tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27018068060876786362024-03-17T15:06:42.590+00:00FalsettistEarly music and more by Edward Breen <br>
Where possible, review entries are linked to their original publication.Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.comBlogger214125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-37858675917518234312024-02-25T09:10:00.001+00:002024-03-17T14:47:39.298+00:00LOCKE Consorts Flat and Sharp<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWa6o_R0Fc-DSNk1rHeftdJuH6xGNvB2zLlCYPG_fu4hVG-If6v0uQhHaq7hFhDfbmzLlnHS3dQRH2shxBLkhz1Y37X-fkAwIAxsfavmby2qDkvo0ZoS79aqt5VmNxK9s9fW6ui9kAnuapNFiICu4fs4Bd86kJDKVK59OZ47SLNIdd3_MjsS8xKSeOwCs/s1200/locke%20cover.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWa6o_R0Fc-DSNk1rHeftdJuH6xGNvB2zLlCYPG_fu4hVG-If6v0uQhHaq7hFhDfbmzLlnHS3dQRH2shxBLkhz1Y37X-fkAwIAxsfavmby2qDkvo0ZoS79aqt5VmNxK9s9fW6ui9kAnuapNFiICu4fs4Bd86kJDKVK59OZ47SLNIdd3_MjsS8xKSeOwCs/s320/locke%20cover.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>Locke: Consorts Flat and Sharp<br /><i>Locke, Matthew (c.1622-77)<br />Phantasm / Elizabeth Kenny (theorbo)<br />LINN: CKD737</i></b><br /><br />This disc completes the suites ‘for my cousin Kemble’ begun on Phantasm’s previous Matthew Locke recording (CD 594) and twins them with suites from Locke’s ‘Little Consort’ (1656) which call for for a combination of three viols and chordal bass instrument - hence this pleasing partnership with Elizabeth Kenny (theorbo).<br /><br /><br />Two suites in particular caught my attention and so I begin with an old favourite, the Little Consort suite No.10 in D. Being a long-time fan of Fretwork it bears obvious comparison with their recent release reviewed in January by Mark Seow (Signum SIGCD728). The differences are striking: whereas I find Fretwork to be nimble, deft and detailed - qualities I always admire in their playing - Phantasm are noticeably more demonstrative, being lead with flair from the treble viol by director, Laurence Dreyfus, they lean into Locke’s frequent eccentricities with broad and convincing phrasing. Take for instance the start of the Courant, a gentle pa-ta-pam in Fretwork’s performance is a more tempting thrum with Phantasm, and wheres Fretwork indulge only the second of the two the curlicue closing phrases Phantasm slow up both times in a rhetorical flourish. <br /><br />[...] This is a bold and beautiful recording of bold and beautiful music.<br /><br /><br /><i>for the full text of this review please click here: <a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/locke-consorts-flat-and-sharp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gramophone March 2024</a></i>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-86530244918889825712024-01-27T20:09:00.000+00:002024-01-27T20:09:05.721+00:00Monteverdi’s madrigals<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNH55wzv0ckRcUIxatoYCGM-obStZjNpMSFu0E2NFm8JYMG-R6KtRHREZMtB9tMjeeOvsYlUmfeK1UPB05iuvvGkttNceHmIVjQ4694uFt00EAB20rJdsK3meGYbYhG6dnxOc3DbT7zj1RQ57h2XVUt0oFx9YFLlFIUA6JC1zO1_nhUcMychRLAo7_U4A/s250/59_3700187675479.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="monteverdi cd box" border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNH55wzv0ckRcUIxatoYCGM-obStZjNpMSFu0E2NFm8JYMG-R6KtRHREZMtB9tMjeeOvsYlUmfeK1UPB05iuvvGkttNceHmIVjQ4694uFt00EAB20rJdsK3meGYbYhG6dnxOc3DbT7zj1RQ57h2XVUt0oFx9YFLlFIUA6JC1zO1_nhUcMychRLAo7_U4A/w320-h320/59_3700187675479.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Monteverdi’s madrigals</b><br /><i><b>Edward Breen welcomes the completion of a 30-year project to record all the madrigals<br /></b></i><br />Concerto Italiano – multiple Gramophone Award winners – complete their Monteverdi madrigal anthology begun 30 years ago (12/93) with this handsome collection from Naïve, which includes their latest release of the first and ‘last’ books. Looking back to the Gramophone Awards issue (11/94), Iain Fenlon wrote of their <i>Quarto libro de’ madrigali</i>: ‘Here, for the first time in the history of recording, a group of singers who really understand the language as only native Italians can has really shown us all the subtleties of Monteverdi’s powerful and moving rhetoric.’ This sentence captures the excitement surrounding early discs in this set and now, at the other end of the project, we can consider their treatment of Monteverdi’s compositional trajectory. Have Concerto Italiano, so enmeshed in this particular musical and literary epoch, invoked a sense of unfolding ‘baroquification’ despite recording these madrigals out of sequence and over three decades?<br /><br />In the physical box, the first disc is both the latest and last recording: it combines <i>Il primo libro</i> – which musicologist Paolo Fabri memorably described as a ‘proving ground’ – with the posthumous <i>Madrigali e canzonette a due e tre voci, libro nono,</i> published in 1651 by Alessandro Vincenti. The accompanying booklet contains an essay by Alessandrini stressing the importance of the poetry: ‘To overlook, neglect or otherwise subordinate the poetic text to the music in the way we listen today runs the risk of not only betraying the explicit premises of Monteverdi’s poetics (and not only his), but misrepresenting a more general cultural context’, alongside which Renzo Bragantini explores Monteverdi as experimentalist, describing how he moves from ‘what tradition has to offer [towards] Baroque elements’.<div><br /></div><div>[...]</div><div><br /></div><div><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 16px;">For the full text of this review please click: <a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/magazine" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gramophone, February 2024</a></i></div>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-84779452824441221222024-01-27T17:47:00.003+00:002024-01-27T17:48:15.730+00:00JS BACH Cantatas 56 & 82<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMmGKftq-rMLklCeROpkewZRTx2gWqsQdzf-NLfDIjBsi8p5xDqXKTHK6-z-i_5K93nkJznpZ5j_uJGNXNfgb3kqdKMi8JrOe5xasWIZLHwyb7gxcW_BZdRZdRJKLaTgKrpF-IAJEF6N83lfDYSiP6qvHi3WfH-VDngpw0_SHWbFwZjsakhis9Q2KvNI/s1535/KTC%201704.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1417" data-original-width="1535" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMmGKftq-rMLklCeROpkewZRTx2gWqsQdzf-NLfDIjBsi8p5xDqXKTHK6-z-i_5K93nkJznpZ5j_uJGNXNfgb3kqdKMi8JrOe5xasWIZLHwyb7gxcW_BZdRZdRJKLaTgKrpF-IAJEF6N83lfDYSiP6qvHi3WfH-VDngpw0_SHWbFwZjsakhis9Q2KvNI/s320/KTC%201704.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>J.s. Bach: Cantatas Bwv 56 & 82<br /><i>Le Concert Lorrain, Stephan Schultx (conductor), Christoph Prégardien (baritone)<br />Release Date: 24th Nov 2023<br />Catalogue No: KTC1704</i></b><br /><br />Two favourite Bach cantatas for bass voice sung by Christoph Prégardien, one of the most respected lyric tenors of his generation, and performed with an exquisitely sensitive Baroque orchestra, Le Concert Lorrain. Intrigued? You should be. It’s a programme based around works likely written for Johann Christoph Lipsius, who studied law in Leipzig during the 1730s, and in his notes Michael Maul suggests that this singer’s talent particularly inspired Bach. Certainly these two cantatas, linked by their themes of death, hope and comfort, have earned a rightfully prominent place in our modern concert life, as Lindsay Kemp recently wrote (Collection, A/23). The album opens with the extended Sinfonia to Cantata No 42, <i>Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats</i>, which has a joyful, congratulatory feel and, in this performance, a particularly fabulous bassoon trill. There is a riot of sprightly playing here: a great Bachian balance of exuberance and sublimity.<div><br /></div><div>[...]<br /><p><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 16px;">For the full text of this review please click: <a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/js-bach-cantatas-56-and-82" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gramophone, February 2024</a></i></p></div>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-41707964488550918262024-01-26T17:35:00.005+00:002024-01-27T17:42:45.124+00:00LUDFORD 'Ymaginacions’<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8ynR-uDE5ROBhcnyhFDSqshNanJ9X7xqZc6Y3UXIou1a7Na4xKNlZAHgNXRYWkVU9HEPg0BMYgdpzXTSXsE_7V-15Bau5grMSncFaixnOc-NPpcyYsbGrwYioYR9VTP4-YJP-lU7D15Uyj5edrXnKF_FrtQga_5iHkRSDOM6BAiwVWA9fB6Cog398pM/s600/l0sjyvsxviagb_600.