Philip Glass Movie

Having recently signed up for a NetFlix account, I found within their catalog a film entitled Philip Glass, which is a documentary about the composer, Philip Glass. Over the years, I have warmed to both the music of Glass and also Steve Reich, who are probably the two more prolific composers of a style that has been called minimalism.

I can’t recommend the movie enough – it was wonderful. If you’ve seen pictures or portraits of Glass, he often looks hard, cold, and unapproachable. The composer however in the film is funny, very human, and likable. The documentary follows him on several projects and is divided into “12 parts,” a play on one of his own compositions.

We meet his family, friends, colleagues, and we get a sense of what being a professional composer in the 21st century is like. He also get to see a little bit about what makes Glass tick: his spiritual journey with eastern teachings, from Buddhism to tai chi masters.

What I thought was interesting from a practical perspective is how Glass writes his music: at a bench with two rulers, pencils, and paper. At his side, a piano. He later hires people to sequence his music into a computer, where it can be listened to, and where changes can be made. The composer seems very open to making changes to what others tell him. For someone who used to study music composition, I found it fascinating.

In one scene, Glass travels to Germany to see the premier of a new opera, Barbarians. From his hotel room, he has a MacBook and an iSight camera, which he’s using to talk to his wife and his son. The room has a piano in it, and the son wants to hear his dad play something on that piano. So, Glass hands the iSight to the documenter, and he walks over to the piano and plays a few chords, riffs if you will.

Fascinating. His little fanciful noisemaking wasn’t anything like his own music…

Phantasticus

Romanesca (Nigel North, Andrew Manze, John Toll) perform works by Pandolfi, Cima, Castello, and others… (p) 1998 Harmonia Mundi

Having wanted to hear some sonats this evening by Fontana, and noting that my computer had deleted this CD from my library, I re-imported this disc by Romanesca. I think it’s the last, if not very close to the last, CD the group has recorded. I have a feeling they have split (who knows for how long). For when these three musicians did play together, they were quite good at what they did. This CD has received very (very) favorable press from magazines and reviewers since it was release some 4 years ago. I still remember where I bought this… I had known it was coming out, and anxiously ran home to hear it once I had obtained it. Okay, I had to fly home (I was in Boston at the time) but it includes some “stylus fantasicus” style sonatas from early Italian baroque composers, including one of my favorites: Castello.

The combination of lute and harpsichord is odd. I’ve always thought it a bit strange compared to organ and archlute, or harpsichord and cello. From the baroque, some treatises tell you never to mix the two, others… well, document it was done. Funny thing, people did what they felt like, and nowadays historically-informed performers do much the same.

It’s this attitude that has earned Romanesca, and espcially the violinist Manze such fame… The first thing you have to get “used to” aside from the lute/harpsichord pairing is the violin tone by Manze. It’s not my… favorite, but it’s very distinct. You could pick him out of 10 violinists. I have to say, that can be hard to do, and he deserves some credit for finding his own sound. I wonder though, what he’d sound like on a different instrument. For people who don’t like violin (and contrary to one review which commented upon Manze’s rendition of a Frescobaldi piece), there are two tracks devoted to the other players: a Frescobaldi variations piece for harpsichord, and a lute piece by Piccinini. A third offering comes in the form of a duet between chamber organ and lute. A very powerful piece by Kapsberger (another favorite composer for the lute). And of course there’s 2 sonatas by my friend Fontana, which I also own in a recording by Sonnerie with Monica Huggett.

The Kapsberger, two Castello sonatas, and the final Sonata La Sfondrata by Corradini are worth purchasing the CD for. I’ve never seen Manze play live, but I imagine he’s an affective player. What I think is lacking in his performances (and alive in others of simliar or the same music) is affective treatments in slower, simpler material the sonatas offer the performer. For instance, the opening of the Fontana sixth sonata is just a bit… boring. There’s a lack of direction in the line. I like the fact he’s not vibrating, but… certainly some sort of embellishment on these naked tones might be used to gather our attention.

The close mike used in the recording (especially so to the violin) also I think hurts the violinist. It’s real close, and the quality is great, but… the violin ends up sounding a bit dry. A little more acoustic space, I gather, would suit my taste more. Comparing this Fontana sonata to Monica Huggett: she uses lute and harpsichord as her side kicks, but her shape of line, I think, is a much better way to interpret this music. Also, I get the impression her change in tempi and styles so quickly throughout the sonata capture the real nature of the “stylus phantasicus,” basically, a mixed up collection of contrasting ideas in one large movement. Later, composers split these contrasts up, and today we have a canon of music that makes use of stops between “movements.”

In conclusion, there’s great music here. And it’s very well played, don’t get me wrong. I only feel stylistically it could use some help. More zest in places, more repose in others; in some cases, I feel maybe it is just a bit too rehearsed. It’s hard to hold this against anyone. Just feel in a few places I got 1% milk when I paid for half-and-half. Written in January, 2003.

La Fenice – Ex libris

La Fenice, directed by Jean Tubery, perform works by various composers from the library of J.S. Bach on 2 CDs, (p) 2001 Opus 111

This was originally reviewed in January, 2003.

This was an interesting collection to put together. Kind of like I was a famous musician, and you went poking around in my CD collection… well, not quite, but you get the idea. Represented are Frescobaldi, Johann Michael Bach, Johann Pachelbel, Johann Reincken, J. Rosenmüller, Fraçois Dieupart, Buxtehude, and of course, JS Bach. Wait, this is a 2-CD set. We also get more modern works by Albinoni, Raison, De Grigny, and then another generation back to d’Angelbert. It’s not surprising to see so much keyboard music.

