Bach: Orgelwerke 'Toccaten & Fugen' - Ton Koopman

Johann Sebastian Bach
Toccaten & Fugen
Ton Koopman
Archiv 410 999-2

After years of listening to plodding unimaginative endlessly legato French and American styles of ruining Bach's organ music (trust me here I had such an organ professor in college who positively stifled organ music with his hideous Dupre edition) - music barely able to breathe, it's refreshing to hear someone who can use staccato, marcato and ornamentation and play with panache and passion, and give this grand music the grand sound and life it deserves. So what about odd trills and a dropped pedal. Go back to Karl Richter, Marie Claire Alain or E. Power Biggs if you want to hear some flubs, and even Peter Hurford on occasion - a far more imaginative player than most but still far short of Koopman - misses a few. Ignore the review below this one, buy this disk, and give any other performance of these pieces a comparison with any other celebrated organist and you'll hear what I mean. Compare only Koopman's elegantly ornamented interpretation of the Adagio from the Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue, and you'll immediately hear it. I rather suspect the reviewer below is one of those who prefers gigantic Moron Block and Tackle choir performances of the B Minor Mass, horrid modern strings scraping away, Boesendorffer imperial grands pounding out the continuo, voices pitched and warbling just this side of hysteria and wading through the work like the Wehrmacht through Russian mud. Give us a break.

Joseph P Farrell, Amazon Customer Review

Arne: Overtures - Collegium Musicum 90, Simon Standage

Thomas Augustine Arne
Overtures
Collegium Musicum 90, Simon Standage
Chandos CHAN 0722

Collegium Musicum 90 rarely get the adulation they deserve. This anthology of overtures by Arne, featuring a who's who of the English period-instrument scene, is a charming disc of beautifully played and brightly executed performances.

Simon Standage nurtures affectionate interpretations and his violin-playing still perpetuates the impeccable stylishness and musical taste that made his pioneering recordings with Pinnock and Hogwood so enduring.

The Overture to the English comic opera Thomas and Sally (1760) gets things off to a splendid start; its Scotch gavotte features masterful, witty playing from bassoonist Sally Jackson.

The bulk of the disc is devoted to 'Eight Overtures in 8 Parts' that Arne published in 1751. Peter Holman's informative bookletnotes say these overtures were probably extracted from introductions to vocal works, many of which are now lost. Among the finest moments are the vivacious opening Presto of Overture No 3 and the invigorated horn blasts and chuckling oboes in the middle movement of No 4. Trumpeters Crispian Steele-Perkins and David Blackadder provide grandeur in the bright Overture to Arne's setting of Milton's Comus (No 7).

Although those devoted to pleading Arne's cause would love to hear a recording of such fine quality of Comus, or the oratorio Judith, this collection is comfortably among the strongest advocacies of Arne's merits on CD.

Gramophone Magazine

Mascitti: Concerti Grossi Op.7, Sonate IV-V - Camerata Anxanum

Michele Mascitti
Concerti Grossi Op.7, Sonate IV-V Op.3
Camerata Anxanum
Bongiovanni GB 5063-2

Thanks to Dmitry/Alekhno for bringing this wonderful recording to my attention! You can visit his blog XVIII Century Music here.

Please note that I might have accidently misspelled the composers name in the folder inside the rar-files. I apologize for this extreme lack of professionalism!

CPE & WF Bach: Concertos for 2 Harpsichords - MAK, Goebel

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Concertos for 2 Harpsichords
Andres Staier, Robert Hill, Musica Antiqua Köln, Reinhard Goebel
Archiv 419 256-2

It was the Bachs who launched the harpsichord on its career as a concerto soloist and the sons did not wait to follow in father's wake; the first of Carl Philipp Emanuel's 52 concertos, spanning more than 50 years, probably just predates the first of JSB's. Neither did they pursue the practice of having more than two soloists. In his F major Concerto (the numbering of which differs from that given in Grove: H410, Wq46) CPE accepts the formal plan of the ritornello but not the concept of its unity of thematic mood; he introduces a diversity that is more like that of the exposition in sonata form—though the resemblance ends there, and the element of contrast is maintained in the 'solo' episodes, not derived from the ritornello material. The elegiac slow movement (Largo e con sordino) is a gem, with sighing appoggiaturas and 'operatic' halts and hesitations, of which JSB himself might well have been proud. After so much pathos (10 minutes) the briefer, happy and brilliantly scored Allegro assai provides the necessary counterbalance. This work alone is worth the price of the record.

