Tag: Keyboard music

Colin Booth harpsichord
147:34 (2 CDs)
Soundboard Records SBCD 219

David Stancliffe gave a warm welcome on this site to Colin Booth’s recording of WTC Book I when it appeared nearly two years ago and I am happy to confirm that his follow-up recording of Book II is equally fine. Booth uses the same harpsichord (his own copy of a double-manual Nicholas Cellini instrument of 1661) and tuning system (Kirnberger III) as before, and the recording displays the same clarity in the part-writing in what is a warm and chamber-like acoustic. This harpsichord is particularly good at projecting all the lines in dense contrapuntal textures and Booth uses this very effectively. He eschews virtuosity for its own sake, and these are generally straightforward accounts, falling somewhere between the recent recordings by John Butt and Richard Egarr as regards tempo and reflectiveness. Booth adds many judicious ornaments while never letting them interfere with the line. I particularly like his rhythmical flexibility in the preludes which allows him to negotiate some of the trickier notational corners with ease, as in both F sharp preludes. His astute ‘swinging’ of the beat here and elsewhere produces convincing results. In contrast, the fugues can seem a bit rigid at times, particularly those in the more old-fashioned style, though the more modern ones certainly bounce along nicely. There is a very comprehensive set of liner notes with information about the instrument and the rationale behind Booth’s choice of tuning system, in the light of Bach’s understanding of the term ‘well-tempered’. There are also some perceptive notes on the musical qualities of the second book. Overall, this is an excellent and very welcome recording which showcases Booth’s thoughtful interpretations, and much will be learnt from a careful listening to it.

Noel O’Regan

Simonetta Heger
62:36
Dynamic CDS7841

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Sammartini was a prolific composer, known primarily for his symphonies and operas which helped nudge music toward the Classical style. His considerable chamber output includes nearly forty solo keyboard sonatas which have hitherto been rather neglected. Those recorded on this CD are found in manuscript sources covering much of the composer’s life and mirror his stylistic developments from the 1720s up to the 1760s. They have just one movement and generally follow the same form as Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas, with two sections, two or more themes, and a certain amount of development before a loose recapitulation. Almost all are in major keys and there is a certain sameness about Sammartini’s use of figuration, but there is some considerable variety in the music presented here. Heger plays on a copy of a 1720 Christian Vater instrument built by Carlo Mascheroni which is closely recorded in a chamber-type acoustic and well suited to the music. She is a sympathetic, if somewhat safe, interpreter: I would have welcomed some more flamboyance and excitement in the playing. Tempi are solid but the momentum does slip now and then. That said, it is good to have these works available and it makes a useful collection to dip into and to compare with other keyboard music from these decades. 

Noel O’Regan

Luigi Accardo, Enrico Bissolo harpsichords
74:41
Stradivarius STR 37118

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This single disc contains three of Couperin’s fine Nations, 1 La Françoise, 3 L’impériale and 4 La Piémontoise. Each ordre begins with a splendid sonata which is succeeded by a set of dances – the conventional four and a few extras. We often hear this lovely music recorded with pairs of violins, flutes, etc., above the continuo with constantly (and distractingly, I find) changing instrumentation, sometimes even mid-movement. However, this performance goes to the opposite extreme, taking up the composer’s suggestion that two harpsichords ‘as I play them with my family and students’ can do the job ‘quite successfully’.

Actually, I think Couperin might well have felt that this duo bring it off ‘very successfully’. With two excellent double-manual instruments at their disposal (which they exploit with restraint and bon gôut), the performers give us a consistently rich and pleasing sound and their ensemble in all matters is exceptional. The only (minor) flaw in their plan is built into the system – the doubled bass sometimes feels a bit too strong. However, as a member of a regular duo myself, I can testify that only reviewers ever comment on this!

The booklet (in Italian, English and French) tells us what we need to know although the ‘English’ is pretty grim, especially in the biographies. But I really enjoyed the playing.

David Hansell

Andrea Buccarella harpsichord
59:24
Ricercar RIC 407

This young harpsichordist was the winner of the Musica Antiqua Bruges competition in 2018, resulting in this, his first recording. He has chosen a stimulating programme which traces the development of the toccata from Claudio Merulo to J. S. Bach, via Sweelinck, Frescobaldi, Froberger, Buxtehude and others. In the process he shows how enduring the genre was while pointing up each composer’s individual style. This is helped by his use of four different harpsichords: small and large Italian-style instruments for the earlier repertory, a Hans Ruckers double-manual copy for Weckmann, Buxthude and Reincken, and a John Heinrich Gräbner copy for Bach. He uses flexible tempi and emphasises the improvisatory quality of much of the music, while never losing the pulse. Among his fine performances I was struck by Giovanni Picchi’s toccata from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book and that by Michelangelo Rossi with its adventurous chromatic scales – but all have aspects of interest. Bach’s D major toccata (BWV 912) is given a masterly execution which brings out the composer’s youthful exuberance, particularly in an almost aggressive approach to the opening flourishes. Recording quality is excellent, with the instruments given a close-up presence, while Buccarella’s informative sleeve notes help enlighten the listening experience. This is a highly-assured debut and I look forward to hearing more.

