Gramophone July 2004

J.S. Bach & the Möller Manuscript - Carole Cerasi (2002) {Metronome METCD 1055}
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© 2002 Metronome Recordings | MET CD 1055
Classical / Baroque / Period Instruments / Harpsichord

This is the fourth solo recording by Gramophone Award winner Carole Cerasi. Continuing her adventurous programming on disc, she has chosen a programme inspired by the Möller Manuscript, a manuscript compiled by Johann Sebastian Bach's elder brother Johann Christoph, with whom Johann Sebastian lived after the death of his parents in 1695. The 'Möller' manuscript is one of the most precious musical treasures from the lifetime of Johann Sebastian Bach, not least because it is one of the few sources of his early works that has a close connection with the young composer.

Jouni Kaipainen's first two symphonies were in one and two movements respectively but Kaipainen suggests no conclusions should be drawn from the fact that the Third (2004) is in three. The latest symphony is half as long again as No 2 and twice as epic, roaring away from the very first bar. While there are moments of reflection and calm, once it has you in its grip it does not let go. Vividly scored with many solos and ensembles interspersed between passages of invigorating orchestral power, there is a clear thread from start to end. Devotees of Peter Mennin's or Karl Amadeus Hartmann's music will find much to enjoy here.

The music of William Byrd has been something of an obsession for the members of Phantasm, featuring on their early recordings Still Music of the Spheres (1996) and Byrd Song (1998), as well as their 2004 collection The Four Temperaments. Here they return again to the Elizabethan composer with the benefit of nearly two decades’ performing experience, to gather together his complete output for viol consort, bar the fragmentary or spurious works. Spanning some 40 years of Byrd’s life, this is a condense but subtly varied album of styles: courtly dances interleave with cryptic spiritual and devotional works – fleeting expressions of the recusant Catholic’s unwavering faith – and variations on popular Tudor songs, like the magnificent tour de force, Browning. Among the finest works are the Fantasias, which range from lush-textured six-part tapestries to the laconic three-part pieces, haiku-like in their poetic expressivity. Throughout them Byrd retains the ‘Angelicall and Divine’ qualities that his contemporaries remarked upon – qualities that Phantasm captures perfectly in this collection.

England's Brabant Ensemble specializes in sacred choral music of the middle 16th century, mostly from present-day Belgium and The Netherlands. Its name comes from the Duchy of Brabant, an incredibly fertile area of the Low Countries whose music was in demand among Italy's powerful families, shaped European music continent-wide, and was the primary component in what is thought of today as "Renaissance choral music."

A first-rate recital of rare cantatas and operatic arias . . . . Philippe Jaroussky is described as a countertenor, but in his tone and vocal range he sounds more like a soprano. He soars as effortlessly as a bird, with no sense of strain: perhaps –- for we can never know for certain -– this is how the great castrati of the 18th century sounded. . . . Philippe Jaroussky . . . is sweet-toned, and as well as singing the divisions with wonderful control he shows care for the meaning of the words. The aria from Tito Manlio, which really was written for contralto, finds him duetting with the cello obbligato of Emilia Gliozzi – superb!