recordingreviews - early music america · the violin concerto stepping into the romantic era. the...

Early Music America Summer 2010 19

Ludwig van BeethovenViolin Concerto; RomancesPatricia Kopatchinskaja, violin;Orchestre des Champs-Élysées,Philippe Herreweghe, conductorNaïve V5174http://en.naive.fr/

As period performance practiceworks its way forward throughmusical periods, it offers us anopportunity to hear a fresh take onan increasing number of works inthe basic repertoire. The very excel-lent Orchestre des Champs-Élyséeshere presents Ludwig van Beethoven(1770–1827) with brighter winds,warmer brass, and an overall moreclearly articulated sound than youwould hear from a modern orches-

tra. Particu-larly in thecenterpieceof therecording,the ViolinConcerto inD Major

(Op. 61), you hear, in a new way,the violin concerto stepping into theRomantic era.

The soloist is Patricia Kopatchin-skaja, from Moldova, who has beenmaking a splash around Europe foralmost a decade, mostly playingworks by contemporary composers.It clearly has not stopped her frommaking thoughtful, well-informedchoices in this performance. Bee -thoven wrote the Concerto in DMajor for his friend Franz Clement(1780–1842), who was known forthe finesse and elegance of his play-ing. Kopatchinskaja brings that samelyricism and dexterity to her playing,especially in the Larghetto. She playslightly, with some of the variantsincluded in Beethoven’s autographof the score. Her instrument—an1834 violin made by GiovanniFrancesco Pressenda (1777–1854),one of the founders of the TurinSchool—is close to the right period,

made just a few decades afterBeethoven wrote this music.

Kopatchinskaja also plays herown arrangements of Beethoven’soriginal cadenzas written for hispiano arrangement of the samework. They are exciting and actuallya bit wicked (in a good way), but arealso somewhat anachronistic. Andthey are certainly not period per-formance practice, since some over-dubbing was required.

The program also includesRomance Nos. 1 and 2 for Violinand Orchestra (Op. 40 and 50) andthe fragment of the Violin Concertoin C Major (WoO 5), presented herewithout any completion of themovement. When Beethoven’s scoreruns out, so, rather abruptly, doesthe music.

Period performance? Mostly.Exciting? Absolutely. Worth a listen?Definitely.—Beth Adelman

Dominico DragonettiDragonetti’s New Academy:The Chamber Music ofDominico DragonettiJohn Feeny, double bass; Loma Mar QuartetGrancino Editionswww.grancinoeditions.com

P. G. Wodehouse may havedeclared the banjo as an instrument“not fit for a gentleman,” but thecontrabass is also much maligned,characterized as either court jesterof the orchestra or the Voice ofDoom. For that reason alone, thispremiere recording of the great con-trabassist and composer DominicoDragonetti (1763-1846) deservesattention: the instrument is given arare moment of dignity and beauty.

The Venetian-born Dragonettispent most of his long professionallife in London and left behind a rep-utation for eccentricity and excellentvirtuosic contrabass compositions. Inparticular, the Quintet No. 18 reveals

the instrument’s possible expressivescope. There are several points inwhich the solo melody swoopsdown from the highest register tothe low open strings, revealing boththe lyricism and the power of thecontrabass.

John Feeney, principal bass of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s,unearthed these works from theBritish Museum archives and gives

verve, ener-gy, and alightness oftouch to animpeccableperform-ance. TheLoma Mar

Quartet provides worthy, spiritedassistance. None of the other threeensemble works on the CD quitereach the virtuosic or compositionalheights of the opening concerto-likequintet, but they do reveal a compe-tent composer whose output spansthe stylistic bridge from late Baroqueto early Romantic. Feeny shows thatthe oversized instrument is able tointegrate into the smaller stringquartet on an equal basis. Oneeagerly anticipates further record-ings from the New York-basedsoloist of this Paganini of the lower register.—Lance Hulme

François Rebel, François Francœur Zélindor, roi des Sylphes,Suite from “Le Trophée” Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, Heidi GrantMurphy, William Sharp, Ah YoungHong; The Opera LafayetteOrchestra and Chorus; Ryan Brown, conductorNaxos 8.660224www.naxos.com

“Les Petits Violons” (the littleViolins) was the nickname given toFrançois Francœur (1698-1787) andFrançois Rebel (1701-1775). Insepa-rable for 49 years of their profes-sional careers, the men met duringchildhood at the Paris Opéra Orches-tra in the early 1710s. If there are afew works clearly attributed toFrancœur or to Rebel, many otherworks, however, testify to such closecollaboration that even the com-posers themselves, when asked whohad done what, used to answer:“This piece is by both of us.”

According to some testimonies,Francœur had the lyrical vein, while Rebel’s inspiration was moredramatic.

Zélindor, roi des Sylphes, on alibretto by François-Augustin Paradisde Moncrif, is one of the most rep-resentative dramatic works writtenduring Louis XV’s reign. Originally adivertissement commissioned for aroyal entertainment at Versailles, itcould have simply had a limitedcareer at the Court. But its premierein March 1745 was so well receivedthat the work was several timesrepeated, including during the cele-bration of the Fontenoy victory atthe Paris Opéra in August 1745.Zélindor was performed 30 times atthe Opéra between 1746 and 1766.It was even translated into Italian for court performances at Parma in 1752.

The work remained a hit at theFrench Court: in 1753, Madame dePompadour herself sang the role ofZélindor in her own small theatre atthe castle of Bellevue, and in 1747,the Duchesse du Maine also present-ed the work at her castle in Sceaux.Among the audience was Voltaire(by then the lover of Madame duChâtelet, who sang the role of Zir-phé), who lavished much praise on

the graces ofMoncrif’slibretto. Asfor the music,Zélindor isundoubtedlythe mostaccomplished

score produced by the Little Violinsand is a revealing example of thediversity of styles that French dra-matic music could offer in the1740s. Zélindor’s first air, “Commeun Zéphyr qui caresse une fleur sanss’arrêter,” reveals its inclination forItalianate vocal ornamentationsmatching the libretto’s depiction ofthe breeze. The subtleties in orches-tration evoke Rameau: the use ofbassoons in the Prelude that opensthe third scene is one telling exam-ple. The choirs and dances of theNymphs (notably “Il faut que toutseconde”) are full of melodic andchromatic surprises.

