Skip to main content
Read page text
page 4
GRAMOPHONE AWARDS SHORTLIST 2014 Click on a CD cover to buy from Presto Classical Baroque Instrumental CPE Bach ‘Württemberg’ Sonatas, Wq49 H30‑34, 36 Mahan Esfahani hpd Hyperion F CDA67995 (77’ • DDD) Mahan Esfahani’s debut recital recording commemorates the tercentenary of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach (1714-88), whose collection of six sonatas published in 1744 was dedicated to Duke Carl Eugen of Württemberg (later the Stuttgart employer of Jommelli), and composed while he was employed at the court of Frederick II of Prussia (who had not yet won his epithet as ‘the Great’). Thus these sonatas date from before JS Bach’s visit to his son in Berlin that spawned The Musical Offering (1747), and their stylistic peculiarity reconfirms the inadequacy of clumsy attempts to categorise mid-18th-century composers who straddled the so-called ‘late Baroque’ and ‘early Classical’ periods. Esfahani’s booklet-note provides the listener with a convivial commentary in which he draws attention to CPE Bach’s ‘Janus-like musical personality’ – nowhere more apparent than in the juxtaposition of recitative-like introduction, an intricate Adagio non molto and an extrovertly contrapuntal conclusion in the final sonata (H36). It is apt that Esfahani plays on a copy of surviving instruments by the Berlin court instrument-builder Michael Mietke (from whom JS Bach bought a two-manual harpsichord for the Cöthen court in 1719). There is an unpredictable lute stop used briefly in the Andante of H30, a gentle exploitation of dissonances throughout the Adagio and Vivace of H33, and Haydnesque playfulness in the finale of H32. The elusive fusion of thematic intricacy, ‘Baroque’ rhetoric and ‘proto-Classical’ Sturm und Drang offered by the instrument are caught perfectly by Esfahani’s supple touch and disarming sense of rhetorical pacing. David Vickers JS Bach Brandenburg Concertos, BWV1046‑51 Dunedin Consort / John Butt Linn M b Í CKD430 (93’ • DDD/DSD) Expertly stylish recordings of the six concertos Bach presented in neat copy to the Margrave of Brandenburg in March 1721 are two-a-penny but the Dunedin Consort offer more substantial style and bona fide expertise than most. John Butt’s essay is an accessible commentary, narrated with a friendly authority that bespeaks his extensive academic and performing experience. Several choices reveal sincere reflection about how Bach might have expected such concertos to be played during his years of service at Cöthen, such as the use of low ‘Cammerton’ pitch (A=392) and Werkmeister III temperament, and a decision to tune the viola da gamba and violone grosso to ‘Chorton’ (ie up a third) in order to better exploit the sonorities of open strings. None of those principles would be quite so valuable if the music-making wasn’t charismatic and refreshing. The pair of horns and three oboes in the opening of Concerto No 1 offer unforced conversational sparkle and the French-style fourth movement is an eloquent courtly dance (particularly the poignant trio for oboes and bassoon and compassionate strings in the Polacca). The nine-part strings in the dazzling finale of Concerto No 3 (which Butt takes at quite a lick) suggest the extravagant flair of Vivaldi’s L’estro armonico. The final Presto of Concerto No 4 is just one example of Bernardini’s articulate bowing and relaxed phrasing in rapid passages, and cellist Jonathan Manson and harpsichordist Butt provide continuo with characterful joie de vivre. Butt plays a modern replica of a large Mietke harpsichord like one purchased by the Cöthen court in 1719 and his flexible performance of Bach’s cadenza in Concerto No 5 has a rare extemporised atmosphere of exuberant fun; the amusement of the orchestra is almost tangible in the closing ritornello. In contrast, the lower strings convey sublime melancholy in the Adagio ma non tanto of Concerto No 6. Notwithstanding the distinguished Brandenburg discography, this set is nothing short of sensational. David Vickers JS Bach Four Orchestral Suites, BWV1066‑69 La Petite Bande / Sigiswald Kuijken Accent F ACC24279 (79’ • DDD) There are few musicians who appear more steeped in their worlds than Sigiswald Kuijken and one senses that Bach’s pure instrumental vein frees his spirit like none other. For while his concurrent cantata series promotes a particular rhetorical posture, sometimes over-driven by dogmatic signposts, these performances of the four surviving suites not only sound supremely natural but register among the most stylish and subtle to emerge in years. Forming the basis of many a self-respecting early music group, the Suites tend to encourage a degree of muscle-flexing in gestural grandeur and corporate homogeneity. La Petite Bande have the latter virtue in abundance but take opulence in their stride and add a kaleidoscopic range of intimacies, inferences and gestural landscapes which are both thrilling and delectable. By presenting in the order 1, 3, 2, 4, the two D major works are successfully broken up while retaining the unequivocally elegant C major Suite as the scene-setting ‘pastorale’; the strings and winds traverse the music with a geniality and irresistible sangfroid. If less is not always more in Kuijken’s cantata performances, the taut 15-odd musicians present the trumpet-anddrum works with just the right mix of élan and spit and sawdust (old trumpets with no holes provide many extra overtones and gamey tunings). Some might find the Air a touch sour but this is less about intonation than Kuijken exhibiting the maverick, never too far below the surface. Yet it is Kuijken’s uncomplicated delight in Bach’s arresting view of this Teutonically adopted French art form that wins the day. The flute suite (No 2) is like a delicious puff pastry in the lithe hands of Barthold Kuijken, restrained and flirting with French inégales in the Rondeau – those suggestive swung figures which one assumes were still currency in signed-up Gallic-inspired German courts such as Celle. As in all the 6 GRAMOPHONE AWARDS 2014 gramophone.co.uk gramophone.co.uk
page 5