One JM Bach cantata performed by soprano Salome Haller is well done. Hearing cornetto in the mix is a bit strange, but who am I to challenge authenticity of Johann Michael Bach works… The recorded sound is not the very best, but I really admire the ornamentation that sounds very appropriate from the soloist.

The ciaccona by Pachelbel reminds one of the opening of Bach’s great Passacaglia in C minor for organ. The inspiration for the idea? Who knows. What is very interesting about this release is the separation of nationalistic styles that found a mixture in the works of JS Bach. Unfortunately, our good violinist gets drowned out too often by the louder instruments (bassoon, cornett, etc.) I enjoyed hearing a sonata by Fux that included trombone. I am not sure this was the original instrumentation or not, but this music sounds so far removed from the works of Bach.

The violin sonata by Albinoni is a perfect example of why this recording suffers: great playing by a baroque violinist (Amandine Beyer) with a sickly thin tone that is no doubt the result of poor microphone placement. Good baroque keyboard instruments are used (harpsichord – Bruce Kennedy) and three separate recording locations were required for this CD set (harpsichord, organ, and ensemble).

While all the music in this collection is not arresting, this is an indispensable release for those interested in the life and music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

(After reading through this review that is now over 7 years old, I find in my collection some recordings by Amandine Beyer and have enjoyed them, such as her recording by Matteis. This recording is still in my rotation, although I typically pick and choose one or two works at one time.)

Albinoni Sonate da Chiesa

Albinoni’s chamber music is performed on Hyperion by the Locatelli Trio, with violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch.

This collection came out in 1994, and was recently reviewed by Jack here. Looking into the biberfan archives, I couldn’t find my own review. Perhaps I never reviewed it!

(Okay, small confession. I am not terribly organized with all of my reviews. I found references to this recording in a July, 2001 blog entry, where I was talking about ripping the recording onto a new hard drive I had procured. But, I made no reference to a review of the recording, proper.)

I recall buying this recording in Rochester, NY, at a Border’s Books and Music. Incidentally, it was from this store that I purchased my first Biber recording (by Andrew Manze and his Romanesca), and from that, I had of course become a fan of Biber. But I digress.

The Locatelli Trio (now more recently called Convivium), is made up of one Australian and two brits. Wallfisch has never been my favorite violinist, but she’s been a prolific recording artist, having a good amount of the baroque violin canon on record. Jack said she was a “conservative” player at times, but I think conservative goes towards the whole lot… Mr. Nicholson plays on both harpsichord and organ positif in this recording, and each track has Mr. Tunnicliffe on cello. The organ has a nice sound, but I wonder after the 16 years now (wow!) since this was recorded, what does the latest scholarship say about mid-century continuo practice in Italy? I’m a small sucker for variety, and while the continuo team here does alternate between the organ and harpsichord, it would have been ideal to offer us a few tracks without any bowed cello, or even some more exotic continuo instruments, such as a lute, clavicembalo, or bass lute.

Jack also said Wallfisch can sound “dry,” but here her tone comes across among the best it has on record, a bit warmer, perhaps. I remember when I got this set, I searched out the music for opus 6, and performed one of the pieces on trombone (it was during the summer, as I recall, and my mother was kind of enough to play the written-out continuo part on piano). If I remember, two lines were provided: an Urtext line and then an embellished version, in the style of Geminani’s treatment of Corelli’s solo sonatas.

I couldn’t help but think tonight as I reflected on this recording that Wallfisch and Company got off easy with only adding a minimalist’s amount of ornaments. She went hog-wild in her reading by the same group on Corelli’s opus 5, using some of the period-, written-out ornamentation. So, it seems that while the ensemble is very technically capable of playing more notes, they took the safe route here without adding their own. The need for them really calls out to us in the slower movements. Instead, all we get is Wallfisch’s weak vibrato.

In all, this is a clean reading of solo sonatas by Tomaso Albinoni, but it is too conservative for the reasons noted above, including:

• a lack of inventive playing,
• dynamic playing (it’s pretty straight),
• a lack of the use of dynamics as an expressive, even an ornamental, tool

Add to that fact that this simply isn’t the world’s best music. I will add that Albinoni isn’t a favorite composer of mine, as I often think of him as a “Vivaldi Lite.” But, these sonatas do have more satisfactory melodies than his concerti. In the hands of amateurs, the slower movements are ideal. But in the hands of professionals, they should have been a playground for more fun than what Locatelli à 3 offered us back in 1994.

Bach Overtures

The Brazilian Guitar Quartet plays the orchestral suites of Johann Sebastian Bach on Delos, led by Paul Galbraith.

I have come to appreciate more Bach’s four suites now after hearing them in increasingly diverse arrangements, this one in particular for four guitars. There’s a real clarity of line when you reduce the scoring to just our instruments. Add to that, a real clarity in the recording, and you have a real winner on your hands.

All the trills are there, and despite the the instruments are a few generations younger, Bach’s music survives with its baroque embellishments with a quite appropriate sound.

I like the sound of guitars, and with Bach’s music so well played, I can’t go wrong. Warmly recommended.

Bach, J.S.: Overture (Suite) Nos. 1-4 (Arr. For Guitar Quartet) (Brazilian Guitar Quartet)