To accompany Zélindor, RyanBrown, who also realized the per-forming edition, chose a selectionfrom Le Trophée, also by Rebel and

recordingreviewsEdited by Tom Moore

Early Music America magazine welcomes news of recent re cordings.Please send CDs to be considered for review and pertinent informationto Tom Moore, Recording Reviews Editor, c/o Early Music America, 2366Eastlake Ave. E., #429, Seattle, WA 98102; [email protected] Music America cannot guarantee the inclusion of every CD sentfor review. All reviews reflect the personal opinions of the revieweronly. Label web sites are supplied with each review to assist readerswho are unable to locate discs through Amazon.com, CDBaby.com,ArchivMusic.com, or other outlets.

20 Summer 2010 Early Music America

Francœur. Written for the Fontenoycelebrations in 1745, Le Trophéewas performed at the Paris Opéra asa prologue to Zélindor and praisesthe victorious King. Italianisms areeven more frequent than in Zélindor,and these culminate in the “Gavottepour les Muses et les Plaisirs,” withits flute obbligato and melodic linein a quasi galant style.

To my knowledge, this is the firstrecording of Zélindor. Conducted byRyan Brown, the ensemble OperaLafayette, on period instruments, isexcellent, as are the singers: thebaritone William Sharp (Zulim) andthe soprano Ah Young Hong (aNymph), as well as Heidi Grant Mur-phy (Zirphé), are in ideal vocal com-pany with Jean-Paul Fouchécourt(Zélindor), who remains unrivalled in this repertoire, for which he stillpossesses agility and lightness oftimbre.—Jacqueline Waeber

Johann Gottlieb Graun,Carl Heinrich GraunTrios for 2 Violins & BassoLes Amis de Philippe (AnneSchumann, Dorothea Vogel, violin;Monika Schwamberger, violoncello;Ludger Rémy, fortepiano)CPO 777 423-2www.jpc.de

Despite the work of generationsof revisionist music historians, thepall of Germanic music-making stillhangs over our retrospective view ofthe music of the more distant past,with everything filtered througha Mitteleuropäische lens. Everythingprior to 1750 leads up to the crown-ing, masterful figure of JohannSebastian Bach; everything post-Bach leads to the central musical fig-ure of all time, Ludwig van Beet -hoven. Any music that does not fitor contribute to this great narrativeis depreciated or discarded. And sowe get a picture of music-making inthe 18th century that has little to dowith the great metropolises of Lon-don and Paris and that even ignoresGermany unless it can be related tothe two poles of Leipzig and Vienna.This means that important figuressuch as the Grauns have been virtually ignored until recently.

The Graun brothers, Johann Got-tlieb (1702/3-1771) and Carl Hein-rich (1703/4-1759), belonging tothe same generation as Carl PhilippEmanuel Bach (1714-1788), alsoheld positions at the court of the

music-loving monarch Frederick theGreat of Prussia. Frustratingly formusic librarians and historians (andmost especially for producers of the-matic catalogs) many of the 136works in the trio genre attributed toGraun bear only the surname, andnot the given name, in the source.We know it must be by one of thetwo, but not which one. Les Amis dePhilippe present a selection of fivetrio sonatas from the rich harvest, allbased on manuscript parts (and inone case a score) held at the Stateand University Library of Saxony inDresden and probably dating from

the decadesbetween1730 and1760. Stylisti-cally they aretypical of theRococo, inthree move-

ments, slow-fast-fast, ornately orna-mented, with heartfelt sighs in theadagios and drum-basses in thequick movements, and while not asavant-garde or empfindsam as thecontemporary music of CPE, they aremusically rich and rewarding to thelistener.

The performances by Les Amisare first-rate and make the best pos-sible case for this lovely and expres-sive music. Particularly felicitous isthe choice of the fortepiano for thecontinuo, which allows Ludger Rémyto shape the dynamics (particularlyfor repeated-note figures) in a waythat would have been impossible onharpsichord. The recorded sound isclear and flattering.—Tom Moore

Joseph Haydn6 Paris Symphonies & 15 SymphonieTafelmusik Baroque Orchestra Bruno Weil, conductor;SONY Vivarte 88697480442; 7 CDswww.sonymasterworks.com

Sony created the Vivarte label toallow legendary early music produc-er Wolf Erichson to develop his stu-dio of artists. Erichson’s reputationwas built on his myriad 1970srecordings with many major earlymusic pioneers. It was he who ini-tially brought together German con-ductor Bruno Weil and the CanadianTafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Theseseven CDs were recorded in Hollandand Canada in 1992 and 1994-95.Over the course of the 1990s, the

RECORDINGreviews

La Donna’s new releaseAnna Bon: La virtuosa de VeneziaThis CD includes a variety of unique instrumental combinationsthat bring out the vivid qualities of Anna Bon’s expressive,

humorous, and virtuosicmusic. It also containsworld-premiere recordingsof three fascinating vocalpieces attributed to Bon,featuring extraordinaryperiod ornamentation byinternationally acclaimedsoprano Julianne Baird.The enclosed booklet provides new biographicalinformation about thecomposer.

Julianne BairdDaniela TosicNa’ama LionLaura GulleyJane StarkmanJoyce Alper

Jean JeffriesNoriko YasudaRuth McKayRenee RapierJason SteigerwaltCatharina Meints

Sarah DarlingJanet HaasJeanine

Müller-LaupertJim MosherAkiko Sato

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Laury Gutiérrez, viola da gamba, director

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and well-grounded . . . a lovely recording full of warm moments. A worthy addition to anyone’s collection”—Early Music America

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team also recorded many of Haydn’smasses and oratorios. Sony agreedto release all of the Haydn symphon-ic output with these artists, but achange in management cancelledthe project. The symphonic fruit oftheir labors has now been re-released as a box set of 21 sym-phonies (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47,

50, 51, 52,64, 65, 82,83, 84, 85,86, 87, 88,89, 90) thatis superlativein soundquality and

realization by the orchestra. Tafel-musik’s European reputation as oneof the world’s greatest Baroqueorchestras is based in large part ontheir realizations of late Classicalrepertory. These recordings are alively case in point.

