This box assembles five discs from the discography of Laurence
Equilbey and her fine choir, Accentus. The first disc of theirs
that I encountered for review was an impressive one devoted
to Rachmaninov (review).
As the discs contained in this box are ones I’d not previously
heard I was interested to listen to them. We’ve reviewed
most of these discs before and I’ve included links to
those reviews in what follows. I’ve also included the
catalogue numbers of the original releases in the track listing
for ease of reference. The discs have been boxed up in their
original packaging so the booklets of notes and texts are retained
in full.
One thought does strike me, I’m afraid, which is to wonder
how much thought has been given to the needs of collectors in
putting this box together. To say the least the contents appear
rather randomly selected and there doesn’t seem to be
any common thread running through the selection - other than
the artists themselves. Someone who wants, say, the Brahms and
Fauré discs may not want some of the others.
The disc that hasn’t been reviewed on MusicWeb International,
so far as I can see, is the one that contains the Haydn work.
For this the choir is joined by the Akademie für Alte Musik
Berlin who play on period instruments. Les Sept Dernières
Paroles du Christ en Croix, to use the French title
employed in the packaging of this French disc, was originally
conceived as an orchestral work (1786) which the composer arranged
subsequently for various different forces, including, finally,
in this choral version, which dates from 1795. What I didn’t
know until reading the very interesting booklet note, was that
Haydn was only inspired to make this version after hearing,
quite by chance, someone else’s attempt to fashion his
work into a cantata. The result is a work which inevitably is
very serious in tone yet even in a serious work Haydn’s
invention still shines through, not least in the orchestral
scoring. The vocal writing doesn’t break any startling
new ground but it’s always impressive. Laurence Equilbey
leads a spirited and impressive performance. Her choir sings
very well indeed - as they do throughout all five discs in this
box - and she has the services of a good solo quartet while
the orchestral contribution is first class. This is an excellent
account of Haydn’s very thoughtful work that I’m
delighted to add to my collection.
Sadly, I can’t say the same of the disc of music by the
contemporary French composer, Pascal Dusapin. Virtually
all the music on the disc is at a slow or, at best, moderate
tempo. The words are well-nigh unintelligible; I think this
must be either deliberate or due to the way the composer sets
the texts for elsewhere in this box the diction of Accentus
is always very clear. The music sounds to me to be wearyingly
similar; indeed, in Granum Sinapis (‘Mustard seed’)
it wasn’t until the third of the eight sections was reached
that I glanced at the CD player and realised I wasn’t
still listening to the first section! I’m afraid that
despite the skill of the performers - seven instrumentalists
from the ensemble Ars Nova are also involved in Dona eis
- I’d wearied of this disc long before it ended. Our original
review
of the disc by Peter Grahame Woolf contains some additional
background information about Dusapin and his music. I have absolutely
no desire to listen to this disc again.
The disc devoted to choral transcriptions was the subject
of reviews
by Neil Horner and Gwyn Parry Jones. The Barber piece is the
best known arrangement; the composer himself made it, using
his celebrated Adagio. I love the original piece, whether
in its string orchestra or string quartet form but I’ve
never thought that it really works as a choral transcription.
I believe the main problem is that the high-lying climaxes put
a strain on the vocal compass of even the best choirs - and
Accentus is one of the best. Most of the other arrangements
are by Clytus Gottwald (b. 1925). I’ve come across some
of his arrangements before and there’s no doubt that,
of their type, they seem skilled and effective. The trouble
is that I don’t believe they add much, if anything, to
the original music. There are, to be sure, some lovely choral
textures in his arrangements of the songs by Wolf and Berg.
His arrangement of one of Ravel’s Trois poèmes
de Stéphane Mallarmé gives us Ravel through
a Ligeti prism, which is quite interesting. However, where I
part company with him completely is in his arrangement of Mahler’s
sublime Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen. Surely the
word “Ich” in the title is there for a reason? The
vocal line, sung by a lone singer - “Ich” - should
stand out from the accompaniment, whether that’s provided
by a piano or by orchestra. How can it stand out when
everyone involved in the performance is singing? Frankly, it’s
nonsense, and the arrangement by Gérard Pesson of the
Adagietto from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is no better.
To be honest, well should have been left alone in both cases.
There are a couple of arrangements of Chopin piano pieces, made
for Accentus, by Franck Krawczyk. I don’t think either
of them works particularly well and as for the ghastly pretentiousness
of Krawczyk’s note in the booklet, words fail me! Knut
Nystedt’s Immortal Bach,on the other hand,
is a brilliantly inventive homage to Bach; it’s a pity
some of the other pieces on this disc aren’t up to that
level of inspiration; Accentus give a splendid performance of
it.
