Partite Modenesi - Cappella Estense

Rating: 2/5

Review:
Very disappointing

I'm afraid I was very disappointed in this disc.  I love the viola da gamba and was looking forward to hearing some unfamiliar music on it, but the music itself was rather uninspiring and the playing left me cold.

The disc opens with a cantata for soprano and bass viol by Alessandro Scarlatti, which is a great deal more about the soprano than the viol and, like most of Scarlatti senior's works, I find it rather dull.  Things don't pick up much with the two ricercars by Antonii which are, frankly, pretty uninspiring pieces.  Worse, the playing sounds very stiff to me – a world away from the lovely, fluent style of Susanne Heinrich, Paolo Pandolfo and many other fine players.  Even the recording doesn't really bring out the depth and resonance of the instrument.

I'm sorry to be so critical, but this disc was a real let-down for me.  Others may enjoy it more than I did, but personally I can't recommend it.

Galilei - Il primo libro d'intavolatura di liuto - Wolf

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Enjoyable and rewarding

This is an interesting and enjoyable disc of lute music from the early 17^th Century.  Michelagnolo was the son of the lutenist Vincenzo Galilei (and brother of the great scientist Galileo) and was plainly a talented composer and skilled player.  His music is interesting and varied, and although perhaps not quite of the quality and innovative interest of contemporaries like Kapsberger, it is very enjoyable.

Axel Wolf plays with skill and engagement, and the recording is very good, making his instrument sound lovely.  Anyone with an interest in lute music will find this an enjoyable and rewarding disc and I can recommend it.

Mouton - Anna Requescat In Pace - Ensemble Jacques Moderne, Suhubiette

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Good, but not one of the best

Mouton was a fine composer and I was glad to discover this disc of his music; it is a decent recording, but not quite as good as I'd hoped.

The program is Mouton's lament for the death of Anne de Bretagne in 1514 and a selection of motets including his most famous, the sublime Nesciens mater.  They are performed by a variety of musicians – choir both with and without viol consort, solo voice and viols and in one case by viols alone.  It's a good idea and works reasonably well; the singers and players are all good but there is a slight emotional flatness and sameness throughout the disc in spite of the variety of arrangements.  As a result I don't engage with this as I do with the Tallis Scholars' superb Mouton disc and even Nesciens mater doesn't quite glow as it can.

I don't mean to be too critical; this is fine music which is well performed, but it's just not a disc which really moves me as the very best do.

Bach - Gamba Sonatas - Perl, Schornsheim, Santana

Rating: 3/5

Review
Not a recording for me

Much as I admire Hille Perl and love much of her work, I'm afraid I find this rendition of Bach's trio sonatas rather unengaging.

This is a set of six trio sonatas, originally composed for the organ.  They lend themselves well to transcription for other instruments as both Florilegium and especially The Purcell Quartet have shown in their excellent recordings.  I ought to find these arrangements for viola da gamba, harpsichord and lute a delight because I love the sound of the gamba and they are played by three excellent musicians, but I don't.  I can't really put my finger on why; there's a slightly meandering quality in places, the sound seems to be curiously lacking in depth and resonance…whatever it is, somehow I just lose interest.

This is a very personal response, so don't let me put you off.  Three top-quality musicians playing Bach together ought to be special and it may well be so for you, but for me this isn't one of Hille Perl's best recordings and I personally I can't really recommend it.

de Visée - Pieces pour Théorbe & Guitare - Diaz-Latorre

Rating: 5/5

Review;
An excellent recording

I already have some dearly loved recordings of de Visée by Jose Miguel Moreno, Pascal Monteilhet and others but I was keen to try this after hearing Xavier Diaz-Latorre's excellent Stolen Roses disc – and I'm very glad I did, because it is just as good.

Latorre has chosen a fine programme of mixed pieces, intermingling the lighter sound of the Baroque guitar with the depth and resonance of the theorbo, which works extremely well.  De Visée's music is a delight throughout and he plays it with a virtuosic skill which makes it sound as though there is no real effort or skill involved.  He interprets it beautifully so that each piece has real meaning and I find the entire disc a real pleasure.

The performance is beautifully recorded, and if you have any interest in the music of this period I can recommend this very warmly – I love it.

Haydn - Divertimenti per il Pariton - Balestracci et al

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent disc

I think this is an excellent disc.  Haydn wrote well over 100 baryton trios for his not-very-talented patron to play, some of which do show both the limits of the player and the reluctance of the composer.  The six trios chosen here, though, are all very good works and are beautifully played; the trio are all fine players and they really bring the music to life so that it shines with Haydn's trademark depth and wit.  The sound of the baryton is beautifully captured by the recording and the overall sound is excellent.

I have the Esterhazy Ensemble's recording of the complete Haydn baryton trios and also a very good single disc by the Netherlands Baryton Trio, but this outshines both in my view.  If you're looking for an excellently chosen and performed sample of the baryton trios, I can warmly recommend this.

Nils Mönkmeyer - Baroque

Rating: 2/5

Review:
Not for me

This is an interesting idea but for me it doesn't make a very satisfactory disc. 

The centrepiece of this programme is Bach's 5^th Cello Suite. Arrangements of Bach often work very well and are very much in the composer's own idiom.  However, I don't think the addition of a continuo part to this most intense and inward-looking of the Suites works well at all here.  For me it rather trivialises the powerful spirituality of the work, and the wonderful Sarabande, especially, is robbed of much of its depth and impact.  Nor do I like the idea of having each movement played twice in succession, once with continuo and once simply transposed for solo viola; it just sounds very odd to me and I'm not wholly convinced by Mönkmeyer's solo Bach playing, either.

I'm sorry to be critical of what is an adventurous project, but it simply doesn't do it for me.  Maxim Rysanov has shown how good the Cello Suites (including the 5^th) can sound on the viola, and I'll be sticking to his recording.