A major achievement - John Elwes is a stylish and eloquent Zoroastre and Gregory Reinhart makes a formidable Abramane with a commanding vocal presence. Rameau's Zoroastre should afford enduring pleasure.

Here once more, but in a new CD format, is Zoroastre, Rameau's penultimate tragedie-lyrique. Readers who bought the earlier CD issue when Deutsche Harmonia Mundi were distributed by EMI (1/88) will not be amused to learn that a new booklet has been prepared for the BMG release; this contains the full text of the opera, legibly printed and now with an English translation. Thanks are due to BMG for repackaging an otherwise excellent product, thus making it accessible to a wider listenership.

Zoroastre was first performed in Paris in 1749 and was, by and large, well received. But the librettist, Cahusac was taken to task by some for relegating the love element in the opera to a secondary place. When it was revived in 1756 Cahusac made shifts of emphasis within the plot and it is this version as it first appeared, rather than that which involved yet further small changes later in the season, which is performed here. The libretto deals with the conflict between Good and Evil or Light and Darkness central to Zoroastrianism. Oromases, King of the Genies, represents the former and has Zoroastre as his high priest, while Abramane, high priest of the Temple of Darkness represents the latter. The chief protagonists in the drama are Zoroastre and Abramane who vie for power, glory and love; their characters are skilfully and often strikingly portrayed by Rameau, whose score is richly endowed with bold dashes of colour.

I very much liked this performance when it was first issued on LP in 1984 and feel much the same about it now. John Elwes is a stylish and eloquent Zoroastre and Gregory Reinhart makes a formidable Abramane with clear diction and a resonant, commanding vocal presence. His "Osons achever de grands crimes" (Act 3 scene 2) with its syncopated accompaniment and characteristically effective bassoon writing, is especially noteworthy. As I have remarked in previous reviews, the three principal female roles are sung well though I should have liked greater aural contrasts between them. Agnes Mellon as the innocent Cephie is a particularly happy piece of casting, though Mieke van der Sluis as the jealous Erinice is rather less so. Her voice is a warmly alluring one but seems ill-suited to the darker shades of this character. Greta de Reyghere brings warmth and clarity to the role of Amelite though she does not entirely succeed in conveying the danger and unpleasantness of her predicament.

La Petite Bande is on its liveliest form and Sigiswald Kuijken's direction reveals an insight into and affection for Rameau's music. In spite of some reservations, this is a major achievement and the work one that should not be omitted from any serious opera or baroque enthusiast's library. The recorded sound is excellent and as I have already indicated, the discs are now accompanied by an informative and helpful booklet. Rameau's Zoroastre should afford enduring pleasure.

-- Gramophone [6/1991]

LASSUS: MUSICA DEI DONUM, LAUD

Musical scholars like Ralph Kirkpatrick, whose classic book on Scarlatti is here quoted at length (though without acknowledging the source), are understandably fascinated by the inexhaustible diversity brought to basically binary-form movements by this Sicilian-descended, Neapolitan-born genius, who spent exactly half his life in the Iberian peninsula. For music lovers in general, however, the fascination lies in his enormous vitality, his demands for unprecedented keyboard virtuosity and his highly individual use of melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and instrumental Hispanicisms that demonstrate how far he had fallen under the spell of Spanish folk-music and folk life.

All these facets are zestfully displayed on this stimulating disc. Apart from genuine Spanish dances—the bulerias of Kk492, the peteneras of 502 and the Andalusian 519 which bubbles from minor to major—there are impressions of street processions (490, 491 with unmistakable sounds of trumpets, horns and drums, and a marching element in 518) and the exciting rattle of castanets or tambourines in the rapid note-reiterations of 141, 119 and 455, and Scarlatti's unique telescoped chords (490 and the even more dissonant 119). His unexpected modulations and side-stepping key-changes are to be heard in several sonatas, and his stamping basses in 502 and 517. And besides the hurtling arpeggios or broken-chord patterns (141, 454) and chains of trills (118, 501) there are the Scarlattian quirks such as the out-of-step octave unisons in 203 or the surprise changes of metre in 502. It is a pity we can't see Staier performing the vertiginous cross-hand leaps in the remarkable 108, as well as in 118 and the exuberant 119, but the sheer breakneck speed at which he plays 517, shooting off like an arrow from a bow, will leave listeners breathless.

