"...Eötvös' transcription distills the purest essence of Bach and
the Goldberg into a transciption for solo guitar. And truly, I must
say, the result is a work of high art that not only does complete
justice to but utterly refreshes the music; it is a glorious effort
worthy of the name of Johann Sebastian Bach."by Chia Han-Leon
in INKPOT CLASSICAL MUSIC REVIEWS
This remarkable recording is sent to us straight from Hungary by
the artist,
and to judge from the email, his reputation is far-flung. We have received
requests from every major continent for this remarkable recording,
presenting some of
Bach's most challenging and ethereal music transcribed for the unlikely
instrument, the guitar.
It is quite amazing to hear these thirty variations, a pinnacle of Bach's
keyboard music,
rendered seemingly complete on just six strings. Surely there is slight
of hand involved-
but it is difficult or impossible to catch the culprit. Only once or
twice did I
detect an octave transposition, and that without offense to the music.
József Eötvös recorded these in Bratislava, and sent
them himself for
our enjoyment, from Hungary. A rare treat— a passionate performance.
Altus: David Cordier, Paul Gerhardt Adam, Kai Wessel
Tenor: Wildfried Jochens, Gerd Türk, Knut Schoch
Instrumental Ensemble: shawms, sackbuts, recorders, vielles, viole da gamba, percussion.
Direction: Helga Weber
This 3-CD set is not commercially distributed, and is available in the USA at the Musical Offering exclusively. Comes with 200-page illustrated book. IHW 3.108 $69.98
Machaut:
Christe, qui lux
Tu qui gregem
Bone Pastor Guillerme
Fons tocius superbie
Hoquetus David
Martyrum gemma, latria
Felix virgo, mater Christi
Dufay:
O gemma, lux et speculum
Vasilla, ergo gaude
Apostolo glorioso
O beate Sebastiane
O sancte Sebastiane
Rite maiorem lacobum
Flos florum
Ave, virgo
Basamus et munda cera
Inclita stella maris
Mirandas parit
Salve, flos Tusca gentis
Nuper rosarum flores
Supremum est moralibus bonum
Ecclesie militantis
O proles Yspanie
O gloriose tyro
Fulgens iubar ecclesie
Alma redemptoris mater
Moribus et genere
Three compact discs, plus 200-page book in English, French and German, illustrated with examples of the composer's notation, their signatures, diagrams of the Duomo of Florence (related to the isorhythms of Dufay's Nuper rosarum flores), plus excellent background material on the form and the works themselves. Renaissance der Renaissance IHW 3.108 $69.98
We came across this set almost by accident. It is one of the most expensive sets we sell, short of the Ring Cycle, and the most expensive on a per-CD basis; we had to buy at European prices- we do not make a big profit on this set. But the set is so good, we had to get it and offer it, especially since noone else has it.
Simply put, this is the best set of late Medieval/early Renaissance music you will find. We have made that assertion for several years now, and we've had virtually no quibbles. And we've sold more than three hundred copies. If you are a fan of this early repertoire, or a serious CD collector, this is a must. We are now down to the last dozen copies- there will be no more. If you're contemplating purchase of this set, do so now. Highest recommendation
Joseph Spencer
Up to now, Anthony Newman's recording of the toccatas on Vox (Sept/Oct 1996) was my first choice for these pieces; in my review I did complain about a lack of subtlety, for example in the closing fugue from the F-sharp Minor. Edward Parmentier's recording has all the subtlety in that spot (and in many others besides) that I could wish for; he even makes beautiful music out of odd bits in the work like the 30-odd measures of interminable harmonic sequences halfway through.
One of my harpsichordist friends found his slow tempo for the fugue in the C-minor too safe. Yes, I said, but listen to all that detail! Sometimes lightning-fast tempos make me feel that the piece is over before it starts-- that's certainly the case for Newman's performance of the final fugue from the E-minor-- and with Parmentier the moderate tempo makes it easier to hear the counterpoint and savor the exquisite buildup of tension that makes the piece so memorable. In slow movements, Parmentier is always more expressive and more inventive than Newman.
