BACH French Suites, BWV 812–817 • Alessandra Artifoni (hpd) • DYNAMIC 757 (2 CDs: 90:44)


It always gives me pause when I encounter an artist new to me and, upon searching the Internet for some biographical background, I find next to nothing. Alessandra Artifoni has no official website and only a number of links pop up—some in Italian only—to sources for this 2012 set of Bach’s French Suites . A one-paragraph bio-blurb in the enclosed booklet doesn’t tell us much either. She was born in Florence in 1967, so at 46 she’s not fresh out of the conservatory or just off the competition circuit. She studied organ and harpsichord in Italy, and then spent 10 years in Switzerland furthering her studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. According to the note, Artifoni has made several CDs and radio recordings, but I wasn’t able to find any of them listed beyond this Dynamic release, not even on Amazon’s Italian branch. So, here we have an artist approaching 50, who, for all practical purposes, emerges from nowhere to give us a recording of Bach’s complete French Suites.


How does Artifoni fare? Quite well in fact. She makes her case for these pieces by adopting just tempos, dutifully observing repeats, making clear and precise distinctions between the various embellishment types that appear in the scores, and exhibiting no quirky mannerisms. Moreover, Artifoni’s performances are further enhanced by a richly voiced two-manual harpsichord of exceptional clarity and beauty of tone. It was built in 1997 by Tony Chinnery after a circa 1702 harpsichord by Berlin maker Michael Mietke (?1656/71–1719). Records indicate that Mietke delivered a harpsichord to the court at Köthen in 1719 on the recommendation of Bach, and that it was likely the instrument Bach played in a performance of the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto.


Chinnery lives and works in a villa just north of Florence, and this particular harpsichord from his workshop sparkles with diamond-like glints without any hint of glare or harshness across and between its two evenly matched keyboards. It’s absolutely ideal for these suites, enabling Artifoni to clearly resolve Bach’s linear writing.


Many famous players, of course, have put their individual stamps on these works, performing them on piano as well as on harpsichord. But among just harpsichord versions, the catalog beckons, in no particular order, with entries by Helmut Walcha, Huguette Dreyfus, Ton Koopman, Christophe Rousset, Kenneth Gilbert, Trevor Pinnock, Christopher Hogwood, Gustav Leonhardt, Bob van Asperen, Davitt Moroney, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, and Masaaki Suzuki. I don’t have all of them and haven’t even heard some of them, but of those I do have and/or have heard, I’m comfortable in saying that Alessandra Artifoni can stand with the best of them.


Admittedly, she is not as varied or imaginative in her approach as are some—for example, she doesn’t make much use of different stops to provide contrast in repeated sections, as does Dreyfus, or insert creative embellishments of her own making along the way, as does Rousset—but she is due credit for playing the notes as Bach wrote them, or at least how we think he wrote them, which brings me to one last, if essentially unimportant point about Artifoni’s or Dynamic’s sequencing of the suites on these two discs.


Except for a few movements of these pieces which found their way into Anna Magdalena’s Clavierbüchlein in Bach’s own hand, no autograph scores of the French Suites exist. Not even the title is Bach’s; it first appears in a 1762 treatise by German musicologist Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718–1795). Because of this, later copies and editions took it upon themselves to publish the suites in no particular agreed upon order.


As a result, many players present the suites in numerical order, one through six, which is actually an artifact of their BWV numbers. Since the BWV catalog assigned 812 to the Suite in


D Minor, it became No. 1; 813, assigned to the Suite in C Minor, became No. 2, and so on. But not all players adopt this schema, some preferring to present the suites in some alternate order that makes sense to them or to the record producer laying them out. Just for grins, here’s Artifoni’s sequence compared to Rousset’s.

	D Minor	C Minor	B Minor	E?-Major	G Major	E Major
	812	813	814	815	816	817
Artifoni (order)	5	2	4	1	3	6
Rousset (order)	5	2	6	1	4	3

Whether there’s any significance to the fact that Artifoni and Rousset both begin their sets with the E?-Major Suite (BWV 815) followed by the C-Minor Suite (BWV 813), or whether it’s purely coincidental I don’t know, but if there’s a desire to devise some plan based on keys, Bach didn’t make it easy. There’s no obvious formula I can see that would result in a complementary or symmetrical structure. Rousset begins in E?-Major and ends in E Major, two keys that may be adjacent to each other on the keyboard but are a universe apart in terms of tonal relationships. Artifoni also begins in E?-Major but ends in B Minor, a tonal relationship of an augmented fifth (or diminished sixth) that would have taken the curls right out of Bach’s wig. So, one must conclude that since no order makes sense, any order will do.