He uses a harpsichord of German type with the G in alt called for in 454, 455 and 502, makes a few logically defensible registration changes in some sonatas, and adds occasional discreet ornamentation on repeats (which are fully observed except in five cases). This is a most enjoyable disc, which I would recommend very highly: there are many recordings of Scarlatti, but this is among the best.

-- Lionel Salter, Gramophone [2/1992]

If the listener has never heard a string quartet composed of “authentic” instruments, he might be surprised at the biting clarity these instruments provide, but when all is said and done, the success of a performance depends on the musical and intellectual insights of the performers, and these players play with understanding, clarity, and power.

-- High Performance Review, reviewing the Smithson's recording of Haydn's Op. 54

CHRISTMAS CAROLS GEORG RATZIN

J.C. BACH: SINFONIAE CONCERTAN

Tracks:
1. LEONHARDT, GUSTAV - ECHO FANTASIA IN A MINOR
2. LEONHARDT, GUSTAV - DA PACEM, DOMINE, IN DEEBUS NOSTRIS
3. LEONHARDT, GUSTAV - HEXACHORD FANTASIA
4. LEONHARDT, GUSTAV - FANTASIA MINOR
5. LEONHARDT, GUSTAV - ONS IS GHEBOREN EEN KINDEKIJN
6. LEONHARDT, GUSTAV - TOCCATA IN A MINOR

Rebel’s trios compare favourably with those of his contemporary, Francois Couperin. They are full of interest, revealing many extended passages of effective part-writing for the violins. . . . These are stylish performances, full of spirit yet receptive to subtler, underlying expressive currents. . . . Few readers will be disappointed either by the music or by the recorded sound, which is sympathetic and intimate. [T]his new recording can be acquired with confidence. -- Nicholas Anderson, Gramophone

[I]f you can play with the skill and musicianship of Andrew Lawrence-King, then the fact that you are offering up transcriptions quickly becomes an irrelevance. Combining the technical possibilities of a harpsichord with the dynamic flexibility of a lute (though over a wider range), the harp emerges here as an almost ideal solo instrument, able to escape its inevitable Celtic associations and stand as an interpretative tool of real power. . . . The results are completely successful, particularly the Partita, every one of whose complex moods and gestures Lawrence-King seems able to conquer with surprising vigour. It is unlikely that you will ever hear much of the music on this disc played more expressively . . . [which] is really saying something when it applies to music as well known as Bach’s for solo violin. . . . [T]his is outstandingly sensitive and musical playing.

