and musical context, which is welcome, but the impression of the performances is that, although the chorus singers and the band are well matched, the substantial forces make the ‘solo’ singers work hard to be heard instead of achieving that natural balance we might expect. I have yet to read a scholarly refutation from Germany of Andrew Parrott’s The Essential Bach Choir, which has so influenced performance practice elsewhere, and this performance from such a prestigious Academy shows little evidence of what is now accepted in many quarters as good practice.

In particular, I feel that the tromba in the opening movement of BWV 126 is overpowered by the strings and choir, and the Tenor in the aria Sende deine Macht  has to oversing – where is he standing in relation to the oboes? – while the Bass in Stürze zu Boden  is splendid, singing with both organ and harpsichord, and quite excellent cello and fagotto playing. In BWV 79, the playing of the large band in the open chorus is wonderful in its articulation in the fugato sections, and the horn playing as good as it can be. Here the balance in the aria for Alto and oboe obbligato seems better, though the bass is overweight here as it is in the duet – how many contrabassi are playing here? This all gives the orchestral sound a rather ‘modern’ feel, and at times – especially in the final chorale, the combined sound with an appropriate predominance of organ hardly lets us hear the horns.

These questions of balance seem to have sorted themselves out better by the Mass, though, when the Bass begins the Gratias, I am conscious of a less immediate sound – immediacy is sacrificed to some extent in the recording to the grand effect. The S/A Duetto Domine Deus  again has a very smooth orchestral sound, and an over-prominent 16’ tone.

The contrast here with Carus other CD – Ein feste Burg  – is instructive; although both use substantial choirs, that one feels more immediate and is recorded closer. If you like a full-blooded choral sound, the well-rehearsed Gaechinger Cantorey could hardly be bettered. But, as a recording, it is less integrated that we might expect these days – it feels more like a choral society accompanied by a first-rate orchestra who are sitting between them and the audience, with very distinctly different solo voices for the arias. It is an excellent recording – in a slightly old-fashioned style.

David Stancliffe