Le Concert Spirituel's Striggio marred by flawed staging choices at the BBC Proms

Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel
© BBC/Mark Allan

Le Concert Spirituel

Hervé Niquet

BBC Proms
7.30pm, Sunday 17 August, 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London

★★★

Anonymous: Plainchant 'Beata viscera Marie virginis'

Benevolo, Orazio (1605-1672): Laetatus sum

                                                  Miserere

Corteccia, Francesco (1502-1571): Bonum est confederi

                                                        Gloria Patri

Striggio, Alessandro (c.1536/37-1592): Mass 'Ecco sì beato giorno' - Kyrie

Massenzio, Domenico (1586-1657): Ave Regina caelorum

Striggio, Alessandro: Mass 'Ecco sì beato giorno' - Gloria

Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da (1525/26-1594): Peccavimus

Corteccia, Francesco: Alleluia

Striggio, Alessandro: Mass 'Ecco sì beato giorno' - Credo

Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Beata est Virgo Maria

Benevolo, Orazio: Magnificat

Striggio, Alessandro: Mass 'Ecco sì beato giorno' - Sanctus, Benedictus

Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Pater noster

Massenzio, Domenico: Filiae Jerusalem

Striggio, Alessandro: Mass 'Ecco sì beato giorno' - Agnus Dei

Corteccia, Francesco: Tu puer propheta altissimi

Striggio, Alessandro: Motet 'Ecce beatam lucem'

Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel
© BBC/Mark Allan

'A bell striking signalled the performers’ entrance, with an anonymous plainchant Beata viscera Marie virginis over droning sackbuts. They processed to form a circle around conductor Niquet, terraced to two or three levels'.

'For the vast majority, the view was of the circle’s rear, with many of the musicians at the circle’s inside lower level invisible ... some lower voices at the top of the outside tier were much more audible than the lighter higher voices, hidden in the inner circle.

'The full tutti sound, with the brightness of the instruments, was richly textured in the Gloria and the loud plea for “pacem” at the end of the 60-part Agnus Dei was impressive'.

'Of the other works, Orazio Benevolo’s Magnificat stood out as the most effective. Contrast was achieved here by alternating passages for voices with instrumental sections'.

'Striggio’s other 40 part work, the motet Ecce beatam lucem had a decent pace to it, and the swells at “O quam” and “O mel” were effective'.

Read my full review on Bachtrack here.

BREMF Consort of Voices - Palestrina 500: Music from Italy and the Sistine Chapel

 

Join BREMF Consort of Voices to celebrate the 500 anniversary of the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina in 1525, whose graceful polyphony was written to be performed in the Sistine chapel and whose influence quickly spread throughout Europe. They will also be performing motets by some of his contemporaries including Allegri, Victoria, Gabrieli, and Marenzio.

BREMF Consort of Voices
James Elias director

This concert is part of the Europe-wide celebration of Early Music Day 2025.

Tickets here.

BREMF Consort of Voices, performing at BREMF 2024
© Robert Piwko

The Madrigal Reimagined - effortless virtuosity and informative expertise from the Monteverdi String Band and friends

Oliver Webber, Director of the Monteverdi String Band has been a frequent visitor to Brighton Early Music Festival, in particular bringing the band to several early opera productions at the festival. Both soprano Hannah Ely and lutenist Toby Carr are also familiar to us in Brighton. Ely is artistic director of the Fieri Consort, and regularly sings with Musica Secreta and Collegium Vocale Gent, amongst others. Toby Carr performs with many early music ensembles, including Ensemble Augelletti and Ceruleo, as well as performing as a soloist and continuo player, recently recording an award winning album with Helen Charlston. Webber’s last recording focussed on virtuosic violin ornamentation in the early Italian Baroque (read my review here), and for his latest disc, he and the band are joined by Ely and Carr for an exploration of the madrigal, and how it was reinvented and transformed from a purely vocal setting into works for solo voice with accompaniment, and into instrumental works. Alongside this is the part that virtuosic ornamentation, both vocal and instrumental, had to play in pushing the boundaries of the form. 

