Giovanni Legrenzi; Giacomo Carissimi - Oratorios of the Italian Baroque: Il Cuor Umano All'incanto; Oratorio della SS Virgine; Jonas

"In the environment of cultural renewal which took place in the wake of the Catholic counter-reformation at the turn of the 17th century, two diverse forms of sacred poetry written for music arose: the oratorio, championed by the followers of St. Philip Neri, and the sacred drama, favoured by the Jesuits. Both of these forms were aimed at responding to the same need: that of proposing stories of a sacred, spiritual or moral character in a manner pleasing to a vast public. The artistic results which followed were, however, quite different, and perhaps even in direct opposition to one another. The oratorio, in accordance with the canons of Philip's teachings according to which the faithful should be educated through simple and immediate means, was conceived as a composition in two parts, featuring a few fundamental personages and executed by musicians and singers who were hidden from view of the listeners. The sacred drama, on the other hand, conformed to that dramaturgy, which Jesuit theoreticians had long sought to codify, inspired by antique theatrical models. The text of the drama, much longer than that of an oratorio, was divided into three or even five separate acts, at times divided by comic intermezzos, and featured a remarkable number of principal and secondary characters who complicated the plot, while the staging was conceived in such a way as to awe the spectator, even to the point of upstaging the music or the poetic text.

"Music comprised the element of contact between the two genres. While the librettists generally belonged to different cultural milieus, the same composers often wrote both oratorios and sacred dramas. The compositional technique foresaw the use of all musical form employing basso continuo. The sacred drama and the oratorio would thus undergo the same musical evolution as other contemporary genres such as cantatas or operas.

"The music for 'Il Cuor umano all'incanto' was composed by Giovanni Legrenzi in all probability during the very early years of the 1670s. At that time, Legrenzi, who had already served as 'maestro di cappella' at the Accademia dello Spirito Santo in Ferrara beginning in 1656, moved to Venice to take over the post of director of the Conservatorio dei Mendicanti. In 1685 he also became the director of the prestigious chapel of St. Mark's. In these years, he established himself as one of the leading authors of musical oratorios in the Venetian area, collaborating frequently with the local 'Congregazione dell'Oratorio' which met at the church of S. Maria della Consolazione. Documentation preserved in the archives of the church of S. Maria della Consolazione provides details concerning the titles of the oratorios performed in those years: among those cited, we find for the first time, in 1673, 'Il cuor umano all'incanto'.

"The text of the oratorio was written by Pier Matteo Petrucci, a priest of the Order of St. Philip Neri, who took his training at the Universita of Macerata and was a member of the 'Congregazione dell'Oratorio' of Jesi. The years immediately following 1670 were fundamental for the literary production of Petrucci, a prominent figure in Italian mysticism. In 1680, he was named bishop of Jesi, and in 1686 cardinal. Merely a year later, however, in the wake of the trial of Miguel de Molinos, his publications were condemned for quietism by the court of the Inquisition and were placed on the Index of prohibited books.

"The first printed edition in which the text of 'Il Cuor umano all'incanto' appears dates to 1675. It was included in a collection entitled 'Poesie sacre e spirituali de Pier Matteo Petrucci della Congregazione dell'Oratorio di Jesi' and was published in Jesi and Macerata. It is particularly interesting to note the delay of nearly two years which separated the first performances of the oratorio in Venice from its publication, edited personally by Petrucci himself for the very purpose of obviating an unauthorized circulation of his works. This fact demonstrates that the circulation of oratorios took place even before the compositions were published, thanks to the ties which connected the followers of St. Philip who were active in various Italian cities. Evidence of the use of the text by Petrucci - musical scores, librettos, documents concerning performances - may be found today in some of the cities where the oratorians were most active: Venice, Ferrara, Bologna and Naples. The success of the 'Poesie' is witnessed, moreover, by the reprints published in Jesi or Venice in 1680, 1685, 1686 and 1717. 'Il Cuor umano all'incanto', in particular, was set to music not only by Legrenzi, but also by Giovanni Antonio Manara and Pietro Andrea Ziani.

"The version by Giovanni Legrenzi was performed in Venice in 1673, 1674 and 1696, in Ferrara in 1676 and in Vienna at the chapel of Emperor Leopold in 1692. Legrenzi's writing is clear and fluid, and invariably respectful of the moral content of the oratorio. Thus, in the arias the composer avoids superfluous repetitions of the text and in the recitatives the musical phrases conform to the rhythm of the poetical verses. Only in the ensemble sections and in the two choruses placed at the end of each part does Legrenzi elaborate more complex musical situations, though he remains equally moderate in length and faithful always to the general tone of the composition.

"The structure of Petrucci's oratorio follows the stylistic canons recognized and accepted by the majority of authors writing musical oratorios in the second half of the 17th century whose names were scrupulously listed by Arcangelo Spagna in the his 'Discorso intorno a gl'Oratori', published in Rome in 1706 but probably conceived a few decades earlier.

"'Il Cuor umano all'incanto' is divided into two parts, allowing for the insertion of a sermon between the two. It calls for six characters: 'Il Cuore umano' (the Human Heart), 'L'Angelo custode' (Guardian Angel), 'Il piacer vano' (Vain Pleasure), and 'Il mondo' (the World) in the first part; 'Il Cuore umano', 'L'Angelo custode', 'Cristo' (Christ) and 'Il Demonio' (the Devil) in the second. The distribution of the parts is conceived in such a way that it may be performed by four singers, as Petrucci himself scrupulously indicates in the various printed editions: a soprano, an alto, a tenor (for both 'Il piacer' and 'Cristo'), and a bass (for 'Il Mondo' and 'Il Demonio'). The four singers form a chorus at the end of each part of the oratorio, where the moral messages of the text are restated in a more explicit manner.

"The poetic strength of Petrucci lies in his giving the listener a simple and fully enjoyable text, almost scanty in its linearity but faithful to what we have mentioned was the spirit of the message championed by the followers of St. Philip Neri. Petrucci was aware that music and poetry should be a means of transmission rather than ends unto themselves, and he underlined his concept in the preface to the edition of 1686 of his 'Poesie': 'I have often noticed that a great exquisiteness of speech and exceedingly florid phrases offend rather than assist the vigour of the sacred verses and of the poetry which should benefit the spirit [...] Just as the extraordinary sweetness and musical art of a sung voice make man pay greater attention to [the voice] itself than to the sacred meaning of the poetry, instead of raising the Soul to God, holds it to itself and feeds more on beautiful flowers than on nourishing fruit.' Here, then, is the road indicated by Petrucci: 'read, therefore, O devoted Soul, these Rhymes, not so much to delight in them as to profit by them.' (Francesco Gatti, tr. Candace Smith. From the liner notes.)

"Giacomo Carissimi, son of Amico and Livia Prosperi, was baptised on 18th April 1605 in Marion Parish Church, near Rome. He started in Marino church as a clergyman, and studied music and singing with the local organist, supported by the ecclesiastical benefices of Grottaferrata Abbey. In 1623, when he was only eighteen, he was engaged as a member of the choir of Trivoli Cathedral, and his salary was one 'scudo' and fifty 'baiocchi' a month. There he came into contact with the latest musical movements through the maestri di cappella Briganti Colonna, Alessandro Capece and Francesco Mannelli. In 1627, Getulio Nardini and Vicario Apostolico of the Diocese of Assisi, appointed the twenty-year-old Giacomo Carissimi to the post of maestro di cappella in S. Rufino Cathedral, with the handsome annual salary of twenty 'scudos'. He stayed in the Umbrian town until December 1629, when he was summoned to Rome and given the dual role of maestro di cappella in S. Apollinaire church and teacher in the German College. Greatly admired and sought after by many a Prince, Carissimi never left Rome, and kept the appointmenets he was assigned to until his death on 12th January 1674, declining to succeed Monteverdi at St. Mark's in Venice or accept the post of Imperial Kapellmeister.

"Carissimi was an unassuming person of simple tastes, entirely dedicated to music, who reasily accepted the austere lifestyle that his post as a teacher at the German College imposed upon him. A teacher of 'Christian and exemplary morals, who would adapt to the way of life, and [to the] discipline of the College, and who would confess and take communion at least once a month in the College, if however he was [not] a priest, [who] would have to do so more often'. One of his commitments was to show the Rector all the compositions he wanted to publish, bearing the words 'Maestro di Cappella in S. Apollinare', so that he could make sure that they would not offend the dignity and reputation of the College. His manuscripts were also bound by Papal decree, which stopped his oratorios being performed during Mass, as it was the common practice to replace the antiphon, the gradual and the offertory with oratorios or motets similar to oratorios. This can be deduced from a letter sent from Paris by René Ouvrard to Claude Nicaise who was visiting Rome: '[...] two years ago, this Pope, prohibited stories set to music, not wanting anything to be sung in the church that was not word for word in the Holy Scriptures [...]' he goes on by saying that: '[...] two months ago [...] Signor Giacomo Carissimi could get permission to print the compositions he himself wrote'. Many of his works were unpublished and later countless other were lost when the Apollinaire archives were destroyed following the devastation caused by Napoleonic troops, who burnt all the existing autographs, so causing most of Carissimi's music to sink into oblivion. Numerous masterpieces by the composer are only known today because of the copies made by his students, which can be found in libraries all over Europe: this enabled one of the most authoratitive figures of the European music scene to come into his own.

"Whilst he was in Rome, Carissimi soon came into contact with the 'esercitii oratoriali' (oratorial exercises) in the form practised by the Compagnia de Crocifisso, in which the musical element was the Latin dialogical and concerted motets, with solo choral and solo parts, and pieces in recitative style, as observed by Maugras: 'The voices start with a psalm in the form of a motet, and then all the instrumentalists play and excellent symphony. After that the voices sing an episode from the Old Testament as a sacred drama. Then one of the most important preachers gives an exhortation, and this done, the day's gospel is sung, in which each singer represents a character in the story and expresses the force of the words perfectly.' Following the work already carried out by Emilio de'Cavalieri and Paolo Quagliata, Carissimi continued to develop the oratorio as a separate musical genre. As no autographs of the composer are extant, for the reasons already mentioned, we do not know what terminology Carissimi used for this new kind of music.

"Only seven of the Latin oratorios in a French manuscript are actually called Oratorios ('Judicium extremum', 'Diluvium universale', 'Judicium salomonis', 'Lamentatio damnatorum', 'Felicitas beatorum', 'Martyres' and 'Dives malus'), the others have been given the name 'oratorio' by present-day researches, but the original titles were 'historie' and 'historia o motet'. There is a considerable difference in opinion amongst musicologists as to the total number of Latin oratorios composed by Carissimi, as different criteria were applied to the term 'oratorio'. To evaluate Carissimi's part in the development of the oratorio, his great variet of sacred works should be considered, such as the short motets in dialogue form, the biblical 'stories', the lamentations, Latin cantatas and dialogues and the two-part oratorios. Not only does the length of the composition vary, but also the number of voices, how the dialogue and the narrative roles are assigned to the choir and soloists and the way choral episodes, recitatives, duets, terzettos, ariosos and instrumental pieces are distributed. Carissimi's contribution to this is less apparent in formal innovations than in the way he created an oratorial atmosphere, particularly by means of expressive processes in which biblical episodes are transformed into sacred epics, evidence above all of his otherworldly, impetuous and overwhelming faith.