The more I listen to Aritifoni’s French Suites the more I like them. They won’t displace other favorites, chief among which are Rousset and, with apologies to any elitists who may happen upon this review—I’m sure there are none among Fanfare ’s readers—Keith Jarrett, whose ventures into Bach, I think, are generally underappreciated. Anyway, Artifoni’s new release is highly recommended.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

This release features Vol. 3 of Tartini's works for violin and harpsichord, adding another significant piece to Dynamic's releases by the baroque composer. The works are performed here by the duo Crtomir �i�kovic (violin) and Luca Ferrini (harpsichord), who were also featured also in Dynamic's Vol.1 and Vol. 2. Both musicians are highly praised specialists for this kind of repertoire. Born in Trieste, Crtomir �i�kovic studied at "Glasbena Matica" and graduated from the G. Tartini" Conservatory of Trieste. He enjoys performing in various chamber groups as well as performing as a soloist with prestigious orchestras. Luca Ferrini studied at the conservatories Tartini in Trieste, and Tomadini in Udine, obtaining full marks for both piano and harpsichord. He is a renowned concert pianist, performing all over Europe as a soloist and member of chamber ensembles.

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Il Farnace is the most re-written and re-proposed of Vivaldi’s operas. Versions of Farnace, two in 1727 and one each in 1730, 1731 and 1732, were conceived and adapted to the different circumstances for Venice, Prague, Pavia and Mantua, always with a cast to Vivaldi’s satisfaction and with the composer in control of the production. The greatest appreciation of Vivaldi’s operatic music was expressed in a letter by a spectator of the 1727 Carnival season. The abbot Antonio Conti wrote that of all the operas of the Venice season he liked best Farnace because its music was varied, “between the sublime and the tender,” and because Vivaldi’s pupil worked wonders. In 1738, for the Ferrara Carnival season, Vivaldi wrote a new score of the opera. This is the last Farnace, in two acts, as the third was lost.

Bach: Suite in C Minor, BWV 997 & Trio Sonatas Nos. 1, 2 & 5

Sor: Studies in a Form of a Suite

Also available on Blu-ray

An insane passion for a mysterious woman who, in the opera, is never shown. Federico wants her desperately, dreams of her, suffers for her, and step by step his mind begins to waver. The people around him try in vain to prevent this love from becoming a damning obsession. A rare opera by the great Italian composer Francesco Cilea. Its famous aria “Il lamento di Federico” has always been a favorite with tenors of all times. This recording also features the aria for tenor, “Una mattina”, written by Cilea for the opera’s first version and then lost, here in world première recording. A co-production Teatro Pergolesi and Wexford Festival Opera.

MacBeth undoubtedly marked a turning point in Verdi's operatic writing, i. e. , the foregrounding of the characters' introspective, psychological aspects. This DVD/Blu-ray captures the production staged at Novara's Teatro Coccia during the 2013-14 season, with thriller/horror filmmaker Dario Argento tackling opera direction for the first time. One could only expect a direction in line with his films, and from that point of view this MacBeth meets expectations, with the visualization of the opera's bloody, indeed gory scenes matching the dark, brutal character of Shakespeare work.

Starring Dimitra Theodossiou, Daniela Barcellona & Carlo Ventre. From the Macerata Festival, Italy, 2007. 2 DVDs. (165 min)

Recorded at Tokyo Bunkamura Orchard Hall, 15th June 1996. This 1996 Tokyo recital is a celebration of the distinguished Spanish tenor Alfredo Kraus's 40 year career. After warming his voice with two classical arias transcribed by Parisotti, Kraus launches into an anthology of music from the French, Spanish and Italian repertoires. The recital includes a duet from the first act of Lucia di Lammermoor and the famous aria "Pourquoi me r�veiller?" from Massenet's Werther, an opera in which Kraus was considered an outstanding interpreter of the title role. Each and every piece is managed with extreme elegance, noble aplomb and ease, qualities that he attained through a formidable technique and a careful career pacing. At sixty nine Kraus sings without any apparent effort and with that aristocratic nonchalance that was one of the most charming aspects of his style. Language: Italian Language: Italian, German, English, French, Spanish. Edemiro Arnaltes (Piano) Emiko Suga (Soprano) Asier Polo (Cello) Alfredo Kraus (Tenor).

