Robert Valentine: 12 Sonatas for Recorder and Basso Continuo
First Hand Records
CD
$26.99Oct 16, 2026
Printing music was expensive in the 18th century and copying manuscripts was commonplace. The works in this premiere recording are part of a collection of five volumes of recorder music titled Sinfonie dei varij autori bearing the name Paolo Antonio Parensi (1688-1749), who was thought to have been an amateur musician in Lucca, Italy. Several of the works in this collection are by Robert Valentine (c. 1674-1747) but there is little know about his life: he was from Leicester, England, but left for Rome in his early 20's to carve out his career. We don't know what his connection to Parensi was, but this collection is a hugely valuable source of Italian recorder repertoire from the earlier part of the 18th century. Several of his sonatas were also published by Walsh & Hare, but this premiere recording presents his Opus 11 as it appears in Parensi manuscript, as 12 recorder and basso continuo sonatas. Valentine wrote over 60 works for the recorder - his output makes him one of the most prolific composers of recorder repertoire in the early 18th century.
Platti, Giovanni Benedetto (1697-1763). Up until a few years ago, any judgement concerning the creative personality of Platti was based exclusively upon an analysis of his sonatas for harpsichord, together with a handful of his other works. This fact contributed to the inclusion of this composer from the Veneto in the company of so- called 'minor' composers of the eighteenth century, such names as G.B. Pescetti, D. Alberti, M. Vento, F. Pellegrini, G.M. Rutini, etc. In recent times, however, nearly all of Platti's production has been studied, and the results are overwhelmingly convincing that it in fact contains unquestionable masterpieces such as the Requiem Mass, the Stabat Mater, the Concerto for violin, some of the most beautiful concertos ever written for the violoncello, and many other works of notable interest. Thus Platti music may now be considered worthy of being included in the most serious the concert repertoires and recording catalogues. The Ensemble "J.M. Anciuti", featuring soloists of the calibre of Stefano Montanari on violin, Claudio Rufa on transverse flute, and Paolo Pollastri on oboe, offers us a superb period-instrument performance of the composer's chamber repertoire.
J.S. Bach: Musikalisches Opfer / Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan
BIS
SACD
$21.99Nov 03, 2017
Hybrid SACD: This SACD will play on standard CD players as well as SACD players.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s appearance on 7th May 1747 at the court of Frederick the Great is the best documented event in the composer’s otherwise unglamorous career. During the proceedings, Frederick provided Bach with an exceptionally difficult theme on which to improvise a fugue. The King is said to have been impressed with the improvisation, but Bach himself was less so, and announced that he intended to set the theme to paper "in a regular fugue". Several months later, the Musical Offering appeared in print – a collection of 13 pieces in diverse genres: fugues, canons and a trio sonata, all exploiting the "Royal Theme" in various intricate ways. Bach’s published score gives no firm idea about a playing order for the pieces, and in most cases no instrumentation is specified. Furthermore, some of the canons – the so-called "riddle canons" – are very sketchily notated, with just a few notes and some enigmatic clues in Latin. The performers are thus left with an unusual degree of freedom when it comes to the interpretation of the work – a freedom which Masaaki Suzuki, with his colleagues from Bach Collegium Japan, is singularly well-placed to explore. Following the Offering on this disc is another collection of riddle canons by Bach: the 14 Canons on the Goldberg Ground, which were discovered as late as 1974, in the form of a hand-written addendum to the composer’s own printed copy of the Goldberg Variations. The canons are all based on the first eight bass notes of the celebrated Aria from the Goldberg Variations, and are performed here as harpsichord solos, along with the Aria. The disc closes with another chamber work – the Sonata in G Major for Flute, Violin and Continuo, BWV 1038.
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REVIEW:
Suzuki’s readings of the ricercars find a workable balance between forward momentum and textural lucidity, the trio sonata is tasteful if cool, and the canons are played with exemplary clarity. BIS’s recorded acoustic is perhaps a little ‘big’ for such intimate music, though at no cost to transparency or attractiveness.
