Bach: Sonate per ‘Le Concert Français’

Some years ago I acquired an interesting-looking CD with golden piles on it… of Bach’s “sonatas” by Le Concert Français, namely, Mr. Marq on recorder, Mr. Fernandez on violin, and Mr. Hantaï on harpsichord. They were performing a variety of works, including several of Bach’s trio sonatas for organ, here, re-arranged, as others had already done. Namely, the King’s Consort and the Palladian Ensemble.

This recording however doesn’t cover BWV 525-530 completely, and instead adds some other works, like the cello sonata, BWV 1008 played by recorder (alone). While I’m a sucker for complete collections, a little variety would be nice. I told myself.

Bach’s trio sonatas work on the organ well. I have Mr. Koopman to thank to prove that to me. And the King’s Consort does a really superb job at performing the sonatas as chamber music, using a combination of instruments. In fact, it is their best recording to date, under my own judgement.

Le concert français sadly does not offer the same quality reading as the Brits did in their earlier release on Hyperion. That record had “life” in the notes. Sensual playing, to be sure, each player living the line they were assigned.

Which is funny, as the LCF are all excellent players. The sound of the recording is well done. Why do recorder players (and Sebastien Marq is an excellent one) insist on playing Bach’s cello works? I’m sorry, it just doesn’t convince me. In fact, I could have done without the pedal piece too, BWV 598, which leaves us with the ensemble pieces.

They are played well, no doubt, although some tempo choices I felt were a little… slow, but that allows performers to have more control in shaping line. And that’s what I missed most. I know it was in their grasp, perhaps, but it wasn’t ever fully realized. Too timid to stand out?

Bach’s sonatas on different instruments mean you can accentuate the line in ways you cannot do on the keyboard. And there is some going on, but it could have been more blatant and more exaggerated.

For my taste.

The CD is not bad; it simply doesn’t arrest your attention.

Bach Motets

The Hilliard Ensemble record the Bach Motets BWV 225-230 on ECM New Series.

I compared this recording with my earlier one by Philippe Herreweghe on Harmonia Mundi. They perform the motets with instruments. In only one performance by the Hilliard Ensemble, do they use instruments; when they do, it’s a solo organ for the continuo part.

The older Herreweghe recording sounds great today. It’s rich, and the instruments which play the vocal parts in unison, make some of the more complex textures, such as that in BWV 225 more easily heard. That’s dense music.

The Hilliard approach is of course different. It’s intimate, the tempos are generally faster, and the sound more transparent. They follow the movement established by Josh Rifkin of performing Bach’s vocal works one/part. And this is of course the Hilliard’s forte, performing complex music, one-per-part, with an amazing sound of the voices combining to make harmony.

I admired the Hilliard’s in their recording with other works on ECM of BWV 4, Christ lag in Todesbanden, and this CD, while recorded 3 years prior, has deserved a place on my shelf.

I’ve been living with this CD all weekend, taking it in, listening to favorite parts over and over, and coming up with a reaction. First, I’ll say I love the fact they split the sections up into tracks, so I can re-play shorter sections with no trouble. Gone are the days for CDs with index tracks.

Some of the motets use a double choir. The voices match well, especially so that we have two sopranos and “extra” male singers to make 8 part harmony.

Complaints? Yes.. in the choral (track 6), from BWV 226, I hear a ripe clash from the soprano(s). And in my favorite work, BWV 227, some phrasing from track 15 in the second soprano, bothers me. This work is sublime, and Herreweghe does well with it, but the Hilliards add a faster tempo and some really clear voicing.

The “baritone” voice at times could stand out… more… this is what happens when you don’t back up the voices with instruments… some of the depth, and the root of harmonies, is lightfooted. This aside, however, we have a great record.

Track 22, BWV 229 is especially dramatic, and the acoustic used for the recording is simply appropriate. It’s delicious music. Look at the last track for BWV 230, how light they are, and yet, what is this music? It sounds modern. Bach’s motets look backward, for sure, in their style, but the overall sound is atypical for Johann Sebastian. Rarely is it sung like this, so open and bare; the purity of voices makes for good music making.

They Hilliards include a “bonus” motet, BWV anh. 159, and what a real gem it is. Here the mixture of the lower sonorities ring strong (with bass). It may be one of the most beautiful things on the recording; I’m guessing they will include it often as an encore.

Bach not only wrote these motets, but wrote Latin-style masses, in addition to his larger-scale cantatas with instruments and continuo. If you like polyphonic music, with cantus firmus, this is written in that style. It’s baroqueness makes it sound fresh, while fans of older vocal music will see and hear its roots. 6 gems by Bach. Yes, we can nit-pick and find a few flaws here or there, but this is a recording that reminds me of the Hilliard recording of Gesualdo… pure sound… only this time around, the music is even more rich and palatable.

