Tag: Romantic

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Beethoven: Missa Solemnis (DVD)

Frieder Bernius conducts Beethoven's Missa solemnis and talks about his approach

Johanna Winkel, Sophie Harmsen, Sebastian Kohlhepp, Arttu Kataja, Kammerchor Stuttgart, Hofkapelle Stuttgart, Frieder Bernius
Documentary and Performance
71:00 (music), 60:00 (documentary)
Naxos 2.110669

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How do we approach the Missa Solemnis in this Beethoven year, 2020? It is not an easy question to ask of a work that is so multi-faceted, a huge structure that both storms the heavens, as if shaking a fist at fallen mankind, and yet also provides that same mankind with the solace and comfort of the Elysian fields. Anton Schindler, Beethoven’s first biographer, noted that from the start of the Mass’s long gestation period (1818-1823) Beethoven was in a condition of ‘oblivion of everything earthly’. The concept of a large-scale celebratory Mass for the elevation of his royal pupil Archduke Rudolf to cardinal and archbishop in Cologne Cathedral – an event long since over by the time the Mass was completed – had been transcended by 1823. I confess to finding it difficult to provide firm answers to the question posed in my opening sentence.

Some help is certainly provided by this new Naxos release featuring a film of a recording made in October 2018 at Alpirsbach Abbey, Baden-Würtemberg. Not only do we see film of the recording itself, but also a fascinating hour-long documentary that includes valuable insights into the work and Frieder Bernius’s approach to it. For that reason, I would recommend watching the documentary before viewing the performance. Bernius is, of course, a long-established conductor and was the founder of the Kammerchor Stuttgart, whose 50th anniversary is also celebrated by this issue. One of the most interesting features of the film is the way in which Bernius works with his choir, often taking just a couple of choristers to give them individual tuition on the work in hand. Even more compelling is to observe that Bernius’s approach, inspired by his many years of working on earlier choral music, is text-based, the results of his insistence on detailed working on such matters as pronunciation and articulation clearly evident in the final performance. In addition to the interviews and rehearsal clips, there are some fascinating archival clips of Bernius at work with earlier incarnations of the Kammerchor, along with interviews with some of the present performers.

Moving to the performance itself it is clear from the outset of the Kyrie that Bernius knows precisely what he wants. Taken at a measured tempo, the music moves with calm assurance, while the solo entries announce a fine young quartet that throughout impresses particularly in the many ensemble passages, obviously encouraged by Bernius to make the most of the madrigalian textures with which the work abounds. Christe is beautifully managed, though the timpani and brass don’t quite achieve unanimity in the quiet transition back to Kyrie. The Gloria, too, sets out at a well-judged tempo, avoiding the feeling of being pushed. Indeed, the whole, vast movement is unfolded by Bernius like an epic poem. ‘Et in terra’ brings a moment of wondrous stasis in the midst of powerful drive, while the prayerful ‘Gratias’ is another memorably placid interlude succeeded by some splendidly incisive orchestral playing in the lead back to the opening tempo and ‘Domine Deus’. And it is worth mentioning at this point that although the period-instrument Hofkapelle Stuttgart is hardly the most illustrious orchestra to undertake the Missa Solemnis, its playing throughout is excellent, with many distinguished moments coming from its wind section. The overall grandeur of the movement is brought to a triumphant peroration in the final doxology.

Credo opens as powerful affirmation, the contrapuntal passages once again luminescent in their clarity of detail.  The start of ‘Et incarnatus’ finds the choral tenors handling this key moment with a real sensitivity complimented by glinting high wind, another treasurable moment. The stabbing pain of ‘Crucifixus’ is tellingly conveyed, as is the mesmerizingly lovely outcome at ‘et sepultus est’.  

Beethoven’s ‘Sanctus’ is not the exultant triple cry of so many settings but a reverential moment on bended knee in contemplation of God’s glory. The choral sopranos have a rare ragged moment of ensemble at the exposed entry on ‘Osanna’, but in general cope with Beethoven’s wickedly high tessitura very capably. The high violin solo a little later is very well played. The opening of Agnus Dei provides a fine moment for bass Arttu Kataja, to distinguish himself and lead his three colleagues into a gloriously sung exposition, while the militaristic flourishes (first introduced into an Agnus Dei by Haydn in his Missa in tempore belli) provide thrilling moments of dramatic extroversion.

