Scarlatti

Scarlatti: Mandolin Sonatas

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Domenico Scarlatti: Mandolin Sonatas
Pizzicar Galante
Arcana A115. 60’12

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Although Domenico Scarlatti didn’t actually write any mandolin sonatas, that hasn’t stopped Pizzicar Galante followed an earlier practice of transcribing his harpsichord sonatas for mandolin. Their inspiration was the discovery, in the 1980s, of a late 18th-century manuscript in the Arsenal Library in Paris of the first movement of Scarlatti’s Sonata in D, K89, with the indication Sonatina per mandolino e cimbalo. Continue reading →

Mallorca Edition Historic Organs

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Mallorca Edition Historic Organs
Martin Schmeding
CYBELE 6SACD 001404. 6 SACDs. 7h 39’31
1. Padre Antonio Solèr (1729-1783): Sonatas, Fugues and Fandango
2. Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757): Sonatas
3. José Lidon (1748-1827): Complete Works for Organ
4. Sebastián Aguilera de Heredia (1561-1627): Organ Works
5. Pablo Bruna (1611-1679): Organ Works

Following his 17-part Max Reger Edition Martin Schmeding turns his hand to music from the Iberian Baroque. In addition to the 5 CDs of music, a 6th CD includes talks (in German) with Martin Schmeding and the organ builder Gerhard Grenzing who restored two of the three organs used. 

The first question when approaching this set of CDs is what is the best order to play the CDs? The published order makes no sense to me. Chronologically the order should be 4, 5, 2, 1, 3 (from the earliest to most recent). I would strongly recommend listening in that order, not least because it will help to give a  sense of the evolution of Iberian keyboard music. But if you want to annoy your neighbours and frighten the cat, start with CD1 and the opening blast of en-chamade trumpets. Spain is rather like France in that the peak period for the organ in construction terms was mid to late eighteenth century, but by then the music composed for the organ was, arguably, in musical decline. Starting with the earliest composers will demonstrate that development, and will also help you to appreciate the earlier repertoire without the blast of the later composers still ringing in your ears. But if you are one of those people who assume all organ music is dull and boring, then start with the later composers, whose music is certainly more fun.  Continue reading →

Da Camera & Carolyn Sampson

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Telemann, Bach, & Scarlatti
Da Camera with Carolyn Sampson
Kings Place. 20 September 2017

I reviewed Da Camera’s very first concert, in March 1999 at Hampstead’s Burgh House, noting that “Emma Murphy is a superb recorder player … she combines outstanding virtuosity with musical intelligence and sensitivity”, and that harpsichordist Steven Devine was (amongst other things) “clearly blessed with enviable technical skills”. In 2001, I commented on their “well-balanced programme, a friendly and informal stage manner, fine musicianship and superb playing” – a comment that they quoted in the programme for this Kings Place concert. In a later review, I praised Susanna Pell for producing a “wide range of tones and textures from her gamba, both in accompanying and in solo pieces”. Since those early days, they have each developed their own independent careers (and, indeed, families), but have now returned to the musical fray with a series of concerts and a new Telemann CD. Continue reading →

SJSS: Holy Week Festival

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Siglo de Oro & New London Singers
St John’s, Smith Square: Holy Week Festival. 15 April 2017

WP_20170415_12_49_34_Pro (2).jpgThe St John’s, Smith Square Holy Week Festival (also reviewed here and here) concluded with a vocal workshop and lunchtime concert with Siglo de Oro and an evening concert from the New London Singers. The morning workshop was led by Patrick Allies, director of Siglo de Oro, and focussed on Bach’s motet Jesu meine freude, giving useful insights into the structure, text and musical contents of this most complex piece. Siglo de Oro’s lunchtime concert sandwiched this piece between two shorter meditative pieces by Purcell Hear my Prayer, and Remember not, Lord, our offences, concluding with Domenico Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater a 10.  Continue reading →

The Grand Tour: Naples

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The Grand Tour: Naples
La Serenissima, Tabea Debus, Vladimir Waltham, Adrian Chandler
St John’s, Smith Square. 18 January 2017

Music by: A Scarlatti, Durante, Porpora, Sarro, Leo

The penultimate concert in La Serenissima’s current series of ‘Grand Tour’ concerts at St John’s, Smith Square focussed on the music of Naples. A complex history of multiple occupations from the founding Greeks through to the 16th century Spanish (with brief Austrian and French incursions in the early 18th century) made it one of the most cosmopolitan (and the second largest) of all European cities in the later 17th and early 18th centuries. As such, it attracted artists and musicians of extraordinary ability.

