Opus 1
Jean-François DANDRIEU (1682-1738)
Sonatas, Op.1 (1705)
Sonate en Sol Mineur (sonata in g minor), Op.1/3 [7:20]
Sonate en La Majeur (in A), Op.1/4 [5:29]
Deuxième livre de pièces de clavecin
: La Corelli (transcribed Justin Taylor) [2:52]
Arcangelo CORELLI (1653-1713)
Sonate en Do Majeur (in C), Op.4/1 [6:26]
Jean-François DANDRIEU
Sonate en Fa Majeur (in F), Op.1/5 [5:33]
Sonate en Ré Mineur (in d minor), Op.1/1 [6:43]
Sonate en Ré Mineur (in d minor), Op.1/2 [6:10]
Arcangelo CORELLI
Sonate en Si Mineur (in b minor), Op.2/8 [8:58]
Jean-François DANDRIEU
Sonate en Mi Mineur (in e minor), Op.1/6 [8:46]
Arcangelo CORELLI
Sonate en Sol Majeur (in G), Op.2/12: Ciacona largo – Allegro [3:05]
Le Consort/Justin Taylor (harpsichord and organ)
rec. 2018, Maladrerie Saint-Lazare, Beauvais, France
ALPHA CLASSICS 542
[61:43]
Dandrieu’s organ music is pretty well known, especially his Noëls,
several recordings of which have come my way: on Puer nobis nascitur,
Ton Koopman, includes some, with those of other composers (Challenge
Classics CC72234 –
review). There’s even a collection devoted wholly to Daquin’s Christmas music
(Pavane ADW7405, released 1998). Not having heard the Pavane, I enjoyed
dipping into it, even on a hot summer’s day; Greta de Reyghere (soprano)
sings the original Noëls, while Pascale Rouet elaborates on the
organ.
Three recordings of Dandrieu’s organ masses, made for the Pierre
Vernay label by Jean-Patrice Brosse, with the Chœur grégorien de Paris,
survive as downloads and can be streamed from Qobuz: Mass and Vespers for
Easter Sunday, Vespers of the Assumption with Le vœu de Louis XIII, and Mass and Vespers in the Age of Enlightenment.
I don’t, however, recall ever hearing any of these Opus 1 Sonatas, which
give their name to the new Alpha recording; there don’t seem to be any
other recordings of them. The music shares the easy appeal of the organ
music, in the sonata format derived from Corelli. The debt is acknowledged
in Dandrieu’s La Corelli, one of a number of keyboard musical
portraits, performed here in a trio sonata realisation by Justin Taylor,
leader of Le Consort.
I enjoyed the performances of these sonatas. It’s significant that these were the first pieces that he chose to publish,
well in advance of François Couperin’s harmonisation of the French and
Italian styles in Les goûts réunis. It must be
admitted, however, that the three interspersed works of Corelli outshine them, not
least in terms of variety. The adagio of Corelli’s Op.4/1 sounds
uncannily like Purcell’s Fairy Queen – the raising of the cold
spirit – and Vivaldi’s Winter from The Four Seasons. I
imagine that the similarity is coincidental, but it’s movements like this
which make Corelli’s music so appealing.
Corelli’s Op.6 concerti grossi are well known and have been much
recorded, but his sonatas were just as influential and I can well imagine
the performances of the three here leading listeners to explore further, in
which case the Op.5 sonatas will not duplicate anything on the new Alpha
recording and there are several fine recordings to choose from: Pavlo
Beznosiuk and the Avison Ensemble (Linn CKD412 –
review)
or Andrew Manze and Richard Egarr (Harmonia Mundi HMU907298/99, download
only) the picks of the bunch.
The Linn 2-SACD recording of Op.2 and Op.4 has just been reissued as
CKR413, for around £20 –
review
of original release as Recording of the Month. Listening again to the three
sonatas on that recording which also feature on the new Alpha CD, I found myself
enjoying them rather more than from Le Consort. There isn’t a great deal in
it, however. In any case, the Corelli sonatas on Alpha are best regarded as
a bonus, leaving the way open to add either the Linn or the budget-price
Chandos 4-CD recording of the complete Op.1 to Op.5 sonatas from Jakob
Lindberg and the Purcell Quartet (CHAN0692, download only, £19.99 in
lossless sound, with pdf booklet, from
chandos.net). See
DL News 2013/2
for this and other Corelli recordings.
Founded as recently as 2015, Le Concert have already recorded Venez chère ombre with Eva Zaïcik for Alpha (ALPHA439). We seem to
have missed that collection of solo cantatas by Montéclair, Lefebvre and
Clérambault when it was released, so I listened to it courtesy of
Naxos Music Library
, where you can also find the booklet. It’s all beautifully sung and
played, but you may find 66 minutes of solo mezzo singing a little lacking
in variety.
Le Consort present convincing accounts of the sonatas on the new album and
the recording does them justice. By all means get to know the music of
Corelli first – he was the principal begetter of the sonata form – but
don’t overlook this unfamiliar aspect of Dandrieu.
The booklet consists of five questions and answers, some of them rather
banal, such as ‘Opus is the Latin word for a work, a piece’. Many of the
booklets in Alpha’s mid-price reissue series have adopted this format,
though I’m pleased to see that the recent reissue of Telemann’s Overture
and Concertos for Darmstadt has returned to the original notes, in slightly
abridged form (ALPHA499 – review pending). For a full-price first release I
very much prefer the kind of detailed notes that we expect from the likes
of Hyperion.
Overall, these are convincing accounts of the sonatas of a composer better
known for his organ music.
Brian Wilson
