Vivaldi: Gloria RV589 & RV588 / Rinaldo Alessandrini

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Purcell: The Food of Love

Henry Purcell is often considered the quintessentially English composer representing almost alone a golden age of British music, but Henry was born at a key moment in the turbulent days of the seventeenth century in England and perhaps that fabled English musical language was pronounced with a distinctly continental accent.
Purcell must have heard a great deal of French music during his formative years and equally have known well the monarch’s taste. He would have known and worked with French musicians and he would have had an intimate knowledge of Lully’s compositions (so much so that he quotes Lully’s Isis in the Cold Scene of King Arthur).
There is no denying the originality and genius of Henry Purcell. His voice is as distinctive as any truly great composer, but the building blocks of his musical language must certainly, and by necessity, have included a whiff of garlic.
We made no great effort to make the music sound French because no such effort is needed. It has a similar turn of phrase and line, and the ornaments that Purcell writes out himself could easily have come from the treatises of Bérard or Bacilly. It may be a surprise to the British to find out how popular Henry Purcell’s music is to this day in France, but then, it is perhaps because the French recognise in him something of their own.
In Purcell’s vocal music we find recitative in the French style, in which the movement of the continuo perfectly espouses the text, the better to serve it; but we also encounter – true to the tradition of the polyphonists – a bass line written out as if to be sung: only the text is missing. This line is intended for
a melody instrument (string bass) accompanied by harmony instruments such as the harpsichord, organ, guitar or theorbo. But its text, which will be played and not sung, is the same as that of the singer, often in imitation. It precedes or follows the voice, like an echo, to underline the effects the latter produces. The challenge faced by performers is therefore to illustrate this text to best advantage with all the resources available to them. They must choose the instrumentation according to its character (‘O Solitude’ with viol alone, for example), but also decide on the phrasing, the dynamics, the note lengths, the articulation, the respirations, with the aim of sticking closely to the text, to the music of its language, the rhythm of the consonants and the meaning of the words, so as to highlight the poetry and its affects. All of this of course demands a high degree of complicity between them.

Paul Agnew and Anne-Marie Lasla

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Cantare by Isabella Moretti

Why ‘cantare’?
Because this word which already sings even when you speak it is a tribute to my Italian roots. Because, in my family, singing has always been part of any celebration. Because my father sang O sole mio like no one else!
After recording several ‘serious’ CDs, at least as far as the repertoire is concerned, I had long dreamt of a disc which would convey my joy in making the harp sing. The supreme desire of the musician: to join her own voice with that of her instrument!
Whether in the operatic paraphrases or the folksongs, my overriding wish was to find the instinctive, natural side of singing, where one’s pleasure is simple, spontaneous, the opposite of intellectual. Then it occurred to me that it would be wonderful to invite a ‘real’ singer to share some of these moments. I had been lucky enough to meet Felicity some years ago, and I naturally thought of her and her charisma. She immediately agreed, with the kindness and simplicity so typical of her, and together we chose works which would fit in with the spirit of this disc.
The recording was a moment of rare delight, full of gaiety and emotion. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did making it!

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V5179 Beethoven Piano Concertos nominated for the IRR OUTSTANDING accolade

In the January 2009 issue of IRR the OUTSTANDING accolade was inaugurated. In the October issue six recordings have been nominated for this award and we are delighted to say that Naïve's V5179 Beethoven Piano Concertos is one of them!

Find out more about the release here: http://en.naive.fr/#/work/beethoven-piano-concertos-nos-2--3