-- Lindsay Kemp, Gramophone

Tracks:
1. ANONYMOUS - CONCERTO (SUITE) IN D MAJOR - ALLEGRO
2. ANONYMOUS - CONCERTO (SUITE) IN D MAJOR - RIGAUDON I + II
3. ANONYMOUS - CONCERTO (SUITE) IN D MAJOR - ARIA
4. ANONYMOUS - CONCERTO (SUITE) IN D MAJOR - GIGUE-DUETT
5. ANONYMOUS - CONCERTO (SUITE) IN D MAJOR - ANGLAISE I + II
6. ANONYMOUS - CONCERTO (SUITE) IN D MAJOR - SORABANDE
7. ANONYMOUS - CONCERTO (SUITE) IN D MAJOR - HORNPIPE I + II
8. ANONYMOUS - CONCERTO (SUITE) IN D MAJOR - MENUET I + II + III
9. GOTTFRIED FINGER - SONATA IN C MAJOR - ADALGIO - ANDANTE
10. GOTTFRIED FINGER - SONATA IN C MAJOR - ALLEGRO
11. GOTTFRIED FINGER - SONATA IN C MAJOR - GRAVE - ( ALLEGRO)
12. TOMASO ALBINONI - CONCERTO IN C MAJOR - SINFONIA
13. TOMASO ALBINONI - CONCERTO IN C MAJOR - AFFECTTUOSO
14. TOMASO ALBINONI - CONCERTO IN C MAJOR - PRESTO
15. JOHANN CHRISTOPH PEZEL - SONATA C MAJOR
16. GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN - CONCERTO IN D MAJOR - LARGO
17. GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN - CONCERTO IN D MAJOR - VIVACE
18. GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN - CONCERTO IN D MAJOR - SICILIANO
19. GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN - CONCERTO IN D MAJOR - VIVACE
20. JOHANN MELCHIOR MOLTER - SINFONIA CONCERTANTE IN D MAJOR - ALLEGRO
21. JOHANN MELCHIOR MOLTER - SINFONIA CONCERTANTE IN D MAJOR - LARGO
22. JOHANN MELCHIOR MOLTER - SINFONIA CONCERTANTE IN D MAJOR - MARCHE
23. JOHANN MELCHIOR MOLTER - SINFONIA CONCERTANTE IN D MAJOR - ALLA BREVE
24. JOHANN MELCHIOR MOLTER - SINFONIA CONCERTANTE IN D MAJOR - VIVACE

FACCO: 6 CONCERTI OP. 1 VIVAL

For those unfamiliar with the madrigals of d'India, they will come as a great revelation. This music is the equal of anything that Gesualdo wrote, and there are discernible echoes of Monteverdi.

This is one of the Consort of Musicke's most successful forays into Italian vocal music c. 1600. Despite their differences of personal idiom and style, there is a common language that links, for example, the madrigals of Monteverdi and Gesualdo, and the most difficult thing for any ensemble approaching this repertory is to acquire a convincing presentation of its essentially rhetorical character. It is not really a question of vocal technique, but rather of a detailed understanding, shared by all the performers, of the intimate bonding of word and note, a consideration which in Monteverdi's case we know to have preoccupied him in composition throughout his career. This sense of the essence of the style does not come easily, particularly to those performers whose native language is not Italian; the Consort, whose early records of Italian repertory were not always successful in this respect, have on this new record reached a distinctive idiom which both convinces and excites.

For those who are unfamiliar with it the madrigals of Sigismondo d'India's Third Book will come as a great revelation. At its best this music is the equal of anything that Gesualdo wrote (and in their recourse to chromaticism, unexpected changes or juxtapositions of harmony and acerbic dissonances the two styles are recognizably strains of the same shoot), and while there are some weak pieces in the collection the general standard is high. In addition to the influence of Gesualdo, there are also discernible echoes here of the mature Marenzio and, above all, of Monteverdi (it is indicative that d'India sets a text taken from Act 3 of Orfeo, "Dove, ah dove ten'vai"). These pieces are full of surprises amid unexpected touches, but the results do not have that neurotic and ultimately unbalanced quality that characterize so many of Gesualdo's late madrigals; the truth of the matter is that d'India often has a better grasp of overall architecture.

The Consort present d'India's Third Book in a sequence of highly theatrical readings which manage to exploit a range of vocal gesture (portamentos, half-spoken sospiri, etc.) without descending into irritating mannerisms. And at a purely technical level d 'India's substantially homophonic style of writing is matched by a balanced vocal sound underpinned (essentially) by a firm but not tho obtrusive bass and, most impressively, a surefooted control of the tuning of these harmonically mischievous madrigals. But ultimately it is not these details that make this record such enjoyable listening, though they are pre-requisites, but rather the Consort's vivid projection of the progress of the musical and textual argument, the emotional ebb and flow of these largely amorous (and often thinly-veiled erotic) scenas, in all their detail. This fine musical achievement is wellmatched by a sensitive, immediate recording produced by Peter Wadland.

