Giovanni LEGRENZI (1626-1690)
Testamentum: Sonata La Spilimberga Op. 2, no 2 [6:38];
Sonata'La querini' Op. 2, no 14 [4:22]; Missa quinque vocibus
'Lauretana' [33:35] Congratulamini Filiae Sion [5:45];
Harmonia d'affetti devoti, 'Hodie collaetantur coeli' Op. 3, no 1;
written by 1655 [5:15]Compiete con le lettanie, 'Alma Redemptoris
Mater' Op. 7, no 14; written by 1662 [3:07]
Lia Serafini (soprano); Roberta Giua (soprano); Oficina
Musicum/Riccardo Favero
rec. September 2009 - 2012, Chiesa di Sant'Alessandro Martire,
Massanzago, Italy. DDD
DYNAMIC CDS 710 [58:42]
This is music of great beauty, sophistication and emotional
strength. It's performed with aplomb, sensitivity and technical zest by
Oficina Musicum and soprano soloists conducted by Riccardo Favero. It's a
major release of works which - apart from the Spilimberga sonata on
Ligia 301109 - are otherwise unavailable. The quality of performance is by
and large excellent. You are herewith invited to join the Legrenzi 'revival'
to which this CD contributes so successfully.
Legrenzi was a major influence on music and musicians of his own
time and that and those immediately succeeding him in late seventeenth
century Italy and beyond. Among his pupils were Vivaldi and possibly
Caldara. He was a major influence on Alessandro Scarlatti. His sonatas
became the standard format for what followed - both as the trio sonata and
sonata a due. He developed the practice of purposeful and clear
distinctions in tempo markings between movements. Yet Legrenzi is not
exactly over-represented in the current catalogue. Astonishingly the present
CD is but one of half a dozen devoted exclusively to the North Italian
composer. It should be snapped up by anyone who already knows Legrenzi's
allure, wants to explore the development of chamber, concertante and
virtuosic music of the era and who appreciates the unalloyed beauty of
whatever form in which Legrenzi wrote.
It's a fetching programme too: the Spilimberga sonata is
unpretentious yet arresting. It says much in a few minutes but its
distillation is not jarring. The bulk of the less than an hour long CD is
given over to the exquisite and gently but persuasively played and sung
Lauretana five voice mass. This work unfolds slowly and with a subtle
inevitability and clarity that is admirably conveyed by soloists and
instrumentalists (in the interspersed numbers) alike. A little
disappointingly, the soloists are at times either under-miked and/or placed
too far from our virtual listening point to sound as present and immediate
as we might prefer. The allelujia [tr.8], for instance, is a solo
tour de force that would have benefited from greater exposure so sure
and clean are the singer's vocal lines and artless articulation.
The delightful querini sonata breaks the flow of purely
vocal/choral music. This presumably is deliberate in order to provide a
contrast that also speaks to Legrenzi's versatility and inner strengths as a
composer. These reflect as much what he seems to have wanted to achieve as a
musician as was required of him by his patrons. The obviously committed
Oficina Musicum stays on top form. They and sopranos Lia Serafini - whose
timbre is at time a little less than refined and less crystalline than might
be expected - and Roberta Giua lead the last three shorter (but far from
insubstantial) vocal Marian pieces, Congratulamini Filiae Sion,
Harmonia d'affetti devoti, 'Hodie collaetantur coeli' and Compiete
con le lettanie, 'Alma Redemptoris Mater'.
Although the word 'gem' comes to mind when enjoying these pieces,
they're performed in a clean and unostentatious way. It is as though
Legrenzi were already now as re-established and oft-performed a composer as
those of his contemporaries and successors with higher profiles. This is
surely the right approach and Favero and Dynamic are to be congratulated on
it.
The recording and acoustic are good but not perfect. Ultimately, the
beauty of the music and the strengths of the performance overcome these
reservations. The booklet that comes with the CD is adequate. It
concentrates on the provenance and nature of the manuscripts of the mass
that have been used. It contains the texts in Latin.
Legrenzi is yet another composer in the 'early' music world who
deserves the appellation 'forgotten'. Here Favero has unfussily and without
self-consciousness argued the composer's case well - by letting he music
unfold on its own terms. He quietly and confidently helps to ensure that
Legrenzi will stay 'overlooked' not a moment longer than he can help. He
does so with style and a depth that are only to be admired. Although the
profundity and loveliness of Legrenzi's music will surprise you if you're
not fully familiar with it, this CD makes a quiet and sane contribution to
his profile. Don't hesitate.
Mark Sealey
Splendid music: well-conceived, well performed and well projected in almost every way.