Tag: Vocal music

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Monteverdi: Daylight

CD cover Monteverdi Daylight Concerto Italiano Alessandrini

Stories of songs, dances and loves
Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
61:47
Naïve OP7366

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This collection forms an ancillary to ‘Night. Stories of Lovers and Warriors’, which was performed live and recorded to celebrate the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi’s birth in 1567. In an introductory note Rinaldo Alessandrini suggests that this disparate programme is perhaps not intended for purists. Well, I’ve been called a purist – a term incidentally that I do not take to be derogatory – on more than one occasion and found the CD totally irresistible.

There are two principal reasons for that. Firstly one can point to the consummate skill with which the programme has been assembled, bringing relevant music, much of it familiar, from across the whole of Monteverdi’s output and creative life to create a narrative. More on that anon. Then there is the sheer quality of the performances. Over the years the constitution of Alessandrini’s Concerto Italiano has inevitably changed, here indeed even since the recording of ‘Night’, but all five singers employed in the madrigals and other ensemble pieces are outstanding, blending superbly without ever losing individuality. The instrumental playing is equally impressive.

The programme begins with the Sinfonia that opens act 3 of Orfeo, thus providing a link to the earlier disc, which started in the same way, before the marvellous two-part madrigal ‘Non si levava … E dicea l’una sospirando’ (from Book 2, 1590), which depicts a Romeo and Juliet scenario as two lovers awaken to the dawn after a night of passion. This is music of the utmost sensuality, using exquisite dissonance to convey the blissful eroticism of the sentiments expressed in Tasso’s marvellous text. The mood lightens to a trio of three-part pieces, interspersed by instrumental works including the first of several dances by Biagio Marini – all urging shepherds and birds to rise and get the day underway. The singing here achieves a delicious lightness of touch that serves to mask the consummate execution of performance. Among other favourites too numerous to mention in detail are ‘Zefiro torna’ (Scherzi musicali, 1632) and the canzonetta ‘Chiome d’oro’ (Madrigals Book 7, 1619). Most of the items are brief but a sense of symmetrical structure is given by the inclusion of two scenes from the late operas, both concerned with the amorous exploits of servants. From Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria we get the flirtatiously playful scene in act 1 between Penelope’s maid Melantho and Eurymachus, beautifully sung and vocally acted by soprano Sonia Tedla and tenor Valerio Contaldo, which is counterbalanced by that for the innocent (or maybe not so innocent ) page Valletto and Damigella (damsel) from act 2 of L’incoronazione di Poppea, equally enticingly played out by soprano Monica Piccinini and tenor Raffaele Giordani.  There is a sense of exuberant, scintillating joie de vivre about the whole programme that would sweep away the bluest of moods. Recommended without reservation.

Brian Robins

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Regnart: Missa Christ Ist Erstanden

CD cover Regnart Missa Christ ist erstanden hyperion

Cinquecento Renaissance Vokal
64:45
hyperion CDA68369

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Having been poleaxed by the way Cinquecento’s excellent singing complemented the excellence of Isaac’s music on their previous release but having been less impressed by their previous disc of Regnart (2007), I approached this recording with circumspection. None required. Like the former, it is another superb recording of revelatory music. Regnart’s praises were being sung over four hundred years ago by none other than Lassus. Like the rest of us, the greatest creative artists can reveal lousy taste, or speak up for an untalented friend, or favour someone inferior to make themselves seem even better, but Lassus, about ten years Regnart’s senior, was bang on the money when he came to recommending him for advancement.

The two masses that take up most of this programme are best heard after the little hymn tunes on which they are based. In both cases, Regnart’s varied treatment of the tunes within his masses makes for two outstanding compositions; listening to them is spiritually rewarding and an aesthetic pleasure. This is well exemplified in the Gloria of Missa Christ ist erstanden. There is some fine sequential writing approaching the movement’s first close at “Patris”, followed by a well-judged slowing of tempo to a sumptuous cadence on “miserere nostri”, and an extended Amen brings the movement to a close with another gorgeous cadence. There are fine moments in other movements, with an excellent passage for three of the five voices in the Credo at “et iterum …”, and another striking cadence in the Sanctus at “tua”. Missa Freu dich is no less distinguished. The Credo is notable for some animated syncopation in the “Crucifixus” section, with further rhythmic vitality approaching the end of the movement. The Sanctus ends with a climactically high note on the last word “tua” for the countertenor. Perhaps most to be relished is the Agnus, with exciting dissonance at “peccata mundi” and a lovely cadence on “nostri”, repeated, to round off the entire disc, on “pacem”.