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8ynR-uDE5ROBhcnyhFDSqshNanJ9X7xqZc6Y3UXIou1a7Na4xKNlZAHgNXRYWkVU9HEPg0BMYgdpzXTSXsE_7V-15Bau5grMSncFaixnOc-NPpcyYsbGrwYioYR9VTP4-YJP-lU7D15Uyj5edrXnKF_FrtQga_5iHkRSDOM6BAiwVWA9fB6Cog398pM/s320/l0sjyvsxviagb_600.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Ymaginacions<br /><i>Mass upon John Dunstable’s square<br />World premiere recording Nicholas Ludford (ca. 1490 - 1557)<br />La Quintina: Jérémie Couleau ténor & direction Esther Labourdette soprano Sylvain Manet contre-ténor Christophe Deslignes orgue portatif </i></b><br /><br /><br />For their second album, La Quintina premiere an unknown Mass by English Renaissance composer Nicholas Ludford (c1490-1557), performed by three crystal-clear singers and a sprightly organetto. It’s not so straightforward, though, for this is also an immersion into improvised musical practices via squares (square note notation). Little known today, the concept is simple enough: a pre-existing tune such as a popular song forms the basis for melodic invention. Squares are therefore a deliberately incomplete notation, an invitation to imagine two-part polyphonic music floating above. You could liken it to a cantus firmus Mass made up on the spot but within a very specific tradition, of which La Quintina and Jérémie Couleau have made a decade-long study. Intriguingly, though, there are also sections of polyphony borrowed from other sources and retexted (contrafactum) in this programme that flow seamlessly with the many faburdens and discant sections.<br /><br /><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(38, 38, 38); background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">[...]</span></p><p><i>For the full text of this review please click: <a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/ludford-ymaginacions" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gramophone, February 2024</a></i></p>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-20678528186465025702023-12-28T10:36:00.002+00:002023-12-28T10:36:46.227+00:00Classics Reconsidered: The art of the Netherlands<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHs4qeWftkJ6Sa-wnmTD4jQCdClNHYaT-T2mkzZt3unc7lvNGSkQkIlZH3IQsg31EmshISMMBePa7p2cFapISa_dmnkptBOrF3MNjZcha6T66aZsjIcY3FUBe5OyMmJCqE1vcCZ3HTOgh2cfDaibU21Bmd_A1tNH79fZdPOiP8LI9tTWaSqv3RT8gT0xs/s900/cover%20art%20of%20netherlands.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHs4qeWftkJ6Sa-wnmTD4jQCdClNHYaT-T2mkzZt3unc7lvNGSkQkIlZH3IQsg31EmshISMMBePa7p2cFapISa_dmnkptBOrF3MNjZcha6T66aZsjIcY3FUBe5OyMmJCqE1vcCZ3HTOgh2cfDaibU21Bmd_A1tNH79fZdPOiP8LI9tTWaSqv3RT8gT0xs/s320/cover%20art%20of%20netherlands.webp" width="320" /></a></div>Classics Reconsidered<br />The Art of the Netherlands 1450 - 1520<br /><i>The Early Music Consort of London, David Munrow<br />Edward Breen & Fabrice Fitch</i></b><br /><br /><br />[EB] I discovered David Munrow through my parents who, typical for the late 70s, had Henry VIII and his six wives and Dances from Terpsichore nestled alongside Steeleye Span and The Rolling Stones. It was on vinyl that I first heard of this album, there's something so tremendously atmospheric about this analogue era which can be detected in the first two Josquin pieces: Scaramella is performed up close while Allegez moy is distant and dreamy — you'd never guess this was Abbey Road studios! Even today, as I stream on my iPhone, I remember that LP label spinning at 33 rpm. Eventually I wrote about Munrow for my postgraduate thesis, and despite being centrally concerned with his medieval music performances, I found many roads led back to this album. I'm told that latterly Munrow realized that instrumental music was on the periphery of the Renaissance and reformed his consort to tackle the sacred corpus of vocal music that he felt formed the musical backbone of that age. Sadly, he took his own life in May 1976 before those new ideas could be fully realised. I like to think that the beginnings of his new approach can be heard on this album.<div><br /></div><div>[...]</div><div><br /></div><div><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 16px;">To read the full text of this feature please visit Gramophone (<a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features" target="_blank">features</a>: January 2024)</i></div>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-7670333306973191952023-12-27T10:20:00.000+00:002023-12-28T10:38:28.218+00:00Weelkes: Gentleman Extraordinary<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGv5wBXd16Yu2Yfe4VxTJac1TOFh6K-TmRRCm3fAfXQEjSqTS1fo1KPFOlosGLFx-HJf_ue5X2j1GTBUTn5ZoBWGkIvyC8ytSKn8GB65hWoTI3BZc6jW3_bYP5bUeCFYYr5Ejk68kY66KsoxXhYBh3Y7XQdzhozVKxkEmhjsPTPos4x5Er95kK_AQeQ4o/s1414/RES10325_cover_300dpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1414" data-original-width="1414" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGv5wBXd16Yu2Yfe4VxTJac1TOFh6K-TmRRCm3fAfXQEjSqTS1fo1KPFOlosGLFx-HJf_ue5X2j1GTBUTn5ZoBWGkIvyC8ytSKn8GB65hWoTI3BZc6jW3_bYP5bUeCFYYr5Ejk68kY66KsoxXhYBh3Y7XQdzhozVKxkEmhjsPTPos4x5Er95kK_AQeQ4o/s320/RES10325_cover_300dpi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Gentleman Extraordinary: Anthems, Services, and Instrumental Music by Thomas Weelkes<br /><i>Resurgam, The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble, Mark Duley<br />Catalogue No: RES10325<br />Label: Resonus Classics</i></b><br /><br />Described as 'Ireland's premiere project choir' Resurgam's first commercial recording is a splendid programme of music by Thomas Weelkes who celebrates his 400th Anniversary this year. It is also a collaboration with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble.<br /><br />Opening with the magnificent Alleluia I heard a voice this is a powerful and confident ensemble with bold lower voices and an attractive treble sheen from the sopranos. Their sound has plenty of room in Holy Trinity Church, Minchinhampton (Stroud) and their stately tempi often reflect this as they take an overall more festive approach than Jeremy Summerly/ The Oxford Camerata (07/96) incorporating much instrumental grandeur. Mark Duley likes to lean into false relations with relish, and his pacing of the final cadence is particularly thrilling. There's a particularly rich moment as all voices come together on "Salva-ti-on and glory" but funnily enough the repetitions on 'and to the lamb for ever more' are oddly cold compared to Summerly's phrasing. <br /><br />[...]<br /><br /><i>To read the full text of this review please visit Gramophone (<a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/weelkes-gentleman-extraordinary" target="_blank">January</a> 2024)</i>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-20949888868690619762023-12-03T16:22:00.002+00:002023-12-03T16:22:27.814+00:00 Josquin: I. Motets & chansons<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxH33rRGOUQalswBhdNQTgzekXX5jdsNises03ipciq7On7qnHktjHab4EyE7oDQWut9wdCYKU1blb1_tjDPQrmrDfwmmNf9LXlLh5J_IUQWwroc8me99efUv4Vu84GRpjbQUC0SyBTy9a_2gN1CgI_ANGxhVZE1u8-kbDY1Wd4RbiY-IXZGjOUmJcAI/s3000/MEW2307_COVER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxH33rRGOUQalswBhdNQTgzekXX5jdsNises03ipciq7On7qnHktjHab4EyE7oDQWut9wdCYKU1blb1_tjDPQrmrDfwmmNf9LXlLh5J_IUQWwroc8me99efUv4Vu84GRpjbQUC0SyBTy9a_2gN1CgI_ANGxhVZE1u8-kbDY1Wd4RbiY-IXZGjOUmJcAI/s320/MEW2307_COVER.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Josquin : I. Motets & chansons<br /><i>Cut Circle, Jesse Rodin<br />MEW2307</i></b><br /><br /><div>Billed as a 'new sound for Josquin', Cut Circle have plenty of revolutionary zeal – but don’t let that put you off, this is not generalised early music defamiliarization, it is joyfully nuanced. The obvious influence is Musica Reservata's work in the 1970s with mezzo soprano, Jantina Noorman who studied the techniques of various folk singers. The precision of attack and articulation from the singers of Cut Circle draws repeatedly on her sound-world particularly at emotional high points and in the secular songs, and whereas it might take a track or two to fully adjust to this bright and vivid style, it's certainly worth that leap of faith because coupled with Jesse Rodin’s brisk tempi the extraordinary architecture of Josquin’s music is made delightfully clear. Should you want a deeper dive, as part of <a href="https://josquin.stanford.edu/" target="_blank">The Josquin Research Project at Stanford University</a>, you can see and search the digital scores used on this recording.