Italy versus France
Jean-Baptiste LULLY (1632-1687)
Le bourgeois gentilhomme (LWV 43): ouverture [1:59]; chaconne [2:54]
Jean-Henry D'ANGLEBERT (1628-1691)
Tombeau de M. Chambonnières*** [5:22]
Jean-Féry REBEL (1666-1747)
Tombeau de M. de Lully [15:15]
Robert DE VISÉE (c1660-c1732)
Prélude** [0:55]; Musette** [4:17]
Georg MUFFAT (1653-1704)
Suite VI in e minor 'Blanditiae' (Florilegium II) [11:03]
Arcangelo CORELLI (1653-1713)
Trio sonata in G, op. 2,12 [6:40]
François COUPERIN (1668-1733)
Apothéose de Corelli: grande sonate en trio* [13:58]
Bernardo PASQUINI (1637-1710)
Toccata in a minor*** [3:05]
Georg MUFFAT
Sonata II in g minor (Armonico Tributo) [13:17]
The Bach Players/Nicolette Moonen
(Nicolette Moonen (violin, narration*), Rachel Isserlis (violin, violetta),
Foskien Kooistra (viola), Rachel Stott (tenor viola), Kinga Gáborjáni (basse
de violon, viola da gamba), Jakob Lindberg (theorbo**), Silas Wollston (harpsichord***))
rec. 20-22 July 2010, St. Michael's Church, Highgate, London, UK. DDD
HYPHEN PRESS MUSIC 004 [78:52] 
The competition of the Italian and the French style was one of the main subjects
of the 17th and 18th centuries. Much has been written about it, and many recordings
have paid attention to it, in one way or another. From that perspective the
theme of this disc can hardly be called original. That doesn't mean that it
couldn't make sense to juxtapose the two styles and show the differences,
as well as how they were mixed in the early 18th century in the so-called
goÛts réunis. Unfortunately this subject isn't worked out very
well in the liner-notes, and the choice of repertoire isn't particularly imaginative.
A large part of the music which The Bach Players perform has been recorded
before. That is certainly the case with the Apothéose de Corelli by
François Couperin. The Tombeau de M. de Lully by Jean-Féry Rebel, the
Sonata II by Muffat and Corelli's Trio sonata Op. 2 No. 12 are
also very well-known and often performed. This disc would have been considerably
more interesting if the musicians would have selected some lesser-known pieces
suited to demonstrating the difference between the two styles. That leads
to another minus of this project. Most pieces are written in the mixed style
which became fashionable in the early 18th century, when French composers
started to include Italian influences in their compositions, and composers
outside France aimed at merging the two main styles of Europe. All pieces
by Muffat, Couperin and Rebel are specimens of the mixed style. In comparison
the programme contains only a handful of - rather short - pieces which reflect
the pure French (Lully, d'Anglebert) or the pure Italian (Corelli, Pasquini)
styles. The liner-notes tell us little about exactly what the French objections
to the Italian style were, nor how the Italians assessed French music.
The performances also offer little elucidation. The playing of The Bach Players
is largely the same in French and Italian music. On the whole I am not very
impressed. Technically there is nothing wrong: all the music is given nice
and polished performances. But there is very little contrast between the various
items and a general blandness prevails which makes it sometimes hard to keep
concentration. The programme starts with two instrumental movements from the
music which Lully composed for Molière's famous play Le bourgeois gentilhomme.
This choice is rather unfortunate: the music was originally played by the
24 Violons du Roy of which Lully himself was a member. A performance
with five strings cannot do justice to the character of the score. Rebel's
Tombeau may have been written as a tribute to Lully, who was one of
the main representatives of the pure French style, but the composer was clearly
influenced by Italian music. The Tombeau is part of a collection of
twelve solo and trio sonatas which follow the model of the Italian sonata
da chiesa. The performance is dynamically too flat and the playing as
a whole not very colourful. The second section - 'vif' - is rather slow. The
lack of dynamic shading also damages the performance of Corelli's sonata,
which consists of just one movement, a ciaccona.
The two compositions by Muffat are examples of his attempts to merge the Italian
and French streams. Although the titles of many movements are French, some
of the characteristics of the dances have gone, for instance their rhythmic
peculiarities. That is no excuse for the lack of rhythmic profile in some
movements, though. Of all the pieces Couperin's Apothéose comes off
best, although I have heard interpretations which have made a more lasting
impression. The two harpsichord solos are alright, but nothing more. Jakob
Lindberg provides nice performances of the two pieces for theorbo by Robert
de Visée.
On balance I find it hard to welcome this disc. The subject is dealt with
often enough, the choice of repertoire is unimaginative and the playing leaves
something to be desired.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
The unimaginative choice of subject and repertoire and the generally bland
performances make it hard to welcome this disc.