The harpsichord is the wonderful Germain instrument at the Shrine to
Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota, exquisitely prepared by John
Koster, Mr. Parmentier, and executive producer Joseph Spencer. The sound
is fabulous, as always. Parmentier's Bach-playing is superb; each new release
of his takes pride of place in my collection.
(Robert) Haskins, American Record Guide
BACH Complete Toccatas, BWV 910-916 · Edward Parmentier (hpd) (period instrument) · WILDBOAR WLBR 9402 (68:12)
This is fine, characterful playing, distinguished by a judicious sense of style, clean execution, and delightfully lively rhythm. Tempos too are close to ideal, the quicker ones nimble enough but never of the "hey-look-how-many-notes-a-second-I-can-play" variety too often inflicted on the unoffending composer. Parmentier, who studied with Albert Fuller and Gustav Leonhardt, is a professor at the University of Michigan. He plays the toccatas on a 1785 harpsichord by Jacques Germain of Paris. Its admirably lustrous, not too clangorous sound has been captured vividly by Wildboar's engineers, and since the presentation of all seven of these pieces together makes obvious sense, the disc altogether recommends itself. It is the best version I have encountered in any recorded format.
....anyone who loves these works and is seeking a worthy realization
of them on disc need look no further.
--Bernard Jacobson
Six Quadri, Hamburg 1730
Nouveaux Quatuors en Six Suites, Paris 1738
Recorded 1996-97. Sony Vivarte 63115 (3 CDs) $47.98
GOLDBERG: 5 STARS!
These twelve 'quartets' or 'suites' (the idea of 'quartets' was not yet a concept in the 1730s) are some of the most remarkable and attractive of all baroque chamber music. On the strength of his 1730 publication of Six Quadri, Telemann was invited to Paris in '38 to take part in the Concerts spirituelles with the most famous and capable musicians of the day, then at the court of Louis XV. The 1738 publication is the result, and a treasure of great music for all time. Clearly here the very talented and skilled Telemann applied his greatest energy and power to produce extraordinary works. Ironically they are not often recorded.
In the present CD we have the greatest baroque chamber musicians of our generation turning at last to this powerful monument of the period. To our joy, Gustav Leonhardt, longtime benefactor and advocate of the phenomenal Kuijken brothers, has joined them for this important recording. It is a document to treasure.
Like the vast majority of their many recordings over the last thirty years, the Telemann was recorded in the venerable Doopsgezinde Church in Haarlem, where literally hundreds of great baroque recordings have taken form, including most of the Bach cantata series. There are two charming and telling photos of the artists: in the first they are obviously gathered to listen to a playback and are exchanging significant and sardonic glances that friends will recognize with a smile; the second shows them playing away, full chat, in the probably bitter midwinter cold of the church. Leonhardt sits, legs akimbo, all business and dressed for the occasion in his scarf and black overcoat.
The playing is suave and very deep, gracious and at times heartbreaking,
always perfectly finished. They can still do it. Definitely a CD to have.
"Festive Concerts of Peace and Joy" Sony Vivarte 62929. $31.98
Praetorius is often portrayed as a sort of second-magnitude Heinrich Schütz; it can be said that in a sense Praetorius' music is overshadowed by the composer's fame in other fields, as a theorist and lexicographer of music of the time. In fact Praetorius was for a time Schütz's superior at the Dresden court. Truly the composers share a great deal: both are Germans in full sway of musical events taking place to their south in Venice. Whereas Schütz undertook two extended trips to study music in Italy, the first with none other than Giovanni Gabrieli, who declared him to be heir to his art, Praetorius demonstrates perhaps an even more fervid grasp of the principals and the instrumentarium of the Venetian style than the younger Schütz. In the event, Praetorius got his polychoral music committed to paper and published before the onset of the Thirty Years War- consciousness of which is perhaps demonstrated in the dedications of this collection- while Schütz was throughout most of his active career constrained to small ensembles by the economic impact of the war upon the states and institutions who were his employers.
