Love can transpose things bass and viol to form and dignity.

Started by Mandryka, February 05, 2016, 10:55:56 PM

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Mandryka



This is, I think, the release of a previously hard to find early CD by well known and well loved consort Spirit of Gambo. The recording is mostly dedicated to music by Johan Schenck, which is not my cup of tea at the moment, despite its evident virtue of melodiousness.

So what a surprise to discover it contains three short pieces by a composer completely new to me, Christian Herwich. He doesn't even have a wikipedia entry, so I guess I can be forgiven for never having come across him before. Born 1609, died 52 years later, the fact that he comes from a couple of generations before Schenck is obvious from the music, which in my opinion calls to mind the contrapuntal, expressive music of his peer Dietrich Stoeffken.  Soeffken is, on the basis of Jonathan Durnford's recording, IMO one of the major masters of viol music.

So what else is there by Herr Herwich? Not much. There's a concerto on a Rembrandt themed CD by Musica Amphion, but it seemed a bit uninteresting to me. But there's also a piece taken on a sort of lute on this CD by Hamburg Ratsmusik, and it is very very very very beautiful.



It's a concert recording, and it sounds as though it may be worth giving a listen.

This is why you need streaming, by the way. I personally would have been disappointed if I'd have forked out real dosh for all that Schenck on the Spirit of Gambo CD, but I'm thrilled they introduced me to this fabulous, if obscure, composer. And it's through searching Qobuz databases that I found the lute piece.




Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

                    


You may have come across the name Roberto Gini for his recordings with Tactus -- Monteverdi and other Italians. But he also has a contract with Olive Music, for whom he has made three viol recordings, and really, I think they're all absolutely fabulous (apart maybe for the Lawes, who is a blind spot for me mostly) -- nuanced, eloquent, calm, expressive. In short, the acme of good taste.

He has also recorded this, unless it's the same as the other Farina recording. Has anyone heard it?

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka



Lawes's music is never the same, each movement of each one of these suites is distinctive -- sometimes polyphonic, sometimes simply lyrical, occasionally canons, and every now and then sudden and unexpected ruptures in the flow, and strange dissonances.  What Fretwork do here is always fresh, light, tender and sweet. A joy to hear when you're in the mood I think. It has taken me years and years to open up to Lawes's consort music, but today, with this recording, it has finally happened.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka



There are many good recordings of the Purcell fantasias. This one from Harnoncourt dates from the mid 1960s, it has a warm sound which for me is reminiscent of the sound of LPs, that's probably silly, but it's true. The ensemble is very much à voix égales, rather than à voix fondues (just made that expression up) - and that contrapuntal approach to these quartets, sextets and septets suits me. No viol is principal, all voices are equally important. But what may well be the really distinctive thing about Harnoncourt's performances is the sense of joy, more joy than melancholy I think, and the sense of easy going pleasure in making the music blossom. This makes the playing congenial to hear, despite the austerity and the complexity of the music.  These fantasias are at the very end of the centuries long tradition of viol consort music in England, and for once it may well be true that the best is the last (or first with Christopher Tye, let's not go there.) A lovely recording IMO.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka



An new Demachy recording from Jonathan Dunford, on Qobuz and similar platforms.  It seems fabulous to me this Sunday evening, it's caught my imagination much more than his earlier recording pictured below, I'll try to give both more attention soon.



Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka



A really impressive piece of music on this new recording of music by Demachy by Thomas Dunford, the second suite, in G minor, dark. Bach level impressiveness.  Once again I'm reminded of the quality of solo viol music, which presumable was an inspiration for baroque solo cello music.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka



My initial impression is that this is a suitably sensual interpretation of these pieces, fluid and colourful,


Philip Grosvard's harpsichord playing is outstanding!
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

vers la flamme

I just got an excellent solo viol disc that I'm sure everyone has heard:



Incredible music making. Well worth a listen.

Mandryka

Quote from: vers la flamme on March 21, 2021, 12:59:58 PM
I just got an excellent solo viol disc that I'm sure everyone has heard:



Incredible music making. Well worth a listen.

