Collegium Vocale Gent / Ricercar Consort / Philippe Pierlot BACH Soli Deo Gloria

 

SOLI DEO GLORIA

 

Katia Labèque / Marielle Labèque AMORIA

The two Labèque sisters are Basque in origin, having been born on the southwest coast of France near the Spanish border. Katia and Marielle are a sharply contrasted, yet highly communicative piano team. While their joint reputation was won initially through the performance of unusual repertoire, they have not neglected traditional works for two pianos.

For this vibrant and colorful album, the Labèque sisters reconnect with their Basque roots to explore a fabulously varied program that roams over five centuries of music. Joined variously by singers, percussionists, and a viola da gamba player, they weave a wonderful tapestry of sounds that reaches a toe-tapping climax with “Boléro” by Maurice Ravel (also of Basque lineage). The Labèques’ awe-inspiring unanimity of playing again takes the breath away, but they also find a gentler, almost melancholy quality that’s very touching. Folk music and art music collide here and create something very modern yet strangely timeless.

Orphénica Lyra / José Miguel Moreno / Nuria Rial / Carlos Mena FUENLLANA Libro de mùsica para vihuela intitulado Orphénica Lyra

The Libro de mùsica para vihuela intitulado Orphénica Lyra is one of the most important vihuela publications of the 16th century. The work of the blind vihuelist Miguel de Fuenllana, it appeared in 1554 bearing a dedication to "Philip, Prince of Spain, King of England (1554 was the year of Philip's short-lived marriage to Mary Tudor) and Naples." Fuenllana, who subsequently entered into the service of Philip II, was rated one of the best performers of the day, so skilled that he was apparently even capable of playing on an untuned instrument. His ambitious and extraordinarily diverse Orphénica Lyra contains 188 works spread over six books that include both his own compositions and arrangements of works by some of the most popular composers of the period, among them Josquin (with 13 works, second in quantity only to Morales), in addition to those listed above. 

While it is not unusual to come across the odd piece from the publication on recital discs, the present issue is the first I've encountered to be wholly devoted to Orphénica Lyra. Only two original works by Fuenllana himself are included, the remainder of the program being devoted to his arrangements, in themselves rearranged for the vocal and instrumental ensemble that bears the name of the publication. There cannot, of course, be the slightest aesthetic objection to such a procedure, although given that Moreno is probably the greatest vihuelist of his day, it might have been agreeable to hear him play a few more solo tracks. Such regrets, though, are soon banished by the sheer quality of these performances. How well this group works together! The opening track, an extract from Flécha 's well-known ensalada La Bomba featuring the entire group of soprano Nuria Real, countertenor Carlos Mena, three violas da gamba, recorder, Renaissance guitar, gentle percussion, and Moreno's vihuela, displays a lively idiomatic approach symptomatic of what follows. Few of the tracks are quite so fully scored, and for me some of the highlights of the disc are the captivatingly lovely songs by Juan Vazquez, surely the greatest of all 16th-century Spanish song-composers, and the name most frequently represented. Also here is Sermisy's famous chanson Tant qui vivray in a fascinating arrangement, one of the few in which Fuenllana allowed himself instrumental embellishment. 

The production is well up to Glossa's usual high standard, with splendid sound, and an exemplary note by Ivan Moody. A splendidly varied collection that by turn delights, seduces, and haunts the mind. Strongly recommended. (FANFARE / Brian Robins)

José Miguel Moreno / Emma Kirkby / Carlos Mena, J.S. BACH De Occulta Philosophia

In 2001 the German label ECM released a disc under the title Morimur on which the violinist Christoph Poppen and the Hilliard Ensemble presented the findings of the musicologist Helga Thoene. She had discovered a whole series of fascinating numerical relationships in the music of Bach, especially in the sonatas and partitas for violin, shedding light on messages the composer had hidden ‘between the lines’. Three years earlier, in 1998, Glossa had already released a recording based on the identical Thoene studies. Here, the voices of Emma Kirkby and Carlos Mena recreated the choral parts of Christ lag in Todesbanden, enveloped by the magical sonority of José MiguelMoreno’s baroque lute in his exquisite transcription of the D minor Ciaccona for violin.

We have now reedited this disc within the Glossa Platinum collection. A fundamental part of the Glossa catalogue, it has been unavailable in stores for a number of years. On it, after 15 minutes of intoxicating interaction between Moreno, Kirkby and Mena, the lutenist from Madrid interprets the complete versions of the Sonata BWV 1001 and the Partita BWV 1004, both originally for violin, in an enchanting performance which has led his numerous fans, among which can be found a good part of the specialized press, to wonder when he will take on the bulk of Bach’s oeuvre... (GLOSSA)

La Cetra / Marcon CALDARA La concordia de' pianeti

This release marks the world-premiere recording and rediscovery of Antonio Caldara’s La Concordia de’ pianeti, a musical serenade of operatic magnitude composed for the court of Austrian Emperor Karl VI, featuring the creme de la creme of the day’s singers, including the legendary castrato Carestini (Franco Fagioli’s part).
Unearthed and edited by Andrea Marcon, the piece offers a series of virtuosic arias, breath-taking cantilenas and ethereal duets performed by some of the finest singers of today.
Franco Fagioli and Daniel Behle, two of today’s hottest vocalists, lead a distinctive cast of early music “shining stars”, including soprano Veronica Cangemi in a welcome return to Deutsche Grammophon / Archiv. The dynamic La Cetra Barockorchester, one of the most coveted period ensembles active today, lends an idiomatic touch to the program.
This is a major new release under the Archiv imprint featuring a world-class cast of singers. The opera is new to the repertoire and the catalogue altogether and has been recorded both in studio conditions and live performances in Dortmund. (ArkivMusic)