After Mr. Vivaldi Eats Dinner

Tonight I’ve made plans to invite a priest over for dinner. Considering I’m not Catholic (should that be a small ‘c’?), I am wondering what Father Vivaldi will make of eating meat tonight. Or is that on Fridays? Well, it might not be any consequence, then. I do consider myself lucky, being able to dine with someone who is bound to be a great conversationalist. I plan on making a lot of Italian favorites, such as spaghetti, veal marsala, etc., and wonder what he might think of my cooking. Typically guests who come over are very pleased with my cooking.

Still interesting, but less important than my skills as a chef, I hope to spend a few minutes in the listening room spinning some tracks (I was about to say discs, but we’re all digital now, so, that wouldn’t be entirely true). I plan on focusing on Don Vivaldi’s most famous concertos, his so-called “Quattro Stagioni” to gather his opinion. What better critic, right, might we find? I picture the conversation going something like this…

• Mr. Vivaldi, I bet that meal brought back some good memories of being back in Venice. Do they cook there as well as I do?

• Sir, your food was fine, but there was too much of it. To be honest, it was all too salty and sweet. Memories? No… we don’t eat food like that in Venice.

• What? Certainly… I mean, it was all Italian… go to any Italian restaurant, and I swear, you’ll find all those things, especially the dessert, tiramisù…

• It was all very interesting. What is this amazing light box you have here?

• Light box? Oh, the computer…

• Computer?

• Yes… we don’t have time to explain all of this. But I wanted to play for you some music.

• That is a musical instrument?

• Not precisely. But I can play-back musical performances. Um… like… well…

• Music is going to come out of that little slab of metal and light?

• Well, no… yes, but.. you will hear it from over there… from those things standing in the middle of the floor.

• Ok… I am getting indigestion, so hurry up.

• I’m sorry.

So, I cue up some of my favorite performances of the Four Seasons, and ask Don Vivaldi to tell me… “Sir, tell me which one of these performances sounds MOST LIKE one you might hear in Venice… oh, and why it sounds like that.”

• There are no musicians here.

• Oh, well… let’s give it a go.

I pull up tracks. He doesn’t say a word, but is instead intrigued by the sound coming forth.

• That’s my winter concerto! But how does that music come forth?

• Well, Mr. Vivaldi, we have technology now… tools… to make a RECORDING of a musical performance. It’s like making a copy of your manuscripts, but we can copy sound, not just ink on paper.

• Amazing…

• Save your comments until you see television. Shall we listen to another?

• Sure!

I play some more.

• Wait… this one is too way too fast… and that one, why does the volume keep changing, up and down… and why in that one… do they slow down at the end?

• Ah, this is great… this is the stuff I need.

• Why? Why does my opinion count?

• You are the composer…

• I’d be more interested in what you think of my playing… I’m a little rusty, but I still think I could do a good job… Do you have a violin?

• No.

[Silence.]

• Mr. Vivaldi, in our time… it’s important for many folks to know what the music you and your generation sounded like. What tempos you followed, what the orchestra sounded like, how many people made up the orchestra, and what, even, your “ideal” sound might have been when writing your works.

• Ah… so you want to go back in time?

• Yes, in a matter of speaking.

• And what if you found you didn’t like what you heard back then? I mean, you now know you can only move people forward, and not backward… so… what if I told you what I heard here today was just tons better than what my seasons sounded like, say, around 1730?

• Did you just say “tons better”?

• I did. I am not sure what it means. But I think you do.

• Ok… you’re right, I can’t go back in time. And you’re telling me this sounded better than it did in your own time?

• Yes.

• But… how? and why?

• For one, everything is well in-tune. With my girls, we never had such good intonation.

• I see…

• And the harpsichord, it’s so clear and loud… it’s not buried under the orchestra.

• That’s mixing for you.

• Mixing? Like what they do to beverages in Harry’s Bar?

• You have been doing a lot of travelling, I gather.

• I get around.

• As does your music. The so-called “Quattro Stagioni” are well known across the world.

• You don’t say?

• I do… but back to the sound. Did you guys use all this “sul ponticello” stuff with, let’s say, “Winter”?

• I don’t recall writing that stuff into the score…

• Right…

• [Vivaldi smiles.] I do love it though… I wish I had thought of that.

• And this?

• A bit hurried. I hear they played my music like that with Pisendel in Dresden.

• Really?

• Yeah… and when the French play, it’s at a lower scale… they play slower, but try decorating everything with more trills and mordents.

• What do you think about that?

• It’s a performer’s world. I don’t mind it; I find all the variations interesting. Some I wouldn’t dare do, because the Italian style is best. But you have to dare to be different to be noticed and appreciated.

• Interesting, fascinating actually. I wanted to ask…

• Wait! Who is this performing?

• An Italian, Fabio Biondi.

• When did he die?

• Die?!

• Oh, he is still living?

