Fans of the French Baroque are in for a real treat if they visit https://expodcast.cmbv.fr/en – six podcasts have been produced by the Centre de Musique Baroque Versailles. To a rich musical backdrop, all sorts of information is shared (either in English or French) from the golden era of Louis XIV to the dawn of the Revolution. These are highly recommended!
Brian Clark
Andreas Staier fortepiano, Le Concert de la Loge, Julien Chauvin violin & director
56:59
Alpha 875
Named in part – they had to drop ‘Olympique’ after protests from the French Olympic association – after the Parisian concert organisation that commissioned a set of symphonies from Haydn, Le Concert de la Loge was founded by the violinist Julien Chauvin in 2015. Today it is firmly established as one of the many outstanding period instrument orchestras in France, having gained a particular reputation (at least on record) in Classical repertoire. For the present CD, they have joined forces with the distinguished forte-pianist Andreas Staier, who plays one of Mozart’s best-loved concertos on a very fine copy of a Walter instrument of c.1790 built by Christoph Kern of Staufen. Those coming across the disc may be surprised to find that the G-minor Symphony has acquired an unlikely nickname – ‘Le Dodécaphonique’. Apparently, it was chosen by the musicians of Le Concert following a contest among their concert audience, though not I suspect without the prompting of Chauvin, who in his note draws attention to the start of the development of the opening movement and its use all the notes of the chromatic scale, with the exception of G natural. Perhaps he might with better purpose have noted Mozart’s extraordinary use of chromaticism throughout the symphony; it is responsible for engendering much of the work’s tragic drama and is a prime feature that distinguishes it from many another turbulent G-minor symphony, including Mozart’s own earlier example, K 183.
Leading from the first violin desk, Chauvin’s way with Mozart is quickly established with the Don Giovanni Overture that opens the CD. His tempos tend to be on the brisk side, leading to a danger of brusqueness not always avoided. On the credit side, however, there is an inherent sense of drama, which is aided by splendid balance between strings and the exceptionally accomplished wind, and a keen ear for detail. The strings are not always a match for the wind and there is a trace of sourness in the Overture. One movement where greater forward momentum certainly does pay dividends is in the central Adagio of the A-major Piano Concerto, which without losing the depth of feeling the music conveys – some of the most profound even Mozart ever wrote – better conveys its siciliana rhythm and avoids the trap of sentimentality into which it sometimes falls. For the most part, this movement is also exquisitely decorated, as it must be if it is to be expanded from its skeletal state. It is to Staier’s credit that he mostly avoids the temptation to rewrite rather than ornament the melodic line, and only near the conclusion (from bar 88) do I feel he slightly over-eggs the pudding. Otherwise, Staier’s performance is marked by the nimble and precise finger-work that is a hallmark of his playing, with judicious touches of rubato underlining just how fine a musician he is.
The G-minor Symphony is given in the second version with clarinets, as is usual. Unlike the overture and concerto it was not recorded in the Arsenal de Metz – Cite Musicale but in the Notre-Dame de Liban church in Paris with a warmer, more generous acoustic (and a substantially differently constituted orchestra). It’s a fine performance – fine enough indeed to have wished that Chauvin had taken the second-half repeat of the finale, again illustrative of Mozart’s astonishing contrapuntal chromatic mastery, though a steadier tempo might have been more effective here. But all-in-all these are challenging and rewarding performances of familiar masterpieces that make the listener prick up his ears anew, not always a foregone conclusion.
Brian Robins
Gulrim Choï, Ensemble Diderot
64:13
Audax Records ADX11200
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Ensemble Diderot’s exploration of pre-classical German music has recently focussed on the culturally dynamic city of Berlin, and these four attractive cello concertos, two of which are receiving world premiere recordings, certainly deserve a place in our understanding of it. The most famous composer represented here, probably due to his later move to London, is gamba virtuoso, composer and Bach pupil, Carl Friedrich Abel, indeed the only one of the four composers here that I have previously come across. By contrast, Ignác Frantisek Mara, Markus Heinrich Grauel and Johann Wilhelm Hertel have been treated less kindly by posterity, sinking into relative neglect. In these characterful performances by cellist Gulrim Choï, the quirky originality of all four composers becomes evident. It is interestingly in the slow movements of their cello concertos that their individuality becomes most apparent, but these are remarkably accomplished works full of musical inspiration. I often feel that the music from the melting pot of the pre-classical period, with its heady ethos of exploration and experimentation, is more interesting and exciting than that of the more settled classical period itself, and this is very much the case here. Combining technical assurance and an engaging sense of adventure, all four composers represented have something valuable to say, and Choï and the Diderot Ensemble give them vivid and eloquent expression here.
