Christopher Hogwood first made
his mark internationally with "period" performances
of Mozart and such. No doubt many listeners still reflexively
think of him as an early-music maven. In fact, his Decca discography
includes successful performances ranging from Gounod to Stravinsky.
More recently, for Arte Nova, he has continued to explore the
concert music of the twentieth century. The planned survey of
"Music for the Theatre", of which the current album
is the first instalment, promises to delve further into compositions
of the nineteenth century.
Hogwood does a fetching job with
the Bourgeois gentilhomme music. The Basel orchestra's
woodwinds, perky and attentive in their section playing, are
distinctive soloists as well. The oboe phrases the wind-accompanied
melody of the Overture sensitively, with long-breathed
warmth; the flute inflects the Menuett with grace. At
times, you may feel the music's humor is held in abeyance. The
Overture's deadpan start doesn't suggest that the Molière
play to follow is a comedy. The trumpet and piano licks in Der
Fechtmeister, dashing and virtuosic as they are, lack a
sense of affectionate parody. But other passages, conversely,
benefit from being played straight. The Entrance of Cleonte
assumes a nice ceremonial grandeur here, and the "Lully
chorale" movement is fervent.
The Bizet selections are drawn
from the original incidental score rather than the familiar
orchestral concert suites, which may confuse some of us as our
favorites turn up in the "wrong" order. Here, Hogwood's
early-music background serves him less well. His penchant for
clipped articulations and brisk tempi, executed by a smallish
ensemble, leaves a lightweight overall impression save in a
few tutti passages; the Prélude's concluding paragraph,
for example, throbs vibrantly. The great lyrical melodies -
in the first Entr'acte and Mélodrame - sing unsentimentally,
but it would not have been amiss to lean into them with more
feeling, or to allow the alto saxophone's peculiar timbre its
head; here it's restrained and clarinettish. The woodwinds,
once again, provide the best moments: the clarinet's wistful
reprise of the "intermezzo" theme in Mélodrame
II, and the affecting recap of the Prélude theme
in the closing Entr'acte.
The reproduction is mostly vivid,
but the solo violin, anaemic to begin with, emerges with a wheezy
sort of synthesized harmonium tone, which rather spoils the
chamber version of Bizet's adagietto. The CD leaflet
incorrectly gives a program timing of 61.14; the timing in the
headnote is the correct one.
Stephen Francis Vasta
Basel Chamber Orchestra/Christopher
Hogwood
