Early Music on Record Review

[doversoul1]

25th February

Now playing (2.22)

The Italian Job
ALBINONI: Concerto Op. 9 No. 3 for two oboes & strings in F major
CALDARA: Sinfonia for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, timpani, violin, strings & continuo in C
CORELLI: Sinfonia, WoO 1, to the oratorio Santa Beatrice d'Este
TARTINI: Concerto in E major, D51
TORELLI: Sinfonia for 4 trumpets, timpani, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 violins, 2 cellos, strings & continuo in C, G 33
VIVALDI: Concerto RV151 in G major for strings & basso continuo 'Alla rustica'; Bassoon Concerto, RV 467 in C major
Gail Hennessy, Rachel Chaplin (oboes), Peter Whelan (bassoon), La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler (violin and director)
AVIE AV2371 (CD)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08g47yr

[doversoul1]

4 March

10:20am – Baroque Opera and Cantata
Queens - Opera arias by Handel:
Roberta Invernizzi (soprano), Fabio Ciofini (harpsichord, direction), Accademia Hermans

HANDEL: Catone(including music by Leo, Hasse, Porpora, Vinci and Vivaldi)
Sonia Prina (Catone), Lucia Cirillo (Marzia), Riccardo Novaro (Cesare), Kristina Hammerstrom (Arbace), Roberta Invernizzi (Emilia), Auser Musici, Carlo Ipata

Pace e Guerra: GASPARINI, HASSE, SARRO, VINCI and more
Terry Wey (countertenor), Vivica Genaux (mezzo), Valer Sabadus (countertenor), Bach Consort Wien, Ruben Dubrovsky

Sacred Duets: BONONCINI, GABRIELLI: LOTTI, SCARLATTI, A and more
Nuria Rial (soprano), Valer Sabadus (countertenor), Julia Schroder (violin), Kammerorchester Basel
(all these in 15 minutes?)

10:35am – Alexandra Coghlan on women composers
(somewhere between here and 11.45)
STROZZI along with Purcell and Vivaldi….
Ruby Hughes (soprano), Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann (cello), Jonas Nordberg (lute / theorbo / archlute)

CACCINI, F: La liberazione di Ruggerio dall'isola di Alcina
Elena Sartori (harpsichord/direction), Elena Biscuola, Mauro Borgioni, Gabriella Martellacci, Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli, Emanuela Galli, Raffaele Giordani, Yiannis Vassilakis, Allabastrina, La Pifarescha

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08h07h0

[doversoul1]

11 March

11.45am – Disc of the Week

The Masque of Moments: Theatre Of The Ayre

Ayres from 17th century masques by Anon, Campion, Coperario, Ferrabosco II, Bateman, Johnson, Coleman, Henry and William Lawes, Locke, Lanier.
Theatre Of The Ayre, Elizabeth Kenny (conductor)
LINN CKD542 (CD)

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/advsearch.php?composer=&work=The+Masque+of+Moments&performer=&medium=all&label=&cat=

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08hmpyt

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks for this info, dovers - a potentially interesting ECM disc by the Trio Mediaeval just before the Gurrelieder Bal at 9:30, too.

[doversoul1]

Thanks for this info, dovers - a potentially interesting ECM disc by the Trio Mediaeval just before the Gurrelieder Bal at 9:30, too.

Thank you for pointing this out.

Trio Mediaeval & Arve Henriksen – Rimur
Chats, hymns, folksongs and improvisations based on Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish sources
Trio Mediaeval: Anna Maria Friman (voice, hardangar fiddle), Linn Andrea Fuglseth (voice, shruti box), Berit Opheim (voice), Arve Henriksen (trumpet)
ECM 4814742 (CD)


Intriguing. Here is ‘About’
[…. ] Fascinated and inspired by Icelandic sagas, beautiful chants, folk songs, religious hymns and fiddle tunes, the quartet has arranged a unique set of songs where improvisation, mediaeval and traditional music from Iceland, Norway and Sweden meet the present. [...]

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/ECM/4814742

[doversoul1]

Dowland and his contemporaries: 18 March

1030
Kirsten Gibson reviews a collection of new releases of music by the Tudor composer John Dowland and his contemporaries. Including a modern reinterpretation of Dowland's music by David Gorton. This set of discs underlines the constant presence of Dowland's famous 'Lachrimae' in one guise or another - it speaks both to its popularity in Dowland's lifetime, and its enduring popularity and fascination with modern composers, musicians and audiences. It clearly captured the imagination of seventeenth-century musicians across Europe in myriad ways and continues to act as a catalyst for further musical creativity right up to the present day. These recordings also show
the recurring theme of musical borrowing amongst 16th Century musicians

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08jf6s6

Update
10.50am – Warner Classics Telemann Collection

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Brilliant%2BClassics/95440BR

[Richard Tarleton]

I listened hopefully but I'm afraid this discussion didn't work very well. AMcG - "Are these straight arrangements?" Kirsten Gibson - "Sorry?"