As I hope is clear from the foregoing Bernius’s Missa Solemnis impresses by dint of its total integrity. It may not be the most imposing or the most dramatically enthralling version on record, but few will not be moved and touched by it. ‘From the heart, may it go to the heart’, wrote Beethoven of his monumental work. Here that mission is unquestionably accomplished.

Brian Robins   

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Passio Iberica

Passio Iberica CD cover

García Fajer: The Seven Last Words of Christ; dos Santos: Stabat mater
Divino Sospiro, Massimo Mazzeo
65:21
Pan Classics PC 10401

This revelatory CD presents music for Holy Week by two largely unknown 18th-century Iberian composers, Francisco Javier García Fajer and José Joaquim dos Santos. García Fajer’s setting of a Castilian text contemplating the seven last words of Christ on the cross, was written in the wake of and under the influence Haydn’s famous setting of the Seven Last Words of 1792, commissioned by the Brotherhood of Nuestra Señora de la Cueva of Cadiz. García Fajer writes for two soprano voices with strings, and the seven sections all running to just about three minutes each are wonderfully evocative and melodic. He trained in Italy, at the prestigious Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini, before embarking on a career which saw him compose operas and oratorios and enjoy considerable success. For the last four decades of his life, he returned to Saragossa Cathedral, where he devoted himself exclusively to composing sacred music. While much of the music in his Siete Palabras is recognisably in the classical Viennese tradition, some of the more contemplative sections are distinctively Iberian and very atmospheric. The Stabat Mater by the Portuguese composer José Joaquim dos Santos for two sopranos, bass and strings of 1792 is also heavily Iberian in style, although it also owes a considerable debt to earlier settings such as that by Pergolesi. Dos Santos never studied in Italy but had close contacts with many musicians who had and was clearly well versed in the Italian idiom. The singing by Bárbara Barradas, Lucia Napoli and André Baleiro and the playing by Divino Sospiro of this unusual and distinctive music is of a high quality, and the recording both gives a context to Haydn’s unusual instrumental Seven Last Words as well as filling in an Iberian dimension to sacred music at the end of the 18th century.

D. James Ross

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Campagnoli: 6 Duos for Flute & Violin op. 2

Stefano Parrino flute, Francesco Parrino violin
76:52
Brilliant Classics 95974

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Bartolomeo Campagnoli was born in Bologna in 1751, studying in Venice, Padua and in Florence with the great Nardini and befriending Cherubini, before embarking on an international performance career as a violinist, which took him throughout Europe. In a curious moment reminiscent of Ben Franklin’s meeting with Louis XVI, one of Campagnoli’s concerts was listened to by Spohr, who thought his music elegant but rather old-fashioned. Indeed, by the time his op 2 Duets were published in the early 19th century, they were old-fashioned as they had been composed as early as 1780 and had not been cutting edge even then! Spohr’s evaluation of Campagnoli’s music seems to fit these Duos rather well – never dull, constantly imaginative, always tuneful but rather lightweight and belonging spiritually to the 18th century. The brothers Stefano and Francesco Parrino play modern instruments in performances which never lack passion or style, and which are beautifully coordinated. It is not clear the extent to which these Duos represent the sort of repertoire Campagnoli was wowing his pan-European audiences with as he toured from court to court – it is perhaps odd in that event that the violin usually plays the supportive role to the flute. More likely perhaps that this publication was aimed at the burgeoning market for music for amateur players, although the technical demands would limit their relevance to more accomplished and dedicated dilettante players.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Schubert: 3 sonatas (1816)

CD cover Schubert violin sonatas

Peter Sheppard Skærved violin, Julian Perkins square piano
58:38
(Divine Art) athene ath 23208

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This is part of an ongoing series by the violinist and historian Peter Sheppard Skærved devoted to historic violins. For this traversal of the three sonatas composed by Schubert in 1816, he is playing an instrument made in 1782 by the most renowned member of a German family of makers, Martin Leopold Widhalm. As heard here the instrument has a bright, at times rather thin upper range, but satisfyingly full and rounded middle and lower gamut. Sheppard Skærved plays the sonatas using an early Tourte bow (c.1770-1780). Julian Perkins, his pianist on this occasion, plays on a square piano built by Clementi and Co in 1812. While it stresses the domestic purposes for which the music was composed, there are times in more demanding passages where I felt the need for an instrument with greater body. However, as Perkin’s modestly points out in his notes, this is just one of many ways of playing these works.