The Madrigal Reimagined is a fascinating programme of vocal, solo instrumental and ensemble pieces from the late sixteenth century, ending with a demonstration of how the madrigal form and style fed into early opera, in a brief selection of highlights from Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. Ely delivers the Prologue and two key arias (Ahi caso acerbo and Ma io ch’in questa lingua) with clarity and drama, capturing the intensity of the emotion in this chamber rendition. The string Sinfonias are suitably plaintive, emphasised in the rich yet mournful lower registers, yet Vanne Orfeo, with its bright, falling soprano lines, and the cheerful, spirited dance bring the disc to a nonetheless cheerful conclusion.

 

But before that, we have the delights of Rore, Caccini, Cavaliere and Malvezzi, amongst others. Cipriano de Rore’s (c.1515-1565) Anchor che col partire is heard first in a lute transcription, with Toby Carr bringing out its doleful delicacy, and managing to make the melodic lines sing. Then Carr is joined by Ely, who brings an aching beauty to the vocal line, with effortless diminutions (ornamentation consisting of breaking the melodic line into groups of shorter, often rapid notes), written by Giovanni Battista Bovicelli (1545-1618). Vergine bella and Ben qui si mostra il ciel by Rore have the solo line given over to the violin, with Webber providing the diminutions (along with diminutions by Orazio Bassani (bef.1570-1619) for the former). Webber’s bird-like violin, athletic yet effortless, skitters and meanders over the delicately plucked lute. The final piece by Rore included here, Hor che’l ciel et la terra, also has diminutions by Webber, but this time Ely has the solo line, brightly delivered over rich string textures, with ornamentation in all parts. 

 

There is a sequence of pieces from the famous 1589 Florentine Intermedii, lavish wedding celebrations for Ferdinando de’ Medici and Christine of Lorraine, with their famed extreme special effects. Cristofano Malvezzi’s (1547-1549) Sinfonia a 6, takes us into La Regione dei Demoni (the realm of demons) with its rich, complex string textures, before Giulio Caccini (c.1650-1618) takes us up into the heavens with Io che dal ciel, Ely delivering startlingly shimmering ornamentation here. This segment ends with O che nuovo miracolo by Emilio de’ Cavaliere (c.1550-1602), which dances along with instrumental fizz, the rapid ornamentation adding to the sense of celebration.

 

There’s more from Monteverdi, with extracts from his Il ballo dell'ingrate, the stately Entrata and swinging Ballo followed by Ah dolente partita, with Ely’s highly expressive falling soprano lines echoed in the violin, here played by Theresa Caudle. Ely’s bell-like high notes cry out, then there’s a swap into her lower vocal register, with Caudle taking over above. Ahi, troppo è duro follows, with dramatic expression and doleful falling lines.

 

There’s a solemn Canzon by Giovanni Gabrieli (c.1554/1557-1612) from the strings which dances along nicely, the disc opens with Canzon decimottava by Claudio Merulo (1533-1604), brightly paced with clear textures, and Carr also gives us a beautifully sad Preludium from Lorenzo Tracetti (1555-1590). Cruda Amarilli appears first in a setting by Johann Nauwach (1595-1630), Ely’s pure, expressive line gently accompanied by Carr on the theorbo. Ely’s ornamentation here is especially nimble, with humming repititions and fluid runs, and it is then followed by Monteverdi’s more familiar setting, here given over to the plaintive strings. And Giovanni Perluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) is represented here in Vestiva i colli, with ornamentation shared between the soprano and bass violin in an unusual and delightful dialogue. 

 

With expertly informative notes from Webber, this disc combines these musicians’ clearly expert research and knowledge of this repertoire with virtuosic command of the technical demands of such ornamented performance, making for a highly stimulating and impressive collection. 

Various. 2024. The Madrigal Reimagined. Hannah Ely, Toby Carr, Monteverdi String Band, Oliver Webber. Compact Disc. Resonus Classics RES10341.