In this collection we have the kind of music we may wish we had more of from Schütz: big, luscious pieces with scads of singers and instruments of all sorts shooting at you from every corner of the room. This is high theatre, ca. 1600. The musical vocabulary is straight out of Venice, except that most of the pieces are based upon Lutheran chorales, which already puts a distinct Germanic cast upon them - perhaps not so Germanic as if Schütz had been the composer, but definitely more weighty than straight Gabrieli or Monteverdi, somehow.
The performances and the recording are near faultless. I pine for a
big juicy stereo rig so I could wallow in the spatial effects that I know
are there. But even with my modest setup, the stereo is lush, and the music
is lusher. I count 40 singers and players in the credits, and since some
of the pieces call for 20 separate voices or more, you clearly need 'em.
For fans of Schütz, Gabrieli or Monteverdi, or polychoral music generally,
a must-have recording. If you're not a fan already, this is the CD that
could take you over the line.
Music of Giovanni de Macque, Scipione Stella, Giovanni Salvatore, Gregorio Strozzi, Giovanni Maria Trabaci, Francesco Lambardo, Don Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa, & Ascanio Mayone. ARS MUSICI AM 1207. $19.98
On the cover of this extraordinary CD is a keyboard view of what appears to be a simple unadorned Italian harpsichord, senza outer case. Its one bit of fanciness is to be seen in the skunktail sharps- but wait! They're split! All of them! There are in fact nineteen notes in each octave, enough to provide an acoustically pure third for any diatonic note in the scale.
If this is all gobbledygook to you, best move on to the next entry. But for the aficionado, this information makes this unimposing CD an extraordinary find. Here is a whole repertoire of music from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century written expressly for the cembalo cromatico, the harpsichord with fitted extra keys so as to provide pure-third meantone tuning in virtually all tonalities, a subject of considerable interest at the time, but which fell into obscurity in the eighteenth century and later. Here is keyboard music of an extraordinary adventuresomeness, on a par with the mysterious and wonderful Gesualdo, who is actually represented in this program.
Better yet, no need here to put up with lame playing, bad programming
or inept recording- all is in order here: the program is superb and focussed,
the playing expert and expressive, on a par with the very best, and the
recording far surpassing acceptable. Christopher Stembridge, more than
any other, is the scholar/performer who has kept his attention on this
rather special topic for more than twenty years, and we are the recipients
of his expertise and his passion for his subject. For those who will appreciate
it, highest recommendation.
Virgin Veritas 45220(Rossi); 45221(Lotti).
Sorry to inform you that Virgin Classics have chosen to delete both
of these rare and delectable titles from their catalog.
Vasiljka Jezovsek, Elisabeth Scholl, sopr; Simon Berridge, alto
Hervé Lamy, Mark Padmore, tenor; Peter Kooy, bass.
Total duration 79'12"
harmonia mundi 901754, $17.98
O Herr, ich bin dein Knecht
Freue dich des Weibes deiner Jugend
Die mit Tränen säen
Ich lasse dich nicht
Dennoch bleibe ich stets an dir
Wende dich, Herr, und sei mir gnädig
Zion spricht: Der Herr hat mich verlassen
Da Jakob vollendet hatte
Lieblich und schöne sein ist nichts
Ist nicht Ephraim mein teurer Sohn
Sieh an die Werk Gottes
Ich freue mich im Herren
Ihr Heiligen, lobsinget dem Herren
Herr laß meine Klage
Siehe, nach Trost war mir sehr bange
Ach Herr, ach meiner schone
Drei schöne dinge sind
Was betrübst du dich, meine Seele
O Herr Jesu Christe
Lehre und bedenken
Nu danket alle Gott
Schein is an extremely interesting composer. A contemporary of Heinrich Schütz and Michael Prætorius, his output is small relative to these more famous colleagues. Also Schein was Kantor of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, placing him in the direct line of descent of J S Bach, who knew Schein's music.
