MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: Crotchet AmazonUK AmazonUS


Giuseppe TORELLI (1658-1709)
The Original Brandenburg Concertos
Concerti Musicali a Quattro, Op. 6
Concerto No. 1 in G major [6:02]
Concerto No. 2 in E minor [4:31]
Concerto No. 3 in B minor [4:16]
Concerto No. 4 in D major [4:30]
Concerto No. 5 in G minor [3:21]
Concerto No. 6 in C minor [5:05]
Concerto No. 7 in C major [3:34]
Concerto No. 8 in F major [5:02]
Concerto No. 9 in A minor [4:12]
Concerto No. 10 in D minor [5:47]
Concerto No. 11 in B-flat major [4;13]
Concerto No. 12 in A major [4:46]
Sonata à 4 in A minor G46 [7:11]
Charivari Agréable (Bojan Cicić (violin); Oliver Sandig (violin); Hazel Brooks (violin, viola); Camilla Scarlett (violin); Linda Hannah-Anderson (violin); Richard Wade (violin); Veronique Matarasso (violin); Rachel Stott (viola); Heather Birt (viola); Gareth Deats (cello); Ibi Aziz (viola da gamba); Elizabeth Harré (violone); Mark Baigent (oboe, recorder); Jane Downer (oboe, recorder); Nicholas Benda (oboe); Michael Brain (bassoon); Jørgen Skogmo (theorbo, baroque guitar); David Bannister (chamber organ); Kah-Ming Ng (chamber organ, harpsichord))
Kah-Ming Ng (director)
rec. 14-16 April, 2008, St. Andrew's Church, Toddington, Gloucestershire, UK. DDD
SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD157 [62:30]
Experience Classicsonline

Giuseppe Torelli was renowned in his lifetime as a performer, a highly accomplished string player, in the northern Italian towns of Verona (his birthplace) and Bologna. Indeed, the composer partly forged a Bolognese style of playing, which spread to other cities in Europe when the orchestra there was disbanded in 1696.

A year later Torelli was in Berlin, where he attempted to find favour - or even a court position - with the same family (although a different branch) to which Bach later dedicated his Brandenburg Concertos. Although unsuccessful, that was probably a blessing in disguise for Torelli: the stifling routine in Prussia would surely have depressed the volatile Torelli. Indeed, a few years later Handel had to find a way out of a similar circumstance there.

The prominence of the hoped-for patron, however, meant that the composer of the dozen Concerti Musicali a Quattro, Op. 6 was celebrated (at least for the first two decades of the eighteenth century) beyond an otherwise relatively obscure slot that the rest of his output might otherwise have reserved for him despite the fact that Torelli is often celebrated for his role in developing the concerto grosso.

The works themselves are helped by being well-suited to performance in a variety of milieus from domestic chamber concerts to more public 'concert' performances; concerts were by those years established and increasing in popularity.

Although not scored for so varied a palette of instruments as Bach's concertos, these are lively and inspiring pieces. There are innovations, too: concertos 6, 10 and 12 are the first in history to specify a part for a solo violin. Charivari Agréable has followed such dispositions as stipulated by Torelli to the letter; although they have also allowed ornamentation which they believe would have been consistent with the forces available to the composer in his position at Ansbach at the time of their composition.

These concertos are unlikely to be staples of many people's collections: this is their only recording in the catalogue. But they are of such freshness, lightness and understated beauty that the accomplishment of Ng (whose first degree is in civil engineering!) and his forces is a significant one. Their playing comes not only from an affectionate attachment to the idiom, but also from a deep understanding of the particular ways in which it has been utilised to convey surprise, delight, uplift and pathos.

The way the second two movements of the fourth concerto [tr.s13,14], for example, take no hostages to convention, and the woodwind weave uncompromising and original colours at innovative tempi in the middle movements of the fifth [tr.s16,17] exemplify this exciting and very pleasing approach by Charivari Agréable. Each movement presents something different from the last.

The lightness of touch and generosity of interpretative depth employed by Charivari Agréable, though, ensure that we enjoy the concertos for their own sake as well as noting any kind of historical significance. The period instruments on which they play have sonorous and broad sounds with as much depth as body.

The expressiveness of the string playing in the eighth [tr.s24-27], for instance - particularly when set against the mellow woodwind, again - is typical of such tight focus. No movement in these dozen works lasts more than three minutes. So structure, development and almost perfect phrasing have been emphasised. The result is something very… agreeable.

In short, the ensemble's blend of technical prowess and perception into the way the themes and textures work to produce something novel yet touching makes this a CD to be taken very seriously.

The presentation is up to Signum's usual standard: there is a lengthy and informative essay on the background to the composition of the Concerti Musicali; the recorded sound is close and clean. All in all these concerti have more than curiosity value. Enjoy them in their own right.

Mark Sealey


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.