SOMM Recordings is delighted to build upon it's critically acclaimed discography with violinist, Adrian Butterfield, and the London Handel Players in a new collaboration featuring the Op. 7 set of six Violin Concertos by the French violinist-composer, Jean-Marie Leclair. The London Handel Players, praised by the New York Times for their "soulful depth" and "consummate skill and musicianship," have previously released five Handel discs with SOMM, along with recordings that celebrate Geminiani, J.S. Bach, and Telemann. The group's co-founder and director, period-instrument violinist Adrian Butterfield, has been described as "a marvel" by Gramophone for his recordings of Leclair's first three books of violin sonatas. The solo concerto emerged in Italy in the early 18th century through composers like Torelli, Albinoni and, particularly, Vivaldi. J.S. Bach acquired a copy of Vivaldi's popular set of twelve concertos, L'Estro Armonico, to transcribe and study, and he put his own stamp on concerto writing with works that are larger in scale, making use of more detailed contrapuntal development and a greater degree of harmonic variety. When Jean-Marie Leclair met an untimely death on 23 October, 1764 in a still-unsolved murder in Paris, he left behind a stellar reputation as the founder of the French violin school, along with a collection of works for violin that includes four volumes�of solo violin sonatas and two volumes of violin concertos; his Op. 7, heard here, and Op. 10, to follow in the near future. These virtuosic and elegant violin concertos are something of an amalgam of the Italian concerto style and of Bach's formalistic innovations. Leclair was born in Lyon in 1697, and his dream was to become a solo violinist in his own country. But, at this time in France, violin playing was the province of country fiddlers and orchestral players, while the viol was the chosen instrument for the French upper classes. When the Italian violinist-composer, Arcangelo Corelli, published his iconic set of Op. 5 sonatas in 1700, no French violinist was equipped with the technique to perform them. Having spent a year studying dance and composition in the Italian city of Turin, Leclair moved to Paris, where he soon published his first set of twelve violin sonatas. For a couple of years, he commuted between Paris and Turin in order to study with a former student of Corelli's, and, over the course of two decades, published three more sets of sonatas, along with the two sets of violin concertos. The concertos are justly celebrated for their blend of French elegance and Italian virtuosity, reflecting not only Leclair's skill as a renowned violinist, but also his background, which drew on a variety of Europe's national styles. In the early 1910s, Holst became interested in astrology, and he conceived the idea of a suite for orchestra based on the solar system's individual planets. Originally, he composed�The Planets on the piano, using the instrument in his newly-built, sound-proofed room in the music wing at St Paul's Girls School as well as the piano at his home in Thaxted. This version for four hands, two pianos was scored by two of his colleagues at St Paul's, Vally Lasker and Nora Day, who acted as amanuenses, because Holst suffered intermittently from painful neuritis in his right hand. Following the resounding success of the orchestrated version of The Planets, the original piano duet score was overlooked, though it was eventually published separately in 1949-51. In 1979, Holst's daughter, Imogen, reissued the complete two-piano arrangement in one volume, and Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman perform this version here. Elgar's renown was such that, at the height of his fame, several established musicians were commissioned by publishers to make piano transcriptions of his orchestral music. This was no mean feat, given that Elgar's scores are scrupulously marked as to how he wanted every phrase-sometimes even every bar or note within that phrase-to be played. It was the composer, arranger, and conductor, Otto Singer II, who made the transcription for piano four-hands of Elgar's 1905 Introduction and Allegro, scored originally for solo string quartet and string orchestra. Singer's insight and skill are evident in techniques like transferring string double-stopping to spread keyboard chords, and his piano four-hands version is admirably true to Elgar's evolving contrapuntal and harmonic ideas. In Victorian England, the marriage of a tradesman's son to the daughter of a Major-General in the British Army, who was eight years his senior, might not have appeared a perfect match. Yet, the marriage of Edward Elgar and Caroline Alice Roberts turned out to be a love-match. In 1888, as a wedding present, Edward presented to Carice, as he called her, Salut d'Amour. This enduring melody has inspired numerous arrangements for widely varying instrumental combinations, including this one for piano duet.

