Bach’s Horns • Solomon’s Knot
This live recording is programmed around famous works by Bach that feature horns. Horns during Bach’s time were not yet keyed, like the modern “French horn.” I’d been interested in playing the French horn, incidentally, in elementary school. However, after a consultation with the guys from the music store that were fitting students to instruments, they pushed me down to the trombone, given the shape of my teeth at the time.
Being a brass player, I have much respect for period horn players. The instrument was not standardized, and without valves, the entire series has to be negotiated with one’s lips.
The three pieces featured on this album include;
- BWV 233 (Mass in F),
- BWV 1046 (Brandenburg Concerto #1), and
- BWV 208 (Hunt Cantata)
The horn gave these pieces the whiff of something outdoorsy, of hunts (obviously), and the rustic. A beautiful instrument, hand-painted, is featured on the cover of the booklet. The liner notes are well-done, providing the listener even deeper insight into the use of horns in Bach’s music.
The choice here was to break-up the concerto between pieces: its first movement comes after the mass; it then breaks up the cantata, one of Bach’s few secular cantatas, giving us the closest Bach ever came to writing opera. I don’t like this approach. There’s no practical reason to break up the concerto. Even if they did this to give the singers a break, it could have been re-constructed for the recording.
As such, the concerto gives us ample experience to judge the horn playing, which is well done, and performed by Anneke Scott and Anna Drysdale. They strike in each piece a good balance between ourdoorsy-loud and high-art refined. In such matters, I always prefer the more extroverted brass performances over the polite ones.
This positive out of the way, my one consistent criticism of the recording is the balance across the recording. The singers come across far more in front than the instrumental forces; the volume level of the opening mass compared to the all-instrumental concerto favors the singers quite a bit. The one player I’m familiar with from this ensemble, James Johnstone (harpsichord), at times is difficult to hear in the mix. During a recitative in the cantata, he’s easily heard; however when everyone’s going full-bore, that texture gets lost.
The other thing I’m not fond of, which may well be a symptom of making a recording from a live performance, is that the tracks are faded. Perhaps there were enthusiastic clappers?
I’m quite familiar with this mass, playing portions of it arranged for trombone choir. What becomes very apparent at the start is that the choristers of Solomon’s Knot are vibrators. While it doesn’t ruin the music, readers will already know that I’m not a fan of vibrato in singing from the period. My preference is only partially supported in historical performance; for me, it’s more personal than historical. What I will say in this case is that they are all on the same page. Nothing’s worse than more than one singer approaching the music with very different performance standards. The consistency here works toward the singing sounding cohesive.
The sound—while I think impacted somewhat in the balance department—is out front and there’s good clarity for the voices (and horns, if we have to be honest). Some will love the up-front and in your face energy in the Gloria, famous for its horn parts.
The third movement, Domine Deus is remarkably quieter than the preceding track. A symptom of a different performance situation? The difference in volume isn’t ideal in a recording. There are other examples here of mis-matches in volume among the cantata numbers.
The oboe player’s expressivity (*Qui tollis peccata mundi, the second movement of the concerto) is a bit subdued to my taste. The fourth movement of the mass, pairing oboe with soprano, is case enough to drop the vibrato. These are two voices who should be chasing shadows of one another.
The full ensemble of instruments and voices comes together for the sixth movement (including the horns) and they sound most resplendent playing at full volume.
Beyond the boisterous horn parts in the concerto, two important aspects of the first Brandenburg concerto one must get right is the oboe solo that opens the second movement and the role of the piccolo violin in the third movement. The violinist takes on the role of jester, attempting to be overheard the larger ensemble with their comically smaller instrument. The oboe has to mimic the full glory of human expression.
Solomon’s Knot doesn’t quite feed my expectations to the concerto’s fullest glory, but the chosen tempos and the flow of the concerto’s movements and dances works nicely. Listeners may want to compare this performance to the one by Ensemble Caprice from Montréal. If I recall, their horn players too had a bit of attitude which added to the strength of that performance.
My first exposure to the hunt cantata was through the Hanoncourt recording on Teldec. Zoë Brookshaw, singing the part of Diana, feels far more relaxed in this recording, seemingly enjoying herself in the process. There’s a substantial enjoyable result in the way this is performed. This more relaxed presentation I think works well.
The other famous aria, here sung by Thomas Herford, Willst du dich nicht mehr ergötzen by comparison feels a bit too relaxed.
Conclusions
The combination of a secular cantata, a mass, and a secular concerto make for an odd program. In this case, each are strongly-wrought music and they are linked by the inclusion of hunting horns. For this reason, modern audiences may well accept these pieces together and enjoy them out of their original context. I know I can.
The instrumental component of Solomon’s Knot is obviously made up of strong instrumentalists. The strong expressivity of some of the singers was not echoed necessarily by the instrumentalists (aforementioned piccolo violin and first oboe, the former which could have been aided by better miking), but these matters don’t really tarnish the recording at all. To the oboe players credit, their improvisatory wanderings in the Menuet-Trio section of the concerto was surprising and delightful.
The singers each have a nice sound to their voices and use vibrato consistently. Overall, I’d prefer less vibrato, but as mentioned, the consistency here is a strength.
The aspect of this recording that tarnishes the overall effect for me is the recording. There are some really strong aspects to it, but the inconsistency and balance issues are likely the result of capturing live performances across different days or in different venues?
This recording would certainly be of value to those who have heard those live performances and for those who are always up for another rollicking version of Bach’s music featuring horns.
If you already have favored performances of these works from other recordings, I’d welcome you to audition this, but the inconsistency in volume between the cantata numbers is off putting enough for me to look elsewhere.
Despite those reservations, as I’ve noted, there are some sunny spots in this recording. I look forward to hearing more from this ensemble—their Bach motets recording which I quickly auditioned had some nice moments, likely where I’ll spend at least a few hours with the keepers of the knot.
As an aside, I love the creative approach the group uses to include the knot graphic in each of its recording covers.