This creative period parlayed intoboth conductor and orchestra work-ing together for the last 17 years atthe prestigious annual Germanmusic festival The Klang und Raum,for which Weil serves as artisticdirector. Weil and Tafelmusik havetoured together and continue torecord with the Canadian labelAnalekta, most notably the

Beethoven Symphonies (5 & 6, 7 &8). Weil was part of the 2009-10Tafelmusik home season perform-ances as guest conductor, and aMozart (piano concertos) tour isplanned later this year. This re-release is well worth your consideration.—Paul-James Dwyer

Jean-Marie LeclairViolin Sonatas, Book 1: Nos. 9-12Adrian Butterfield, Baroque violin;Alison McGillivray, viola da gamba;Laurence Cummings, harpsichordNaxos 8.570890www.naxos.com

The debate over French and Italian compositional styles, madepublic in a series of argumentativepamphlets by François Raguenet(c.1660- 1722) and Jean Laurent Le Cerf de la Viéville (1674-1707),dominated early 18th-centuryFrench musical discourse. Raguenetpraised Italian music for its ease ofexpressivity and its rich harmonicvocabulary, while Le Cerf de laViéville disparaged the Italian styleas ostentatious, admiring Frenchmusic for its restraint and con-trol. Despite the polarization ofthese styles, early 18th-century

French composers attempted toblend the two, as Italian musicbecame more popular—and moreestablished—in Paris. AlthoughFrançois Couperin may be bestknown for wedding the French andItalian styles in his 1724 set of triosonatas, Les goûts-réünis, Jean-Marie Leclair’s first book of violinsonatas (published in 1723) alsobeautifully combines these stylesand by doing so represents a newapproach to French instrumentalwriting.

This compact disc offers the lastfour sonatas of his Op. 1, whichwere modeled on Arcangelo Corelli’sOp. 5 violin sonatas, published in1700 in Rome. Like many 18th-cen-tury musicians, Leclair (1697-1764)also spent a substantial part of hiscareer traveling throughout Europeas a freelance violinist. During histravels, Leclair met other virtuosi violinists, including Pietro Locatelli.The Op. 1 violin sonatas demon-strate elements of both French and Italian violin writing, as well as new technical abilities on the violin that showcase the performer’svirtuosity: up- and down-bow staccato playing, double- and triple-stopping, and (according toButterfield’s liner notes), the use of

the left-hand thumb.Adrian Butterfield, Laurence

Cummings, and Alison McGillivrayapproach these pieces from a well-informed knowledge of historicalperformance practice, and they playeach sonata with vigorous clarity interms of articulation. Of the foursonatas included on this disc, threefollow the “Corellian” church sonataformat of four movements thatalternate between slow and fasttempi (Sonatas No. 10, 12, and9). The Sonata in D Major (No. 10) isa spectacular composition in itsnearly seamless blending of Frenchand Italian styles. Butterfield is at hismost expressive in the first move-

ment, arecitative-likeslow move-ment thatsoundsimprovisato-ry andblends ele-

ments of French overture style withwritten-out Italianate orna-ments. The second movement, aquick Allegro, blends Corelliansequences with Vivaldian stringcrossings and arpeggios; it is amovement designed to show off thecapabilities of the violinist and his

instrument, rather than harmonic ormelodic innovation. The final twomovements—a sarabande and arondeau—sound more French in origin, although Leclair incorpor-ates showy bowing techniques,sequen ces, and staccato playing into the rondeau, providing starkjuxtapositions of the French and Italian styles.

Butterfield, Cummings, andMcGillivray offer pleasant interpreta-tions of Leclair’s music, but theyoften sacrifice musicality for a rigor-ous approach to historical articula-tion. The Sonata in B-flat Major (No.11) sounds dull and inconsistent;Butterfield’s technique seems tofocus more on articulating shortmotives than on exploring the musi-cal possibilities of longer phras-es. Cummings shows off his won-derful talent on the keyboard, butthe registration of the harpsichord isoften much too loud, drowning outthe solo violin in almost every move-ment. The lack of balance takes itstoll on the viola da gamba; althoughin the liner notes Butterfield pointsout moments of virtuosity in thegamba line, it is nearlly impossible tohear McGillivray’s playing at all—theharpsichord dominates the bassocontinuo line throughout. This disc series provides a much-neededrecording of Leclair’s opus 1 violin sonatas, but the performers’interpretation may not satisfy every listener.—Alison DeSimone

Georg Philipp Telemann Sonate à Cinque & Quattro REBEL (Matthias Maute,recorder/traverso; Jörg-MichaelSchwarz, Karen Marie Marmer,violin; Risa Browder, StephenCreswell, viola; John Moran,violoncello; Dongsok Shin,harpsichord)Dorian Sono Luminus DSL-90912www.dorian.com

REBEL‘s latest album is a Telemann(1681-1767) collection of five-partsonatas, rounded out with theSonata Discortato in A Major, the Aminor recorder concerto (TWV43:a3), and the Quartet in G Major(TWV 43:G12).

Johann Adam Scheibe pointedout that if string quintets, “are to bereally beautiful, one must actuallyblend five melodies with each other.All four upper voices must exhibit adifferent tune. The bass must not be

poor and empty, but at certainpoints should also come into itsown.” He was talking about thepractice of composing such works,but he might as well have been talking about the way in which REBEL performs everything on thisrecording.

Regardless of the combination ofinstruments in use at any givenmoment, the group is beautifullyblended, with a warm, rich, fullsound. The strings have such clear,individual voices, but all with thesame lovely, brilliant tone, never soshrill as to overpower one’s neigh-bor nor so dark as to disappear intothe texture completely. They playtogether on the edge, keeping sucha furious pace that at times one isastounded by the paucity of uncen-tered notes. The Connecticut churchin which they recorded the albumdid them no disservice, providing

them witha wonder-fully buoy-ant spacein whicheach mem-ber of thegroup can

be heard with full clarity and just theright amount of resonance.

John Moran’s low register is sim-ply gorgeous and really works wellwith Dongsok Shin’s harpsichordplaying—the two together are aforce to be reckoned with, especiallyin the faster sections of the Concertoin A Minor. In everything, Shin playswith great sensitivity to what’sgoing on around him, with a partic-ularly appropriate ear toward tonecolor.

Matthias Maute’s traversodances gorgeously in the first move-ment of the Sonata Discortato inA—full of life and gracefulness—and his articulation and phrasing inthe concerto are simply perfect. Heshapes every note with virtuosityand audacity, always with suchbeautifully idiomatic language. His blend with the upper strings in the Adagio of the concerto, or in the Allegro of the quartet, isbreathtakingly pure.

Imitative or fugal entrancessparkle, each following the others’leads without losing its own uniqueflavor. In particular, the Allegro fromthe Sonata in G Minor is completelyaggressive, coherent, and full ofpanache. Their cut-offs are among


RECORDINGreviews

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the best, too—full, rounded, andcolored to suit the mood and tempoof each movement.

Perhaps most importantly, therecording is enthusiastic. The funthey’re having while playing comesthrough quite clearly; they have suchenergy and excitement that onebelieves oneself to be in the frontrow at a live concert. This is a discnot to be missed.—Karen Cook

Sylvius Leopold Weiss“L’Infidel” Eduardo Egüez, Baroque luteMA Recordings M078Awww.marecordings.com

Lutenist Eduardo Egüez is rapidlyand deservedly gaining internationalrecognition. Previous releases of luteworks by J.S. Bach have proved himan interpreter of the highest caliber.Now the Argentinean turns to theworks of Bach’s contemporarySylvius Leopold Weiss (?1686-1750),acclaimed as the greatest lutenist ofhis time, near the end of the instru-ment’s prominence in Europeanmusic.

Like Bach, Weiss belonged tothat last generation of Baroquecomposers to cultivate an interna-tional style. His works draw equally

on French, Italian, and German ele-ments. The suite L’infidele combinesFrench ornamentation with Italianlyricism, influenced by stylistic ele-ments acquired via Vienna from the“infidel” Turks. Particularly impres-sive is the Tombeau sur la mort deM. Comte de Logy, b. 1721, anelegy full of genuine pathos and fascinating ideas.

This reviewer has the highestadmiration for Egüez. There is aneffortlessness to his interpretationthat demonstrates that great art isdistinguished from good art by theinvisibility of its technique. For thisrecording, Egüez uses a beautifullytimbered 13-course lute modeled on

the instru-ment intro-duced byWeiss andhis genera-tion. With itsfull octaverange of

fretted strings, the advantages ofthe instrument are particularly evi-dent in Egüez’s improvised Preludefrom the Suite in F Major, whichrecalls the unmeasured preludes ofthe French mid-Baroque. Weiss’sbest-known work, the Suite in DMinor, rounds out the CD. The

excellent recording quality brings, tosome extent, the intimacy of a liveperformance.—Lance Hulme

Adrian WillaertMusica Nova (The Petrarca Madrigals)Singer Pur (Claudia Reinhard, KlausWenk, Markus Zapp, ManuelWarwitz, Reiner Schneider-Waterberg, Marcus Schmidl, andFranz Vitzthum, guest countertenor)Oehms Classics OC 814www.oehmsclassics.com

On this 2009 release from SingerPur, the 25 madrigals from AdrianWillaert’s Musica nova are finally,finally recorded.

The excellent booklet accompa-nying this two-disc collectioninforms us that Musica nova (1559),containing 27 motets in addition tothese madrigals, was written byWillaert (c.1490-1562) during histime with the Florentine musicalelite, one of whom was the famedsinger Polissena Pecorina, who wasfortunate enough to have the onlymanuscript of these works for sometime, selling it to Alfonso d’Este in1554 for an outrageous sum. D’Estefinally succeeded in having the collection printed by well-known

publisher Antonio Gardano in 1559;this recording is a 450th-anniversaryspectacular.

I’m a supporter of purchasingalbums that are the only recordingsof works, regardless of their inherentmusical value. Fortunately, the tasteand thoroughness with which thebooklet and CDs have been

designed canequallyextend tothe musicali-ty of therecordings.Singer Purreminds me

of a great espresso—beautiful,smooth, and dark, with just a bit ofbrightness on the surface. They doan excellent job of bringing outmoving lines, especially in the innervoices, and phrasing together, actingas one voice in the brief homophon-ic or less imitative sections.

Willaert was known in his life-time, and remembered in ours, formany things—antiphonal psalms forSt. Mark’s, short secular canzoneand madrigal settings, beautifulmelodic lines, and, most important-ly, his attention to text-setting, espe-cially in his use of chromaticism. The


GRAMMY® nominated lutenist Ronn McFarlane and internationally known television and radio personality Robert Aubry Davis artfully match poetry and theater works about the lute to

as a live performance, Blame Not My Lutelute music, with writers such as Shakespeare and Sir Thomas Wyatt as well as composers

not

E L I Z A B E T H A N L U T E

M U S I C a n d P O E T R Y

Ronn McFarlane, lute

Robert Aubry Davis, spoken word

Blame not my lute, for he must sound of this or that as liketh me;For lack of wit the lute is bound to give such tunes as pleaseth me.Though my songs be somewhat strange,and speak such words as touch thy change, Blame not my lute.