The performance of Fauré’s Requiem uses
the 1893 version for small orchestra and organ. I presume, since
his name is mentioned in the very good booklet notes, that the
edition by Jean-Michel Nectoux is used, though this isn’t
specifically stated in the documentation. The recording was
made in the Basilique Sainte Clotilde in Paris and it’s
good to hear the church’s Cavaillé-Coll organ,
originally built in 1858, making a good contribution to the
sonorities. The performance is a good one, if not terribly distinctive.
The choir sings very well, as one has come to expect by now.
However, I thought that the performance lacked fire in its belly
at the admittedly few dramatic points. It all seems very cultivated
- a performance without a hair out of place, if you will - but
somewhat lacking in tension and feeling, despite the excellence
of the execution. The baritone, Stéphane Degout, has
a fairly light voice and he gives relaxed, smooth accounts of
his two solos. Sandrine Piau is an ethereal soloist in the ‘Pie
Jesu’, her voice light and clear, though some might wish,
as do I, for a bit more warmth and roundness in the tone.
My overall impression is that this is in many ways a beautiful
performance of the Requiem and though the catalogue isn’t
exactly short of versions of which that could be said I think
anyone acquiring this performance will enjoy it. The disc is
pretty short measure; the only other item is the lovely Cantique
de Jean Racine. This is given in the 1905 version for full
orchestra. Personally, I greatly prefer the original version
with organ accompaniment; larger forces deprive this little
gem of a piece of some of its intimacy. That said, this Accentus
performance is very good indeed and I appreciated very much
the flowing tempo that Laurence Equilbey sets. One has heard
many performances in the past that, due to a stodgy tempo have
sounded sanctimonious; this reading is definitely not in that
category. Readers may be interested to read either our review
by Robert Hugill or the review
by Kevin Sutton.
The final disc contains Ein deutsches Requiem
by Brahms. It’s given in the composer’s own arrangement
of the accompaniment for two pianos. This is described as the
‘London version’ because what is believed to be
the first known performance took place in the house of a wealthy
music lover in London in 1871, two years after Brahms made the
piano arrangement at the request of his publisher. I love the
Brahms Requiem but I’d not heard this version of the score
before. The first time I listened I confess that I was unimpressed:
unworthy thoughts of the rehearsal room went through my mind
on hearing the piano accompaniment. To anyone who repeats my
mistake all I can say is please persevere.
In the first place this is not like hearing the work
in rehearsal because the accompaniment is not a reduction for
one piano for rehearsal purposes. Instead the accompaniment
is, in the words of the booklet annotator, “a transformation
of the whole work (including the voice parts) into a piano composition
in its own right.” Mind you, that statement is slightly
undermined by the following comment right at the end of the
note; “In this performance those passages of the piano
part that are rendered superfluous by the presence of voices
are omitted.” This seems slightly strange to me: Brahms
presumably didn’t consider what, it seems, is some doubling
of the vocal parts to be “superfluous” so why tamper
with his own arrangement? I’m unclear, therefore, to what
extent Brahms’ arrangement has been modified. What I can
say, however, is that after coming to terms with the lack of
an orchestra - which I did at the second time of listening -
the results are, frankly, revelatory.
It’s true that one loses some weight of tone - though
not as much as you might imagine - and, of course, one is deprived
of orchestral colour. However, the gains in terms of clarity,
indeed luminosity of texture, more than outweigh these losses.
And after a while such is the skill and sensitivity of the two
pianists, Brigitte Engerer and Boris Berezovsky, that I was
completely convinced. Once one adjusts to the scale of the performance
the results are deeply satisfying and Brahms’s masterpiece
emerges in a new light. The chief gain is in intimacy. That’s
not to say that the big moments go for naught but, working with
a choir of forty - ten to each part - Laurence Equilbey is able
to bring the music close to the listener in a way that even
the best of the traditional orchestral performances can’t
quite achieve. My notes are full of appreciative comments but
let me just share a couple. The big fugues that close the second,
third and sixth movements all come off remarkably well. The
pianos can’t emulate an orchestra, of course - nor do
the players try so to do - but what actually happens is that
the percussive nature of the instruments drives the music along
- for instance in ‘Die Erlöseten des Herrn’
- and not only does one hear the choral parts clearly but every
strand in the accompaniment is audible too. I particularly liked
the fugue, ‘Herr, Du bist würdig’ and within
that passage loved the lyrical way the phrases come across at
‘Denn Du hast alle Dinge erschaffen’. And before
we reach that fugue, sample the bite - and especially the running
bass in the accompaniment - in the fiery passage, ‘Der
Tod ist verschlungen in den Sieg’. At the other end of
the scale, as it were, the famous fourth movement, ‘Wie
lieblich sind Deine Wohnungen’, emerges with delicacy
and luminosity.