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />The songs are bitingly clever and run a gamut from the uncomfortable tale of <i>Une musque de Biscaye</i> to the deeply moving <i>Parfons regretz</i>, wonderfully differentiated in tone and atmosphere from the motets. Josquin is a truly remarkable composer and Cut Circle’s superb energy is quite addictive.<br /><br /> <br /><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 16px;">To read the full text of this review please visit Gramophone (<a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/josquin-i-motets-and-chansons" target="_blank">December</a> 2023)</i></div>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-64716739341173505852023-11-28T19:06:00.003+00:002023-12-03T16:23:54.765+00:00 Sabbato Sancto - Paolo Aretino: Lamentationes Et Responsoria<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2h0AkuqYRGWF4g0AnTBa90fyqqJgTj-rf5CvN4mdeVuteip3mjGdXf3SJ4-KrHRikLgnx-8_M96lTqQLGD3R2aoG5E_plBMnYo2q9Qtt_jF22qnfTrTUlpYgrmAvq3lSLHB46k8KAQvlQvG05moAqdpqEEBmrE-uDeXAkua6f181Bx8S7jmD0FfEaSo/s894/7192fzpOxsL._UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="894" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2h0AkuqYRGWF4g0AnTBa90fyqqJgTj-rf5CvN4mdeVuteip3mjGdXf3SJ4-KrHRikLgnx-8_M96lTqQLGD3R2aoG5E_plBMnYo2q9Qtt_jF22qnfTrTUlpYgrmAvq3lSLHB46k8KAQvlQvG05moAqdpqEEBmrE-uDeXAkua6f181Bx8S7jmD0FfEaSo/s320/7192fzpOxsL._UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Sabbato Sancto - Paolo Aretino: Lamentationes Et Responsoria<br /><i>Odhecaton, Paolo da Col<br />Arcana A551</i></b><br /><br />Paulo Aretino (Paolo Antonio Del Bivi) 1508-1584 is very definitely on trend for the current renaissance polyphony scene: a few decades ago he might have been dismissed as a minor master, but today’s ensembles are curious to step away from the core, canonic, Palestrina-et-al composers, and like his recently celebrated German contemporary, Ludwig Daser, Aretino’s music is rewarding and exciting. In short, well worth the find. <br /><br />The lamentations recorded here were published in the 1540s, either side of the composer's three-year stint as maestro di cappella at San Pietro, Faenza. Yet he spent the rest of his career in Arezzo where his talents were much celebrated, and this album will show you why. The Lamentations are set for low voices in voci pari - equal ranges, mostly - so, very much Hilliard Ensemble territory as was. Odhectaton, however, are consistently more emotive and extrovert than most British ensembles past and present, plus they have skilled, low basses underpinning the whole album and resonating richly in the generous acoustic of Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio, Arezzo, Italy. For my tastes I'd prefer to hear a little more of the top line at certain points (especially when taken by countertenors), but less of one rather strident tenor.<br /><br />[...]<div><br /></div><div><i>To read the full text of this review please visit Gramophone (<a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/aretino-lamentationes-et-responsoria" target="_blank">November 2023</a>)</i></div>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-62641877960301028962023-11-04T14:49:00.003+00:002023-12-03T16:24:45.990+00:00Charpentier: Messe de Minuit - in Nativatem Domini Canticum<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY4CF5KaBxXMBdCRw_8B2uqzU8MYL6HQqArL0bMYRnvDNuuw8UZSbSryEBYC_daW-P8FdbgbVxozqOzth4VoXW5l6f5JJ4LYcuA0kaU9t385mbPubGDvkNSf98C9kxpS4dGy_ufjTbWSQYFZ_QoNOxHg-U-IYaXkUPBALYMuiqjo_jlU9SXXVBakUqIMM/s1500/cover%20HMM902707%20-%20Ensemble%20Correspondances%20S%20bastien%20Dauc%20-%20Marc-Antoine%20Charpentier%20Messe%20de%20minuit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY4CF5KaBxXMBdCRw_8B2uqzU8MYL6HQqArL0bMYRnvDNuuw8UZSbSryEBYC_daW-P8FdbgbVxozqOzth4VoXW5l6f5JJ4LYcuA0kaU9t385mbPubGDvkNSf98C9kxpS4dGy_ufjTbWSQYFZ_QoNOxHg-U-IYaXkUPBALYMuiqjo_jlU9SXXVBakUqIMM/s320/cover%20HMM902707%20-%20Ensemble%20Correspondances%20S%20bastien%20Dauc%20-%20Marc-Antoine%20Charpentier%20Messe%20de%20minuit.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Charpentier: Messe de Minuit - in Nativatem Domini Canticum<br /><i>Sébastien Daucé, Ensemble Correspondances<br />Harmonia Mundi HMM902707</i></b><br /><br />It's not just that Marc Antoine Charpentier (1643 - 1704) is so well known for his <i>Messe de Minuit</i> or that Ensemble Correspondances already have such a well-lauded relationship with his music that you should pay attention to this new album; it's also because this programme offers two of Charpentier's dramatic motets previously known primarily from performances by William Christie. The comparison is favourable and fascinating.<br /><br />Daucé's direction shines through from the start with Brossard's <i>Elevatio O miraculum</i>! My overwhelming reaction to this disc is to praise the warmth of the sound: but the captivating hushed opening of this motet combined with the softly accented Latin is nothing short of breathtaking. <br /><br />Charpentier's two dramatic motets are well contrasted and align this programme almost exactly with Christie's 2001 Erato recording. Daucé digs deep for a really sombre tone for <i>In nativitatem Domini canticum</i>, H. 416 it works beautifully for the prelude but hinders the solo comforting the daughter of Sion. Yet it's all worth it for the interlude "Nuit" which Graham Sadler in his excellent note likens to a Lullian sommeil. [...]<br /><br /><br /><i>For the full text of this review please see Gramophone magazine (<a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/charpentier-messe-de-minuit" target="_blank">November</a> 2023)</i>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-38161426723376888132023-10-08T09:12:00.002+01:002023-12-03T16:25:21.110+00:00Recording of the month: Monteverdi's Vespro Della Beata Vergine<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiORo3qGo1S6sJsZ2sPSVURH_OZlTMwmX8eANEb6KItaWDiaRr41R2YCHtGY2DZOEPCHTP0YmYlbwbgmR0g55PYz8Cqr8eZiQGhUSjFVfsDUueXBItGyuJ6if3CfHObl9vxhW5891Yu8hnE8HsY0-A0o9_RURxp9N_gIhpbEz4-Okeon8dQ7nTptjrDSI0/s3000/902710.11%2012x12%201%20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiORo3qGo1S6sJsZ2sPSVURH_OZlTMwmX8eANEb6KItaWDiaRr41R2YCHtGY2DZOEPCHTP0YmYlbwbgmR0g55PYz8Cqr8eZiQGhUSjFVfsDUueXBItGyuJ6if3CfHObl9vxhW5891Yu8hnE8HsY0-A0o9_RURxp9N_gIhpbEz4-Okeon8dQ7nTptjrDSI0/s320/902710.11%2012x12%201%20.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Monteverdi: Vespro Della Beata Vergine<br /><i>Raphaël Pichon, Pygmalion, Céline Scheen, Perrine Devillers<br />Harmonia Mundi HMM90271011</i></b><br /><br />This has to be one of the most gripping and impactful recordings of Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 available right now, it is bursting with energy and passion at every opportunity. Recorded in January 2022, at the Temple du Saint-Esprit, Paris, it's the long-awaited studio recording that Lyndsay Kemp referred to when reviewing Pygmalion's live, pre-pandemic, DVD performance from the Versailles Royal Chapel. That this new album is so lived-in and confident is surely testament to the many concert performances that preceded it, in fact, the booklet contains a fascinating conversation between director Raphaël Pichon and the Rector of Bordeaux Cathedral, Jean-Clément Guez, who hosted several performances in 'spatialised <i>son et lumière</i> versions'. There is more to this story as Alexandra Coghlan described last month (10/23), Pinchon has a long relationship with Monteverdi’s Vespers and this is clear from the fluidity of ideas and gestures captured on this album.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />Pinchon’s brisk and festive opening immediately highlights the excellence of his instrumentalists’ playing from cornett flourishes to busy, churning continuo textures. The choir has excellent diction, their half-whispered opening of <i>Dixit Dominus</i> is as gripping as is their taut and animated chanting later in the same psalm on <i>Ex utero ante luciferum</i> and <i>Confregit in die irae...