Early Music on Record Review

[MickyD]

9.00
JS Bach: Secular Cantatas, Vol. 10: Angenehmes Wiederau BWV 30ª; Cantata BWV204 'Ich bin in mir vergnügt'
Carolyn Sampson (soprano)
Robin Blaze (counter-tenor)
Makoto Sakurada (tenor)
Dominik Wörner (bass)
Bach Collegium Japan Chorus
Masaaki Suzuki

11.45am – BAL Proms Choice Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D BWV1050 as chosen by Sara Mohr-Pietsch on 23rd December 2017
Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1-6 BWV1046-1051 (complete)
English Baroque Soloists
John Eliot Gardiner
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00009zn

I remember this Gardiner version getting plaudits when it first came out, but listening again to the fifth concerto on Saturday, I still cannot understand how it became a first choice for SMP. The playing is of course excellent, but I just couldn't live with that excessively close recording, it sounds as if we are right up amongst the musicians.

[doversoul1]

15 September

10.20am – New Releases

Vivaldi: Sonatas for cello & basso continuo
Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello)
Michael Behringer (keyboards)
Lee santana (theorbo)
Christoph Dangel (cello)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000d1k

[doversoul1]

A lovely sound of cello. Tom M said his only gripe was '74minutes of Vivaldi'. Did he want 148 minutes?

[doversoul1]

22nd September

10.20am – New Releases: Caroline Gill on Baroque
Luigi Boccherini: Cello sonatas vol. 2
Bruno Cocset (cello)
Les Basses Réunies

10.50am New Releases: Caroline Gill on Baroque
Louis Couperin: Nouvelles Suites de clavecin
Christophe Rousset (harpsichord)

Giuseppe Tartini: Sonate Op.1
Evgeny Sviridov (violin)
Stansislav Gres (harpsichord)
Davit Melkonyan (cello)

Antonio Caldara: Maddalena ai piedi di Christo
Le Banquet Céleste (choir)
Damien Guillon (director)

J.S. Bach: Harpsichord concertos transcribed for mandolin
Davide Ferella (mandolin)
Profil Barocchi (ensemble)
Dorina Frati (mandolin II)

J.S. Bach: Harpsichord Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 3
Marcin Swiatkiewicz (harpsichord)
Zefira Valova (violin)
Anna Nowak-Pokrzywinska (violin)
Dymitr Olszewski (viola)
Tomasz Pokrzywinski (cello)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000h8n

[MickyD]

It's a shame that with so many other Caldara oratorios to be recorded, this group recorded the same one as that already admirably recorded some years ago by René Jacobs.

[Nick Armstrong]

I do like Caroline Gill very much as a reviewer and a broadcaster. I like the way her mind works, the odd wise joke and chuckle... Top drawer, fascinating survey this morning.

[Richard Tarleton]

I do like Caroline Gill very much as a reviewer and a broadcaster. I like the way her mind works, the odd wise joke and chuckle... Top drawer, fascinating survey this morning.

Indeed, excellent. Though - confession time - of course I understand about temperament - equal, mean, etc. - I read, and largely understood, Stuart Isacoff's book on the subject - but am not altogether sure I can hear the difference - what percentage of the population can? Am I tone deaf? Should I even be listening to early music, let alone enjoying it?

The acuity of different people's ears was also brought home to me by DON saying Ian Bostridge was "under the note" in S. Lad earlier. I dislike IB but could not hear that. If that had been evident to IB, his collaborators or producer (professionals all) wouldn't they have said something? Would the record even have gone out? Is DON's hearing superhuman? (I've wondered that before.)

My hearing still pretty acute, I can still hear goldcrests and grasshopper warblers clearly, and am generally aware if things are out of tune....(I still play the guitar, so am used to tuning....guitar tuning always a compromise).....

[ardcarp]

Am I tone deaf? Should I even be listening to early music, let alone enjoying it?

No, yes and YES!!

I must say I couldn't hear any 'under the note' in IB's performance either. Singers often bend a note for emotional effect, and I think that was what IB was doing and what DON was being rude about.