"'The Oratorio Della Santissima Vergine': Only two of Carissimi's oratorios in the vernacular are extant: 'Daniele' and the 'Oratorio della Santissima Vergine'. Both of these works are essential to understanding early oratorios written in the vernacular. Neither of the dates of these compositions is known. The 'Oratorio della Santissima Vergine' is a contemplative work, in two parts. The only character indicated in the score is the Virgin (S), the other characters sing solo passages (A, T, B), duets (SS), trios (ATB), and choral pieces (SSATB). The instruments, two violins and basso continuo, play an opening symphony, some ritornellos and accompany the choral parts. The first part of the libretto brings to mind Francesco Balducci's 1642 version, whilst the second part is practically all original. Here the meditative-allegorical vision is transformed even to include the fight between the Virgin and Evil, called the 'serpent' or the 'monster'. When the Oratorio opens Maria's identity is revealed, dawn is rising and the new light turns the shores to gold. A voice (T) is heard singing 'Gran Donna appare', and asks 'Chi è costei' (who is she) and another voice replies 'Ella è Maria' (she is Maria) (A). When the figure of the Madonna has been revealed, a third voice (B) narrates the conflict between the Virgin and Evil: the Virgin defeats the 'monster' and goes on to plunder hell. In the second part jubilation is shown for the victory of good over evil and hymns are sung to the Virgin. The Oratorio ends, like all good sermons, with the choir offering a final metaphoric meditation, in the spirit of the Counter-Reformation: the night is not so dark that there will be no dawn; after the winter the fragrant spring adorns the fields with flowers. The dramatic circumstances are always expressed in a powerful and intriguing way, and there are vocal hints of madrigalism and the style of Monteverdi. The way the work is written, for the sinuous purity of its nature, the serene beatitude of the moods and the celestial transparency that imbues the whole - almost Botticellian - composition, suggest that this must have been an early work, particularly as this would coincide with the date Balducci wrote the text.

"'Jonas': The main character, Jonas, a prophet despite himself, is called by God to convert the people of Niniveh - a task which is too difficult for him. Jonas is frightened and hides in a ship leaving for Tharsis. God causes a terrible storm to hit the ship, as if to show how small human beings are in comparison to the Universe of God. The composer's innovative expressive flair now highlights the raging storm almost onomatopoeically, with the crashing of waves and the force of the wind. The frightened sailors pray to their gods to cause the storm to abate, and when questioned, the gods say that Jonas brought it about. The sailors then ask the Prophet to reveal himself, and when he wakes from a 'sapore grave' (deep sleep), he confesses that is was he that was the cause of the storm, so they hurl him into the sea, where a 'cetus grandis' (whale) swallows him up. The fury of the elements is thereby appeased. Jonas cries three times to God ('ignosce Domine') from the belly of the fish, and God forgives him, and orders the whale to release him so that the Prophet can go and carry out his mission amongst the people of Nineveh who, in the end are converted, and sing the marvellous 'Peccavimus Domine'. This final choral piece again shows Carissimi's versatile use of the choir to obtain expression, by means of a group character (the citizens of Nineveh), through a plurality of dialoguing voices. These oratorios, as in all the Roman composer's compositions, show Carissimi's immense ability to render text expressively, so much so that Kircher considered him superior to all other musicians 'at moving the souls of audiences to feel whatever emotion he intended', whilst other simply called him 'the musical orator'. (Paolo Pacini, tr. Priscilla Worsley. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Ensemble Legrenzi, Complesso Pro Musica Firenze

1.1. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: Sinfonia

1.2. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Io, Che Sono Un Core Umano'

1.3. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'O Mondo, O Piacere'

1.4. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'E Dunque Il Core Umano'

1.5. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Di Nuovo Rimbomba'

1.6. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Core Umano Non Temere'

1.7. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Cor Uman, Se Ti Miro'

1.8. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Dolce Prezzo! O Quanto, O Quanto'

1.9. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Cerca Monete, O Cor, Cha Sian Più Sode'

1.10. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Senti O Cor Non T'ingannare'

1.11. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Taci Piacer, Non Più, Tu M'incateni'

1.12. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Che Cosa È L'piacere?'

1.13. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Dico Anch'io Ch'è Verità'

1.14. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Saggia Senteza'

1.15. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Eh, Non Temer, Il Mondo Ascolta'

1.16. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Innalza Il Guardo A La Celeste Mole'

1.17. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'A Dirtela Schietta'

1.18. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Cauto Consiglio! Io Mi Vo'dare A Voi'

1.19. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Madrigale 'Ecco Viene Già Servo Il Core''

1.20. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: Sinfonia

1.21. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Soccorrete O Cieli Amici'

1.22. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Sento Che 'L Cor Umano'

1.23. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Un Sentiero Fiorito'

1.24. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'E Quai Cieli Invocar Puoi'

1.25. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Ahi Qual Gelido Orrore'

1.26. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Abissi Orribili'

1.27. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Maledico I Tuoi Iaceri'

1.28. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Questi Queruli Accenti, E 'L Grido Roco'

1.29. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'O Giesù Mio, Mio Redentor, Mia Vita'

1.30. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Discacciato Dal Mondo, A Dio Pretendi'

1.31. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'No Mio Dio, Ma Gira Il Ciglio'

1.32. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Chuidi L'indegne Invidiose Labbra'

1.33. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Dunque Al Cielo Alzerassi Un Cor Di Fango'

1.34. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Ma Tu, Ma Tu Rimira, O Core Ingrato'

1.35. Giovanni Legrenzi - Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Dunque Omai Rimirate, Umani Cori'

1.36. Giovanni Legrenzi -  Il Cuor Umano All'incanto: 'Madrigale 'Se V'offre Il Mondo''

2.1. Giacomo Carissimi - Oratorio Della SS Vergine: Sinfonia

2.2. Giacomo Carissimi - Oratorio Della SS Vergine: 'Io Dell'eterna Mente'

2.3. Giacomo Carissimi - Oratorio Della SS Vergine: 'Ecco Al Vento Le Bandiere'

2.4. Giacomo Carissimi - Oratorio Della SS Vergine: 'Taccia Betulla'

2.5. Giacomo Carissimi - Oratorio Della SS Vergine: 'Su Su Si Spogli Di Fiori Il Prato'

2.6. Giacomo Carissimi - Oratorio Della SS Vergine: 'Notte Mai Non E Si Nera'

2.7. Giacomo Carissimi - Jonas: Simphonia

2.8. Giacomo Carissimi - Jonas: 'Et Praeliabantur Venti'

2.9. Giacomo Carissimi - Jonas: 'Tulerunt Nautae Jonam'

2.10. Giacomo Carissimi - Jonas: 'Peccavimus, Domine'

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Giacomo Carissimi - Jephte; Jonas

"Giacomo Carissimi began his professional career as cantor, organist and then 'maestro di cappella' in institutions near Rome such as the Cathedral of Tivoli or the Church of S. Rufino in Assisi. Towards the end of 1629 his career took an important leap as he took on the task in the heart of Rome as 'maestro di cappella' at the Jesuit 'Collegio Germanico Ungarico' with responsibility for the music of the church of Sant'Apollinare, which belonged to the German Seminary. He held this position until his death in 1674. From this highly prestigious position Carissimi won early fame throughout Europe, becoming one of the leading figures in the music of the seventeenth century.

"The obligations of 'maestro di cappella' at the College were divided between composition and the direction of all musical activities of the Seminary, and teaching. Many musicians of the time came to study with him directly, including the Frenchman Marc'Antoine Charpentier and the Germans Christoph Bernhard and Johann Kaspar Kerll, or indirectly, through the music itself, and learnt this new style of composition. It is owing to Carissimi that much of this traditional Italian style of composition was maintained throughout continental Europe for the entire seventeenth century.

"Carissimi's activity was not limited to the College only, but also included important appointments outside the Church, such as service as 'maestro della musica da camera' for Queen Christina of Sweden. He also collaborated with the Roman Oratories, particularly with San Marcello, the Oratorio del Santissiimo Crocifisso, for which it is quite probably that many of his oratorios were composed.

"There is little direct information concerning performances at the College or at the Santissimo Crocifisso, but written testimony survives that gives some idea and makes it clear that both institutions had ample means for musical performance. Francis Mortopf, a traveller passing through Rome some time in the 1650s, is recorded as describing the music performed at Santissimo Crocifisso [...] '...a music so sweet and harmonious which, once having left Rome, can never be hoped to be heard again on the face of the Earth. It was composed with at least twenty voices, organs, lute, viola and two volins, all of which were playing music so melodious and delicious that Cicero with all his eloquence would never have been able to describe it'.

"'Jephte' is perhaps the best known composition of Carissimi today. Together with 'Jonas', it is also one of the few for which chronological reference can be established, some time before 1649. The text is a free treatment of the Old Testament narrative ('Judges 11:28-38'), and is much fuller than original biblical text. The narration is entrusted to the 'Historicus', sung in various places by different voices. In addition to the paraphrasing of passages from the Vulgate, completely new texts provide dramatic moments.

"The oratorio can be divided into two major sections. The first of these describes Jephthah's victory over the Ammonites, and the other deals with the drama of the sacrifice of his child, to which Jephthah has sworn. In the first part the chorus interventions are among the numerous dramatic amplifications of the biblical narrative. Other details such as the introduction of the word 'ululantes' in the description of the conquered Ammonites, which is absent in the biblical passage, allow the composer to make used of the dramatic 'topos' of the lament. Of still greater effect is the separation between the celebration of Jephthah's victory and the introduction by the narrator of the idea of Jephthah's oath. The final part with the lament by Jephthah's daughter and the repeated chorus, is extremely effective.

"'Jonas' is probably more or less contemporary with 'Jephte'. Here there is an analogous situation as far as concerns the biblical source and the oratorio text. The Vulgate is largely followed in the narrative, without paraphrase, but again there are dramatic interpolations. This oratorio too can be divided into sections. The first follows the biblical adventures of Jonah ('Jonah 1:1-4') and the first interpolation is head in the chorus 'Et proeliabantur venti' (and the winds battled), which uses the technique of two separate choirs, effectively reflecting the storm which threatens the ship where Jonah is sleeping. The biblical text, however, only briefly mentions this episode. The second section is dedicated to the dialogue between Jonah and the sailors. Close to the original text, this is also expressed in dialogue. The sailors' interventions are varied, first a duet, then a chorus, and then alternation of solo voices from the choir. The third episode is made up entirely of Jonah's prayer to God from the belly of the whale ('Jonah 2'). The refrain 'Placare, Domine, ignosce, Domine, et miserere' (Forgive, Lord, and have mercy), strengthened with the presence of instrumental 'ritornelli', divides the long 'recitativo' into three different but equal sections. The conclusion condenses in just a few lines the whole of the third biblical chapter. The final chorus is in fact a 'mea culpa' of the Ninevites, which again is a free invention of the librettist.