Froberger 1649 - Suites, Fantasias, And A Lament / Colin Tilney
Music and Arts Programs of America
CD
$18.99Nov 19, 2013
"People loved him because of his good nature, even if they did not understand his art." Thus wrote Sibylla, Duchess of Württemberg, Froberger's last patron and his "humble forsaken pupil". She places a finger squarely on two fundamental aspects of Froberger's life: his modest and unostentatious character and the extreme subtlety of his music. A pupil of Frescobaldi and exponent of Couperin, Froberger's complete works remained unpublished until 1897 and it is only in the last half-century that more and more keyboard players have started to feel the persuasion of his secret and inward music. The present recording explores some of the music in the earliest of the three surviving Froberger autographs housed in the Austrian National Library, the Libro Secondo of 1649. Colin Tilney is internationally known for his harpsichord, clavichord and fortepiano playing, with many solo recordings on DG (Archive), EMI Electrola, Decca, Hyperion, Dorian, etc. For Music &Arts he earlier recorded Bach's English Suites on an antique Italian harpsichord, the French Suites on clavichord, an album of fugues by Bach and his forerunners, and a Scarlatti disc.
Il Cembalo di Partenope: A Renaissance Harpsichord Tale / Vicens
Carpe Diem
CD
$20.99Apr 21, 2017
This new album of haprsichordist Catalina Vicens is a unique, multifaceted musical and poetic project. First, it features music from Naples, Italy from around 1525, the year when the instrument that she plays was actually built in Naples. Secondly, Ms. Vicens conceived an imaginary tale of the life and story of that very instrument, partly based on historical facts, partly on poetic inspiration emerging from her encounter with this priceless treasure of a historical harpsichord. The album comes with a free audiobook download of that same story, narrated by Ms. Vicens herself and accompanied with original music from the disc.
C. P. E. Bach: Harpsichord Concertos / Belder, Musica Amphion
Brilliant Classics
CD
$13.99Mar 25, 2014
C.P.E. Bach’s keyboard concertos enjoy several fine performances on piano, but finding really top-notch interpretations on harpsichord until recently has proven elusive. For years he was best represented by Gustav Leonhardt’s version of the D minor concerto Wq 23, but this newcomer adds three more works to the still meager C.P.E. Bach concerto discography. Let’s start with the “orchestra”. I use the quotation marks because Musica Amphion consists of single strings–so, five players. They sound marvelous: big and bold in the tuttis, tellingly intimate and expressive in lyrical passages. Here is compelling evidence that string players on period instruments need not sacrifice all timbral beauty in pursuit of “authenticity”.
Pieter-Jan Belder has recorded lots of Bach before, including a fine set of C.P.E.’s Kenner und Liebhaber works. He’s a brilliant player with ample virtuoso chops for these technically demanding concertos. All three were composed in the 1730s and ’40s; that is, while J.S. Bach was very much alive and active, but they couldn’t sound more different. It’s a remarkable tribute to Emanuel’s independent voice that he was composing such characterful music at this early date; but then, consider who his teacher was and what an example he had to follow, even if his own personal style was quite different.
C.P.E. Bach is best known for his wild, passionate music in minor keys, and we have an excellent example of this in the G minor concerto Wq 6. Listen to the theme of its finale for a remarkable instance of something that still strikes us as uniquely intense and expressively powerful. However, Bach was just as interesting writing happy music in major keys. The finale of the E major concerto, one of only nine published in his lifetime–six of which belong to Wq 43–contains one of his catchiest tunes. However, like the early Concerto in G major Wq 3, the music is just as energetic, just as surprising, and just as compelling. This is just great stuff, and you owe it to yourself to savor these pieces.
Listeners familiar with other recordings in Masaaki Suzuki's ongoing traversal of Bach's solo keyboard works may find his performances of the Partitas somewhat of an anomaly. For instance, the sharply delineated juxtapositions of tempos that made his Fantasias and Fugues program so thrilling (type Q3840 in Search Reviews) are nowhere to be heard here. The interpretive agenda this time is much subtler and decidedly more introverted. Not only does his choice of relatively moderate-to-slow tempos throughout (and his observance of all repeats) make this performance one of the longest ever--each CD of this two-disc set extends beyond 80 minutes--there also is a sense of deeply considered involvement with the way phrases are turned, details attended to, and passages executed. Like Bach, who esteemed these compositions highly, Suzuki's performances suggest admiration, even occasionally excessive adoration.
Listen for instance to the way Suzuki renders the opening Sinfonia of the second Partita, to the way in which each thematic idea, however brief, is underlined through his use of subtle dynamic shading and crisp counterpoint. Likewise in the Passepied of the fifth Partita Suzuki's emphasis on inner detail often makes him sound as if he's recapitulating the recapitulations (though without ever sacrificing the movement's already quirky momentum). In less capable hands this kind of overt attention to detail could sound affected or needlessly fussy. In Suzuki's very capable ones however, we hear an artist ceaselessly probing, relishing both the significance and joy of his task.