David Gorton's efforts left me cold - I was baffled by the microtonal guitar. Perhaps his stuff would grow on me, but life's too short. Elizabeth Kenny's lute did indeed take flight in the King of Denmark's Galliard....but only for a few seconds, in a piece lasting not much more than a minute. There is of course a much more extended solo lute version, with several sections, which Dowland re-worked a number of times, the opening measure deriving from all those early 16thC "Battle" pieces - Dowland's first version was indeed called the Battle Galliard, later re-worked for his patron King Christian lV. A favourite for guitarists and lutenists, here played by Nigel North. I liked the Thomas Tomkins Ground....

[Nick Armstrong]

Update
Warner Classics Telemann Collection
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/B...assics/95440BR

Very interesting review this, I thought - above all for the realisation of how quickly the likes of Harnoncourt, Brüggen etc found their HIPP level and started producing recordings that sound (to me at least) completely convincing today.

The second extract was this:

Rejouissance (Overture in A minor TWV 55:a2)
Performer: Frans Brüggen. Ensemble: Concentus Musicus Wien. Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt

recorded on 'original instruments' in 1966 (iirc). Staggeringly good... It could have been recorded last week and I wouldn't have been surprised.

Yet this was only 2 years or so after the first extract played:

Overture (Suite) In D Major Twv.55:D1 (Tafelmusik 2 Air IV)
Performer: Maurice André. Ensemble: Concerto Amsterdam. Conductor: Frans Brüggen.

- with everyone playing on modern instruments, and sounding ok but a world away from the performance a couple of years later.

[doversoul1]

25 March

11.45am – Disc of the Week

Lully: Persee 1770
LULLY: Persee
Mathias Vidal, Helene Guilmette, Katherine Watson, Tassis Christoyannis, Jean Teitgen, Chantal Santon-Jeffery, Marie Lenormand, Cyrille Dubois, Marie Kalinine, Thomas Dolie, Zachary Wilder, Le Concert Spirituel, Herve Niquet (conductor)
ALPHA ALPHA967 (2CD)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08k4g20

Re: Caliban's post above

Yes, I thought the Telemann Collection was very interesting from that point. I enjoyed the music too.

[vinteuil]

.

11.45am – Disc of the Week

Lully : Persee 1770.

... I was at first baffled by the reference to 1770 (Lully died in 1687) - more details explain the background -

"Nearly a century after its composition, Lully's Persée was recreated in 1770 to mark an exceptional event: the inauguration of the Royal Opera House at Versailles Palace, built to celebrate the wedding of the Dauphin (the future Louis XVI) and Marie Antoinette. For this unique occasion, three composers (Antoine Dauvergne, François Rebel and Bernard de Bury) were commissioned to revise Lully's work and adapt it to the new circumstances and the new venue, which was regarded as absolutely extraordinary in its time.

Lovers of Lully's opera will therefore meet their mythological hero again, now with a richer orchestration and more for the chorus and the ballet dancers to do. There were only two performances in 1770, but they were absolutely sumptuous: 95 choristers, 15 soloists, 80 dancers,100 extras, 80 instrumentalists, five sets and 530 costumes.You can now relive that historic event thanks to a recording conducted by the leading specialist in this repertory, Hervé Niquet, and a CD-book richly illustrated with engravings of the period and photos of the Opéra Royal and of manuscripts of the score.
Recorded at Versailles Palace in 2016, in collaboration with the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles."

The comments on amazon.fr are not particularly enthusiastic :

http://amzn.eu/91M2mNd

[MickyD]

And I really regret having sold my copy of Christophe Rousset's "Persée" (original version) some time ago. It's now too expensive to buy second hand.

[vinteuil]

And I really regret having sold my copy of Christophe Rousset's "Persée" (original version) some time ago. It's now too expensive to buy second hand.

... perhaps you should cheer yourself up by acquiring the much-anticipated Rousset Armide , just out -

http://amzn.eu/69AhkG6

[MickyD]

... perhaps you should cheer yourself up by acquiring the much-anticipated Rousset Armide , just out -

http://amzn.eu/69AhkG6

Ooh, that looks good....I already have the old Herreweghe version, but I am already tempted!

[doversoul1]

1st April

10.30am – new releases for Easter

Alessandro Scarlatti: Passio Secundum Johannem
Giuseppina Bridelli (mezzo-soprano), Choeur De Chambre De Namur, Millenium, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon (conductor)
RICERCAR RIC378 (CD)

Pergolesi: Stabat Mater
BACH, J S: Cantata BWV54 'Widerstehe doch der Sunde'; Cantata BWV170 'Vergnugte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust'
PERGOLESI: Stabat Mater
Lucy Crowe (soprano), Tim Mead (counter-tenor), La Nuova Musica, David Bates
HARMONIA MUNDI HMM907589 (CD)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ky89l

[doversoul1]

29 April

10.20am – Monteverdi Anniversary

Monteverdi: Night - Stories of Lovers and Warriors
Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

The Excellency of Hand: English Viola da Gamba Duos
Robert Smith, Paolo Pandolfo

Passaggio - Eine Barocke Alpenuberquerung [A Baroque Alpine Crossing]
Music by Schmelzer, Piccinini, Marini, Bartolotti, Vilsmayr, Pandolfi Mealli and Muffat
Ombra e Luce - Bjorn Colell (guitar, lute, theorbo), Georg Kallweit (violin)

TELEMANN:Reformations-Oratorium 1755, TWV 13:18
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, Reinhard Goebel

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ndm01

A Baroque Alpine Crossing
Very much looking forward to listening to this.