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5 STAR : MADAME D’AMOURS
14/04/2008
The keyless, wooden Renaissance transverse flute’s gentle, flexible and yet also penetrating and tangy sound is sometimes heard in mixed wind and string band recordings; but I believe this is almost the only Renaissance flute consort CD since Nancy Hadden and colleagues’ 'Flute Music of the 16th and 17th centuries', recorded in 1988 (Hyperion, CDA66298). |
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5 STAR : OUVERTURES - CONCERTI
29/02/2008
Les Muffatti’s first CD, devoted to Muffat’s Armonico Tributo, deservedly received a rapturous reception from William Yeoman in Goldberg 39. Its second is arguably even more significant, for not only does it confirm the Belgian ensemble as a quite exceptional body, but it also introduces us to some splendid music by a neglected composer. |
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5 STAR : SÉMÉLÉ - OUVERTURE ET DANSES
27/02/2008
This is an unadulterated joy. Sémélé was the last of Marais’ tragédie lyriques, first given at the Paris Opéra in April 1709. For reasons that are not clear it failed to repeat the success of Alcyone (1706) and has since lain dormant, in part because the inner string parts were missing. |
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5 STAR : LA NORIA DE LOS MODOS
15/02/2008
Even though we may now very little about the Andalusi musical repertoire, which sounds at the very least exotic to our ears 500 years after it died out in Al-Andalus, the music itself and quality musicians who perform it are easy to recognize. |
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5 STAR : DIALOGUE CANTATAS
14/02/2008
Bach composed a number of cantatas that represent allegorical dialogues between Jesus (bass) and the Soul (soprano). They nearly all draw on the symbolism of Christ as a bridegroom and the Soul as his bride, a conceit that goes back to the Song of Songs; but few do so as explicitly as BWV 49, first performed in Leipzig in November 1726 and surely one of Bach’s most sensuous cantatas. |
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5 STAR : SIX CONCERTOS
12/02/2008
This recording competes with many fine versions, including Pinnock’s own celebrated 1982 version (see the discography for Graham Lock’s interview with Pinnock, Goldberg 43). Pinnock writes that in 1982 'I stood in awe of Bach’s discipline and order', whereas 'today I relish his sense of daring and musical subversion'. |
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5 STAR : FORGOTTEN VIRTUOSI
07/02/2008
This SACD’s title is somewhat misleading. These early 17th-century violin solos with and without accompanying instruments include some by composers doubtless familiar to Goldberg readers, such as Castello, Marini (Romanesca), Baltzar, Schop, Brade and Rognoni. |
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5 STAR : MORE SWEET TO HEAR
10/01/2008
Since no organ built in England before the end of the 17th century has survived in anything approaching an original state, it is hard to determine how the early English organ sounded. |
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5 STAR : TIRANNIQUE EMPIRE...
08/01/2008
Jean-Baptiste Stuck (1680-1755) was born in Italy to Austrian parents. As well as being a composer, he was a virtuoso cellist, which skill he focused on in the latter half of his career at the expense of composing. Stuck entered the service of Louis XIV’s nephew, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, later becoming a musician of the Royal Chapel. |
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5 STAR : MESSE DES MORTS
03/01/2008
Charles Levens was the model of the peripatetic French musician who lived outside the court life of Paris and moved from post to post as the Church required. Born in Marseille, his career took him to Bordeaux, Toulouse, Vannes, and back to Toulouse before he eventually settled in Bordeaux, where he held the position of chapel master at the Cathedral of St. André till his death in 1764. |
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