Tag: Orchestral music

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Pierre Gaultier de Marseille: Symphonies divisées par suites de ton

CD cover Pierre Gaultier de Marseille Symphonies divisées par suites de ton

Cohaere Ensemble
Ambronay AMY 317
69:27

Few composers fell victim more comprehensively to the hazards of a musical career than the late-17th-century composer Pierre Gaultier de Marseille, whose attempts to put his native city on the international musical map led to penury, imprisonment, and ultimately death by drowning as he attempted to escape his creditors. He composed operas in the style of Lully, which although successful when presented in the opera house he had built in Marseille, left him penniless. These Symphonies, beautifully played by the Polish Cohaere Ensemble on Baroque flutes, violin, cello and harpsichord/organ, are tuneful and elegant but also display an inventiveness which set them apart from the standard repertoire of the second half of the 17th century in France. Many of them bear ‘character’ titles, including a set marking his melancholy stay in debtors’ prison. Whether this individual style is due to regional difference or simply Gaultier’s inspired imagination is not clear, but the Cohaere Ensemble recognised something special in his music several years ago and have been championing his work ever since. Such technically accomplished and musically authoritative accounts can only help belatedly to establish the reputation of a composer who clearly deserves more attention.

D. James Ross

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Recording

The Ghosts of Hamlet

CD cover The Ghosts of Hamlet Roberta Mameli

Lost arias from Italian Baroque operas
Roberta Mameli, Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, Franck-Emmanuel Comte
68:04
Arcana A574

Who knew there were so many Italian Baroque operatic representations of Ambleto? Composers such as Giuseppe Carcani, Francesco Gasparini and Domenico Scarlatti turned their hand to operas based on Hamlet, albeit not the iconic play by Shakespeare, but the earlier story contained in the 12th-century Gesta Danorum picked up and adapted by the Venetian librettist Apostolo Zeno. In addition to arias from these now almost entirely forgotten Hamlets, we have a pasticcio version of arias by Carlo Francesco Pollarolo and Handel, the latter a textual rewriting of “Tu ben degno” from Agrippina to press it into service as a Hamlet aria. These are augmented by a stormy D-minor sinfonia by Scarlatti, which, given the composer’s interest in the Hamlet narrative, may be seen to reflect the mercurial moods of the Danish prince. Produced in the first half of the 18th century in Venice and Rome, this wealth of Hamletiana, augmented by the London pasticcios, is not without merit – these were competitive times in musically dynamic milieux in which almost nothing mediocre saw the light of day, and these tuneful arias, dramatically sung by Roberta Mameli are a testimony to the quality of the many operas of the time which have fallen into neglect along with their composers. Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, an ensemble new to me, plays with an admirable precision and musicality, avoiding the extremes of articulation which have become the fashion with other specialist Baroque ensembles, and under the direction of their founder Frank-Emmanuel Comte they produce authoritative accounts of this unfamiliar material. Roberta Mameli is a technically assured Baroque specialist who invests the music with a memorable passion.