When Musica Alta Ripa recorded Jean-Marie Leclair’s Trio Sonatas op. 4 in January 1992 and released them on LP in 1993, this debut album became a sought-after premiere release. Since even then the MDG sound engineers were working with the latest digital technology, this production from Nordkirchen Castle’s Baroque Festive Hall could be transferred to disc and digital without a hitch and with the finest room nuances. Leclair was one of the best violinists of his time. The story is told that he had to compete in a musical duel with Locatelli in Kassel- then a most highly popular form of musical entertainment. The chronicler describes his “devilish” playing, contrasting it with the “angelic” style of his Italianrival. His trio sonatas suggest familiarity with the Italian school but also draw on entirely independent French traditions and shine with ingenious inventions and harmonic refinements. The virtuoso and composer Leclair was repeatedly drawn to Paris, where he would play the role of the victim in one of crime history’s greatest mysteries. His murder in October 1764 was never solved. Musica Alta Ripa has worked with MDG for many years, successfully establishing itself as one of the most sought-after early music ensembles. The ensemble’s recordings have earned many international awards, and the vibrant joy of these performances is a source of pure listening fun.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Jean-Marie Leclair's violin sonatas were published in four volumes between 1723 and 1743. David Plantier here presents a selection of sonatas from the final three opus numbers of the collection. The consistent quality of Leclair's forty-eight sonatas, collected in four volumes, is admirable, whilst the collection as a whole is a monumental contribution to the repertoire and to posterity; few of Leclair's followers were able to combine innovation in violin technique and wealth of inspiration with so much talent. Leclair's taste, refinement, skill and refusal of all artifice enabled him to make his mark not merely on his own time but on the history of music as a whole.

5 Sonatas For Flute

This recording presents some of the most beautiful passages in all baroque violin repertoire, combining Italian sensuality with French grace and refinement. Idolised as both performer and composer during his lifetime, Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764) was murdered in circumstances still mysterious. In 2000, violinist Patrick Cohën-Akenine founded Les Folies françoises to tackle a vast baroque instrumental and vocal repertoire with a true chamber music approach.

Classical Music

Recorded in: St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London 13-15 February 1995 Producer(s) Nicholas Anderson Sound Engineer(s) Ben Connellan Annabel Weeden (Assistant)

Classical Music

MUSIK FUER TUBA AUS DER SCHWEI

Classical Music

The Fourth Book of Violin Sonatas by Jean-Marie Leclair is considered the pinnacle of French Baroque violin artistry. Leclair pushed the development of violin playing further and further until hardly anyone could follow him. Accordingly; these sonatas are played by only a few and are unfortunately rarely heard. Hélène Schmitt; herself celebrated as an exceptional violinist; has for many years intensively studied the life and work of the great musician; whose career repeatedly took unexpected turns and whose life ended abruptly with a murder that is still unsolved today. On this CD she shows not only the virtuosity but also the many amazingly different colours of the sonatas. She is supported by her top-class continuo group in various instrumentations. The album is the first part of a complete recording of the twelve sonatas of the Fourth Book. The booklet contains an extensive text penned by the artist; who thus shares her personal insights into Leclair's life.

The French violinist Hugues Borsarello draws this programme of miniatures from the repertory of his instrument and from the great operatic arias, transcribed for violin and orchestra: ‘My idea was to relate a French history of music over the course of three centuries, in the form of short pieces.’ Lully’s Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs rubs shoulders with arias by Bizet, Saint-Saëns and Offenbach, Satie’s Gymnopédie no.3 and Gounod’s Ave Maria. All these universally known pieces ‘are perfectly suited to the soul of the violin’, says Borsarello, who is joined by prestigious guests: cellist Gautier Capuçon for Vieuxtemps’s Duo Brillant, guitarist Thomas Dutronc for Django Reinhardt’s celebrated Nuages, pianist Frank Braley.

And this programme doesn’t neglect the classics of the violin, including Ysaÿe’s magnificent Berceuse de l'enfant pauvre. Vieuxtemps’s famous set of variations on Yankee Doodle is here performed for the first time in its version with orchestra.