The three fillers are well chosen. Maria fein, du klarer Schein is a beautiful sacred song in five parts, while the other two works are later contrafacta of what were originally “light Italian love songs” according to the excellent notes by Erika Supria Honisch. She informs us that Ruhmbt alle Werck was originally “Vorrei saper da voi”. For those who are interested, the original of Wann ich nur dich hab was “Tutto lo giorno”, 1574.

This is a disc of glorious polyphony, especially memorable for its undulating phrases, sung superbly by Cinquecento, with not only a feeling of bracing air between the individual parts, but also, where appropriate, concentrated warmth during deeper sonorities.

Richard Turbet

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Madonna della Grazia

CD cover Madonna della Grazia Ensemble Il Caravaggio

Anna Reinhold mezzo-soprano, Guilhem Worms bass-baritone, Ensemble Il Caravaggio, Camille Delaforge
68:13
Klarthe K120

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This CD cleverly alternates extended Baroque compositions dedicated to the Virgin Mary with the mainly anonymous tradition of popular sacred songs on the same subject. The former consist of the Stabat Mater by Giovanni Felice Sances, Alma Mater Redemptoris by Giovanni Antonio Rigatti, In Sanguine Gloria by Isabella Leonarda, O Quam Suavis by Francesco Cavalli and Tarquinio Merula’s Canzonetta spirituale alla Nina Nana, to which more tenuously the group have added Brunelli’s Lamento della Ninfa. This latter piece is played and sung with great energy and imagination, while the anonymous sacred songs and chants exude a suitable folkloric piety. The singers, Anna Reinhold and Guilhem Worms, pass with ease between these two worlds, the latter bringing a knowledge of traditional ornamentation to bear on this evocative music. The instrumental ensemble Il Caravaggio makes a suitably vivid contribution throughout, and the director Camille Delaforge is to be congratulated on an enterprising project brought to a very successful conclusion.

D. James Ross

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Telemann: Cantatas for the Hanoverian Kings of England

CD cover Telemann Cantatas for the Hanoverian Kings of England

Hanna Zumsande, Dominik Wörner, barockwerk hamburg, Ira Hochman
70:16
cpo 555 426-2

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In truth, only a little over half of this recording is devoted to the works one would expect from the title: a congratulatory piece for solo bass with trumpets, timpani and strings for George II, a funeral piece of similar scale for the same monarch, and a slightly longer but hardly substantial duet cantata with added flutes for his successor, George III. The title is, of course, spin, since the pieces were written in German, to be performed in Germany, in honour of the kings in their capacity as rulers of Hanover. No explanation is given why the other two surviving pieces of similar vein were not included on the recording, nor indeed why it is filled out with a cantata for the anniversary of the Augsburg Confession and another for the 23rd Sunday after Trinity, even if the latter did cause a furore in Hamburg after it’s first performance. That notwithstanding, there is some very fine music here. The opening of the George III cantata, in particular, is very strong. Hanna Zumsande and Dominik Wörner make a good pairing – both have clear, strong voices which they wam occasionally with vibrato, and they blend well. The band play crisply and in a manner that is sensitive to the voices without being deferential. It is a pity two other voices could not have been brought in for the middle parts of the chorales.

Brian Clark

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Telemann: Liebe, was ist schöner als die Liebe

CD cover Telemann Liebe, was ist schöner als die Liebe

Julia Kirchner soprano, Georg Poplutz tenor, La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider
76:17
cpo 555 300-2

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This recording presents one of the rarer genres to which Telemann contributed, the wedding serenata. Intended as evening’s entertainment (presumably for wealth patrons who could afford to pay the musicians required), it is less a mini-opera and more a light-hearted debate on the virtue of love. In response to Ametas the soprano’s opening question “What is more beautiful than love”, the tenor Crito just laughs. They proceed to throw arguments and counter-arguments in a sequence of recitatives and arias, with tempers rising but finally they are reconciled and sing a duet to the newly weds, hoping they will soon have something to rock in the cradle! There follow two solo cantatas with wedding connections, if not as directly as the serenata. “Lieben will ich” was published as the fifth of a sex of six secular cantatas with instruments by the composer in 1731. The tenor must tell the tale and play the two parts! In “Der Weiberorden”, the soprano tells of the “delights” (and otherwise!) of marriage in rather racy language. The disc abounds with charm – Telemann knew how to hold an audience – and all of his fans will have to have this recording.