Notes from Vivaldi: Gloria

Perhaps one of the most stimulating exercises for a musicologist or a musician is to write about Italian sacred music of the eighteenth century. Unlike opera, where the works obey an ever more rigidly structured code (beginning with the division into recitatives and arias), in which the composer increasingly adheres to preconceived models that conform to his audience’s expectations, sacred music takes care to avoid submitting to ideology of any kind. While in theory at least it accepts a set of precepts (which will be discussed further on), sacred music does not (will not, cannot) free itself from operatic influence. The composer is well aware of the public’s mood when it enters the church, looking forward to hearing the fashionable castrato who is in town at the moment, perhaps under contract with the local opera house: he will show off his talents in motets that will have little in common with a vague concept of spirituality or mysticism (which we have in reality derived from what is nowadays a Romantically tinged subculture). He will, quite simply, be singing operatic music set to a Latin text. The presence of the choir and of certain unignorable rules of musical ethics (chiefly the use of counterpoint) will help create unpredictable, surprising structures.
The great aesthetic revolution accomplished in the early seventeenth century had far-reaching consequences for sacred music. Hitherto characterised by an inescapable contrapuntal style and assigned to exclusively vocal forces (at most doubled by the organ), church music was obliged to change course as the new expressive tendencies stemming from the seconda pratica took shape. Now came the introduction of instruments and the concertato style; the slow disintegration of forms (above all in the Office of Vespers), with figural music increasingly replacing plainchant; and the emergence of the messa bassa, where the liturgical text, now murmured in an undertone by the celebrant, left the congregation’s ears free to delight in a continuous and uninterrupted succession of motets and various other types of music for the entire duration of the service. The sole remaining bulwark of tradition was the contrapuntal style, which assumed the rhetorical value of music intended for purposes of worship, and was employed from time to time to remind the faithful that they were nevertheless still in church. But its original function was lost, since the fugues and points of imitation once assigned to the purity of a few voices were now decked out in the brilliant, ringing sonorities of instruments, or in the sensual, sinful strains of singers whose vocal technique grew ever more refined. Various parameters now came into play: the noisiness of the orchestral forces, growing in size according to the importance of the feast-day; the participation of singers and instrumentalists of greater artistic prestige for the most solemn festivals; the rhythm of performance, which would be slower if the majesty of the ceremony required this to attain a supposed state of contemplation of the Divine. But all this offers food for discussion: one of the aims of performance was to involve the congregation, who as they listened would recognise in the Church Militant on earth a reflection of the Church Triumphant in heaven.
Venice seems to have been a magical place for sacred music: the far-sightedness of the ecclesiastical authorities and the city’s democratic customs, far removed from the sometimes repressive cultural strategies to be found elsewhere (in Rome, for example), made it an ideal setting for this kind of spectacle. The tourist guides of the time speak with astonishment of the Vespers performed on the square in front of S. Maria della Salute, while the cappella of S. Marco was graced by the finest instrumentalists and singers of the day.
In the case of more highly structured compositions like the two settings of the Gloria recorded here, the rhetorical values called into question by the composer will certainly be more numerous, but most of them will still refer to easily recognisable rhetorical and theatrical situations. The word ‘Gloria’, for example, unequivocally suggests ringing sonorities that may be assimilated with musical evocations of war. Thus the utilisation of oboes and trumpets becomes inevitable. The text ‘Gratias agimus tibi’ suggests an act of thanksgiving interpreted in the theatrical sense with an almost pagan hieraticism and solemnity.
Vivaldi’s two settings of the Gloria present an enormous variety of musical solutions: some agree on their approach to the same text, while others diverge. The opening movements are cheerful, radiant: here the glory of the Lord is revealed on the earth with joy, far from any feeling of agitation, yet sometimes astounding us with unexpected modulations. The complexities of the writing in the two settings of ‘Et in terra pax’ help to give the movement greater substance, even if the contrapuntal voice-leading is toned down by melodic lines which have nothing classical about them. But whereas RV 588 is full of polyphonic indiscretions recalling older styles (‘Domine Fili Unigenite’, ‘Qui tollis peccata mundi’), RV 589 is distinguished by an intensive recourse to theatrical models, attaining a moment of sheer pathos in the alto aria ‘Domine Deus, Agnus Dei’, in which Vivaldi seeks to create a dramatic space by placing the soloist at a distance from the chorus, which comments on human fragility (‘Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis’). There is even a nod to current fashion with the dotted quaver rhythms à la française in ‘Domine Fili Unigenite’), a concession to the urbane style popular on the other side of the Alps.
In general, it should be borne in mind that the emotional charge that sixteenth-century polyphony sought to achieve, even if it was perhaps at one remove from the congregation, lost its force in the High Baroque period, although the aim was still to control the emotions of the assembly of the faithful, who were expected to recognise in music a sign of the divine. But the people were now given what they wanted, while maintaining the illusion that a reflection of the divine could be found even in the pastoral sensuality of the siciliana ‘Domine Deus Rex coelestis’ (RV 589).
It is worth saying something about the closing fugues of the two settings, which are two different reworkings of a fugue from a Gloria for two choirs and orchestra by Ruggieri. I have no idea why Vivaldi did not want to venture on an original composition at this point. Contrary to popular opinion, he was a competent contrapuntist. The various fugues he essayed in his concertos, especially the concerti ripieni (without soloists), do not find him unprepared or ill at ease. Quite the reverse, in fact. Both elaborations of the material (that of RV 589 is later than RV 588) show a marked feeling for form exemplified in their subtle modifications of phrase length and instrumentation, which lighten the rhetoric and make the piece more effective in its concision.
Finally, a word on the introductions which open the two Glorias. That of RV 588 belongs to the main work without a shadow of a doubt, while the connection of the motet Ostro picta with RV 589 can be deduced only from the fact that they share the same key. One may see in these introductions another contemporary device for padding out the musical event to excess by enriching and decorating it with music that is liturgically superfluous, though certainly effective and impressive.