Wilhelm Friedemann also joins baroque and classical approaches, though not within any one movement, in his two concertos for two harpsichords—with and 'without' orchestra: the central movement or FlO, written for the soloists alone, is self-sufficient in the same way as is JSB's Italian Concerto, as is also the final movement of F46, a work whose first movement changes thematic mood in a way that JSB's never did. More conservative than CPE (who in his Concerto provides no shocks to the system), WF nevertheless beguiles and captures one's attention. The performances of these otherwise unrecorded works are full of precision, life and loving care, and they are exceptionally well recorded and balanced. This is a most worthwhile and desirable issue.

J.D. - Gramophone Magazine

CPE Bach: 6 Symphonies - English Chamber Orchestra, Leppard

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
6 Symphonies
English Chamber Orchestra, Raymond Leppard
Philips 426 081-2

Works on This Recording:
Wq 182, 183 (Nos. 1-4) and 177

CPE Bach: Berliner Symphonien - Kammerorchester CPE Bach

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Berliner Symphonien
Kammerorchester Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Hartmut Haenchen
Berlin Classics 001096BC

Works on This Recording:
Wq 174, 175, 178, 179, and 181

Albicastro: 12 Concerti a 4 Op.7 - Collegium Marianum, Coll. 1704

Henrico Albicastro
12 Concerti a Quattro Op.7
Collegium Marianum, Collegium 1704
Pan Classics 10124

This Czech Republic production, recorded in 2000 in the Dvořák Hall of Prague’s Rudolfinum, combines the forces of two Czech period-instruments ensembles-Collegium Marianum and Collegium 1704, which, according to the credits, frequently collaborate on larger projects.

Stylistically, Giovanni Henrico (Henricus) Albicastro (c. 1660–1730) falls roughly into the period midway between Corelli and Vivaldi, except that he wasn’t Italian. The name was made up, a nom de plume for Johann Heinrich von Weissenburg. Nobody seems to know for sure or to agree on exactly when he was born or died (some saying as late as 1738) or, for that matter where. Most sources, including Thomas Krümpelmann’s booklet note, place Albicastro’s birth in Switzerland. Others say the Netherlands, and at least one article I came across insists on Bavaria, even naming the village of Pappenheim, as Albicastro’s place of origin. What is known for fact is that sometime after 1686 his name begins cropping up in the Netherlands on publications of trio sonata and concerto collections printed in Amsterdam and Bruges.

While details surrounding Albicastro’s background and training remain a mystery, it’s not difficult to surmise how a Swiss/Bavarian/Dutch musician living in the Netherlands in the first half of the 17th century morphed into an essentially Italian Baroque composer. Amsterdam was at that time an important center of the music publishing industry. Corelli’s famous set of 12 Concerti grossi, op. 6, saw their first printing there in 1714 by the firm of Etienne Roger. Nor was Corelli the only Italian composer whose works were being published in Amsterdam. In 1715, Roger printed Albinoni’s op. 7 Concertos; and even earlier, in 1711, Vivaldi sent his L’estro armonico directly to the same publishing house for printing. Albicastro had to have seen these scores and possibly have heard them performed. So thoroughly did he absorb the Italian style and manner that his own op. 7 heard on these discs is indistinguishable from the models he emulated.

Albicastro’s 12 Concerti a quattro occupy a kind of middle or transitional ground between the concerto grosso proper and the solo concerto formats. There is not the same formalized division between the solos or concertino group and the larger ripieno as one expects in a true concerto grosso. A solo violin-sometimes an oboe-is cast in the role of the contrasting or alternating concertino. These are not yet, however, full-blown solo concertos in the manner of Vivaldi. Albicastro’s approach seems to lie somewhere along the evolutionary path that led from the former to the latter.

If you are fond of Corelli and Vivaldi and everything in Italian concerted instrumental music in between, you will enjoy Albicastro’s concertos. They are energetic, bracing, buoyant, and full of that wonderful Italian cantabile melody that sings of Italy’s sun-drenched vineyards and eternal hills, even if they were written in flat, waterlogged Holland.