Both players are understandably protective about the music which as their comprehensive notes makes clear they have thought about in considerable detail and value greatly. All three are indeed pleasing if to my mind hardly memorable works in which, as in the sonatas of Mozart, the piano is often the leader when it comes to presenting thematic material. The D-major is the slightest of the three, having only three movements as opposed to the four of the two minor-key sonatas. But its Andante has a charming little march-like theme, the kind of thing one might expect to accompany a child playing at soldiers. Both the A-minor and G-minor sonatas explore both the melancholy and restlessness one might expect, though to my mind not too profoundly and I have to admit to finding the Mozartian echoes that Sheppard Skærved identifies in the latter to be rather distant ones.

It is so manifestly obvious that much thought, care and affection has gone into this project that it makes it exceedingly hard to confess that I find the results to be in major respects unsatisfying. The principle problem is that Sheppard Skærved’s tone, at least as recorded here, is less than agreeable, especially in the upper range where it too often sounds acidic. Neither is his intonation always reliable and one victim is his frequent perfectly legitimate use of portamento (or portes de voix). In respects such as bowing and phrasing, the violin playing is certainly musical, and in unassertive passages where the music sits in a comfortable mid-range – the beguilingly ambiguous opening of the A-minor’s finale for example – the results can be pleasing. Julian Perkin’s contribution is stylish and technically excellent, although as suggested above I’d have preferred a rather less modest instrument; it would have given a more dramatic sound to, for example, some of the stormier passages in the opening Allegro moderato of D.385.

In sum, this is a CD that deserves the attention of anyone interested in historical instruments and an intelligent approach to playing them, but despite the integrity of the performances I’m afraid it is simply not possible to overlook technical flaws.

Brian Robins

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Recording

Schubert: Lebensstürme

Lebensstürme Schubert music for piano four-hands

Music for piano four-hands
DUO PLEYEL (Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya, Richard Egarr)
77:11
Linn Records CKD 593

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As with most other mediums in which he worked, Schubert left a large legacy of music for piano four-hands, extending as it does to some sixty works. Largely little known today, most were composed for domestic use at the ‘Schubertiads’ hosted by the composer’s Viennese friends. The present selection includes two works dating from 1818, the Rondo in D, D. 608 and the Sonata in B flat, D. 617 along with three from 1828, the year of his death: the Rondo in A, D. 951; the so-called ‘Lebensstürme’ Allegro in A minor, D. 947; and his undoubted masterpiece in the form, the Fantasie in F minor, D. 940. They are performed by the Duo Pleyel (Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya and Richard Egarr) on a beautiful Pleyel fortepiano of 1848, an instrument capable of a range extending from the massive quasi-orchestral sonorities at times asked from it in D. 947 and D. 940 to pearl-like pianissimo cascades descending from high in the treble register, D. 951, in particular, providing exquisite examples. Above all, it demonstrates across the range a variety of colour and nuance not possible to achieve on a modern piano

In the course of a brief but interesting note, Egarr quotes Schubert as claiming that there is ‘no such thing as happy music’, a highly romantic concept that the 21-year-old composer himself contradicted to a considerable extent in D. 608 and D. 617. The Rondo is founded on a perky theme with the character of a German Dance and if there are later disturbed interludes, it is the warm, poetic glow of the final episode that lingers more in the mind. Likewise, the B-flat Sonata opens with an innocuous flowing theme, played here with beguiling, unaffected charm, even if the modulations of the development do wander through unsettled, briefly stormy territory. The main theme of the central Andante con moto occupies sad, ambiguous territory temporarily assuaged by the lovely lyrical secondary idea, while the animated Allegretto offers up the opportunity for Duo Pleyel to demonstrate virtuosity with their fleet and agile fingerwork.

The main theme of the A-major Rondo, too, offers up a mood of contented innocence, perhaps redolent of one of the happier early songs in Die Schöne Müllerin, though the first episode moves to fantasia-like uncertainly. The magnificent ‘Lebensstürme’ (the storms of life) movement, cast in sonata form, displays both instrument and performers at their grandest, the big, immensely impressive sonority matched by playing of magisterial authority. The magnificent Fantasie opens with one of those heaven-sent Schubertian melodies that occupies a fragile place between nostalgic, sad reminiscence and the Elysian fields. Thereafter the work becomes an epic, twenty minutes of continuous music that veers from dance to chords as fierce and jagged as bleak mountain peaks, from playful shimmering scalic showers to a contrapuntal development of the opening theme as uncompromising as anything Bach wrote.

