Tag: Vocal music

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Orlando di Lasso: Lieder, Chansons, Madrigale

CD cover Orlando di Lasso Lieder, Chansons, Madrigale

Die Singphoniker
51:51
Hänssler classic HC24007

This programme emphasises Lassus’s cosmopolitan status, working in Munich at the centre of Europe and composing secular songs in German, French and Italian – technically the title should read Orlandus Lassus, Rolande de Lassus, Orlando di Lasso! This remarkable chameleon composer manages to adapt completely to each of the musical worlds he enters. The German Lieder, many of them comic novelty songs, are wonderfully mischievous, an aspect fully exploited by the Singphoniker, a sort of German equivalent of our own King’s Singers. Like the latter, they produce a perfectly tuned, wonderfully unified and beautifully blended sound. The transition to the French repertoire is seamless, as is Lassus’ transformation into Rolande de Lassus, and they provide genuinely moving accounts of these delicious French lovesongs as well as trippingly lively performances of the comedy songs Quand mon mari, O vin en vigne, and Dessus le marché d’Arras. Perhaps of his three guises, di Lasso is least typically represented in the madrigals and villanelle, with the concluding extended Sestina setting Là ver l’aurora sounding much more French than Italian in style. Recorded back in 1992, this CD stands the test of time very well with thoroughly modern standards of recorded quality and performance.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Gentleman Extraordinary

CD cover Gentleman Extraordinary Weelkes

Weelkes: Anthems, Services, and Instrumental Music
RESURGAM, The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble, directed by Mark Duley
79:21
resonus RES10325

This collaboration between the choral ensemble Resurgam and The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble marks the 400th anniversary of Thomas Weelkes, and features a fine selection of his anthems, service music and instrumental pieces in beautiful performances. The combined sound of the wind instruments, organ and voices is magnificent indeed, while Weelkes’ lively musical imagination and his ear for rich textures are well served here. Resurgam, both as soloists and in full ensemble, sing with a lovely pure tone and blend beautifully with the instruments, while Mark Duley’s direction is purposeful while also allowing room for the anthems to unfold. To contrast with the full items for voices and instruments, we have several stately pavans and a fantasia played by the wind consort, as well as a couple of voluntaries for organ, played on an Organ Calcant fed by hand-operated bellows. In these instrumental interludes, as also in the accompaniments to the larger pieces, the wind instruments employ pleasing ornamentation. The acoustics of the Holy Trinity Church, Minchinhampton, seem ideal for this enterprise, and both soloists and full choir seem to enjoy its richness and depth. I am currently preparing a programme of 17th-century English verse anthems, and this CD has inspired me to include several of these magnificent works by Thomas Weelkes.

D. James Ross

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Recording

The Secrets of Andalusia

CD cover The secrets of Andalusia Vox Musicae London

Lux Musicae London with Victoria Couper, Konstantinos Glynos and Ignacio Lusardi Monteverde
71:14
First Hand Records FHR157

This attractive mixture of traditional Andalusian and early music from Spain and elsewhere works very well as a programme. Oud, kanun and flamenco guitar rub shoulders with recorders, Baroque harp and guitar, lute, viola da gamba and soprano and tenor voices in a creative interface in which each of these two styles cross paths and influence one another. As with recordings by Jordi Savall and others who endeavour to introduce the spice of their traditional roots into performances of early music, there are revelations but also some slight stretching of the historically informed rules – if you set out to trace the roots of flamenco in early music, you will generally find them! However, there remains a gulf between the flamenco guitars, oud and kanun, generally modern instruments, and the ‘early’ instruments, copies of historical examples, while the kanun and oud are tuned to one scale and the modern guitar and early instruments to another, while of course as part of a living tradition the music for flamenco guitar engages with a thoroughly modern harmonic world. This gap even extends to the singers – soprano Victoria Couper using a thrilling flamenco-type voice production and Roberta Diamond and Daniel Thomson generally using a more orthodox style of singing, although these versatile singers are also able to move in a more traditional direction when necessary. If you accept this CD as a dynamic amalgam of traditional and historically informed approaches, it makes for a joyful listen, and in their work with their traditional music guests, Lux Musicae London have undoubtedly found sympathetic echoes in the early material they perform.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Artemisia

