Vespers
Johann PACHELBEL (1653 - 1706)
Ingressus in c minor (orig in d minor) (P 92) [7:48]
Magnificat in C (orig. in E flat) (P 250) [19:46]
Ingressus in e minor (orig. in g minor) (P 96) [9:09]
Ingressus in G (orig. in A) (P 97) [6:27]
Ingressus in g minor (orig. in a minor) (P 98) [8:46]
Magnificat in F (orig. in G) (P 253) [6:11]
Ingressus in B flat (orig. in C) (P 88) [3:19]
Johann KRIEGER (1652-1735):
Sonata à 5 in a minor [7:00]
Johann Caspar KERLL (1627-1693):
Sonata à 5 in g minor [4:01]
The King's Singers; Charivari Agréable/Kah-Ming Ng
rec. 23-25 June 2009, St Andrew's Church, Toddington, Gloucestershire, UK.
DDD
SIGNUM SIGCD198 [72:49]
Some composers are mainly known by just one piece. Luigi Boccherini, the composer
of the minuet, is one example. Johann Pachelbel is also mostly known
because of a single piece, the Canon. Organists know his organ works
well, and these are frequently played in organ recitals as well as in the
liturgy. He was a versatile composer and also wrote a number of instrumental
pieces and vocal works, both sacred and secular.
Johann Pachelbel worked in various places, but the last and most important
position he held was that of organist at the St Sebaldus in Nuremberg. There
he was also expected to compose vocal music for the liturgy, and to that category
belongs the music on this disc. The title is not quite correct, though. It
suggests that we get a Vesper liturgy, but that is not the case. In fact,
only two elements of the Vespers are performed, as the track-list shows. The
Ingressus is the Lutheran terminology for the versicle 'Deus in adiutorium
meum intende' and the response 'Domine ad adiuvandum me festina'. This disc
contains five settings of these two chants, for four to five voices, with
a six-part string ensemble and, as Pachelbel specifically requires, a bassoon.
In addition there are two settings of the Magnificat.
The music on this disc has been preserved in the Bodleian Library of Oxford
University. The manuscripts reached Britain thanks to Pachelbel's son Carl
Theodorus, who in the early 1730s emigrated to America. On his way he passed
through London, where he left the manuscripts. They are first mentioned in
a sale catalogue for an auction in 1779.
All the pieces consist of sequences of soli and tutti. Elements in the text
are emphasized in that they are set for the full ensemble. The pieces also
contain many passages with extended melisma, for instance on the word 'gloria'.
In most settings of the Ingressus much weight is given to the closing
section, 'Sicut erat in principio', for instance by setting it in the form
of a fugue, as in the Ingressus in e minor. All the pieces - with the
exception of the last two - begin with an instrumental Sinfonia.
As one can see from the track-list all compositions are transposed down. No
reason is given in the programme notes, but I assume in the original key the
upper part is just too high for the male altos of The King's Singers. I regret
this decision: the choice of performers should be adapted to the requirements
of the repertoire, not the other way around. The King's Singers are an excellent
vocal group, but more experienced in music of the renaissance and contemporary
repertoire than baroque music, and especially German music. And that shows,
because as well as they sing, the performance of Pachelbel's Vesper music
doesn't sound quite right.
The singers - and in particular the altos and the tenor - produce a sound
which seems to me typically British, and would never be taken for German.
An ensemble like Cantus Cölln would sing this music very differently,
and for sure stylistically more convincingly. The "open" sound of the King's
Singers doesn't really suit, and there is also too much legato singing and
too little dynamic shading. The singers have quite individual voices, which
fail to blend all that well in the tuttis. I also regret the Italian pronunciation
of the Latin texts.
Charivari Agréable shows a little more awareness of the requirements
of German music. The inclusion of the sonatas by Johann Krieger and Johann
Caspar Kerll is not explained by Kah-Ming Ng in the booklet, but stylistically
they fit well into the programme.
This disc is important in that it considerably adds to our knowledge of Pachelbel
as a composer of vocal music. The pieces are recorded for the first time,
and as the repertoire is of fine quality this disc deserves praise. But I
hope that at some time in the future this music will be recorded in a stylistically
more appropriate manner.
Johan van Veen
Unknown vocal music by Pachelbel in a not completely convincing interpretation.