Early Music America Spring 2014 - (Page 19)

recordingreviews Edited by Tom Moore Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach The Piano Quartets Musical Offering: Sarah Paysnick, flute; Sarah Darling, violin, viola; Matthew Hall, fortepiano Ad Parnassum www.musical-offering.org There are musicians and composers whose creative work appeals to a broad swath of listeners- including those without musical training-and those whose appeal is more rarefied, speaking above all to professional musicians and educated audiences. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) is one of the latter; in a long and active life he produced both works appealing to the musical amateur (many collections of keyboard pieces) and music that intensely expressed his inward feelings. The three quartets that C.P.E. Bach wrote during the last year of his life (he died in Hamburg, where he had succeeded his godfather Telemann 20 years before) belong to the latter category. The scoring is rather unusual: obbligato parts for flute and viola join a virtuosic part for fortepiano (with no sign of any original part for a cello). Indeed, there are virtually no other works for this combination. The earliest recording that I recall of the set of three (H. 537-9; W. 9395) was that issued in 1977 on Oiseau-Lyre by Christopher Hogwood, accompanied by Nicholas McGegan, flute, Catherine Mackintosh, viola, and Anthony Pleeth, cello. Since then, there have been a handful more, with a 1998 Passecaille recording from Shalev Ad-El, Jan de Winne, Marten Boeken, and Roel Dieltiens , and, surprisingly enough, one on modern instruments (Bent Larsen et al. on Classico). This disc from Musical Offering spotlights the work of three young musicians located in the Boston area, a place for continuing innovation in early music. Musical Offering has a varied membership depending on the project or concert, and their website is reticent about divulging who might be the primum mobile. This seems to be the first outing on disc for both flutist Sarah Paysnick and keyboardist Matthew Hall; violinist/violist Sarah Darling has a volume of chamber music by California composer Leland Smith on Naxos to her credit. The assured mastery of the playing of all three, and their excellent ensemble work, which are scarcely to be taken for granted in these difficult works, belong to seasoned professionals. The phrasing is full of nuance and rhythmic inflection, with an attention to every detail that brings these works to vivid life. The recorded balance is quite realistic; the piano is clearly the senior partner, and the flute does not step unnaturally forward in the mix. Hall plays a Walter-style instrument by Chris Maene; the flute and viola used are not identified, but Paysnick produces a beautifully tuned (and vibrato-free) liquid tone. Paysnick and Darling also step forward for solos: the Hamburger sonata, W. 133, and a sonata for violin and obbligato keyboard, W. 77. All in all, this is an excellent and most collectible recording, with a quality of musicianship that, 30 years ago, would have merited a long contract with a major label. Don't miss it. I hope that Musical Offering will manage to produce many more such. -Tom Moore William Brade, Thomas Simpson Taffel Consort Weser-Renaissance Bremen; Manfred Cordes, director CPO 999952-2 www.classicsonline.com/CPO Despite that "globalization" has only become a buzzword in the last several years, the musical world has always been interconnected, not consisting of hermetically contained national styles. For most of the 18th century, Bohemia was known as the "Conservatory of Europe" because of its exported composers and performers; a century and a half earlier, England, with a long tradition of excellence in musical education but questionable employment prospects, sent a stream of talented musicians to Europe. Those who stayed home are perhaps better known today, but William Brade (1560-1630) and Thomas Simpson (1582-c.1628) are worth getting to know as well. Brade left England early enough that he made no mark on musical life there, but he published at least five collections of five-part consort music on the continent between 1609 and 1621, and spent his career moving often between numerous courts, eventually living his last years in Hamburg. Simpson is likewise most visible in his activities on the continent, arriving at the Danish court by the late 1620s. He also published three collections, the last titled Taffel Consort, with more modern four-part settings. Recordings of this repertoire have been surprisingly scarce, given the evergreen popularity of Dowland and Holborne. The King's Noyse produced a 1996 release (Mascharada) on Harmonia Mundi that focuses on Brade and Simpson; now, WeserRenaissance Bremen, directed by Manfred Cordes (positive organ), offers a selection of pavans and galliards by these composers, played on a mixed consort of violins, gambas, plucked instruments, and transverse flute, including a set of variations on a "Coral" by Brade, supposedly the earliest English violin solo. If you like English music (you know you do), this one is for you. Delectable selections, and almost certainly new to your collection. -Tom Moore Henry Eccles Sonatas for Violin & Continuo (First Book, 1720) The Callipygian Players: Martin Davids, violin, director; Craig Trompeter, cello; David Schrader, harpsichord Musica Omnia MO0411 (2 CDs) www.musicaomnia.org Henry Eccles (1670-1742), of unsure parentage within the musical but eccentric Eccles family, left little historical record. He seems to have spent most of his career in France. This is the first of his two books of sonatas, which constitutes what today would be an intellectual-rights nightmare of material borrowed principally from Italian violinist Giuseppe Valentini. These sonatas are mostly known through late19th-century soloists who presented highly redacted versions of the original material. This first recording of the entire book uses the original manuscript. Eccles's contribution was mostly editorial-small changes and transpositions-but he also composed some of the slower movements. The borrowed and original material is listed in the notes, and the works composed by Eccles display a pleasing English lyricism. A certain pastoral quality is present throughout: contrapuntal duets in Sonata III create a gentle dialogue. This contrasts with the pulsing double-stops in Sonata XII. A nobility in Sonata X shadows Eccles's contemporary, Purcell, and Sonata XI can be heard as presaging Elgar. The Chicago-based Callipygian Players do a fine job with the difficult task of presenting an entire collection of similar works while remaining fresh and engaging. Violinist Martin Davids, who works the increasingly viable Baroque-Contemporary career combination, finds an affect for each movement, engaging the listener. Cellist Craig Trompeter slides smoothly from continuo support to melodic counterpoint, and David Schrader provides a pleasing harpsichord accompaniment. Both performance and recording are uniformly excellent. -Lance Hulme Alessandro Grandi Sospiro: Complete Arias, Volume III, 1626 Bud Roach, tenor, Baroque guitar Musica Omnia MO0506 www.musicaomnia.org This recording includes 23 very attractive but rather unusual arias for solo voice and guitar by the early Baroque Venetian composer Alessandro Grandi (1586-1630). The songs constitute Grandi's third Early Music America Spring 2014 19 http://www.musical-offering.org http://www.classicsonline.com/CPO http://www.musicaomnia.org http://www.musicaomnia.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Early Music America Spring 2014

Editor's Note
Reader Forum
Sound Bytes
Musings: My No Early Music Dream
Profile: Choral Conductor Amelia LeClair
Recording Reviews
Donors ex machina
Three Small Nails
Early Music Is a Capital Idea
Composing Electronic Music for Baroque Instruments
2014 Guide: Workshops & Festivals
Book Reviews
Ad Index
In Conclusion: 4,568 Pages Ago

Early Music America Spring 2014