</i> which accelerates thrillingly. Similarly, <i>Laetatus sum</i> is characterised by superb choral singing in the lesser doxology. I find the different approaches to the Gloria Patri sections on this disc are each joyful, but here the colourful collision of ornaments on the final Amen is especially ear-catching. The soloists are superb throughout: Céline Scheen & Perrine Devilles are well matched in <i>Pulchra es</i> and they are supported by a particularly luscious bed of plucked strings. But my attention returned again and again to the tenors —Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Zachary Wilder and Antonin Rondepierre — in <i>Duo seraphim</i> who boast a fine <i>trillo</i>. There are so many thoughtful touches where this trio are concerned: listen in particular for the treatment of <i>Et hi tres unum sunt</i> (and these three are one). And speaking of vocal ornaments there is a superb inflection from Wilder in <i>Audi coelum</i>.<br /> <br />[...]<br /><br />This recording is hugely welcome will take a much-deserved place in my personal pantheon of greats. If you have any doubts just listen to the zippy recorder playing in Magnificat’s <i>Fecit potentiam in bracchio suo...</i> a flamboyant Mantuan moment that will surely stir the hardest of hearts.<br /><br /><br /><i>For the full text of this review please see Gramophone magazine (<a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/monteverdi-vespers-pygmalion" target="_blank">November</a> 2023)</i>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-68394480937467985032023-09-11T17:56:00.002+01:002023-09-24T08:23:06.962+01:00Album review: Bach: Sonatas & Partitas for solo violin<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-PE1zQfPFF8xvoB-yyAnilcs65X81zNTjmMZJZZj89JxfM6-261a9ZGNNMHfJSkSiOrDppV8Gk78xlMdYxqgqLMerjrX4ALk7AEHspdBD3ajvh9bRyVK07vQUWht2HIx3aimvc2MXYS0HrDGO6WNUMSBrbZ3k759KCU1CtNvZ7hoC64opyWvA8XnM6iw/s1280/dcd34300_cover.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-PE1zQfPFF8xvoB-yyAnilcs65X81zNTjmMZJZZj89JxfM6-261a9ZGNNMHfJSkSiOrDppV8Gk78xlMdYxqgqLMerjrX4ALk7AEHspdBD3ajvh9bRyVK07vQUWht2HIx3aimvc2MXYS0HrDGO6WNUMSBrbZ3k759KCU1CtNvZ7hoC64opyWvA8XnM6iw/s320/dcd34300_cover.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>Bach: Sonatas & Partitas for solo violin, BWV1001-1006<br /><i>Bojan Čičić (violin)<br />Delphian DCD34300 </i></b><br /><br /><br /><div>Having long enjoyed Bojan Čičić's exploration of lesser-known Baroque composers on Delphian such as Johann Jakob Walther (<a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/walther-scherzi-da-violino" target="_blank">Gramophone, Oct 22</a>) it comes as no surprise that he has been working towards this splendid recording of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for violin without bass; cornerstone repertoire with an impressive context. There is also a moving story behind this release: inspired by guitarist Sean Shibe's Gramophone award winning <a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/js-bach-pour-la-luth-cembal-sean-shibe" target="_blank">Bach album of 2020</a>, Čičić also recorded in Scotland’s 15th century Crichton Collegiate Church just as lockdowns were easing and this venue makes a considerable contribution to the atmosphere of the disc. Furthermore, Čičić dedicates this album to his teacher from Zagreb, Damir Kukulj who passed away recently. <br /><br />[...]<br /><br />This is a wonderful addition to a strong field of baroque performances, technically assured and deeply considered, it's a gentle introspective album: for me it will be the perfect Sonatas and Partitas for the small hours! <br /><br /><br /><i>For the full text of this feature please see Gramophone magazine (<a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/js-bach-solo-violin-sonatas-and-partitas-bojan-cicic" target="_blank">October 2023</a>)</i></div>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-52755207901041089102023-09-10T17:35:00.003+01:002023-09-24T08:23:50.413+01:00Artist Profile: I Fagiolini<div><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #51585b; font-size: 16px;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgkJR73edrw5mkWar1rSvrgyqwmlTag68DnN8ch4gH1e-nDkIcCTWg5Nr8I1Q51xrgqfZbmYbsDSUlMaPvpTBIFbTe5eETxEG8U4cfbUMyjTg9O5KRqKQempLQILo0e_2oQBDRPfhgjeKhUnoeb_HGnDYCiXWJ3iiEJYbuD656sYWn-YkmFfIQj5mlN9Q/s4032/IMG_6249.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgkJR73edrw5mkWar1rSvrgyqwmlTag68DnN8ch4gH1e-nDkIcCTWg5Nr8I1Q51xrgqfZbmYbsDSUlMaPvpTBIFbTe5eETxEG8U4cfbUMyjTg9O5KRqKQempLQILo0e_2oQBDRPfhgjeKhUnoeb_HGnDYCiXWJ3iiEJYbuD656sYWn-YkmFfIQj5mlN9Q/s320/IMG_6249.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>The vocal group’s Director Robert Hollingworth tells us about their new series of Benevoli Masses</b></span></div><div><br /></div><i>OUT OF LEFT FIELD</i> <div><i>From the poignant to the polemical, I Fagiolini’s projects always surprise – and delight. </i></div><div><i>Edward Breen catches up with the group’s director, Robert Hollingworth</i><br /><br />[...]<br /><br />Now, unbelievably, this power packed vocal ensemble is in the run up to their 40th anniversary in 2026 and with a characteristic burst of energy they are celebrating with a sequence of new albums on the Coro label. They invited me to their recording session of masses by Orazio Benevoli at St Augustine’s, Kilburn. Benevoli was an Italian composer based in Rome in the mid 1600s, writing multi-choir masses which balance florid passages with more obvious roots in the Palestrina tradition. As I walked to the venue I wondered briefly if that affluent, North London neighbourhood knew quite what was happening beneath the picturesque spire that enhances their property prices? A lazy feeling of an impending summer weekend had beset the streets but inside the cool church a festive atmosphere prevailed, that was until a JCB outside smashed some stones and the music was replaced by good natured laughter. I was struck by the modesty of the singers, seen together in a coffee shop, you might think they were a team of bright social-media advertising executives discussing Google analytics over a cold nitro brew and a gluten-free muffin. It amazed me how they could make such intricate and beautiful sounds so repeatedly, reliably, and uncomplainingly during long recording sessions and then just melt back into normal life afterwards. A few days later Robert remarked dryly that in choral music “no-one is being paid enough to be a diva” but during the session he was clearly moved, too.</div><div><br /></div><div>[...]</div><div><br /></div><i>For the full text of this feature please see Gramophone magazine (October 2023)</i>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-32732306642116486932023-09-09T17:23:00.004+01:002023-09-24T08:26:04.898+01:00Abbess Hildegard of Bingen - A feather on the breath of God<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8dsG_WOHm7Fs0-AcvO72Qg3E0fEQhGLRv8YLV5WR2uQivVcZp29K6Ei7yu9sZDsxfr16baVxFnnRaOkZSMDeCwfMgBVNYdrx-Fw2Z6L0SScFv0E6_lTfXHh8VPAESkLw5Tzs1ihGqJ-eK9MozNub5mn4sLiHMhjHQohVXk0f8wWBKtiTiRQGNiRcgbb8/s900/cd%20cover.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8dsG_WOHm7Fs0-AcvO72Qg3E0fEQhGLRv8YLV5WR2uQivVcZp29K6Ei7yu9sZDsxfr16baVxFnnRaOkZSMDeCwfMgBVNYdrx-Fw2Z6L0SScFv0E6_lTfXHh8VPAESkLw5Tzs1ihGqJ-eK9MozNub5mn4sLiHMhjHQohVXk0f8wWBKtiTiRQGNiRcgbb8/s320/cd%20cover.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>Classics Revisited<br />Abbess Hildegard of Bingen - A feather on the breath of God<br /><i>Emma Kirkby (soprano)<br />Gothic Voices, Christopher Page<br />Hyperion CDA66039</i></b><br /><br />Alexandra Coghlan & Edward Breen<br /><br />[ EB] It’s a joy to revisit this disc and since it is a staple on my listening lists when I teach music history I take regular pleasure in introducing it to others too. Funnily enough, it’s true importance only struck me years after I first heard it: thanks to my choirboy’s training I first met early music in the late 80s, and so my listening began with many albums that featured Emma Kirkby. As a boy treble at the time, her singing felt very natural and joyful to me, I had no idea a whole new realm of early music performance was newly flowering and that her artistry was at the helm until decades later when I explored recordings from the 60s and 70s that I got a sense of just how fresh her voice must have sounded in 1981. For me, this disc is a particular favourite, and other discs of music by Hildegard (of which there are many fine examples) just can’t touch it. And therein lies my opening gambit: is it possible to unpick my fondness and admiration for Hildegard and her music from my fondness and admiration for Emma Kirkby’s artistry? To me both are intertwined in a glorious knot.