Noel O’Regan

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Richard Egarr harpsichord
76:13
Linn Records CKD 589

This recording has all the signs of having been a labour of love for Richard Egarr who self-confessedly set out to to make the music vibrant and exciting, rather than what he sees as the non-expressive and detached (aka ‘colourless and academic’) way Sweelinck has traditionally been performed. I’m not sure that’s a fair judgement of all previous recordings but this one does certainly succeed in bringing the music to life. Beautifully recorded on Egarr’s own Ruckers copy by Joel Katzman at 393 Hz, with a close-up acoustic, it successfully recreates the sort of genial late-night domestic music-making among friends which Willem Baudartius described in Sweelinck’s Amsterdam house (referred to in Egarr’s sleeve note). The playing reflects that milieu too, never too showy but always firmly committed and showing a deep-rooted understanding of each of the genres represented. He starts with an extended Praeludium Toccata [Seiffert 21] which shows the full breadth of Sweelinck’s art and its debt to his English musical forbears. In some ways the four toccatas are the star pieces here, giving scope for both careful voice-leading and virtuosity. Five extended fantasias provide intellectual heft, including one on the hexachord which starts conventionally but ends in a riot of scales in all directions. The Fantasia Crommatica gets a particularly fine performance as do two sets of variations. The booklet gives us Egarr’s personal rationale for the recording but nothing much about the actual music. In this fine recording, he is probably entitled to assume that it can speak for itself.

Noel O’Regan

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Mahan Esfahani harpsichord
76:53
hyperion CDA68244

The seven Toccatas BWV 910-916 are performance pieces sans pareil. They are exactly what you might have expect to hear if you had asked Johann Sebastian to try out a new harpsichord for you – sonorous chords to test the resonance and the stringing, fugal sections to prove the clarity of the voicing and the responsiveness of the action, episodes to test the two-part balance in lighter sections, sequential passages to gauge the temperament as you slide up and down the keyboard, shifting from key to key and slower sections to assess the chromatic and rhapsodic possibilities – they are all there.

This makes them ideal vehicles for Esfahani – and his harpsichord.  Esfahani is a harpsichordist rather than a period instrument player, and is a champion of the instrument’s possibilities in music old and new. On this recording – the microphones are set close enough to give us every nuance of the damping, and the final chords are frequently held very long as the instrument’s resonance is allowed to continue – Esfahani plays a 2018 instrument from the Prague workshop of the Finnish maker, Jukka Ollikka, ‘based on the theories and surviving examples of Michael Mieke with the hypothetical addition of an extra soundboard for the 16’ register and a cheek inspired by Pleyel 1912; the disposition is as follows: 16’ 8’ 8” 4’ with buff on the upper manual/soundboard from carbon fibre composite, EE to f3/length 2.8 metres.’

I quote this note from the booklet (p.5) in its entirety, as there is no photograph there of the instrument or any other information, and listeners must judge for themselves just what they make of it. It is certainly both powerful and technically faultless, like Esfahani’s playing. If you look up the maker on the internet, his website will direct you a Youtube recording of the flute sonatas where Esfahani talks about as well as plays his custom-made instrument.

His essay in the booklet discusses the many variant readings of the texts, as no autograph of the music has survived in Bach’s hand, and in the process reveals something of Esfahani’s spiritual journey. He sees the combination of the ‘earthy free sections of the toccatas with the highly abstract ‘divine’ truth of the fugues as a meeting point of human imperfection and godly perfection.’

His essay offers a well-argued and highly plausible usicological-theological reflection on the interrelationship between text and performance which deserves a wide exposure to critical debate.

I wholly recommend this disc not just for its well-argued and committed performances of these mysterious works, but also for the insights into the performer’s continuing dialogue between ‘authenticity’ and expression.

David Stancliffe

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Steven Devine harpsichord
111:19 (2 CDs in a card tryptych)
Resonus RES10239

Steven Devine plays a double-manual harpsichord by Colin Booth from 2000 after an 18th-century Johann Christoff Fleischer original (Hamburg 1710) that he tunes in a version of Kirkberger III, ‘gently modified so as to retain the key colours that make the harpsichord sing so much better, but eliminating any extreme dissonances’.

The distinctive tuning that results can be heard in the opening eight tracks, where the C# major and minor after the C keys sounds delightfully zingy, especially in the great C# minor fugue. Devine spends much of his liner note (where all the quotations from German are idiomatically translated into English) discussing what Wohltemperierte means. The mellow tone of Colin Booth’s harpsichord and Steven Devine’s elegant, unfussy playing make these CDs a delight to listen to. His technique is faultless, his ornaments elegant and the rhythmic playing has give without being mannered. Imitative passages are intelligently articulated and registration is so well chosen that it never obtrudes – it just feels right and how you’d love to be able to play it yourself.

A bonus is the lovely warm acoustic – St Mary’s church, Birdsall in North Yorkshire – and the sensitive recording. The harpsichord sounds caressed rather than hammered and its treble is crystal clear while the bass speaks roundly without being plummy.  This is an altogether delightful pair of CDs, and makes me impatient for the second part. There are other recordings about, including Colin Booth’s own, but Devine’s has a particular seemingly effortless grace, and it’s the one of all I’ve heard in the past ten years that I am happiest to live with.

David Stancliffe