GRAMOPHONE AWARDS SHORTLIST 2014 performances, the violone provides a distinctively resonating bass without doubling the octave, and thereby establishes a unique registral clarity. Compared to Kuijken’s relatively unwieldy version from 1982, a mesmerising purpose, natural balance and transparency of sound bring these works alive with quite remarkable results. Jonathan Freeman‑Attwood Selected comparison: Petite Bande, Kuijken, r1982 (12/82R) (DHM) 88697 68385-2 Corelli ‘The Complete Concerti grossi’ Twelve Concerti grossi, Op 6. Sinfonia, WoO1. Sonata a quattro, WoO2 Gli Incogniti / Amandine Beyer vn Zig-Zag Territoires M b ZZT327 (145’ • DDD) Recorded live at the Arsenal, Metz, February 10 & 11, 2012 Gli Incogniti and Amandine Beyer have made significant ripples on the Baroque orchestral scene with their flamboyant and refreshing style, and now turn their attention to Corelli’s concerti grossi. Perfected over a number of years and prepared for publication by Corelli shortly prior to his death, Op 6 was eventually printed under the supervision of his partner and heir Matteo Fornari in 1714. This recording titled ‘The Complete Concerti grossi’ also presents two other works: a posthumously published sonata in four parts in G minor that lends itself to either chamber or orchestral forces, and the sinfonia Corelli provided for Lulier’s 1689 oratorio Santa Beatrice d’Este, some of which Corelli adapted into Op 6 No 6. Beyer observes that the sizes and constitutions of Corelli’s orchestras in Rome varied between 10 and 100 players depending on the circumstances (we know that the orchestra for Santa Beatrice d’Este numbered 80). Gli Incogniti’s ensemble of 18 musicians is typical for most periodinstrument recordings of Op 6, and, as with other classy interpretations in the distinguished discography (too many to mention here), they confirm that Corelli’s mastery over concertino and ripieno textures unlocks a kaleidoscope of sonorities and moods. There is carefree elation in the concertino exchanges in the first and last Allegros of No 4 (perhaps a bit too fast but never abrasive), and sincere yearning in the Largo of No 6 (labelled incorrectly as No 5 in the booklet). The concertino violins and cello sparkle with conversational animation in quick music (the scurrying cello lines are placed centre stage in the Allemandes of Nos 9 and 11), and slow movements are always enriched by immaculately balanced suspensions and gorgeously firm bass notes (the Grave of No 3). The ‘Christmas Concerto’ (No 8) typifies how Gli Incogniti paint a chiaroscuro of muscular zestiness (the penultimate Vivace), melancholic sublimity (the heartfelt Adagio) and refinement (the sweetly contoured emulation of shepherds’ zampognari in the Pastorale). Entirely devoid of contrived preciousness or formulaic complacency, this is simply magnificent. David Vickers Schmelzer ‘Sacro-Profanus’ Sacro-profanus concentus musicus – Sonatas III‑IX. Al giorno delle correggie. Fechtschule. Polnische Sackpfeiffen. Lamento sopra la morte Ferdinandi III Ensemble Masques / Olivier Fortin hpd Zig-Zag Territoires F ZZT334 (54’ • DDD) Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (c1620/23-1680) spent most of his career occupying prestigious appointments at the Viennese court of Emperor Leopold I. In his dedication to Sacro-profanus concentus musicus (1662) the composer stated that ‘this Sacred-Profane Musical Concord…may serve both the pious veneration of the saints and the honest pleasure of mankind, both to arouse piety in church and to refresh the human spirit outside it’. The book contains 13 sonatas that range in scale from two up to eight instruments; Ensembles Masques present seven sonatas in five or six parts. The ascending cadences that commence Sonata III are an example of the six-part string textures played exquisitely by fiddlers Sophie Gent and Tuomo Suni, viola players Kathleen Kajioka and Simon Heyerick, gambist Mélisande Corriveau and violone player Benoît Vanden Bemden. Their performances apply conversational sophistication to contrapuntal intricacy, nowhere more so than in the softly rapturous slow passages during Sonata IX. Schmelzer’s diversity and imagination are revealed in a variety of other pieces such as the elegaic Lamento sopra la morte Ferdinandi III (1657; his earliest and probably most often recorded piece), the short ballet Die Fechtschule (1668; in which there is battaglia-style imitation of clashing of swords at a fencing school), an evocation of Polish bagpipes playing folk music in Polnische Sackpfeiffen (1665) and a not-so- subtle splash of humour from rumbling bassoon interruptions during a five-part sonata Al giorno delle correggie (1676) that alludes to the after-effect of eating a lot of beans. These outstanding performances are by turns beguiling and entertaining. David Vickers Telemann ‘Ouvertures à 8’ Ouvertures, TWV55 – B10; d3; D15 Ensemble Zefiro / Alfredo Bernardini Arcana F A371 (74’ • DDD) Having been warmly reviewed in these pages as recently as the November issue, Ensemble Zefiro would seem at the top of their game, because their performances in this selection of three of Telemann’s virtuoso Ouvertures is hardly less dazzling than their Vivaldi bassoon concertos. When in 1992 Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert recorded a slightly different threesome (Archiv, 6/93 – only the B flat major is common to both), they relied on a larger ripieno ensemble that could easily hold its own against the oboes and bassoon. Times have changed and tastes evolved. The much-vaunted lean muscularity of the Ensemble Zefiro performances favours the wind instruments and, when joined with one-to-a-part strings, produces a freshly balanced sonority that alters our experience of these works. Of course, Telemann deserves credit for devising endlessly clever ways of setting them against one another. The D major Ouverture is topped and tailed with little Brandenburgian trumpet-like interjections by the oboes, and in between there is a wonderfully hectic Harlequinade, deftly punctuated with hilariously bombastic tuttis. In the D minor Ouverture, Alberto Grazzi produces ravishing pedal tones on his bassoon that assume more importance than they might have done in the past. Elsewhere winds and strings are contrasted in snatches of dialogue, antiphony and echo, and enhanced by the dramatic use of silence (listen, for example, to the Gavotte, Air and Canaries). The B flat major contains equally memorable moments, such as the elegantly phrased Rondeau, the crisply syncopated Hornepipe, the concerto-ish Plainte and the Vivaldian Combattans, complete with tremolo strings. Special praise is due to the superb, unstinting continuo players. Thrilling! Julie Anne Sadie gramophone.co.uk gramophone.co.uk GRAMOPHONE AWARDS 2014 7

