Tekla Cunningham, baroque violin; Pacific MusicWorks. Reference Recordings Fresh! FR-742.
By John J. Puccio
Stylus phantasticus (or Stylus fantasticus) means “fantastical style,” and it refers to a genre of early Baroque music, derived particularly from the toccatas and fantasies of sixteenth-century Italian composers like Claudio Merulo and Girolamo Frescobaldi. In a book on the subject, the German Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher wrote, "The fantastic style is especially suited to instruments. It is the most free and unrestrained method of composing, it is bound to nothing, neither to any words nor to a melodic subject, it was instituted to display genius and to teach the hidden design of harmony and the ingenious composition of harmonic phrases and fugues."
On the present disc, Reference Recordings provides eleven examples of the fantasical style from mainly seventeenth-century Italian and German practitioners of the form. The group performing the pieces is the period-instrument ensemble Pacific MusicWorks: Tekla Cunningham, baroque violin; William Skeen, bass violin; Stephen Stubbs, baroque guitar and chitarrone; Maxine Eilander, baroque harp; and Henry Lebedinsky, organ and harpsichord. Each of these players is a celebrated musician in his or her own right, with numerous recordings and solo appearances to their credit.
So, stylus phantasticus is not a particular form or technique but a more general manner of composition coming at a time when music before it (and, indeed, after it) tended to demand that composers conform to more-specific structures. It was not limited to choral music, for instance, or preexisting dances or melodies; instead, it allowed for more-creative imagination. While it wasn’t exactly a free-for-all, it did provide for a richer expression of musical interests before the concerto and the symphony would tie things down again.
Anyway, the program is as follows:
1. Carlo Farina (1600–1639):
“Sonata Seconda detta la Desperata”
2. Giovanni de Macque (1550–1614):
“Toccata”
3. Marco Uccellini (1603–1680):
“La Luciminia contenta,” Op. 4 No. 2
4. Francesco Corbetta (1615–1681):
“Partite sopra La Folia”
5. Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli (1630–1669/70):
“La Castella,” Op. 3 No. 4
6. Giovanni Battista Fontana (?-1630):
“Sonata Seconda”
7. Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644–1704):
“Sonata Prima”
8. Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1620–1680):
“Ciaconna in A” from Serenada in Mascara
9. Ignazio Albertini (1633–1685):
“Sonata Prima for violin and continuo”
10. Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1620–1680):
“Sonata Seconda” from Sonatæ unarum fidium
11. Schmelzer:
“Sonata Quarta” from Sonatæ unarum fidium
As you might notice, the compositions follow a pattern of earliest to later music, with the earlier ones a bit less ornate. The Carlo Farina sonata, for instance, is almost sedate in its execution. Its subtitle, “detta la Desperata,” translates as “called the despairing,” an emotional piece if rather despondent in tone. MusicWorks provide it with an appropriately passionate melancholy. The harp and harpsichord are especially appealing.
Following the Farina sonata is the oldest example of stylus phantasticus on the disc, Giovanni de Macque’s little “Toccata” for baroque harp. It’s deceptively simple and beautifully played. The next selection, Uccellini’s “La Luciminia contenta,” takes the style further, being livelier and even more expressive than the preceding pieces.
And so it goes. The tunes show wit, compassion, virtuosity, lyricism, reflection, and an ever-changing spectrum of colors, phrasing, and articulation. Moreover, the performances are immaculate and committed. It makes for engaging and highly addictive listening.
Producer David Sabee and engineers Dmitry Lipay, Aleksandr Lipay, and Kory Kruckenberg recorded the music at St. Thomas Chapel, Kenmore, Washington in February 2018. The sound has a pleasantly warm, reverberant quality to it. It maybe doesn’t permit the ultimate in transparency or definition, but it is quite natural and lifelike. It’s a comfortable sound, with plenty of range in frequency and dynamics.
JJP
To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click below:
By John J. Puccio
On the present disc, Reference Recordings provides eleven examples of the fantasical style from mainly seventeenth-century Italian and German practitioners of the form. The group performing the pieces is the period-instrument ensemble Pacific MusicWorks: Tekla Cunningham, baroque violin; William Skeen, bass violin; Stephen Stubbs, baroque guitar and chitarrone; Maxine Eilander, baroque harp; and Henry Lebedinsky, organ and harpsichord. Each of these players is a celebrated musician in his or her own right, with numerous recordings and solo appearances to their credit.
So, stylus phantasticus is not a particular form or technique but a more general manner of composition coming at a time when music before it (and, indeed, after it) tended to demand that composers conform to more-specific structures. It was not limited to choral music, for instance, or preexisting dances or melodies; instead, it allowed for more-creative imagination. While it wasn’t exactly a free-for-all, it did provide for a richer expression of musical interests before the concerto and the symphony would tie things down again.
Anyway, the program is as follows:
1. Carlo Farina (1600–1639):
“Sonata Seconda detta la Desperata”
2. Giovanni de Macque (1550–1614):
“Toccata”
3. Marco Uccellini (1603–1680):
“La Luciminia contenta,” Op. 4 No. 2
4. Francesco Corbetta (1615–1681):
“Partite sopra La Folia”
5. Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli (1630–1669/70):
“La Castella,” Op. 3 No. 4
6. Giovanni Battista Fontana (?-1630):
“Sonata Seconda”
7. Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644–1704):
“Sonata Prima”
8. Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1620–1680):
“Ciaconna in A” from Serenada in Mascara
9. Ignazio Albertini (1633–1685):
“Sonata Prima for violin and continuo”
10. Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1620–1680):
“Sonata Seconda” from Sonatæ unarum fidium
11. Schmelzer:
“Sonata Quarta” from Sonatæ unarum fidium
Following the Farina sonata is the oldest example of stylus phantasticus on the disc, Giovanni de Macque’s little “Toccata” for baroque harp. It’s deceptively simple and beautifully played. The next selection, Uccellini’s “La Luciminia contenta,” takes the style further, being livelier and even more expressive than the preceding pieces.
And so it goes. The tunes show wit, compassion, virtuosity, lyricism, reflection, and an ever-changing spectrum of colors, phrasing, and articulation. Moreover, the performances are immaculate and committed. It makes for engaging and highly addictive listening.
Producer David Sabee and engineers Dmitry Lipay, Aleksandr Lipay, and Kory Kruckenberg recorded the music at St. Thomas Chapel, Kenmore, Washington in February 2018. The sound has a pleasantly warm, reverberant quality to it. It maybe doesn’t permit the ultimate in transparency or definition, but it is quite natural and lifelike. It’s a comfortable sound, with plenty of range in frequency and dynamics.
JJP
To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click below:
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