<i><br /><br />For the full text of this feature please see Gramophone magazine (October 2023) </i>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-90038844154318048122023-09-08T17:15:00.005+01:002023-09-24T08:29:27.737+01:00Antoine Gosswin: Selected Works<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijx1RvL3tLaKoRELhSr70oaI-IynHDVuUMnowlnAcQ2Z0zljpGcRruP-zNMHUEmHFVdG423MmQVDV5u_zmsxRtHEi7bmuTykHql6G47yCI_B-3lQlKfAyKYV5COTKAPw2CY_YzNvRdFu3cgklmhaLNmjUwwxlTu3S5_BqaGbhB23tIxNsXnh_WxZjpHE0/s3000/RIC450_COVER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijx1RvL3tLaKoRELhSr70oaI-IynHDVuUMnowlnAcQ2Z0zljpGcRruP-zNMHUEmHFVdG423MmQVDV5u_zmsxRtHEi7bmuTykHql6G47yCI_B-3lQlKfAyKYV5COTKAPw2CY_YzNvRdFu3cgklmhaLNmjUwwxlTu3S5_BqaGbhB23tIxNsXnh_WxZjpHE0/s320/RIC450_COVER.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Antoine Gosswin: Selected Works<br /><i>Le Miroir de Musique, Baptiste Romain<br />Ricercar RIC450</i></b><br /><br /><br />[...]<br /><br />The album opens with a silvery string rendition of <i>Ist keiner hie, der spricht zu mir</i> which in a Beecham-esque Catch-22 one can only enjoy for its sounds and textures since there is no translation in the booklet. Its a generous and atmospheric acoustic and in the instrumental rendition of the Kyrie from <i>Missa ferialis</i> the addition of the harp adds an impressive depth of colour. Mass movements are interspersed through this programme, with both Kyries performed instrumentally (with translation!) Listen for splendid colours from the winds of the 'alta capella' in <i>Missa Cognovi Domine</i>. It was, however, the motets which caught my attention, <i>Laetatus sum</i> in particular. <i>Le miroir de musique</i> find grandness in the big blocks of homophonic texture yet still allow for attractive string flourishes to shine through.<br /><br />[...]<p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">For the full text of this review please see Gramophone magazine (<a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/gosswin-selected-works" target="_blank">October 2023</a>)</i> </span></p>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-21685998276230193642023-08-05T10:57:00.003+01:002023-09-24T08:30:02.622+01:00Palestrina Volume 9<br /><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ9UsORDVT73LTqB6kuZ-v3w3LHrjlm4G_T2Be1IGtDhnjJ7AzP6ubBjteB2xk3wrmmEZejtJwJ0GvbkstR1lM4ny4AO_aDlQhYHnW-rnSk7wDARD58-hH1dUqV9dVpbJBGMwIHBuM4FWYPBlaQ0fe0X0Fq6W4gZUDjwE0yrGoQkL0cD0kY0MVJ47KuhE/s3035/COR16197.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3010" data-original-width="3035" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ9UsORDVT73LTqB6kuZ-v3w3LHrjlm4G_T2Be1IGtDhnjJ7AzP6ubBjteB2xk3wrmmEZejtJwJ0GvbkstR1lM4ny4AO_aDlQhYHnW-rnSk7wDARD58-hH1dUqV9dVpbJBGMwIHBuM4FWYPBlaQ0fe0X0Fq6W4gZUDjwE0yrGoQkL0cD0kY0MVJ47KuhE/s320/COR16197.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Palestrina Volume 9<br /><i>Harry Christophers & The Sixteen<br />Coro COR161967</i></b><br /><br />[...]<br /><br />On the face of it, a mass based on a hexachord cantus firmus does not sound promising, yet you would have no idea from the flowing mellifluous lines in Missa Ut Re Mi fa sol la the second soprano is repeatedly tracing this stepwise movement, but there you have the genius of great counterpoint. After a somewhat tentative Kyrie, both Palestrina and these singers find new energy in the Gloria which is full of joyful homophonic textures with a strong rhythmic profile. Harry Christophers has an infinity for upper-voiced sections, and there is a lovely example in the Credo starting on <i>Crucifixus etiam pro nobis</i>.<br /><br />[...] But perhaps the finest moments are in the motets from the Song of Songs which seem to catch Palestrina at his most sensuous. Those falling phrases in <i>Descendi in hortum meum</i> for instance are ravishing.<br /><br /><br /><i>For the full text of this review please see Gramophone magazine (<a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/palestrina-masses-vol-9-christophers" target="_blank">September 2023</a>)</i>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-74786410594169657532023-06-12T10:25:00.004+01:002023-09-24T08:30:41.165+01:00Così Amor Mi Fa Languire<div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi34RMYGcIavIZvv3wuqwih3F6TZucIyudVmWZlWpDcdxmvEQMY7NqbcJ-p0n3s2op6PVdV_cT_p0vptOf9qLBLYlacEOkeORtEXYyN7XganH-gsB6w7zQlMB9HIPqUJNokm9AO7LRAntVZFMSv24oJsXlMZHaIjIdDHPcbTWYP8aZqT9p8-I9whIZP/s300/cd%20cover.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi34RMYGcIavIZvv3wuqwih3F6TZucIyudVmWZlWpDcdxmvEQMY7NqbcJ-p0n3s2op6PVdV_cT_p0vptOf9qLBLYlacEOkeORtEXYyN7XganH-gsB6w7zQlMB9HIPqUJNokm9AO7LRAntVZFMSv24oJsXlMZHaIjIdDHPcbTWYP8aZqT9p8-I9whIZP/s1600/cd%20cover.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div>Così Amor Mi Fa Languire<br /><i>Anne-Sophie Honoré, Julia Wischniewski, Andréas Linos, Benjamin Narvey<br />Evidence Classics EVCD095<br /></i></b><br /><br />Restless and exciting in equal measure, these committed performances are convincing from the first dramatic intake of breath as they tussle with the ardours of love. In fact, Sam Crowther says he wanted voices to capture “the full range of colours and registers” and this he has certainly achieved. Soprano Anne-Sophie Honoré thrillingly encapsulates the dawning dread of awakening from a sweet dream to face the disappointments of reality in the anonymous <i>Dalle pene amorose</i> (of love’s torments) exactly as if one has stumbled upon her tumultuous internal monologue. <br /><br /> <br />[...] But it was, perhaps, the final, anonymous cantata <i>Cadute erano alfine</i> (Fallen at last) where Helen of Troy confronts herself in a looking glass that moved me the most. With the precision of a pair of silver trumpets, the moralistic duet <i>Deh, mirate, o ciechi amanti</i> (Ah, see, blind lovers) is a reminder that such cantatas often spoke to a particular audience in-the-know. There are layers of reception history here we may never uncover, but with performances as good as this it’s fun to imagine the possibilities. <br /><br /></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>For the full text of this review please see Gramophone magazine (<a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/cosi-amor-mi-fa-languire" target="_blank">July 2023</a>)</i></div>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-24528726881964018402023-06-11T10:21:00.003+01:002023-09-24T08:31:52.806+01:00Splendours of the Gonzaga. Sacred Music from Wert to Monteverdi<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcocuTlF1rFXAkjDQR7QZq3DmVOH7fF6otJ8IE1KWV9E-0S338BgD89YEE1CkEXDovhUc-Zbpeoxfzypzc-nI2mgbSPEN6DddrCcDRQfR0Fi_tve2k3Kd3McQ-VTVA_ZQM6OokG3gLN9LsoB8FgUbYVRknFIHgnQQpPew8znoWGAYU-xtSqUEMqsAv/s3000/A545_COVER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcocuTlF1rFXAkjDQR7QZq3DmVOH7fF6otJ8IE1KWV9E-0S338BgD89YEE1CkEXDovhUc-Zbpeoxfzypzc-nI2mgbSPEN6DddrCcDRQfR0Fi_tve2k3Kd3McQ-VTVA_ZQM6OokG3gLN9LsoB8FgUbYVRknFIHgnQQpPew8znoWGAYU-xtSqUEMqsAv/s320/A545_COVER.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Splendours of the Gonzaga. Sacred Music from Wert to Monteverdi<br /><i>Biscantores / Luca Colombo<br />ARCANA A545</i></b><br /><br />This second disc from the relatively new ensemble Biscantores, has had a long gestation: recorded in September 2020 as Europe slowly emerged from covid lockdowns it took nearly three years to be released, but it has been worth the wait. As specialists in late Renaissance and Baroque music Biscantores present an interesting and varied programme from the Mantuan court of the Gonzagas spanning the foundation of the Basilica Palatina di Santa Barbara and its cappella in 1565 to the sack of Mantua in 1630.<br /><br />The programme opens with Monteverdi's delightful earworm, <i>Confitebor III alla francese</i> from his ' Moral and Spiritual Forest' <i>Selva morale e spirituale</i> published in Venice in 1640. <br /><br />[...]<br /><br />This is a near perfect disc - bright, sprightly, responsive and clear. If I'm being picky, I would prefer them to invoke a sense of grandeur in several works without such ponderous tempi. I'm swayed, of course, by knowing Wert's <i>Adesto dolori meo</i> in the brassy sonorities of Capilla Flamenca / Oltremontano (PAS937) but Biscantores have plenty of time to hone that sort of gravitas in future.