D. James Ross
Alice Foccroule, Pierre Gallon
64:48
passacaille PAS1101
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These delightful accounts of 18 of Haydn’s 24 Deutsche Lieder Hob. XXVI will undoubtedly win many fans to this relatively neglected aspect of the composer’s oeuvre. The decision to alternate harpsichord and fortepiano allows Pierre Gallon to provide a degree of textural variety – the title page suggests ‘clavier’ which allows for either, although it has to be said that the accompaniments contain figures which to my ears sound distinctively pianistic. The songs were published in two batches in 1781 and 1784, for no better reason than that the composer had failed to find adequate texts to complete the project for the earlier date. All aspects of the presentation suggest that they belong essentially to one set, although the composer’s interest in finding quality texts is significant – a major feature of all the songs here is the strength of the lyrics and the composer’s immediate and sensitive response to them. Alice Foccroule has the ideal voice for this repertoire, beautifully focussed and expressive, and a vital element in the success of these recordings is her intelligent reading of the texts. The mature Haydn displays an advanced mastery of harmonic progression and lyrical and expressive melody, and these songs very much point the way to the subsequent flowering of German Lieder. As a small bonus, the performers give us a touching account of Abschiedslied, formerly attributed to Haydn, but now thought to be the work of Adalbert Gyrowetz. The fact that this song could have been considered to be by Haydn emphasises the composer’s influence on this genre, as well as usefully reminding us that Vienna boasted a large number of other fine composers like Gyrowetz, many of whom are nowadays unjustifiably neglected.
D. James Ross
Ensemble Augelletti
60:25
Barn Cottage Records BCR024
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Anna Amalia, Princess of Prussia (and titular Abbess of Quedlingburg) is one of the great collectors of music to whom musicians owe a great debt. In compiling this intriguing programme, Ensemble Augelletti have searched through her remarkable library of more than 600 pieces, using it as a source for even the well-known pieces recorded here. These are placed side-by-side with less familiar repertoire, including music by Princess Anna Amalia herself, in the manner of a soirée in her palace on Berlin’s magnificent avenue, Unter den Linden. Reflecting the Princess’s devotion to the organ – she had one built specially for her in 1755, described herself proudly as ‘organist’, and had it moved with her to Unter den Linden – the continuo here is played on organ and viol with theorbo. The melody instruments are recorder and violin, although there is a disappointing lack of information in the notes as to precisely who does what and on what. As I mentioned, this imaginative programme plan allows for the very familiar to rub shoulders with the thoroughly unfamiliar – in the former category we have two trio sonatas by J. S. Bach, and one each by C. P. E. Bach, Handel, Corelli and Geminiani and in the latter, four fugues for trio by Princess Amalia. While not perhaps being of a standard with the other works, Amalia’s fugues are thoroughly workmanlike and full of original turns of phrase. The playing from the Augelletti Ensemble throughout this CD is delightful and sympathetic, and they bring the same infectious enthusiasm to their performances as Princess Amalia seems to have brought to her Unter den Linden soirées – important events in their own right, and doubly so for having influenced those hosted subsequently by Sarah Levy, the great-aunt of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn.
D. James Ross
C. P. E. Bach: Sonatas for flute, viola da gamba and harpsichord
Passacaglia
67:25
Barn Cottage Records BCR025
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All of the sonatas in this attractive selection date from the first half of the composer’s life and as the excellent programme note by flautist Annabel Knight points out, they demonstrate ‘the composer’s youthful spirit and distinctively emerging musical voice’. When we think what a characterful contribution he would go on to make at a crucial transitional phase in musical style, his individuality is already clearly on display here. There are three flute sonatas with BC, a sonata for unaccompanied solo flute, a gamba sonata with BC, and one of the ‘Prussian’ sonatas for solo keyboard. The Sonata for solo flute Wq 132 printed in 1747 is the latest work on the disc and is a wonderfully exploratory and other-worldly piece, reminiscent of the more famous music by Telemann for solo flute. It is played with immense sensitivity and technical assurance by Annabel Knight, whose reading of the more conventional Sonatas Wq 131, 124 and 125 is also delightfully musical and utterly engaging. Reiko Ichise steps into the spotlight for the Wq 136 Sonata for Gamba and BC, a curious work written for the virtuoso Ludwig Hesse in 1745 at a time when the gamba’s popularity was on the wane, indeed already almost entirely eclipsed by the cello, but when Hesse’s skills and French style of playing were still admired at the Berlin Court. Bach cleverly plays to Hesse’s strengths with music, which allows for technical display as well as evoking a charming French galant flavour. Reiko Ichise presents this demanding music with flair and panache, enjoying the technical challenges of this striking gamba swansong. Finally, it is keyboard player Robin Bigwood’s turn for the solo spotlight with the fourth of Bach’s Wq 48 ‘Prussian’ sonatas. Composing for his own instrument, Bach allows his harmonic and melodic imagination to run free to a degree unusual in the early 1740s. While I occasionally found myself yearning for the dynamic gradations possible on an early piano, it would have been an odd decision to introduce a different keyboard for this one item, and the harpsichord has the advantage of making the daring clashing harmonies all the more uncompromising. This is a thoroughly enjoyable CD, with all three members of Passacaglia demonstrating their individual musicality and technical prowess, as well as coming together with an admirably impressive sense of ensemble.