Featuring works from Paganini, Tartini, and Locatelli, this album is a journey through true violin virtuosity. Especially notable on this release is Paganini’s Sonata a preghiera M.S. 23. This is the first recording of the unabridged original version, and it is performed on Paganini’s own violin from 1742. One of Italy’s most renowned violinists, Luca Fanfoni interprets these works impeccably.

Rossini wrote Semiramide in the winter of 1822/23 for La Fenice of Venice. The libretto is based on Voltaire's drama Semiramis, written by the French philosopher and scholar in 1748. In some respects a conclusive opera, Semiramide contains traditional elements alongside innovative ones. Semiramide summarizes and completes Rossini's serious arc and is paradigmatic of all that would follow.

MOZART (rev. STRAUSS, R.): Idomeneo (Complete)

This is the third volume in the documentary series of Milan's La Scala theatre's "golden years." Renowned Italian journalist Enzo Biagi conducted these interviews that were originally produced on 16mm film. This installment documents La Scala's 1981 tour of Japan. It includes an inteviews with Claudio Abbado, Piero Cappuccilli, and Mirella Freni. There are also clips of Verdi's "Otello" conducted by Carlos Kleiber with performances by Placido Domingo, excerpts from "Simon Boccanegra," and Verdi's "Messa da Requiem."

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

The 2017 edition of the Reate Festival of Italy staged two operas composed by Nino Rota (1911-1979). Mostly known for his cinema soundtracks, Rota was able to merge the great Italian operatic tradition of Rossini, Puccini and Verdi into a contemporary musical language. I due timidi is drawn from a text of Italian writer Suso Cecchi d’Amico and the libretto of La notte di un nevrastenico was written by Riccardo Bacchelli. An all-star cast is featured here, including Giorgio Celenza, Sabrina Cortese, Daniele Adriani, Antonio Sapio, Chiara Osella, and Carlo Feola, among others. The Reate Festival Orchestra, led by Gabriele Bonolis, accompanies the soloists perfectly. This release is the world premiere recording of these works, and has been filmed in high-definition. Subtitled are available in Italian, English, German, French, Japanese, and Korean.

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REVIEW:

I due timidi is a gorgeous piece. Rota doesn't quite muster Puccini’s final layer of harmonic interest and novel orchestration but he rivals his senior for melodic generosity and is brilliant with vocal characterisation and linguistic clarity.

The performances are simply staged with a touch of commedia dell’arte and allowed to blossom in all the right ways by the conductor Gabriele Bonolis. There’s some ragged orchestral work but lovely singing that indulges Rota’s irresistible legatos. Daniele Adriani stands out as the male lover Raimondo in I due and as the Commendatore in La notte. His is not a classic Italian tenor sound, rather something with more grain but still adequate smoothness and notable presence.

– Gramophone

Boito's Mefistofele is an uneven work, dramatically fragmented, episodic almost to a fault. But at the same time it is so perfectly an echt-Italian opera of its era that its melodies, situations, and choruses stir the blood in a manner not unlike Verdi and Ponchielli, and a good performance can leave the audience breathless. There are juicy parts for soprano, tenor, bass, and chorus, and a good design and directorial team can make something terrific out of it. This current DVD records the opening production of Palermo's Teatro Massimo's 2008 season, and there's something for everybody.

Director Giancarlo del Monaco, set designer Carlo Centolavigna, and costumer Maria Filippi start out superbly with the Prologue, set in heaven: a long, blue-lit tunnel with a white light at the end (much the look of how people describe near-death experiences) finds Mefistofele in starched, white tuxedo shirt-front and trousers, preening arrogantly while the heavenly voices come from behind the scenes. Video director Matteo Ricchetti scores big with a close-up blur of Mefistofele writhing under the celestial sounds.

The Easter Scene is a brightly lit carnival set in the 1930s; the costumes are colorful period pieces, although why Mefistofele is wearing campy feathers and huge, satin horns is beyond me. An eerie carousel adds to the atmosphere. The scene changes to bare gray walls and doorways and the "garden" has one tree in its center, also gray. Margherita is drearily dressed, hausfrau style.

