Tag: Classical

Thalia Ensemble
67:00
Linn Records CKD471

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he name Antoine Reicha is one which has fairly comprehensively slipped between the floorboards of musical history, except for within one select circle of musicians, wind players. With them Reicha’s wind music, and in particular his wind quintets, has remained current and provides a useful and engaging programme filler. The present CD, part of the Thalia Ensemble’s prize for winning the 2013 York Early Music International Young Artists’ Competition, brings us two wind quintets and an Adagio for wind quartet and obligato cor anglais all played on period instruments of the early 19th century. This final detail may seem relatively unimportant in these days of the ubiquity of period performances, but in this case it was a major factor in my enjoyment of the CD. While tuneful and accessible, Reicha’s music is occasionally accused of blandness, but when the Thalia Ensemble moved into the more chromatic passages of these works the remarkable range of characteristics occasioned by fork fingerings and lippings up and down imbued the music with considerable individuality. Occasionally the tuning is a little bit uncomfortable, but as this is the direct result of playing the instruments Reicha knew and was writing for we can assume that these sour moments were part of his original intentions.

Perhaps any ‘blandness’ in performances of Reicha’s music nowadays should be put down to the regularising effect of modern woodwind instruments rather than any lack of imagination on the part of the composer. This tonal variety is further enhanced by the use of clarinets in C, Bb and A, standard practice at the time, but an issue which modern players tend to gloss over. Although details of the instruments the players use is sparse, I am guessing that Diederik Orné is using the bright C clarinet in the opening quintet and the mellower Bb in the second – the difference in tonal character is certainly considerable. And by the 1820s the mechanism of the Müller system clarinet was relatively advanced allowing for much improved intonation. As a flute player himself, Reicha writes beautifully for the flute, but what is perhaps most striking is his mastery of the wind quintet as an entity – perhaps not since Mozart and not until Nielsen did anyone write such accomplished chamber music for winds.

D. James Ross

Maude Gratton, Il Convito
74:00
Mirare MIR162

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ilhelm Friedemann Bach’s is an interesting voice – part baroque, part galant and the occasional touch of Sturm und Drang. Here we have three harpsichord concertos, a lively fugue for strings and a four movement sinfonia. It has to be a matter of regret that Il convito have not explored the performance practice options inherent in their chosen repertoire. Single strings (including a rather heavy 16’ double bass) are used throughout where just a quartet might have been more appropriate for the concertos and then multiple instruments (with 16’) for at least the sinfonia if not necessarily the fugue. The booklet scarcely helps this rarely-recorded composer. Although the concertos receive a full commentary there is no mention of the other pieces, even though there’s no lack of space. But whatever the shortcomings of the issue the music is splendid – real virtuosity in the keyboard writing; Maude Gratton (a Bruges prize-winner on organ) delivers it with considerable panache; and against single strings the harpsichord is never overwhelmed though I did feel that it could have been a little more forward in the overall sound. But you should get this, and not just to round out your view of the truly extraordinary Bach family.

David Hansell

Ronald Brautigam fortepiano, Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens
68:28
BIS-2074 SACD
Concertos 8, 11 & 13 (K246, 413 & 415)

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] think the biggest compliment I can pay to these performances is that I didn’t really notice them. I was just aware of Mozart’s genius in this genre – which the players present admirably with many a subtle nuance and the rich colours of a period orchestra (strings 44222). K413 and 415 are two of the three concertos which the composer said could be played with ‘merely a Quattro’ though here they get the full treatment. The piano (McNulty 2013 after Walter 1802) can be both lyrical and sparkling under the fingers of this master pianist and avoids the tendency one sometimes hears in fortepianos of sounding out of tune even when it isn’t. There’s a lot I could say, but just look at the stars – I seldom give 5 for anything.

David Hansell

Sarah Tynan, Jeremy Ovenden, Matthew Brook STB-Bar, Handel and Haydn Society, Harry Christophers director
98:15 (2 CDs)
Coro COR16135

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n an era when creationism is generally regarded solely as the province of a few eccentrics, Haydn’s great oratorio is surely a deeply paradoxical work for both performer and listener. How does one approach it in today’s world, not only in the terms of the creation itself but also of a text that has Eve singing to her Adam, ‘Thy will is law to me’? Feminists shudder! One answer for performers, of course, is to take the work head on, submitting to the blazing genius and deep faith of its composer. That is fundamentally the approach taken in this live Boston performance from May 2015 given by the Handel and Haydn Society (H & H), America’s oldest surviving concert giving organization.

Like Christopher Hogwood (a predecessor as artistic director of the H & H) in his splendid L’Oiseau-Lyre recording, Harry Christophers has chosen to give the work in English, perfectly reasonable given that Haydn himself was keen to retain dual language versions of the work. Christophers’ decision is also thoroughly vindicated given that one of the major strengths of the performance is the manner in which it communicates the text so strongly. Both soloists and chorus employ excellent diction and a real sense of rhetorical understanding. The male soloists, the Uriel of tenor Jeremy Ovenden and bass Matthew Brook’s Raphael, are particularly outstanding in this respect, most especially in the magnificent descriptive accompanied recitatives that account for some of the work’s most unforgettable passages. Otherwise the contribution of the soloists is very good, if not perfect. All three voices, especially that of soprano Sarah Tynan (Uriel), employ an excess of vibrato.

Christophers’ slow tempo for Raphael’s opening recitative immediately leads Brook into displaying a wide, continuous vibrato, but thereafter he settles down to keep it under greater control, though his tone has at times a tendency to insecurity. But overall this is a fine interpretation, frequently displaying great authority and considerable nobility in the early numbers of Part 2. Ovenden, too, excels in bringing a strong sense of character to recits, ‘In rosy mantle’ making an especially striking impression after the exquisitely lovely opening of Part 3, the three flutes evoking the tranquility of bright, Elysian dawn. Tynan copes impressively with fioritura of ‘On mighty pens’ and generally with embellishments (she even sports a trill), but the voice tends to stridency in the upper register and I suspect she might be happier with later repertoire. The treatment of ornaments is not always convincing and fermatas lack the expected cadential flourishes.

If the choral singing by a sizeable force lacks the ultimate in finish and finesse, it certainly makes up for it in verve and commitment, the climaxes of the big choral numbers often spine-tingling in intensity. But the real hero here is the orchestra, which throughout responds to Christophers’ insightful, penetrating and ever sensitively phrased direction with playing of superlative quality in every department. There are really far too many examples to which attention might be drawn, but I will just mention the beautifully judged introduction to ‘On mighty pens’, the prominent wind parts exquisitely balanced, the strings’ dotted quavers and semi-quavers delightfully pointed. Vocal shortcomings perhaps keep this version from the top of the pile, but there is so much here to enjoy, indeed relish.

Brian Robins

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