Matthew Jocelyn

Exequien at an
early music workshop
in Amherst,
Massachusetts. I am
not exaggerating when
I say that this was one
of the most stunning
musical experiences
which have come
my way. The week ended with a performance
which was recorded. Naturally I rushed
out to obtain the tape. It proved truly awful.
Fortunately I discovered a fine professional
performance conducted by Hans-Martin
Linde on LP (it never made it to CD). Since
then there have been others. I do not myself
care for the very extroverted disc conducted
by John Eliot Gardiner (Archiv) but there is a
superb rendering by Vox Luminis on Ricercar,
conducted by Lionel Meunier, who is also one
of the bass soloists.
I am not going to claim that this new
recording led by Daniel Taylor is even better,
but it certainly runs close. It gets off to a very
good start with the Intonation sung by Rufus
Müller, who is terrific throughout. The singing
is very fine and besides Müller I very much
enjoyed the soprano soloists, Agnes Zsigovics
and Ellen McAteer. The CD also contains two
short movements from a mass by Michael
Praetorius as well as a cantata by Bach (O
heiliges Geist- und Wasserbad, BWV165).
That cantata has a solo quartet consisting of
Zsigovics, Müller, Daniel Taylor (alto) and
Alexander Dobson (baritone). They are very
good as are some of the obbligato players,
notably the violinist Cristina Zacharias
and the cellist Christina Mahler. Highly
recommended.
Hans de Groot
Concert note: The Theatre of Early Music
Choir and Students of the Schola Cantorum
led by Daniel Taylor, are featured in The
Lamb: An A Cappella Christmas Concert
at Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building,
University of Toronto, on November 29.
Also, baritone Alexander Dobson is the
featured soloist in New Music Concerts’
peformance of Ailes by Philippe Leroux on
December 6 at Betty Oliphant Theatre.
Le Concert Royal de la Nuit
Ensemble Correspondances; Sébastien
Daucé
harmonia mundi HMC 952223.24
!!
The ballet Le
Concert royal de
la Nuit was first
performed in 1653.
It can be seen as an
act of homage to the
young French king,
the then 15-year old
Louis XIV, who also
danced the main part,
that of the rising sun.
A complete list of
the performers has survived: it includes 24
princes and aristocrats, four courtiers and five
children. We know that the author of the text
was Isaac de Benserade. Jean de Cambefort
was the most prominent composer of the
music. The vocal music has been preserved
but the instrumental music is based on a
copy by Philidor, made half a century after
the ballet’s performance. Philidor wrote out
the top line and sometimes the bass line. It
was left to the conductor, Sébastien Daucé,
to reconstruct the implied but missing
inner lines.
Often now record companies try to economize
on the material provided. That is not
the case here where the CDs come with a
richly documented book of almost 200 pages
that includes illustrations of the original
performers and their costumes, illustrations
taken from the material preserved at
Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire. In
one of his notes, Daucé mentions that he
had originally intended to create a complete
reconstruction of the original ballet, but that
was not feasible. Instead, we have here all
the vocal music as well as 51 of the original
77 dance sequences. This music is juxtaposed
with selections from two Italian operas
written for Paris: Ercole amante by Francesco
Cavalli and Orfeo by Luigi Rossi. These operatic
sequences are written in a rather different
idiom than that of the dance music but they
go together surprisingly well. The record also
contains some earlier airs by Antoine Boesset
(who had died in 1643): these provide an
interesting contrast with the slightly later
dance music. The music requires large forces
to do it justice: I counted 16 singers and
34 instrumentalists. Everything is beautifully
done.
Hans de Groot
CLASSICAL AND BEYOND
Haydn; Schubert; Brahms
Stéphane Tétrault; Marie-Ève Scarfone
Analekta AN 2 9994
!!
This cello disc
comprises three
significant works by
Viennese masters.
Haydn’s delighful
Divertimento in D
Major was arranged
for cello and piano
by Gregor Piatigorsky
from the original, composed for the violrelated
baryton, viola and cello. Cellist
Stéphane Tétreault is heartfelt in the opening
Adagio’s melodies, still achieving classical
poise with pianist Marie-Ève Scarfone. They
convey the Menuet’s classicism and match
the finale’s brightness and geniality. For me
the disc’s highlight is Schubert’s Sonata in A
Minor for the six-stringed, bowed arpeggione
(1824), now usually played on the cello. The
duo’s reading is impassioned, its expression
tasteful. Dramatic arpeggios and leaps suggest
agitation and crying. The Adagio’s emotional
opening cello melody carries forward into
a well-shaped long line. There is plenty of
colour in Tétreault’s playing, with flexibility
of tempo and perfect ensemble by the duo.
Lucie Renaud’s fine program notes point
out nostalgic and historical elements in
Brahms’ Sonata in E Minor (1871) – for
example the second movement’s minuet and
third movement’s fugato – and connections to
the disc’s previous works. After the Schubert,
I was struck by this piece’s analogous leaping
cello cries in the first movement’s opening
theme. And Brahms-like Schubert is a master
at mixing major- and minor-key inflections
that evoke shifting moods. The performers are
neither routine nor precious in their expressive
reading of the Menuetto. And Scarfone
comes to the fore in the finale, playing
its contrapuntal passages with fire and
conviction.
Roger Knox
Schumann – Piano Concerto in A minor;
Piano Trio No.2
Alexander Melnikov; Isabelle Faust;
Jean-Guihen Queyras; Freiburger
Barockorchester; Pablo Heras-Casado
harmonia mundi HMC 902198
!!
This is the second
installment of
Schumann’s three
trios and concertos.
The first (HMC
902196) contained the
violin concerto and
the third trio Op.110 in
performances that were game changing with
a soft attack and sensitive textures.
This orchestra as we know by now, with
their aesthetic firmly based, seeks to recreate
the sound of early music in its time. The open
mesh to their sound illuminates this middleromantic
deployment of pre-modern instruments.
With valveless horns and trumpets,
woodier woodwinds, sinewy gut strings and
taut percussion, this must be the sound the
composer knew wherein no instrument is
buried. Schumann in his concertos sought to
harmonize the sound of soloist and orchestra
rather than throw them against each other
as Brahms did later. The pianoforte employed
in this concert performance, recorded in
the Berlin Philharmonie, is an 1837 Érard.
The enthusiastic performance is a revelation,
driven by Spanish conductor Heras-
Casado’s well-paced tempi, always attentive
to the felicities of Schumann’s score. All
aspects considered, this is decidedly a benchmark
account.
Exactly as I noted in my May 2015
WholeNote review of their performance of
the Third Trio, “Faust and her colleagues
radiate ardor and optimism, performing with
sensitivity, sincere musicality and flawless
ensemble that hold the listener’s attention.”
Their choice of instruments is interesting:
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