"The catalogue of Carissimi's vast output is not made up only of sacred music and oratorios, but includes secular cantatas for various groups of performers. Consortium Carissimi presents a transcription of the serenade 'Dai (trai) più riposti abissi' (From the most hidden abysses), originally set for two sopranos, bass and basso continuo. Here it is offered with two tenor voices instead, making use of a common practice of the time, replacing higher register voices with tenors. The text is by Francesco Balducci (1579-1642) 'a greatly ingenious man, but haughty and too vague for adventure... easily lost for love and poetry, little lover fatigue [who] attempted to live off Princes and Cardinals' (Guido Pasquetti). Balducci is normally allowed an important position in the codification of the music genre of oratorio. He was also a poet, and frequented high Roman ecclesiastical and aristocratic circles. Balducci was particularly associated with the Barberinis. The serenade, therefore, in its choice of text and its connotations of Roman high society represents a fine example of Carissimi's extramural activity. From a musical point of view this piece demonstrates a structure quite typical of its genre in the early baroque period. Distinct musical sections correspond to the verses of the text, which make use of different techniques and styles, alternating between recitative, aria, ternary episodes and solo sections, dialogue, 'tutti' sections and instrumental 'ritornelli'. All of these aspect delightfully underscore the details of the text itself, admirably communicated in a dense language which at the same time reveals absolute technical and expressive transparency." (Angela Romagnoli, tr. Garrick Comeaux. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Consortium Carissimi

1. Historia Di Jephte: Historicus

2. Historia Di Jephte: Jephte

3. Historia Di Jephte: Coro A 6

4. Historia Di Jephte: Historicus A 2

5. Historia Di Jephte: Basso Solo

6. Historia Di Jephte: Coro A 6

7. Historia Di Jephte: Historicus

8. Historia Di Jephte: Historicus A 3

9. Historia Di Jephte: Historicus

10. Historia Di Jephte: Filia

11. Historia Di Jephte: Coro A 2

12. Historia Di Jephte: Filia

13. Historia Di Jephte: Coro A 6

14. Historia Di Jephte: Historicus

15. Historia Di Jephte: Jephte

16. Historia Di Jephte: Historicus A 4

17. Historia Di Jephte: Filia - Eco

18. Historia Di Jephte: Coro A 6

19. Dai Più Riposti Abissi

20. Historia Ionae: Symphonia

21. Historia Ionae: Historicus

22. Historia Ionae: Deus

23. Historia Ionae: Historicus

24. Historia Ionae: Historicus

25. Historia Ionae: Historicus A 8

26. Historia Ionae: Nautae A 3

27. Historia Ionae: Historicus

28. Historia Ionae: Gubernator Navis

29. Historia Ionae: Nautae A 2

30. Historia Ionae: Historicus

31. Historia Ionae: Nautae A 3

32. Historia Ionae: Ionas

33. Historia Ionae: Nautae A 3

34. Historia Ionae: Ionas

35. Historia Ionae: Historicus A 8

36. Historia Ionae: Historicus

37. Historia Ionae: Ionas

38. Historia Ionae: Historicus A 3

39. Historia Ionae: Historicus

40. Historia Ionae: Ninevitae A 8

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André Grétry - L'amant Jaloux

"Late in the evening of 1 August 1752, a small band of peripatetic Italian musicians under the direction of Eustachio Bambini took to the stage at the Opéra in Paris after a long performance of Lully's 'Acis et Galatée'. They presented one of the works in their large repertoire of Italian 'intermezzi' - these were short comic works designed to be presented between the acts of other operas. Bambini decided that the intermezzo for that autumnal night was to be Pergolesi's 'La serva pardona'.

"It wasn't a hit. The gossipy newspaper the Mercure de France noted that this bizarre Italian work had some tunes that were really only to the taste of 'un petite nombre de connoisseurs'. But that 'small number' soon grew and suddenly, it seemed, everyone was talking about and debating the relative merits of French and Italian music. This was the so-called 'Querelle des Bouffons', as Bambini's troupe was popular known as the 'Bouffons', or buffoons.

"It was mainly a quarrel of letter - although it's true that guards often had to be posted in the 'parterre' (stalls) of the Opéra to control the crowd when things got a bit rough. Gossips, musicians, philosophers and wits all exchanged their views on which style was better: the noble French or the new upstart Italian. As in many culture wars, the debate took on a larger social and political significance. Liking Italian music generally coded to others that you were progressive and liberal, whereas a preference for French music meant that you were a conservative and enjoying the status quo. Hence a younger generation favoured the tunefulness of the Italians, whereas an older generation emphasised a rich and proud French musical heritage in which declamation, poetry and melodic precision were all equally valued.

"Many wondered if a new style of music might be possible which combined the best and most interesting elements of the two. Around 1765 a 'philosophe' remarked: 'We are just beginning to realise that our opera lacks the aria phrased in the Italian manner.' He confirmed that experiments by a 'well-known composer' were already bearing fruit and that 'when we do learn how to use this style intelligently [...] I predict that French opera will be superior to the Italian.'

"This 'well-known composer' was André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry, and it was Grétry who, more than any other operatic composer, really managed to unite Italiante vocality with French wordsmithery. Grétry did it by always going back to his roots which were also the roots of the Querelle itself. 'I analysed Pergolesi's music when I sought to develop my musical faculties', he wrote. 'Many have tried to write music in the Italian taste, but they have had no success because the prosody of the language was incorrect; I believe I have surmounted this point.'

"Grétry was born in Liège in 1741, which makes him a contemporary of Paisiello, Boccherini and Wanhal. He came from a family of musicians. In his early teens, in the years of the Querelle, he had witnessed a touring Italian intermezzo troupe much like Bambini's; their performances made a profound impression on him. Grétry studied in Rome in the 1760s, and in 1767 finally settled in Paris, where, as an ambition 26-year-old, he attempted to forge a career for himself as an opera composer.

"Things weren't easy in the hothouse environment of the Parisian opera scene, but Grétry, impressed with the work of composers active in the new-fangled 'opéra comique', decided that this genre was the perfect vehicle for his art. 'I had never seen 'opéra comique' before', he reminisced, 'I laughed, I cried!'

"After a string of failures, Grétry finally achieved fame and popularity in 1769. His memorably tuneful style and his intuitive gift for theatricality rapidly made him one of Europe's most popular composers. Marie Antoinette was so taken with him that, once she became Queen in 1774, she appointed him her personal director of music. His success was at its height in the mid-1780s and his international reputation was cemented with 'Richard Cœur-de-lion' (1784). He kept up with the style of the times and cannily survived the Revolution. Napoleon made him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1802 and also granted him a generous annual pension. He died rich and lauded in 1813.

"'L'Amant jaloux, ou Les Fausses Apparences' (The Jealous Lover, or False Appearances) was written in 1778, when Grétry was cresting the cusp of greatness. It was given first at Versailles in the presence of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and then opened in Paris at the Comédie-Italienne in December of the same year. It was an immediate success and was considered at the time to be a masterpiece of 'opéra comique'. Grétry himself spoke of it in his 'Mémoires' as one of his favourite works. The newspaper 'Les Mémoires secrets', which was loath to praise any production at the Comédie-Italienne, reported that the first performances enjoyed 'the greatest success for the poem and the music alike. The former is the genuine Spanish character, and it seems that the work is inspired by a comedy from that nation; while the latter is perfectly equal and worthy of the composer's genius.

"The librettist had fooled the correspondent. 'L'Amant jaloux' was actually based on one of the most popular works on the 18th-century English stage: Susanna Cenlivre's 'The Wonder: A Woman Keeps a Secret' (1714). The librettist was an Irishman, Thomas Hales, who went by the Frenchified name of Thomas D'Hèle. After various adventures as a soldier in Jamaica, D'Hèle ended up turning to the profession of author 'by necessity', as Grétry reminisced, for when he arrived in Paris he was penniless. The librettist and composer soon formed a strong and fruitful working relationship, and 'L'Amant jaloux' was their second collaboration. It held the stage from 1779 to 1821 for an astonishing 365 performances.

"The score of 'L'Amant jaloux' is one of Grétry's finest, and demonstrates the composer's extraordinary aptitude, elegance and acuity in effecting the marriage of French words and music. It is one of the first operas to develop what scholars have since called the 'functional recollection' of motifs. These created a web of associations between characters and scenes and contributed to a newly fashionable sense of organic unity and interconnectedness. For example, Lopez 'quotes' Jacinte's Act I aria 'Qu'une fille de quinze ans' back to her in a later scene, memorably painting a remarkably modern sense of irony. The loving duo between Léonore and Alonze at the close of Act II is repeated and transformed into a jealous spat by means of subtle but profound changes in accompaniment and delivery. Grétry uses national topics to paint the characters' backgrounds: he quotes the famous 'Folies d'Espagne' for the Spanish Lopez, and there is a 'temps de minuet' for the French Florival.

"Grétry later recalled that the spectacular aria for Léonore at the start of Act II was inserted purely to allow Marie-Jeanne Trial ('the finest voice ever formed by nature') 'a chance to shine'. In a similar spirit, we have inserted, as was the practice in the 18th century, the ariette 'Du moment qu'on aime' from Grétry's 'Zémire et Azor' for the character of Don Alonze in Act II. Also following 18th-century practice, we perform two contemporaneous instrumental works as entr'actes.

"Grétry was once asked how he went about writing his operas. 'Well, just as one writes poetry or paints a picture. I read, re-read twenty times the words I want to paint in sounds; it takes several days for my head to become heated: in the end I lose my appetite, my eyes get inflamed, the imagination rises, then I write an opera in three weeks or a month.' Apparently he liked his stimulants: he was addicted to snuff, which he took as he one-handedly composed at the harpsichord, and, like Mozart, he found his relaxation in the game of billiards. By all accounts he was a great wit and conversationalist and was a friend of 'philisophes' and musicians alike. As musicologist David Charlton remarks, 'It is hard to imagine the evolution of 'opéra comique', and Romantic opera in general, without the part played by his works.' Not for nothing was Grétry called' the Molière of Music'. (Erin Helyard, 2015. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Orchestra Of The Antipodes, Erin Helyard, Ed Lyon, Celeste Lazarenko, Andrew Goodwin, Alexandra Oomens, Jessica Aszodi, David Greco, Stephen Lalor, Melissa Farrow