Rinaldo Alessandrini

Accentus shortlisted for Gramophone Awards

Accentus' recording of Fauré Requiem, released last year, has been shortlisted for the Gramophone Awards, in the 'Choral' category!

You can find out more about this release here.

New Sandrine Piau / Handel: "Between Heaven and Earth" video

The world renowned and multi award-winning French soprano, Sandrine Piau, presents an intimate recital exploring the religious and philosophical aspects of Handel’s oeuvre. She is accompanied by one of the finest period instrument ensembles, Accademia Bizantina under the direction of Stefano Montanari. For Handel the soprano voice may assume many different guises: as angelic messenger, as the herald of hope and reason, or glorifying music itself. It can also express the deepest sufferings and transcend them in an ecstasy worthy of the greatest mystics. A highlight is the stunning duet, ‘As steals the morn upon the night’ from L’allegro, Il penseroso, ed Il moderato and features the internationally acclaimed Finnish tenor, Topi Lehtipuu.

Anne Gastinel and Pablo Màrquez's Ibérica has been awarded France's RTL D'OR

Anne Gastinel and Pablo Màrquez's Ibérica has been awarded one of the major French music awards: RTL D'OR. RTL is one of the most listened to radio stations in France and averages six million listeners. To find out more about the release and listen to audio clips click here.

On October 12th the Ibérica program will be performed by both Anne and Pablo at the beautiful Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord. Tickets cost €22 and you can book yours here.

Alessandrini CD one of the "best classical recordings"

Last weekend classical music critics from the Sunday Telegraph published what they thought were the 100 greatest classical recordings ever and in at #9 was Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano's Battista Pergolesi Stabat Mater!

"This is a recording in which every last drop of musical juice has been squeezed from the score. As a result, the text, one of the most moving in the sacred canon, is more sharp and poignant than ever."

Needless to say it was labelled a "must-buy" release and you can find out more and listen to clips here.

The reissue of Jordi Savall’s Farnace

Antonio Vivaldi’s opera Farnace was released in 2002 in a superb recording by Jordi Savall on his label Alia Vox. Naïve and Alia Vox work closely together (the latter is reediting the entire discography of Jordi Savall, found in the Naïve catalogue, and Naïve is their distributor in France). As the Vivaldi Edition moves ahead in its goal to release all the existing operas of Vivaldi, we are proud to include this fairly recent recording in the collection.
The 2002 recording included arias by the Spanish composer Francesco Corselli which were found in the performing edition used in Madrid in 1739. Eliminating these arias has been the only modification we have made, thereby allowing a faithful representation of the 1731 manuscript of this opera as conceived in Vivaldi’s hand.
Jordi Savall made the following observations on the original release:
‘This recording is based on a selection of the most successful moments from the last two performances recorded live at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, on 26 and 28 October 2001. It should therefore be pointed out that any differences of sound or ambience which may occasionally seem to affect the singing, or give the impression of the singers being further away, are due to the performers’ position on stage. Any small inconvenience arising from the recording of a live stage performance is amply compen sated for by the great spontaneity of the recitatives and the sincerity of feeling in the arias, in which the singers genuinely improvise some ornamentation in the da capo sections.’

Susan ORLANDO
January 2009