Readers who know of my general disinclination towards period instruments, especially in music written after circa 1760, will be pleased to know that the ensembles involved in these recordings exhibit none of the bad habits or eccentricities that are often associated with such performing bodies. Tempos are never too brisk; there is no swelling on notes or abrupt attenuations at ends of phrases and cadences; there is no astringency to the sound of the strings or nasality in the sound of the oboes. This is well-behaved and highly cultivated playing.

According to the insert, this is the first complete recording of Albicastro’s op. 7; and as far as I know it has remained the only one since it was set down nearly a decade ago. It is highly recommended and without reservations.

Jerry Dubins, Fanfare

Tartini: Concertos for Violin and Orchesta Vol.2 - Vashegyi

Giuseppe Tartini
Concertos for Violin and Orchesta Vol.2
László Paulik, Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi
Hungaroton HCD 32234

Classics Today Rating: 10/10

At last, a disc of Tartini violin music that doesn't include the Devil's Trill sonata! (For some reason, that G minor work has been turning up a lot lately.) No, this is a group of concertos, and before the first has concluded you're wondering why (with all due respect) Vivaldi gets so much attention when music of this quality and inventiveness is around. One reason may be a question of quantity and historical misfortune: until recently dozens of Tartini's 200 known violin concertos were believed lost, but the four performed here were recently discovered "at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris." And since during his lifetime (1692-1770) Tartini was primarily known as a violinist (he led his own orchestra at Padova Cathedral) and author of both a theoretical work, Trattato di musica (treatise of music), and an important summary of violin pedagogy and technique (Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonar il violino), his compositions were not widely appreciated and disseminated as they should have been. In fact, because of Tartini's unsystematic manner of composing and publishing (or simply not publishing), it's now impossible to produce a reliable chronology of his compositions. Nevertheless, the music doesn't lie--and this is wonderful music, by any standard.

And what better advocate could this underrated and relatively neglected composer have than the brilliant virtuoso violinist László Paulik (the Andrew Manze of Hungary), who performs these often dazzling, technically fearsome, melodically beautiful pieces as if born to them? He spins ornaments--often just a lightning-quick little run or almost imperceptible turn or trill--as effortlessly as breathing. And they're never gratuitous--they always fit perfectly into the context of the line. The slow movement of the E major concerto is as lovely as any by Handel or Bach, and the most virtuosic passages are as demanding--and in Paulik's hands as satisfying--as any written by the period's more illustrious composers. Tartini knew nothing if not how to get the maximum out of a theme--and his thematic ideas were sufficiently fertile to produce a body of works that don't have that recurring ring of familiarity for which Vivaldi is somewhat justifiably maligned. Tartini had a habit of suspending the action with an extended violin cadenza (as at the end of the Andante of the F major concerto), and he'd lighten the orchestral texture to emphasize the melody (the beginning of the Allegro of the same work) and just as quickly follow with a tutti dance-style section--and then jump back to a double-stop-filled cadenza. And speaking of cadenzas, Paulik provides his own here, and each is a captivating bit of soloistic drama that demands repeated listening. Paulik's partners are fully in tune--in every respect--with the soloist and with Tartini's ingratiating scores. The sound is ideal--especially complementary to Paulik's soaring, singing tone and to the careful balances and clean articulation of the orchestra.

David Vernier, Classics Today.com

Tartini: Four Concertos for Violin and Orchesta - Vashegyi

Giuseppe Tartini
Four Concertos for Violin and Orchesta
László Paulik, Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi
Hungaroton HCD 32045

There is great cause for celebration here with these two volumes of Tartin Violin Concertos. Recorded at the Hungaroton Studio in Budapest the first volume from 2001 comprises what are claimed to be première recordings of all four Concertos and the second volume from 2003 includes première recordings of the two Concertos, D 7 and D 20. It seems that the manuscripts of all eight scores were discovered at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and were edited for these recording sessions by the multi-talented György Vashegyi.

The Orfeo Chamber Orchestra are a period instrument chamber ensemble of around fourteen or fifteen players. They were founded in Budapest in 1991. Founder György Vashegyi directs from either harpsichord or organ.

Hungarian-born in 1966 violin soloist Paulik László studied at the prestigious Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. His study continued in Wien and under the tutelage of Simon Standage at the Academy of Early Music in Dresden. Whilst still a student at the Academy he was a founding member of the Concerto Armonico Chamber Orchestra and since 1992 has been Concertmaster of the Orfeo Chamber Orchestra. On these discs László wrote all the cadenzas on the first volume and that for the D 90 score on volume two.

