Early Music America Fall 2012 - (Page 24)

RECORDINGreviews together with bass Tobias Berndt (Germanicus), head a fine cast ably accompanied by the Sächsisches Barockorchester under Gotthold Schwarz. Both the singing and playing is stylish, with fine contributions from the entire cast and several instrumental soloists. Particularly enjoyable were Stahn’s ornaments during repeats. But the music itself is the primary attraction of this recording, and it reveals that even so early in his career, Telemann had developed a distinctive personal idiom marked by tunefulness, rhythmic vitality, harmonic richness, and a sure sense of instrumental color. If the later Italian arias display greater ingenuity on the whole, the earlier German arias certainly offer many pleasures of their own. Few pieces display the large-scale structures familiar from later operas; in keeping with 17th-century models, they are relatively brief and often songlike. Many leave one wishing for more, which is not at all a bad quality. Maul’s fine liner notes outline his role as detective on the trail of Germanicus and place the opera in the context of Telemann’s career and the Leipzig Opera’s brilliant but relatively brief run. Serious Telemann fans will no doubt want to own this recording, and others more generally interested in German Baroque opera should not let the fragmentary nature of the work deter them from hearing excellent music well performed. —Steven Zohn welcome changes of timbre and style. The Prelude and two Arias by Nicola Matteis are a particular highlight—simple, mellow, and graceful—and the low range in Bellerofonte Castaldi’s La Folia is rich and reverberant. The playful interactions between gamba and guitar in the Chaconne by Marais make it a personal favorite track. This is a solid release, not too flashy or stylized on any performer’s part. There is a delightful sense of line, though on a few small occasions the bowed phrasing is a bit more disjunct than I expected. I would also love to hear a bit more strength and sense of direction in the extreme registers of the bowed instruments. The ensemble does a very nice job of letting the beauty of the melodic lines speak for itself, and the rising and falling sense of breath shapes the contours of each piece. This is a very pleasant new recording. —Karen Cook EndBeginning New York Polyphony BIS SACD 1949 www.bis.se New York Polyphony, the acclaimed male quartet specializing in Renaissance and contemporary music, released their fifth recording, EndBeginning, earlier this year. Its cover features a rather attentiongrabbing photograph of the decaying Chapel Rose, attached to an abandoned 19th-century Belgian hospital. Light emanating through stained glass falls onto a filthy floor covered in old furniture and human detritus. If this picture is meant to be a metaphor for the bleak, despairing texts recorded here, then New York Polyphony is the light shining into the room. The ensemble has quickly become known for their gorgeous blend, a beautifully unified line in both chant and polyphonic settings, and a sustained sense of motion that never stagnates. Anything they record would be well worth a listen. The selections recorded here, coming both from plainchant tradition and from the Franco-Flemish Renaissance masters, reflect mortali- COLLECTIONS Division Ostraka (Josh Lee, viol and double bass; John Lenti, lute and theorbo; David Walker, lute and guitar) www.cdbaby.com/cd/Ostraka This recording by the American ensemble Ostraka is an overview of almost two centuries of ornamented instrumental music, moving from 16th-century Spain (with music by Diego Ortiz) to 18th-century France (Marin Marais), touching down as well in Italy and England. The disc rewards multiple listenings. The familiar Ortiz selections settle into a comfortable groove, the other divisions (especially the second Rognoni) allow Lee to explore the large range of his instrument, and the divisions not for gamba provide 24 Fall 2012 Early Music America http://www.bis.se http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/Ostraka http://harmoniaearlymusic.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Early Music America Fall 2012

Editor’s Note
EMA Competition
Sound Bytes
Musings: Listening Forward
Profile: A Classical Playlist on Your Cable Television
Recording Reviews
Reconstructing Spanish Songs from the Time of Cervantes
Janet See: Traversist on Two Continents
Musical Mosaic Explores “Perspectives of Interspersing Peoples”
Book Reviews
Ad Index
In Conclusion: Conducting Early Music

Early Music America Fall 2012