<br /><br /><br /><i>For the full text of this review please see Gramophone magazine (July 2023)</i>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-80132582826850735332023-06-10T10:17:00.002+01:002023-09-24T08:32:26.500+01:00Breaking out of the Baroque<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAEAPcpICDyucTl-w7d4Y8pydYUZY8Yr0pjLMqjivFMmnqkGaIV_dCWArgp0f1ANipnpWe91NT10EADnkb8jGnWay6dph7fGeLikYQEcuH9DlRw0aJNGNnvqJICEbwe5_ASQscW0mgFwyOsaSjbJeAzYNNQzprZjkcFylSz_NjQhvEqI9o9lg15LP/s1500/5054197205514%20Gardiner%20-%20Complete%20Erato%20Recordings%2064CD%20(square).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAEAPcpICDyucTl-w7d4Y8pydYUZY8Yr0pjLMqjivFMmnqkGaIV_dCWArgp0f1ANipnpWe91NT10EADnkb8jGnWay6dph7fGeLikYQEcuH9DlRw0aJNGNnvqJICEbwe5_ASQscW0mgFwyOsaSjbJeAzYNNQzprZjkcFylSz_NjQhvEqI9o9lg15LP/s320/5054197205514%20Gardiner%20-%20Complete%20Erato%20Recordings%2064CD%20(square).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Sir John Eliot Gardiner - The Complete Erato Recordings<br /><i>Sir John Eliot Gardiner<br />Erato 5054197205514</i><br /></b><br /><br />What feels like a very short decade ago James Jolly celebrated Sir John Eliot Gardiner's 70th birthday in this magazine and reflected that Gardiner was ‘the first conductor to follow a very modern trajectory’ also noting that ‘the alignment of Gardiner’s career with the Golden Years of the recording industry allowed him to record extensively.’ Both points are amply reflected in this handsome boxed set of Gardiner’s complete Erato recordings which span a period of rapid growth in his recording activities throughout the 1980s. Sixty four discs from 1976 to 1990--and one outlier from 1995 (England, my England: music from the soundtrack to Tony Palmer's film about the story of Henry Purcell)--are testament to an extraordinarily impressive musical appetite and insatiable curiosity, and all this whilst he was also recording for DG Archiv Production (among others). The set also includes three <i>Gramophone</i> award winners: Handel, <i>Dixit Dominus</i> 1978; Handel, <i>L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato</i> 1980; and Leclair, <i>Scylla et Glaucus</i> 1988.<br /><br />The Monteverdi Choir and Monteverdi Orchestra were, of course, long established by the start of this relationship with Erato, but among the unique moments this collection captures are the beginning of period instrument ensemble The English Baroque Soloists founded in 1978 and the five years (1983 to 1988) when Gardiner was Music Director of the Opéra National de Lyon where he founded an entirely new orchestra and produced a particularly astounding account of Chabrier's <i>L'Étoile</i> in 1984 when the Lyon orchestra was just a year old, and there followed several more treasures from the French repertoire. Throughout this collection The Monteverdi Choir are a unifying presence, collaborating with all three orchestras. Theirs is a choral, rather than consort, sound characterised by a superbly clear sense of line and reliably warm tone. Talking to Alan Blythe for Gramophone in 1975 Gardiner reflected: 'My ideas about Monteverdi developed really out of a reaction to the precocity of King's [chapel choir, Cambridge] I saw their musical abilities but realised they were buried in a 19th-century tradition. I felt it was a challenge to create a choir that could sound more Mediterranean; hence the Monteverdi Choir was formed.'<br /><br />Yet Gardiner’s Erato relationship stops short of his next big project: the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique founded in 1989. Erato may not have recorded this group, but you can feel Gardiner's appetite for Romantic music already brewing in these Erato years, particularly with his fine accounts of Schubert and Bizet symphonies with the Orchestre de l'Opera de Lyon. I wonder if Gardiner was one of the main people to cross Laurence Dreyfus's mind when he memorably described the early music movement as 'casting a covetous glance at the 19th century' in <i>The Musical Quarterly</i> back in 1984?<br /><br />[...]<br /><i><br />For the full text of this review please see Gramophone magazine (July 2023)</i>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-16605833839360577182023-06-09T10:06:00.002+01:002023-09-24T08:34:20.152+01:00Gramophone Recording of the month<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgso8x8bxoE30R9GwWv31VD0q9Q_t_KTK6ZaCXiO9XAOunFPAHaNR1Itjg03r5vP6ceTbe9L7TggakVdBfLf6nV3GvI3rEwrkVtAYWEI5PMS2hziWVIJ-KdRiju3H0yEoqHXZ_CjNFYc3QeJRM39bx2WQx5YpwV_RQC73rOmSwEiihwn2kC6wvVOJ6C/s3000/CKD%20709%20cover%203000x3000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgso8x8bxoE30R9GwWv31VD0q9Q_t_KTK6ZaCXiO9XAOunFPAHaNR1Itjg03r5vP6ceTbe9L7TggakVdBfLf6nV3GvI3rEwrkVtAYWEI5PMS2hziWVIJ-KdRiju3H0yEoqHXZ_CjNFYc3QeJRM39bx2WQx5YpwV_RQC73rOmSwEiihwn2kC6wvVOJ6C/s320/CKD%20709%20cover%203000x3000.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Handel: Serse<br /><i>THE ENGLISH CONCERT | HARRY BICKET<br />Linn CKD 709</i></b><br /><br /><div>This animated and engaging recording captured with clarity might, perhaps, finally please the Fourth Earl of Shaftesbury who bemoaned the indifferent performances of the original cast back in May 1738. Despite that commercial failure (only 5 performances) I would agree with David Kimbell's judgement that 'Serse is at least the equal of the finest Royal Academy operas of the mid 1720s...' and certainly one of the most melodious. Part of its modern attraction lies in the proto-buffa elements, thanks largely to the libretto's Venetian origins later adapted by Silvio Stampiglia (1664–1725) and once set to music by Giovanni Bononcini. There are comedic moments - often driven by the two Venetian stock figures - which are hard to capture on a sound recording, but which this pleasingly delineated cast keep clear and light as their quickfire recitative allows many emotions to sparkle between the famous arias. <br /><br />The superb cast is led by Emily D’Angelo in the title role and her opening aria will not disappoint; beautifully controlled and rich in tone it’s an entrance aria like none other – a powerful King singing about the beauty of a tree. Bicket’s tempo may not wallow, but D'Angelo certainly basks in the long melodic lines, leaving hints of despotic tendencies for the long journey ahead. This opera inspired some of Handel's most ingenious musical architecture and his gentle but persistent disruption of formal conventions throughout aid both comedic flow and character development. The first sign of this is Romilda's entrance which, heralded by muted strings and recorders, mocks Serse's tree-hugging antics. However, her song is interrupted by onlookers, by the time she reaches a dazzling cabaletta Serse has fallen for her. Lucy Crowe plays this scene superbly well from her radiant first entry to her audacious and fearless ornamentation in <i>Và godendo vezzosa e bello</i>.</div><div><br /></div>[...]<br /><br /><i>For the full text of this review please see Gramophone magazine</i> (July 2023)Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-78893219226644676002023-05-21T08:58:00.002+01:002023-09-24T08:35:46.688+01:00OBRECHT Missa Maria Zart<div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOk5IJmDvvCMdFlwZN5h_UK8LPW_5BT4XCg7hAJAg6_BbLc9fbyGOwMCqNxf0pj_32WFHP2cGdaXWzqDtAuC64oWUFvFSFHLSRuGdoCGBHONWsLeyf9zZ0rWLl5Ryi00WrhFl0IS6AB0AGjEtjuYl6X0sw1qOdN7aPsjItPVHAvnkdTyx_93O3OAjU/s1414/3jryxy-missamaria-preview-m3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1414" data-original-width="1414" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOk5IJmDvvCMdFlwZN5h_UK8LPW_5BT4XCg7hAJAg6_BbLc9fbyGOwMCqNxf0pj_32WFHP2cGdaXWzqDtAuC64oWUFvFSFHLSRuGdoCGBHONWsLeyf9zZ0rWLl5Ryi00WrhFl0IS6AB0AGjEtjuYl6X0sw1qOdN7aPsjItPVHAvnkdTyx_93O3OAjU/s320/3jryxy-missamaria-preview-m3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Missa Maria zart<br /><i>Cappella Pratensis / Stratton Bull<br />Challenge Classics CC72933</i></b><br /><br />Described by my colleague Fabrice Fitch as ‘one of renaissance music’s hidden gems’ I think it’s now true to say this mass is finally out in the open. This new release from Ensemble Pratensis is one of those rare, landmark albums that offers a striking alternative performance of a piece already afforded a major entry in the catalogue from The Tallis scholars (CDGIM032) as well as Beauty Farm (reviewed Gramophone 09/19) and the venerable Prague Madrigal Singers (1969 Supraphon). As such we now have a range of approaches to help us know better this extraordinary polyphonic behemoth.