Page Text

View plaintext

GRAMOPHONE AWARDS SHORTLIST 2014

performances, the violone provides a distinctively resonating bass without doubling the octave, and thereby establishes a unique registral clarity.

Compared to Kuijken’s relatively unwieldy version from 1982, a mesmerising purpose, natural balance and transparency of sound bring these works alive with quite remarkable results. Jonathan Freeman‑Attwood Selected comparison: Petite Bande, Kuijken, r1982 (12/82R) (DHM) 88697 68385-2

Corelli ‘The Complete Concerti grossi’ Twelve Concerti grossi, Op 6. Sinfonia, WoO1. Sonata a quattro, WoO2 Gli Incogniti / Amandine Beyer vn Zig-Zag Territoires M b ZZT327 (145’ • DDD) Recorded live at the Arsenal, Metz, February 10 & 11, 2012

Gli Incogniti and Amandine Beyer have made significant ripples on the Baroque orchestral scene with their flamboyant and refreshing style, and now turn their attention to Corelli’s concerti grossi. Perfected over a number of years and prepared for publication by Corelli shortly prior to his death, Op 6 was eventually printed under the supervision of his partner and heir Matteo Fornari in 1714. This recording titled ‘The Complete Concerti grossi’ also presents two other works: a posthumously published sonata in four parts in G minor that lends itself to either chamber or orchestral forces, and the sinfonia Corelli provided for Lulier’s 1689 oratorio Santa Beatrice d’Este, some of which Corelli adapted into Op 6 No 6.

