MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS
Download: Classicsonline

 

Louis-Antoine DORNEL (1680-1765)
Six Suittes en Trio (1709)
Suite in e minor, op. 1,3 [12:31]
Suite in A, op. 1,2 [11:04]
Suite in D, op. 1,4 [11:16]
Suite in a minor, op. 1,1 [11:38]
Suite in G, op. 1,5 [10:23]
Suite in e minor, op. 1,6 [11:46]
Musica Barocca (Lisette da Silva, María Martínez (voice flutes), Nicholas Stringfellow (viola da gamba), Mauricio Buraglia (theorbo), Juan Estévez (harpsichord))
rec. May 2001, Forde Abbey, Dorset, UK. DDD
NAXOS 8.570826 [69:06] 
Experience Classicsonline


In a recent interview the flautist Jed Wentz, director of the ensemble Musica ad Rhenum, said that of all baroque music he loves French music most, but unfortunately it doesn't sell very well. Some record companies and ensembles seem to think differently: over the last year or so quite a number of discs with instrumental music of the French baroque have crossed my path. If there isn’t a market for this kind of repertoire surely it would not be so frequently recorded. I also note with satisfaction that some musicians and ensembles avoid the standard repertoire, like Marais and François Couperin, and turn their attention to the lesser-known composers of the late 17th and first half of the 18th century. Louis-Antoine Dornel is certainly no unknown quantity in our time, but he definitely belongs to the more obscure echelons of French composers of the baroque era.
 

Dornel was educated as an organist and held several positions in this capacity in Paris. But very little else is known about his life and career. Apparently we now know when he died: according to the data on this disc it was in 1765, whereas the New Grove only says "after 1756". Unfortunately it is not just his life we don't know very much about. Our knowledge of his oeuvre is also limited. It is known that he wrote several motets which were greatly appreciated and were also performed at the 'Concert Spirituel', but as all these works have been lost we know nothing about them. 

What has been left is a handful of organ pieces, suites for the harpsichord, some collections of chamber music, two chamber cantatas, a divertissement and some airs. The suites recorded by Musica Barocca were his first collection which was published in 1709. Its title is 'Livre de simphonies', a 'simphonie' being the general term for a piece of music. The collection also contained a single 'quatuor', a sonata for three treble instruments and bc which hasn't been recorded here for reasons of space. The six suites were written for two treble instruments and bc. Dornel was composing in a time which saw the influence of the Italian style continually growing, and these suites unmistakably reflect the influence of Arcangelo Corelli and his trio sonatas. 

A characteristic feature of Dornel's music, also apparent in these suites, is his sense for polyphony. The suggestion that this is due to his education as an organist seems very plausible. The suites regularly move away from the traditional pattern of allemande-courante-sarabande-gigue - as so often is the case in French suites of the late baroque. Three of the suites open with a (slow) prélude, the other three with an overture in two sections (slow - fast). The courante is completely absent, instead we find movements like menuet, fantaisie, rondeau or ritournelle. A collection like this can't do without a chaconne (three) or a passacaille (one). And very few composers failed to write a 'plainte', as we find here in the Suite No. 5. 

Although Dornel isn't one of the best-known composers of the French baroque, he isn't that badly represented on disc. The Dutch flautist Wilbert Hazelzet devoted a whole disc to his chamber music (Glossa) and Hugo Reyne gave a good overview of his oeuvre with his ensemble La Simphonie de Marais (Tempéraments). The latter disc includes some organ pieces and interestingly also contains the quatuor Musica Barocca omitted. More attention has been given to Dornel's opus 2, so this recording of the six suites from opus 1 is very welcome. 

As far as the interpretation is concerned I am a little in two minds. On the one hand: the playing is very good and I really enjoyed the performances. The slow movements are played with great sensitivity, the fast movements with verve - I can imagine some people find it difficult to keep their feet still while listening to the faster movements. There is also a good differentiation between good and bad notes - something I often miss in recordings of baroque music. 

But: I am a little puzzled by the choice of instruments. True, Dornel has left it to the performers as to which instruments his music should be played on. In the title flutes, violins and oboes are mentioned, but that in itself is no argument against playing these suites on recorders, or, as here, voice flutes (a type of recorder with d’ as its lowest note, a tone and a half lower than its relative, the treble recorder in F). But after 1700 the recorder was clearly in decline and overshadowed by the transverse flute. Therefore the choice of voice flutes is not very logical, in particular as the suites have to be transposed - a fact the programme notes fail to mention. And the sound of the voice flute - at least in this recording - needs a bit of time to get used to: there are some sharp edges in its sound, especially when the full dynamic range is exploited. I would also have liked the interpretation to be a bit more adventurous, in particular in regard to ornamentation. The basso continuo section could have shown more presence too. The fact that the two treble parts are treated on equal terms isn't always reflected by the recording: in particular in the opening Suite in e minor the first voice flute overshadows the second. 

This opus 1 is recorded here for the first time and the overall quality of the playing of the ensemble is admirable. At the same time I hope we shall see a recording in the original keys with a more appropriate scoring, and, if possible, a bit more adventure and freedom in the interpretation.

Johan van Veen


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.