CD cover Artemisia Ensemble Agamemnon

Ensemble Agamemnon, François Cardey
60:27
Seulétoile SE14

Musicians are often tempted to use visual artists as hooks from which to hang musical programmes, and the paintings of Artemisia Gentileschi are more tempting than most. In addition to her being one of the most accomplished female painters of her day, painting in the vivid style of Caravaggio, she lived from 1593 to after 1654, a golden age also for Italian music. Choosing three of her depictions of the Madonna as well as one of the martyr Susanna (all helpfully illustrated in the CD booklet), thereby giving access to the vogue for writing variations on Lassus’ chanson Susan, un jour, Ensemble Agamemnon under their cornett-playing director François Cardey present music by the familiar Salamone Rossi, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Francesca Caccini and Alessandro Grandi and the less familiar Giovanni Battista Fontana, Lucretia Orsina Vizana, Orazio Tarditi, Ippolito Tattaglino and Domenico Mazzocchi. Cardey’s facility on the cornett is impressive, while his creative interaction with Amandine Trenc in several numbers is also enjoyable. Combine this with the considerable violinistic skills of Anaëlle Blanc-Verdin and a first-class continuo group of bass viol, lirone, triple harp, and harpsichord/organ, and the results are wonderfully persuasive and entertaining.

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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Recording

The Gentle Shepherd

CD cover Alan Ramsay The Gentle Shepherd Makaris

Makaris
71:23
Olde Focus Recordings FCR924

Alan Ramsay’s pastoral opera of 1725 is a remarkable piece which I feel has never received the attention or status that it deserves. Written/compiled three years before the iconic Beggar’s Opera, it essentially kicked off the whole ballad opera vogue of the early 18th century and remains one of the finest examples of the genre. Borrowing from a wide range of traditional and ‘classical’ sources of the time, Ramsay has produced a work with genuine folky charm and elegance. The text itself, in literary Scots, is linguistically accomplished, with a wicked ironic squint, which it bequeathed to the later ballad operas. The ensemble Makaris takes a very creative approach to the music, with imaginative use of a variety of early/traditional instruments. Amongst them is the stock-and-horn, a mainly Scottish woodwind instrument, which came into prominence in the 18th century, and has an oboe-like body ending in a cow-horn bell. It has a free-vibrating single reed, making it an early member of the clarinet family, and it has a pleasant and mellow tone. It appears as a prop in many 18th-century engravings and paintings of Scottish rural scenes, including some depictions of Ramsay’s Gentle Shepherd. In this recording, lively and convincing accounts of the 21 songs are peppered with six well-chosen instrumental interludes selected from 18th-century sources. Just occasionally, a couple of the singers struggle with the upper register of the implausibly extensive tessitura of these mock rustic pieces – I have often wondered if this suggests that originally a semi-spoken delivery might have been employed by 18th-century actresses? The original ballad opera has an extensive rhyming text and a cast of eleven – the present recording rationalises a few of the characters and features radio broadcaster David ‘Jock’ Nicol as narrator, who sets scenes and links the narrative. Talking over some of the music and sounding very much like an electronic add-on, I found this aspect less than successful. A semi-staged performance of the complete ballad opera some years ago directed by David McGuinness with his Concerto Caledonia and a full cast demonstrated the merits of the complete work, and perhaps like The Beggar’s Opera, this important piece deserves to be committed to CD in its entirety. McGuinness went on to produce an authoritative edition of the piece and to record all the songs. In the meantime, this sympathetic and entertaining account of the songs by Makaris speaks powerfully for more attention to be paid to this neglected work – and perhaps it is overdue another production!

D. James Ross

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Recording

Jacquet of Mantua: Motets & Secular Songs

CD cover Jacquet of Mantua Motets and Secular Songs

The Choir of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, Kirsty Whatley harp, directed by David Skinner
80:18
Inventa Records INV1017

