The Avison Ensemble continue to do proud the
composer whose name they bear. Having recorded his Opp. 3 and
4 (Naxos 8.557905-6 – see review)
and Op.6 Concertos (Naxos 8.557553-4 – see Jonathan Woolf’s
review
and Johan van Veen’s review),
Concerti after Geminiani (Divine Art DDA21210 – see review),
the Op.9 and Op.10 Concerti Grossi (DDA21211) and his
Concerti Grossi after D Scarlatti (DDA21213), they now
turn their attention to the Op.1 Trio Sonatas and the Op.8 Keyboard
Sonatas with accompaniments. I’m on record as offering high
praise to DDA21211 – see review
– and DDA21213 – see review
– and Jonathan Woolf was also lavish in his praise for DDA21213
– see review.
You’ll also find an appreciation of their performances
of the cello concertos of Avison’s contemporary, John Garth
(DDA25059) in my October,
2008, Download Roundup. All these Divine Art 2-CD sets are
currently offered as 2-for-1 and are available as very acceptable
320k mp3 downloads from theclassicalshop.net for £4.99 per CD.
The two Naxos sets are available as downloads from classicsonline.com,
also at 320k, for £9.98 per 2-CD set, and from other download
sites at varying bit-rates. I can vouch personally for the quality
of the Garth download from theclassicalshop and of the Op.6
Concertos from classicsonline – in both cases, the downloads
come with the CD booklet as a pdf document.
The works on the new set may not reach quite
the heights of the Concertos after Geminiani and Scarlatti –
go for those two sets first – but they are by no means negligible:
unfailingly tuneful and well-constructed. The Op.1 pieces may
well have had their origin as exercises when Avison was being
tutored by Geminiani; if so, they are the work of a very competent
and inspired pupil, by no means a slavish imitator of his mentor.
Even when he adapted the keyboard works of Geminiani and Scarlatti,
Avison did much more than merely orchestrate their music, just
as Geminiani had done in orchestrating the music of his own
mentor, Corelli.
The Op.1 Sonatas are advertised on their title
page (reproduced in the well-documented Divine Art booklet)
as ‘for two violins and a bass’. This makes them, in effect,
Trio Sonatas in the manner of Corelli – indeed, they all follow
the four-movement pattern of Corelli’s Sonate da chiesa,
slow-fast-slow-fast, though it is unlikely that they were intended
for church performance. The ‘bass’ is performed here on the
cello and chest organ, making for a very full sound. I’m on
record as preferring the cleaner sound of violin and harpsichord,
without cello, in Corelli’s Op.5 Sonatas (Naxos 8.557799 – see
review)
but the fuller sound works well in Avison’s Op.1, making the
music sound much closer to the Concerti Grossi on the Ensemble’s
other recordings.
The Op.1 Sonatas are in a form transmitted from
Corelli via Geminiani. By the date of the Op.8 Sonatas, however,
the music of Rameau was becoming influential in England and
Avison specifically mentions ‘Scarlatti, Rameau and Carlo-Bach’
(i.e. CPE Bach) alongside Geminiani in his ‘Advertisement’ for
the set. The notes in the booklet very reasonably speculate
that Avison knew Rameau’s Pièces de clavecin en concerts:
he certainly praises the French composer for his ‘spirited Science’.
Once again, however, whatever the degree of Rameau’s influence,
Avison is no slavish imitator. I hear the influence of Scarlatti
and, perhaps, even a foretaste of Boccherini in Sonata No.3
(trs.6-7).
The title page of Op.8 (again, reproduced in
the booklet) described the works as ‘for the harpsichord with
accompanyments for two violins and a violoncello’ and he specified
that the string parts ‘being intended for Assistants only ...
ought no where to overpower the Harpsichord.’ This brings me
to my one reservation concerning the new recording. Whatever
Avison’s intentions – reinforced by the fact that the harpsichord
part is capable of being performed alone – the ‘Assistant’ strings
do sometimes prove intrusive on the recording. This may well
be an inherent problem in the music itself rather than one to
be laid at the door of the performers or the engineers. Without
suggesting that multi-miking or other trickery should have been
employed, I should have thought it possible for the harpsichord
part to be brought out more fully on a recording.
It’s a minor criticism and it didn’t spoil my
enjoyment unduly. Otherwise I have nothing but praise for everything
on these CDs. Music, performance and recording – preferably
with a slight volume reduction from your normal setting – all
contribute to a most enjoyable experience and the booklet is
a model of its kind. As on the earlier recordings, there are
no rough edges to the sound of the period instruments employed;
this is early music without tears. I look forward now to the
appearance of the Op.5 and Op.7 sonatas.
Brian Wilson