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Baroque Chamber Music Johann Wilhelm HERTEL
(1727-1789)
Concerto à 5 in D major, for trumpet, oboe, violin, cello and continuo
[13:55] Francesco MARINI
(1672-1732)
Sinfonia in D major (overture to Hydaspe fedele), for trumpet,
flute, oboe, violin, cello and continuo (1710) [3:42] PRENTZEL (fl.c.1670)
Sonata in C major, for trumpet, cello and continuo
(?1675) [4:57]
Giuseppe TORELLI
(1658-1709) Sinfonia in D major, for trumpet, flute, oboe,
violin, cello and continuo [3:25]
Gottfried FINGER
(c.1660-1730) Sonata No.3 in C major, for trumpet, violin and
continuo [8:50]
Johann Christian BACH
(1735-1782) Quintetto in G major, Op.11:2, for flute, oboe,
violin, cello and continuo [11:00]
Georg Philipp TELEMANN
(1681-1767) Concerto in D major, for trumpet, oboe, violin
and continuo [13:02]
Leipziger Bach-Collegium:
(Ludwig Güttler (trumpet), Karl-Heinz Passin (flute), Klaus-Peter
Gütz (oboe), Eberhard Palm (violin), Matthias Pfaender (cello), Hans-Jürgen
Schmidt (double-bass), Friedrich Kircheis (harpsichord, organ))/Ludwig
Güttler
rec. 8-10 February 1994, Lukaskirche, Dresden
BERLIN CLASSICS
0013892 [59:25]
There is a good
deal of quite interesting music to be heard here – if no really
major works – and Güttler is certainly a trumpeter of considerable
technique. His colleagues in the Leipziger Bach-Collegium are
obviously accomplished musicians too. But the whole doesn’t
really satisfy.
Güttler hits all
the high notes with sureness and panache; at times, indeed,
his playing is quite dazzling. But that may perhaps be part
of the problem. In a piece such as Torelli’s Sinfonia - which
is essentially a trumpet concerto even if not so designated
- Güttler’s brilliance of sound serves a real and aesthetically
effective purpose. However, in some of the other pieces recorded
here, Güttler’s sheer musical assertiveness, the sheer brightness
and punch of his sound, creates a real imbalance in the musical
discourse. Too rarely does this music-making fully achieve that
blend of instrumental colours that is one of the particular
pleasures of baroque chamber music. In Telemann’s lovely Concerto,
for example, the trumpet seems to be constantly straining at
the leash, unable to be comfortable for long as one element
in a three-way dialogue between trumpet, violin and oboe. Some
of this may be the fault of the recording balance; whatever
the reason it makes the music sound unbalanced. Real ‘conversation’
is lost, as the trumpet forces its partners too far into the
background. There is a certain relief to be had when, in the
Siciliano which constitutes the third movement of the work,
the trumpet is silent and violin and oboe can truly be heard,
their musical conversation to the fore at last.
The music making
up the programme of this CD is, in many cases, relatively unfamiliar
and of real interest. It is always fascinating to hear the work
of Gottfried Finger, a composer of real talent, whose best work
is a rewarding fusion of Northern European and Italian elements.
There is a distinctly Italianate quality to the lengthy melodic
lines of some of the writing in his Sonata No.3.
The overture to
Mancini’s opera Hydaspe fedele, first performed at the
Haymarket Theatre in London in 1710 - with scenery painted by
the Venetian Marco Rizzi - is a charming, if brief, piece. Jacob
Tonson published a bilingual libretto in London in 1712; the
opera starred the great castrato Niccolino Grimaldi. It was
Grimaldi’s battle with a Lion in this opera which provoked Addison
to great mirth - for all his admiration of Grimaldi - in an
essay in The Spectator of 15 March 1711. In this overture,
the rhythms of the Leipziger Bach-Collegium have a spring and
impetus which they don’t always have elsewhere. Mancini, an
important figure in the music of Naples, and far beyond, still
seems to attract less attention – and less praise – than he
deserves. It would be fascinating to hear, not just the overture,
but the whole opera.
Though there are things
to enjoy here, this is a CD which doesn’t quite fulfil the promise
contained in its cast list of performers and composers. Not a
bad disc, but slightly disappointing.
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