-- Gramophone [1/1988]

"Playing on period instruments, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie under Thomas Hengelbrock give fiery, impulsive readings of both symphonies. . . . [T]he sharp tang of the period sonorities and the explosive energy of the playing – above all in the pungently accented [Vorisek] Scherzo – are very persuasive. . . . [T]he outer movements [of the Schubert] dance and leap exuberantly, with spruce, agile strings and scything high trumpets. . . . Recommended if you fancy this offbeat coupling – and anyone coming new to the Vorisek should be in for a pleasurable surprise." -- Richard Wigmore, Gramophone

Gustav Leonhardt has chosen here two works of outstanding originality. From 1696 Fransisco Valls was choirmaster at Barcelona Cathedral, retiring from the post in 1726. His Missa Scala Aretina was composed in 1702 for performance in the Cathedral but became something of a cause celebre further afield on account of a breach of strict harmonic etiquette in the Gloria. Fellow musicians were scandalized by Valls's use of an unprepared dissonance and the composer was eventually obliged to defend himself in his theoretical treatise, Mapa armonico. The Mass is a richly scored piece disposed into four distinct sound bodies or choirs. One of these contains the solo voices (soprano, alto, tenor), two others are larger vocal ensembles of different sizes while the fourth is instrumental, consisting of strings with additional oboes, trumpets and a colourful continuo group including harp. Leonhardt brings a vital sense of occasion to the performance, injecting it with passion and evidently revelling in its rich and varied sonorities. But he is not always sufficiently well supported by the Netherlands Bach Society Choir which turns in rather rough and not always ready singing. But even so there is a spontaneity which makes considerable appeal and one is left with the feeling, by no means unwelcome, that this is foremost a performance and only secondarily a recording.

Biber's F minor Requiem was written exactly a decade earlier than Valls's Mass. It is one of two such surviving works from his pen and here receives its second recording; the earlier one, by Nikolaus Harnoncourt was made in 1967 and has long been unavailable (Telefunken, 3/70). The very flatness of this minor key at once points-up the striking contrast which exists between this melancholy work and its more robust, extrovert Spanish companion on disc. Biber's fervent Requiem falls into five main sections, an Introit and Kyrie, Dies irae, Offer-torium, Sanctus and, lastly Agnus Dei and Communion. The ''Dies irae'' is the most extended of these and allows for several beautifully wrought passages for the soloists (SSATB). But the ''Offertorium'' is hardly less expressive and here Biber makes an additional contrast by casting the movement in C minor; his lean and despairing harmonies are especially arresting in this section conjuring up vivid images of man's frail condition and mortality. Leonhardt is similarly responsive to text and music as he was in the Valls, but Biber occupies stylistic territory closer to home. There is a fluency in the performance of the Requiem which is perhaps less evident in the Missa Scala Aretina, and the singers too, seem more secure.

In short, this is a fascinating disc containing pieces of starkly contrasting outlook. The Valls is full of little, and not so little, harmonic surprises which tease the senses, the Biber a contemplative, profound work of dark and serene beauty. Recorded sound is appropriately spacious and the booklet contains an informative essay with texts and translations.'

-- Nicholas Anderson, Gramophone [8/1993]

Original Booklet with Synopsis and liner notes is included, although there is no libretto.

R E V I E W S

Haydn's last opera, written to inaugurate the reopening of the King's Theatre in the Haymarket in 1791 after a disastrous fire, took as its subject the Orpheus legend, not as it had been adopted by Gluck 30 years earlier, but based on Ovid: Eurydice receives her fatal snakebite while fleeing from Prince Arideo, to whom her father, King Creonte, had affianced her against her will; and there is no happy ending—Orpheus, after his journey to the underworld, loses her for ever, and he is then killed by the Maenads. At least, that is what Haydn would have set had he finished the work; but owing to the crazy rival patronage of George III and the Prince of Wales, the King refused a licence to the theatre manager and went so far as to ban even extracts from the new opera—this from so famous and popular a composer as Haydn! So Haydn stopped work on it, and as no complete libretto exists it is impossible to tell what is actually missing. Large gaps there conspicuously are: principal characters lack arias which would certainly have been their due; there are loose ends in the story, such as what happens after Creonte's call to arms (in a stirring aria) to avenge Arideo's attempted abduction of his daughter; and there is the briefest and most perfunctory treatment of such essential dramatic moments as Orpheus's confrontation with Pluto and of his desperate attempts not to look at Eurydice as he brings her back to earth. Even the main title of the opera remains mystifying, as the only reference to it in the text is when Amor (here called Genio) urges Orpheus to be philosophical about his great loss.