The Sabbath is your garden-variety, half-naked thrashing around, with our devil in drag. Still, so far, so good, but for the Night of the Classical Sabbath, we're given Las Vegas, with showgirls, plenty of neon lights, the Hotel Troy, and Venus, with Elena and Pantalis embracing in a huge clam shell. Faust is in a vulgar pink, red, and blue shirt and Panama hat; Mefistofele is dressed as either a doorman or an MC. Whatever, it's ugly and doesn't click. Back to the tunnel and light for the Epilogue and a stunning finale. So, physically and directorially (sometimes actions do not match text), this is a mixed bag.

Vocally, things are more solid. Ferruccio Furlanetto, acting and singing Mefistofele as a combination of cowering self-loathing and despicable, is still in fine voice after 30 years on stage, and he rightly dominates the proceedings--a brilliant performance. Tenor Giuseppe Filanoti manages a physically credible Faust and sings fearlessly and intelligently. His handsome tenor has real ring to it, and he sings off the text. Soprano Dimitra Theodossiou, looking dowdy as Margherita and poorly costumed as Elena, still manages to be moving as the first character and alluring as the second. "L'altra notte" is fine, if a bit miniaturized; she and Filanoti sing "Lontano, lontano" beautifully, and she manages Helen's odd tessitura with aplomb. The voice itself is one of quality and she uses it with class and style. The other soloists are good.

Conductor Stefano Ranzani pulls out all the stops for the big moments and offers tender accompaniments in Margherita's and Faust's intimate moments, with orchestra responding superbly. The woodwinds in the Prologue are spicy and vital; the brasses ring out. The chorus is excellent in the Prologue and Epiliogue but a bit ragged in between. The picture and sound are first-rate. This set's only competition is a 1989 performance from San Francisco starring Samuel Ramey at his peak in an otherwise unimaginative production and with sound and image less sharp than this new one. Even with its design and directorial oddities, this is highly recommended.

--Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

Agostino Steffani was a musician, as well as an important state and church figure. Active in Munich, Hannover and Düsseldorf, he was highly appreciated also in London, where in 1727 the Academy of Vocal Music would make him honorary president. Baccanali, dating from 1695, is a series of reflections on the sentiments, joys and sorrows of man's life, made by eight characters set in a pastoral context. The Titan Atlas is entrusted with the prologue, which has the purpose of introducing to the events and summarizing their purpose: men should be granted a pause from their sufferings and labors at least during the days consecrated to Bacchus, the soother of all ills. Over witty verses, Steffani weaves a rich score, characterizsed by great writing variety. The young interpreters stand out not only for their beautiful voices but also for their reciting skills. The success of Baccanali must also be ascribed to the baton of Antonio Greco, who expertly leads the Cremona Antiqua Ensemble.

I Shardana is set in a free Sardinia, an island where rigorous rules are in force and it's people do not tolerate invasions or spiritual contamination, a time when - as Ennio Porrino (b. 1910) specifies in the score - shepherds were warriors and judges, "when man did not believe in one God but in the power of the stars, and worshipped the dead and the waters".The opera's first drafts date from 1934-35, but the work only debuted years later, on 21st March 1959, at the San Carlo theatre in Naples, with it's final title of I Shardana and Porrino himself conducting. The composer would die suddenly a few months later.

World premiere on Blu-ray! Beatrice di Tenda is a tragic opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini. In Beatrice very diverse elements coexist: there are music patterns already experimented in Norma and used here to their utmost potential, side by side with new ways and techniques, which would be treasured by Verdi.

The Vespero dellal Beata Vergine completes the recording of the works contained in the collection of eight-voice Vespers published in 1675, which includes the Vespero delli 5 Laudate and the Vespero delle Domeniche. It is the first complete recording of this trilogy, a masterpiece by Francesco Cavalli: the three Vespers will later be combined in a box-set. A worthy heir of Claudio Monteverdi, Francesco Cavalli uses, in the Vespero della Beata Vergine, musical brush strokes of extraordinary impact, under the aegis of an intense, Counter-Feformist spirituality where the deepest religious feeling goes hand in hand with a musical splendor of clear Venetian imprint. The interpretation is entrusted to the "Coro Monteverdi di Cream" and the "La Pifarescha" ensemble conducted by Bruno Gini, one of Italy's greatest specialists in Cavalli's sacred music.