Brian Clark

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Cantica Obsoleta

CD cover ACRONYM Cantica Obsoleta

Forgotten Works from the Düben Collection
[Hélène Brunet, Reginald Mobley, Brian Giebler, Jonathan Woody SATB], ACRONYM
79:33
Olde Focus Recordings FCR917

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As someone who has spent most of his adult life exploring the riches of the Düben Collection, named after a 17th-century family of musicians and music collectors/transcribers, this recording is an absolute joy. Even being fortunate enough to be able to “hear” music just by reading it off the page, nothing beats hearing it played/sung, especially when those performing it are a versatile and committed group like ACRONYM. This is not the first of their discs I have heard (or reviewed), but still I find things in their readings of this repertoire that make me smile. The tone of this recording is set right from the get-go: Schmelzer’s 5-part sonata in D minor takes no prisoners and the fiddlers in particular get stuck right in, and I totally LOVE it! There’s no break before Johann Philipp Krieger’s Cantate domino canticum novum, on whose text the disc’s subtitle is a play. This neatly introduces us to the four singers, whose voices blend well together. Thereafter, we have music by Carissimi (perhaps the only well-known name on the list), Geist (who would have known the Dübens personally), Löwe (whose instrumental music does not deserve the neglect in which it languishes), Capricornus (who should also be heard far more frequently), Flor, a very rare piece from the collection by a female composer, Caterina Giani, Radeck, Ritter and finally Eberlin, who contributes the longest work in the programme at just over nine minutes. In the course of the disc, we have pretty much been put through the emotional wringer – life in the 17th century was tough, and many of the texts set to music tended to be on the bleaker side, which inspired some fantastic works which, in turn, sought to inspire believers. In recording this rich repertoire, ACRONYM will hopefully inspire further exploration of the Düben Collection – and its fellow repositories in Berlin and Dresden. I cannot wait to hear their next CD!

Brian Clark

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Rigatti: Vespro della Beata Vergine

CD cover Rigatti Vespro della Beata Vergine

i Disinvolti, UtFaSol Ensemble, Massimo Lombardi
76:54
Arcana A121

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When we think of Giovanni Rigatti (if we think about him at all, so overshadowed is he still by Monteverdi, despite the very obvious attraction and quality of his output!), our minds typically turn to the glories of San Marco and the sounds of a multitude of voices with violins, cornetti, trombones and organs. This fabulous recording spotlights his “Messa e salmi ariosi a tre voci concertati, & parte con li ripieni a beneplacito” of 1643 (the year of Monteverdi’s death). It is an incredibly brave thing to do, having just three singers (one of whom is also the director), but it really comes off – the two tenor voices are suitably differentiated to mean that there is always aural interest. The ripieni parts (which are really just reinforcements at structural points in the psalm settings) are taken by cornetto and three trombones. Continuo is provided by viola da gamba, theorbo and organ. The “service” is filled out by plainsong antiphons, organ music by Andrea Gabrieli, Milanuzzi’s setting of Deus in adiuvandum, a sonata by Riccio, motets by Serafino Patta (?!) and Banchieri, a canzona by the latter, a recercar by Francesco Usper and Del Buono (?!)’s hymn, Ave maris stella. The fact that my attention did not wane once in just under 80 minutes is testimony to the quality of both the music and the performances – I really did not want it to end! The recorded sound and the booklet maintain the quality – and when 13 of the tracks are claimed as world premiere recordings, that is all the more impressive. More please!

Brian Clark

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Andrea Gabrieli: Motets & Organ Works

CD cover Weser Renaissance Andrea Gabrieli

Weser-Renaissance, Manfred Cordes
69:07
cpo 555 291-2

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Like Bach’s sons, Mendelssohn’s sister and Schumann’s wife (among many others), Andrea Gabrieli is one of those unfortunates whose relative has somehow eclipsed their own valuable output. I remember in my first year at university how much I enjoyed playing through volumes of Andrea Gabrieli’s keyboard music as I “taught myself the piano” (anyone who has heard me play know that it’s very much still work in progress…) At the Early Music Society, we played canzonas by Giovanni Gabrieli and it was only much later in life (at the Gloucester courses run by Alan Lumsden and Philip Thorby) that I really came to appreciate just how good a composer Andrea Gabrieli was.

This new recording on cpo confirms everything I ever thought. Veronika Greuel’s incisivce and extensive booklet note contextualises the music, which the one-to-a-part ensemble, mixing voices with a variety of the instruments one would expect (violin, cornetto, three trombones, dulcian, chitarrone and organ), then perform in a suitably “big” acoustic with lots of air around the notes. There are four organ works by the composer, and a fifth an entabulation by the performer (Edoardo Bellotti on a modified reconstruction of a late 17th-century instrument), neatly played and revealing the breadth of the composer’s mastery of styles. All in all, I cannot imagine a better way to advocate for Andrea’s rightful place in the Early Music Hall of Fame.

