L’Entropia

This recording combines a collection of various early and middle-period baroque sonatas, with the basso continuo support provided by lute. I’ve already independently reviewed albums by Ter Bonet and Duncumb, but this is the first I’ve heard them together.

If you like the music of Matteis, Marini, Pandolfi, and von Westhoff, this album should be of special interest to you. The recorded sound puts Ter Bonet left of center; the acoustic is mostly dry, which suits this music well. Missing from this album is the breathing noises I encountered with Duncumb’s solo Bach album.

I listened to this release from Glossa over Qobuz at 44.1kHz resolution and no liner notes were provided.

Ter Bonet’s violin sound is a big fat and wide, maybe even, when her instrument is pushed harder, a little juicy. It’s a good sound. She’s often, I think, a passionate player, and that passion comes through in this album. A good place to hear this is in the second track, La Vinciolina by Pandolfi-Mealli. While the more typical accompaniment would be with a harpsichord, the lute here, played by Jadran Duncumb is a great stand-in, helping differentiate these performances from those you may already have either in complete collections or other recitals such as this one.

The Romanesca by Marini is by now a recognizable tune for many fans of baroque music. Both players achieve a darkness in the quiet of this piece in its introduction; the dancelike section that appears next is beautifully played. Both performers, again, are in good synchronization. The lowest notes of Duncumb’s lute are welcome to the album’s sonority.

There are a few solos included for the lute; a ballo by Kapsberger is first, then the Folias by Corbetta. Their inclusion is welcome as part of the overall 70 minute recital.

There are some graces offered by Ter Bonet in the fifteenth track, featuring music by Matteis, that seems in-line with period performance of these works, both by bending the pitch and also by re-articulation of certain notes. Ter Bonet does not overplay these types of ornamentation, but they are welcome, when heard. The far more popular tune by Matteis is also included, the Ciaccona sopra la veccio sarabanda. Ter Bonet at first retreats into her sound before finally opening up as the piece progresses. The effect is nearly seductive, the player remaining in the shadows before slowly revealing the features of their face and body? The concept of chiaroscuro in art comes to mind.

Another piece included that I have come to love is Fontana’s second violin sonata. The clean playing by Monica Huggett is how I first heard this work; however among my favorite performances is by a colleague of Ter Bonet’s, Enrico Onofri. The same sonata opens his Winter and Winter production with Lorenzo Ghielmi and Margaret Köll. While there are aspects of the sound in Ter Bonet’s recording that I might prefer, she’s no match for the creative approach brought to our ears by Onofri.

Ter Bonet plays solo in the Sarabanda con la scordatura by Giuseppe Colombi. It’s a piece I’m not familiar with but enjoyed; as so was the ‘Spring’ by Jean-Baptiste de Bousset.

These pieces align to a “stylus fantasticus” style, a time before formal movements were the norm, when pieces were constructed with contrasting sections. I love this period and its style and it is obvious to me that both Ter Bonet and Duncumb also enjoy this music.

While all the pieces included are not well-represented in the catalog, some of these may be familiar to you. There are some superior performances, as I’ve pointed out at least one; the inclusion of just part of a von Westhoff sonata is unfortunate, as his music is really good. For those who like the first track, I’d ask you to seek out the playing by David Plantier and Plamena Nikitassova.

As a recital, this album deserves your attention. Both for using lute as the basso continuo, but also the collection of pieces that tread familiar and unfamiliar territory together with sensitive playing from a historically-informed violinist who knows how to perform these works beyond what composers left upon their scores.