~Thomas Wyatt

Continued on page 47


B E R K E L E Y

F E S T I V A L

E X H I B I T I O N

J u n e 6 - 1 3 , 2 0 1 0

Come and experience the magnificence of Italian music in and around 1610, from the glories of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice to the haunting spiritual cloisters of Milan,

a golden age filled with the glorious sounds of centuries past.

F E S T I V A L H I G H L I G H T S

THE MAIN STAGE ¡Sacabuche! With Paul Elliott & Nigel North will offer a program that explores the stunningly beautiful

double-choir writing of the composers associated with St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice.

ARTEK will present an exciting, dramatic and fluid exploration of “The Perfection of Modern Music” as expounded in a reading from Zarlino’s Rules of Composition (1558) and exemplified by Claudio Monteverdi’s Madrigals, Book V.

Magnificat will recreate the angelic voices of nuns singing Chiara Margarita Cozzolani’s passionate and ecstatic motets.

Artists Vocal Ensemble (AVE) will probe the heart and mind in a performance of the awe-inspiring and terrifying Tenebrae Responsoria by Carlo Gesualdo.

Music’s Re-creation will present the most distinguished English composers of the mid-seventeenth century before Henry Purcell.

The Marion Verbruggen Trio will appear in a dazzling concert of masterpieces from the Baroque: a musical tour of music from Germany and France.

Festival Finale Celebration explores Vespers in Venice from Monteverdi to Vivaldi in a program designed to showcase each of the ensembles participating in the festival.

The Fringe One of the most exciting components of BFX Ten is the Fringe — a series of self-produced concerts by soloists and ensembles from around the world.

The Early Music America (EMA) Conference & Exhibition The Conference, “400 Years of Vespers”, will commemorate the 400th anniversary

of Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610The Exhibition features publishers, instrument builders, service organizations, universities and other early music

practitioners. Free and open to the public. Check EMA’s website (http://www.earlymusic.org/) for details.

Order tickets securely at www.bfx.berkeley.edu

Subscribe and Save!Choose three or more events on a single order and save 10% on single ticket prices. Subscriptions are available only through

the BFX Ticket Office directly at 510.642.9988

“The Berkeley Festival & Exhibition has become a remarkable institution on the American musical scene.”

— The New York Times

THE BERKELEY FESTIVAL & EXHIBITION IS PRESENTED BY SAN FRANCISCO EARLY MUSIC SOCIETY IN ASSOCIATION WITH EARLY MUSIC AMERICA, CAL PERFORMANCES, MAGNIFICAT, AVE, INDIANA UNIVERSITY,

JACOBS SCHOOL OF MUSIC, AND THE AMERICAN RECORDER SOCIETY.


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madrigals have this aplenty, and ifthere is one overarching drawbackfor me, it is that perhaps Singer Puris too pure in its approach. All butone of the madrigals are Petrarchansonnets on love, sin, and repen-tance, so they have a heightenedsense of built-in drama, and becausethis style of poetry calls for two dis-tinct sections, the same work canrequire two contrasting moods. Yetat times there seems to be a lack ofemotional involvement with the text,or perhaps a greater concern fortone color and general musicality asopposed to expressiveness of thetext, and I find this just a bit conservative.

The ensemble is clearly not with-out sensitivity to the lyrics, though,expressing a welcome expressive-ness, even humor, at the end of No.124, “Amor, Fortuna.” This is a trackthat I could listen to over and overagain, not just for the delightfulending but for the glorious cadenceat the end of the first half of thetext, in which on the word “viva”one of the tenors leaps an octaveand back down to the fifth—beauti-ful. Singer Pur really knows how tobring out melodic moments likethese—No. 159, “In qual parte delciel,” in particular, has a number ofsimply stunning moving lines, asdoes No. 230, “I piansi, hor canto,”the opening phrases of which areamongst the best music on eitherdisc.

If one’s goal is to listen to bothdiscs back to back, it can certainlybe done, but one might find thatthe sound can grow a bit static,even cloying, simply due to theworks’ similarity. But as individualpieces or in small doses, you’d behard-pressed to find better. A mosthighly recommended recording; Ican only hope that Singer Pur con-tinues its love affair with Willaert in2012, for the 450th anniversary ofhis death, perhaps with a release ofthe Musica nova motets. —Karen Cook

CCOLLECTIONS

Cantate Napoletane del ‘700Pino de Vittorio; La Cappella della Pietá dei Turchini; Antonio Florio, conductorEL 0919www.eloquentia.fr

Naples in the 18th-century was

a musical Mecca, overflowing withall shapes and forms of music. Theensemble La Cappella della Pietá deiTurchini has been dedicated to therevival and spread of this Neapolitantreasury since 1987.

This CD is concerned with musicfor entertainment, with what helpedpass the long hours of leisurein the Neapolitan Baroque palaces.Not an easy task, as documentationis sometimes too scarce to provideenough insight into the real prac-tices of the time. As mentioned inthe booklet, mixed volumes ofextant music, now spread all overthe world, survive as collections

from noblehomes.These areboth helpfuland puz-zling, aspaternity ofcomposi-

tions is hardly ever easy to assign.These collections are, nonetheless, avery valuable resource, as they con-tain numerous excerpts of operas,both serious and comic, which havenot survived in other form. TheNeapolitan comic opera, “the com-media in musica in lingua napoli-tana,” surfaces more and morethanks to these anthologies, and,combined with cantatas and won-derful instrumental pearls, the resultis a clear palette of works to choosefrom as “Neapolitan private enter-tainment music.”

The themes are, as expected,quite mundane: love, jealousy,betrayal, sorrow, longing, revenge,the passing of time, and fish. Noth-ing wrong with that—these basichuman expressions were as pulsat-ing then as they are now. It isn’talways easy music, though, andsometimes it is evident that it waswritten by a very careful mind, reallyfocused on moods and affetti. Stylis-tically, the music is deeply rooted inBaroque canons but already unmis-takably hints at what is to come.