It should already be apparent from the above that the performances are richly rewarding. Technically near-flawless – I noticed tiny moments of blurring of texture – with a judicious choice of tempo and highly sensitive to the wide emotional range, they can be recommended without reservation. And if you don’t know the music, especially the late works, then it is high time you made its acquaintance!

Brian Robins

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Recording

Haydn : String Quartets opp 71 & 74

London Haydn Quartet play opp 71 and 74 complete

The London Haydn Quartet
155:52 (2 CDs)
hyperion CDA 68230

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Haydn’s opp 71 and 74 sets of string quartets were composed in Vienna in 1793 between his two London visits, and with London performances very much in mind. It is not too fanciful to speculate that the earlier London performances of some of Haydn’s op 64 quartets, the first time the composer had witnessed his quartets being presented to large audiences, may have influenced the style of the two later sets of quartets, which may sometimes seem to sacrifice intimacy in favour of a more public musicality, with boldly declamatory melodies and occasional flamboyant gestures. The London Haydn Quartet’s choice of acoustic, the relatively intimate ambience of Potton Hall, may seem to be at odds with this, and (to begin with) I found the relatively cramped sound a little off-putting. The Quartet’s superlative playing soon helped to overcome this, and the smaller bloom allows the listener to focus on their impeccable technical prowess, warm tone and perfect balance. Playing period instruments, the Quartet has also returned to the original 1796 publications of both sets, but more importantly, like their fellow period-instrument quartet the Quatuor Mosaïques, their freshness of approach allows us to experience this music as if it was new. The group was founded in 2000 with the specific aim of exploring the chamber music of Haydn on period instruments, and this delightful and packed double CD set provides wonderfully eloquent accounts of some of Haydn’s most satisfying string quartets.

D.James Ross

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Beethoven transformed volume 1

Boxwood & Brass Volume 1 of Beethoven Transformed

Boxwood & Brass
61:40
Resonus Res10249

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This is the first volume of a projected exploration of Harmonie-Musik, including original music by Beethoven, as well as arrangements of his music by his contemporaries – hence the ‘transformed’. Thus it is that we have an arrangement for the standard Harmonie ensemble of two clarinets, two horns and two bassoons of Beethoven’s celebrated Septet, originally conceived for strings and wind. I have always struggled slightly to like Beethoven’s Septet – a disgraceful admission for a clarinettist – and remember vividly my heart sinking when, during a performance by the BPO Soloists, it dawned on me that they were going to do all the repeats… So it came as a surprise to hear the piece afresh in Czerny’s clever arrangement. To cover the violin part, he takes the first clarinet into risky and exciting altissimo territory, realised with enormous skill and panache on her boxwood clarinet by Emily Worthington. Perhaps it is precisely Beethoven’s rather cautious writing for the wind instruments in the original op 20 that failed to charm me – whatever the reason, Czerny’s arrangement is a valuable rediscovery, which to my mind enhances the original. The Septet’s companion piece on this CD is one of Beethoven’s actual Sextets, a later work (op 71), by which time the composer felt free to be more adventurous with the wind instruments. Both works are given charming performances by Boxwood and Brass, and indeed the distinctive sounds of their period instruments help to bring this music vividly to life. I have enjoyed very much both of the previous CDs by this enterprising group, and await with interest the continuation of this promising series.

D. James Ross

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Mendelssohn: String Symphonies Vol. 3

