Matteis: False Consonances of Melancholy

Amandine Beyer and colleagues have recorded various ayres for the violin and continuo on Zig-Zag Territories by composer N. Matteis.

I’ve run across Matteis’ in small doses over the years, one or more of his dance movements appearing in compilations (such as those by Florilegium with Rachel Podger), but this is my first album dedicated to Matteis altogether. Despite his name (which looks French to my eyes), he was an Italian who found success in his career in England.

Ayres are good names for the pieces, all short by just a few minutes in length, organized loosely in mini suites. Having watched a promotional video that was made for this album, I learned violinist Beyer plays “off the shoulder,” to mimic the professed playing style by Matteis, who seemed to be a sort of virtuoso fiddler.

The ensemble assembled here has a richness about their sound, with Beyer standing in the front with a leading, affective virtuosity about her playing. These are therefore performers who like the music they’re playing, exploring the music’s emotional and affective depths.

While the length and severity of Matteis’ music may be unusual, the music nevertheless is engaging and sensitively performed–representing several diverse ranges of mood.

Warmly recommended.

Krieger: 12 trio sonatas

The obscure German composer, Johann Philipp Krieger, has been recorded in a series of 12 published trio sonatas (for 2 violins and b.c.) by Parnassi Musici.

I purchased the CD after reading about the ensemble from the Folding Harpsichord Blog, where Jack reviews their recording of works by Domenico Gallo.

Gallo’s music is not available currently in Mp3 format, but the later recording of works by Krieger are. Despite being a prolific composer (not unlike Bach), so many works by this composer have been lost.

The trio sonatas are written in a harmonic style not that foreign from Italian models, such as some of Corelli’s unpublished works. In terms of style, the works are rather conservative, with much of the writing keeping the two violins together in passages of thirds, save for when one starts a short contrapuntal exchange.

To my ears, the style of this composer isn’t terribly far either from some of the “Baltic” works in MAK’s recording musica baltica. The prevalent German style seems to tap, too, into the string ensemble works by Lübeck composers Buxtehude and Johann Pachelbel. In this comparison, Krieger is definitely following a more Italiante model, but at the same time, his writing is far less daring.

Which leaves us with performance questions for the players: what style should we adopt? Parnassi musici have a nice string sound, but I found two faults with their playing that prevent this disc from being truly a standout.

For one, they often adopt very strict tempi that appear to be super-aligned with a metronome. The Affekt of baroque music, to my ears, needs a more liberal interpretation when emphasizing the resolution of dissonance, when landing a delicious chord, or when you simply want to–to make the music more interesting. This isn’t to say they can’t–they can change tempo, but the only time it isn’t an abrupt change is at the tail-end of a movement where a natural ritard is called for.

The second criticism is related, but deals with their willingness to “lean” into some of the music, or to project more “feeling” into it. This is not to say they are emotionless players, but that Krieger’s plainess in his writing would only be enhanced by some more colorful interpretation.

To their credit, the ensemble takes on faster movements with aplomb and plenty of speed and technical ability.

In conclusion, an interesting release of a very unknown composer’s work, but one that likely hasn’t risen to well-known heights on the merit of his compositional abilities. The ensemble shines more than the music, but they could have helped it along with a more daring big-picture view of these works caught somewhere between an older German and emerging Italian style.

Monterey Jazz on Tour

Last night I attended the concert held at the Carpenter Theatre on behalf of “Modlin Downtown” to hear artists Kenny Barron, Regina Carter, Kurt Elling, and Russell Malone in a concert entitlted Monterey Jazz Festival, On Tour.

The ensemble had only been playing for a month together, admitted one of the artists, but they had a variety of pieces to show off each artists’ talents, including one for trio, and eventually, a solo for guitar.

The two artists not mentioned on the website were the bassist (Kiyoshi Kitagawa) and the drummer (Johnathan Blake) who were also good. Kitagawa’s bass performance was marred by an inability to hear him within the ensemble’s texture (amp too small?). Blake had two prominent solos, the second one was the real winner.

Carter and Barron played a duet that was outstanding, combining several verses of Georgia (on my mind) with How Great Thou Art. It was played in the second set, when the ensemble seemed to really find their place, where Johnathan Blake played an outstanding solo, where Carter seemed to break out of her shell and break a sweat, and where the ensemble locked in together with each person contributing something substantial (including vocalist Kurt Elling who is an outstanding vocalist).

An excellent event which brought me to the new and revitalized Center Stage.

Shiitakes and Criminis

I like mushrooms; here: crimini and shiitake mushrooms.

Locatelli: opus one concerti

Harmonia mundi is offering the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra’s rendition of Locatelli’s opus 1, led by Gottfried von der Goltz.

Included on the recording are 6 concerti grossi for strings. Seemingly this is “half” of the 12 works Locatelli first published. Instead of following a Venetian, Vivaldian-model, they seem to take more after a four- or five-movement Roman model, popularized by Corelli at the turn of the century. While the harmonic language references Corelli, the violin technique is more up-to-date with flourishes that extend what Corelli ever penned. Knowing Corelli was supposedly an avid improvisor, it is tough to say if Locatelli’s ornamentation wasn’t a good imitation.

Contrapuntal movements aren’t lost on Locatelli either, such as the vivace of the Christmas concerto, number 8. While Corelli is certainly referenced here, there are some references to other popular styles of the day. In the second concerto in C minor, Locatelli plays with stereophonic technique between two soloists in the violins. We can go far earlier than Corelli to find this, in the works by Gabrieli. The style is of course far more modern, especially in the areas of harmony.

The three movement concerto “a cinque” in F has the opening “tempesta di mare” feeling of several Vivaldi concertos, only to ultimately fall short in execution.

Locatelli was a forward-thinking, enterprising composer of the late Italian baroque. By his later concertos, he’s extending his compositional ideas further than his peers, and by his opus 3, he’s extending the reach of the violin’s gamut. His style by the end mimics that of Dall’Abaco and sounds almost somewhat classical.

But this well-performed collection by FBO is a glimpse into his start, where he evidently felt the requirement to build upon the shoulders of the giants. On paper, I’m not sure these concerti would have been too attractive to audiences of the time, but with the right soloists, they may have just been show pieces. There are a few places among the set where Locatelli sets off a few fireworks. Yet, it will take his pen a few more years to tap into the riches he’d be capable of with a lyric slow movement.