Márta Katona in the Hungaroton booklet notes explains how Tartini’s Violin Concertos follow the established Vivaldian three movement design of Allegro-Adagio-Allegro. The central movement is usually presented in a contrasting key with the outer movements being based on the standard tutti-retornello arrangement, occasionally interrupted by a substantial solo passage.

Giuseppe Tartini, born in Pirano (now Piran) on the Adriatic in Italy (now Slovenia) in 1692 was preparing for a career in the priesthood and attended in 1709 the University of Padua where he studied theology, philosophy and literature. Following conflict with the church authorities over his marriage to a woman deemed unsuitable, Tartini was banished from Padua and fled to the Monastery of Assisi. There he studied music between 1711-14 with the famous Czech musician Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský and played violin in the orchestra at the Ancona Opera House. In 1721 in Padua, Tartini was appointed the first violin and maestro di cappella at the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua, a posting that he held for the rest of his life; apart from a short break. At Saint Anthony’s he was given the dispensation to play in other orchestras and was allowed some travel. Tartini did leave his post at the Basilica of Saint Anthony for three years to travel to Prague with the cellist Antonio Vandini and was involved with the Count Kinsky Orchestra where he remained until 1726. He was soon to return to Padua and the Basilica.

Tartini in 1728 established a violin school in Padua named the Scuolla delle Nazioni (School of the Nations), taking in students from all over Europe. His reputation as a composer spread to the Germany territories; France and England and throughout the remaining twenty years of his life he concentrated on his music treatises more than composition. Between the years 1739 to 1741 he visited many Italian cities including Naples and in Rome at the request of Pope Clement XII he composed a Miserere, for four, five, and eight voices, which was performed by the Sistine choir 1768. The prolific Tartini become one of the foremost Italian instrumental composers, writing over four hundred works, including mainly Violin Concertos; Sonatas and Trio Sonatas. A catalogue of Tartini’s concertos was created in 1935 by Greek musicologist Minos Dounias and catalogued according to tonality as there are very few actual composition dates available.

It is fascinating to see the progression of Tartini’s concerto model as he began to slowly extend the expressive possibilities of his music in terms of more sophisticated technique by cultivating the transition from the late-Baroque to the early developments of the Classical era. He returned later to a more austere conception of structure but still displaying a deepening of thought and an enrichment of expression.

Tartini broke little new ground in terms of great innovation but did make some advancements to the conventional concerto form, for example: a brief stanza at the start of the concerto; heightened use of ornamentation and increased technical virtuosity for the soloist became dominant features. Beside the solo violin passages he introduced a new ‘inaugural capriccio’ section in the Allegro movements to allow the soloist further opportunity to display technique.

Particularly successful are Tartini’s beautiful slow movements that frequently plumb real emotional depths, yet still maintain a reverential grace and dignity. The more I hear Tartini, especially in these recordings, the more I hold the view that, although, he does not have Vivaldi’s innate gift for melody he has a deeper soul.

I have not for some time enjoyed releases as much as these two. The interpretations from László using a Jahann Hentschl violin (c.1750) are of an exceptional standard with assured and expressive playing of purity and precision of intonation that at times takes the breath away. In the Allegros he displays astonishing virtuosity of great elegance with clean textures and articulation. I especially loved the heavenly sounds he displays and the high degree of emotional intensity in the contemplative and affecting Adagios. The sensitive support is impeccable displaying a wide spectrum of orchestral colours.

The presentation of these discs is first class including interesting and detailed annotation. This is complemented by crystal clear and immediate sound quality of demonstration standard. László is one of Hungary’s best kept secrets and he deserves to be heard by a wider audience. These discs take a treasured place in my collection.

Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International

Johann Sebastian Bach: Harpsichord Works - Trevor Pinnock

Johann Sebastian Bach
Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue, 3 Preludes & Fugues,
English Suite No.3, French Suite No.5
Trevor Pinnock
Archiv 435 795-2

In this programme of familiar Bach works the most captivating performance is that of the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue. Employing a harpsichord of magnificently rich sonority (by the American builder David Jacques Way "after Hemsch and others"), Pinnock gives this a dramatic reading, the declamation of the Fantasia brilliantly improvisatory in effect and the everstartling chromatic modulations savoured to the full, the Fugue relentlessly climbing and building up the tension to the end. The G minor English Suite and G major French Suite offer, besides Pinnock's engagingly vital rhythmic sense, some stylistic insights, particularly as regards doubledotting conventions and decorations on repeats— delightfully vivacious in the Courante of the English Suite and elaborately ornate in the Sarabande of the French Suite—which makes us hear these well-known movements with fresh ears.