Cover of cpo CD Mendelssohn string symphonies vol. 3

Margot Oitzinger, L’Orfeo Barockorchester, Michi Gaigg
68:58
cpo 555 202-2

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For many years Mendelssohn’s ‘string symphonies’ were dismissed as juvenilia, but in the case of a prodigious genius like Mendelssohn one should be wary of dismissing anything on the grounds of youth. Once they were more frequently performed and recorded, it became apparent that these are as remarkable as much of the composer’s other youthful projects. In these sizzling period instrument recordings the Orfeo Baroque Orchestra take this process of rehabilitation a stage further, bringing out the subtleties of works which turn out to be much richer and more dynamic than hitherto suspected. Bearing in mind the domestic context of their original performance, they use reduced forces (particularly at the lower end) allowing the light to fall on the highly innovative textures the young composer conjures up – take for example the opening section of the slow movement of the 8th symphony where a solo ensemble of violas and cello gives the music the texture of a lugubrious Romantic concerto grosso. Relying on accounts of the initial performances as well as common sense, these versions include a fortepiano playing a sort of continuo. This is highly plausible and in practice utterly convincing. This third volume in what looks like a projected complete account of the string symphonies presents the 8th and 9th symphonies, and as a delightful bonus the substantial Scene for alto and string orchestra ‘Ce vuoi mio cor’ MNV H1, sung expressively and dramatically by Margot Oitzinger. As fascinating as the demanding vocal part are the textures of the string accompaniment. It is exciting to see this music, composed for family matinee concerts chez Mendelssohn around 1825, being taken a little more seriously, and being given thoughtful and technically polished period instrument performances. As they branch out so successfully into the music of the 19th century, is this a group trapped slightly in its over-specific name?

D. James Ross

 

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Beethoven: Complete Works for Cello and Piano

Cover of resonus Beethoven cello music CD

Robin Michael cello, Daniel Tong fortepiano
148:08 (2 CDs in a single jewel case)
resonus RES10254

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These effervescent accounts of Beethoven’s five cello sonatas and three sets of variations, two based on themes from Mozart’s Magic Flute and a third based on “See the Conquering Hero Comes” from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus, make a marvellous two-CD set. Both Michael and Tong are natural beethovenians and bring out the wit, lyricism and intelligence of some of Beethoven’s finest chamber music. I have sat through a live performance on modern instruments of the five sonatas, split into two recitals (afternoon and evening) and was made increasingly aware of the shortcomings of modern instrument performances of Beethoven, as the dense lefthand work on the piano tended to blur into a wall of sound. This is instantly solved by the 1805 Walter copy fortepiano, played here by Daniel Tong, which delineates beautifully the busy bass passages, while adding a silvery lightness to the upper range. I think too that Robin Michael’s 1695 Goffriller copy overcomes the other problem for modern instrument players, the tendency for the cello to ‘over-resonate’ in certain ranges, which is fine for later romantic repertoire, but tends to ‘clog up’ classical music. The lovely clean sound of these period instrument accounts is partly a testimony to these lovely instruments, but also of course to the skills of the players, both of whom also play modern instruments, but who have adapted their techniques admirably to bring out the best from these instruments. Anyone who doesn’t know the Beethoven cello sonatas is in for a treat, but I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed the variations sets. I am not a natural lover of Beethoven’s variations – indeed the set for piano trio on Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu is one of my all-time concert pet hates – but these translucent accounts won me over.

D. James Ross

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Chamber Music of Clara Schumann

CD cover Clara Schumann chamber music

Byron Schenkman 1875 Streicher piano, Jesse Irons violin, Kate Bennett Wadsworth cello
57:51
BSF191

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Byron Schenkman must be used to reading rave reviews in/on Early Music Review. Almost everything he does – across a vast range of musical styles – garners praise from whichever of our reviewers I send the discs to. This time, I decided to keep the disc for myself, mostly because I have long wondered why Clara Schumann remains outside the musical mainstream when the music I’ve heard by her is outstanding. With his colleagues, Jesse Irons and Kate Bennett Wadsworth, Byron has merely underlined my disbelief; the three Romances op. 22 are more than capable of holding their own in any violin recital (the first is in the challenging key of D flat major!), the G minor Piano trio op. 17 held my wrapt attention for the duration (and I have to confess that there are few such works that have managed that!), and the Romance from her teenage Piano concerto op. 7 (how audacious of a 16 year old to write the central movement of a work whose home key is A minor in A flat major!) which I had initially thought a miscalculated way to end the disc (after Schenkman’s immaculate readings of her husband’s Kinderszenen op. 15) turned out to be a poignant “yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is that talent that was the young Clara Schumann, who (being a dutiful wife) largely abandoned her creative genius in favour of supporting her husband”. In a short additional note, the cellist explains that research into 19th-century performance practice has broadened the palette of interpretative techniques at the group’s disposal. These are deployed appropriately and it is obvious throughout that the trio have an excellent rapport, such is the precision of their ensemble playing, despite the rhythmic ebb and flow. So full marks to performers, recording engineer, piano technicians and, last but not least, the still underrated composer! An hour of unmitigated pleasure.

Brian Clark