The craftsmanship of Pino de Vit-torio has been demonstrated timeand time again: it is simply wonder-ful to hear his voice, and it fits thisrepertoire like a glove. It is a perfectbalance between declamationand singing, which makes the textvery clear and heartfelt. The ensem-ble and Florio’s leadership showcomplete comfort in the repertoire,

RECORDINGreviewsContinued from page 23

som thing that generally speak-ing isn’t unique to them, but whichis unique to them in this specificniche.

The CD should be appreciatedwith the booklet in hand, as thesung tracks only come to life oncethe text is understood (and I sup-pose not many of us out there arewell-versed in the Neapolitandialect—and what a great one itis!). Highly recommended both toraging lovers of Neapolitan music,like myself, and to anyone whoenjoys early music with a twist.—Inês d’Avena

Cantates Françoises, Volume 1Brandywine Baroque (Julianne Baird,Laura Heimes, soprano; CurtisStreetman, bass; Eileen Grycky,transverse flute; Elizabeth Field, NinaFalk, violin; Douglas McNames,cello; Karen Flint, harpsichord)Plectra Music - PL20902www.plectra.org

In the first third of the 18th cen-tury, the French had a brief loveaffair with the chamber cantata,which had enjoyed a privileged place

in the drawing rooms of Italy foralmost a century before it wasimported to France. The timingowed in part to the relaxation ofmusical strictures following thedeath of Lully, whose brilliant butdraconian reign insulated Frenchmusic from foreign influences in thesecond half of the 17th century. Theensuing search for les goûts réunis—a “reunion of tastes,” specifically amusical conciliation of the best thatFrench and Italian styles had tooffer—led to a period of experimen-tation with Italian forms such as thesonata, concerto, and cantata. In itsfirst volume of French cantatas,Brandywine Baroque explores themain themes cultivated by musicianswho composed for the royal house-hold, from the biblical (ElisabethJacquet de La Guerre [1665-1729]),to the mythological and the occa-sional (both by Louis-NicolasClérambault [1676-1749]). All piecesstand out in being written for twoto three voices, a relative rarity inFrench cantata repertoire.

While Clérambault was considered the foremost composer


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RECORDINGreviews


of French cantatas, Jacquet de LaGuerre achieved a reputation as aleading composer of the genre in itssacred formulation. The first femalecomposer of Louis XIV’s reign andmuch favored by the Sun King, de laGuerre made the biblical cantata herown. Her Jepthé makes full use ofdissonance, frequent modulations,and rhythmic eccentricities to conveyits tragic story. The cantata is scoredfor two sopranos; here, LauraHeimes’s warmly buoyant sopranowinningly complements JulianneBaird’s full-bodied voice.

I was able to find no priorrecordings of either Clérambaultcantata, making both works a wel-come addition to French Baroque

repertoire.L’Amour etBaccus, forsoprano andbass, is thekind of fili-greeddebate

about the philosophical ramifica-tions of l’Amour at which the Frenchso excelled. The dispute owes muchof its momentum to a particularlyindustrious basso continuo part,which harpsichordist Karen Flint andcellist Douglas McNames executewith gusto. Clérambault’s paean topeace, Le triomphe de la paix, is amore elaborate affair, its trio of pas-toral deities (two sopranos and abass) joined by flute and two violinsin pleasurably shifting textures. Atover 20 minutes, this Triomphe is asubstantial cantata written on theoccasion of the Treaty of Utrecht. Itslast movement concludes the discjoyously, with all three soloists join-ing in a profusion of lyrically swirlingmelodic lines. —Berna Can

DiminuitoRolf LislevandECM New Series 2088, 2009www.ecmrecords.com

The first thing early music fansshould know about Rolf Lislevand’snew CD is that it’s not made for us.The Norwegian lutenist studied atthe Schola Cantorum in the mid-80s, apprenticed with Hespèrion XX,and boasts European prizes for solorecordings devoted to Kapsbergerand Santiago de Murcia. The ideabehind Diminuito sounds good onpaper: to re-animate the ensembleimprovisatory traditions of 16th-cen-tury Italy with an appeal to a mod-ern, world music imagination. Theplaylist is well-chosen, pairing Ortizrecercadas with harmonically similar

madrigals and the diminutionsbased on them, and there is muchto admire in the performances. Butat its worst, the album—releasednot on Lislevand’s former labelAuvidis/Astree but on the ECM newmusic series—turns Renaissance divi-sion practice into the stuff of fantasyfilm scores.

Call up a scene from The Lord ofthe Rings and you could probablyfind an appropriate soundtracksomewhere on this album. Disori-ented maidens seem to sing theirway across rainswept landscapes,sometimes in Italian and sometimesin faint but heavily reverbed vocalise.Sometimes they sound as if they aretrapped at the bottoms of wells. Lit-tle bells shimmer. The sound isextensively engineered and airy,weakening the sense of a spatialrelationship between the singers andinstrumentalists. As a result, theinstrumental numbers are mostappealing, which is a pity becausethe singers have beautiful voices.

In fact, all the playing andsinging is of a very high caliber, andif you were actually in the recordinghall with the performers (except per-haps the percussionist, with some ofhis New-Age shimmers), you’d hearsome quite beautiful 16th-century-style sounds. In other words, thank-fully, this isn’t Sting singing Dow-land. In fact, one of the morebizarre moments on the CD is one ofthe most musically straight-up: notefor note and gesture for gesture, it’sa perfect imitation of Jordi Savall’ssignature tune “La Perra Mora.” Theonly bowed string on the album is a

player ofnyckelharpa,and he’s notcredited forthe track. Isthis a jam-ming remix(with colas-

cione, triple harp, and lute) on anactual sample of the Catalan mas-ter’s own playing? Or just a breath-takingly faithful and virtuosic pieceof trans-instrument mimicry?