With the preludes and fugues from the 48, however, we seem to see a different artist. Admittedly Bach designated them (at least the first book) as "for the use of young musicians desirous of learning", but here the preludes are played with dismaying objectivity and didacticism, almost dead straight without any concessions to shaping or to niceties of touch, phrasing or quasi-accentuation. Until its last line the C major is machine-like, the gracefully written E flat with its reflection of lutenist style is stiff, and astonishingly enough even the sighing motives of the galant F minor are coldly impassive. Fortunately amends are made with the liveliness of the E flat fugue and the sprightliness of that in F. The quality of the recording is excellent.

Lionel Salter, Gramophone Magazine

Hellendaal: 6 Concerti Grossi - Manze, ECBO, Roy Goodman

Pieter Hellendaal
6 Concerti Grossi
Manze, The European Community Baroque Orchestra, Goodman
Channel Classics CCS 3492

Pieter Hellendaal is one of those curiously elusive figures from the past, whose life, spent industriously in a musical backwater, left little impression on history, but whose surviving music, although modest in quantity, is of surprising quality. This is the first complete recording of his osagnificant Six Grand Concertos op. 3 (t75g), undoubtedly one of the finest sets of concerti grossi published in England during the eighteenth century, though surely one of the most unjustly neglected today. The son of a Rotterdam candle-maker, Ftellendaal's prodigious talents as a violinist were recognised at an early age when the Secretary of Amsterdam, Mattheus Lestevenon, sent bins (aged barely sixteen) to study in Italy with the virtuoso violinist and composer Guiseppe Tartium. After his return to Amsterdam in the early 1740's he published some of the fruits of his studies: two engaging sets of six sonatas for violin and continuo. He continued his studies at the University of Leiden between 1749 and 1751, playing at the frequent gatherings of music-loving academics to earn his living. A free-lance life-style playing in Leiden and at The Hague suited him for a while, but with apparently little prospect of a permanent position in his native country he emigrated to 'Little Holland' across the ocean sometime late in 1751. London newspapers of the time provide conspicious evidence that Hellendaal successfully pursued his career as a violinist in the capital for eight years, appearing frequently as a soloist in such prestigious concert venues as Hickford's Rooms on Brewer Street, and, as on 13 February 1754, playing solos between the acts of Handel's Aci.s and Ga/ateo. Towards the end of 1759 he travelled to Oxford where the local paper recorded that on 5 November "Mr. Hellendaal from London will lead the Concert and play a Solo on the Violin"....

ChannelClassics.com

Boyce: Overtures 1-9 - Cantilena, Adrian Shepherd

William Boyce
Overtures 1-9
Cantilena, Adrian Shepherd
Chandos CHAN 6531

A Penguin Guide * * * Recording.

Chandos reissues offer rare repertoire, including a collection of nine Boyce overtures unique to the CD catalogue. They come from a group of 12 published by the composer in 1770, their musical material deriving from various birthday and New Year odes, although the music, of course, is orchestral. Their late-baroque style is robust, with bright scoring for horns and trumpets and flutes and oboes giving added colour. There is a flavour of the Handel of the Water Music, but the flutes take the music forward in time. There are usually three or four sections to each piece, often with sub-divisions of tempos within movements, and the writing is attractively fresh and tuneful. The performances by Cantilena are full of character, yet spontaneously sprightly; the recording is excellent, although rather forward, but clean-timbred and full with a good ambience. Most enjoyable.

Gramophone Magazine

Boyce: The 3 Concerti Grossi, Overtures 10-12 - Cantilena

William Boyce
The 3 Concerti Grossi, Overtures 10-12
Cantilena, Adrian Shepherd
Chandos CHAN 6541

A Penguin Guide * * * Recording.