1.1. Ouverture

1.2. Acte I: 'Qu'une Fille De Quinze Ans'

1.3. Acte I: 'Plus De Soeur! Plus De Frère!'

1.4. Acte I: 'Victime Infortunée'

1.5. Acte I: 'Plus D'égards, Plus De Prudence'

1.6. Johann Nepomuk Hummel - Mandolin Concerto In G Major, S28: II. Andante Con Variazioni

1.7. Acte II: 'Je Romps La Chaîne Qui M'engage'

1.8. Acte II: 'Le Mariage Est Une Envie'

1.9. Acte II: 'La Gloire Vous Appelle'

1.10. Acte II: 'Du Moment Qu'on Aime'

1.11. Acte II: 'D'abord, Amants Soumis Et Doux'

1.12. Acte II: 'Cruelle! De Ma Douleur Mortelle'

1.13. Acte II: 'Tandis Que Tout Sommeille'

1.14. Acte II: 'Jamais Le Coeur De Léonore'

2.1. Flute Concerto In C Major: I. Allegro

2.2. Flute Concerto In C Major: II. Larghetto

2.3. Flute Concerto In C Major: III. Allegro

2.4. Acte III: 'O Douce Nuit, Sous Ton Ombre Paisible'

2.5. Acte III: 'Je Sens Bien Que Votre Hommage'

2.6. Acte III: 'Seigneur, Sans Trop Être Indiscret'

2.7. Acte III: 'Prenez Pitié De Ma Douleur'

flac/16-bit

André Grétry - Andromaque

"Born in Liège, André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (1741-1813) arrived in Paris in 1767, after spending several years in Italy. A first collaboration with Marmontel, 'Le Huron', brought him immediate success. The French queen was very fond of 'opéras-comiques', which gave Grétry an opportunity to seek a position at the royal court; he became harpsichord teacher to Marie-Antoinette. Between 1770 and 1780 he composed a series of masterpieces, which became well known throughout Europe. 1785 marked a turning-point in his career. From then on he gradually moved away from musical life and began to write his 'Mémoires'. After the Reign of Terror (1793-94), Grétry found his supporters again. He was appointed to the Institut de France in 1795, and was elected a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1803. Having retired to 'L'Ermitage' at Montmorency (formerly owned by Jean-Jacques Rousseau), he devoted much of his time to writing. Grétry tried his hand at all the musical genres, but it was in the 'opéra-comique' that he showed the greatest originality. Among his 'opéras-comiques' are 'Zémir & Azor', 'Richard Cœur de Lion', 'La fausse magie' and 'L'amant jaloux'. His religious music and instrumental compositions date from his stay in Italy. A 'ballet héroïque' entitled 'Céphale & Procris' (1773), his 'tragédie lyrique', 'Anromaque' (1780), and a number of pieces written during the Revolutionary period show the composer in a different light.

"Between 1774 and 1779, Gluck presented five new works in Paris, 'Iphigénie en Aulide', 'Orphée', 'Alceste', 'Armide' and 'Iphigénie en Tauride', bringing about important changes in French opera and opening the doors wide to Romanticism. Gluck's contemporary Grétry was regarded at that time as the leading composer of 'opéra comique', and no one expected to see a work by him, least of all a dramatic work, on stage at the Académie Royale de Musique, alias the Paris Opéra. His only experience in that field had been 'Céphale & Procris' in 1773, a 'ballet heroïque', which after a mixed reception had ultimately been a failure. Yet Grétry must have had potential in the tragic genre, for the libretto of 'Iphigénie en Tauride' had been intended for him, although it finally went to Gluck, much to his despair, making the two composers henceforth rivals at the Académie Royale. By way of compensation, however, Grétry was offered the even more ambitious challenge of providing the music for an opera based on one of Racine's most sombre tragedies, 'Andromaque'.

"The venturesome project came into being in somewhat exceptional circumstances. In the spring of 1778, the press reported unusual effervescence: 'The spectacle that is most likely to focus public attention this season will probably be at the Opéra, in relation either to the change of administration there, or to the new productions that are on the way' ('Journal de Paris', 23 April 1778).

"A small revolution was under way at the Académie Royale de Musique. For several weeks its new director, Anne-Pierre-Jacques de Vismes du Valgay (1745-1819), who had been appointed in October 1777 to succeed Pierre-Henri-Montan Berton, had been the talk of Paris. His arrival brought great changes within the institution. He immediately introduced drastic reforms, even in areas that were not normally the director's concern: he had the stage and orchestra pit enlarged and refurbished; seating for some of the audience was once again provided on stage; the great chandelier was removed; performance times were altered; women were forbidden to attend wearing high coiffes; and those were just some of them. And his artistic policy was just as radical. Amongst other things, he reformed the status of the artists, renewed some of the staff, revised author's fees, increased the number of weekly performances, and reoriented programme planning. Two months before his arrival, a new set of regulations (49 articles) was drawn up, defining the new director's rights, and reminding those employed by the Opéra not only of their duties, but also of the rules governing subordination. The tone was set. Although de Vismes was by no means lacking in ideas, diplomacy and flexibility were clearly not among his qualities. And so it was not long before he met with hostility from staff members and also from some members of the public. His term of office was marked by plots, scandals and arrests, providing a constant topic of conversation in the city. 'The extreme unrest that this quarrel has caused both in the city and at Court is unbelievable. Princes, ministers, duchesses, everyone takes an interest and participates; no one can be indifferent' ('Mémoires secrets', 15 March 1779). Thus, on 23 January of the following year, 1780, de Vismes, feeling that his post had become definitively too restrictive, handed in his resignation.

"Yet the general consensus was that 'there had never been so much variety in new operatic works' as there was in January 1779, when de Vismes achieved the hitherto unprecedented feat of presenting twelve different works within the space of just a few weeks. Paris was amazed to discover that 'it was as easy to to alternate serious operas as it was to alternate comedies' ('Mémoires secrets', 21 January 1779). The new director's main concern had been to achieve the greatest possible variety in every aspect - in time, space, style and form. Therein, he believed, lay the secret of success. Accordingly, at the very beginning of his office, in an address to the Opéra staff, he stated his intention of 'wecloming every genre and showing no partiality in choosing them'. That variety, 'offering each in turn spectacles that were to their liking' (La Borde, 'Essai sur la musique'), met with general approval, and thus de Vismes secured audience support. One of the spearheads of his policy was the revival of old works, which he set against the most modern productions: 'I intend to bring together works composed at very different times, so that the public in general will have the means of comparing and judging more accurately the progress that has been made in that art and each member of the public the possibility of enjoying the genre he prefers' ('Journal de Paris', 15 February 1779). A fine undertaking, aimed as much at the intelligence of the community as at the sensitivity of the individual, and almost as strong in its pedagogic content as in its true artistic value. In the early months of 1779 he was able, with pride, to make his first assessment: 'I have presented consecutively works by MM. Piccinni, Gluck, Philidor, Rameau, Paisiello, Anfossi and other; so all that is missing is a work by Lully, and what better choice could I have made than his opera Thésée, which has constantly enjoyed a fine reputation, and which the beauty of the text, the magnificence of the spectacle and the riches lavished on it by Quinault's imagination will make forever dear to the nation.' If the revival of early works was meant to satisgy a particularly section of the public, new operating and choreographic works were not neglected. Only three new works had been presented in 1777-78, whereas de Vismes' inaugural season scheduled sixteen, including several 'ballets pantomimes' and many Italian 'opere buffe'. His larger-scale projects, on the other hand, proved much more difficult to bring to fruition. During his first season, only one new three-act 'tragédie lyrique' was premièred in 1779, but Piccinni's was not presented at the Académie Royale until 1781. For a time the institution's repertoire was renewed by works commissioned from authors of international renown, such as Johann Christian Bach, Gossec and Philidor.

"So that was the context in which the 'Andromaque' project saw the light. In inviting Grétry to imagine Racine's tragedy as a 'tragédie lyrique', de Vismes was sure to arouse public curiosity and bring people flocking to the theatre. At a time when good librettos were becoming a rarity, he had the idea of reusing some of the old librettos by Fontenelle, Houdar and de La Motte, Fuselier and especially Quinault. Thus the season from 1770 to 1800 saw the staging of Piccinni's 'Roland' and 'Atys', Gluck's 'Armide', Johann Christian Bach's 'Amadis', Philidor's 'Persée', two version of 'Thésée', by Mondonville and Gossec, and Paisiello's 'Proserpine'. This wish to return to the models of the reign of Louis XIV led to the idea of transporting to opera of of the tragedies of Corneille and Racine, to which Grétry's 'Andromaque' is a perfect illustration, as are Sacchini's 'Le Cid', Salieri's 'Les Horaces', and even the two versions of 'Iphigénie en Tauride' by Gluck and Piccinni. More than any other, the choice of 'Andromaque' was very symbolical. Written in 1667, it was the tragedy that established Racine's reputation as a poet. Between 1667 and the Revolution, it was one of the most frequently performed plays in France. It was unquestionably one of the pillars that gave the national repertoire its identity. Transferring it from the dramatic stage to the operatic stage meant having to reconsider a whole set of parameters, since there was a considerable difference between the rules governing spoken (declaimed) tragedy, on the one hand, and the (sung) 'tragédie lyrique', on the other. Louis-Guillaume Pitra (1735-1818) was the poet who undertook the adaption of Racine's play. He justified the changes he had to make in a detailed foreword to the work:

"'In adapting this tragedy by Racine to the operatic stage, we had to sacrifice countless beauties, which we regretted as much as any person of good taste will do. We were aware more than anyone of the absurdity, the audacity even, of such an undertaking; but our sole aim was to serve the genius of an artist whose talents have so often been our delight, and everyone knows that the pace of an opera requires the cuts which we were obliged to make in the poetic text of the immortal Racine. We retained that great man's lines insofar as the division of the scenes and the form of the airs and the recitative permitted. Unfortunately, in the process of creating a plot that was appropriate for an opera, we frequently had to add other lines, which we blended in with his. We hope that the public, understanding the reasons, will forgive this kind of sacrilege.'

"What Grétry himself says supports the sincerity of his librettist's cautious word: 'Let it not be assumed that Pitra had the slightest pretension in creating this text; he touched Racine's lines only with respect, and because the music required cuts to be made. His desire to see me test my strength on a tragic subject was his reason for undertaking this work, which he brought to be as a bare framework still recquiring the attentions of a poet; but since he knew no one who could assume so formidable a task, I made him take the risks of doing so himself.' Despite Pitra's reorganisation of the text, 'Andromaque' retains Racine's superb versification and an elevated tone that was rare in opera at that time. The ever-present choruses, supporting the four main characters and commenting on, and sometimes participating in, the action, give the work a monumentality that Grétry brings out perfectly in his music, while showing his excellence as dramatist. Appropriating the language of Gluck, he succeeds even better than the latter in fitting together the various elements - airs, ensembles, choruses - to form a continuous discourse that was revolutionary for that time, heralding the operas composed much later by Spontini... or even Berlioz. Grétry wrote in his 'Mémoires': 'The text of 'Andromaque' demands a profound sensibility which the too energetic Gluck could not command. It was in the hope of being superior to him in that respect, and wholly persuaded that I was inferior to him in strength, that I undertook this work.'

"'Andromaque' is undoubtedly the work by Grétry that belongs the least to its own time, and indeed, it was sharply criticised for that reason. In his 'Correspondance littéraire', the ferocious critic La Harpe, disconcerted by the modernity of the work, noted that Grétry, who is 'so charming in 'opéras-comiques', and shows in the singing the grace and gentleness he learned in Italy, has left his habitual genre for that of Gluck, a desertion that is not to his advantage. In this work there is nothing but a shrill and tedious noise, and all the failings of Gluck without the presence of what redeems to some extent them, that is to say, expressive pieces and an understanding of theatrical effect. Indeed, this drama is as badly constructed as it could possibly be, and Racine's masterpiece is horribly disfigured.' Like many original or visionary works - Charpentier's 'Médée', for example, or Rameau's 'Hippolyte & Aricie', Berlioz's 'Les Troyens'... - 'Andromaque' came under fire from the critics at first. Was Grétry aware of his audacity? Presumably not, for in his 'Mémoires' he admitted that no work had cost him less trouble. He completed 'Andromaque' in thirty days, although 'contrary to my wont, I composed in the evening and wrote out the music the following morning. The author of the text, Pitra, was with me all the time. Constantly carried along by the beauty and pace of the action, I wrote it in one go. It has, perhaps, too much warmth, even in the music, and I advise those who have it performed not to hurry the movements.'