<br /><br />Cappella Pratensis use lower male voices (the top line sung by countertenors, as with Beauty Farm), Germanic pronunciation, and read from a specially commissioned choirbook which demands they stand in close formation. The result is a warm huddle of sound, more intimate than grand. Framing the mass with the monophonic lied which forms the cantus firmus, and two polyphonic settings further increases a sense of intimacy with this material before it is broken up into intriguing segments by Obrecht which ebb and flow stylishly in this polished performance.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />The Credo has a more exciting energy although <i>Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem</i> skates along too impatiently for my liking, but I love the superb change of texture at ... <i>et vitam venturi seculi </i>and it’s here the large-scale planning of this performance is most apparent. This new release is a happy marriage of musicality and musicology. </div><div><br /></div><div><i><b>To read the full text of this review:</b></i> <a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/obrecht-missa-maria-zart-0" target="_blank">Gramophone June 2023</a></div>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-20612151026549231632023-04-16T16:57:00.005+01:002023-09-24T08:36:39.837+01:00Ludwig Daser: Polyphonic Masses<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh33a-vfZDdf3JCcWjf_7foLeGQmK6_sOhrSMbrkaMNfrXomhFohQ8oC1qA25GRzz2fbhg1Vc45hcDv697-qJTn4GmpZh9izZMSsiY19EMA_de3FqOOfW1S6UznFneB_X6l5CetZNoIXdH_jPVLQBeI9qvsvyPmMBnxe5f_OexxFRiR1SnzZ-vAdJd_/s1414/daser%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1414" data-original-width="1414" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh33a-vfZDdf3JCcWjf_7foLeGQmK6_sOhrSMbrkaMNfrXomhFohQ8oC1qA25GRzz2fbhg1Vc45hcDv697-qJTn4GmpZh9izZMSsiY19EMA_de3FqOOfW1S6UznFneB_X6l5CetZNoIXdH_jPVLQBeI9qvsvyPmMBnxe5f_OexxFRiR1SnzZ-vAdJd_/s320/daser%20cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Ludwig Daser: Polyphonic Masses <br />Huelgas Ensemble / Paul Van Nevel</b><br />DHM G010004950859B<br /><br />Poor Ludwig Daser (ca.1525-1589), if you’ve heard anything about him it was probably that he once retired as Kapellmeister to the Catholic Court at Munich to make way for Lassus, or that he had a brush with the Inquisition. Less well known is that he was both pupil and successor of Senfl and knew Cipriano de Rore. Daser contributed to 'a high point of German polyphony' as Paul van Nevel puts it; and the two masses recorded here - <i>Missa Preter rerum seriem </i>à 6v and <i>Missa Fors seullemen</i>t à 4v - date from his Munich period. The Huelgas Ensemble already plan to record more from his later years as Kapellmeister in Württemberg.<br /><br /><i>Missa Preter rerum seriem</i> is a parody mass based on Josquin's motet which in turn incorporates the Gregorian chant. It's a tuneful and intricate setting, comparing favorably to Rore's more famous mass. The Huelgas Ensemble use two or more voices per part in accordance with the size of Daser's own court chapel choir and this larger ensemble creates a rich, well-balanced sound which at times I found attractively wistful. [...]<br /><br /><i>Missa Fors seullement</i> is an altogether different beast, drawing on a popular chanson it's direct, unpretentious, and full of confident homophony and sonorous lower-voiced textures. This is a brassy, sumptuous performance. I'm already looking forward to the next volume.<div><br /></div><i>For the full text of this review please see Gramophone magazine (<a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/daser-polyphonic-masses" target="_blank">May 2023</a>)</i>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-10859150462944180602023-02-18T07:49:00.002+00:002023-09-24T08:37:40.580+01:00Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEA-dX8bdsW1fX7tMhLHZfVREdLwn4ne14hvDxLeRqQIdJ7JaLqCGl8viCFZRql0DwfGFzXid7v5arohWwmz6tvw8G3cR_patHYyCYyZPeY0vTCP40O5-9XGfFOrh26QVKs5-zr5LkOd5Wkiua164CEfTBgLqVr1A3VPtwqr9pmzfukYqESjtx3mS7/s2048/preston%20Decca.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEA-dX8bdsW1fX7tMhLHZfVREdLwn4ne14hvDxLeRqQIdJ7JaLqCGl8viCFZRql0DwfGFzXid7v5arohWwmz6tvw8G3cR_patHYyCYyZPeY0vTCP40O5-9XGfFOrh26QVKs5-zr5LkOd5Wkiua164CEfTBgLqVr1A3VPtwqr9pmzfukYqESjtx3mS7/s320/preston%20Decca.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b>Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford<br /><i>Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford <br />Simon Preston<br />Decca Catalogue No: 4852118</i></b><br /><br />This timely collection of rereleases includes two heard for the first time complete on CD and covers a decade of recording from one of the key partnerships in choral music and period instruments of the 1970s. I admit upfront that I listened through rose-tinted headphones, transported back to a time when my local WHSmiths accepted book tokens as payment for LPs. I can still picture my mother appearing at the bottom of the stairs in her candlewick dressing gown to chastise me for playing Vivaldi’s <i>Nulla in mundo pax sincera</i> loudly at breakfast (“for Chrissakes Ed, your father just woke up and thought he’d died in the night!”) I quickly learned to associate those distinctive L’oiseau-Lyre covers with the sort of music and the type of singing I liked, whilst enjoying how they made my parents worry openly that one day I would grow up to be a musicologist.<br /><br />Younger listeners might not grasp the essential fondness many of us retain for this choir and would, wrongly in my opinion, focus on the lack of finesse in several places – such as the opening of Bach’s <i>Magnificat</i> – or wonder at the dogged adherence to demonstrative choral discipline – the surge on ‘<i>MO</i>rtis nostrae’ in Bruckner’s <i>Ave Maria</i>, perhaps. But few could disagree with John Steane’s early judgement in this magazine: ‘Simon Preston is surely producing one of the best choirs in the country.’ (07/74). Not only were they one of the best but these discs have aged exceptionally well thanks to their superb production techniques. Any small stylistic misgivings I have are outweighed by countless instances of choral excellence: the long, spinning phrases of the trebles in Fauré’s <i>Ave verum</i>, or the sheer enjoyment of Vivaldi’s <i>Gloria</i> and the zippy chorus <i>Domine, Fili unigenite</i> in particular. Considering these nineteen albums in chronological order of recording reveals an enormous musical appetite to say nothing of an impressively demanding schedule fitted around substantial weekly liturgical commitments. <br /><br />In the renaissance works it is striking how robust the choir sounds under Preston, drawing, perhaps, as much influence from the strident confidence of Westminster Cathedral as is does from the detailed, careful work of King’s College Cambridge. Notable is the pleasingly prominent alto tone, a feature I also associate with recordings by The Clerkes of Oxenford around the same time. Beginning with Byrd’s five- and four-part masses, despite the familiarity of these works and the changing styles of Latin pronunciation this has aged rather well. The debt to Sir David Willcocks (and Boris Ord) is obvious in the somewhat sculpted phrasing, each carefully crafted section replete with expressive dynamics and meticulous rallentandos at cadences. In many ways it’s a masterclass in choral discipline but overall Preston’s interventionist approach occasionally denies the polyphony chance to flow. Easy to say now, but nearly half a century ago this was ground-breakingly uncluttered I’m sure. With Lassus, however, the sound is grand and confident, possibly closer to Westminster Cathedral's style, especially in <i>Omnes de Saba venient</i> which has a thrilling, if not slightly relentless energy. Preston and his singers seem to have been particularly inspired by these larger textures and it is the more expansive moments that provide their most impassioned arch-shaped phrasing and steely tone. Listen also for glorious alto moments in <i>Salve Regina</i>. [...]