Tag: Romantic

[Corinna Schreiter, Martin Platz, Markus Simon STB], Festivalchor Musica Franconia, La Banda, Wolfgang Riedelbauch
73:46
Christophorus CHR 77413
+ Gluck: De Profundis

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ymbolism hangs heavily over the music on this CD. The restitution of the Bourbon monarchy marked the start of attempts to cleanse France of the stain of revolution and Napoleonic imperialism. One of the earliest politically potent acts was the re-interment of Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. It was conducted with elaborate ceremony on 28 January 1816 in the cathedral of Saint Denis, north of Paris, the traditional resting place of French monarchs. A week earlier, on the anniversary of the execution of the king, the same venue had hosted a specially commissioned Requiem Mass. The choice of composer was also highly symbolic. Had it not been for the onset of the revolution in 1788, Jean Paul Egide Martini (1741-1816), today best known as the composer of ‘Plaisir d’amour’, would have become surintendent de la musique du roi, an appointment finally confirmed more than a quarter of a century later. The composition of the Requiem would prove to be one of his final acts, for he died only three weeks after its performance. The following year a rather better known commemorative Requiem, that in C minor by Martini’s successor, Luigi Cherubini, was commissioned for the anniversary.

Martini’s work is planned on a large-scale in twelve movements. It is designed for soprano, tenor and bass soloists, chorus and an orchestra including trumpets, trombones and a tam-tam, an instrument that found its way into funeral music during the Revolutionary period (Berlioz enthusiasts will not need reminding he used three in his Requiem Mass). Despite such implications, such assertive instruments are employed sparingly, but often to compelling dramatic effect, as in ‘Tuba mirum’, where trumpet fanfares play a part in effecting the building of successive climaxes that remind us that Martini was an experienced opera composer. The main heft of the work, both in terms of timing and weight, is in fact to be found in the opening Requiem aeternam  and Dies irae  movements, some of the briefer later sections apparently demonstrating a lack of real substance.

I write ‘apparently’ since any final verdict on the piece must be tempered given the well-intentioned, but ultimately inadequate performance on offer. It stems from a live performance given in Martini’s birthplace, Freystadt in Bavaria (though both his parents were French). The chorus is an enthusiastic, but not very disciplined amateur group, the ensemble of which is poor and whose entries are frequently ragged. The best of the soloists is the tenor, whose singing in the lyrical duet Ingemisco is good. But among the soloists he has the least to do and both soprano and bass are mediocre, the latter at times being woefully off-pitch. The period instrument orchestral playing is on a higher plain, but I can imagine more inspiring direction. The final nail in the coffin is an opaque recording that renders the choral sound as an unintelligible pudding and sloppy English notes that have obviously not been proofread: the Battle of Waterloo was fought in 1815, not 1825, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed nine months apart, not on the same day, and far from being ‘exactly a year after the execution’ 21 January 1816 was 23 years after it.

Brian Robins

Carolyn Sampson, Marianne Beate Kielland, Thomas Walker, David Wilson-Johnson SATB, Cappella Amsterdam, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Daniel Reuss
75:03
Glossa GCD 921124

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n an ideal world, I would not have had to review this recording. The Missa Solemnis was a set work in first year at university and, frankly, as an 18 year old, I just was not ready to appreciate such a monumental piece of art, from any perspective. Now in my fifties and almost a regular listener to Radio 4, I find myself better able to cope with the challenge and, having worked my way through the Haydn and Hummel masses courtesy of the excellent Chandos series, then the Beethoven C major mass  (which I had once sight-read in a concert in Glasgow, which was very much a white-knuckle ride!), now the epic and once-daunting creation seems not only manageable and more easily understood, it is also a pleasure to sit back and enjoy. Everything about this disc guarantees intellectual satisfaction, too – the choral work is excellent, with unanimity of declamation and crispness of fugal entries, and the orchestra produces some glorious sounds (I feel I must highlight the sparkling contributions of solo flautist and violinist, but they are in splendid company throughout – the list of wind players reads like a Who’s Who? of HIP giants!), but then above them the four soloists rise heroically, not in a “listen to me; I can sing much louder than all of you put together” sort of way, but rather in a “didn’t Beethoven build this structure with such absolute mastery?” sort of way, allowing them to project their all-important contributions to so many massive moments in a single work. There are not many large choral works that bring me pleasure; I have learned to love Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, and I do enjoy listening to Eliot Gardiner’s recording of the Verdi Requiem; it seems now as if I have no choice but to add Reuss’ Missa Solemnis  to that list, as I will be enjoying this recording for a long, long time!

Brian Clark