So THAT’s what it’s supposed to sound like!

For many years I have been editing the music of Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758). I really love it – he has a great gift for writing catchy tunes and rich harmonies. But every now and then, one comes upon a piece where he seems to have come upon an idea that has fascinated him; sometimes to such an extent that a whole piece can be dominated by it. An example is the orchestral suite in G minor for 3 oboes, bassoon and strings. There’s something slightly sinister and angsty about the whole piece, mostly because it is as if Fasch had stumbled upon the diminished 7th chord, and the dominant minor 9th – in other words, two of the most uncomfortable chords imaginable, desperately seeking resolution, but also pregnant with harmonic possibilities.

In other pieces, he seems to obsess on a particular rhythm. This is the case in the sister orchestral suite in G major, again for three oboes, bassoon and continuo. Here both the opening section of the French overture with which the suite begins and the ensuing “fugue” use the same rhythm. All previous renditions I have heard failed to solve the conundrum of how to make two such similar pieces work side by side with one another. Prima la musica! recently produced a new edition of the work, and it was used for the first time in a recent concert in Poland by a baroque orchestra called Musica Humana. If you have never heard of them, don’t worry – I had not either. Just remember that you read about them here first, as this is a formidable ensemble with a very bright future ahead of them!

Their approach is simply to allow the opening section, typically treated as rather edgy (let’s say mostly over-dotted) manner, making more drama of the style than the music, to relax and breathe, almost in a 12/8 sort of way – allowing the strings plenty of time to resonate and the wind players lots of time to shape their notes in a way that a faster tempo would have prevented. Then the faster middle section is just that – not the blur of notes at the speed of light, mind; instead we hear sprightly oboes and wonderfully dexterous ensemble from the strings (especially nice to hear the violas’ contribution!) The remainder of the suite is equally fresh and, somehow, just right. My favourite moment (which I hesitate to mention, as some people will find the very idea shocking and heretical) is in Fasch’s “signature movement”, the Jardiniers: just as he is about to re-introduce the theme towards the end of the second half, they let the music die away to nothing, and then dramatically burst in at full volume – I can imagine this being just the sort of joke Mr Fasch would have loved

Musica Humana are certainly no one-trick pony, though – the other work on the live recording they sent me was a sinfonia by Bach, in which once again the mellifluous woodwinds were beautifully balanced by the incisive string playing.

Their next orchestral project in Warsaw is a concert of music by Joseph Martin Kraus. Any performance of his music is well worth hearing, but I am more than sure that these performances will be VERY special. If you find yourself in Warsaw at the time of their concerts, make sure you go along!

Check out their facebook page for the latest news.

Conundrums

Problems solved and created by multiple sources

Have recently been working on some large scale motets by Lully. The first source I was sent was a lovely scan of a Brossard studio score. All went well until the last section. A couple of pages had not been scanned, and then a couple more, and then – horror of horrors – the end was missing!

Eventually, new sources were supplied; another contemporary score and a beautiful set of parts, engraved by order of no less a personage than Louis XIV himself!

Now, while these have proved invaluable, they have not been without their own difficulties. The score, for example, may be complete but it has far more copying errors than the other. The parts are gorgeous but they differ from both scores in a variety of ways. All very puzzling!

In the end, I have decided that the parts will serve as the primary source, especially as some have contemporary corrections. Hopefully the musicians and the audience will enjoy the results of my labours!

Even better than expected

Tonight’s Bach Collegium Japan concert was one delight after another.

A marvellous rendition of Telemann’s A minor suite with recorder opened the programme – soloist Andreas Böhlen embellished the composer’s already challenging lines without ever interrupting the flow of the music, and the supporting ensemble (two pairs of violins, one viola, with cello, bassoon, bass, harpsichord and organ continuo) provided a beautifully shaped backdrop for his virtuoso display.

The next soloist was the organist, Masato Suzuki (son of the group’s director, Masaaki), in Handel’s Concerto in F, Op. 4 No. 4. A pair of oboes joined the accompaying band (including the fabulous San’nomiya Masamitsu and the versatile Andreas Böhlen) for a lively account – it was very easy to imagine Handel improvising such things in the intervals of his operas, which Suzuki junior’s skilful manipulation of the music’s pulse.

The thing I love about this ensemble is the way each individual part in the texture is allowed to speak democratically. Somehow the single viola player is able to cut through the treble and bass instruments with ease.

After the interval came two works by Johann Sebastian Bach – Ryo Terakado and Yukie Yamaguchi were the outstanding soloists in a well-paced and beautifully executed reading of the Concerto in D minor for two violins, and soprano Joanne Lunn pretty much stole the show with some of the best Bach singing I have ever heard in the concert hall. She not only crafted every note with great care, and shaped every line to match Masamitsu’s sinewy oboe obbligatos, but she conveyed the blissful ecstasy of the cantata’s text through her facial expressions and her body movements.

As if that were not enough, the group’s choice of encore (the final aria from the cantata they will performed tomorrow night (Saturday, 3rd March), Mein Herze schwimmt in Blut) was another utter joy – Wie freudig ist mein Herz; if the congregation of St Thomas’s Leipzig left church with the same spring in their step as I left the Perth Concert Hall last night (and that tune ringing in their ears), no wonder there were grumblings at the time about Bach’s music being too theatrical!