D. James Ross
Flute music at the court of Frederick the Great
Sophia Aretz flute, Alexander von Heißen harpsichord
56:17
hänssler classics CD HC22024
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Frederick the Great’s association with the flute is well known. Although his love of music and the arts in general caused problems with his father, he persisted in establishing his own ensemble, acquiring all the latest music and studying with Quantz, one of the earliest virtuosi on the relatively new instrument. Once head of state, his Kapelle grew and included many of the biggest names of the day, including C P E Bach,* who is often portrayed as being unhappy in his role as a “mere” accompanist rather than the court composer. Perhaps there was some melancholy among the musicians – four out of the five pieces on this extremely impressive CD are in minor keys. The recital is bookended by a pair of three-movement sonatas by the king himself; while they are clearly the product of the age, these are no mechanical, half-hearted efforts – from the very first notes of the E minor sonata, we are drawn into a dreamy world of reflection; in the faster movement, his catchy melodies and clever passagework mean interest never wanes. Also on the programme are a four-movement trio sonata attributed to Quantz (in which von Heißen takes the second “treble” with his right hand – hold on to your hat for one chord sequence in the second movement!), a charming sonata by Frederick’s sister, Anna Amalia, and – of course! – C P E Bach’s D minor sonata H569.
Aretz and von Heißen are perfect companions in this music. While she gracefully shapes the slower movements with a warmly caressing tone, she is utterly undaunted in the faster pieces – I had to re-listen to two passages several times to work out how she had managed to fit all of the notes into the time available! Like poor old Bach, von Heißen plays a mostly subservient role but, in crafting the harmonic background for the “star”, he is the master of slightly holding back or pressing on to keep the music alive – and the ability to play unequally between his hands is outstanding. For the perfect demonstration of these features, just listen to the opening of Track 8 (the opening Adagio of Anna Amalia’s sonata) – it is simply gorgeous!
Brian Clark
*Bach shared the position with Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch (son of the perhaps more famous Zerbst Kapellmeister, Johann Friedrich Fasch, who (coincidentally?) wrote at least one sonata for two flutes, whose source material is in Berlin…). The younger Fasch was recommended to the king by one of his leading violinists, Franz Benda, as “the most gifted of accompanists”.
The Greatest Mandolin Concertos
Raffaele La Ragione, Il Pomo d’Oro, Francesco Corti
66:56
Arcana A524
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This exciting and enjoyable CD of concertos for early mandolins begins with the well-known Concerto in C major (RV 425) by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). Raffaele La Ragione plays a copy of a six-course Lombard mandolin built by Tiziano Rizzi after an original by Antonio Monzino (1792). It makes a bright, crisp sound which stands out from the group of accompanying instruments, but I would rather hear Vivaldi not played with a plectrum as La Ragione does, but rather with the right-hand fingers, which produce a sweeter more mellow sound. In his contribution to the book, The Early Mandolin, Early Music Series 9 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), page 38, James Tyler writes: “From the evidence examined so far, it is clear that finger-style playing was the norm for the mandolino in Italy, and I can find no evidence for plectrum-style playing until the second half of the eighteenth century.” However, La Ragione’s virtuosity and musicality are nevertheless impressive, and he brings life and vigour to his performance.
Il Pomo d’Oro is conducted by the harpsichord player, Francesco Corti, who adds his own embellishments, and keeps the ensemble tightly knit. The accompanying instruments from the group are two violins, viola, cello, double bass, harpsichord and theorbo. The theorbo is a welcome asset. It does much to create a warm, homogeneous sound. In the slow second movement the harpsichord drops out, and Miguel Rincon’s theorbo gently provides harmony, countermelodies, deep bass notes, and tasteful end-of-phrase fill-ins. Vivaldi’s third movement is typical of his style, with a plethora of broken chords, repeated notes, scalic passages, and round-the-clock chord progressions. Enjoy the third movement on YouTube.
There are seven items altogether: four concertos with a mandolin of some sort, interspersed with three items without mandolin. The first of the non-mandolin pieces is a lively Sinfonia in G major by Baldassarre Galuppi (1706-85). There is much repetition of four-bar phrases, and a lack of complex harmony and lyrical melodies. It is a romp designed to invigorate the soul. The other tracks without a mandolin are an Allegro presto from a Sinfonia in B flat major by Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816), and an Allegro from a Sinfonia in D major by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809).