What if the tour de force of French opera in the Age of Enlightenment was Scylla et Glaucus? At the age of 50, the famous violinist Leclair decided to write his first operatic piece, investing irrepressible energy in it. The drama is unrelenting: the nymph Scylla spurns the advances of the Demigod Glaucus, who seeks out the sorceress Circe to cast a spell on her; Circe is in love with Glaucus, drives Scylla to madness and turns her into a deadly rock… An infernal scene, an ocean storm and final cataclysm are employed to give striking relief to this trio of unappeased love, the effusions of irresistible beauty. The conductor and violinist Stefan Plewniak conducts a glorious stage of soloists in the eddies of vengeance!

LECLAIR Violin Sonatas, op. 1, Nos. 1–4 • Adrian Butterfield (vn); Alison McGillivray (vdg); Laurence Cummings (hpd) • NAXOS 8.570888 (64:15)



LECLAIR Violin Sonatas, op. 1, Nos. 5–8 • Adrian Butterfield (vn); Alison McGillivray (vdg); Laurence Cummings (hpd) • NAXOS 8.570889 (55:14)


LECLAIR Violin Sonatas, op. 1, Nos. 9–12 • Adrian Butterfield (vn); Alison McGillivray (vdg); Laurence Cummings (hpd) • NAXOS 8.570890 (57:37)


In an age that spawned the likes of Bach and Handel, Couperin and Rameau, Jean-Marie Leclair (1697–1764) has been relegated unnecessarily to the back of the bus. He was the most cosmopolitan of musicians, yet unlike the flamboyant Handel, he seems to have had no interest in political self-promotion. Leclair’s music and violin playing were his focus; the violin sonatas recorded here are the first true reconciliation by a Frenchman of the two most disparate musical styles of the era, the French and Italian. He achieved this by careful study and unselfish interaction with many musical luminaries of the period—Quantz, Locatelli, Forqueray, Chéron. The fact that Leclair could not abide the political machinations at court—he quarreled with Pierre Guignon over the choice of repertoire—should not surprise us. The dispute escalated, and in 1737 Leclair was forced into exile in the Netherlands. He returned several years later and entered into semiretirement, which consisted of composing, teaching, and a failed attempt at the theater. The final episode of Leclair’s life was not so pleasant; after Leclair and his wife had separated, he was found late one night murdered in his apartment. A disenfranchised nephew was suspected, but for some reason never brought to trial.


Perhaps all this is secondary to the music, which is sui generis . Each of the sonatas recorded here—the complete Book 1—is cast in the sonata da chiesa format, with predominantly Italian titles: Adagio, Allegro, Grazioso. Yet there are a few characteristic French dances thrown in for flavor: gavotte, sarabande, minuet, gigue. Above all, the music owes its genesis to Corelli, but it is more than mere imitation. Think of Italian chamber music with a French accent—the copious, written-out ornaments are especially indicative of the French pedigree. The technical demands are quite novel for French music of the period; not surprisingly, Leclair is regarded as the father of the French violin school. Above all, this is lively, tuneful, engaging music that has been woefully neglected by period instrumentalists.


Enter Adrian Butterfield, who sets matters right with his skillful and sensitively played renditions of the sonatas of Book 1. Unless you’re the most die-hard opponent of period violin, the sheer beauty of Butterfield’s tone, enhanced by minimal, tasteful vibrato and expressive phrasing, should not fail to please. He is supported admirably by harpsichordist Laurence Cummings and gambist Alison McGillivray—although wouldn’t it have been wonderful if a theorbo had been added to the mix? The recorded sound is smooth and realistic—important virtues in a violin recording. Highest recommendation.


FANFARE: Christopher Brodersen

Recording information: St Mary's Church, Walthamstow, London, UK (01/03/2008-01/05/2008); St Mary's Church, Walthamstow, London, UK (01/08/2008-01/10/2008).