Beyer observes that the sizes and constitutions of Corelli’s orchestras in Rome varied between 10 and 100 players depending on the circumstances (we know that the orchestra for Santa Beatrice d’Este numbered 80). Gli Incogniti’s ensemble of 18 musicians is typical for most periodinstrument recordings of Op 6, and, as with other classy interpretations in the distinguished discography (too many to mention here), they confirm that Corelli’s mastery over concertino and ripieno textures unlocks a kaleidoscope of sonorities and moods. There is carefree elation in the concertino exchanges in the first and last Allegros of No 4 (perhaps a bit too fast but never abrasive), and sincere yearning in the Largo of No 6 (labelled incorrectly as No 5 in the booklet). The concertino violins and cello sparkle with conversational animation in quick music (the scurrying cello lines are placed centre stage in the Allemandes of Nos 9 and 11), and slow movements are always enriched by immaculately balanced suspensions and gorgeously firm bass notes (the Grave of No 3). The ‘Christmas Concerto’ (No 8) typifies how Gli Incogniti paint a chiaroscuro of muscular zestiness (the penultimate Vivace), melancholic sublimity (the heartfelt Adagio) and refinement (the sweetly contoured emulation of shepherds’ zampognari in the Pastorale). Entirely devoid of contrived preciousness or formulaic complacency, this is simply magnificent. David Vickers

Schmelzer

‘Sacro-Profanus’ Sacro-profanus concentus musicus – Sonatas III‑IX. Al giorno delle correggie. Fechtschule. Polnische Sackpfeiffen. Lamento sopra la morte Ferdinandi III Ensemble Masques / Olivier Fortin hpd Zig-Zag Territoires F ZZT334 (54’ • DDD)

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (c1620/23-1680) spent most of his career occupying prestigious appointments at the Viennese court of Emperor Leopold I. In his dedication to Sacro-profanus concentus musicus (1662) the composer stated that ‘this Sacred-Profane Musical Concord…may serve both the pious veneration of the saints and the honest pleasure of mankind, both to arouse piety in church and to refresh the human spirit outside it’. The book contains 13 sonatas that range in scale from two up to eight instruments; Ensembles Masques present seven sonatas in five or six parts. The ascending cadences that commence Sonata III are an example of the six-part string textures played exquisitely by fiddlers Sophie Gent and Tuomo Suni, viola players Kathleen Kajioka and Simon Heyerick, gambist Mélisande Corriveau and violone player Benoît Vanden Bemden. Their performances apply conversational sophistication to contrapuntal intricacy, nowhere more so than in the softly rapturous slow passages during Sonata IX.

Schmelzer’s diversity and imagination are revealed in a variety of other pieces such as the elegaic Lamento sopra la morte Ferdinandi III (1657; his earliest and probably most often recorded piece), the short ballet Die Fechtschule (1668; in which there is battaglia-style imitation of clashing of swords at a fencing school), an evocation of Polish bagpipes playing folk music in Polnische Sackpfeiffen (1665) and a not-so-

subtle splash of humour from rumbling bassoon interruptions during a five-part sonata Al giorno delle correggie (1676) that alludes to the after-effect of eating a lot of beans. These outstanding performances are by turns beguiling and entertaining. David Vickers

Telemann ‘Ouvertures à 8’ Ouvertures, TWV55 – B10; d3; D15 Ensemble Zefiro / Alfredo Bernardini Arcana F A371 (74’ • DDD)

Having been warmly reviewed in these pages as recently as the November issue,

Ensemble Zefiro would seem at the top of their game, because their performances in this selection of three of Telemann’s virtuoso Ouvertures is hardly less dazzling than their Vivaldi bassoon concertos. When in 1992 Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert recorded a slightly different threesome (Archiv, 6/93 – only the B flat major is common to both), they relied on a larger ripieno ensemble that could easily hold its own against the oboes and bassoon. Times have changed and tastes evolved. The much-vaunted lean muscularity of the Ensemble Zefiro performances favours the wind instruments and, when joined with one-to-a-part strings, produces a freshly balanced sonority that alters our experience of these works.

Of course, Telemann deserves credit for devising endlessly clever ways of setting them against one another. The D major Ouverture is topped and tailed with little Brandenburgian trumpet-like interjections by the oboes, and in between there is a wonderfully hectic Harlequinade, deftly punctuated with hilariously bombastic tuttis. In the D minor Ouverture, Alberto Grazzi produces ravishing pedal tones on his bassoon that assume more importance than they might have done in the past. Elsewhere winds and strings are contrasted in snatches of dialogue, antiphony and echo, and enhanced by the dramatic use of silence (listen, for example, to the Gavotte, Air and Canaries). The B flat major contains equally memorable moments, such as the elegantly phrased Rondeau, the crisply syncopated Hornepipe, the concerto-ish Plainte and the Vivaldian Combattans, complete with tremolo strings. Special praise is due to the superb, unstinting continuo players. Thrilling! Julie Anne Sadie gramophone.co.uk gramophone.co.uk

GRAMOPHONE AWARDS 2014 7

read next page

My Bookmarks

Buy this Book
Skip to main content