Nevertheless, what remains includes some fine music, as can be heard here. From the outset of the overture Haydn makes much use of broken phrases to express pathos; there is a long love duet at the end of Act 1, a charming folky chorus of little Cupids to begin Act 2; particularly rich are the accompanied recitatives throughout, that by Eurydice as she is bitten by the snake being most moving; the chorus of Furies in Hades is extremely striking, with powerful orchestration; and there is a spectacular bravura aria for Genio, seemingly intended for some leading soprano castrato. On the other hand, it is difficult to understand why Haydn wrote such cheery music for Creonte's aria about life not being worth living without love, and for Orpheus's ''Mi sento languire, morire mi sento''. This live Frankfurt performance is in general very acceptable, though had it been transferred to the studio some details could have been improved: for example, ensemble of the (period) woodwind might have been much better, and there might have been fewer mistakes in the singers' Italian. Marilyn Schmiege makes an appealing Eurydice and copes fairly well, flexibly if not absolutely cleanly, with her first florid aria, in which she likens her laments to those of the nightingale; Christoph Pregardien produces a nice messa di voce at the start of Orpheus's first solo (with harp obbligato) in which he tames the forest's wild beasts threatening his beloved's safety, but the part frequently descends too low for his pleasant light tenor, into a register where he is weak; and Claron McFadden adds to her reputation with some brilliant coloratura, though she is fractionally sharp in places: the chorus, which plays a large part in the action, is excellent.

-- Lionel Salter, Gramophone [4/1992]

This CD features madrigals based on texts by G. Battista Guarini.
Includes madrigal(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Cantus Cölln. Conductor: Konrad Junghänel. Soloist: Konrad Junghänel.

STRADELLA: CHRISTMAS CANTATAS

Includes work(s) by Anonymous. Ensemble: Sequentia. Conductor: Benjamin Bagby. Soloists: Benjamin Bagby, Stephen Grant, Paul Guttry, William Hite, Frank Kelley, Eric Mentzel, Sanford Sylvan, Barbara Thornton, Elizabeth Gaver.

METAMORPHOSIS - ELGAR, BARBER

Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Huelgas Ensemble. Conductor: Paul Van Nevel.

It’s a programme put together of sixteenth and seventeenth century music from the courts of Vienna and Salzburg with the musical influences on the composers represented, as well as the earlier chant that might have been heard in the course of the mass. The CD’s ‘title’ is Multichoral Sacred Works for Salzburg Cathedral and the Vienna Court Chapel. Biber and Schmelzer take the lion’s share of this CD, though they are nicely complemented by Palestrina and Froberger. A very satisfying little mosaic and expertly played, this CD is thoroughly recommended on all counts.

After a period as violinist at the Salzburg court, Biber became Kapellmeister there in 1684, a post which he held for the last twenty years of his life. Biber was a student of Schmelzer, although the latter is more closely associated with Vienna, the court at which Froberger also worked. Palestrina, of course, worked in Rome a generation or so earlier but was at the height of his influence when Biber, Schmelzer and Froberger were active.

These are exciting, atmospheric and persuasive performances. No comparative recordings of the major works here are in the current catalogue, although the Sonata No.12 from the Sacro-profanus is coupled with another outstanding Biber Mass, Christi Resurgentis by Manze and the English Concert on Harmonia Mundi (907397) and the Froberger is in volume 1 of Richard Egarr’s Complete Keyboard set on Globe (6022). For these two different reasons if this repertoire interests you or you are new to it and think you would enjoy the magnificence of mid-Baroque choral music, don’t hesitate to buy this excellent CD. Biber’s masses are only now beginning to be seen for what they are… splendid, committed and musically very compelling compositions that make particularly spectacular (though never showy) use of the words of the liturgy in a way that was not picked up again until the Bach Passions.