<i><br /><br />For the full text of the article please see Gramophone magazine (March 2023)</i>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-65016058331548781392023-02-17T07:38:00.003+00:002023-09-24T08:39:40.319+01:00The Golden Renaissance<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4weFas25At7ikmwJrn8BwAYVj3AaWXDBthfn_00Udkmih7Nllc0oz8JEp0BqBJjLGwaV9n1VlKgLjZBMOQzRrb5Q7Qx6Izwu4XY4p0vDEAyLYabzPIgU3Z7ub3WnRpheyyOLhj8iy8AZd2UarsEWUucS7opoGquyyvLm-s8NWEAV4shjCu9L1Nz_/s1024/Byrd-Cover-1024x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4weFas25At7ikmwJrn8BwAYVj3AaWXDBthfn_00Udkmih7Nllc0oz8JEp0BqBJjLGwaV9n1VlKgLjZBMOQzRrb5Q7Qx6Izwu4XY4p0vDEAyLYabzPIgU3Z7ub3WnRpheyyOLhj8iy8AZd2UarsEWUucS7opoGquyyvLm-s8NWEAV4shjCu9L1Nz_/s320/Byrd-Cover-1024x1024.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The Golden Renaissance: William Byrd<br /><i>Stile Antico<br />Decca 4853951</i></b><br /><br />Byrd’s later years are a fascinating time for Tudor music, and for this 400th anniversary Stile Antico dedicate a whole album to his works. It's the second release in a trilogy which also celebrates anniversaries of Josquin des Prez and Palestrina.<br /><br />Beginning with the potentially autobiographical song, <i>Retire, my soul, consider thine estate,</i> Stile Antico pitch the music slightly lower and more wistfully than The Sixteen’s recent release (Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets 1611) and comparing the two there is an instant warmth about Stile Antico’s version; a fond, Werther’s Original hue that goes on to infuse this whole programme. And who’s to say that’s wrong? Certainly not Byrd Scholar Kerry McCarthy whose superb programme note emphasises the 'relative peace' offered to the composer in his twilight years as he lived 'under the protection of local Catholic gentry.' Built around a deeply moving performance of his Mass for Four Voices, the Propers for the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary are also performed. These are notoriously difficult pieces but Stile Antico sing them with great poise, particularly the complex flourishes in <i>Propter veritatem</i>. As an ensemble they also deftly navigate the many textural changes that Byrd demands such as the exquisite three-part verse <i>Assumpta est Maria</i> in which I especially enjoyed the imitation on gaudet exercitus. [...]<i><br /><br />For the full text of this review please see Gramophone magazine (March 2023)</i>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-32042123551486223542023-01-28T13:09:00.001+00:002023-09-24T08:47:24.043+01:00Book review: The Pursuit of Musick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtpwPCtJnaNJ3Bq1Zc3NlJpqbmiu2cxRKT0QfmEhmlidCVjTc4fbyQ2dlhvyK7WAtBjz_p6jh8rCgRiS90ZwNccaze--4Z4buTkTDHD6E3ln5Sg5qzEM0JscQQywGeadQxfQTS1y8XGJxPXFyAwN5PQ5VDzChbc5QSdI5kcCzCs57FmXUGE52Gf7ZR/s647/Parrott_PursuitOfMusick_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><img border="0" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtpwPCtJnaNJ3Bq1Zc3NlJpqbmiu2cxRKT0QfmEhmlidCVjTc4fbyQ2dlhvyK7WAtBjz_p6jh8rCgRiS90ZwNccaze--4Z4buTkTDHD6E3ln5Sg5qzEM0JscQQywGeadQxfQTS1y8XGJxPXFyAwN5PQ5VDzChbc5QSdI5kcCzCs57FmXUGE52Gf7ZR/s320/Parrott_PursuitOfMusick_cover.jpg" width="247" /></b></a></div><b>The Pursuit of Musick: Musical Life in Original Writings & Art<br /><i>Available from October 2022 at <a href="http://www.taverner.org/">www.taverner.org</a></i></b><br /><br /><br />The first time I reviewed a book by Andrew Parrott I confidently called him the <i>éminence grise</i> of early music (<i>Composers’ Intentions? </i>Gramophone, 2015) and by and large my view remains unchanged. [...]<div><br /></div><div>It's an astonishingly varied collection of primary sources, numbering over 2,500 entries, some familiar from the standard reference works such as the indefatigable Strunk's Source Readings in Music History (Norton), and some less familiar, as well as paintings long studied by art historians but less so by music students. The immediate attraction of this collection is in the juxtaposition of such diverse primary sources in a format which will truly pay dividends in sheer serendipity.<br /><br />Some 600 years’ musical activity are spanned from plainchant notation, memorably referred to as a moment when 'the curtain goes up' on music-making by Taruskin (The Oxford History of Western Music), to 1770 when Charles Burney began his chronicle of music history. Parrott has organised his sources in a 3-part structure: music & society, music & ideas, music & performance; divided across 25 main chapters, each beginning with enormously useful, but brief, thematic introductions (most by Hugh Griffith). [...]<br /><i><br />For the full text of the article please see Gramophone magazine (February 2023)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZVKYHPZlzcgf7HxEISYFMbrfiIOg7D1NlVqXR__6IqjXYOz-vWo89Dx6hhR9IZ5gYlvcPRmLWpPUMFKwiVjBl3-bKSbVLiVm1Iq4atkgV3fFsS0OLaRXPIfk9qF6pk5nj4oYECnwMNbXB1NooGhRyrxnLUqBBxD9bKpXyr2RDTg5rGTGKf3U__HFO/s1949/IMG_0181.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1949" data-original-width="1208" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZVKYHPZlzcgf7HxEISYFMbrfiIOg7D1NlVqXR__6IqjXYOz-vWo89Dx6hhR9IZ5gYlvcPRmLWpPUMFKwiVjBl3-bKSbVLiVm1Iq4atkgV3fFsS0OLaRXPIfk9qF6pk5nj4oYECnwMNbXB1NooGhRyrxnLUqBBxD9bKpXyr2RDTg5rGTGKf3U__HFO/w248-h400/IMG_0181.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i></div>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2701806806087678636.post-34480748472017808512023-01-27T13:09:00.002+00:002023-09-24T08:47:46.715+01:00Wenn ich nur Dich hab<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjrzYi4N9ZyXZDJl4qBfGgGn3ZcnKH1Z62IRL0b8g8I--cpvis6WmFubFacfjlRHgzobSuvdJNuupe5MYa9W04_wLu6bFbj7kDPWZa24aBReOCN2anBeoqDnqfApLU5G-LoVz1x49gRVoappyUDu_SwQ39T7ObFXpP93pe_ct1X9_RLAnNjXOk_ix/s3000/CD-16330_COVER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjrzYi4N9ZyXZDJl4qBfGgGn3ZcnKH1Z62IRL0b8g8I--cpvis6WmFubFacfjlRHgzobSuvdJNuupe5MYa9W04_wLu6bFbj7kDPWZa24aBReOCN2anBeoqDnqfApLU5G-LoVz1x49gRVoappyUDu_SwQ39T7ObFXpP93pe_ct1X9_RLAnNjXOk_ix/s320/CD-16330_COVER.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Wenn ich nur Dich hab<br /><i>Ensemble La Silla, Richard Resch, Gianluca Geremia<br />Carpe Diem CD16330</i></b><br /><br />This collection of early baroque North German sacred music uncovers several treasures, including premiere recordings of works by Gottfreid Phillip Flor and Johann Friedrich Meister. It is also the debut solo album from tenor Richard Resch and Ensemble La Silla.<br /><br />And what a debut! <i>Inter Brachia Salvatoris mei</i> --likely by Christian Flor--is incredibly vivid as adventurous harmonies percolate through mournful, gentle strings. Resch sings with a balance of tenderness and authority, keeping text to the fore. He is rich in his lower register and his tone remains effortless as the impassioned phrases climb higher and all the while he is accompanied by the warm embrace of a superb string ensemble. Following this, I feel that Johann Friedrich Meister's substantial cantata <i>Ach Herr, strafe mich nicht</i> offers more opportunity than Resch takes for dramatic characterisation, especially in the opening section. His tone is engaging but unremittingly beautiful throughout, even on the quirkily repeated final word <i>plötzlich</i>.<br /><br />I found the second cantata: <i>Redet untereinander </i>by Gottfreid Phillip Flor wonderous in all aspects. It’s a busy text and spiced with opportunities for imaginative word-setting which the composer clearly relished and offset with ecstatic string-playing from the start. Surely this was a catalyst for a young Handel who seems to have borrowed the instrumental opening of the final chorale <i>Jesu lass mich frölich enden</i> for Rinaldo’s duet <i>Scherzano sul tuo volto</i>? Yet it is Resch’s long flowing phrases in Franz Tunder’s <i>An Wasserflüssen Babylon</i> could well be the high point of this whole album, even if it does end rather too abruptly for my tastes. But then Buxtehude’s mesmeric ostinato bass in the psalm <i>Herr, wenn Ich nur Dich hab</i> is a good contender for the same accolade where great blushes of passion from the violin parts intertwine skilfully with the voice. This album is a very welcome addition to the catalogue.<i><br /><br />For the full text of the article please see Gramophone magazine (February 2023)</i>Falsettisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01863489839612243197noreply@blogger.com0