Simply Baroque (CD review)

Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Sony SK 60680.

Apparently, by 1999 Yo-Yo Ma had run out of basic cello repertoire to record and began going in various different directions. For instance, he did a successful album of tango tunes, another of bluegrass, and yet another of contemporary music. The novelty this time out is that he plays on a period Stradivarius cello (1712) with Ton Koopman's period-instruments group, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.

They play about a half an hour of short Bach transcriptions, "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," "Air on a G String," that kind of thing, and a pair of Boccherini cello pieces, the Concerto in G Major and the Concerto in D Major.

Yo-Yo Ma

While the Bach is undoubtedly appealing, I found it a bit fussy and over-refined. Ma's playing is ravishing, yet he seems to drain some of the life from the works in the name of beauty. On the other hand, the Boccherini is another world entirely. Maybe it's just that we hear more Bach pieces compared to Boccherini that comparisons are more harsh in the Bach. Still, I don't think I have ever heard works by Italian composer and cellist Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) played with more elegance, more fluidity and grace, more expressiveness, or more subtle nuance. There is no loss of vitality here; the pieces are at once alive and enlightened. Certainly, Maestro Koopman's robust style helps both Bach and Boccherini, but he, too, adds a note of sensitivity to the latter.

The booklet note says a lot about Ma's having to adapt both his instrument and his performing technique to meet the demands of period music. It appears, instead, that the eighteenth century was more than willing to conform to Ma's style. The combination provides a unique listening experience, a step beyond what the usual period-instrument player might bring to these concertos.

Sony's sound (recorded at Stadsgehoorzaal, Leiden, Netherlands in 1998 and digitally remastered in 2009) is likewise good. Recorded in Holland's Stadageboorzaal Concert Hall, the acoustic is pleasantly resonant, helping to make the sonics sound realistic without in any way distorting them.  The results are smooth, natural, and reasonably clear, with a good degree of depth as well as breadth to the stereo image. Ma's cello is dominant, to be sure, but it never completely overpowers its orchestral accompaniment.

This is a disc that scores on almost all counts, lightweight but recommendable.

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click below:

Nine Notes That Shook the World (CD and Blu-ray review)

Ronn McFarlane, Renaissance and Baroque lutes; Mindy Rosenfeld, Renaissance, Baroque, and Celtic flutes, fifes, harp, and bagpipe. Sono Luminus DSL-92169 (CD and Blu-ray)

Lutes and flutes.

Lutes and flutes provide the perfect instruments for this collection of Renaissance and Baroque folk and classical music, presented on a standard CD and a Blu-ray disc.

First, a word about the title, which goes without comment in the booklet and packaging. I can only assume it is a take on American journalist and socialist John Reed's book, Ten Days That Shook the World, about the 1917 October Uprising in Russia. Beyond that, the album's reference is rather vague, but it's a cool title, anyway.

The music derives from the early sixteenth to late-eighteenth centuries. The composers include the familiar: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), Pietro Locatelli (1695-1764), and John Dowland (1563-1626); the less familiar: John Adson (c.1587-1640), Michael Blavet (1700-1768), Adrian Le Roy (c.1520-1598), James Oswald (c.1711-1769), Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689-1755), Robert Ballard (c.1752--after 1650), Cesare Negri, and Fabritio Caroso da Sermoneta; plus a few traditional and anonymous acknowledgements.

The recording artists are Ronn McFarlane playing Renaissance and Baroque lutes; and Mindy Rosenfeld playing Renaissance, Baroque, and Celtic flutes, fifes, harp, and bagpipe. Ms. Rosenfeld writes that "Ronn and I have been musical colleagues since we met in Baltimore in our early twenties at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, playing together in the Baltimore Consort, and in the trio 'Gut, Wind and Wine" with our friend, Mark Cudek. Performing together as a duo is a more recent incarnation of our musical connection."

Mr. McFarlane is an American lutenist and composer. He was a founding member of the Baltimore Consort; began a touring career in the United States, Canada, and Europe, both with the Baltimore Consort and as a soloist; became noted as an interpreter of Renaissance music; served on the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory teaching lute; received an honorary Doctorate of Music from the Shenandoah Conservatory; and began composing music for the lute and working with a new ensemble called Ayreheart. Ms. Rosenfeld is an American flutist, piper, and harpist who specializes in Renaissance music. She co-founded the Baltimore Consort, in 1989 became a member of San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and is currently the Principal Flutist and soloist with the Symphony of the Redwoods and the Mendocino Music Festival in California.

About the music, Ms. Rosenfeld further writes that "This recording is a gathering of some of our favorites, a musical feast. A wide cross-section of styles both 'folk and fyne,' evocative and expressive of the variety and intensity of human feelings, from sparky, joyful fun to deeper meditative inner reflection, these timeless tunes from past centuries still touch us in ways words cannot, stirring our life energy."