 

Programme

Josquin des Prez (c.1450–1521) - Kyrie from Missa Pange lingua 

Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585) - In manus tuas 

William Byrd (1539/40–1623) - Haec dies 

Robert Parsons (c.1535-1572) - Ave Maria 

Giovanni Palestrina (c.1525-1594) - Sicut cervus 

Tomás Luis de Victoria( c.1548-1611) - O quam gloriosum 

More details here.

CD Reviews - September 2021

Norwegian lutenist Jadran Duncumb is on his third recording for Audax, this time performing works for the lute by J S Bach (1685-1750). There is debate about the original instrument Bach intended the works for, with question marks about a kind of gut-strung harpsichord called the Lautenwerk. Nevertheless, despite the lute not being Bach’s instrument, he did specify lute for some works, and arranged his own works (such as a Cello Suite and a movement from a Violin Sonata) for the instrument. In all there are six works in Bach’s output, and Duncumb has recorded four here. First, a word about the recorded sound. The lute is naturally a quiet instrument, and it can struggle to make itself heard outside a generous acoustic. Recordings also try to avoid the extraneous sounds of fret contact and string plucking. Duncumb has consciously gone against this, opting for a full, close recording which allows for the instrument’s true character to come to the fore, grit and all. That’s not to say there isn’t delicacy and lightness in his playing here, but he also produces a broader range of dynamics and a richer, fruitier sound than often heard on the instrument. The Suite in G minor opens the disc, this being Bach’s arrangement of his Cello Suite No. 5. It opens with a stately Prelude, followed by a gracious Allemande, and a gently swinging Courante. The Sarabande has a kind of sparse drama, and the second of the two Gavottes is beautifully fluid here in the running lines. The final Gigue is highly virtuosic, with its snappy rhythm and circling lines, taking the instrument to the extremes of register, and Duncumb makes his instrument sparkle with energy here. The brief Prelude in C minor will be familiar to pianists, as it was later written down in keyboard notation, and adopted as a keyboard work in the 19^th century. Its perpetual motion of arpeggios is actually ideally suited to the lute, and Duncumb expertly brings out the underlying harmonically shifting line from within the constant movement. The Fugue in G minor, another arrangement by Bach, this time from the Violin Sonata No. 1, is taken at a pace here by Duncumb, with impressive clarity in the fugal lines, ringing bass notes and an impressive flourish at its climax. The remainder of the disc is given over to the Partita in C minor (one of the works that may or may not have been composed for the mysterious Lautenwerk). Its opening Fantasia, with its falling bass line and swirling melodic line above is immediately captivating in Duncumb’s hands here. The Fuga to follow has incredibly clear voice leading in the flowing lines, and he maintains momentum despite its monumental proportions with a constant sense of direction and dynamic ebb and flow. In contrast, the Sarabande opens with a quiet air of mystery, yet Duncumb allows the emerging line to sing, with a beautifully silky chromatic scale near to the end. After a gently dancing Giga with effortless ornaments, he launches straight into the Double with smoothly running motion, a ringing tone throughout, creating a peel of bells in the cascades of falling lines, and building to a full-bodied conclusion. These are highly impressive performances, amply demonstrating that the lute is definitely not a shy wallflower in the right hands.

Bach, J. S. 2021. J. S. Bach Works for lute. Jadran Duncumb. Compact Disc. Audax Records. ADX 13728.