The second concerto for mandolin is one in E flat major attributed to Paisiello. For this La Ragione plays a four-course Neapolitan mandolin by an anonymous Neapolitan maker c. 1770. Neapolitan mandolins are what most people today think of as mandolins. They have four courses of metal strings and are tuned in fifths. They are played with a plectrum, which gives a strong attack and enables super-fast tremolo notes. La Ragione’s instrument has a clear, full sound, which he uses to good effect, with a pleasing variety of tone and dynamic, particularly noticeable in a long unaccompanied passage towards the end of the second movement. The uplifting third movement is played with enthusiasm by soloist and orchestral members alike.
La Raggione also uses his Neapolitan instrument for a Mandolin Concerto in G major by Francesco Lecce (fl. 1750-1806). The second movement, Largo, is especially gratifying, with La Raggione’s bright, well-shaped phrases enhanced by the gentle notes of Rincon’s theorbo. The third movement, Allegro balletto, requires a fair amount of dexterity from La Ragione, with fast flurries of notes now in threes now in fours.
Another track to be found on YouTube is the Rondo from the Concerto in G major by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837). For this Concerto La Ragione plays a four-string Brescian mandolin by Lorenzo Lippi after a late 18th-century original by Carlo Bergonzi II. With its four single courses it has a more delicate sound than the Neapolitan mandolin, which La Ragione turns to his advantage. He is accompanied by a small orchestra, in which flutes, oboes, bassoons and horns are added to the strings and harpsichord. The extra instruments help to create a fuller sound, and provide a welcome contrast of timbres. What cheerful music this is.
Stewart McCoy
Francesco Galligioni cello, Jolanda Violante fortepiano
70:06
Brilliant Classics 95908
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The fortunes of Bonifazio Asiola very much mirror the rise and fall of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy – in 1807 at the age of 38 he is appointed director of the Milan Conservatory by the French Viceroy only to be forced into early retirement by the fall of Napoleon in 1814, although he continued to teach and compose until his death in 1832. Labelled a ‘Sonata per Clavicembalo e Violoncello Obbligato’, Asioli’s Cello Sonata is very much in the new idiom where the cello usually takes the melodic initiative while the piano tends to accompany, although the demanding keyboard part is also allowed to sparkle. This is a substantial work with wonderfully idiomatic writing for the cello – it was after all in Italy that the cello had originally emerged from its traditional continuo role to become a solo instrument. This work was composed in 1784 as a Divertimento for cello and piano, although by 1817 when it was published it had acquired a name more befitting its substantial nature.
We also hear two of Asioli’s three Piano Sonatas op 8, published around 1790, works of considerable musical variety and charm. They are given powerful and expressive renditions by Jolanda Violante on a copy of a bright and incisive Walter & Son fortepiano of 1805, while Francesco Galligioni plays wonderfully eloquently on a late 17th-century Cremonese cello. The excellent programme note by Licia Sirch mentions in passing a wealth of other work by Bonifazio Asioli, and on the basis of these three attractive sonatas, he is a name we should watch out for. But for the vagaries of history, he would probably be much more generally appreciated.
D. James Ross
L’Orfeo Barockorchester, Michi Gaigg
277:25 (4 CDs in a double jewel box)
cpo 555 228-2
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Any project to record the complete Schubert symphonies is a challenge. He is famously the composer of an ‘unfinished’ symphony, but in fact Schubert was a serial ‘unfinisher’ of symphonic material, and even the total number and indeed the numbering of his complete symphonies are contested. In the early 1980s, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields recorded Schubert’s ‘10 Symphonies’, including impressive reconstructions by Brian Newbold using the surviving fragments. Subsequently, a number of period instrument ensembles have settled for the eight complete symphonies. The present recording takes an alternative approach, presenting the eight complete symphonies – renumbered so that the ‘Unfinished’ is now number 7 and the ‘Great’ is number 8 – as well as all the related surviving fragments and overtures. Some of these, such as D729 are substantial, in essence, a fair proportion of two movements, whereas others D74A are tiny, coming in in the middle of the action and then cut short. There is a definite academic interest in hearing any orchestral sketches Schubert left behind, and once you are prepared for the shock of a section cutting off in mid-flow, they do also make interesting listening. Besides, you can always select only the complete symphonies to listen to if that is what you want. These are live recordings, with some retakes added later, and have all the excitement of the concert performance about them. Just occasionally there are tuning issues, fluffs, and some extraneous noises, but nothing to interfere with the overall enjoyment. Michi Gaigg’s direction finds the magic in even the slightest of fragments, and she and her forces rise well to the challenge and scale of the later symphonies. She also has an unerring instinct for tempo, and has an excellent line-up of woodwind principals to take full advantage of Schubert’s famously rewarding woodwind solos. I am not sure how often I will be listening to the fragments, but these definitely do inform what I think are excellent accounts of the complete symphonies.
D. James Ross