Christmas Concerto
Cantilena
Adrian Shepherd
CHANDOS COLLECT CHAN
6630
Crotchet
This compact disc offers an anthology of 17th and 18th
century works for baroque orchestra (total time 68 minutes):
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713):
Concerto Grosso in G minor Opus 6, No.8 (the "Christmas
Concerto")
Carlo Farina (1600-1640): Pavane in A
minor
Alfonso Ferrabosco II (1575-1628): Pavane No.4 (from
6 lessons a 2)
Erasmus Widmann (1572-1634): Canzona, Galliard and
Intrada
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): Sinfonia in G Major, RV
149
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759): Sinfonia to Part
3 of Solomon ("Arrival of the Queen of
Sheba")
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Air from Orchestral
Suite No.3 in D major, BWV 1068
Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706): Canon in D
major
Johann Christoph Pepusch (1667-1752): Kammersinfonie
in D minor
It is immediately apparent that this disc is a medley of 'light classical'
pieces, including established favourites (Arrival of the Queen of Sheba,
"Air on the G string" and Pachelbel's Canon) thus appealing to the broad
market of Classic FM listeners. At the same time it introduces the listener
to lesser known, indeed some rarely performed, but no less delightful pieces
by early and mid-Baroque composers resident in Italy, Germany and England.
As such it is a splendid example of its genre. The disc's general title
"Christmas Concerto" is derived from the famous pastorale last movement of
Corelli's Concerto in G minor; otherwise there is no specifically Yuletide
theme about these pieces. Nevertheless this disc will make a charming Christmas
present - no doubt the title was chosen with eye to that market.
In some respects these are a heterogeneous collection of pieces, but also
make a pleasing sequence on the ear with their variety of mood and atmosphere
- from the dark sombre tones of the pavanes by Farina and Ferrabosco to the
bright and breezy pieces by Vivaldi and Handel. It would appear the sequencing
has been chosen with some care: Farina's Pavane in A minor introduces a funereal
atmosphere after the lightness of the Corelli concerto, which then darkens
still further into F minor for the Pavane No.4 by Ferrabosco. By contrast
the lightness and energy of Vivaldi's Sinfonia in G could be imagined by
the listener (who so chooses) to be followed by a few moments silence in
G minor, before embarking upon the driving moto perpetuo of the Arrival
of the Queen of Sheba in the major key of the same key signature. This last
is played with much energetic gusto, but mercifully not at the mad frenetic
pace sometimes encountered in modern performances.
All the pieces are played by a modern string chamber orchestra, with no attempt
to simulate the timbre of period instruments, even in those pieces intended
for 17th Century viols. However, the playing is of a high order
of delicacy and sensitivity in authentic style. The harpsichord continuo
is audible in the 18th Century concertos - but only just. Some
listeners may consider this a blessing in a modern instruments performance,
whilst others may find it an irritating departure from authenticity.
The overbearing dominance of Handel in the musical life of London in the
mid 1700s tended then, and ever since, to put his contemporaries into undeserved
deep shade. Accordingly it is pleasing to have the miscellany on this disc
devoted to Pepusch's particularly splendid Chamber Symphony in D minor in
the sonata da chiesa form, with broad slow movements introducing each
of the bright Allegro movements.
Overall a most agreeable disc.
Reviewer:
Humphrey Smith