A worthwhile reissue on Collect is that of the three Concerti grossi of Boyce; inventive and rewarding works, full of character. I have gained much pleasure from this music, which was new to me, and it is very well played by Cantilena under Adrian Shepherd. Just try, if you can, the opening Moderato of the first of these concertos (in B flat major) and you will be tempted to explore further. As a fill-up Chandos have added Nos. 10-12 from Boyc,e's set of Overtures MBTD6531; (1) CHAN6531). The first nine were reissued earlier and were welcomed by me last October. The final three are no less enjoyable, with some fine horn playing in Nos. 10 and 12 and trumpets regally prominent in the former. Excellent sound.

Gramophone Magazine

Telemann: Suites, Concerto in D - The English Concert, Pinnock

Georg Philipp Telemann
Suites, Concerto in D Major
The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock
Archiv 439 893-2

Telemann: Suiten - The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock

Georg Philipp Telemann
Suiten
The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock
Archiv 437 558-2

This is a great piece for any one who likes grand baroque style music. It features the oboe and hunting horn. The oboe is one of my favorite instruments and these three pieces are excellent for any one who likes the reed horns.

Amazon.com Customer Review

JC. Bach: 3 Qunitets, Sextet - The English Concert, Pinnock

Johann Christian Bach
3 Qunitets, Sextet
The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock
Archiv 423 385-2

Here is charming and completely diverting music. These melodious chamber works by Johann Christian Bach, known as "The London Bach" overflow with catchy melodies that will put a smile on the face of any music lover. This is not music with a message other than to entertain and the youngest son of Johann Sebastian was an imaginative composer who embraced the new Classical era. He was among the earliest masters to perform solos on the then newfangled pianoforte. Mozart took lessons from J.C. Bach and was much influenced by him. Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert play these beguiling works with a sense of joy and delight.

Greg La Traille, ArkivMusic

Johann Sebastian Bach: 6 Partitas - Trevor Pinnock

Johann Sebastian Bach
6 Partitas
Trevor Pinnock
Archiv 415 493-2

Bach clearly set great store by the Partitas, gathering them together as the first book of his Clavier-Ubung and publishing it in 1731 as his Op. I, as we still do today. The Partitas still march on but recordings are (often regrettably) apt to fall by the wayside, in this case leaving only one set (de la Porte on Hyperion) by a harpsichordist (LP only) and three by pianists (Andras Schiff on Decca—LP 411 732-1DH2, CD 411 732-2DH2, 8/ 85; Gould on LP only—CBS 77289, 2/73; Steuerman on LP only—Philips/I MS 412 546/7-1, 8/85). We can thus hardly complain that two new sets should have arrived at the same time. Pinnock (as harpsichordist) is the first to compress them on to two records, by omitting numerous repeats and setting some pretty lively tempos, an exercise of greater economic than artistic merit. Presumably in order to adapt acceptably to the LP format, the running order is changed—Nos. 1, 2, 4/5, 3, 6, a regrouping that may mildly irritate those who listen with the score in hand—and which might have been rectified (but is not) on the CDs, thus making them more 'user-friendly'. Another, more amiable 'hiccup' occurs in Partitas Nos. 4 and 6: in each, Gilbert places the Aria after the Sarabande,' where it does not interrupt the basic sequence of Allemande-Courante-Sarabande (c.f. French Suite No, 4, BWV815), maintaining that the published order was aimed at avoiding awkward page-turns. I find the result convincing.

Of the three harpsichordists, Pinnock is the most given to extremes of tempo, well ahead of the field in the Courantes/Correntes (that in Partita No. 1 is uncomfortably rushed) and sundry other movements but the back-marker in the Allemandes of Partitas Nos. 4-6, the Gigue of No. 6 (rather laboured) and the Sarabandes of Partitas Nos. 4-6. At this level tempos are as much an expression of personality as, for instance, the approach to embellishment; de la Porte stands between the more mercurial and fast-fingered Pin nock and the less demonstrative but thoughtfully expressive Gilbert. All three add such ornaments as seem to be implied in terms of stress, beyond which limits lies a minefield in these works where the written ornamentation comes as close to selfsufficiency as one may find. Gilbert is very circumspect, making his only significant venture in the Sarabande of Partita No. 5, but Pinnock and, even more, de la Porte, take their courage in both hands with many happy diminutions—the latter does so even in the already-florid Sarabande of No. 6, enhancing its majestic outpouring (the upward sweep in bar 4 of the B section is memorable). The use of inegales is an area in which all three players find common ground, notably in the problematical Gigue of Partita No. 6. On the whole, all three make conservative use of changes of registration, reserving them for repeats, but Pinnock displays a love of the buff stop in several galanteries and de la Porte shows her only eccentricity in her kaleidoscopic treatment of the Rondeaux of Partita No. 2.