BIS's engineering is fine, though admittedly the harpsichord sounds less immediate than in Suzuki's previous offering mentioned above. There is no shortage of outstanding harpsichord performances of Bach's Partitas, and for listeners who may prefer a performance equally as personal though a bit more extroverted, the stylish angular rhythms that characterize Blandine Verlet's performance on Philips, the freewheeling elegant ornamentation of Igor Kipnis on Seraphim, or the fresh unfettered spirit that Christophe Rousset brings to his L' Oiseau Lyre cycle make them deservedly distinctive and worthwhile as well. --John Greene, ClassicsToday.com
Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer & the Recorder in the Low Countries / Bosgraaf, Corti
Brilliant Classics
CD
$13.99Sep 20, 2019
Sybrandus van Noordt and Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer are the only native Dutch composers represented on Erik Bosgraaf’s latest album, but his selection nonetheless illustrates both the high quality of musical culture in a nation without aristocratic courts, and also the central place of the recorder within that culture. Andreas Parcham, Johann Christian Schickhardt and Jean-Marie Leclair are known to have lived and worked in the Republic; Jean-Baptiste Loeillet was born in Ghent and worked in Lyon, but his recorder sonatas were all published in Amsterdam. History has been a little unkind to Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer, remembering him latterly above all as the composer of the attractive Concerti Armonici which were previously attributed to Pergolesi. That such a confusion could have arisen in the first place is testament to the originality and craftsmanship of a musician-composer who was evidently in touch with the latest Italian developments in Italian style from his home in The Hague.
The three sonatas on this album expand our understanding of van Wassanaer, and they are complemented by little-known composers with a similarly internationalist outlook such as the Danzig-born Andreas Parcham and the well-travelled Jean-Marie Leclair. The four-movement suite of lively character pieces by Fiocco is extracted from a collection originally written for harpsichord, and opens with an Allegro made famous through a violin-and-piano arrangement recorded by the likes of Menuhin and Perlman; Bosgraaf restores its original character. In the second half of the 17th century, the recorder underwent a revolutionary development which turned it into a sophisticated instrument. Erik Bosgraaf plays seven different instruments here, ranging from sopranino to bass, all of them built with a particular range of pitch but also distinct palette of timbres.
REVIEWS:
Bosgraaf is a virtuosic player, whose performances are always energetic. Sometimes he tends to go overboard, for instance in his choice of tempi and the addition of ornamentation. Here he behaves almost impeccably. Some movements in Schickhardt's sonata are played very fast, but that seems justified. Bosgraaf makes a nice difference between the two ensuing allegros in the middle of this sonata. There is just one issue: in the opening movement of Van Noordt's sonata it was decided to add some chirping. I don't like this kind of gimmick, and the music doesn't need it. In a time when the use of a string bass seems the rule, and the participation of a plucked instrument almost inevitable, it is nice that the performers have confined themselves to the harpsichord for the basso continuo. The two artists often collaborate, and Corti is again an excellent partner, who also delivers a fine performance of the pieces by Fiocco.
In short, this is a delightful disc which will appeal not only to recorder aficionados.
-- Musica Dei Donum
Most of us haven’t heard of Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer (1692-1766), but that’s who wrote more of the music on this program than anyone else. Some of his contemporaries—Fiocco, Leclair, Loeillet, Van Noordt, Parcham, and Schickhardt—will be more or even less familiar. They were all in some way related to the Dutch Republic. 7 members of the recorder family are used with a modern copy of a 1732 harpsichord tuned at A=392, generally considered the French standard. Erik Bosgraaf sings, whatever the size and pitch of the instrument he’s playing. Francesco Corti employs the buff stop now and then but accompanies ably all the way through. He gets the Fiocco to himself: four movements that conclude the First Suite of Harpsichord Pieces, Op. 1. Balance between the two players and through the range of the harpsichord is excellent. Ornamentation keeps things lively, so your attention never flags. Since there are 38 tracks, all of them are relatively short, making for plenty of variety. They may go by even faster than you wish, because everything is worth hearing again! Music like this—often with a strong influence of Italians like Vivaldi—is how 18th Century Dutch passed the time when they had leisure, and when you have leisure you’ll enjoy it too. Also consider hearing from Jeremias Schwarzer and Ralf Waldner on Genuin 19646 (S/O 2019, p 177). A 28-page booklet gives notes by musicologist Thiemo Wind in English and German along with many illustrations. This recording was made in a church apparently next to a field with cows, so the range of pictures extends from the sacred to the profane or mundane, but that’s the only mundane thing about this collection!
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