• Yes… the recording is only 5 years old.

• Oh… well, I like this… he’s got a very tasteful sound… more French, but with Italian tempi…

• Really?

• I think so.

• I’ve got an Englishman you should hear… a Mr. Kennedy…

• Wow… the English like my music? Figures they haven’t come up with their own in several hundred years… [After listening] I imagine his hair stands on end… does he look rough?

• At times, actually, yes.

• See, it’s about personality. Listen… this music listening is great. But I like to see my musicians… call me back when you’ve invented that, would you? I think it’s time for me to leave… that cheesy dessert is coming up something awful…

• Ok, I do appreciate your visit… take a Tagemet on your way out.

• A what?

• Trust me.

Vivaldi: Concerti per violoncello 1

Il Giardino Armonico and Christophe Coin record Vivaldi Cello Concertos, (p) 2007 naïve

It was in Il Proteo that IGA and Coin joined forces long ago, on Teldec Classics. Onofri returns to IGA and records in the Turin-series, this time around focused on cello concerti by Vivaldi. Compare this to the 2-CD set by Dieltiens and Ensemble Explorations.

During slow movements, Coin reminds me of his (much) earlier recordings doing Vivaldi sonatas with Hogwood on Decca’s Florilegium label, L’Oiesau-Lyre. It’s the same sound, the same style. What surprised me first about this recording was the careful, deliberate tempi IGA chose, in contrast to their typical, more-spirited paces. There is much to like (and perhaps dislike) in these tempi choices.

On the good side, we hear very clearly (thanks to good miking) all the details and “barqueness” in Vivaldi’s solo lines. On the bad, some tracks lack the passion and toe-tapping factor that I had come to appreciate with Roel Dieltiens’ recordings on Harmonia Mundi.

IGA’s sound is good, well-recorded, and includes richness with the use of lute and bassoon. After listening for some time, taking in IGA’s typical use of dynamics, I feel that Coin is too close in the recording; he is so up-front that the dynamic range of the orchestra seems out of place with his own dynamic range.

Of course, there are some gems that Dieltiens never recorded, like RV 409. Yes, my favorite first violinist has a few nods with the cello in this work; we might imagine Vivaldi playing along with a beloved pupil who had gained mastery on the cello.

This is an intimate recording, very clear. This is not, however, the most flamboyant of the IGA recordings. Antonini left the fire burning slow and dormant. This is not to say the drama is “dead,” but it’s less extrovert. I’ve never considered Coin an extrovert player, so I think the two complement each other well.

The booklet includes an essay by long-time admired Vivaldi scholar, Michael Talbot. Pictures are included in the booklet, too, of Coin, Antonini, and the ensemble.

In tracks performed by Ensemble Explorations, I think the over-all concept is better done. This CD by IGA and Coin is good, but Dieltiens is likely a superior cellist, and the musicality (but likely not the sheer quality in the recording) is bettered on the earlier Harmonia Mundi recordings.

I enjoy these concerti so, however, that I don’t mind having both, and looking forward to more.

Emerson Quartet on Bach’s “Art of Fugue”

CD#750 in my collection (I save the big, round numbers for important works, such as Bach’s Kunst der Fuge) is this CD: the Emerson Quartet performing Bach’s ultimate work. At over 80-minutes, and released in 2003, it has no doubt been popular.

Just read the gushing reviews at Amazon.com.

As I listen now, the d-minor phrases and countersubjects companions with me in my listening room, I read some of these comments from other purchasers… one wrote about it being (or sounding) “smooth,” an analysis I agree with. Their tone is smooth, rich… expresso gelato, and all of that. And of all the recordings I own, they match closest that of the Julliard String Quartet, who recorded the work earlier (and whose special, long viola appears in this recording).

Yet, I don’t share all the ebullient reaction that gives this recording a “5-star” rating. Is it cleanly recorded? Yes. Does the ensemble have a good sound? Yes. Is intonation clear and true? Yes.

But I’m sorry, dear Emerson. I have your Beethoven, and have loved your Bartók. But this recording of Bach’s best work is awful.

The interpretive style is just wrong. I actually prefer the Julliard. As one reviewer (who still awarded them 4 stars, an easy praiser, I guess) said… it lacks passion. If you look closely at baroque vocal lines, on how you phrase a line… you need to do that here. Instead, it is somewhat a more “romantic approach” (with so much vibrato, I’m queasy), but it ignores baroque phrasing and some of the “gooiest” and more intense parts of the music.

I think if you want to get a good idea of what AoF is, then… a couple tracks from this recording, mixed with some others, might be worthwhile. Certainly, these are professional, star musicians. No doubt. But their take on Bach is so different than what they historically-informed camp is doing that the ignorance is wholly dissatisfying.

I know, some people hate the baroque violins, in contrast. I could live with the instruments, I just want the phrasing to be right, and the vibrato to disappear.