D. James Ross

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Book

Unpeeling Bach

Book cover Unpeeling Bach David Stancliffe

By David Stancliffe
The Real Press 2025
372pp. ISBN
Available from Amazon

This is an engaging and comprehensive study of the music of J S Bach, which places it expertly in a historical and religious context. A former Bishop of Salisbury, Stancliffe is ideally placed to consider the spiritual dimensions of Bach’s sacred music, an important aspect of this devout composer’s essence and world view which is often glossed over in other studies of his music. While this understanding pervades the whole book, we also have appendices, including one dealing with Bach’s understanding of St John’s theology, drawing on his St John Passion, which are fascinating. However, intriguing as this is, it is just one aspect of a wonderfully wide-ranging approach to Bach. We have an updated treatment of Bach’s musical context, taking into account the surprising range of earlier polyphonic music still in currency in Bach’s time. We are cleverly drawn into the issues relating to the historically informed performance of the music by an account of Stancliffe’s own journey into grappling with these issues. As a performer/director as well as a scholar, he has a rewardingly ‘hands-on’ approach to the music, extending to the most successful layout for performances as well as a detailed treatment of instrumentation, voice-types, and voice production. Again, in a very practical approach, he cites performances and recordings by leading ensembles at work right now on the music of Bach, evaluating the success of their various approaches. In this way, his reader can easily access illustrations of the points he is making, and as so often in this volume, his encyclopaedic knowledge speaks of extensive listening, which matches his voracious reading. Just occasionally, the author makes a throw-away comment which opens a thought-provoking doorway – for example, in mentioning the pair of Litui which accompany the motet O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht (BWV 118), he moots the idea that the nature of their accompaniment ‘argues for at least an outdoor if not processional performance’ – intriguing! My review copy is a pre-release edition, with editorial corrections, but as these are mainly layout issues, I assume they have all been addressed in the final edition. Stancliffe’s writing style is fluent and expressive, and the structure of the book makes the material easy to access and to enjoy either by dipping in and out or simply consuming it as a good and satisfying read. Although there are regular informative quotations from contemporary sources, there are no musical examples or visual illustrations – I was initially struck by this omission, but found myself less and less aware of it as I read on. On the back of the book, David Stancliffe is described as ‘an enthusiast and expert’, and in ‘Unpeeling Bach’ we find that this is a compelling combination which gives the author a unique perspective on Bach’s music.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Haydn 2032: No 17

CD cover Haydn 2032 17 Per il Luigi

Dmitri Smirnov violin, Kammerorchester Basel, conducted by Giovanni Antonini
73:55
Alpha Classics 1146

The 17th in the splendid series of the complete Haydn symphonies directed by Giovanni Antonini features him directing one of the two orchestras he is working with (the other is of course his own Il Giardino Armonico) in three early symphonies from the 1760s. But as anyone familiar with the cycle will be aware, it is valuable not only for the symphonies, but also the tasty extras generally thrown into each selection. Here, the CD takes its name from the dedication Haydn wrote to the violinist Luigi Tomasini at the head of his Violin Concerto in C – ‘fatto per il luigi’ (composed for Luigi). Tomasini joined the Esterházy orchestra as leader in 1761, the same year as Haydn became vice-Kapellmeister, and the undated concerto probably belongs to much the same period. In his early years at Esterházy Haydn diplomatically composed many solos in his orchestral works to allow his players to make an impression, the most famous example of course being the ‘times of the day’, trilogy, Symphonies 6, 7 & 8.

Tomasini was something of a capture for Esterházy, an outstanding virtuoso capable of double-stopping with perfect intonation and the possessor of a beautiful, Italianate tone that allowed him to play long, cantabile lines with sustained purity. Both these assets are unsurprisingly fully exploited by Haydn, with double-stopping from the outset of the rather dignified opening Allegro moderato to the aria-like sustained sotto voce of the lovely central Adagio. The third movement is a delightfully bouncy Presto that calls for plenty of double-stopping and considerable agility from the soloist. These demands are met in exemplary fashion by Dimitri Smirnov, a semi-finalist in the 2024 Queen Elisabeth Competition (Brussels), whose unwaveringly sustained lines in the Adagio are particularly admirable. I did wonder if perhaps his cadenza in the opening movement was a little over-elaborate for a work of these proportions, but it’s a relatively minor point in the context of such outstanding playing.

Taken together, the three symphonies included, No 16 in B flat (c.1763), No 36 in E flat (c.1761-2) and No 13 in D (1763), provide a compelling explanation as to why so many music lovers regard Haydn with such affection. There are no masterpieces here, just good humour in spades, an abundance of spirit and energy, affectionately-shaped slower movements, and minuets that seem to belong as much to a country dance as they do to a court ballroom (No. 16 has in fact no minuet and only three movements). But, if not yet a masterpiece, there is one of these symphonies that does point toward the gradual emergence of a master. This is Symphony No 13, composed during a period when Haydn had four horns available at Esterházy. The composer took full advantage to open the symphony with strikingly rich sonorities – wind and horns over an urgent, driving string ostinato. The remainder of the symphony confirms it as something special among Haydn’s early works. The Adagio cantabile (ii) is one of those concertante movements in which the composer gave one of his outstanding instrumentalists a notable solo role, in the present case the cellist Joseph Weigl, who was also given a solo role in the central Andante of Symphony No 16. The final movement of No 13 has become famous for sharing the four-note Gregorian motif in the finale of Mozart’s Symphony No 41, ’Jupiter’, where it of course forms the basis for the extraordinary contrapuntal last movement. Haydn shows less inclination to treat it fugally – though there are hints – writing a movement equally divided between counterpoint and homophonic drive and energy.

The performances throughout attain the high standard that have become a feature of the series, being lithe, witty and pointed in quicker movements, while featuring playing always responsive to Antonini’s Italianate warmth in andantes and adagios. Just occasionally, as in previous issues, he gives cause to wonder if he gets lured into tempi that are a little too fast for the music, if not for his superb orchestras. Here, the final Allegro molto of the E flat Symphony is an example. But in truth the overall level of performance in this splendid series is making life increasingly difficult for the would-be critic!

Brian Robins

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Recording

Telemann: Violin Concertos

CD cover Telemann Isabelle Faust akamus

Isabelle Faust violin, Akademie für alte Musik Berlin, Konzertmeister Bernhard Forck
79:35
harmonia mundi HMM 902756

With this latest release on harmonia mundi, Isabelle Faust and Akamus Berlin display a considerable synergetic assurance with technical agility whilst approaching these selected Telemann works. Mostly known pieces, with even the Suite having had several previous outings on disc, as with the “Gulliver-suite”; the “Frog” Concerto in A major was first heard in 1998 on Decca. It is slightly ironic that the lesser-knowns on the menu are a circular canon by J. J. Quantz (formerly listed in the Appendix of the TWV as Anh. 40: 103), and a Fantasia, not TWV 40: 22 but TWV 40: 4! Eschewing the works the composer wrote specifically for violin, this piece is lifted from the flute fantasias c.1731, and might have been dispensed with for TWV 51: a2, or the impressive quartet sonata, TWV 40: 200.

This said, the “Relinge” Pond frogs concerto and Gulliver-suite offer scope of expression, and delightful wittiness to sweep the mind away, but it is these two splendid book-ends in this collection that really dazzle, showcasing both composer and soloist’s ability for Italianate panache a la Vivaldi, although the Suite (TWV 55: h4) is a “Brassage” (mixed-brew) of French and Italian. Faust and Akamus capture and own these excellent pieces with some true “Bravoura” and daring “ Rodomontade” (two movements from TWV 55: h4). Her “sleeping beauty” Strad (1704) is fully awake! All the music is couched in a smooth, accomplished synergy, and the polished trumpet playing of Ute Hartwich is pitch perfect and never overstated, the fine interplay in TWV 53: D5 with Faust is really quite captivating, this piece almost certainly aimed at Pisendel, the composer’s friend and gifted virtuoso at Dresden.

Setting aside the minor aberrations of the Quantz and the fantasia, this is a recording of quality with a real dash of showmanship, and should catch the ears of any would-be doubters of Telemann’s powers to provide music of calibre, wit, and heartfelt, dynamic melodic lines. This recording will seek out a wider appreciation and acclaim: Beauty and “Bravoura” have been awoken!

David Bellinger

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Recording

Gregor Werner Vol. 4

CD cover Werner Caldara vol. 4 Rovatkay

Voktett Hannover, la festa musicale, Lajos Rovatkay
59:41
audite 97.833

For the fourth volume of this excellent series, director-cum-musicologist Lajos Rovatkay has chosen to focus on Gregor Joseph Werner’s relationship with his teacher, Vice-Kapellmeister to the Viennese court, Antonio Caldara. As well as tracing the birth of the two-movement church sonata from sinfonie to the elder composer’s oratorios to an excellent sonata a4  by the pupil, it compares and contrasts their church music, culminating in a performance of a Requiem in G minor by “Werner”, which Rovatkay identified as featuring music by both composers (whether with or without the permission/knowledge of the teacher is not made explicit in one of the densest booklet notes I have ever read… faced with such an impenetrable text, I’m not surprised that even a highly skilled translator like Viola Scheffel struggled to save us from some of its obscurity!)

All eleven (!) singers of the Voktett Hannover (only one tenor and one bass sing on all the vocal tracks) are excellent; they blend beautifully and take the solos stylishly though I did long occasionally for some ornamentation when the dense counterpoint (for which both composers are rightly famed) allowed. Similarly, the string playing (33211 strings with chamber organ and lute) is stylish – nicely pointed bow strokes give the contrapuntal lines shape.

At a little under an hour, some might feel hard done by. However, with music of this quality (speaking as a self-confessed lover of fugal writing), I feel this is just about right. I also found myself hearing pieces of a musical jigsaw falling into place, hearing echoes of Legrenzi (reputedly Caldara’s Venetian teacher) and foretastes of Haydn (who followed Werner as Kapellmeister at Esterházy). It is remarkable that audite has thusfar produced four outstanding CDs of music by a relatively unknown composer and I for one hope there are more in the pipeline!

Brian Clark

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Recording

Fasch: Orchestral Works, Volume 4

CD cover Fasch Orchestral music Tempesta di Mare volume 4

Tempesta di Mare
Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra
67:25
Chandos Chaconne CHAN0829

Hats off to Tempesta di Mare and their directors for pursuing this remarkable project to record another four orchestral works by Johann Friedrich Fasch for the first time. The sound files were captured at a live concert in one of the few historical buildings in the town of Zerbst, where the composer was Kapellmeister for 36 years, to have been restored to its former glory in modern times. The event marked their receipt of the Fasch-Preis der Stadt Zerbst which is awarded at every Fasch Festival to someone (a musicologist, a musician, or a group) who has made significant contributions to the cause of promoting his music.

With three discs of premieres already under their belt, this time they present two orchestral suites, a violin concerto and one of his sinfonie. The suites – the instrumental form in which Fasch was most prodigious – both start with the tri-partite slow–fast and imitative–slow French overture. These are followed in both cases by a sequence of Bouree(s)–Gavotte(s)–Minuets, interspersed with a rich variety of Airs. Having obbligato parts for pairs of oboes and flutes, the composer has plenty of instrumental colour to play with.

It is impossible to say for whom the Violin Concerto FaWV L: G6 was written. Fasch himself was a violinist; several virtuosic concertos by his Konzertmeister and successor as Kapellmeister (though was he never given the official title!) Carl Hoeckh survive; Hoeckh was recommended to Zerbst by his former colleague, Franz Benda, who politely declined an offer of the position when he entertained the court with his playing; Johann Wilhelm Hertel was Hoeckh’s student in Zerbst in the 1740s; Fasch was a personal friend of the Dresden Konzertmeister, Johann Georg Pisendel… the list goes on. Regardless, especially in the second and third movements, it places serious demands on the technical and lyrical ability of the soloist. Typically, the concertmaster of Tempesta di Mare, Emlyn Ngai, takes all of these in his stride with flair to spare!