Alessandro Scarlatti (pictured) was one of the founders of the Naples opera scene. He first moved there in 1684, aged around 24, as Maestro di Cappella to the Spanish Viceroy, and spent much of his following life there. All the other composers in La Serenissima’s concert were influenced by him. He left little instrumental music alongside his operas, but one such was the Sinfonia di Concerto Grosso II in D (for recorder, trumpet, strings & continuo) that opened this concert. It can be a surprise to those not used to period instruments to realise that the trumpet and recorder can be combined as fellow solo instruments, as Bach demonstrated so well. Scarlatti was less adventurous in his combining of these instruments in this concerto, with the two instruments generally kept apart, and the two melodic Adagio movements only using the recorder. Continue reading →

Bach, Handel, Scarlatti – Gamba Sonatas

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Bach, Handel, Scarlatti – Gamba Sonatas
Steven Isserlis, cello, Richard Egarr, harpsichord
Hyperion CDA68045

Bach: Sonata in G major, G minor, D major, BWV1027/9;
Scarlatti: Sonata in D minor, Kk90;
Handel: Violin Sonata in G minor, HWV364b.

This recording comes with several health warnings, not least the fact that none of the five featured Sonatas are quite what they seem. The three Bach sonatas were, as the CD title implies, intended for the viola da gamba. The Scarlatti Sonata was probably intended for solo harpsichord although there is an argument that it, and some of its fellow sonatas, could have been performed as a violin sonata. The Handel Sonata was originally for oboe but was transcribed for the violin with a scribbled note that it could be played on the viola da gamba. None were intended for the cello. Continue reading →

Et in Arcadia ego: Italian Cantatas and Sonatas. Concentus VII

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Et in Arcadia ego: Italian Cantatas and Sonatas
Concentus VII
Resonus RES10142  67’16

Handel Mi Palpita il Cor, Pensieri notturni di Filli, Sonata pour l’Hautbois; Alessandro Scarlatti Filli tu sai s’io t’amo; Francesco Mancini Recorder Sonata 1 in d; Antonio Lotti Ti sento, O Dio bendato.

Emily Atkinson (soprano), Louise Strickland (recorder), Belinda Paul (oboe & recorder), Amélie Addison (cello) & Martin Knizia (harpsichord)

This CD, from a relatively new London-based group, explores music performed in the Roman Academy of Arcadia (Pontificia Accademia degli Arcadi).  It was founded in 1690, a year after the death of, and in homage to, Queen Christina of Sweden, a major patron of the arts who moved to Rome after her 1654 abdication.  The Academy took its inspiration from an idealised world of rural innocence, and advocated a simple and direct style in music and poetry. The two opening Handel’s cantatas, the pastoral Pensieri notturni di Filli and the more dramatic Mi Palpita il Cor, demonstrate the attractive and approachable style of his early years in Italy.  Music from Naples and Venice complete the programme.

Alessandro Scarlatti’s cantata Bella s’io t’amo includes a recently discovered opening recitative – the arias are notable for the use of obligato recorder, unusual in Scarlatti’s cantatas. The CD notes include English translations of the texts, which generally focus on the complicated love lives and amours of the likes of Clori and Phyllis.

One of the delights of the cantatas on this CD is that they are accompanied by recorders or oboe as well as the harpsichord and cello continuo group.  Louise Strickland and Belinda Paul demonstrated excellent articulation and use of baroque ornaments in their contributions to the bucolic sound world, and in the two instrumental sonatas, for oboe and recorder respectively that contrast with the vocal works.

The continuo playing by Amélie Addison and Martin Knizia is sensitive and entirely appropriate for the period and genre.  The simple harpsichord realisations are particularly welcome – far too many harpsichords over-do continuo realisations.

Emily Atkinson has an attractive and clear voice, her gentle inflexions adding to the Arcadian mood of the cantatas. Only in final aria of Pensieri notturni di Filli does the voice begin to show signs of struggle with Handel’s tricky flurry of notes.

http://concentus7.com/?page_id=435

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