Volume 26 Issue 4 - December 2020 / January 2021

The Anchoress
Hyunah Yu; Mimi Stillman; PRISM
(Saxophone) Quartet; Piffaro, The
Renaissance Band
XAS Records XAS 110 (prismquartet.com/
recordings)
! The Anchoress
is a song cycle in
eight movements
composed by David
Serkin Ludwig
with text by Katie
Ford. Written for
soprano, saxophone
quartet, and
a Renaissance band, The Anchoress explores
the medieval mystic tradition of anchorism.
As part of a devotional practice to Christian
life, an anchoress withdrew from secular
society in order to live in extreme deprivation
in a bricked-up cell attached to a church
(an anchorhold). From her “squint” (a tiny
window) to the outside world, Ford imagines
a narrative from the most inner thoughts of a
medieval anchoress. From that tiny window
we are privy to slices of conversations, with
herself and others, where the anchoress
experiences intense and extreme emotions
that range from contemplation and doubt to
terror and religious ecstasy.
Ludwig’s striking choice of orchestration
in the mixing of ancient and modern instruments
moves the listener efficiently through
the various narratives by creating sonorities
that are both unusual and unique. The
solo recorder is particularly efficient as it
converses and interrupts the voice, mirroring
the meandering mind of the anchoress.
The Anchoress is an expansive monologue
in which soprano Hyunah Yu makes use of
several vocal techniques such as vocalises
and Sprechstimme. She is expertly supported
by Piffaro, the acclaimed Renaissance wind
band and the PRISM Quartet. The Anchoress
received its world premiere in October 2018
by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
The disc also features three instrumental
settings, Three Anchoress Songs, featuring
flutist Mimi Stillman and tenor saxophonist
Matthew Levy.
Sophie Bisson
CLASSICAL AND BEYOND
Corelli’s Band – Violin Sonatas
Augusta McKay Lodge; Various Artists
Naxos 8.574239 (naxosdirect.com/
search/747313423972)
! The accomplished
young
Baroque violinist
Augusta McKay
Lodge brings
her considerable
musical elegance
and strong personality
to bear in this
fascinating program of early 18th-century
sonatas for violin and continuo. We hear
three sonatas by Giovanni Mossi and two by
Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli. Both Mossi and
Carbonelli were students and/or followers of
Arcangelo Corelli and indeed their works owe
much to the great master, both in content and
structure. The lone Corelli work on the disc
is one of his greatest, the Sonata Op.5, No.3
in C Major, and the performance is sensational,
a great combination of fire, precision
and risk-taking. This is playing of great
clarity that brings out the harmonic tension,
melodic beauty and rhythmic interest in
Corelli’s music.
Of the three Mossi sonatas, the two from
his early Op.1 collection from 1716 are a real
revelation. They’re technically challenging
with a refreshing originality. The later 1733
sonata of his which opens the disc is somewhat
more square and uninteresting. While
obviously talented, Carbonelli seemed to
have dabbled in music, possibly studying
with Corelli and having known Vivaldi, who
named one of his sonatas – Il Carbonelli –
after him. His only published music – before
he took up work as a supplier of wine to the
English court – was a set of sonatas published
in 1729. The two represented here are full of
interest and great poignancy.
The continuo band is a powerhouse and
provides strong support to Lodge, who is
clearly emerging as one of the most eloquent
and interesting Baroque violinists around.
Larry Beckwith
Johann Baptist Cramer – Piano Concertos
1, 3 & 6
Howard Shelley; London Mozart Players
Hyperion CDA68302
(hyperion-records.co.uk)
! Apart from
his piano Etudes
Op.84 – for many
years a staple in
piano pedagogy –
the name Johann
Baptist Cramer is
not all that well
known today. A year
after his birth in Mannheim in 1771, his father
– himself a renowned violinist and conductor
– moved the family to London to take advantage
of the thriving musical life there. The
move was clearly a fortuitous one, for over the
course of his long lifetime, Cramer earned a
reputation as a virtuoso soloist, composer and
pedagogue. In light of his sizable output, he is
definitely a composer worth re-exploring and
who better to do it than the London Mozart
Players with Howard Shelley both directing
and performing three piano concertos on this
Hyperion recording, the sixth in the Classical
Piano series.
The Concertos No.1 and 3 in in E-flat and
D Major respectively, were completed in
the 1790s and stylistically straddle the classical
and Romantic periods. While both were
perhaps written with an eye to demonstrating
Cramer’s technical prowess, the musical style
is gracious and spirited, further enhanced by
Shelley’s technically flawless performance
and the LMP’s solid accompaniment.
What we're listening to this month:
thewholenote.com/listening
Music for English Horn Alone
Jacqueline Leclair
A dynamic collection of solo
works for this instrument usually
relegated to a coloristic role in the
orchestra, by a renowned double
reed practitioner.
Alex Moxon Quartet
Alex Moxon
On his debut as a leader, Moxon
offers an antidote to gloom and
despair, reminding us that the
future will be a wonderful place.
The Circle
Doxas Brothers
Tight, angular jazz by a pair of
brothers that have rubbed elbows
with the top progressive voices
in jazz - this is on the money
throughout.
Sunset in the Blue
Melody Gardot
"Sunset In The Blue" is Melody
Gardot’s latest release since 2018’s
“Live in Europe”. Ambitiously
created during the pandemic,
the album is both timeless and
necessary
thewholenote.com December 2020 / January 2021 | 49