It’s easy to find oneself becom-ing a historical-practice curmudg-eon. In truth, the CD is good at itsown aims, which its liner notes sug-gest are to reach listeners whohaven’t heard of diminution practicebefore, many of whom will indeedfind its dreaminess genuinely mov-ing. Many readers of this magazine,on the other hand, will wish for themore naturalistic CD that Lislevand’sensemble could have producedinstead; many of his arrangements

would doubtless have been hits. Butwould NPR’s classical music critichave given it such a loving andprominent radio review spot? Per-haps not. The usual line of thinkingis that this sort of crossover albumwill tempt new listeners to venturefurther into the early music field. If Iconfess myself to be a skeptic, I’lladd that I’d welcome being provenwrong. In the meantime, I’d love tohear more from this ensemble, withthe singers articulating audibly andsounding like they’re in the sameroom with the instruments—because I bet that real life with theseplayers is at least as interesting asfantasy.—Shulamit Kleinerman

A German BouquetTrio Settecento (Rachel Barton Pine, John MarkRozendaal, David Schrader)Cedille 90000 114www.cedillerecords.org

Rachel Barton Pine’s interest inthe Baroque violin has always beenexciting to witness. For a musician ofher caliber, there are big bucks andglory to be found in the powerhouse19th-century concertos. If youdevoted your whole childhood andadolescence to acquiring toweringmodern-violin musicianship—thehigh-position gymnastics, the throb-bing, forceful tone—perhaps it takescourage to put some of those cre-dentials aside from time to time.

Then again, maybe it’s refresh-ing. While her professional biogra-phy focuses on her mainstream clas-sical work, Barton Pine’s discographyalternates Romantic warhorses withearly music, Eastern European tunes,and electrified thrash metal (really!).The Baroque violin doesn’t showcaseeverything Barton Pine can do interms of soloistic brawn, but herplaying reveals a deeper intelligenceand a wider-ranging curiosity. Andby now, it’s stylistically spot-on.

Barton Pine has been recordingon the Baroque violin since 1997’sHandel sonata disc, her secondrecording and her first release withTrio Settecento. The Handel CD wasappealing but still marked by someof the gratuitous muscle-flexing thatcharacterizes modern violin tech-nique. There was no doubt that shewas a great player, and the CDmight have turned on some mod-ern-violin aficionados to the grainysweetness of gut strings, but itprobably wouldn’t have been mostBaroque specialists’ first choice.

After 13 years with the trio—proudly claimed as “My Chamber

Group!” on her website—BartonPine is as mature and satisfying aBaroque soloist as you could hopeto hear. While expressive risk-takingisn’t so much what defines her here,something in her pure technicalcommand and easy confidence isunusually bewitching. Her sound—on an original, unaltered Gagliano—is bright, clear, and juicy. A German

Bouquet fea-tures a well-chosen pro-gram thatranges, inchronologicalorder, fromthe cheery

Renaissance-hearkenings of Schopand the fantastic meanderings ofSchmelzer and Muffat to Bach’sexhilarating E minor continuosonata. Continuo support is impec-cably solid and tasteful, with JohnMark Rozendaal on bass viol andcello and David Schrader on harpsi-chord and positiv organ. The record-ing is acoustically strong as well,warm and spacious, with perfectbalance that spotlights the violin butincludes the continuo in the field ofvision.

This is the second CD in a geo-graphic series that began with TrioSettecento’s An Italian Sojourn threeyears ago. Promised future install-ments will visit France and the BritishIsles. It’s safe to assume that thejourney will continue to delight.—Shulamit Kleinerman

Meyster Ob Allen Meystern:Conrad Paumann and the15th Century GermanKeyboard SchoolTasto Solo (David Catalunya,clavisimbalum; Andrés AlbertoGómez, gothic organ; ReinhildWaldek, gothic harp; GuillermoPérez, organetto and director)Passacaille 950www.passacaille.be

The composer and keyboardvirtuoso Conrad Paumann (c.1410– -1473) was one of the most signifi-cant figures in 15th-century Germanorgan music, and he’s the inspira-tion for this recording by Tasto Solo,an ensemble specializing in key-board music of the 14th and 15thcenturies. Paumann held churchposts in Nuremburg and Munich,and his fame as an organist spreadbeyond both cities. He traveled fre-quently and even made his way tothe Gonzaga court in Mantua.

For this recording, Tasto Solo hasselected 18 works from two of themost important codices of the


DAVID PETTY & ASSOC., PIPE ORGANS

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in SeattleMarch 2011

The American Handel Festival

www.americanhandelfestival.org

Nicholas McGegan: Seattle SymphonyKaren P. Thomas: Seattle Pro Musica: Dixit DominusEarly Music Guild: Portland Baroque Orchestra & Les Voix Baroques: Bach St. John PassionGallery Concerts, with Julianne BairdStephen Stubbs: Pacific Musicworks & Tudor Choir: EstherPaul O’Dette & Boston Early Music Festival: Acis and GalateaIngrid Matthews: Seattle Baroque Orchestra

Plus workshops, scholarly papers, and more:

period: the Buxheimer Orgelbuchand the Lochamer Liederbuch. Sincea number of the works in bothcodices are attributed to the Nurem-burg and Munich Paumann schools

(Paumannand his sonhad numer-ous stu-dents), theconnectionto the greatkeyboardist

makes the disc’s title logical—despite the fact that none of hismusic appears on the recording.

The repertoire is a mix ofmelodies from the popular Germanlieder of the time, flashy praeam -bulum and redeuntes (early forms ofpreludes) and a number of variationson dance tunes. The program isnicely balanced, too, with jauntylieder tunes juxtaposed with moreserious praeambulum. There are a number of surprises, especially in the redeuntes in various keys that look forward to the ricercare

of the early Baroque.Tasto Solo’s instrumental palette

is very tasty, with a consort com-prised of organetto, gothic organ,gothic harp, and clavisimbalum. Iwas especially taken by the sound ofthe clavisimbalum, an instrumentreconstructed from instructionsfound in a musical treatise by Philipthe Good’s doctor and musician,Arnaut de Zwolle (c.1440). Theinstrument, with metal strings andplectra cut from eagle feathers, hasa marvelously rich sound. The ever-changing mix of instruments andthe remarkable musicianship of theensemble make this a rewardingrecording.—Craig Zeichner

Passion and Lament: ChoralMasterworks of the 17thCenturyThe Bach Sinfonia; Sinfonia Voci;Daniel Abraham, conductorDorian Sono Luminus DSL 90913www.dorian.com

On this newest release from the

Bach Sinfonia and Sinfonia Voci, thetitle says it all—the recording focus-es on some of the most dramaticworks by 17th-century composersSalamone Rossi, Heinrich IgnazFranz von Biber, and Giacomo Caris-simi. Of these, Carissimi’s Jephte isby far the most well known. BothBiber and Rossi were known as vio-linists and composers of instrumen-tal music, although both also wrotecopious amounts of vocal music. ForRossi, the madrigal was the pre-ferred form, but being Jewish, healso composed The Songs ofSolomon, a collection of liturgicalmusic in Hebrew; the disc beginswith six of these pieces.