Two prominent Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra musicians, concertmaster Gwen Hoebig, and associate concertmaster Karl Stobbe, offer an album rich in emotion and virtuosity. Opus 3 sonatas for two violins, by French composer Jean-Marie Leclair, is an amazing work with lilting pastorals, graceful sarabandes and fiery jigs, and is played admirably by Hoebig and Stobbe. Leclair, considered the father of violin in France, lived a tumultuous life that led to his assassination in 1764. His ex-wife and nephew, each with their own motives that could make them credible suspects, did not confess and the murder was never resolved. Recognized as one of Canada’s most outstanding violinists, Gwen Hoebig is a graduate of the Juilliard School in New York City. As a student she won every major Canadian music competition, and in 1981 was the top prizewinner at the Munich International Violin Competition. Karl Stobbe has made a name for himself as one of Canada’s most accomplished and diverse violinists. In addition to appearing frequently as a concertmaster in Canada and the United States, Karl regularly performs concerti, recitals, and chamber music, where his concerts have been called “a clinic in the art of violin playing” (Winnipeg Free Press, 2013).

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REVIEW:

The duo have technical mastery to spare, with a bright, clear sound and beautifully clean playing. The first and second violin parts are equally important here, with constant interplay and textural depth, and it’s virtually impossible to tell them apart. The hope that these performances go beyond the technical challenges to give a sense of the man who created them is more than fulfilled in an outstanding CD.

– The Whole Note (Canada)

Jean-Marie Leclair, a pure product of the 18th century, was at the crossroads of styles, cultivating a virtuosic art combining melodies à la française and Italian virtuosity stemming from Corelli and Vivaldi. He was 49 when he undertook his first (and only) lyric tragedy: Scylla et Glaucus. A veritable masterpiece, revealing the obvious influence of Rameau, Scylla et Glaucus left a strong mark on French opera. First performed at the Académie Royale de Musique in 1746, this opera, which had a run of 17 performances and enjoyed great success, was only rediscovered in the 1980s (by John Eliot Gardiner in Lyon).

What is most remarkable in his work is precisely the perfect equilibrium that is found between different tendencies within each work: audacity and boldness, but profoundly reflected thought, presented without haste and with a sure grasp. A perfect correctness of style, without coldness, on the other hand a certain lyricis, particularly in the slow movements, whose pace is grave and almost majestic. Sometimes there is tenderness but always it is contained: sometimes there is also ardour, ma non troppo. And so there is always a balance which also affects the way in which he combines the Italian tradition of writing and the manipulation of the violin with the French tradition. Philippe Beaussant, from the liner notes A shadowy, unstable and misanthropic character, died mysteriously from a knife wound inflicted by an unknown assailant, Jean-Marie Leclair is the real creator of the French violin school and one of the greatest violinists of the Eighteenth Century. His prolific output, almost exclusively devoted to the violin, consists of a series of collections of sonatas published throughout his lifetime, in which stand out 48 sonatas for violin and bass (four volumes). The First Book of Sonatas for Solo Violin with Basso Continuo dates from 1723 and represents Leclair's first publication. Four sonatas are performed here by Fabio Biondi, one of the most authoritative Baroque performers, joined by an all-star continuo group featuring Rinaldo Alessandrini, Pascal Monteilhet and Maurizio Naddeo.

During his lifetime Leclair was renowned for the accuracy, clarity and brilliance of his playing. His sonatas show both the boldness and the technical ease of their composer. Leclair never indulged in excessive virtuosity: in his works we find not only impressive technical brilliance but also precision, nobility and charm in their composition. This recording is devoted to the sonatas and concertos of Jean-Marie Leclair - works that deserve much greater recognition.

Includes work(s) by Jean Marie Leclair. Soloists: Fenwick Smith, John Gibbons (classical), Laura Blustein, Laura Jeppesen, Christopher Krueger.

Five years after the publication of his first book of sonatas, Jean-Marie Leclair, the great exponent of the emerging French violin school, released his second book. He had continued to be influenced by the lyricism and virtuosity of Italian models but, concerned that the technical demands of his writing might prove excessive, ensured that a handful could be played either on the flute or the violin. Yet he continued to make considerable advances and the level of melodic invention and expressive intensity remained untouched, the result of a fusion of Italianate fire and French elegance. Together with Naxos 8.572866 this is the first complete recording of Leclair’s Op 2 Sonatas.