McFarlane and Rosenfeld are consummate artists, and their experience allows them to blend their various instruments in ideal harmony and execution. Most of the tunes they play are soft, sweet, and gentle, yet their choice of songs, dances, and instruments are diverse enough to provide a wide range of moods and emotions. The performers seem keenly aware of one another's style and provide a variety of nuances in their playing, enough to keep even this listener, ordinarily only mildly interested in Renaissance music, entertained.

While I surely enjoyed the folk and traditional melodies they play on the program, I probably got the most pleasure from Handel's Sonata in G Major. McFarlane and Rosenfeld infuse it with wit, charm, serenity, and good cheer. Yet for that matter, their playing of assorted Scottish, Irish, and English airs and dance tunes also delighted me no end. Heck, the whole thing was fun, and the closing bagpipe number is a kick.

The performers fill out the album with over seventy-five minutes of music, very nearly the limit of a CD and certainly good value. A Blu-ray disc, of course, has far more room on it than a compact disc, so because you get to choose among three different BD formats, it offers extra worth.

Producer and editing engineer Dan Mecurio and recording, editing, mixing, and mastering engineer Daniel Shores made the album in October 2012 at the studios of award-winning Sono Luminus in Boyce, Virginia. Audiophiles know Sono Luminus for their "less-is-more" recording philosophy, producing some of the most natural-sounding discs around. Nine Notes That Shook the World is no exception.

The package contains both a standard CD in two-channel stereo and a Blu-ray disc with DTS HD MA 5.1 multichannel (24/192kHz), DTS HD MA 7.1 multichannel (24/96kHz), and LPCM 2.0 stereo (24/192kHz). Although I have a 7.1-channel playback system in my home-theater room, it doesn't use speakers as good as those in my main music-listening room, so I opted to listen mainly to the standard CD.

In any case, here's another of those "reach-out-and-touch-it" affairs that sounds so real you'd think the performers were with you in your listening room. A modest resonance complements the realism of the occasion, the miking putting the players at a distance that appears just beyond the loudspeakers. Clarity, definition, and detail are exemplary, all while maintaining the smooth, warm sound of the instruments.

Just for the heck of it, though, I did spend some time with the Blu-ray disc, where I thought the DTS 5.1 sounded best, providing the better combination of transparency and ambient surround space.

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

David Russell: The Grandeur of the Baroque (CD review)

Music of Bach, Handel, Couperin, and Weiss. David Russell, guitar. Telarc TEL-33223-02.

Most people like the music of classical guitar, and there are few practitioners of the art better at it than Scottish classical guitarist David Russell. Maybe it's just longevity. He's been plucking the instrument since his childhood in the 1950's, winning major music awards and the hearts of millions of admirers all over the world. He has been recording since the 1970's, and he's been with Telarc since the mid 90's, this new album, The Grandeur of the Baroque, marking his seventeenth release for the company. Remarkable.

After his having covered the music of most eras, Russell returns to the music of the Baroque period, something he's done on several previous occasions for Telarc. This time, he covers five selections by Bach, six by Handel, four by Couperin, and six more from the less familiar S.L. Weiss, all of them in guitar transcriptions that work better than you might expect. Familiar music or unfamiliar, Russell handles all of it with consummate skill.

The program begins with the Toccata from Partita No. VI in E minor by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). It's a good curtain-raiser because while it is not extravagantly outgoing, it does afford Russell a chance to demonstrate his dazzling dexterity and prove his virtuosity without tearing the house down. The three Bach Sinfonias (Three-Part Inventions), Nos. 2,11, and 5, prove good counterpoints with their relatively serene, meditative moods.

Next comes the Suite No. 7 in G minor by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759). It puts us into a more directly Baroque world, with Russell taking his time with the music and letting it breathe naturally in a perfectly relaxed yet regal manner. The Sarabande is especially appealing, although for that matter Russell plays the entire suite so well, so brilliantly and elegantly, it's hard to pick a favorite selection. Nevertheless, La Pantomime also stands out.

After the Handel, Russell gives us the Twenty-Sixth Suite from Book IV of Pieces de Clavecin by Francois Couperin (1668-1733). These pieces seem more thoughtful, calculated, and contemplative than particularly innovative or memorable. Still, that assessment may simply reflect my own personal biases in favor of German, English, and Italian Baroque music over French.

The program closes with the Suite in D major by Silvius Leopold Weiss (1686-1750), an important composer of lute music in his time. In Russell's hands, the suite begins in a dignified and stately manner and then moves through a series of brief segments of varying temperaments. It's a pleasant and surprisingly catchy way to end the album. Indeed, some of the music sounds positively modern, and all of it sounds delightful.

Telarc recorded the album at Clonick Hall, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio, and released it in 2012. The sound they obtained matches Russell's performances in clarity, richness, and resonance. While it's only one instrument, it sounds like a whole ensemble on occasion, the acoustic setting and slightly close miking producing splendid results.

JJP