When I was a kid you used to be able to buy coach holidays with titles like "10 European capitals in 8 days" and Americans would say that they've "done Europe" -- well that's this CD. You've done gamba.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

#69
Quote from: Mandryka on July 04, 2016, 04:26:53 AM


Thor Jorgen and friends play Italianate music for gamba and organ, occasionally violin too. And very good music too.  Johan van Veen has said that he thought the playing was stiff and awkward, but I disagree. I think their playing has a feeling which I very much appreciate, a mixture of control and expression. There's brilliance and passion aplenty, but it's not in your face,  it's not at all flamboyant or demonstrative.  I do sense a feeling of abandon of self which gives the performances an eternal, universal quality which I find revealing. The style of play made me think of Leonhardt's last recordings, his final Forqueray disc for example.

They use a sweet but I think quite faceless chamber organ.

Revisiting this with great pleasure - baroque music, not deep most of it, very enjoyable performances, nothing stiff or awkward, van Veen must have been in a bad mood when he wrote that, and I must have been in a bad mood when I said 5 years ago (fuck! Five years!) that the organ's faceless, it's fine.

Quote from: Mandryka on March 31, 2018, 09:52:17 AM


Extremely impressive Sainte Colombe selection from the great Pere Ros, accompanied in just three pieces by a musician  I've never come across before called Itziar Atutza. The two play in a really complementary way, even the sounds of their respective instruments, one wiry and one a bit plumper, work beautifully together. It's astonishingly well recorded.

But all this is as nothing compared with the approach. It's spacious. Like the greatest musicians, these two know how to use silence to create poetry. There's air between the phrases, the music is living and breathing, but calm, stable without be static, gentle without being feeble, dancing without being ecstatic, austere without being frugal, simple without being simplistic, expressive without being emotional, rapt without being rapturous.

Sorry for that.  I'd better shut up I think.

This too! Per Ros has not completely disappeared, but he has as far as solo viol goes. Thor Jorgen has disappeared utterly.  Shame that - this Sainte Colombe is exceptional in every way.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Quote from: Mandryka on January 21, 2019, 10:35:53 PM


One thing that is really impressive about Robin Pharo's new recording of music by Charles Dollé is his capacity to enter into and reveal the soul of the music, the expressive content. These pieces sometimes have titles which say what effect they're supposed to have, and Pharo is completely in tune with Dollé's intentions. When Dollé calls for tendre he's tender. When Dollé calls a piece l'amoureux, you can imagine the music as an expression of the delight lovers may take in being together. When Dollé calls a piece le difficile you are indeed aware, as a listener, of how gnarly the music is. Three charming suites. I think this reveals Dollé every bit the equal of Marais and Forqueray, I terms of quality if not in terms of quantity and fame. And it reveals Dollé to be every bit his own man. While the former has a gift for evocative tunes, and the latter has a gift for intense virtuosity, Dollé has a gift for expressive poetry.

Very well recorded. Booklet has a little appreciation by the performer and an essay on the composer and his music, a pleasure to read.

What a pleasure to revisit this recording after two and a half years. I feel every bit as positive as before. I prefer Dollé to  Marais and I like him every bit as much as Forqueray and Dubuisson. His music is totally charming, civilised, urbane, nonchalant.  And what a shame that there isn't more from the redoutable Robin Pharo.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Quote from: Mandryka on May 12, 2019, 01:13:25 PM


This Cd is the apotheosis of a technique which Pandolfo has been developing for years -- he touches the strings lightly with the bow, the result is a bit like short motifs of music are chasing each other in a game of cat and mouse -- fragile, murmuring, and above all in motion. He uses these chasing motifs to create a pulse -- it's a completely new way of marking a rhythm. It makes the music sound mysterious, elusive and shimmering with life.

The music is made up of C16 pieces for little ensembles including viols, the music is all  inspired by madrigals -- the madrigals are sung, like in those recordings of Orgelbuchlein where they sing the chorales.

Is the viol music interesting? It's beautiful, in a renaissance way, that's to say it's simple and it's sweet and sane. And it's virtuoso. Harmonically, the madrigals sound quite interesting  presumably because of enharmonic and microtonal adjustments that the singers are making. The viol pieces are often viol and some sort of accompaniment so there aren't a whole of of opportunities for harmonic juiciness unfortunately.

