Given the inevitable limitations of instrumental colour,
it is hard to imagine that many listeners will want to sit
down to listen to these two CDs from beginning to end, despite
the admirable musicianship of Jörg Baumann and Klaus Stoll.
On the other hand, this is a valuable reference collection
to have on the shelves, making available unique recordings
of a lot of out-of-the-way repertoire, some of it of real
merit and enduring interest. The greater part of the material
played here belongs to the second half of the eighteenth
century, but there is also work from earlier and later periods,
all for the combination of cello and double bass.
The earliest composers here are Telemann and the much lesser
known Giorgio Antoniotti. Telemann is represented by a two
brief, but charming canons. The Milanese Antoniotti was
one of the many Italian composers of the period who worked
in Northern Europe (including the Netherlands and London).
His seven Sonatas for cello and double bass were published
in Amsterdam in 1736. The four movement sonata played here,
which could probably be played just as well on two gambas,
alternates slow and fast movements; the bass takes the continuo
role in the slow movements and there is more instrumental
dialogue in the quicker movements. This is a thoroughly
competent, if unremarkable, piece with some attractive singing
lines for the cello, especially in the opening movement,
marked adagio e sostenuto, and some interesting fugal
writing in the final allegro.
The Bohemian
Franz Benda was a famous violinist of his day, playing in
the orchestra of Frederick II from 1733 until his death
in 1786. His Sonata in F major, in three movements, contains
some graceful cantabile passages for the cello and
a dancing final movement which is played here with considerable
panache.
Unsurprisingly,
it was often the skills of particular musicians that led
to the composition of pieces for this particular instrumental
combination. Anton Kraft was one of the great cellists at
the end of the eighteenth century; he worked with Haydn
in Esterházy and, later, in Vienna. Haydn wrote a number
of cello concertos for him, and his Andantino e Tempo
di Minuetto was doubtless written with Kraft in mind.
It was perhaps performed by Kraft with the virtuoso double
bass player, Matthias Sperger. It is a piece of consummate
subtlety, which stands out from most of what surrounds it
on these CDs as the product of a mind of the highest musical
intelligence. This – especially the opening Andantino
- is, I suspect, the piece to which I shall most often return
in the future. The Divertimento in D major comes
from Haydn’s years at Esterházy and, relatively lightweight
though it is, its three movements have a distinctive charm
which one can only call Haydnesque, not least in the way
the pizzicato double bass is used in the central
menuett and in the joyous and witty presto which
closes it. Perhaps Michael Haydn also had Kraft and Sperger
in mind when composing his Polonaise in C major,
which revels in the darker hues of the two instruments.
Kraft was
himself a composer, among his publications being six Sonatas
for cello and bass. The Sonata in B flat major contains
some lovely writing for the cello, which is very much the
dominant instrument in the piece. The central adagio
has a limpid beauty and the variations of the final movement
have a serious grace. To judge by this Sonata, we ought
to hear more of the music of Anton Kraft.
Boccherini
was, of course, a cello virtuoso - and his father was a
fine player of the double bass. The youthful composer naturally
wrote for this combination of instruments. His Sonata
No. 3 in G major is a fine piece; the opening largo
has some long melodic lines, the allegro alla militare
some ringing, declamatory writing for the cello and the
closing minuetto cries out for dancers. The three
Fugues are a bit more humdrum, but I suspect that Boccherini
was constitutionally incapable of writing anything that
was actually dull. Another famous cello virtuoso, Jean Louis
Duport was the younger of two cello-playing brothers – the
older brother, Jean-Pierre was born in 1741. Jean Louis
is believed to have been Beethoven’s partner in the first
performance, in 1796, of Beethoven’s opus 5 cello sonatas.
Duport’s Adagio here is, however, one of the less
interesting pieces in the programme, a rather ponderous
piece which seems rather short on ideas.
The Bohemian
Franz Christoph Neubauer, whose travels took him to the
Vienna of Haydn and Mozart, eventually settled as a court
musician in Bückeburg, where he succeeded J.C.F. Bach as
Konzertmeister. A hard drinker who died young, he was also
a prolific and accomplished composer in most of the fashionable
genres; most of his work awaits modern recordings. His Sonata
No. 1 in C major elicits some particularly warm and
affectionate playing from Baumann and Stoll, its three movements
marked by some slightly unconventional harmonies and interesting
instrumental interplay. Ignaz Pleyel was born near Vienna
(the 24th of 38 children!) and studied with Haydn
before travelling extensively in Europe (including London).
In the mid 1790s he settled in Paris and his activities
as a businessman – initially as a music publisher and then
as a manufacturer of pianos – largely put an end to his
work as a composer. He had previously been an immensely
prolific and very popular composer – though some of his
work has now been recorded, we have yet to do him anything
like full justice. Of the two duets recorded here the most
rewarding is an attractive and lively Rondeau which
has more than a touch of Haydn about it. Kummer’s set of
Variations, are said to have been first published in 1790,
when the composer would have been sixteen. Pleasantly conceived
and worked out, these variations do not require one to make
any special allowance for the youth of their composer.
Massenet’s
Duo of 1883 is a puzzling inclusion. Chronologically
and stylistically it scarcely coheres with the rest of the
programme and, in any case, it is a rather slight piece.
Taken as a
whole, the programme is historically fascinating and, for
the most part, musically interesting, even if most of the
pieces (I would except those by Haydn, Boccherini, Kraft
and Neubauer) are of the second rank.
Glyn Pursglove