In February, Brighton Early Music Festival presented an online concert by Oliver Webber, violinist and director of the Monteverdi String Band, with organist and harpsichordist, Steven Devine. Con Arte e Maestria – ‘with art and mastery’ – refers to the practice of virtuoso violin ornamentation from the dawn of the Italian Baroque, and Webber and Devine have now released a CD of the same name. There is a lot of technical detail behind the complexities of ornamentation practice, and Webber’s CD notes are highly instructive, but for our purposes here, Webber demonstrates the ways in which virtuoso violinists of the late sixteenth century took existing pieces of music – madrigals, songs, etc – and ornamented them in striking and virtuosic ways, adding florid runs, repeated notes, trills and more to take an often simple melody to new heights. Different violinists had their own systems and styles – Girolamo dalla Casa (d.1601) used systematic divisions of the beat into rapid runs, whereas Riccardi Rognoni (c.1550-c.1620) favoured upward leaps followed by a downward scale, for example. Webber showcases five main approaches of different composers here, and then he takes their techniques and practices to create his own ornamentations of works such as Palestrina’s (c.1525-1594) madrigal Deh hor foss’io col vago della luna, and Antonio Mortaro’s (fl.1587-1610) Canzona ‘La Malvezza’. There is tremendous urgency in the rapid ornamentation of the Palestrina, and in the Mortaro, the violin adds increasingly nervy interjections over the steady progress of the organ. There is incredible variety here, with a beautiful singing style from Webber over Devine’s softly sombre organ in Cipriano de Rore’s (c.1515-1565) Anchor che col partire (ornaments by Rognoni), and highwire violin snippets of ornamentation in de Rore’s Signor mio caro (ornaments by Webber here), this time with Devine on harpsichord. There are solo violin Ricercatas from Giovanni Bassano (c.1561-1617), and from Webber himself (after Bassano’s style), demonstrating his virtuosic and improvisatory command of the instrument to dazzling effect – the Ricercata on ‘Vestiva i colli’ by Aurelio Virgiliano (fl.c.1600) is particularly mesmerizing. Devine has his moments too, with a beautifully delicate and courtly Canzon francese prima from Ascanio Mayone (c.1565-1627) on harpsichord, a darker Toccata by Michelangelo Rossi (c.1601-1656), and a dramatic fanfare-like organ Intonazione by Andrea Gabrieli (c.1532-1585). This is a stunning, well-constructed programme that will reward repeated listening, whether you want to get to the bottom of the technicalities of Italian Baroque ornamentation, or whether you want to simply relish the virtuosity of these performers in this glorious repertoire. 

Various. 2021. Con arte e maestria - Virtuoso violin ornamentation from the dawn of the Italian Baroque. Monteverdi String Band In Focus - Oliver Webber, Steven Devine. Compact Disc. Resonus Classics. RES10282.

Pianist Roman Rabinovich is on his second volume of Haydn Piano Sonatas. I missed the first, but on the basis of this two CD volume, I’ll definitely be seeking it out. The nine Sonatas on offer in this volume range across most of the fifty year spread of his 62 sonatas – depending on numbering, and allowing for a few of dubious origin. Rabinovich’s approach is full-bodied, and he is not averse to using pedalling to good effect, such as in the expressive Adagio of No. 13, its beautiful melody played out over softly pedaled repeated chords. Yet he also alert to the bright playfulness so typical of Haydn, such as in the outer movements of No. 50, and the jolly opening Allegro and the brilliantly virtuosic finale of No. 13. Meanwhile, the Bachian winding lines and steady bass line of No. 46’s Allegretto trot along amiably, and Rabinovich is particularly expressive and lyrical in No. 33’s slow movement. The Rondo of No. 35 is full of fun, with a spring in its step, with occasional slight lifts adding to the playfulness. No. 58, the latest Sonata here, from 1789, has an improvisatory quality in its opening movement, with Rabinovich taking the opportunity to show us some virtuosic flourishes, before the second movement’s rattling dash of a Rondo. Very enjoyable yet intelligent performances here, well worth exploration.

Haydn, F. J. 2021. Haydn Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2. Roman Rabinovich. Compact Disc. First Hand Records. FHR72.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in Scene, September 2021)

Energy and virtuosity from VOCES8 in an impressive Proms debut - Proms at ... Cadogan Hall 1

VOCES8
© Andy Staples

VOCES8

Monday 22 July, 2019, 1pm

Proms at ... Cadogan Hall 1

Cadogan Hall, London

★★★★





Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): Spiritus sanctus vivicans vita
Pérotin (fl c.1200): Viderunt omnes - excerpt
Josquin des Prez (c1450/55-1521): Ave Maria ... Virgo serena
Jean Mouton (before 1459-1522): Nesciens mater virgo virum
Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611): Regina caeli a 8
Jonathan Dove (b.1959): Vadam et circuit civitatem
Orlando de Lassus (1530/32-94): Missa 'Bell'Amfitrit'altera' - Gloria
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c1525-94): Magnificat primi toni
William Byrd (c1540-1623): Sing joyfully
Alexia Sloane (b.2000): Earthward (world premiere)
Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625): O clap your hands
Encore:
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943): Bogoroditse Devo, from All-Night Vigil, Op. 37


'The eight singers promised and delivered great skill and smooth blend, at the same time as their ability to characterise the music, text and individual lines when required'.