Pandolfo's style of playing makes it more interesting that that sounds, because it gives it nervous energy and life.

One fascinating moment is in Vincenzo Bonizzi's music based on Pierre Sandrin's Douce Memoir, where the nervous cat and mouse style is effectively contrasted with brief and memorable lyrical moments. Bonizzi also comes up trumps in a long piece based on Willaert's song Jouissance vous donnerai -- he's defo a composer I want to explore more.

Another high point, for similar reasons, is Bassani's music based on Susanna un jour. And how lovely here, the combination of viol and lute.

If this was a concert we'd be on our feet at the end shouting bravo and be we'd talking about how wonderful it was in the bar afterwards; we'd be totally enraptured by the music making, which would make us forget all other music; we'd feel honoured and fortunate to have borne the costs, and taken the time and trouble to go   -- in these days of streaming, what more can anyone want from a recording than that?

Back to this for the first time in two years and I feel the same way! Though I must admit that I've been more interested in the viol than the singing - but both are great fun.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

cheregi

Quote from: Mandryka on July 13, 2021, 10:28:13 AM
Back to this for the first time in two years and I feel the same way! Though I must admit that I've been more interested in the viol than the singing - but both are great fun.

Just recently stumbled across this surprisingly negative scholarly perspective on Les Voix Humaines: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1183&context=ppr - and thinking to myself, yea, it's true, there is a kind of exhausting 'heaviness' to the sound of the viol as I've typically heard it, I always assumed that was just due to the nature of the instrument... I wonder what this scholar would have to say about Pandolfo.

Also, great thread, feel lucky to have stumbled upon it just as I'm dipping my toes back into viol music...

Mandryka

Quote from: cheregi on July 23, 2021, 10:14:09 AM
Just recently stumbled across this surprisingly negative scholarly perspective on Les Voix Humaines: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1183&context=ppr - and thinking to myself, yea, it's true, there is a kind of exhausting 'heaviness' to the sound of the viol as I've typically heard it, I always assumed that was just due to the nature of the instrument... I wonder what this scholar would have to say about Pandolfo.

Also, great thread, feel lucky to have stumbled upon it just as I'm dipping my toes back into viol music...

I must say I'm not keen on Les Voix Humaines, either in Ste Colombe or in Tobias Hume. With one exception - this



Re your interest in viol, this year has seen a dearth of new releases, even the indomitable Jonathan Dunford seems to have run out of steam.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Fabulous live here from Jordi of Ste. Colombe's Regrets -- be warned, you won't stop listening once you start.

https://www.youtube.com/v/9fXQ7Su4KZ8&ab_channel=FUNDACI%C3%93NJUANMARCH
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

North Star

Quote from: Mandryka on July 24, 2021, 01:59:16 AM
Fabulous live here from Jordi of Ste. Colombe's Regrets -- be warned, you won't stop listening once you start.

https://www.youtube.com/v/9fXQ7Su4KZ8&ab_channel=FUNDACI%C3%93NJUANMARCH
I didn't take the warning seriously enough, and now I ended up revisiting this wonderful recording..

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

Mandryka

Quote from: North Star on July 24, 2021, 01:46:10 PM
I didn't take the warning seriously enough, and now I ended up revisiting this wonderful recording..



The second volume of his 1992 release with Wieland Kuijken - the one with La Conférance - is perfect music for siesta time on a hot summer's day.

By the way, the music on that (excellent) recording may be by a different composer than the person who wrote Regrets - père and fils - but like everything it's all debatable!
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka



I feel really enthusiastic about this recording. There are three Ste Colombe suites, very soulfully played, and that intense introverted sentiment is carried over to two Marais suites of very nicely selected and ordered pieces. The best Tombeau for Méliton I have ever heard. Even the sound seems to capture the room ambience of the galerie des glaces!
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

bioluminescentsquid

Any thoughts about this? Little-played dutch gamba music from the latter half of the 17th century.


https://open.spotify.com/album/5nRib4Ibb03viQG1gUFdZj