Roman Holiday: EMS 23 April

[doversoul1]

Hannah French presents a programme dedicated to the Swedish composer Johan Helmich Roman. He was not only one of his country's most celebrated Baroque composers and leader of the Swedish opera through the Age of Liberty, but also something of a traveller. Roman spent time in London, where he performed for Handel and Geminiani, before setting off across Europe where he met some of the leading musicians of his day, including Pepusch and Johann Jacob Bach.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08n1x31

J.J. Bach? But this sounds good.

[ardcarp]

J.J. Bach?

Third cousin once removed of P.D.Q.

[vinteuil]

Third cousin once removed of P.D.Q.

... or more seriously -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Jacob_Bach

[Alain Maréchal]

Disappointing. There seemed to be an initial assumption that he is an unknown composer, but there are over 30 CDs listed on Amazon, and I have many LPs, as well as a dozen CDs - surely many are aware of the Drottningholm Music at least. The presenter spoke far too quickly (I am not usually defeated to this extent), as though her script were too long for the available time, which could have been avoided by playing less music by composers other than Roman. Roman is a quirky composer, whose melodies often go in unexpected directions, and whose harmonies often stray from the conventional - there is much more to him than was evident here.

Nevertheless thanks to Doversoul1 for drawing attention to the programme.

[ardcarp]

...I think the first piece, a flute concerto by Roman, was conducted by one of our forum members.

[Tony Halstead]

...I think the first piece, a flute concerto by Roman, was conducted by one of our forum members.

Indeed, thanks for flagging this up, ardcarp.

Hmmmm... Although Lisa Beznosiuk plays this slight work very charmingly, I can't quite believe that Ms French didn't find a lot more 'substance' to enjoy in Roman's two superb violin concertos and two oboe concertos, played by Elizabeth Wallfisch and Anthony Robson respectively. The D minor violin concerto has a beautifully lilting slow movement with some memorable turns of melody, and the impassioned F minor concerto's finale wouldn't be out of place in a concert of 'Sturm und Drang' works.

[Quarky]

Hannah French presents a programme dedicated to the Swedish composer Johan Helmich Roman. He was not only one of his country's most celebrated Baroque composers and leader of the Swedish opera through the Age of Liberty, but also something of a traveller. Roman spent time in London, where he performed for Handel and Geminiani, before setting off across Europe where he met some of the leading musicians of his day, including Pepusch and Johann Jacob Bach.
.

Great music, for someone who had "never'erd of 'im".

A great improvement on Hannah's previous presentations, but still some way short of Lucy Skeaping.

[ardcarp]

I'm obviously a bit out of step with others, but found HF's presentation OK. She obviously had to balance the playing of chunks of music (which EMS always does) against giving us quite a lot of biog. information on this lesser-known composer. Clearly there are many 'chunks' which those acquainted with Roman's oeuvres would have liked us to hear, so maybe we can explore his music further...maybe starting with Tony's suggestions in #6 ?

[doversoul1]

I find Hannah French’s programme (this and her previous EMS) a bit frustrating because the information in the programme is too general. I wouldn’t say we could find it all in wiki but it sounds to me as if she feels obliged to present the essential data. I thought her Strozzi BaL was excellent because (to me) she was focusing on particular points about the music and telling us her thoughts and opinions based on her knowledge. I would like to hear this from her on the EMS. Seemingly irrelevant / inessential information often makes the composers and their music come alive to the listeners (to me, that is)

[ardcarp]

To be fair, there is probably a lot more known information about Roman (being nearer in time to us) than about Barbara Strozzi. He obviously travelled about a bit and had varied employment in the capitals of Europe. Possibly Hannah felt the need to give us an overview. Maybe 'Roman in London' or 'Roman in Sweden' would have allowed more focus.

[doversoul1]

To be fair, there is probably a lot more known information about Roman (being nearer in time to us) than about Barbara Strozzi. He obviously travelled about a bit and had varied employment in the capitals of Europe. Possibly Hannah felt the need to give us an overview. Maybe 'Roman in London' or 'Roman in Sweden' would have allowed more focus.

I don’t think it is the question of the quantity of available information. What I was trying to say was that the information Hannah French presented on the EMS was largely unprocessed (apart from her decision as to which information to include) whereas on the Satrozzi BaL, the information was processed by her knowledge and opinions. I would very much like to hear that on the EMS as I assume she has a lot to offer.

[Tony Halstead]

I don’t think it is the question of the quantity of available information. What I was trying to say was that the information Hannah French presented on the EMS was largely unprocessed (apart from her decision as to which information to include) whereas on the Satrozzi BaL, the information was processed by her knowledge and opinions. I would very much like to hear that on the EMS as I assume she has a lot to offer.

I must confess I was a bit disappointed by the 'Drottningholm Music' extracts selected by Ms French, played by the 'Helsingborg' orchestra conducted by my colleague Andrew Manze.
Dare I say it...? They sounded rather cautious and even a bit 'stodgy'!
As far as I am aware, there is currently no 'HIPP/ period instrument' recording of Roman's 'Drottningholm Music' in the catalogue,
BUT
On the 'Naxos' ( budget label) Uppsala Chamber Orchestra recording it is there 'in essence', having been presumed by some reviewers to have been played on period instruments (and in addition there are the supplementary movements 'Little Drottningholm Music' ( maybe written 'in a hurry' by Roman? when the wedding reception went on a lot longer than anticipated)

[MickyD]

There are two that I know of on period instruments, Tony - this one came out some years ago:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Classical-Music/Roman-Royal-Wedding-Music-Drottningholm/B000027DLD/ref=sr_1_6?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1493186590&sr=1-6&keywords=Roman+Drottningholm

There is also this more recent one:

https://www.amazon.fr/Musiques-Drottningholm-Musique-mariage-royal/dp/B003T68VNK/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1493186759&sr=1-2&keywords=roman+drottningholm

They both sound rather nice - not sure which one I would pick. I think the latter is probably better played, but I like the acoustic of the former.

[Alain Maréchal]

(and in addition there are the supplementary movements 'Little Drottningholm Music' ( maybe written 'in a hurry' by Roman? when the wedding reception went on a lot longer than anticipated)

Not quite. He wrote a lot more music than was required for the occasion (which lasted three days), selected those that fitted the various ceremonies, and the unused pieces form the "little" suite. They were all edited and arranged by Claude Genetay. I have his recordings, but although they are by a "Chamber Orchestra" I would not know what sort of instruments they use without listening to them. I confess I might not know even were I to do so. (I confess also I am not sure I care).

One advantage of retaining the LP collection is that there is considerable information on the sleeves and booklets. Musica Sveciae was exemplary in this.

[Quarky]

. The presenter spoke far too quickly (I am not usually defeated to this extent), as though her script were too long for the available time, which could have been avoided by playing less music by composers other than Roman..

On listening again (twice), I would agree with this. The programme could have been de-compressed to fill 90 minutes, if not a COTW.

But it was an excellent script. Apparently aimed at listeners totally unfamiliar with him, there was a mine of information in there.

Interested to hear of the Italian leanings in his music. May be the initial item by JS Bach might have been replaced by a piece by Geminiani? (sorry, I like living dangerously)