A disciple and student of Josquin, like so many of his contemporaries, Jacquet was drawn to leave his native France for Italy, undoubtedly in search of fame and fortune, and his soubriquet derives not from his place of birth but his ultimate destination and the place of his death at the age of 75. Regarded as one of the leading composers of choral polyphony between Josquin and Palestrina, Jacquet held various positions throughout Italy under the patronage of the Este and Gonzaga families, and intriguingly research by David Skinner indicates that he may have spent some time in England at Magdalen College Oxford, where an Italian named Jacquet directed the collegiate choir for some years and where a copy of Jacquet of Mantua’s motet Aspice Domine (recorded here) is found in the Peterhouse Partbooks. Whether these Jacquets are one and the same man remains inconclusive, and at any rate there is little evidence of English influence on Jacquet of Mantua’s music. The Choir of Sidney Sussex College is perhaps less prominent than other Oxbridge Choirs, but the college has a long tradition of musical activity, and since the admission of women in 1976 has established a considerable reputation for performing contemporary and Renaissance choral music – in 2009, choral composer Eric Whitacre was appointed Composer in Residence. The combination of this established Oxbridge choral group and the renowned musicologist and choral director David Skinner, whose work particularly with The Cardinall’s Musick was ground-breaking, is a winning one, and these performances are meticulously prepared and beautifully executed. Mention should also be made of Kirsty Whatley, who contributes solo harp accounts of three of Jacquet’s three-part motets and also joins the singers for three of his secular songs, for one of which she switches on her brays! This is an important CD which can only enhance Jacquet’s reputation as a leading master of polyphony.

D. James Ross

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Recording

In Chains of Gold

CD cover Chains of Gold vol 3

The English Pre-Restoration Verse Anthem vol 3
Magdalena Consort, Fretwork, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Signum SIGCD931
83:39

This third volume in the excellent “Chains of Gold” series entitled Ah His Glory: Anthems of Praise, Prayer and Remembrance brings together three leading ensembles, the choral group the Magdalena Consort, the viol ensemble Fretwork and the wind consort His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts in performances of verse anthems composed before the Restoration of Charles II. These consort anthems, as they are probably more accurately termed, were composed partly during the reign of Charles I but also during the ‘distracted times’ of the Civil War and the ensuing Protectorate and are generally on a modest scale with the notable exceptions of the lavish setting of This is a joyful, happy holy day by John Ward and Know you not by Thomas Tomkins, which respectively open and close the programme. The former was written in the reign of Charles I, the latter during the Protectorate and probably written by the aging Tomkins more in hope than expectation of performance – his chosen texts mourning a fallen Prince were hardly ‘on message’ for Cromwellian England. There is a wonderful clarity about these accounts by the Magdalena Consort and Fretwork – the more intimate numbers achieve a perfect balance between the voices and viols, while the two larger-scale works incorporating the wind instruments manage to sound wonderfully opulent without any loss of definition. The concluding work by Tomkins is a tantalising taste of ‘what might have been’ in the history of English music if Puritanism had not triumphed so thoroughly. Tomkins was clearly aware of the magnificent music for voices and instruments being composed in Italy at the time, but here is a distinctively English voice using these rich textures to express a distinctively English idiom. A number of less well-known composers are also represented here – John Amner, William Stonnard, Richard Nicholson, William Pysinge and Simon Stubbs – a reflection of the decentralisation of music-making to the provinces at this period of disruption, where music collections had more of a chance of surviving warfare and puritanical purges. Reflecting the limited resources available, this music is on a much more modest scale, but is nonetheless expressive and beautifully crafted.

D. James Ross

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Recording

Cupid’s Ground Bass

CD cover Cupid’s Ground Bass Bellot Ensemble

Music by Biber, Cavalli, Farina, Kapsberger, Monteverdi, Strozzi, Uccellini
Bellot Ensemble
First Hand Records FHR183
60:55

This charming collection of love-songs and instrumental pieces explores the joys and sufferings of love in a selection of 17th-century music with an emphasis on Italy. The solo voices are soprano Lucine Musaelian and tenor Kieran White, whose vocal contribution is individually very fine, before they symbolically finally come together in Monteverdi’s Zefiro torna. The instrumental playing, both as accompaniment and in the instrumental interludes, is also wonderfully imaginative and lyrical. Recorder, violin, viola da gamba, cello, baroque guitar/theorbo and harpsichord/organ blend together beautifully in music ranging from the delightfully celebratory to the plangently affecting. The Ensemble specialises in ornamentation, consulting a number of historical sources but ultimately embodying the rules and bringing them to impressive fruition in rehearsal and performance. Several highlights for me were the Sinfonia and Act I aria “Delizie contenti che l’alma beate” from Cavalli’s hit opera Il Giasone, sparklingly played by the Ensemble and ravishingly sung by Kieran White, and “Che si può fa” by Barbara Strozzi, exquisitely sung by Lucine Musaelian, while accompanying herself on the gamba as in the famous Strozzi portrait. This is mainly musical territory which has been explored previously, but the Bellot Ensemble and their engaging vocal soloists give even the very familiar material a novel twist, providing us with a programme which is constantly intriguing and enjoyable.

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