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Leclair: Violin Concertos, Op. 7
Touchemoulin: Concertos & Symphonies / Ayrton, Les Inventions
TOUCHEMOULIN Concertos: for Violin; for Harpsichord; for Flute. Symphonies: in G, op. 1/2; in F, op. 1/5 • Daniel Sepec (vn); Alexis Kossenko (fl); Patrick Ayrton (hpsd); Les Inventions (period instruments) • RAMÉE RAM 0807 (68:34)
Our fixation on genius can obscure many whose gifts, though manifold, did not measure up to those held by Mozart, Mendelssohn, and the like. Among those was a man by the name of Joseph Touchemoulin (1727–1801). Some of the critical information regarding Touchemoulin is missing, e.g., regarding his early musical training and what or who was responsible for his move to Germany. But snapshots of the life and career of this older contemporary of Haydn are provided by documents in places as diverse as the University of California at Berkeley and the Benedictine convent of Sarnen in Switzerland.
We find interesting personal correspondence with his family in France and we uncover fascinating tidbits as well, to wit: While Touchemoulin was employed at the court of Thurn und Taxis he was acquainted with and on occasion worked with Emanuel Schikaneder, the director of the city theater. It was he who would later create the role of Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte . We also learn that a Johann Friedrich Peter, a Moravian immigrating to North Carolina, took with him—among other things—a symphony of Touchemoulin as well as music of Mozart and Haydn.
Composers such as Touchemoulin acquired their skills through instruction, hard work, and self-discipline. His apprenticeship, if you will, was in Padua where he was taken under the wing of the great violinist Giuseppe Tartini. In spite of privation Touchemoulin remained loyal to his art, toiling assiduously, and rendering inexorable service to those who favored him with their patronage. Edison’s aphorism about the disproportionate percentages of perspiration and inspiration apparently paid off for Touchemoulin, as a number of his symphonies were performed to great acclaim at the Concert Spirituel in Paris in 1754, and they were published a few years later by Huberty with a dedication to Madame Cousineau. The symphonies are lightly scored, calling for strings with a pair of horns ad libitum . As for the concertos, those for violin and harpsichord include horns (the latter adds a pair of flutes as well), and the flute concerto employs strings only.
One doesn’t have to listen to this music for any length of time to determine that Touchemoulin was no genius, but he did succeed in composing charming and well-crafted music that speaks directly to the listener. There is not as much as a scintilla of pretense, nor is there any sophistry. The music hints at the younger members of the Bach family, with the galant and Empfindsamkeit almost constantly on display. The flute concerto was previously available on vinyl in a recording by Maxence Larrieu, but as far as the other works are concerned, they are world premieres.
Les Inventions is another of those small period-instrument bands with a string section that numbers 5-4-3-2-1 plus the requisite winds when and where appropriate. Its playing is crisp and cleanly articulated with excellent intonation, sprightly tempos, tight ensemble, and an aural spectrum that is quite good as well.
If you’re looking for another Mozart, then pass this one by. But if you’re looking for something different, interesting, and occasionally stimulating, then I suggest this Ramée release, as on those points it certainly won’t disappoint.
FANFARE: Michael Carter
Old Gautiers Nightinghall
Pez: Overtures, Concerti / Les Muffatti
Includes work(s) by Johann Christoph Pez. Ensemble: Les Muffatti. Conductor: Peter Van Heyghen.
Pepusch: Venus & Adonis
Telemann: Chameleon / New Collegium
Handel: Suites de pieces pour le Clavecin
Valentine: Sonate À Flauto E Basso / Ensemble Mediolanum
Includes work(s) for recorder by Robert Valentine. Ensemble: Mediolanum Ensemble. Soloist: Susanne Ambos.
Gaultier: Apollon Orateur / Anthony Bailes
Sterkel: Sonatas for Fortepiano & Violin / Biesemans, Luthi
A once-celebrated contemporary of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, and a precursor of Schubert in the domain of the lied, Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel (1750–1817) is today almost unknown to the general public. Given the great success of his symphonies at the Concert Spirituel, he was probably the composer most frequently performed in Paris between 1777 and 1779. This famous and highly influental pianist and composer spent most of his working life at the court of Mainz, where his reputation attracted rising young talents like Beethoven and Weber, and wrote more than 700 works, including 400 German and Italian songs. On this new release, Els Biesemans and Meret Lüthi present a world premiere recording of some of his sonatas for fortepiano and violin, utterly disarming in their charm, inventiveness and refinement.
Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine
Flour De Beaulté / La Morra
Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: La Morra.
Muffat: Armonico tributo
A musical offering
Bach: Concertos for Organ and Strings
The Art of Fantasy
J.S. Bach: Cello Suites
Images
Spohr & Onslow: Nonets
Keynotes / Marti
| Some of the greatest works ever composed were conceived for and inspired by keyboard instruments. Today, however, the splendor of the canonical works for keyboard instruments composed after 1600 — Bach’s Preludes and Fugues, Beethoven’s Sonatas and Chopin’s Nocturnes — tends to overshadow works composed earlier, despite there being a rich history of repertoire and a variety of instruments at that earlier time. Corina Marti here not only explores the earliest keyboard music to be composed in Europe but also provides a fascinating insight into a world of virtuoso players and the music composed for them, playing a selection of instruments that are hardly known today: a metal-stringed clavisimbalum (an early form of harpsichord), an upright gut-stringed claviciterium, two organetti (portative organs) of different sizes, and the church organ in Altenbruch in northern Germany with its array of original pipes that date from the fifteenth century. |
Buxtehude: Sacred Cantatas
Lacaze: Works with Flutes
Johann Hermann Schein: Ich Will Schweigen
When Johann Hermann Schein became Kantor at the church of Saint Thomas in Leipzig in 1616, he had, on the one hand, to satisfy the liturgical demands of his Lutheran parish and, on the other, compose music that was truly contemporary, sensible to the new style coming out of Italy. Schein exploited the new possibilities brought by the basso continuo, demonstrated his mastery of musical rhetoric and wrote extremely ambitious music of great expressive force. The instrumentation calls for instruments such as the cornet, trombone and dulcian, Schein drawing his musicians from the forces of the Stadtpfeiffer and Ratsmusiker, guilds of instrumentalists attached to the City of Leipzig since the 15th century. For this musical portrait of Schein, one of the greatest German composers of the 17th century and one of J. S. Bachs most talented predecessors, InAlto presents an itinerary to the sources of the German cantata and testimony to the extraordinary tradition of city musicians perpetuated over the centuries. In addition to Scheins music, this heritage is represented here by Johann Schelle, Gottfried Reiche and J. S. Bach.
De Monte: Madrigals and Chansons / Ratas Del Viejo Mundo
The year 2021 marked the 500th anniversary of the birth of Philippe de Monte. This selection of madrigals, motets and chansons is a contribution to the restoration of his much-merited fame.
