Now and then 'new' pieces by famous composers are discovered.
Often compositions are not really new. Their existence was known,
but for a long time the authorship couldn't be established.
In recent years we have seen a Gloria being attributed
to Handel and a Dixit Dominus which was falsely attributed
to Galuppi now being recognized as a Vivaldi work. Three sacred
concertos by Monteverdi on this disc were also known, but only
recently were they identified as being written by Monteverdi.
They were first recorded by Odhecaton (review
1; review
2).
These are combined here with music from a recently discovered
manuscript of keyboard music by Frescobaldi which is preserved
in the Bibliothèque National in Paris. The liner-notes
hardly give any information about this. One may gather from
the sparse information, though, that these pieces aren't completely
new either. They are rather early versions of pieces which are
known from Frescobaldi's published collections or from other
manuscripts. The Paris autograph is described as "resembling
a notebook" which, in Luigi Collarile's words in his liner-notes,
"reveals Frescobaldi at work".
The programme is extended with pieces by both composers from
established sources. Those include the collection Selva morale
e spirituale by Monteverdi, printed in 1640/41, and the
second book of Toccatas from 1627 by Frescobaldi. The two newly-discovered
settings of the Salve Regina by Monteverdi are sung by
two tenors and bass, as they were in the Odhecaton recording.
The latter performed the Regina caeli with two sopranos
and alto, whereas here they are also sung by male voices. I
don't know what exactly the scoring in the manuscript is, but
it was quite common to leave it to the performers to choose
the voices. That also means that the indications in the track-list
of this disc should be taken with a grain of salt. The sacred
concerto Laudate Dominum from the 1640/41 collection
is given as scored for tenor and basso continuo, but in fact
it is simply for a high voice, and that means that it can be
sung by either a soprano or a tenor. In the case of pieces with
basso continuo alone a performance by other voice types is also
a possibility as transposing such pieces was common practice.
Some of the keyboard pieces are performed by Evangelina Mascardi
at the theorbo. That is a legitimate option as in the first
half of the 17th century the repertoire for keyboard, plucked
instruments and harp overlap. It is less plausible if one wants
to show Frescobaldi at work. The sharing of the musical material
between organ and theorbo, as in the Balletto from the
Paris manuscript [track 12], is even less plausible.
The performance of the keyboard pieces is fine. One may regret
that Maurizio Croci uses a modern organ, although built in baroque
style, but it is a nice instrument with the disposition this
repertoire requires. I had fewer problems with the acoustic
than in Croci's recording of Frescobaldi's Fiori Musicali
(review).
The performances by the singers are pretty good, although I
have some reservations. This kind of repertoire needs a truly
declamatory approach. Here the singers fall a bit short in that
department. More serious is the sparse ornamentation. Too often
whole lines are sung without any ornaments. If ornaments are
sung they are not always technically perfect, in particular
the trillo, for instance in two settings of Salve
Regina [tracks 5 and 11].
The booklet is short on information about the music and its
sources. It includes the disposition of the organ and the stops
used in the various pieces. There is no information about which
tenor sings the solo pieces, though. I assume Mirko Guadagnini
sings tracks 5 and 15 and Makoto Sakurada track 11. The booklet
also omits the lyrics, but these can easily be found on the
internet. Even so, they should have been included.
To sum up: an interesting disc because of the little-known music,
in performances which are partly less than ideal.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
Track listing
Claudio MONTEVERDI (1567-1643)
Regina Caeli a 3 [3:03]
Girolamo FRESCOBALDI (1583-1643)
Aria detta La Frescobalda (ms Paris)/Monicha (ms
Paris)/Balletto (1637) [2:23]
Claudio MONTEVERDI
Salve Regina a 3 [4:05]
Girolamo FRESCOBALDI
Toccata (ms Paris) [0:49]
Claudio MONTEVERDI
Salve Regina (1625) [3:29]
Bellerofonte CASTALDI (c.1581-1649)
Capriccetto Galante (1622) [1:45]
Claudio MONTEVERDI
Salve Regina a 2 (1640/41) [4:48]
Girolamo FRESCOBALDI
Aria detta La Frescobalda (1637) [3:15]
Claudio MONTEVERDI
Laudate Dominum (1650) [2:40]
Girolamo FRESCOBALDI
Toccata con il contrabbasso ovvero pedale (ms Turin)
[2:16]
Claudio MONTEVERDI
Salve Regina (1624) [5:02]
Girolamo FRESCOBALDI
Balletto (ms Paris) [1:44]
Corrente (ms Paris) [0:47]
Recercar II (1615) [4:38]
Claudio MONTEVERDI
Laudate Dominum (1640/41) [4:11]
Girolamo FRESCOBALDI
Toccata avanti la Romanesca (ms Paris)/
anon
Romanesca [2:51]
Girolamo FRESCOBALDI
Partite sopra Passacagli (1627) [2:15]
Toccata (ms Paris) [0:50]
Claudio MONTEVERDI
Salve Regina a 3 [3:35]