"The authors thus threw themselves wholeheartedly into the adventure. But when the time came to stage the work, the director of the Académie Royale, de Vismes, was again faced with problems. 'Andromaque''s genesis was chaotic and it came close to not being presented at all. The first rehearsals, in May 1778, were halted by a dispute with the Comédie Française, which helf the acting monopoly to the play and succeeded in having the performances banned. After many complications, the work nevertheless finally reached the stage in June 1780, by which time the director of the Académie was Antoine Dauvergne, who had succeeded de Visme's successor, Henri-Montan Berton, on the latter's sudden death a few weeks previously. However, the première, initially scheduled for the beginning of the season in April, had to be postponed, this time because Mademoiselle Levasseur, who singing the title role, had fallen ill. In a letter of 26 April 1781, Dauvergne wrote: 'My opinion is that 'Andromaque' should be given on Sunday, even if that means Madame Saint-Huberty taking the part, but I am told Monsieur Dauberval has declared that the ballets will not be ready. So the performance of the opera has had to be postponed.'

"The administrative context was more favourable by that time, but there was nevertheless continuing strife and some of those working for the institution, notably members of the corps de ballet, decided to air their long-standing grievances by being uncooperative and making as little effort as possible in the dances. In another letter of 2 April 1781, Dauvergne complained, though to no avail, to the royal court:

"'[The negligence of the 'sujets'] recently caused the failure of 'Castor [& Pollux]'; indeed, the fight, which used to be superb, and which made more than a small contribution in attracting the attention of a portion of the public, was detestable [...] and all the other ballets in that opera were likewise neglected; the whole audience expressed its dissatisfaction; and that is how all the other operas we have given this year have been treated; 'Andromaque', 'Alceste', 'Persée', 'Iphigénie', were likewise skimped, although there is very little dancing in them; now we include only a very few dancers in the corps de ballet for those pieces.'

"Indeed, 'Andromaque' had a mixed reception. It was criticised especially for its many choruses, which gave people the impression that they were listening to an oratorio rather than an opera. The ending was considered too tragic for the stage of the Académie Royale. And audiences were used to there being more 'divertissements' to provide relief: here they found few light choruses, not many dances, no virtuoso ariettes... Grétry and Pitra decided therefore to refashion the third and last act. Moving away from Racine's original, they explored the spectacular potention and musical possibilities of the final scene, making 'Andromaque' end this time on a happier note, with a wedding. A second series of performances, with the opera in its new form, was given in 1781, and this time its success was without reserve. But then a few weeks later a serious fire at the Opéra put an end to the triumph of 'Andromaque'. Most of the sets and costumes were destroyed and the work was never shown again in France.

"More than two centuries later, the music of 'Andromaque' may still seem surprising to us today. It is in fact totally symbolic - symbolic of a century of evolution in French opera, from its heyday under Louis XIV to its final radiance under Louis XVI. This 'tragédie lyrique' by Grétry is characterised above all by its lack of concession to imperatives of the drama; the music serves, underlies, comments on and extends the drama without ever impeding it. The 'divertissements', in which the few decorative ballets and choruses are found, are reduced to a minimum; perfectly integrated into the action, they never hold it up but, on the contrary, create 'suspense', heightening the seriousness of the scenes that follow.

"To create such a dramatic work meant having to ignore completely, in every respect, the aesthetic that had still been prevalent only ten years previously - that is to say, the aesthetic that had been valid throughout the career of Rameau and his contemporaries. At the same time the dramatic works imagined a century earlier by Lully and Quinault had gradually given way to a decorative style. Thus, Baron Grimm ('Encyclopédie', IV, p. 103) had noted that the dance, 'that artificial part, has even of late become the main element in opera'. And the great Marmontel, as forthright as ever in his views, had written in the 'Mercure de France' (July 1759, II, p. 94) that 'the moderns are degenerating; their taste for florid decoration, if one may say so, has spoiled all the emotion'. In the mid-eighteenth century, the 'Encyclopédie' (IV, p. 350) gave the following advice to potential opera librettists and composers:

"'[At the time of Lully] the three and a quarter hours of a performances included two and a half hours of recitative; today the latter must be replaced by 'divertissements', choruses, dramatic action, brilliant vocal pieces, etc. Otherwise tedium is assured, and failure of the opera is inevitable. Hence only about three-quarters of an hour of recitative is required; therefore an opera must be very differently structured nowadays compared to the works of Quinault.'

"The 'revolution' that Gluck brought about, first of all with 'Iphigénie en Aulide' (1774) and even more with 'Alceste' (1776) in particular, had enabled French opera to return to its origins, and maybe go back even further still, by bringing the new aesthetic of opera closer to that of the great plays of Corneille and Racine that used declamation. After a century of developments in the Baroque mould through the skills of Quinault, opera thus moved back in time, closer to its ancestor of the Classical period: spoken tragedy. The Gluck era paved the way therefore for the operas that were to flourish throughout the nineteenth century, the work of eminently Romantic authors. Grétry's 'Andromaque' stands at the crossroads, at the point where those different styles and issues meet. Viewed by turns with a Baroque, Classical or Romantic eye, its many facets shed new light on its composer." (Benoît Dratwicki, tr. Mary Pardoe. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Le Concert Spirituel; Hervé Niquet

1.1. Ouverture

1.2. Acte I, Scène I: 'Cessez De Répandre Des Larmes'

1.3. Acte I, Scène I: 'C'est Le Seul Espoir Qui Me Reste'

1.4. Acte I, Scène I: 'Si, Fidèle Au Noeud Qui L'engage'

1.5. Acte I, Scène II: Marche

1.6. Acte I, Scène II: 'Au Vainqueur Des Troyens'

1.7. Acte I, Scène II: 'De Tous Nos Rois Secondez La Colère'

1.8. Acte I, Scène II: 'Non, Non'/'Je Veux Défendre Et Le Fils Et La Mère'

1.9. Acte I, Scène II: 'Je Ne Fus Que Trop Implacable'

1.10. Acte I, Scène II: 'Je Defendrai Contre Eux Et Le Fils Et La Mère'

1.11. Acte I, Scène III: Marche

1.12. Acte I, Scène III: 'Je L'envoie, Je Le Sais, Aux Pieds De Sa Maîtresse'

1.13. Acte I, Scène IV: 'Où Portez-vous Vos Pas?'

1.14. Acte I, Scène IV: 'Ils Me Menacent De Leurs Armes'

1.15. Acte I, Scène IV: 'Triste, Captive, Importune À Moi-même'

1.16. Acte I, Scène IV: 'Votre Vainqueur Baigne De Larmes'

1.17. Acte I, Scène IV: 'Ah ! Dites-moi Seulement Que J'espère'

1.18. Acte I, Scène IV: 'Murs Sacrés ! Que N'a Pu Conserver Mon Hector'

1.19. Acte I, Scène IV: 'Cruelle!'

1.20. Acte I, Scène IV: 'Vous Le Voulez ? Hé Bien, Cruelle'

1.21. Acte I, Scène IV: 'Le Fils, Dans Ma Juste Colère'

1.22. Acte I, Scène V: 'Ah! C'en Est Fait, Cruelle!'

1.23. Acte I, Scène V: 'Je M'applaudis De Ma Victoire'

1.24. Acte I, Scène V: 'Qu'on Cherche Oreste, Amenez Hermione'

1.25. Acte I, Scène VI: 'Fille De Menélas, Oreste'

1.26. Acte I, Scène VI: 'J'oublie À Jamais L'ingrate'

1.27. Acte I, Scène VI: 'Dieux ! Que Cet Aveu Me Flatte'

1.28. Acte I, Scène VI: Marche

2.1. Acte II, Scène I: 'Modérez Ce Transport Jaloux'

2.2. Acte II, Scène II: 'Regnez A Jamais Dans Mon Ame'

2.3. Acte II, Scène II: 'Bientôt La Pompe Nuptiale'

2.4. Acte II, Scène III: 'Ne Fuyez Point Un Spectacle Si Doux!'

2.5. Acte II, Scène IV: 'Elle Fuit, La Cruelle, Et Se Rit De Mes Larmes'

2.6. Acte II, Scène IV: 'Chère Épouse, Dit-il, Je Te Laisse Ce Gage'

2.7. Acte II, Scène IV: 'Et Sa Mère Pourrait Supporter Son Trépas?'

2.8. Acte II, Scène V: 'Hâtons-nous Et Quittons Ce Rivage'

2.9. Acte II, Scène VI: 'Phoenix, Il Faut Aux Grecs Livrer Le Fils d'Hector'

2.10. Acte II, Scène VI: 'Hélas! Vous Pouvez, Sans Pitié'

2.11. Acte II, Scène VII: 'Laissez-moi Baigner De Mes Larmes'

2.12. Acte II, Scène VII: 'Je Ne Puis Resister À Ses Larmes'

2.13. Acte II, Scène VII: 'A Votre Fils, Je Servirai De Père'

2.14. Acte II, Scène VII: 'Ciel C'en Est Fait!'

2.15. Acte II, Scène VIII: 'C'est Pour L'hymen D'une Immortelle'

2.16. Acte II, Scène VIII: Gavotte

2.17. Acte II, Scène IX: 'C'en Est Fait! Le Parjure!'

2.18. Acte II, Scène IX: 'Va Lui Jurer La Foi Que Tu M'avais Jurée'

2.19. Acte II, Scène IX: 'Quoi! Preferer À La Fille D'un Roi'

2.20. Acte II, Scène X: 'Croirai-je Que Vos Yeux Sont Enfin Désarmés?'

2.21. Acte II, Scène X: 'Je Crois Tout'

2.22. Acte II, Scène X: 'Lâche! N'espère Plus Obtenir Ma Conquête!'

2.23. Acte II, Scène X: 'Il Ne Mourra Que De La Main D'Oreste'

2.24. Acte II, Scène X: 'Jurez De Venger Son Injure'

2.25. Acte III, Scène I: 'Ombre Chérie, Ombre Sacrée'

2.26. Acte III, Scène I: 'Reçois, Chère Ombre Que J'adore'

2.27. Acte III, Scène I: 'Vivez Pour Votre Fils Et Faites Son Bonheur'

2.28. Acte III, Scène II: 'Pyrrhus Vous Attend À L'autel'

2.29. Acte III, Scène III: 'Quel Spectacle Cruel!'

2.30. Acte III, Scène III: 'Bravons La Crainte Et Le Danger'

2.31. Acte III, Scène IV: 'Chantons, Celebrons L'hymenee'

2.32. Acte III, Scène IV: Gavotte

2.33. Acte III, Scène IV: Menuet

2.34. Acte III, Scène IV: Reprise De La Gavotte

2.35. Acte III, Scène IV: Marche

2.36. Acte III, Scène IV: 'Dieu D'Hymen, Que Sous Ton Empire'

2.37. Acte III, Scène IV: 'Andromaque, Régnez Sur Mon Peuple Et Sur Moi'

2.38. Acte III, Scène IV: Combat

2.39. Acte III, Scène V: 'Quels Cris Me Remplissent D'effroi?'

2.40. Acte III, Scène VI: 'Princesse, C'en Est Fait ! Votre Haine Est Servie'

2.41. Acte III, Scène VI: 'Barbare, Ne Voyais-tu Pas'

2.42. Acte III, Scène VII: 'Est-ce Hermione?'/'Et Que Viens-je D'entendre?'

2.43. Acte III, Scène VIII: 'Ô Fureur! Ô Funeste Sort!'

2.44. Acte III, Scène VIII: 'Sauvons-le De Sa Fureur!'

2.45. Acte III, Scène VIII: 'Filles D'enfer, Vos Mains Sont-elle Prêtes?'

2.46. Acte III, Scène VIII: 'Dieux Implacables, Dieux Vengeurs'

flac/16-bit

Veljo Tormis - Litany to Thunder

"This startling record begins with two sopranos and a gentle piano sounding for all the world like Enya singing Satie; two tracks later we have a hair-raising chorus and drum hurling curses upon iron (which makes the tools of work and war). It's all the work of Estonian composer Veljo Tormis, who uses simple, even primitive melodies and ancient folk poetry (perhaps too simple for some listeners, especially those who understand no Finnish or Estonian) with exciting, sometimes atonal but always accessible accompaniment for chorus and/or instruments. The results can be plaintive and calm or vigorous, even feral. The effect is rather like Orff's 'Carmina Burana' with less symphonic glamour but more musical substance. The most entertaining piece on the disc is 'The Bishop and the Pagan', which retells (in a way) the story of St. Henry, who was martyred on a frozen lake in 1158 by an angry peasant with an ax. An alto and two tenors sing a medieval Latin poem in praise of Henry to a very chantlike melody in parallel fifths; meanwhile, baritones and basses pound out (softly at first) an ancient Finnish lyric told from the peasant's point of view. (You can guess how things end up.) The highlight is when the Henry trio is reduced to a wordless on-pitch howling while the peasant's chant is at its strongest - followed by a surprisingly witty ending. Not coincidentally, the next piece on the record, 'Litany to Thunder', depicts the sacrifice of an ox to the god of thunder and rain. Frankly, it's terrifying." (Review by Matthew Westphal via Amazon. See here.)

"Ultimate recording. Deep concern for the fate of my tiny homeland, my people and our culture have keyed my creative work. I hope this CD succeeds in expressing those feelings." (Veljo Tormis. From his website.)

Performers: Eesti Filharmoonia Kammerkoor, Tõnu Kaljuste

1. How Can I Recognize My Home

2. Singing Aboard Ship

3. Curse Upon Iron

4. The Singer's Childhood

5. Songs Of The Ancient Sea

6. The Bishop And The Pagan

7. Litany To Thunder

8. The Lost Geese

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Frank Morgan - Bop!

"In this stimulating collection, Frank Morgan explores ten pieces from the rich lode of American music that flourished in the decade following World War II. Music of extraordinary vitality and beauty, bebop broadened the harmonic and rhythmic bases of jazz and worked its influence on every musical idiom, radiating through the culture. It affected pop tunes, scores for motion pictures and television, even the methods of classical composers and performers. It is the music that formed Morgan when he was a child prodigy and that gave him the will to raise himself up from thirty years of torment and illness.

"In 1947, Frank moved from Milwaukee to Los Angeles with his parents. Musicians as disparate as Duke Ellington and Freddy Martin recognized him as a virtuoso on the alto saxophone. He was fourteen. Ellington tried to hire him. Mrs. Morgan insisted that her son finish school. Long before his high school graduation, he was a part of the L.A. bebop establishment that developed around the visits of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parke, the Lewis and Clark of the new music.

"Morgan was among the legions of saxophonists around the world whom Parker entranced. Indeed, many of them tried with all of their might and talent to be Charlie Parker. Frank's technique and musical understanding allowed him to learn and speak Parker's language. His immaturity and lack of judgement led him to emulate Parker's habits, despite his idol's warnings against heroin. By 1955, with an acclaimed album to his credit and sideman appearances on recordings by Teddy Charles and Kenny Clarke, young Frank Morgan was hooked. A series of arrests followed. Soon, he was in prison. Narcotic offenses kept him locked up much of the time until 1985, when he reappeared and became the music comeback story of the year. Since his reemergence, he has been a member of the mainstream jazz community. Life is no more a bed of roses for Morgan than for most jazz artists, but his productivity and the quality of his mature playing bring him respect from his peers and admiration from his public.

"Charlie Parker, 'Yardbird', was a protean musician whose style had many facets. Morgan's adaption of Parker stems from one of Bird's most attractive aspects, his lyricism. Although Morgan is capable of ferocity and headlong swings, his most striking moments come when he emulates the Parker whose inventions were like songs, the Parker of 'Yardbird Suite', 'Bird of Paradise', 'Just Friends'. As Morgan's lyrical treatment of standard songs made his last Telarc album [...] one of his best, his melodic gifts informs his approach to these classic compositions from bebop's heyday, 1945 to 1955.

"John Snyder, who produced this album and six previous ones for Morgan, has heard a lot of Frank and careful tracked the development of his artistry. He feels that Morgan has reduced the elements of his style to an essence.

"'This is not just another bop record,' Snyder says. 'This is bebop for the 2000s. It is bop without cliché.'

"In the opening number, it is also bop without fear of altering traditional treatments. John Lewis wrote 'Milano', the most recent of the pieces, for a 1955 Prestige recording by the Modern Jazz Quartet. A ballad for the MJQ [...], it becomes a rather more sprightly affair [...] in the hands of Morgan and his colleagues. Frank's solo is full of little whoops of joy, possibly reflecting his current state of mind. At the piano, Rodney Kendrick announces that he is enchanted with Thelonious Monk.

"Monk made the first recording of 'Well, You Needn't' for Blue Note in 1947, when he was a known quantity to musicians but not to the public. As much as they admired him, jazz players were leery of Monk's tunes, more because of their unconventional harmonies than their quirky melodies. This one had plenty of dangers, but after Miles Davis proved that its harmonic mine-field could be safely navigated, it became 'terra cognita' and is one of the most played of Monk's compositions. Certainly it presents no difficulties to Morgan and his young colleagues.

"Parker recorded 'K.C. Blues' for Clef in 1951 with his quintet. In addition to the pungency of his own choruses, Bird's recording was notable for one of Miles Davis's most enigmatic trumpet solos. Morgan does the blues at precisely the tempo of the original. He is enigmatic, or perhaps wistful, only in the ending phrases in which he echoes, intentionally or not, 'Whistle While You Work'. Kendrick is elliptical here, but in his own way, rather than Monk's. Leroy Williams abets Lundy's solo with subtle brush strokes, Kendrick with near-subliminal punctuations.

"Generations of listeners to Blakey's album 'A Night at Birdland' can lip-synch his version of the genesis of 'A Night in Tunisia'. Art announces on the recording that he was there when Dizzy Gillespie composed the tune 'in Texas, on the bottom of a garbage can.' It's a great story. The facts are that the name of the piece was orginally 'Interlude' and Gillespie began working on it when he was with Benny Carter in the early forties. He later arranged it for Boyd Raeburn's band and played the trumpet solo on Raeburn's famous recording of it. The piece was a staple of the big band that Gillespie operated from 1945.

"For alto players, however, the transcendent version of 'A Night in Tunisia', is Parker's 1946 Dial recording containing the famous alto break. Jazz cognoscenti say 'the famous alto break' in the hushed tones with which Picasso partisans pronounce 'Guernica', cinema devotees say 'Rosebud', and experts on the modern American novel quote Pynchon's, 'A screaming comes across the sky'. Morgan does not approximate the break, but he does a little screaming. Curtis Lundy begins the piece with a variation on the famous introduction Gillespie fashioned for Ray Brown's bass.

"Thelonious's old-timey 'Blue Monk' is his earthiest blues and tied with 'Straight No Chaser' as his best known. Morgan takes it at a more stately pace than Monk did in his initial 1953 recording of the tuen for Prestige with Art Blakey and bassist Percy Heath. Kendrick is in a frenzy of Monkisms here. Frank is the archetype of blues serenity.

"Miles Davis based 'Half Nelson' on the chord changes of Tadd Dameron's 'Lady Bird' and recorded it in 1947 for Savoy in his first session as leader. Charlie Parker, as Miles's sideman, played the date on tenor saxophone in a way that led as inevitably to Sonny Rollins as flowers and bees lead to honey. The logic and beauty of the changes and the support of the rhythm section inspire Morgan to his longest performance on the album, incorporating a series of exchanges with drummer Williams. Kendrick, a master of ellipsis, seems to introduce into his solo Wynton Kelly, Monk, and, in the manner of Thelonious, an elbow for low notes.

"To this day, Parker's 1946 recording of 'Lover Man' plays to divided opinion. He made it during a physical and emotional collapse and was furious with Dial's Ross Russell for releasing it. Other's, including Stan Getz, considered it one of Bird's most moving performances. Morgan's evaluation is clear; his opening phrase, in mood and tone, evokes Parker's. His 'Country Gardens' tag is one that Bird used in a variety of ways. It runs so deep in the jazz language that of all instruments find that it sneaks up on them plays itself.

"Gillespie recorded Monk's '52nd Street Theme' for RCA Victor with a seven-piece band in 1946 (it was a very good year). Many of the groups who worked The Street adopted Monk's line as a set-closer, hence the title. Morgan substitutes improvisation for the intricated bridge section written by Monk, but he captures the inventiveness and humor of the era in which musicians concocted dozens, maybe hundreds, of tunes on the changes of 'I Got Rhythm'. They should have made George Gershwin an honorary bebopper. Feeling exploratory and devil-may-care, Morgan concludes his survey of bop's past glories with a solo that is full of his present optimism and endless innovation." (Doug Ramsey. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Frank Morgan (a-sx), Rodney Kendrick (pi), Curtis Lundy/Ray Drummond (bs), Leroy Williams (dr)

1. Milano

2. Well, You Needn't

3. K.C. Blues

4. A Night In Tunisia

5. Blue Monk

6. Half Nelson

7. Lover Man

8. 52nd Street theme

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Oscar Peterson Meets Roy Hargrove and Ralph Moore

"Not long ago, I was talking to the pianist Cedar Walton about New York in 1950s, the hey-day of the bebop jam session, and an era where the city offered what he called 'an apprenticeship for young musicians, places where we could play until daybreak.' These days, he lamented, that spirit has all but disappeared. Then his eyes brightened: 'Except for one guy. Roy Hargrove. He wakes up in the middle of the night, grabs his horn, finds some place to play and jams 'til dawn. In 1955 there were dozens of places where those of us in our twenties could play. There aren't hardly any now, but Roy knows them all, and they all know him.'

"Critics have praised Roy Hargrove for his 'neo-classicism', his return to the values of players like Lee Morgan and Kenny Dorham, but among musicians, the talk is of his indefatigable spirit, his urge to play and to compete on the highest possible level. Still only twenty-six years old when this session was recorded in Toronto in June 1996, Roy has established himself as one of the most consistent and sought-after trumpeters on today's scene, and this disc definitively places him at the very peak of his profession.