It’s a repertoire in which Junghänel is particularly at home and has built a solid reputation; his Schütz Symphoniae Sacre discs also on Harmonia Mundi being particularly fine. His direction here is firm and illuminating and it’s obvious he’s both at home in and genuinely revelling the music; the same goes for the singers, who are on top form.

The choral singing in the other music is clean, unforced and – as everything else on this offering – well-recorded (in a monastery whose acoustic is a delight and enhances the music). Wolfgang Glüxam’s brief appearance in the Froberger makes a telling interlude, though the atmosphere isn’t really interrupted. If this is the kind of music the Salzburg and Viennese court was used to, they were lucky indeed!

-- Mark Sealey, MusicWeb International

This is very unusual Bach. The Fantasia in C minor has only recently been identified as being by Bach and Vogel identifies the spurious Sarabande con Partite as being based on the Overture to Lully's opera Bellerophon. In the performances themselves Vogel has ventured some way off the established course. Incomprehensibly he combines the early version of the G minor Prelude (BWV535a) with the final version of its Fugue (BWV535), while he finishes an already disjointed performance of the Toccata, Adagio and Fugue (the Toccata suffering from rather more echo effects than is really good for it) by picking up the Toccata again (from bar 32) immediately after the Fugue. I can't begin to fathom the thinking behind this and Vogel makes no attempt to justify this course of action in his accompanying notes. But there again it does the soul good to have established truths questioned, and this disc does nothing if not question some fundamental beliefs in Bach performances. It would be nice, however, if we were given a few answers.

Apart from registrative eccentricities in BWV564 the novelties in Vogel's performances always have some musical justification; how refreshing, for example, to hear the great In dulci jubilo Prelude played on humble eight and four foot Flutes. I do wonder, though, whether he is sometimes tempted to adapt his musical arguments to suit this particular organ, not least in that strangest of all Bach works, the Pastorale. Here Vogel justifies his employment of the Dulcian stop (one of the particular delicacies of this wonderful instrument) by claiming its use as being in the ''folk tradition of using reed instruments to play pastorellas outdoors''. He might have also added that there is a tradition for these not to have been played particularly well; but no one can dispute that Vogel's performances, full of oddities as they are, are anything other than brilliantly executed. One final enigma bothers me; the booklet includes a murky photograph of one Signore Sandro Boccardi—why?'

-- Marc Rochester, Gramophone [8/1992]

F. COUPERIN: LA SULTANNE JAY

How winning these chamber works are when played so stylishly and when the authentic textures are so transparent.

I will start this month with some instrumental music by C. P. E. Bach, expertly presented by members of Les Adieux and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi's Baroque Esprit label. First comes a set of 12 Little Pieces for two flutes, two violins and continuo, H600, and how winning they are when played so stylishly and when the authentic textures (varying in instrumentation from piece to piece) are so transparent. The following Hamburg Sonata for flute and continuo in G, H564, needs to be approached separately, for there is an awkward pitch change as it opens. A charming three-movement Duo for flute and violin (1-1598) follows, then there are two somewhat more substantial Trio Sonatas, H567 and H571 - the highlight of the programme. Both have touchingly melancholic Adagios to offset their sprightly Allegro outer movements. The collection ends most appropriately with the miniature cantata Phyllis and Thirsis (Rosmarie Hofmann and the excellent Nigel Rogers, respectively), as this features obbligatos for a pair of flutes. This division of the two vocal roles here is more convincing than in Bach's original scheme, where the soprano was expected to take both parts, more particularly as Nigel Rogers is here at his freshest and most appealing. A most rewarding programme, immaculately recorded.

-- Ivan March, Gramophone [8/1996]

MOZART: SERENADE K 203 MAIER,