LECLAIR Violin Sonatas, op. 2, Nos. 1–5, 8 • Adrian Butterfield (vn); Jonathan Manson (vdg); Laurence Cummings (hpd) (period instruments) • NAXOS 8.572866 (77:50)


Several years ago, the three Naxos discs comprising Adrian Butterfield’s performances of Jean-Marie Leclair’s first book of violin sonatas (Naxos 8.570888, 8.570889, and 8.570890) appeared, and I highly recommended them in Fanfare 35:3. Butterfield and harpsichordist Laurence Cummings have now returned, with Jonathan Manson rather than Alison McGillivray playing the viola da gamba, with an installment of six sonatas from the composer’s second book. Butterfield’s own notes relate that this set includes five sonatas for violin or flute (two occurred in the first book); and Butterfield emphasizes that Leclair intended these works for a wider group of performers.


The program, in order, opens with one of the sonatas in which Leclair offered the choice of violin or flute. Its four movements begin with an arch Adagio in which Manson displays the richness of the seven-string gamba made in 1978 by Curtis Bryant (Butterfield plays a violin made by David Rubio in 1996 after the 1734 Rode Guarneri del Gesù, while Cummings plays a 2000 harpsichord by Andrew Garlick based on a 1748 model). The book of sonatas appeared in 1728, after, according to Butterfield, Leclair had studied for a time in Turin with Corelli’s student, Giovanni Battista Somis. William S. Newman suggests that, through Somis, Leclair made the acquaintance of the music of both Corelli and Vivaldi; and later he would come under the spell of Corelli’s student Pietro Locatelli, whose devilish virtuosity appears, though restricted mainly to the lower positions, in Leclair’s later books of sonatas. Butterfield draws comparisons between Leclair’s allegro s and Corelli’s, but Somis’s sonatas, at least the later ones of op. 4 (written in 1726, about the year Leclair visited him), fall into three rather than four movements, as all these do. Somis’s works also don’t push the technical envelope far beyond Corelli’s—they’re very tame, as these by Leclair, for the most part, prove to be. Nevertheless, the Second Sonata in Leclair’s set employs double stops freely, and represents generally a more advanced technique. But Butterfield and his ensemble find the commonalties in these works, whatever their instrumentation or technical demands, in the starchy French style in which they present what Leclair had absorbed of the Italian style from his travels. And in the Finale of that Second Sonata, they abandon themselves to an Italian energy that recalls Vivaldi’s, featuring cadenza-like passagework.


The Third Sonata returns to the instrumental choice offered by the First Sonata—violin or flute—and therefore to the more moderate technical demands such a choice implies. Butterfield points out in the notes the melodic affinities of the opening movement of the Fourth Sonata to Corelli’s style, a parallel he and the ensemble exuberantly draw in the performance itself. But those familiar with Somis’s sonatas may find that these works resemble his as closely as they do Corelli’s. In any case, the ensemble brings sonorous virtuosity to the third movement, a double-stopped “Aria: Gratioso .” The Finale combines Corelli’s melodic manner with technically more demanding swirling double stops.


The Fifth Sonata again suggests the simplicity of an arrangement for violin or flute, but its first movement offers Manson, again, an opportunity to display the richness of both his tone and his musical imagination. After a Corellian (or Somisian) Allegro of considerable melodic and rhythmic verve—at least in this performance—the Sonata proceeds through an elegant Gavotte to a piquant Finale, in which Butterfield’s tart ornamentation lends a brisk energy. Butterfield points out that Leclair conceived the Eighth Sonata as a sort of duet for violin and gamba, and his interaction with Manson in the first movement bears out this observation. Its imitative second movement takes advantage of the same manner of writing, even if it isn’t so thorough-goingly polyphonic as similar passages in Corelli’s church sonatas. But Corelli’s personality shines through this movement’s melodic contours as well as through its counterpoint. The Sarabanda offers particularly rich opportunities for conversation between the violin and gamba; the Finale contains chains of trills that enliven its melodic discourse.


Butterfield remarks that violinists have not taken up Leclair’s first two books of sonatas, perhaps because of their modest demands; perhaps his insightful and cleanly-recorded performances (along with those of the first book) will revive some interest in them. Strongly recommended—and not just for the violinistic moments.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham