Strictly speaking I don’t have a benchmark for this recording because I
haven’t heard the other recording which employs the flute rather than the
prescribed violin (Eloquentia EL1341).
The recent Linn SACD and 24-bit download in their complete series of
Corelli recordings by the Avison Ensemble (CKD412, the whole of Op.5, 2
SACDs) employs the original scoring of violin plus continuo and interprets
‘continuo’ to mean not just the harpsichord but swaps the keyboard with an
organ and adds a cello, archlute or guitar for the sake of variety. I could
find very little to criticise in that Linn release –
review – especially as it contains all twelve of the
Op.5 sonatas yet sells for the price of a single SACD or download, the
latter format available from
Linn or
Hyperion (mp3, 16- and 24-bit lossless, with pdf
booklet, in both cases).
That means that the Linn recording is pretty hard to beat and there are
two other inexpensive recordings to consider, both from Hyperion: Convivium
perform all twelve sonatas on a 2-for-1 Dyad (CDD22047), employing violin,
cello and harpsichord or organ, and the Purcell Quartet perform Op.5/3, 11
and 12 together with Op.1/9, Op.2/4 and 12, Op.3/12 and Op.4/3 on
budget-price Helios CDH55240 –
review – employing violin or viola da gamba with
harpsichord and cello continuo in a cross-section of Corelli’s music.
Corelli’s title page states that these are
Sonate a violino e violone
ò cembalo and it’s the interpretation of that word
ò that
determines whether one or two continuo instruments are employed. I discussed
this issue some time ago in reviewing another fine recording of Op.5, from
François Fernandez and Glenn Wilson – as it happens, exactly duplicating the
OUR recording with Nos. 7-12 (Naxos 8.557799 –
review). In the very informative notes to that recording Glenn
Wilson argues convincingly that
ò means what it says – ‘or’ not
‘and/or’ – and his performance with Fernandez strengthens the case for a
clean continuo line: I called it ‘fresh spring water’.
Sitting on the fence is a very uncomfortable position, but that’s what I’m
going to do in this case regarding the continuo, because I’m on record as
saying that I also greatly enjoyed the variety of the continuo on the Linn
recording.
It’s the ‘fresh spring water’ approach to the continuo line that prevails
on the new OUR recording and it’s very well provided by Mahan Esfahani,
whose recent Hyperion recording of C.P.E. Bach has won such golden opinions
(CDA67995). That doesn’t mean that Esfahani simply plays what it says on the
page: as he explains in the booklet, he observes eighteenth-century practice
in ornamenting the continuo – we have Geminiani’s edition of No.9 as an
exemplar. He does so discreetly and achieves a degree of variety without
making the harpsichord over-obtrusive.
The transcription of the violin part for the recorder, which involves
changes of key throughout, also contributes to making the sound on the new
album crystal clear. There’s plenty of evidence that the flute (recorder) or
oboe was often substituted for the violin at this period – several Vivaldi
and Albinoni concertos work very well either way – and the English publisher
Walsh, who pirated some of Handel’s music for his Op.3 collection, issued a
set of ‘SIX Solos for A FLUTE and A BASS By ARCHANGELO CORELLI Being The
second part of his Fifth OPERA … The whole exactly Transposed and made fitt
for A FLUTE and a A BASS with the approbation of severall Eminent Masters.’
The title page and three pages of Walsh’s score are reproduced in the
booklet.
I’m not sure who Walsh’s ‘Eminent Masters’ were – it sounds like a bit of
advertising puff, like the excessive use of upper case – but the practice of
playing music intended for the violin in domestic surroundings on the
recorder was common and it works well enough, especially with two performers
whose co-operation is as well established as that of Michala Petri and Mahan
Esfahani.
By choosing just the second half of Op.5, Walsh was opting for the more
overtly appealing music from the collection, consisting largely of
dance-based movements. For that and many other reasons I very much enjoyed
this recording but I shall not be making it my only choice for these
sonatas.
Convivium and the Avison Ensemble work through the Op.5 sonatas in
numerical order, though the former add Geminiani’s edition of No.9 as an
appendix, thereby spoiling the climax of ending with No.12, the variations
on
La Fol(l)ia, a tune on which it was almost obligatory for any
composer of the time to compose variations. If you want to explore some of
these Hyperion have a recording by the Purcell Quartet of the Corelli plus
compositions based on
La Folia by Marais, Alessandro Scarlatti,
Vivaldi, C.P.E. Bach and Geminiani (CDA67035).
Petri and Esfahani – or their producer – chose to open rather than end the
programme with No.12. There’s very little to choose between their
performance and the others which I’ve mentioned: the Purcell Quartet, who
also open their
La Folia album with Op.5/12, are marginally faster,
both there and on the Helios all-Corelli selection. Fernandez and Wilson and
the Avison Ensemble, who both end with the fireworks of No.12, are quite
considerably slower, but still fire on all cylinders, with no suggestion of
sluggishness. Petri and Esfahani, at almost exactly the same tempo as
Convivium, seem to have it just right.
It seems that Esfahani has had some influence on the choice of tempo:
Petri has recorded Op.5/12 before, with Lars Hannibal, lute, also for OUR
(6.220604, with Vitali, Bach, Telemann, Vivaldi, Tartini and Handel:
Virtuoso Baroque –
review) and the tempo chosen then was slightly
slower.
Elsewhere some of their tempi are a little on the slow side – in every
movement of No.7, for example, they are a little slower than Convivium and
in all but one slower than the Avison Ensemble – without my ever feeling
that they miss the dance quality of the music.
The recording is very good, as heard from the 2-channel SACD layer and
very little inferior from the CD layer. The Linn SACDs sound fuller because
of the different instruments involved. I’m pleased to see that OUR
Recordings, like Linn, are remaining faithful to the SACD format; though
it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find dedicated SACD players at less
than astronomical prices, some of the best blu-ray players such as the
Cambridge Audio 752BD will get excellent results with SACDs, both in stereo
and in multi-channel.
If you are looking for an SACD recording of these sonatas, the choice is
between the new OUR and the Linn. If you prefer the flute to the violin and
like a clean continuo line, Petri and Esfahani will do you proud. For the
original violin versions, the Avison Ensemble and Convivium are very good:
both vary the continuo and come in 2-for-1 format. If you want just a single
CD of the original violin versions, the Purcell Quartet’s selection, with
cello and harpsichord continuo, and Fernandez and Wilson (Nos. 7-12:
harpsichord continuo only) are both at budget price. We’re really spoiled
for choice: you won’t go wrong with any of these.
Brian Wilson
