Volume 26 Issue 5 - February 2021

ased on the La Folia progression.
Cords is in great form throughout this fascinating program, technically
superb and with a clear, warm tone across the whole range of his
instrument.
On Babel, the new CD from the Calidore
String Quartet, the focus is the desire
“to explore the innate human drive for
communication” and also to explore
what happens when music substitutes
for language (Signum Classics SIGCD650
naxosdirect.com/search/sigcd650).
Schumann’s String Quartet No.3 Op.41,
written just months after he was finally
able to marry his beloved Clara, and Shostakovich’s String Quartet
No.9 in E-flat Major Op.117, in which Shostakovich showed music’s
power to substitute for language as an act of defiance by using Jewish
idioms in a work otherwise clearly acceptable to the Soviet regime,
surround Caroline Shaw’s Three Essays, written for and premiered by
the Calidore ensemble at the 2018 BBC Proms but inspired by Shaw’s
concern at the national unrest leading to and resulting from the 2016
presidential election, and the language being used increasingly to
spread confusion and misinformation.
The serious intentions threaten to overwhelm the actual music, but
there’s fine playing on a CD that again reflects the COVID-19 situation,
the quartet saying that they hope this album “will connect us
with our audiences at a time when we are prevented from performing
in-person concerts.”
VOCAL
Machaut – The Lion of Nobility
Orlando Consort
Hyperion CDA68318
(hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=
D_CDA68318)
! Guillaume de
Machaut’s status as
the 14th century’s
greatest composer
is borne out by the
respect in which
he was held by
his contemporary
musicians as well
as by the list of aristocratic patrons who
supported him. One such patron, King John
II of France, must surely have been the Lion
of Nobility alluded to in the title of this CD;
his capture at the battle of Poitiers in 1356
personified the massive English victory.
So it is that En demantant et
lamentant comprises the longest track on
this CD. (At a whisker under 18 minutes,
it is an eternity by early music standards!)
There are no choruses in this composition, as
Machaut commences his powerful lament for
King John’s fate. He sums up his own distress
as he recounts his sad task, going on to
describe the King’s bravery: “A lion of nobility
in good times, leopard of ferocity in adversity...”
Listen to the Orlando Consort as they
unravel Machaut’s text, the countertenor part
adding its own ethereal quality.
Of course, there are other compositions.
Dame, se nous m’estes lointeinne is
a rarity, a monophonic composition, since
Machaut is famous for his highly profound
polyphonic pieces. Even stranger is his Moult
sui de bonne heure nee – written from a
woman’s perspective. And, yes, the lady is as
passionate and romantic in her love for her
lover as the male nobles are for their ladies.
Overall, however, Machaut’s tribute to King
John dominates this CD. Much as Machaut
dominated 14th-century music.
Michael Schwartz
Vago Desio – Barbara Strozzi Opus 8, Part 1
Elissa Edwards; Richard Kolb
Acis APL90277 (acisproductions.com)
! Venetian singer
and composer
Barbara Strozzi
(1619-1677) is
perhaps one of
the most prolific
composers of
secular music of
her time. With
Vago Desio, musicologist and theorbo player
Richard Kolb and soprano Elissa Edwards
offer Strozzi’s eighth and last known opus,
performing from an edition edited by Kolb
himself (Complete Works of Barbara Strozzi,
Cor Donato Editions, 2019).
Vago Desio’s five arias and two cantatas
are set to poetry about the intricacies of love
and it is highly likely that Strozzi wrote them
for herself to sing. Strozzi’s maturity as a
composer is displayed throughout the opus
with her powerful vocal writing style, which
is lyrical, expressive, dramatic and always
guided by text. Most notable is the show piece
L’Astratto. The light-hearted parody cantata
is sung by a distressed lover who sets out to
choose an appropriate style of aria to express
the pains of love. The ten-minute piece mixes
aria-like phrases, short bursts of recitatives
and sarcastic commentary which interrupts
each of her short unsuitable attempts before
finding an acceptable formula which leads to
the complete aria.
Vago Desio shows Kolb as a sensitive and
audacious theorbo player while Edwards
shines in interpretations that are gorgeously
nuanced with engaging and passionate
vocals. Edwards is also a specialist of expressive
melodic gestures, which were essential
to Strozzi’s style. As such, a concert
version of Vago Desio would be welcome.
The album also includes two sets of Correntes
by Venetian composer Bernardo Gianoncelli
with Kolb on the archlute.
Sophie Bisson
Vivaldi – Il Tamerlano
Soloists; Accademia Bizantina; Ottavio
Dantone
naïve Vivaldi Edition OP 7080
(accademiabizantina.it/en/tamerlano)
! Vivaldi Edition,
an inspiring and
noble project
dedicated to the
recording of nearly
450 works by
Vivaldi (as found
in the collection
at the Biblioteca
Nazionale in Turin) has introduced many
previously unknown vocal and operatic
works by this prolific composer, including Il
Tamerlano. Based on the popular libretto by
Agostino Piovene, and including several arias
by other prominent composers of that time,
Il Tamerlano (Il Bajazet) is full of vitality and
lyricism and, of course, drama.
Accademia Bizantina is simply superb.
Under the dynamic leadership of Ottavio
Dantone, the ensemble grabs the listener’s
attention at the very beginning of the
gorgeous three-movement instrumental
Sinfonia and never lets go. Their nuanced
phrasing and marvellous sound underscore
every single aria on this album. The recording
features a talented cast of singers who bring
in the passion, the struggle and the vulnerability
of their characters, often in the same
breath. Sophie Rennert is delightful in the
role of Irene; and Bruno Taddia, in the lead
role of Bajazet, showcases both the vigour and
the mastery of an artist who is in his prime.
Enthralling music, theatrical story, stellar
ensemble and cast, sophisticated performance
– this recording pulls out all the stops. You
will love this album for the touch of elegance
and class it brings into the world of today.
Ivana Popovic
36 | February 2021 thewholenote.com