The instruments all serve well the basic purpose of tonal richness and textural clarity, and are superbly recorded: a copy of the Couchet-Taskin from the Raymond Russell Collection by Michael Johnson (de la Porte), a Couchet-Taskin-Blanchet (1671-1778—Gilbert), and a copy of a Hemsch (c.1760) by David Way (Pinnock).

If economics are a significant factor, choose Pinnock's ebullient set. Otherwise settle for de la Porte, or, if you feel that what you want is the text, the whole text and nothing (barring a few logically-added ornaments) but the text, then go for Gilbert. Collectively, the three recordings show the variety of ways in which the Partitas, like most other great music, may validly be treated. In a Desert-Island situation I'd choose de la Porte, but that is a personal reaction rather than a solid recommendation.

J.D., Gramophone Magazine

Händel: Overtures - The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock

George Frideric Händel
Overtures
The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock
Archiv 419 219-2

These overtures or instrumental introductions to operas, oratorios, cantatas, and anthems are a grand collection. The use of the bassoon and oboe on many of the selections balanced the violins and organ. The organ is integrated into several of the movements of these overtures in a complementary way, never become the primary focus except in the Act 1 Sinfonia for Saul in the organ solo and then later in the Second Act Sinfonia, the Wedding Symphony, where it is playful and is perfectly complimented by the more stately strings and oboes, which seemed to me to be a reversal of musical roles. The Wedding Symphony prepares the audience for the marriage of David to Michal. The overture from Alceste with surprising flourishes from the trumpet is a wise opening movement, since it is full of energy. The piece was meant to be the opening movement for a masque, usually based on a mythological or allegorical theme. The overture from Agrippina is sublime with an emphasis on the oboe and violin. The longest overture on the CD was the 5 movement overture to Il pastor fido. The 5 movements of the Il pastor fido alternate between slower tempo and dance forms. Actually the selections contain some surprises that demonstrate Handel's virtuosity and experimentation, his complexity and structural abilities.

C.B. Collins Jr., Amazon.com Customer Review

Vivaldi: L'estro Armonico - 12 Concertos Op.3 - EG, Fabio Biondi

Antonio Vivaldi
L'estro Armonico - 12 Concertos Op.3
Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi
Virgin 5 45315 2

This was the great collection of 12 varied and exciting violin concertos that turned Bach on to concerto writing. In fact, he transcribed several of these works for solo harpsichord, organ--even for harpsichords and orchestra. What fascinated him most was the balanced, three-movement form, the brilliance of the solo passages, the tunefulness of the music generally, and Vivaldi's seemingly inexhaustible storehouse of invention. When a composer ventured to publish a collection such as this, he was making a major statement. This is one of the really big ones in Baroque music, and it's performed with splendid authority and an unrivaled sense of sheer joy.

David Hurwitz, Amazon.com Editorial Review

Vivaldi: Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'invertione - EG, Biondi

Antonio Vivaldi
Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'invertione
Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi
Virgin 5 45465 2

Another Four Seasons, but this one shoots to the top of the list. Fabio Biondi's imaginative playing is full of spunk and vigor, delineating Vivaldi's scene-painting without overdoing it. His band matches him with rhythmic vitality; this is one Vivaldi set that holds your interest from start to finish.

In his program notes, Biondi explains the use of the "Manchester" manuscript of the Four Seasons, which was closer to the composer's intentions than editions published later, and he discusses the manuscript sources for the other works. The Four Seasons are the first four concertos of Vivaldi's Opus 8 set of a dozen, titled Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione (The Trial of Harmony and Invention). The others may not share the Seasons' popularity, but they're of comparable excellence, especially in performances as exciting as these. First-rate sound, close-up and immediate, underscores the vibrancy of the performances. Biondi's 1991 Four Seasons on Opus 111 is still in the catalog, but this one scores because Virgin includes the complete Opus 8 on two discs for the price of one.

Dan Davis, Amazon.com Editorial Review