Manze

This is a very welcome reissue from 1994. Leipzig-born Johann Adolph Scheibe (1708-1776) became the most important and renowned composer in Denmark after settling there in 1740. Though recognized as an astute music theorist and critic, most of Scheibe’s extraordinarily prolific oeuvre remains lost today; and it’s a shame because if these often engaging Sinfonias are even remotely representative, he also was an inspired, innovative, and highly accomplished composer.

These two splendid concertos by Stenhammar are offered together on one CD for the first time. The original orchestration of Stenhammar's first concerto was long thought to be lost when the offices of the publisher were bombed during the second world war. However, in 1983 a copy of the original was found in the Library of Congress and this version is featured here. The twenty-two year old's opus one is a masterpiece. Majestic and virtuosic at its opening, the work explores a world of Nordic mystery in the third movement and ends with music of sad, reflective sweetness. The second concerto is a distinctly different work, with a novel structure and a steady tension between soloist and orchestra that is only resolved in the virtuosic finale.

Hyperion’s third disc in the Romantic Cello Concerto series sees the brilliant young cellist Gemma Rosefield making her label debut. She was the winner of the prestigious Pierre Fournier Award at Wigmore Hall in 2007 and has garnered great acclaim for her spirited playing.

Natalie Clein adds a remarkable collection of Saint-Saëns’ music for cello and orchestra to her impressive discography. Clein first came to prominence when she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year award in 1994; it is appropriate that she performs the music of an extraordinary child prodigy.

The wonderful French pianist Cédric Tiberghien has made several admired recital and chamber recordings. Now he joins the impressive roster of pianists who have contributed to Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series with Volume 60: Théodore Dubois. Three works by this French composer are included here, and they present a captivating panorama of the evolution of Dubois’ style over some forty years: the Concerto-capriccioso of 1876 seems like a preliminary study in the style of such composers as Weber and Mendelssohn, whereas the highly Romantic Concerto in F minor (1897) is reminiscent of Saint-Saëns. The completely unknown Suite for piano and strings (1917), for its part, resembles a neoclassical pastiche.

Many Baroque music afficionados may remember Scheibe as the author of an infamously vicious diatribe against the music of J. S. Bach ( e.g.: "If only his writing were not so turgid, so convoluted!"). Scheibe's own talents, though obviously nowhere near as stellar as his target, are nonetheless considerable. The two flute concerti on this wonderful recording are seductively and sensitively rendered by artists Maria Bania and Irene Spranger. The musical lines of the inner slow movements are gorgeous and the outer movements are captivatingly playful.

As Andrew Manze remarks in the liner note for this album, the sonata was perhaps "but a toy theatre in Handel's world of architectural splendours." Indeed, the eight sonatas, with the addition of two independent movements, provide an insight into a world far removed from the imposing, monumental Handelian works known to many listeners. But these works are by no means a lesser manifestation of the composer's genius.

Listening to the sonatas in this 1993 Harmonia Mundi recording after seeing the written scores, it is easier to understand the process of converting dots into music. Although the title page (in Vivaldi's showiest calligraphy) reads Suonate a Violino e Basso per il Cembalo (ie keyboard), this recording injects extra colour - Nigel North adding to the continuo, playing archlute, theorbo and guitar. His plucked strings are a welcome feature throughout, being especially prominent in the dramatic opening to Sonata number 7 in c. Elsewhere, Andrew Manze provides his own elaborations in the slow movements, for which the scores do not write out embellishments for the repeated sections.

Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber - The Rosary Sonatas
Andrew Manze (violin) / Richard Egarr (organ & harpsichord)
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 690 MB (2x CD) | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Harmonia Mundi USA # HMU 907321/22 | Country/Year: Europe 2002
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque

…Manze, a British Baroque violinist who has led the English Concert and the Academy of Ancient Music, brings these pieces alive. Performing on a 1700 violin with sheep gut strings, he retunes the instrument for each sonata rather than playing on a set of pre-tuned instruments. This allows the listener to hear the radical changes in tone the violin undergoes as the levels of pressure on its strings are altered….

Corelli's Op. 5 Violin Sonatas have always been admired by chamber music fans; there are a couple of good recordings of them already available. But this new one by Baroque specialist and virtuoso Andrew Manze and harpsichordist Richard Egarr presents the sonatas in such a bright, exciting, and improvisatory light that they seem brand new. During the composer's lifetime, these sonatas were widely played and tremendously influential; there's a good chance that it was assumed that virtuosi took what was written on the page as a starting point for embellishing and sheer showing off.