Dove:
'VOCES8 convey the rich, warm early clustered harmonies, as well as the repeated rising phrases and weaving lines, making this a highlight of their performance today'.

Sloane: 
'The precision and confidence of their performance was highly impressive'.

Gibbons:
'Full of energy and madrigalian lightness ... bringing their highly impressive Proms debut to a glorious conclusion'.

Read my full review on Bachtrack here.

CD Reviews - January 2019

The vocal ensemble Fieri Consort formed in 2012, and two years later became part of Brighton Early Music Festival’s programme for young artists, BREMF Live! Since then they’ve gone from strength to strength, and won the Cambridge Award at the 2017 York Early Music Festival. They gave a stunning performance at this year’s BREMF, as well as several of the 8-strong line-up performing as soloists in the BREMF operas and other festival concerts.  For their second disc, The Unknown Traveller, they have recorded a selection of works from Musica Transalpina, an anthology of mostly Italian madrigals set to English texts, thus fuelling the popularity of madrigals in England at the time.  The anthology was published in 1588 by Nicholas Yonge, Lewes-born singer and publisher (see concert listings for the Lewes chamber music series named after him), although the identity of the translator is unknown (hence the disc’s title).  There are works by Ferrabosco, Palestrina, Lasso, de Monte, Byrd and others.  The Fieri Consort sing one to a part, varying the forces from four to six voices, and their ensemble is always clear and blended, yet the English texts are brought to the fore with precision and smooth articulation.  Conversi’s ‘Zephirus brings the time…’ is given beautifully smooth lines, whereas Ferrabosco’s ‘The nightingale so pleasant…’ has a delightfully swinging delicacy.  They couple this collection with a new work, ‘Short Walk of a Madman’ by Ben Rowarth.  Rowarth uses texts by e e cummings, as well as drawing on Dante’s Divine Comedy for structure for its four movements, Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso, and then Paradise Revisited.  The theme of loneliness is also explored, in particular by often isolating the different eight voices in separate tonalities at the same time.  This creates huge challenges for the singers, but the Fieri Consort are totally convincing and highly impressive in their command of these demands.  The second movement in particular has a real sense of torment and madness, with its repetitive, circling motions, and the intertwined tonalities of the third and fourth movements are hypnotic and very effective.  Whilst I’m not sure the placing of this work alongside the Musica Transalpina repertoire entirely works, it certainly demonstrates the range of these young singers’ expertise, and Rowarth’s work definitely has a striking impact.  I look forward to hearing a lot more from these highly talented singers. 

Various. 2018. The Unknown Traveller. Fieri Consort. Compact Disc. Fieri Consort FIERI. 