Brian Clark

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Threads of Gold II: Music from the Golden Age

York Minster Threads of Gold II

The Choir of York Minster, directed by Robert Sharpe, Benjamin Morris organ
74:22
Regent REGCD544

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I gave the first disc in this series, recorded during 2016, a favourable review in EMR dated 27 May 2017, tipping my hat in conclusion to the excellent notes provided by John Lees. This time I am commencing with a short paean to John for another fine commentary on the background to, and contents of, a second superb disc. He is entirely accurate and up to date regarding current musical research on the period, yet is circumspect when contemporary documentation is in short supply, as in the case of Tomkins having been Byrd’s pupil. Meanwhile this is all expressed in a style that is reassuringly scholarly and a pleasure to read, something to which those of us who write about music can all aspire.

As it was in the case of the first disc, the high quality of the booklet notes and the music itself and the performance of the music all complement one another. If Tallis and particularly Byrd did best numerically on that outstanding initial disc, with one or two items emerging from “left field”, then it is the young guns Tomkins and particularly Gibbons who do well on this second offering. Yet while it is Gibbons who scores highest with six items, it is Tomkins who emerges with the only actual premiere on the disc: his beautiful verse anthem Praise the Lord O my soul is new to CD, having previously appeared only on a fine LP, never reissued, by Newport Cathedral Choir in 1983 (Alpha APS 343). That said, works such as his powerful full anthem in eight parts O God the proud are risen and a couple of Gibbons’s verse anthems Behold I bring you glad tidings and We praise thee O Father are quite elusive. One of the less familiar Tudor evening services, William Mundy’s In medio chori, was included on the first disc, and another such is selected here, the Latin setting by Tallis. Disc I began and ended with two of Byrd’s greatest Latin works, and the Latin pattern is followed here, with Robert Parsons’ sublime Ave Maria opening the proceedings, and another of Byrd’s masterpieces Peccantem me quotidie bringing them to a conclusion.

The quality of the singing is every bit on a par with that on the preceding disc. Only listen to the exquisite layering in the final chord of Byrd’s Sing joyfully – quite the best unaccompanied ending to this anthem on disc (there is currently a stirring version by Musica Secreta accompanied fittingly by The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble on Chandos CHAN 0789) – in which it is so easy for inner parts to be swamped as everyone exhales on the conclusion of Byrd’s short sharp test of vocal endurance; and to the impact of the trebles’ thrilling entry at “O spare me a little” in Gibbons’s Behold thou hast made my days. Meanwhile the full choir can sing with the intimacy that Byrd would have anticipated in performances of Justorum animae whether domestic (it was published in book 1 of Gradualia 1605 and the volume was approved by Richard Bancroft, then Bishop of London) or clandestine (during illegal Roman Catholic masses). Robert Sharp unerringly chooses tempi appropriate to the individual pieces and to the acoustic of the recording venue, while Benjamin Morris’s accompaniments are sensitive and tasteful. Compared with the previous disc, the Choir itself, recorded during 2019, sounds different, as one would expect three years onwards, and the acoustic seems less reverberant – it is stated simply that disc I was “recorded in York Minster” (perhaps the chancel?) whereas disc II is said to have been recorded in the Lady Chapel. The Choir, who can not only blend mellifluously but also project individual parts where necessary, is a credit not only to York Minster but to the Church of England, while the verse passages are sung responsively by soloists, each with characterful voices not drilled to a uniform sound, who are in turn a credit to the Choir. Everything about this disc is distinguished, and it cannot be praised too highly.

Richard Turbet

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Rameau Triomphant

CD cover of Rameau Triomphant

Mathias Vidal haute-contre, Ensemble Marguerite Louise, Gaétan Jarry
77:20
Château de Versailles Spectacles CVS039

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I love the principle and the content of this recital, especially the inclusion of overtures, dances and ensembles so that we don’t choke on a surfeit of airs. It is a brave singer who undertakes a programme of haute-contre singing in any case, and Matthias Vidal was entitled to any breaks in the recording schedule which the programming allowed him. He certainly has the ranges – vocal and emotional – for these roles but I have to say that I enjoy the singing most when he is not at absolutely full throttle. At this point I find the vibrato just too intrusive alongside the period orchestral sounds, though this doesn’t happen very often. Similarly, the lesser soloists and the choir sound, to me at least, at their best when singing within themselves.

The main booklet (French, English and German) note is in interview style, which will irritate some, though there are some interesting comments from MV on the nature of haute-contre singing. As is, I’m afraid, more common than it should be in Versailles issues, there are some unidiomatic turns of phrase in the English translations of the biographies especially. Nice to see that our hero enjoys Offenbach, though!

 David Hansell