Most of the settings in Rossi’scollection are predominantly homo-phonic, lightly ornamented withmoving lines and occasional flour-ishes, as befits a worship service. Thereduced vocal ensemble, with whatsounds like one on a part, uses abright, restrained, and nicely blend-ed tone, well-suited to this style ofwriting. They do a fine job of bring-ing out moments where movinglines occur, especially in the lowestvoices, and there’s a nice bounce inthe triple-meter sections that’smotile without being indecorous.

Most of these works are songs ofpraise, but there is still an elementof drama inherent in the text, onethat is not always brought out asintensely as perhaps might be war-ranted in a concert setting, but for aliturgical service, these are lovely.

Biber’s setting of the StabatMater follows. It’s an infrequentlyrecorded work, which is a shame asit contains some truly beautifulmoments that the ensemble cap-tures well, both vocally and in thetasteful continuo. There are a num-ber of passages with long, sustainednotes in which the sound quality isexcellent, but as in the Rossi, I findmyself wanting a slightly heavier

lean onsome ofthe moredramaticdisso-nances.However,verse

seven is much more aggressive incharacter, and the vocalists do agreat job of modifying their tonebetween verses seven and 10 and their musical contrafacts, verses 11 and 20, to best express the different texts. The concluding

RECORDINGreviews


Amen is simply gorgeous. But as lovely and well-done as

these pieces are, they do seem like aprequel, a warm-up act, for theCarissimi, which opens with a tasteful improvised prologue. Thesoloists—soprano Jennifer Ellis Kam-pani, alto Barbara Hollinshead, tenorTony Boutté, and baritone SumnerThompson—are delightfully well-suited to their proper roles, infusingthe laments with the right air ofpathos and the happier sectionswith celebratory energy. In particu-lar, the famed lament by Jephte,“Heu mihi,” is mournful and dra-matic, while the Basso Solo in“Fugite, cedite” is gloriously martialand self-righteous. The choral sec-tions are especially attractive, sowell-balanced and crystalline, andthe concluding “Plorate filii Israel,”my personal favorite moment, isheartwrenching.

Special kudos go to directorDaniel Abraham and musicologistsDon Harrán and Beverly Stein for theliner notes, which direct the listenerto some of the more crucialmoments and important themespresent in the works, as well as providing a simple but thoroughunderstanding of their cultural and

historical relevance. A great job, allaround, and a welcome addition tothe recorded repertories of all threecomposers.—Karen Cook

Rejoice All the EarthTrès (Deborah Rentz-Moore, Lisa Brooke, Daniel Rowe, Michael Beattie)Emmanuel Audio Recordingwww.ensembletres.com

Boston-based Très’s first CD,Rejoice All the Earth, is a holidayalbum that includes “music from allover Europe to celebrate Advent,Christmas, Hanukkah and the NewYear” (album cover).

Très, a four-member chamberensemble, was created in 2001 byLisa Brooke, a Baroque violinist.Brooke, along with fellow membersDeborah Rentz-Moore (mezzo-soprano), Daniel Rowe (Baroquecello), and Michael Beattie (harpsi-chord/organ) have impressive tour-ing and performance experience.Their website stresses a commitmentto early chamber music on a com-munity as well as national/inter -national level. In Brooke’s ownwords: “My goal is to build a cham-ber group with regular members,

worthy of the beautiful place inwhich we live, and to find ways toconnect the two. The granite, theterrain, the architecture of the NorthShore all inspire our music making! I say bring the music right here toour own back yard!” Rejoice All theEarth is one fruit of this admirablegoal.

The pieces featured on this CDrun the gamut from the well known

to theratherobscure.Bach, Han-del, andTelemannare repre-sented, as

are Biber, de Lalande, Hahn, Bassani,and Marais. While these representsome of the greatest Baroque mas-terpieces, the performances are notentirely consistent. Deborah Rentz-Moore shines on “Mariam MatremVirginem,” expertly executing the acappella opening. Her performanceson “Sing und klingendes Lieb-, Lob-,und Danck, Armonie festive osiano,” and “Lo How a Rose E’erBlooming” are equally stunning.However, in other places she is notquite as assured in her pronuncia-

tion and melismas, with a somewhatheavy tone quality.

Brooke, Rowe, and Beattie per-form expertly on the instrumentalpieces, with a tightly focused andplayful sound. Noëls en Trio (DeLalande) includes six lovely songs,simple and brilliant in their execu-tion. “Sonnerie de Ste. Genevieve duMont de Paris” (Marais) features awarm cello ostinato symbolizing theringing church bells. The organ andviolin complement each other inMystery Sonata of the Rosary #1The Annunciation (Biber). Beattieprovides a foundation for the flutter-ing of Brooke’s wings as she deftlynego tiates the soaring yet plaintiveruns.

The result is an album ambitiousin scope and valuable for its contri-bution of relatively unknown works.Regardless of some difficulties, Trèsis to be congratulated on its first CD;one hopes for many more. —Heather Anne Strohschein

Heather Anne Strohschein is aninstructor of music at Bowling GreenState University. She was recentlyaccepted to the Ph.D. program inethnomusicology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

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