The New Ross Piano Festival has been taking place in New Ross in the south east of Ireland since 2006.  Over the course of three years from 2014-16, the festival commissioned and premiered fifteen new pieces by different Irish composers in response to the Ros Tapestry, a fifteen-panel tapestry begun in 1998 that traces the history of the Norman invasion of Ireland.  They have now been put together on two discs, forming the Ros Tapestry Suite, performed by 12 different pianists, including the festival’s Artistic Director Finghin Collins, as well as Nicholas Angelich, Piers Lane, Lise de la Salle and Cédric Tiberghien.  Given the nature of the source material, a number of the pieces evoke battle scenes, although it is fascinating to hear the different compositional responses to this. So Sebastian Adams’ ‘The Siege of Wexford’ makes use of violent, throbbing chords, particularly exploiting the piano’s lowest registered, with a hammering conclusion.  Gerry Murphy’s ‘Battles in the Kingdom of Ossory’ is warlike too, but much more ominous, with its repeated ‘Jaws’-like bass. There’s a galloping hunt in Andrew Hamilton’s ‘Hunt in the Forest of Ros’, a wild and watery storm in Deirdre Gribbin’s ‘Ex Voto Tintern Abbey’, and a striking build from jazzy evening chords to a tolling warning in Eric Sweeney’s ‘Evening: The Lighthouse at Hook Head’.  Rhythmic energy and drive abound in John Kinsella’s ‘The Celts…’, whereas the rhythms in Elaine Agnew’s ‘The Abduction of Dervorgilla’ are unsettlingly jerky, even jumpy.  All bar one of the tracks were recorded live, and the sound is consistently clear and full-bodied.  The pianists deserve as much praise as the composers here – these are challenging pieces, and all concerned give highly convincing, often intense, and impressively virtuosic performances.  Cédric Tiberghien and Piers Lane merit particular mention for their characterisation, and in Lanes’ case, precise articulation of the melodic fragments within rich textures of harmonic clusters.  And Finghin Collins, who performs four of the pieces here, gets to demonstrate the greatest variety and command of technique.  Overall, this is a fascinating collection, demonstrating an impressive breadth of contemporary composition for the piano.

Various. 2018. Ros Tapestry Suite. Various. Compact Disc. New Ross Piano Festival NRPF01.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, January 2019)

Strikingly dramatic Weir in a convincing première from the BBC Singers and the Nash Ensemble - Proms at Southwark Cathedral

© BBC/Mark Allan

BBC Proms at ... Southwark Cathedral

Adrian Thompson (tenor)
Charles Gibbs (narrator)
Stephen Farr (organ)

BBC Singers
Nash Ensemble
David Hill (conductor)

Saturday 12 August, 2017
Southwark Cathedral

★★★★

David Hill (© BBC/Mark Allan)

Palestrina: 
Motet 'Confitebor tibi, Domine'
Missa 'Confitebor tibi, Domine'

Judith Weir:
'In the Land of Uz'

Palestrina:
'Hill shaped the rising and falling lines carefully'.

'Hill began this with some beautifully soft singing, warming for those final chords'.

 

Adrian Thompson & the BBC Singers
(© BBC/Mark Allan)

  Weir:
  'Adrian Thompson characterised the 
  role of Job with great presence'.

  'A powerful performance of a highly   
  effective, dramatic piece, with great
  variety, strong choral writing, and
  imaginative and unusual use of 
  instruments'.


  Read my full review on Bachtrack here.

O magnum myseterium - In dulci jubilo!

BREMF Consort of Voices

Deborah Roberts - Director

Music for advent and Christmas by 

Victoria, Palestrina, Praetorius, Walter and Paminger

Saturday 5 December, 6pm

St Paul's Church, West Street, Brighton

Mince pies, mulled wine and fizz!

Tickets £12 (£10 concession) from here.

On Facebook here.

CD Reviews - August 2014

Viola player Barbara Buntrock and pianist Daniel Heide have released an intriguing set of three works, all composed in 1919.  First, the Sonata by Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), for which the composer won joint first prize in the Sprague Coolidge competition, sharing the position with Ernest Bloch (1880-1959), whose Suite for Viola and Piano is also here.  They are separated on the disc by the Sonata, Op. 11 No. 4 by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963).  The Clarke Sonata is a beautiful piece, unusual in that its emotional heart is a slow third movement.  There are elements of Vaughan Williams and Debussy here, but Clarke definitely has a voice of her own.  Sadly she left her studies at the Royal College of Music due to an inappropriate proposal from a professor and being thrown out by her father, and struggled to get her music taken seriously, even having to use a male pseudonym at times.  When she won the competition, rumours spread that her piece was actually by Bloch, as it couldn’t possibly have been composed by a woman.  She more or less stopped composing in the fifties after her marriage, but left a fine body of chamber, vocal and choral works which is gradually gaining the recognition it deserves (Check out the Rebecca Clarke Society for more).  The Hindemith Sonata by comparison is a darker work - there are still the late Romantic touches here, as well as hints of Debussy, but Hindemith’s drier, complex harmonic language is emerging too. The final work on this disc is the Suite by Bloch.  Unlike many of his works which draw on Jewish traditional music, Bloch’s main influence here is Java and the Far East.  Over these three works, all composed in the same year, there is a huge range of styles and soundworlds, which Buntrock and Heide capture well.  Buntrock produces beautiful warmth in the Clarke, a greater edge to her sound in the Hindemith, and brings out the ethereal exoticism in the Bloch, with Heide providing strong accompaniment throughout. Highly recommended.