The soloists are good. Stéphane Degout may not match
some of his more illustrious rivals on disc; for one thing his
voice is too light for that, I think. However, within the scale
of this performance he makes a pleasing contribution. Generally,
Sandrine Piau sings the gorgeous soprano solo well though she
blots her copybook a couple of times. I’m almost certain
that she snatches a breath after the word “nun”
in her very first phrase, ‘Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit’.
If she doesn’t then at least the phrase isn’t seamless
and she does something similar and to the same words at 3:57.
Overall, however, this is one of the most beautiful and consolatory
performances of Ein deutsches Requiem that I’ve
encountered and I’m delighted that this box has given
me the opportunity to hear it. We have carried an earlier review
of this disc by Anne Ozorio.
So, this box is rather a mixed bag and I’ve discussed
each disc in a little more detail than I might otherwise have
done in order to give prospective purchaser an idea of what
they might be buying. My own view is that the Brahms and Haydn
discs are highly desirable acquisitions and, though not a first
choice, the Fauré disc also offers much pleasure. The
other two discs exert far less appeal to me but if the repertoire
is attractive you can invest with confidence for the recorded
sound is consistently good, each disc is well documented and,
above all, the standard of performance by Accentus is consistently
very high indeed.
John Quinn
Track-listing
Adagio for choir and other choral transcriptions
Samuel BARBER (1910-1981) Agnus Dei
op.11 [7:11]
Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911) Kein Deutsche Himmel
(Adagietto from Symphony no.5) [9:08]
J.S. BACH (1685-1750) Immortal Bach (Komm
süsser tod, BWV478) [6:30]
Frideryk CHOPIN (1810-1849) Lacrimosa (Etude
op. 10 no.6) [3:56]
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937) Soupir [3:44]
Hugo WOLF (1860-1903) Das verlassene Mägdlein
[3:45]; Auf ein altes Bild [2:28]
Alban BERG (1885-1935) Die Nachtigall [2:23]
Gustav MAHLER Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
[6:04]
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918) Les Angélus
[2:27]
Frideryk CHOPIN Lulajze, Jezuniu (Largo,
Piano Sonata op.58) [4:39]
Accentus Chamber Choir/Laurence Equilbey
rec. February 2001, Grande Salle, L’Arsenal, Metz, France.
NAÏVE V4965 [52:22]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833 - 1897)
Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 (London version) (1869)
Sandrine Piau (soprano); Stéphane Degout (baritone);
Brigitte Engerer and Boris Berezovsky (pianos)
Accentus/Laurence Equilbey.
rec. June and July 2003, Cité de la musique, Paris. DDD.
NAIVE V 4956 [64:54]
Gabriel FAURÉ (1845-1924)
Requiem, op. 48 (1893) [36.03]
Cantique de Jean Racine(1865) [5.18]
Sandrine Piau (soprano); Stphane Degout (baritone); Luc Héry
(violin); Christophe Henry (organ)
Maitrise de Paris; Accentus; Members of L’Orchestre National
de France/Laurence Equilbey
rec. January 2008, Basilique Sainte Clotilde, Paris
NAÏVE V5137 [41.21]
Pascal DUSAPIN (b. 1955)
Requiem(s)
Granum Sinapis (1992-7) [22:18]
Umbrae Mortis (1997) [4:13]
Dona eis* [19:53]
Choeur de Chambre Accentus; *Ars Nova/Laurence Equilbey
rec. February, 2000, Grande Salle, L’Arsenal, Metz
AUVIDIS/NAÏVE MO 782116 [47:10]
Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809)
Les Sept Dernières Paroles du Christ en Croix
Sandrine Piau (soprano); Ruth Sandhoff (mezzo); Robert Getchell
(tenor); Harry van der Kamp (bass)
Accentus; Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin/Laurence Equilbey
rec. December 2005, Théâtre de Poissy, France
NAÏVE V 5045 [53:14]
Accentus/Laurence Equilbey. 