Early Music America Summer 2014 - (Page 16)

recordingreviews Edited by Tom Moore Johann Sebastian Bach Suites and Sonatas, Vol. 1 Shirley Hunt, Baroque cello, viola da gamba; Ian Pritchard, harpsichord Letterbox Arts LA1001 www.shirleyhunt.net Musical talent tends to run in families, the most notable case being the family of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and his four skilled sons (Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Cristoph Friedrich, and Johann Christian), which is both an advantage and a challenge professionally. BayArea musician Shirley Hunt, the much-younger sister of the late mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, has great footsteps to follow in, and has started her recording career by showing that she is capable of working at a high level on both cello and gamba-a rare quality. And she has done so in the context of founding her own label, Letterbox Arts, which apparently will have a broader focus than simply early music or period performance. This is the first volume in a set of three that will present the complete cello suites and gamba sonatas, and it boldly opens with the dark sounds of the Eflat major suite (No. 4), the prelude of which one might even describe as verging on the bizarre in its combination of broken chords, running passages, and extreme harmonies. Hunt's interpretation is relatively cautious in terms of flexibility of rhythm in the chordal sections, but she is quite free in the sixteenths. The contrasting sound of the gamba (much brighter and more nasal) in the G-minor sonata is almost a shock. Here the gamba is well-forward of the harpsichord-in terms of balance, I would have wished for a more equal dialogue of partners. The disc concludes with the very familiar G-major suite, with a prelude more quick than spacious and again with a rather conservative approach to the rhythms rather than 16 a romantic swing. All in all, a fine debut and one with promise for future projects. -Tom Moore Antonio Bertali Paradise: Instrumental Sonatas of Antonio Bertali Acronym Olde Focus Recordings FCR 901 www.acronymensemble.com Antonio Bertali (1605-1669) is one of those 17th-century musical figures who hover just at the edge of visibility, often present in anthologies of music from the period (his "Taussent Gulden" sonata appeared on the very first recording by Musica Antiqua Köln, almost 40 years ago), but who are not frequently the subject of an entire program or disc. Acronym (Albinosquirrel Consort Radiating from Oberlin via New York, Mostly) seems to have an admirably completist bent, since the group was formed in order to record the Opus musicum sonatarum (or "alphabet" sonatas) of Johann Pezel (also issued on Olde Focus). Similarly laudable is the fact that the ensemble seems to be sans director, a good trick for an ensemble numbering a dozen musicians (and they have a sense of humor- visit their webpage and see). Bertali was born and raised in Verona, but headed northward to Mitteleuropa to make his fortune working for the Hapsburgs at the Imperial court in Vienna, so that most of his surviving works are handed down in manuscript copies held in Czech and German libraries (he had only two collections published, neither in Italy). Six of the 13 sonatas on this well-filled disc are first recordings. The music is rich, indrawing, and deep without being abstruse, and the idiomatic performances and spacious recording by these young musicians are absolutely first-rate. This is a disc that would have been on Archiv, Reflexe, or Summer 2014 Early Music America Oiseau-Lyre back in the day, something belonging in everyone's collection. Here's hoping that the ensemble continues with many future projects (they promise Capricornus and Rosenmüller), but in the meantime, be sure to snap this one up. -Tom Moore Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Concerti Sacri (1642) Magnificat: Warren Stewart, director Musica Omnia MO 0410 (2 CDs) www.musicaomnia.org Benedictine nun Chiara Margarita Cozzolani (1602-c.1677) lived and composed at the Santa Radegonda convent directly across from the Milan Cathedral, which is reason enough to envy her. These days, female composers seem to sprout from undeserved obscurity like mushrooms, and in the case of Cozzolani, the rediscovery of two of her four publications is the reclaiming of a superior musical talent. She was exposed to all the innovations of Venetian opera, and her motets are infused with highly affected, plastic vocal writing and confident tonal direction. What differentiates her from secular colleagues such as Barbara Strozzi is less religious restraint than economy. Even within dramatically florid and lush vocal textures, nothing seems excessive, gratuitous, or inappropriate for an ecclesiastical setting. This fourth release of the Cozzolani Project contains sacred motets-solo, duet, and trio-and a lovely four-voice mass. The uniformly high quality of all compositions makes singling out particularly effective examples difficult. The duet "Surgamus omnes" contains passionate, lovely alternating passages contrasting with homophonic refrains marked by delicious cadential dissonances; while the didactic dialogue of "O mi domine" is quite fascinating. The less extrovert Missa a 4 contains beautiful writing: highlights are the Gloria, which constantly shifts in tone and texture, and the mounting lines of the Agnus Dei, which weave into floating passages of thirds and sixths. The vocal musicians of Magnificat, an ensemble based in the San Francisco area, are all equally excellent, with uniformly clear diction, confident intonation, centered homogeneous vocal core, and clean coloratura. The instrumental accompaniment is appropriately restrained, with rhythmic vigor and solid support. Warren Stewart provides consistent, strong direction. The recording quality is neither too distant nor too intimate. One can almost sense the three-quarter convent wall which separated but did not dampen the sequestered nuns from fortunate secular ears. -Lance Hulme George Frideric Handel Belshazzar Les Arts Florissants: William Christie, director www.arts-florissants.com Among the oratorios of Handel (1685-1759), Belshazzar (1744-45) is dwarfed in popularity by others such as Saul, Samson, Israel in Egypt, Alexander's Feast, and of course Messiah. The last, which has become the soundtrack accompanying tree lightings, eggnog consumption, and presents, is likely the most that many audiences will ever get of Handel's music and Charles Jennens's poetry. Yet Belshazzar, following the composition of Messiah by four years, was also a product of their collaboration, and in many ways, it is both more mature and more dramatic. Belshazzar revels in sharply drawn characters, each of whom is given a dramatic presence by Jennens and a distinctive musical profile by Handel. Belshazzar is never boring; between Jennens's masterful retelling of the story of the fall of http://www.shirleyhunt.net http://www.acronymensemble.com http://www.musicaomnia.org http://www.arts-florissants.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Early Music America Summer 2014

Editor's Note
Reader Forum
Sound Bytes
Musings: The Force of Opinion
Recording Reviews
Baroque Opera and Historical Performance: A Reconsideration
Underestimating Turk
Our Disappearing LP Legacy
Living and Breathing Early Music, the Ukrainian Way
Ars Longa and the Festival Esteban Salas
Book Reviews
Ad Index
In Conclusion: The Flauto Dolce Heralds a Welcome Entrance into Heaven

Early Music America Summer 2014