The opening of the first movement of the Sinfonia FaWV M: B1 is an interesting example of 18th-century notational quirks. Handily enough, the first page of the composer’s score is printed in facsimile in the booklet. The melody starts with a dotted crotchet and three semiquavers (a dotted quarter and three 16ths) which Tempesta di Mare interpret as a triplet. There are other sources for the work though, one of them a set of parts in the hand of Fasch’s friend from his Leipzig student days and mentor when the younger man undertook a journeyman tour after university and studied with him in Darmstadt where he was Kapellmeister: Christoph Graupner. In these parts, the crotchet (quarter) is tied to the first of four semiquavers (16ths), so the result is quite different; instead of being heard quickly over the fourth and eighth quavers (1/8s), the 16ths match the bass part… That academic point notwithstanding, this is as exciting a performance of the work as you are likely to hear. If my ears do not deceive me, TdM decided to add flutes to the upper part – an approach with which I have no problem, especially in the plaintive second movement where the added colour emphasizes the mood. The pseudo-fugal third movement is (as co-director Richard Stone’s typically no-nonsense booklet note explains) one of Fasch’s “signatures”; this particular movement also appears in one of the composer’s orchestral suites with oboe parts, so the involvement of woodwinds without their being indicated in the score is justified once again. I find Fasch’s “fugues” are never strict in the Bach-ian sense, but they do always have a logical shape (a trait he shares with another of his friends, Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel) and the pedal points towards the end always build the drama. The concluding minuet is reduced to a three-part texture (trebles, viola, bass): Another Fasch trademark.

I have put off reviewing this disc for several months because I didn’t want to be all gushy, just because I’m a fully-signed-up Faschist, and a great fan of TdM. The disc never fails to uplift my heart – yes, even on a gloomy winter’s day like this, so I have no hesitation whatever in recommending it to any fan of 18th-century orchestral music.

Brian Clark

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Recording

Virtù e Amore

CD cover Virtù e Amore Sinfonie and Arias from the late Baroque

Sinfonie and Arias from the late Baroque
Inés Lorans, Orchestra de Camera ‘Benedetto Marcello’, Mauricio Colasanti
53:02
Tactus TC 690003

This live recording of a recital of music by Porpora, Vivaldi, Handel, Tessarini, Jommelli and Araja features the voice of Franco-Spanish soprano Inés Lorans accompanied by the chamber orchestra ‘Benedetto Marcello’. Lorans is technically assured and has a pleasingly animated approach to the music, with some spectacular and deftly managed ornamentation as in her imaginative decoration of Tornami a vagheggiar from Handel’s Alcina. She sings some of the most celebrated arias of the period including the timeless Lascia ch’io pianga from Handel’s Rinaldo. In this, the orchestral forces are sympathetic and supportive, although elsewhere there is a slight feeling of ‘phoning it in’ from the ensemble, while intonation isn’t always entirely convincing – this is a live recording so perhaps there can be some excuse for the latter but certainly not the former. The Overture de La Stravaganza by the unfamiliar Carlo Tessarini fails to live up to its billing as demonstrating ‘musical creativeness, which never repeats itself’ – in this short example, creativity is in short supply, while repetition seems the order of the day. In short, this recording is a very mixed bag, and – in the highly competitive world of Baroque string playing – these lackadaisical performances just don’t cut it for me. This is a pity, as I think in different company and with a more consistently high-quality choice of repertoire the vocalist Inés Lorans would be much more convincing.

D. James Ross

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Recording

António Pereira da Costa: Concerti Grossi

CD cover António Pereira da Costa Concerti Grossi

Ensemble Bonne Corde: Diana Vinagre
70:39
Ramée Ram 2104

Da Costa was one of the myriad composers having their music printed in London in the middle of the 18th century, and in fact almost nothing is known of him apart from his opus 1 Concerti Grossi published by John Simpson in 1741. Some of the few references suggest he was an ordained priest of Portuguese origin and born around 1697, and while it is just possible that he visited London without leaving a trace, it is more likely that he remained in Portugal, part of the time as Chapel Master of the Cathedral of Funchal in Madiera, publishing his music ‘at a distance’. While this may have been a shrewd move commercially as London was riding a wave of published Concerti Grossi, including Handel’s op 3 and op 6, all of which were in turn cashing in on the previous success of Corelli’s op 6, it came with its own hazards. Da Costa would certainly have encountered the latest sets of Concerti Grossi, including those of Corelli in his native Portugal, and certainly used the latter as models. Unfortunately, not being in situ for the publication of his own opus 1 set led to an edition peppered with errors, and while the concertino cello parts for the set would surely have been published along with the ripieno parts, they have subsequently disappeared – they have been expertly reconstructed  for the present recording by Fernando Miguel Jalôto. The circumstances of its publication would surely have doomed this music to obscurity were it not of such high quality. These recordings of half of the set make it clear that da Costa was an important talent with a sound compositional technique but also strikingly original ideas, which one would be tempted to identify as distinctively Iberian – ‘tropical Baroque’ to use the evocative phrase from the CD sleeve. Certainly, the performers are not averse to adding Iberian flavours in the form of lively cross-rhythms and the texture of the guitar. It is doubtful whether da Costa ever heard his opus 1 Concerti performed by orchestral forces, since it seems unlikely Funchal Cathedral would have been able muster the necessary players – intriguing then that he was able to digest the essence of the Concerto Grosso from the sources available to him and then infuse it with such inventive and imaginative elements in his head. 