Must listen to Caroline Gill's contribution to Record Review. (I had to nip off after the RVW). I guess it must have been a chat with Andrew.....

[doversoul1]

29 September

9.00am
Bach: Oboe Concertos BWV 1055, 1056 & 1061; Cantatas 52 & 84
Xenia Loffler (oboe)
Anna Prohaska (soprano)
Collegium 1704 (ensemble)
Václav Luks (conductor)

10.50am New Releases: Jeremy Summerly on choral music
Sacred vocal music from 13th century Spain
Ensemble Gilles Binchois
Dominique Vellard (conductor)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000kfj

[doversoul1]

6th October

9.00am
Locke: Consorts for viol and mixed ensemble – ‘For Lovers of Consort Music’
Phantasm (consort of viols)
Elizabeth Kenny (lute)

9.30am – Building a Library – Alexandra Coghlan on Orlando Gibbons

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000n77

[doversoul1]

13 October

10.50am Album Day: Simon Heighes on classic albums

‘A New Venetian Coronation, 1595’ (re-recording of classic 1990 recording)
Gabrieli Consort & Players
Paul McCreesh (director)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000qx2

classic 1990 recording….

[doversoul1]

20 October

9.00am
Vivaldi: Concertos & Sonatas for violin
Musica Alchemica (ensemble)
Lina Tur Bonet (violin & direction)

‘Himmelmusik’ – sacred songs and cantatas by Theile, JC Bach, Bütner and Ritter
Christina Pluhar (theorbo & direction)
L’Arpeggiata
Céline Scheen (soprano)
Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor)
Jesús Rodil (tenor)
Dingle Yandeli (bass)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000tc9

Himmelsmusik sees Pluhar taking a more sober and traditionally scholarly approach.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8497416--himmelsmusik-casebound-deluxe

Very glad to read this.

[doversoul1]

27 October

‘Anima Sacra’ – sacred baroque arias for countertenor by Fago, Heinichen, Terradellas, Sarro, Feo, Zelenka, Hasse, Schiassi & Durante
Jakub Józef Orlinski (countertenor)
Il Pomo D’oro (ensemble)
Maxim Emelyanychev (conductor)
Erato 0190295633745
This is for teamsaint (re: the Eternal Breakfast)

9.30am – Building a Library – Kirsten Gibson on Purcell’s King Arthur

10.50am New Releases: Nicholas Kenyon on DG’s ‘Bach 333’ Collection
‘Bach 333’ – The complete works of JS Bach plus interpretations and related works by other composers

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000x7s

[teamsaint]

‘Anima Sacra’ – sacred baroque arias for countertenor by Fago, Heinichen, Terradellas, Sarro, Feo, Zelenka, Hasse, Schiassi & Durante
Jakub Józef Orlinski (countertenor)
Il Pomo D’oro (ensemble)
Maxim Emelyanychev (conductor)
Erato 0190295633745
This is for teamsaint (re: the Eternal Breakfast)

9.30am – Building a Library – Kirsten Gibson on Purcell’s King Arthur

10.50am New Releases: Nicholas Kenyon on DG’s ‘Bach 333’ Collection
‘Bach 333’ – The complete works of JS Bach plus interpretations and related works by other composers
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000x7s

Thanks DS for the personalised recommendation !

I’m very much looking forward to hearing the whole album. It was released today, but streaming sites only seem to have limited highlights as yet.

Edit: the whole album now available on Apple music for those who do that sort of thing.Be interesting to hear the review as well though. The album is also available in a double vinyl edition........

But the album cover is pretty dreadful, as is the recent Barbara Hannigan CD. Just IMO of course.

Further Edit . I’ve had a listen to the whole album now, and I give it a wholehearted recommendation. CDs of this extent can risk outstaying their welcome, but with singing and playing of this quality, that isn’t a danger here. And the selection of music , including those unreorded works, seems to have been pretty expertly done.
Great Xmas pressie IMO. Though I’m giving the vinyl a swerve.......

[doversoul1]

3 November

9.00am
‘The Passinge Mesures’ – English virginal music
Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00010gr