Just heard the Bartoli clip. I'm not one of those with an anti-vibrato (nor for that matter an anti-Bartoli) conditioned reflex, but have to say this a.m. , well, it was painful. Vibrato was so wide it was difficult to distinguish what notes she was actually singing. It seemed quite out of keeping with the style of the rest of the band.
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Nice advert here for the Bartoli CD.
Sorry, news feature.
I was hoping it might be about the Melodiya archives ,and all the great music which seems to be lying there unloved.
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
I am not a number, I am a free man.Comment
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I hope no-one is deterred from buying it on my account. The clip we heard on Saturday was from the mid-18th dentury:Originally posted by teamsaint View PostNice advert here for the Bartoli CD.
Sorry, news feature.
I was hoping it might be about the Melodiya archives ,and all the great music which seems to be lying there unloved.
Rasverzi pyos gorani, laya (Altsesta - opera in 3 acts)
Performers: Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis
Composers: Hermann Raupach (1728 - 1788)
Album Title: Decca 478 6767Comment
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Needless to say, I gave Signora Bartoli a big swerve and successfully avoided earache.
I thought the Currentzis/Musicaeterna Rameau sounded wonderful, and succumbed to temptation - listening now via the Airport Express: fab !!!
"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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Dowland New Release: 1 November
10.40 (ish?)
Newcastle University lecturer Kirsten Gibson joins Andrew live at Sage Gateshead to discuss recent releases of renaissance composer John Dowland, including discs from John Holloway, Paul O'Dette and Iestyn Davies.
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This looks very interesting. I already have the Iestyn Davies which is quite good with Thomas Dunford. I heard the 2 perform together at the 2013 York Early Music Festival. And any disc by Paul O'Dette is worth a hearing.Comment
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Yes O'Dette's complete lute music is the one complete set I don't have so would be tempted by this, though I have several versions of every piece on it. Christoph Denoth a new name to me, so as a Dowland-playing guitarist myself I investigated his website. Full-bodied sound, I love the tone of his battered-looking guitar which didn't seem to have a label so couldn't see what it was. I like the Davies/Dunford combo - in fact this may well be a clean sweep.Comment
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There was much to glean from today's Dowland item on CD Review. Unfortunately, the dialogue between Kirsten G and Andrew McG fell into an all too common format, i.e. Andrew posing pre-arranged questions to which Kirsten agreed, This was all the more frustrating as we had just had 45 minutes of the same with Chopin/Andrew/Ken Hamilton.
Cutting to the substance of what Kirsten had to say (agree with), it was gratifying to hear that there is no single way to perform Dowland's music as (a) we don't know, of course, how it may have sounded, and (b) Dowland himself made many versions (lute, lute plus solo voice, viol consort, lute plus voices, etc, etc).
There was, IMO, not enough music played in the item; a pitifully small amount from the Iestyn Davies and the Paul O'Dette CDs. It is possible that Dowland might have embraced an emotionally expressive style...who knows...but Iestyn was maybe a little cool, though very beautiful. I have memories of my old singing teacher, Rene Soames, who with Desmond Dupre made many recordings of Dowland's songs. I wish I could find available copies, so if anyone knows how to find them please post it up. I suspect, from what I remember of RS, they would sound 'dated' to us, but would fall into the expressive end of the spectrum
Edit: I found this....
...not much help.Comment
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As you say Ardcarp, there was much to glean form today's review. And I totally agree there was to much dialogue. That said I have both the Iestyn Davies/Thomas Dunford and the Paul O'dette CDs. As I mentioned before, I had heard the Dowland program performed by Iestyn D and Thomas D. at the 2013 York Early Music Festival. This was a memorable performance and I enjoyed it very much. Another highlight of the 2013 festival dedicated to Dowland were performances by Jacob Lindberg and Paul O'Dette. Paul O'Dette performed a late night concert by candlelight in the Centre for Early Music. Again, this performance featuring the music of Dowland and his contemporaries was mesmerising. A truly memorable concert. The new CD is the same.
It is to bad that more time in the review was not devoted to the music on these truly fine CDs.Comment
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Well I was out birdwatching this morning so missed the programme, but have ordered all 3 "plucked" Dowland CDs - the songs, O'Dette and the guitar one. After reading the above comments I don't think I'll bother with iPlayer. I'd love to have heard those 2013 performances in York - I have heard Lindberg play an all-Dowland programme in Oxford. O'Dette spoke amusingly about it - was it on EMS? - how his invitation went astray, and Lindberg's didn't, so Lindberg offered his all-Dowland programme including all the pieces O'Dette would have offered to play, so he had to come up with something quite different. Fortunately they're all good friends. The O'Dette disc includes 5 pieces which I, in common with many another amateur hacker, attempt on the guitar (you only have to look at You Tube to see quite how many
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...both now on the (ever lengthening) wish-list for Santa.Iestyn Davies/Thomas Dunford and the Paul O'dette CDs.
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The penny has just dropped - it was Christoph Denoth accompanying James Gilchrist and Ruby Hughes in Britten at the Cadogan Hall Prom....
Just listening to the Dowland CD now.Comment
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I've now listened to the Denoth, the O'Dette and the Davies/Dunford - and listened to the CDR item which I hadn't heard. Dr Gibson was interesting (Andrew asks the same questions whenever he does Dowland, it's all down to the expert to say something interesting). On the Denoth (Dowland/guitar) she remarked on the resonant timbre and dynamic range of the guitar, and he does indeed play a lovely instrument, beautifully. I also particularly enjoyed Denoth's idiomatic ornamentation, which was about as lutenist-like as you can get on the guitar - Andrew's slightly more negative comments ("safe") were more by way of saying something for the sake of it, I thought. And I didn't think it was necessarily "Dowland for a wider audience", any more than Bach on the piano is "Bach for a wider audience", but there we are. I find the CD both scholarly and beautiful to listen to.
O'Dette - nothing more to be said. Fabulous Dowland playing from a great, great player. And at 75:23, rather more generous measure than the Denoth at 54:44. Another 20 minutes of music, for goodness' sakes
I must confess to slight disappointment with the Davies/Dunford. Maybe there's only so much counter-tenor I can listen to in one sitting. But I also have a problem with his diction. I can't hear the words, a lot of them disappear into a sort of countertenor mush, and this is on a good hifi system. I started with the last track, "Now o now", a song I know by heart, and simply couldn't make some of it out. I then played tenor Martyn Hill on the old Consort of Musicke set - every word dropping plangent and crystal clear. The same goes for the You Tube Les Canards Chantants version on the North Yorks Moors steam train that I posted a few weeks ago - perfection, in its own way. There it's treated as a part song, with the soprano taking the lead.
I'll stay with this a bit longer, but I'm not enjoying it. The words are vital - just as in consort music, where every line is of equal value. I'm surprised Iestyn Davies got such an easy ride from the reviewers.Comment
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Indeed the words are most important. I often think of Thomas Campion who wrote much of his own text (I don't know if Dowland was poetically inclined) and he must surely have wanted his words to be clearly heard. I was lucky enough to know Robert Spencer, the lutenist (who has now sadly died) and he would often play and sing (in a baritone register) at private gatherings and social occasions. He would be the first to admit that his was not a great voice, BUT he 'told the story' and frankly I felt in my bones his sort of rendition was all the more affecting. I think many countertenors concentrate on beauty of sound. Deller did for certain, but he also managed to bring great expressiveness to his Dowland recordings. He had certain mannerisms (e.g. that diminuendo-ing on high notes) but his diction was pretty good.Comment
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