Various. 2014. 1919 Viola Sonatas: Clarke, Hindemith, Bloch. Barbara Buntrock, Daniel Heide. Compact Disc. Avi Music 8553304.

Next, live performances from the Ensemble Epomeo, and members of the Orchestra of the Swan, conducted by Kenneth Woods.  First, the Ensemble Epomeo (with which Kenneth Woods plays the cello) and friends perform Verklärte Nacht (‘Transfigured Night’) by Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951) in its original string sextet version.  Schönberg later orchestrated the work, and it became one of his most performed works.  Unlike his later music, it is tonal, although highly chromatic, with a late Romantic stamp, and a strong Wagnerian flavour.  The orchestral version is extremely lush, but the sextet version, whilst obviously pared down in texture, actually has a greater intensity.  The poem by Dehmel which inspired the work is about a woman who walks with her lover in a moonlit forest, and confesses she is pregnant by another man.  Her lover ultimately forgives her and the intensity of their love and the beauty of the moonlight brings them together.  In this live recording, there are some occasional background noises, and in fact noises from the players themselves at time, with some rather heavy breathing in places.  However, they capture the build of intensity in the music, and one can sense that this must have been a captivating performance to experience live.  Despite the relative containment of the sextet version, the climaxes could take more passion, but otherwise this is an exciting performance.  The disc continues with another chamber version of a work better known as an orchestral piece.  Brahms (1833-1897) originally scored his Serenade Op. 11 for wind and string octet, then expanded it to a nonet, before fully orchestrating it in the version known today.  Brahms destroyed the original chamber version, but Alan Boustead reconstructed it, and here it is performed by members of the Orchestra of the Swan.  Another enjoyable live performance, combining sensitivity and warmth in the Adagio, spirit and fun in the second Scherzo, with a rousing gypsy-infused Finale.  The wind players in particular stand out for me in this lively recording.

Various. 2014. Brahms Serenade no. 1 in D major, Schönberg Verklärte Nacht. Orchestra of the Swan, Kenneth Woods, Ensemble Epomeo and friends. Compact Disc. Somm SOMMCD 0139.

Montreal based group VivaVoce, conducted by Peter Schubert have recorded motets based around Scenes from the Gospels, by composers including Josquin, Palestrina and Gombert.  As an ensemble, they produce a very clear, pure and even sound, which is perhaps less resonant than the fuller sounds of English ensembles we are more used to, such as The Sixteen and The Tallis Scholars.  They aim for a beauty of overall sound, I think, rather than inflecting the music with significant expression.  This works better for me in the more rhythmically interesting pieces, such as Domine, si tu es by Nicolas Gombert (1495-c.1560), or In illo tempore stabant by Adrian Willaert (c.1490-1592), but the longer, soaring lines of Palestrina’s (1525-1594) In diebus illis left me wanting more depth to the sound.  However, there is great variety in their programme, and a composer new to me was Michele Pesenti, or Michael of Verona (c.1470-c.1524), whose Tulerunt Dominum meum contains some beautiful word painting, taking the sopranos souring upwards on the word ‘spes’ (‘hope’), before bringing us back down to earth at the end.  To win a copy of this CD, email me at nbclassical@hotmail.co.uk - draw at end of August (UK only).

Various. 2014. Scenes from the Gospels: Motets from Josquin to Palestrina. VivaVoce, Peter Schubert. Compact Disc. Atma Classique. ACD2 2695.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, August 2014)