Schein composed in two basic categories: devotional music and secular music for "seemly pleasure at decent social gatherings". In the latter rubric, his dance suites, in the English export consort mold, are often anthologized on recordings with similar works by Prætorius. The present pieces, intended for Christian meditation, employ avant-garde Italian madrigal techniques fitted to German translations of Old Testament texts. The music abounds with complex madrigalisms and expression of the text, taking obvious delight in dissonance as overt and extreme as any short of Gesualdo himself.
Philippe Herreweghe's singers address this gorgeous music with just the right mix of richness and purity. Tonal production is distinctly madrigalian- vibrato is introduced liberally but not thoughtlessly, ever consciously applied to provide Italianate richness. Moments of unwavering pure, straight tone thrill with their dead-on accuracy, whether on the most soothing consonances or the most hair-raising, grinding seconds and sevenths. In one sense, Schein even surpasses the Italians, emanating cool German logic to bring control to wild emotionalism.
Most of the six names in the European Vocal Ensemble are familiar. They are unobtrusively supported by a continuo of organ, lute, cello and bass, whose inclusion surely contributes to the great security of intonation that colors the whole recording. Often the ensemble sounds larger than it is.
If it sounds like I really like this recording, I've communicated well. I have admired these works for many years, and all prior recordings have fallen just a bit short. This is definitely the one to have. At last. Highly recommended
Postscript: Goldberg Early Music Magazine has a little feature in which they poll the reviews in eight major European early music magazines. Thus far for 1997, Herreweghe's Schein CD is leading the pack internationally: six of the eight magazines awarded it the full five stars, the highest award. It is the only CD this year to be so honored.
Joseph Spencer
Astreé-Auvidis E 8585 $18.98
Toccata 7ma (1627); Capriccio di durezze (1624); Cento partite sopra passacaglia (1637); Toccata undecima (1627); Toccata 8va (1615); Toccata 8va di durezze e legature (1627); Toccata 9na Non senza fatiga si giunge al fine (1627); Toccata prima (1627); Canzona terza (1627); Balletto e Ciaccona (1637); Toccata prima (1615); Partite sopra Ruggiero (1615-37); Toccata 7ma (1615); Partita sopra l'Aria di Follia (1615); Toccata seconda (1627); Toccata terza (1615).
This is a fabulous harpsichord recording. Pierre Hantai demonstrated his particular talent with seventeenth century music last year with his CD of music of John Bull. Now he shows it was no accident by a true tour de force with more widely performed and familiar repertoire, Frescobaldi.
The listener is struck at once by the sound: low pitch, low tension, unequal temperament. Lots of character, very wiry. Hantai's playing is expressive, impulsive, in keeping with the composer's instructions that the music must express emotion and inner turmoil. The rhythm surges and subsides, flows and quietens. It's a rich brew, easily the equal of the Bull recording.
One reaches for the booklet at once; what is this instrument? Copie d'un clavecin italien, à 2 claviers, d'aprés un instrument anonyme de la 1ère moitié du 17ème siecle se trouvent au Germanisches Nationalmuseum de Nuremberg. Clavecin fait par Ph. Humeau à Barbaste, en 1980. No further notes on the instrument provided, but we soon find it has 2 X 8', and presently, Voila! a 4'! This is a most unusual Italian. The sound is very Italian indeed, rather the opposite of the French double sound- contained and complex in the bass, no boominess whatever, with lots of interesting detail and complexity. Further up the sound becomes flutier, but as it ascends into the high treble attains a boxy, exotic quality that reminds one of a good Gorgonzola.
Experts will be nattering about the authenticity of the harpsichord's dispostion for a long time to come- an interesting discussion, but not one likely to have any impact on the artistic validity of this performance. This is a great harpsichord recording, a certain finalist in the contest for best harpsichord recording of all time, and a pretty good bet for winner. Highest recommendation.
