For a couple of centuries
the Medici family played an important
role in Italian musical life. Originally
citizens they were able to climb the
social ladder and become the absolute
rulers of Florence from 1532 to 1737.
Their rise to political power went hand
in hand with their involvement in cultural
life. In 1513 a member of the Medici
family even became pope, and under his
papacy (1513-1521) not only did the
standard of the papal chapel rise considerably,
but the patronage of musicians and composers
by the Medici dynasty also reached its
peak. Leo himself was a trained musician,
and was even active as a composer.
This disc focuses on
Prince Ferdinando de Medici, mainly
known as patron of famous composers
like Handel, Veracini and father and
son Scarlatti, but who seems to have
composed as well. The pieces presented
here under his name have been preserved
anonymously, but there are reasons to
believe they were written by Ferdinando,
who is known to have studied composition
and harpsichord. "According to an eye-witness
report Prince Ferdinando was not only
able to sight-read a difficult sonata
without hesitation but, to the amazement
of all present, could repeat his performance
immediately afterward without a further
glance at the score", Alexander Silbiger
writes in the booklet. The fact that
these keyboard pieces have been preserved
without his name on them does not attest
against Ferdinando's authorship. Composers
stood low on the social ladder and being
active as a composer didn't fit very
well with an aristocrat. We need only
look to the example of the Dutch aristocrat
Unico van Wassenaer who refrained from
putting his name and signature on the
'Concerti armonici', once thought to
be composed by Pergolesi.
The music attributed
to Ferdinando is collected in a manuscript
which is preserved in the library of
the Florence Conservatory of Music.
It consists of 15 pieces grouped into
four suites, which – as the tracklist
shows – depart from the traditional
pattern of the suite. They all begin
with a prelude and contain pieces like
toccata, 'arie alla francese' and passacaglias.
Some of them have an improvisational
character, and one may assume they find
their origin in Ferdinando's own improvisations
at the keyboard. In line with what was
common at the time some contain adventurous
harmonies.
These compositions
are presented here as chains in the
development of keyboard music from late
16th to late 18th centuries. The disc
starts with a piece by Luigi Rossi,
one of Italy's main composers of vocal
music. His Passacaille has been preserved
in a French manuscript, which can be
explained by the fact that Rossi was
famous in France among those who admired
Italian music. Giovanni de Macque was
of Flemish origin, was employed at the
court of the Gesualdo family in Naples
and became the 'founding father' of
the Neapolitan keyboard school.
Just as Ferdinando
de Medici is mainly known as patron
rather than as composer, Giovanni Battista
Martini, better known as 'Padre Martini',
is more famous as theorist than as composer.
He had a huge reputation in his time:
Mozart visited him during his travels
through Italy and wrote favourably about
the master. But as he was strongly in
favour of the 'old-fashioned' polyphony
in later times he was labelled as conservative
and not taken very seriously as a composer.
The sonata on this disc demonstrates
his skills in polyphony and shows that
he was a better than average composer.
It begins with a prelude which has a
free improvisatory character, and is
followed by a fugal allegro.
The polyphony predominant
in Martini's sonata has gone by the
time we reach the last two items on
the programme. Both are influenced by
Spanish folk music. De Nebra's Pastorela
IV contains harmonies and rhythms one
wouldn't expect from a piece with a
pastoral character. Soler's Fandango
is his most famous composition, but
not necessarily his best. It is a kind
of showpiece, and it is tempting to
pull all the stops out and treat the
harpsichord like a percussion instrument.
Fortunately Aapo Häkkinen resists
that temptation, and gives a lively
performance without crossing the border
of good taste. He is helped by the harpsichord,
which is an Italian instrument of the
17th century, with just one manual.
In Soler's time two-manual instruments
were quite common in Spain, and he may
have had such an instrument in mind
while composing the Fandango. But as
Italian instruments were still widespread
there is nothing against using this
instrument, even though it is pushed
to the limit here.
Aapo Häkkinen
is a young Finnish keyboard player,
who studied with Bob van Asperen and
Pierre Hantaï. He won prizes at
harpsichord competitions in Belgium
and Germany. His first recording was
devoted to keyboard music by Byrd, and
that showcased his great technical and
interpretational skills. This disc proves
again that he prefers to focus on less
common repertoire, and that is highly
commendable. I hope that he will follow
this route in the future.
This production is
splendid in every respect: the programme
has been put together intelligently,
the interpretation and recording are
excellent, the programme notes informative,
and the booklet also contains references
to the sources, the instrument and its
tuning and temperament.
Johan van Veen
for
details
Aapo Häkkinen (harpsichord) 