I, for one, cannot wait to hear Saturday’s concert when two more soloists will be showing us that every part of the Bach Collegium Japan is taken by virtuosi! I hope even more people will turn out to take advantage of the truly amazing opportunity to hear them.

 

Delights ahoy!

It is a rare treat indeed for critic to be afforded the luxury of a “try before you buy” experience; yet that is exactly what I enjoyed earlier today when I was afforded access to the Bach Collegium Japan’s rehearsal at the fabulous concert hall in Perth.

This was no mere topping and tsiling exercise. This was a full-on run through the programme and, if I already sounded excited yesterday, I now cannot wait for the concert tomorrow, when the presence of an audience can only serve to draw even more exhilarating performances!

If you are one of those people who think recorders are for children, you are in for a big surprise. And, if you never heard Joanne Lunn singing Bach, prepare yourself for some of the most beautiful and eloquent expressions of joy you are ever likely to hear in these parts.

Bach Collegium Japan!

I am sitting near Edinburgh airport, waiting to collect two friends who have flown in from Barcelona just to attend two concerts in a remarkable four-day residence at the Perth concert hall, which begins tomorrow.

They only decided to come last night, so the flights have cost an arm and a leg. But you can imagine my amazement when I went to find out about tickets that none of the concerts is sold out. Indeed, there are still a large number of spaces at all prices! The fact that such a fabulous group has given four days to the Perth residence – they have no other uk dates this year – is astonishing. If large numbers of music lovers do not turn out to hear and appreciate them, I shall despair of Scotland’s cultural future…

A new year full of ideas…

Despite worldwide financial doom and gloom (especially here, on the fringes of the Eurozone), there still seems to be a voracious appetite for “new” baroque music – and, thankfully, there is still *lots* of it out there, awaiting re-discovery.

I’ve rather neglected my blog for the past few months – mostly because I’ve been obliged to completely re-write www.primalamusica.com – and it was only because I received an email saying someone was following it that made me think, “oh well, I’d best write something…”

As far as musical anniversaries go, 2012 is John Stanley’s year, and I hope there will be LOTS of performances of his very fine music. Sadly not much has survived in readily accessible form. Over the course of the year, I will be producing editions of his Op. X concertos (for keyboard, two violins and continuo) in conjunction with Tempesta di Mare‘s Richard Stone. Typical of the man, he has actual programmed such radically unfamiliar music in the Philadelphia group’s concert season – it’s a little too far for me to travel, but I will definitely be there in spirit (and hopefully I’ll get to see a video of the event…)

Of course, 2012 is also an anniversary year for Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, and if I thought anyone would perform / record them, I would be editing his works, too…

Other projects on the go include the surviving works from two complete cycles of church cantatas by the Darmstadt Kapellmeister, Christoph Graupner, for which the ever-resourceful Kim Clow has put together an impressive array of editors, lending their support to the project. There are a LOT of cantatas involved, so let’s hope that German church choirs take up the challenge to perform some of them. The two cycles selected are those for 1712-13 and 1740-41. There is much fine music for choir and soloists.

I am hoping that Cosimo Stawiarski and myself will complete the Geist Edition in 2012, and similarly that the Pohle Edition (in conjunction with Gottfried Gille and Juliane Peetz) will reach completion. My brief but thoroughly enjoyable trip to Copenhagen last November proved that Geist more than ably stands beside Buxtehude, who is something of a deity on Danish soil. More performances of Pohle and Geist can only help spread their popularity.

Actually, the first concert I heard in Copenhagen included music by other obscure cantatas, and NONE of their work seemed second rate – the was a particularly beautiful psalm setting by Kaspar Förster the Elder.

I am currently helping Gwen Toth in her preparations for two concert programmes in February, built around Johann Rosenmüller’s music – the first of sonatas and music with solo voices, the second of larger settings with strings and brass: an rich feast for the ears!

As the website re-write nears completion, you can look forward to new release blogs at regular intervals again.

Any requests gladly received and considered!

Rule Britannia?

There’s a very interesting (and valid!) article in the latest Early Music Review. Jaakko Tuohiniemi wonders why the nation which has given birth to a very large number of world class early music performers (namely, the British!) so spectacularly fails to sing the praises of its native composers. Is it true that there is no-one of any note between Purcell and Britten, he wonders?

Of course he knows that is not the case. He extols the virtues of Hyperion’s English Orpheus series (which I totally agree with, though with a tinge of sadness as I recently learned that there would be no further volumes), and he lists a whole variety of discs of music by Garth, Mudge and William Hayes that he has reviewed in Finland.

As a publisher of obscure music, you would think that this would play right into my hands – surely I have lots and lots of music waiting for those keen to explore the riches of the English Baroque (and, as a proud Scotsman, I choose my words well), but no; until there is a market, why would I invest my time? Besides, there are perfectly good facsimile sets of much of the orchestral music already available from the likes of The Early Music Company.

2012, however, might just change that. It is the 300th anniversary of the birth of an English composer who really does deserve to be remembered: John Stanley. True, there is not a lot of surviving music apart from the concerti and the organ voluntaries. If I produce performing sets of his 15 surviving chamber cantatas, would anyone out there buy them? Perform them? Even more interesting for me would be if some larger group were interested enough to pay me to produce an edition of his oratorio “The Fall of Egypt”, or reconstruct “Zimri”…