Joseph Spencer
Jean-Féry Rebel (1666-1747):
Sonatas L'Immortelle, La Pallas, & Tombeau de Monsieur de Lully
François Couperin (1668-1733):
Sonatas L'Astrée & La Steinquerque
Marin Marais (1656-1728):
Pièces en trio
This privately produced CD, previously not available elsewhere, has
been selling well at $19.98. Ensemble Rebel have now placed these recordings
on a commercial label. Buy this custom label release now for just $11.98
(Internet
customers only), while supplies last.
As the seventeenth century drew towards a close, French musicians enjoyed an infatuation with Italian music which threatened to upset the ageing Louis XIV's aesthetic applecart. Controversy raged around the Court, and some French composers even composed Italianate music under noms de plume. The six sonatas presented on this disc represent the hybrid style very well, with the directness and verve of the Italian, and the graceful gesture of the French.
Joseph Spencer
Nimm von uns, Herr,du treuer Gott
Jesu, meines Lebens Leben
Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin
Führwahr, er trug unsere Krankheit,
Herzlich Lieb hab' ich dich, O Herr
Der Herr ist mit mir
Channel Classics CCS 7895-1 $17.98
This is, simply put, the most joyous, fun sacred music I know, short of gospel. The pieces all exude that sturdy beat and inevitable progress one associates with the early cantatas of Bach. (BWV 4, 104) Every piece in the program is a winner, an all-time favorite. Jos van Immerseel, fortepianist best known for his Mozart Piano Concerto series, also on Channel Classics, shows his mastery with this repertoire, making the music hop and pop- and making the listener wish to present in that church on Sunday.
This is achieved partly through the use of a very full continuo section with lots of weight on the bass line. Buxtehude's melodies concentrate on the soprano line, so the instrumentation serves to balance the ensemble. The choir is none other than Herreweghe's Collegium Vocale, and the singing is absolutely first rate. The bass and the subtle textures of the band are superbly captured in Jarett Sachs's wonderful recording. My personal overall favorite CD of 1995, and, the way we're going, very likely 1996 as well. Highest recommendation.
Joseph Spencer
Huelgas Ensemble - Paul Van Nevel
Multichoral pieces by Tallis, Porta, Josquin, Ockeghem, Manchicourt, G. Gabrielei, and Striggio
Wolf Erichson, producer
Sony Vivarte 66261 $15.98
Writing music for more than six parts poses special problems: the parts begin to 'step on' one another, it becomes increasingly difficult for the listener to follow the multiple lines, and it may be very hard to find paper large enough to write all the lines on the same page.
Thomas Tallis'"Spem in allium" is the best known work of this genre, and deservedly so. Managing forty vocal lines is no mean feat, and Tallis proves it can be done to great effect; "Spem" is one of the most popular works in the choral repertoire.
In the booklet there is a photo snapped during the recording of "Spem", showing the forty singers arrayed in a perfect circle, one on a part, the redoubtable Mijnheer Van Nevel at ground zero, holding the whole together. (Being a sacred work, one could say, "holding the holy whole together..." but I would never say such a thing.) Beyond them stands the forest of columns of St. Barbara, Ghent, where they recorded. Anyone who's been around any performance of this piece knows how difficult it is, for conductor and singer alike. Get lost- you're lost. End of subject. The difficulty of the work is not apparent in this performance, wherein the piece flows as naturally, organically and inevitably as a stream.
More interesting are some of the lesser known pieces on this CD, all of which sport in excess of fifteen voices. In particular there are two canons which I find totally mesmerizing, and I have little doubt that that is exactly what the composer intended. Their composers are the greatest here represented, for my money: Josquin and Ockeghem. (Okay, okay- Tallis is just as good.)
The sound is wonderful, and the pieces are, with the exception of "Spem", not found elsewhere. Great production from Wolf Erichson. Recommended.
Joseph Spencer