D. James Ross

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Recording

Geminiani: Concerti Grossi, op. 3

CD cover Geminiani Concerto Grossi op 3 Accademia Bizantina

Accademia Bizantina, directed by Ottavio Dantone harpsichord
66:08
HDB-AB-ST-005

Born in Lucca in 1687, Francesco Geminiani spent most of his life in London following lessons with Corelli in Rome and a short period in Naples. Charles Burney’s story of how following his appointment to lead the orchestra there he was soon dismissed has frequently been related. Apparently, he was found to be such a wildly eccentric player as to timing and use of rubato that the other string players found him near-impossible to follow. Less often quoted is Burney’s view that the set of opus 3 concertos, first published in 1735, ‘established his character, and placed him at the head of all the masters then living, in this species of composition ‘.

‘This species of composition’ was of course the concerto grosso, typified by Corelli’s famous opus 6 set published posthumously around 1714. It created a rage for the genre, particularly in England where Corelli’s set became a model for dozens of publications suitable for the many orchestras that included both professional and amateur string players. That meant that the concertino players – in the case of Geminiani two violins, viola and cello – could take the demanding solo parts, leaving the less challenging parts to the body of strings (ripienists). Geminiani’s opus 3 consists of six concertos, four in minor keys, two in major, and he makes an important distinction in the music he writes for each. Those in major keys consist of four movements, often influenced by the dance, while those in the minor are liable to feature multi-part movement and concentrate on more serious contrapuntal structures. But all have in common a finely balanced and weighted quality that belies Geminiani’s tempestuous reputation as a performer.

Accademia Bizantina’s CD comes in luxury packaging, being the final disc in a trilogy of discs devoted to the concerto grosso entitled ‘The Exciting Sound of Baroque Music’. Few I think would disagree that the sound is indeed exciting, with full-blood tutti’s and strong, deep-rooted chords alternating at the extreme with delicately-drawn cantabiles. The opening Adagio of Concerto 1 in D minor provides a good indication of what is to follow. Here the beautifully shaded, caressing violin solo is disturbed by crunching chords almost violent in character. In quicker music – and it is a great asset of the performances that tempos are never extreme – rhythms have the power of powerfully delivered rhetoric. My one major disagreement with Ottavio Dantone, and it applies to the majority of his performances, is the manner in which he uses the continuo theorbo or rather what should be continuo theorbo but in the hands of his player becomes an extra concertino part. In fast chordal writing, it is at times used virtually as a percussion instrument, but it is in delicate solo passages that the arpeggiations and broken chords become an intolerable distraction, overlaying cantabile writing. If you want an especially damning example, listen to the exquisitely played Adagio third movement of Concerto No 5 in B-flat, where the long cantabile solo violin solo is unforgivably obliterated by the theorbo’s unwanted presence.

But such a view must not be allowed to distract from what is another outstanding set of performances that allow the composer’s voice to speak with an emphasis and determination that can only be compared with the delivery of a great orator. In addition to opus 3, the disc includes the famous ‘La Folia’ variations adapted from Corelli.

Brian Robins