"Also at the peak of his profession after a career that has flourished for well over fifty of his three score years and ten is Oscar Peterson. Oscar has never lost the competitive jam-session spirit so evident in Roy Hargrove, despite a time in 1950s when with 'Jazz at the Philharmonic' in full flight there was a danger, as bassist Ray Brown put it, that he'd be 'jam-sessioned out'.

"There is little hint in his playing here of debilitating stroke that Oscar suffered in 1993, which curtailed his use of his left hand. As my colleague Clive Davis put it in his London 'Times' review of Peterson's concert there, a mere to weeks after this recording date, 'the prodigious work-rate of his right hand restores a sense of equilibrium. One result is that Peterson's solos have taken on a more emphatic, measured tone.' In fact, it seems that the enfored lay-off stimulated Peterson's creative energy, and his deft solos here, as well as his original compositions like 'Rob Roy' (written for Hargrove) and the deeply-felt 'She Has Gone' (here dedicated to the memory of Ella Fitzgerald), show a more introspective side to his thinking than the dazzling days of his 1970s Pablo recordings and solo tours.

"A perfect example of this aspect of Oscar's work is his solo on 'Just Friends', where his opening break leads into a succession of figures which are all skillfully developed before being cast aside as each new figure emerges. There's a compositional sense of form and intensity here, just as there is in the hand, stabbing chords that explore the following tenor sax solo.

"This is by tenorist Ralph Moore, an old colleague of Hargrove's from the very first session Roy made under his own name ('Diamond in the Rough', cut in 1989). Moore, born in London in 1956, is also, as it happens, a former member of Cedar Walton's Quartet and, after a childhood in England, a musician who learned his craft in the U.S.A. alongside players like Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver, Billy Higgins, Ray Brown and J.J. Johnson. His sinuous tenor lines, robust at fast tempos and deceptively simple in the ballads, are a perfect foil for the bright tone of Hargrove's trumpet and the more somber melancholy of his flugelhorn. In recent years, Moore has spent time in the 'Tonight Show' band on U.S. television, and it is good to hear his jazz powers undiminished on this disc. Sample for example, his solo which begins with just bass and drums on Peterson's gently funky 'Truffles'.

"On drums is a musicians from Phoenix, Arizona, a couple of years younger than Moore, and who first came to international attention when he was recommended to Benny Carter, aged only twenty-one. Lewis Nash has worked on several sessions with Peterson, perhaps most notable on 'The More I See You', with Clark Terry and Betty Carter [...]. He is being hailed as one of the best and most all-'round drummers in jazz today, which not only makes him a well-qualified addition to this session, but also proves that it pays to have a musical philosophy and to put it into practice.

"Lewis Nash has often gone on record with his aspiration to make drumming more 'poetic', and to stress the 'melodic and caressing' side of his craft. He once said that 'drums can have the effect of speech', and through the intense concentration with which he both supports and enhances the work of his colleagues, he develops a satisfying conversational rapport with them all, not least the closing measure of 'North York', where his breaks are played with a nod to the classic jazz drum style of players like Max Roach and Art Blakey - demonstrating the same neo-classicism in his work as Hargrove displays.

"Perhaps the most masterly musical conversationalist in the group is Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass. Ever since his own sparkling debut in his native Denmark as a teenage prodigy on records with Bud Powell and Ben Webster, Niels has delighted audiences the world over with his refreshing approach to the bass, and his phenomenal technique that allows him to play solos as mobile and flexible as any other instrument. He was one of the first jazz bassists in history to play solo lines that would transfer effortlessly to saxophone or trumpet, and where his instrument offered no impediment to his freedom of expression and thought.

"This is as true today as it was back in the 1960s, and his long musical relationship with Oscar Peterson has been remarkably fruitful for both men. Their easy rapport is evident from the first notes they play, and on Niels-Henning's masterly solos on pieces like 'Rob Roy' and 'Truffles', where twists and turns of his basslines are expertly shadowed by minimal chords from Oscar.

"Like all the best groups, this band displays several different moods and styles across the course of the album, without ever losing the overall sense of identity shaped by the personalities of Peterson and Hargrove.

"Most moving of all is the tender piano solo, with just the lightest of backing from Pedersen and Nash, on 'She Has Gone'. Yet in the ballads 'My Foolish Heart' and 'Ecstasy', Hargrove picks up this sad introspection in his brooding flugelhorn tone, and together with Moore's plaintive tenor creates performances of great dignity and depth.

"Moving more swiftly is 'Blues for Stephane', a piece written by Oscar for a dear friend, and led off here by a neat riff in the opening chorus. The composition demonstrate the infinite variety possible within the simple blues sequence, in the hands of musicians with this level of experience and talent. 'Cool Walk', also based on one of the perennial chord sequences from early jazz that lent their names to a lot of different tunes over the years, is another medium-paced excursion for the band, while at the other extreme are more uptempo bebop classics like 'Just Friends' and 'Tin Tin Deo'. This last title was recorded in 1951 by Dizzy Gillespie and the young John Coltrane on tenor sax, in what was one of Coltrane's earliest small group record dates. Undaunted by history, Hargrove, Moore, Peterson, and the group treat it like a fresh new composition.

"Right through the history of jazz, when microphones have eavesdropped on a jam session, one of two things has happened. Sometimes nothing goes quite right, and the microphones are an embarrassment. More often, the creativity prompted by the spur of the moment leads to great things, and the performances preserved for prosterity take on a life of their own. The famous Nat King Cole sessions with Buddy Rich and Charlie Shavers are one example; others might Illinois Jacquet's 'Blues Part Two' for 'Jazz at the Philharmonic', or the series of Buck Clayton Jam Sessions cut in the 1950s.

"This disc isn't a live jam session, but because its key players are season in the art of such events, it captures just the right blend of formality and informality. There's no sense of any of the players here being 'jam-sessioned out' - only the strong feeling that as the instruments were packed away and the studio lights dimmed, more than one of the assembled company would have been thinking of moving on to somewhere where they could keep this glorious music-making going and play all night." (Alyn Shipton. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Oscar Peterson (pi), Roy Hargrove (tp), Ralph Moore (t-sx), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bs), Lewis Nash (dr)

1. Tin Tin Deo

2. Rob Roy

3. Blues For Stephane

4. My Foolish Heart

5. Cool Walk

6. Ecstasy

7. Just Friends

8. Truffles

9. She Has Gone

10. North York

flac/16-bit

Acts of Vengeance - UFoI II

Second in a series releases attached to the 'United Forces of Industrial' live event held in London, released by the eponymous record label in 2015. Mostly politically charged power electronics, with tracks by the likes of Grunt, Alfarmania, Concrete Mascara, Zyklon SS and Puce Mary as well as many enjoyable others. Expect vocal samples, insurrectionist/anarchic political messages as well as other classic industrial/power electronics themes. 

A1. Black Insignia - Acts Of Vengeance I

A2. Grunt - Blood Thirst

A3. Kevlar - Eternal Unhappiness

A4. Brood - Alarmis Frustrer

A5. Alfarmania - En Otrampad Stig

A6. Taeter - Special

A7. Concrete Mascara - Violence

A8. Martin Bladh - How Some Children Played At Slaughtering

B1. Zyklon SS - EFP Warhead

B2. Am Not - Intervention 

B3. Stark - Untitled

B4. Pain Nail - Abysmal Teaching Of The Great Signs

B5. Psychopathia - Conscience Of Facts

B6. Clinic Of Torture - Cutting The Slave

B7. Jaakko Vanhala - Life's Marrow

B8. Puce Mary - McKenzie

B9. Black Insignia - Acts Of Vengeance II

flac/16-bit

Legless - Residual Damage

Fresh, raw harsh noise from American Dan Propert. Runs at around 18 minutes per side and released on Italian noise label Angst (releases by K2, The Rita, Maurizio Bianchi, N., Vomir and others) in 2019. 

A. Untitled

B. Untitled

mp3/320kbps

地球

"Part one of a proposed series of three slickly presented CDs documenting the international 'Zen and the art of microtonal brick resonance' scene.

"'Chiky(u)u' presents the Japanese approach to recording naturally occurring sound. Ten new sound artists, including Akifumi Nakajima's Aube project and a whole host of previously unheard circuit burners, are set loose on a series of contorted field recordings 'gathered from the earth (stones, water, etc) or ctivity resulting from movement in the earth (earthquakes, etc)'. As far as CDs go its pretty 'interactive' with lots of secret tracks (97, to be precise!) and blank gaps. Rewinding from track one triggers 'Quake', a stereo shakedown high on the Richter scale, like a CD with teeth, gnawing away at your sense. Felow entrants in the howl stakes include Hatohan, whose 'Eldorado' is the sound of hurricane winds being sucked through tunnels, with phantom train carriages sparking on the rails dissolving into Buddhist bells and flowing water. Possibly the most unsettling of all is 'crackstratum' using only the 'the sound of the Ground Stones', holy stones that seem to speak (the 'everything is vibration' school of thought). The stones drone darkly, like drunken didgeridoos beneath a patiently dripping tap, until Nakajima starts skelping them with a large stick while his belly rumbles. They soon shut up. Another stand out (and every one's a boggler) is Tamaru's 'Water Margin', generated by 'attaching electrodes to the bank of the Arakawa River'. It's a hymnal of silent hum with occasional deep Morse Code blips bubbling to the surface while downstream a music box spins. 'Listen, the snow is falling,' Yoko Ono once sang. We should have done at the time, but collected here are many invigorating attempts to do just that. Listen, the planet is humming." (Review by David Keenan for The Wire magazine.)

1. Hatohan - Eldorado

2. Utah Kawasaki - Low Capacitance

3. MSBR - The Hollow Sea

4. Aube - Crackstratum

5. Koji Marutani - Scenes 4

6. MSBR - The Hollow Ground

7. Akira Yamamichi - Topography I To V

8. Toru Yamanaka - Weathering 2

9. Tamaru - Water Margin

10. Tak++ - Listening Point 20

mp3/256kbps

François Devienne - 4 Bassoon Concertos

"Although François Devienne ('The Younger', as is added to his name on some of his compositions) died at the early age of forty-four, he bequeathed to posterity an enormous number of works, at least by today's standards. When he died in Charenton, a Paris sanatorium, on 6 September 1803 (after having suffered from severe mental illness for at least six months), he left behind twelve operas, numerous songs (including revolutionary and patriotic tunes), some thirty solo concertos (most of them for wind instruments), and a vast collection of chamber music. Of course, composition was only one of the areas of music in which he was active. When we moderns recall this fact, we are bound to find ourselves wondering once again how it was that musicians of past epochs found the time to achieve qualitative and quantitative excellence in several areas. Today such areas are recognized as distinct fields of endeavor, and most of us today can only dream of attaining to the same level in one such field.

"Devienne initially served as a flautist and bassoonist in various Paris orchestras. He was the solo bassoonist at the Théâtre de Monsieur beginning in about 1791 and was named Professor of Flute at the national guard music institute in 1791. A few years later, in 1795, the institute became the 'Paris Conservatoire'. Many of Devienne's pupils received first prizes at the conservatory and figured importantly in the musical life of the French capital for decades. One such pupil, Joseph Guillon, was later a member of the famous Reicha Quintet and a professor at the Paris Conservatory.

