Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 9

The paradoxes of Messiah. After a magisterial interpretation of the highly theatrical Saul (Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, ‘Choc’ du Monde de la Musique, etc.), René Jacobs now turns his attention to Messiah, in the 1750 version with two alto soloists. Handel subjected the work to multiple revisions according to the solo singers he had available for his annual performances of it in London. However, this public acknowledgment of the work’s value came only some years after the oratorio’s triumphant premiere in Dublin on 13 April 1742: in order to win over London audiences Messiah had had to confront a cabal that was all the more unjustified in that Handel avoided all dramatisation of the person and Passion of Christ – the exact opposite of Saul, in a sense. But history has amply made up for lost time since then!

A total work of art. When his Penitential Psalms were published in Munich in 1584, Orlande de Lassus was the most famous composer in Europe. The work had been composed 25 years earlier, but it did not show its age in the slightest. And, four centuries later, this collection still rouses the admiration of musicologists and the astonishment of performers and listeners, for the pure musical beauty of ‘abstract’ polyphony is here matchlessly combined with the expressive possibilities of speech.

Misleadingly nicknamed ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ because its Munich premiere on 12 September 1910 featured no fewer than 1004 performers, the eighth symphonic work of Gustav Mahler is NOT, as is often thought, the final ‘monstrous excrescence’ of post-Romanticism. Initially a modern ‘ode to joy’ (the Veni creator revisited), then a secular Mass (the final scene of Goethe’s Faust II), turning obsessively around the key of E flat major, the Eighth Symphony stands out for its modernity of style: polyphony that is at once dense and transparent, an extraordinarily rich orchestral texture, contrapuntal and harmonic boldness concealed under ceremonial solemnity. Kent Nagano invites us to rediscover this unique and ultimately revolutionary work through its . . . thousand teeming details!

With baroque music as 'flavour of the age', it seems only natural that we should rediscover - indeed reappraise - all that is neat, winsome and uncluttered in Mendelssohn's music, its slender forms and high level of invention. (…) Herreweghe's lively offering is best recommended to those whose main priority is a sense of period orchestral texture.

Gramophone

O'Dette does it again. Yet another excellent recording from American lutenist Paul O'Dette. Molinaro, like many of the composers whose music O'Dette has recorded, is fairly obscure. In the hands of a less talented musician, many of these short pieces would fall rather flat - the appeal of this CD is in the delivery rather than the music itself. O'Dette plays with great skill and clarity, and make the listener aware of all the small subtleties of tempo and ornament.

A Custumer, Amazon.com

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson - "a model Dido" (San Francisco Examiner) - joins "Early music's irrepressible evangelist" (The Wall Street Journal) Nicholas McGegan in a vividly theatrical performance of Purcell's miniature tragédie en musique. Heading the brilliant cast, the mezzo-soprano gives a transcendent reading of Dido's final lament. The CD also includes the incidental music for a now-lost play The Gordian Knot Unty'd.
"Aural luxuriance… A reading I shall treasure."

Gramophone

'The Essercizi are exemplary', exclaims the French critic Jacques Drillon. No-one has ever written with more freedom, exploring every type of construction, every form: canon, melody with accompaniment, rondo, and innumerable others that have no name, invented on the spur of the moment and never reused. All Scarlatti is here, taking advantage of his Spanish exile to break free from the bonds of Italian scholasticism. Alain Planès sheds new light on the composer’s enticing first published pieces thanks to the unique sound of a Schantz fortepiano!

The pioneering period-instrument Eroica Quartet gives a passionate reading of Robert Schumann’s three String Quartets, composed during the intense burst of creativity that followed his marriage to Clara Wieck.

Not a must-have but very good nonetheless

While I am a big fan of Chiara Banchini (why isn't Carnegie Hall full of stomping fans for this woman?) the main reason I bought this disc was to hear the cello concerto. It is literally the centerpiece of this album, and is most enjoyable. The initial theme (in the Largo section) is reminiscent of Schubert's "Die Forelle", and the Grave is very beautiful. The dark texture of the Grave is enhanced by the soloist's almost romantic approach, and the use of organ for continuo brings out the sturm und drang feel of this movement. This is the first time I've heard Roel Dieltiens step out as a soloist and he does a marvelous job of it. The solo parts have a level of detail that is Baroque in nature, while the tuttis are looking ahead to the Classical style. The four movement layout though, and the overall picture reveals that the concerto is very much a product of the Galant- that little understood (and not always easy to listen to) period. Galant music tends to lack the rhythmic vibrancy of the Baroque, while its melodies and modulations are neither as elegant or well-developed as the Classical style.
Meanwhile the concerti grossi are very much steeped in the Baroque tradition. There are intermittent viola solos and here, as in the A minor violin concerto, a harpsichord carries the continuo role. While the back cover has several errors and Enrico Gatti's liner notes are not always clear (they speak of Tartini in general rather than the works at hand), we are told that the concerti grossi are transcriptions of Tartini's sonatas by his pupil Meneghini. They are not spectacular but function well as bookends.

The Presto of the violin concerto stands out in particular, though I have to say overall this disc is more suited to people with esoteric interests than someone with a passing curiosity. Ensemble 415 (here augmented with horns) is an excellent group but they are not as flashy as some of their European counterparts and the tempos are occasionally a bit sluggish. The recording, made in 1994, is a bit reverberant for me, though it is satisfying to hear the music linger for a moment at the end of each piece. Banchini is a marvelous performer as always, but I would recommend her recordings of Corelli, Boccherini, and Mozart before this one. It is a great CD, but as Gatti states in the liner notes, Tartini's style is not an easy one to adjust to, and I have to say that I don't listen to this that often. Still, if your interests take you here, by all means

Jonathan J. Casey, Amazon.com

The more experience Hugo Wolf gained, the more the urge to compose for the orchestra and the opera became pressing, even painful. By orchestrating his lieder, he was able to alleviate his unsatisfied desire to explore the full palette of colours in his accompaniments. These extraordinarily skilful arrangements (just listen to the version for chorus and orchestra of Der Feuerreiter!) had an extremely beneficial effect on his international reputation.