Jones: Chamber Airs For A Violin (& Thorough Bass) - Kentala, Pulakka, Meyerson (2012)

Emboldened by her experience of playing the 6 Sets of Lessons by Richard Jones, already released on Glossa, and chancing upon another book of music which included violin sonatas by Jones, Mitzi Meyerson resolved to champion further this forgotten musical figure from the first half of the 18th century in England, in a manner comparable to her earlier defence of Muffat and Balbastre.

Joined by violinist Kreeta-Maria Kentala and cellist Lauri Pulakka, Meyerson has now recorded all eight of the sonatas, published in London in 1735 as Chamber Airs for a Violin (and Thorough Bass), and makes evident how this contemporary of Handel developed his own individual and unpredictable style, but with plenty of echoes of music by the likes of Leclair and Corelli, as well as the earlier Baroque England thrown in for good measure. This is technically secure and demanding music for the performers - Jones was a violinist himself, acting as the concertmaster for the Drury Lane Orchestra in London – which will be a delight for lovers of Baroque chamber music and which will serve to demonstrate, once more, how in music “the perfect is the enemy of the good” for composers caught in the long shadow of Georg Friedrich Handel.

The three musicians on this new Glossa recording talk winningly in a joint booklet interview about their pleasure in performing these idiosyncratic early Georgian violin sonatas.

Composer: Richard Jones
Performer: Lauri Pulakka, Kreeta-Maria Kentala, Mitzi Meyerson

Reviews: I’ve twice before reviewed recordings of harpsichord suites by Richard Jones, with Judit Péteri (Hungaroton 32454; Fanfare 31: 2), and Mitzi Meyerson (Glossa 921805; Fanfare 34:4). This is the first recording I’ve seen focusing on the composer’s works for violin and continuo, however. The Chamber Airs are eight sonatas, reflecting structures that include not merely da chiesa and da camera efforts, but overtures (slow prelude, fast movement, dance movement) and three-movement Italian style concertos (fast-slow-fast), as well. The Italian influence predominates, presumably because of Great Britain’s feting of virtuosic Italian violinist-composers at that time, such as Geminiani and Veracini. But then one comes upon the Largo of the Sonata No. 2, which is so French galant one can practically hear Gluck’s Orfeo tuning his lute around the corner; or the Fifth Sonata’s Allegro , a set of virtuosic variations on a theme that could have been a popular Scottish song of the day. Jones was, as ever, eclectic.

This kind of stylistic hodgepodge is also typical of the entire set, first published in the mid 1730s. The composer is as quirky yet learned as in his keyboard music. Nothing fails to interest, in part because like a good conversationalist he varies his subject, the style and depth of its treatment, and its expressive content, with mercurial fancy. Straightforward themes are enlivened by unusual harmonic progressions or twists of phrase, while rhythms shift smoothly and repeatedly. Figurations are tossed to the continuo, which suddenly, and briefly, becomes an equal partner in the proceedings. If, as concertmaster of the Drury Lane Orchestra, Jones performed his own works, perhaps during theatrical intermissions or set changes, I can only hope he received the applause these charmers deserve.

The rediscovery of this music, at least for listeners rather than antiquarians, is owed to Mitzi Meyerson. She was looking for an original edition of the harpsichord music, and came upon a book that bound together several 18th-century musical publications, including Jones’s Chamber Airs . A photocopy left with her for Finland. Her choice of colleagues was inspired, as Meyerson and Pulakka are both technically and stylistically adroit, while Kentala has a fine tone and a great deal of spirit. The three play as musicians who greatly enjoy and thoroughly know this music. The sound is a bit too glassy for my tastes, but not enough to preclude enjoyment of the disc. Very welcome indeed, and highly recommended.