This album features the World Premiere Recording of six unpublished duets for flute and violin, that flutist Mario Carbotta and violinist Mario Hossen drew from a manuscript kept in Mantua. Alessandro Rolla composed this music around 1795, while he was at the Court of Parma, where he was in charge of the music programming for Ferdinand I Bourbon’ s public events as well as private entertainments. For this reason Rolla conforms to the duet form of his day but infuses it with a gracefulness that makes his music, composed for pure and simple entertainment, very attractive. These works possess a pleasant, joyful yet delicate and entertaining mood. Flutist Mario Carbotta ranks among Dynamic’s “historical” artists. A solo performer who collaborated with over 70 symphony and chamber orchestras worldwide, a conductor, a musicologist and a teacher, his repertoire ranges from the 1700s to contemporary works. Violinist Mario Hossen was an enfant-prodige. Today, he is internationally hailed for his incredible virtuosity and charismatic stage presence. His repertoire spans from Renaissance to Classical music, contemporary works and Jazz. Hossen's musicological and artistic endeavors are especially devoted to source research on Nicolò Paganini.

Milan's La Scala theatre as told by the protagonists of it's golden years. Enzo Biagi was one of Italy's most famous and beloved journalists. His fondness for the prestigious Milanese venue led to the programs Dynamic are now presenting on DVD, made in 1981/82. Documenting the La Scala productions of those years, Biagi entered the theatre during the rehearsals and interviewed the protagonists (conductors, singers and directors), not only the figures of those days but also the great stars of the past. A series originally produced on 16 mm film, now restored and offered to the public at large. Among the interesting and exciting content on offer on Vol. 2 are interviews with Riccardo Muti and Giorgio Strehler; a talk full of reminiscences with Giulietta Simionato; footage of Renata Tebaldi; and Mr. Biagi meets one of the great stars of La Scala's ballet dancers, Luciana Savignano.

Written for exceptional singers, Il Trovatore has remained popular ever since its first performance at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on January 19, 1853, when even the toughest critics were convinced of its place in the repertoire. People are attracted to Il Trovatore because of its rousing melodies, its brutal, powerful plot, and its simple structure: elements tha tmake it one of the best examples of Verdi's theatre pieces. Recorded live at the Sferisterio theatre of Macerata in the summer of 2016, under conductor Daniel Oren's vibrant and incisive direction, this production boasts a first-rate cast and elegant direction from Francisco Negrin. The sets and costumes by Louis Desire and lightning by Bruno Poet were well received by the Sferisterio audience.

Lalo: Le Roi d'Ys

Dynamic presents the second volume of a series of three releases dedicated to Overtures and Symphonies spanning three centuries of Italian opera. The first volume was dedicated to the eighteenth century, while this second features the early nineteenth century. The great popularity of Italian Opera in European courts and theatres transformed this music genre, which had first appeared at the beginning of the seventeenth century as a court entertainment, into a product of wide international circulation, universally loved. In the wake of its success, other European nations developed a local operatic tradition but Italian opera kept a predominant role in Europe throughout the entire 19th century. That being the case, it was natural for foreign composers to want to study in Italy where they sometimes remained indefinitely, becoming, for all intents and purposes, composers of Italian opera. Two such composers were Mayr and Arrieta, who join in this program, their most important Italian colleagues of that period: Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini.

This album features a new arrangement for harpsichord and guitar of Bach's six trio Sonatas for organ BWV 525-530. Extravagantia duo, two talented and learned young musicians, takes the challenge to confront themselves with Bach's organ masterpieces with a new and fresh approach which aims to explore from an unusual perspective a piece of traditional repertoire. Luigi Accardo and Francesco Molmenti dig deeply into Bach's historical background and create a musical language of their own. Francesco Molmenti began studying guitar at age 11. He went on to earn his diploma at the Conservatory of Trieste in 2003. He has won several national and international competitions since. Currently, he performs as a soloist, with the Res Intimae guitar trio, and the present ensemble, the Extravagantia Duo. Luigi Accardo was born in Cagliari. He graduated in Piano from the Conservatory of Cagliari and in Harpsichord from the Conservatory of Piacenza.