"Devienne also made a very good name for himself as a composer. He was only twenty-one years olf and still performing with various principal and military orchestras when one of his works was performed in Paris for the first time in 1780. Étienne Ozi, the leading bassoonist of the time, performed Devienne's first bassoon concerto at one of the famous 'Concerts Spirituels' (with the composer's name listed as 'de Vienne'). The Théâtre Montansier staged his first opera in 1790 and 'Les visitandines', the most succesful of his operas, in 1792. The latter comic opera was performed over two hundred times between 1792 and 1797. It thus turned out to be one of the most popular stage works of the revolutionary period and was still being performed in Paris in 1920.

"Devienne's chamber music, solo concertos, and symphonies concertantes deserve special mention among the works of enduring value in his œuvre.

"Devienne's concertos for bassoon and orchestra certainly number among the most important of his works for bassoon, a distinction they share with his quartets for bassoon, violin, viola, and violoncello. Although the quartets have been available in modern printed editions as well as in recorded form for many years, only the 'Concerto No. 1' (under the disparaging/distorting title of 'Study Concerto') and the 'Concerto in B-flat major' (of disputed authorship, a matter to be discussed in greater detail below) have continued to be the only bassoon concertos known to the music world or, more precisely, to the bassoon world. The obscurity of Devienne's bassoon concertos has remained a great mystery to bassoonists, who have not exactly been overwhelmed with good music for their instrument. Perhaps the somewhat confused state of the sources explains why it is not until the present compact disc that there has been a recording of all of Devienne's extant bassoon concertos.

"All the sources speak of four concertos, published between 1785 and 1794. Although we may assume that the works were extant in more than one copy, there are only scattered traces of this in the libraries. The score for the present recording of 'Concerto No. 1' was derived from a copy dating to 1824 in the holdings of the Einsiedeln Monastery Library in Switzerland. Copies of the 1794 first printing of 'Concerto No. 2' were obtained from the British Library in London, and the University of Münster Library kindly allowed us to consult the first printing of 'Concerto No. 4' from 1793. The only material currently known to be extant for 'Concerto No. 3' (F major) is too incomplete to record (e.g., the solo part is lacking).

"Why, then, are there four concertos on this recording? Some decades ago a bassoon concerto of great beauty was published. Over the years no one has succeeded in identifying its composer with absolute certainty, but there is much to suggest that he was none other than François Devienne. When the 'Concerto in B-flat major' came to light in 1983, Max Seiffert, its editor, assigned it to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The manuscript materials from the Bückerberg Library he consulted for his edition are no longer available to us: the library was completely detroyed during World War II. The manuscript in question bore the title 'Concerto in B/Fagotto Principale/2 Violini/2 Oboi/2 Corni/2 Clarini/Viola con Basso/Dal Sig.re Wolfg. Mozart.'

"Now Mozart is indeed supposed to have composed three or four bassoon concertos, but we have clear extant evidence for only one of them, KV 191. Until the 1950s it was assumed - despite the uncertainty of the Bückerberg source - that another Mozart bassoon concerto had been found. The lost Bückerberg manuscript was known not to have been in Mozart's hand. In the Mozart annual of 1957 Ernest Hess demonstrated that the 'Concerto in B-flat major' cannot have been of Mozart's authorship [...]. Although limitations of space preclude a complete presentation of Hess's line of argumentation here, he did come to the conclusion that the composer of this magnificent piece was none other than our greatly esteemed Devienne. The evidence for this conclusion is extremely convincing. Hess cited score example to show exact agreements between the concerto and another work by Devienne, the 'Six duos concertantes' for two bassoons. In all its important themes the 'Concerto in B-flat major' draws on material from these duos of 1782. The much greater virtuosity of the bassoon part points more toward a commission for a professional, and Mozart wrote his bassoon concertos for a dilettante, the Baron von Dürnitz. In matters of technique the KV 191 concerto is considerably simpler than Devienner's works for bassoon.

"The only internal evidence against Devienne's authorship is the instrumentation of the concerto. The instrumentation including trumpets and timpani depart from that of the four concertos know to have been composed by Devienne. Moreover, we have no reference to a fifth concerto. Here we should remember, however, that Devienne composed his 'Concerto No. 4' in 1794, almost a decade prior to his death, and was at the height of his career during those years. He thus had more than enough time and every reason to compose another concerto. Perhaps it did not appear in printed form, and thus was not listed in th catalogues of his works.

"The present compact disc offers listeners interested in such matters the opportunity to form their own judgment about the fruit of our labours - about whether we have been justified in including the 'Concerto in B-flat major' as a fifth Devienne concerto and about whether it is indeed not time to retrieve his wonderful bassoon concertos from the darkness and obscurity of the archives." (Eckart Hübner, tr. Susan Marie Praeder. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Slovenský Komorný Orchester, Bohdan Warchal, Eckhart Hübner

1. Bassoon Concerto No. 4: I. Allegro Maestoso

2. Bassoon Concerto No. 4: II. Adagio

3. Bassoon Concerto No. 4: III. Minuetto Con Variazione

4. Bassoon Concerto No. 2: I.

5. Bassoon Concerto No. 2: II. Polonaise

6. Bassoon Concerto No. 1: I. 

7. Bassoon Concerto No. 1: II. Rondo

8. Bassoon Concerto In B Major (Mozart?): I. Allegro Moderato

9. Bassoon Concerto In B Major (Mozart?): II. Romance: Andante

10. Bassoon Concerto In B Major (Mozart?): III. Rondo: Allegro Moderato

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Bassoon Concerto; Oboe Concerto; Clarinet Concerto

"The life of Mozart has recently attracted considerable attention, his character distorted to suit modern dramatic requirements and his contemporary achievement thereby belittled. The reality seems to have been rather different. While he may never, as an adult, have achieved the material position that he and his father regarded his due, he nevertheless won considerable success during the last ten years of his life in Vienna, if never quite able to match the international acclaim that had greeted his appearance in the 1760s as a child prodigy.

"Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg in 1756, the son of a court musician, Leopold Mozart, who in 1756 had published an important book on violin technique and who represented a new breed of musician in his breadth of interests and his association with distinguished writers and intellectuals of the day. Neither Leopold nor Wolfgang Mozart were ever to regard themselves as mere craftsmen, whatever the social exigences of their profession.

"In childhood Mozart and his elder sister, Nannerl, travelled widely, performing prodigious musical feats to the amazement of audiences throughout Europe. As an adolescent the harsher reality of life in Salzburg, under a much less congenial patron, Hieronymus Count von Colloredo, the new Archbishop, led to constant dissatisfaction. Opportunities in Salzburg were limited; there was no opera-house and provincial society lacked the allure of Vienna. In 1777 Mozart secured his dismissal from the archiepiscopal service to seek his fortune in Mannheim and Paris, an abortive expedition, during the course of which his morther, who had accompanied him to France, fell ill and died. The journey was a fateful one in that it brought Mozart into contact with the Webers, to be jilted by the eldest daughter of the family, who found a more profitable match. Later he was to marry a younger daughter, Constanze, a step that caused amazement to the Emperor, in view of the bride's lack of money, and consternation to Mozart's father for equally compelling reasons.

"By the time of his marriage Mozart has escaped from the drudgery of Salzburg, where he had been re-employed on his return from Paris in 1778. In 1781 he had accompanied the Archbishop of Salzburg to Vienna, where he had finally and irrevocably quarrelled with his patron, after finding himself prevented from making full use of his abilities in the capital.

"The final decade of Mozart's life in Vienna brought variable fame and popularity. His operas were successful, in general, and his Singspiel, 'The Magic Flute', was drawing enthusiastic audiences in 1791, as the composer lay dying in sudden illness that has been the subject of considerable imaginative speculation by later generations.

"Mozart wrote a number of piano concertos, principally for his own use, violin concertos played in Salzburg, flute concertos on commission in Mannheim and horn concertos for his Salzburg friend Ignaz Leutgeb. Mozart wrote his only surviving bassoon concerto in Salzburg in 1774, possible for Freiherr Thaddaeus von Duernitz, an enthusiastic amateur, for whom he later wrote a piano sonata, as well as three other concertos and a bassoon sonata. The concerto, again in three movements, makes splendid use of the solo instrument, with contrasts of register and the necessary elements of display.

"Mozart probably wrote his C major Oboe Concerto in Salzburg in the spring or summer of 1777, before his autumn departure for Augsburg, designing it for the oboist Ferlendis, who had joined the Archbishop's musical establishment in April that year. In Mannheim, which he reach on 30th October, Mozart met the oboist Friedrich Ramm, a member of the famous court orchestra, and made him a present of the concerto. Ramm, as Mozart told his father, was delighted, and by February was performing it for the fifth time, now, in Mozart's words, his cheval de bataille. Pressed for time in his subsequent commission for the amateur flautist De Jean, he arranged the oboe concerto for flute. Mozart mentions the oboe concerto once more in a letter to his father written on 15th February 1783 from Vienna. Here he asks for the notebook containing the Ferlendis concerto, since he has been offered three ducats for it by the oboist of Haydn's orchestra as Esterháza, and twice that sum for a new concerto.

"The Oboe Concerto is scored for two oboes, two horns and strings and has all the clarity of texture that we should expect. After the orchestral exposition the soloist enters with a brief scale, leading to a sustained high note and the first solo theme.

"The slow movement, in F major, offers the oboe a sustained aria of great beauty and this is followed by a lively 'Rondo', into which the soloist leads the way.

"His clarinet concerto in A major, K. 622, was written for another friend, Anton Stadler, who had settled in Vienna in 1773 to become, with his younger brother, Johann Nepomuk, the first clarinettists to be employed by the Court Orchestra, in 1787.

"Anton Stadler, who played second clarinet in the orchestra, made technical changes in the instrument to allow a downward extension and it was for this so-called basset clarinet  and for this player that Mozart wrote his concerto a month or so before his death in 1791. The clarinet itself, derived from the earlier single-reed chalumeau, had been developed from the beginning of the eighteenth century. It was only towards the end of Mozart's life that it came to be accepted as a permanent element of the orchestra rather than as an occasional optional substitute for the oboe." (Keith Anderson. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Vienna Mozart Academy, Johannes Wildner, Stepan Turnovsky, Martin Gabriel, Ernst Ottensamer

1. Bassoon Concerto In B-Flat Major, K. 191: I. Allegro

2. Bassoon Concerto In B-Flat Major, K. 191: II. Andante Ma Adagio

3. Bassoon Concerto In B-Flat Major, K. 191: III. Rondo. Tempo Di Menuetto

4. Oboe Concerto In C Major, K. 314: I. Allegro Aperto

5. Oboe Concerto In C Major, K. 314: II. Andante Ma Non Troppo

6. Oboe Concerto In C Major, K. 314: III. Allegro

7. Clarinet Concerto In A Major, K. 622: I. Allegro

8. Clarinet Concerto In A Major, K. 622: II. Adagio

9. Clarinet Concerto In A Major, K. 622: III. Rondo. Allegro

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