Rocking The Salon

A disk of harpsichord music entitled A French Collection - Pieces de Clavecin and not a Rameau or Couperin ( Louis or Francois ) in sight. American harpsichordist Skip Sempe has put together an enterprising collection of pieces to show the ecxtent of Parisian salon repertoire in the Age of Enlightenment. There is a Couperin included, Armand-Louis. Other names, little known outside a coterie of cognescenti I would suggest, are Marchand, Duphly, Balbastre, Corrette and Royer. The latter is responsible for the closing tour de force on the disk, La Marche des Scythes. It might be thought that music written for the salon would have a certain restraint and intimacy but there is some thunderous stuff here, often loud and taken at a breakneck speed. Those skeletons on the tin roof were getting extremely frisky ! That is not to say that there isn't also tastefulness and refinement, often within the same piece as the high energy display segments. Sempe pulls off these pieces with some aplomb. I did however find the whole recital a bit of an ordeal to sit through at one sitting, not helped by a rather bright and harsh recorded sound. A fine disk but one perhaps best sampled in smaller doses.

Land Of Song

The promotion of the choral music of their native region does not end with the Baltic Voices series for the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under the direction of Paul Hillier. This disk entitled simply Songs, is of music by one time member of the choir Toivo Tulev. It also features the participation of a guest soloist, counter tenor Robin Blaze, and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. It is inevitable that Tulev will be compared to fellow Estonians from an older generation such as Part, there is a definite touch of what those less well disposed to the style have labelled holy minimalism. It is easy to apply words like mystic and there are definite roots in Gregorian chant. Some of the works are based around pre-existing compositions by such as Josquin Desprez, others use texts from both the King James bible and the poems of such as Elizabethan Thomas Traherne. The choir sing wonderfully throughout and as well as Robin Blaze there are other teling solo contributions from individual members. The Tallinn Chamber Orchestra are utilised in an understated contemplative role but are augmented interestingly by the use of instruments such as the duduk which give a novel feel in this context. A standout piece for me is Leave Alas This Tormenting, which has a long lengthy instrumental introduction before using solo soprano, percussion and pre-recorded vocal quartet which includes the "live" soprano duetting with herself. Fragments of the musical material come from a madrigal by another Elizabethan, Thomas Morley.

Improvisation Without A Net

My ventures into the world of jazz rarely stray as far out as to encompass free improv but this disk, Tarfala, is pretty much in that vein. It is a live trio recording by bassist Barry Guy, Mats Gustafsson on temor and baritone sax and fluteophone and percussionist Raymond Strid. The booklet lists them all as composers but the four pieces performed sound spontaneous with little formal imposed structure that can be discerned. It is not an easy listen, particularly when Gustafsson is in his loudest, angriest flow of squawks and distortions. He tends not to "do" lyrical but there is much to be admired in the ferocity of his playing. Occasionally he will turn the volume down from eleven and there is delight to be taken from the interplay with Guy and Strid, who also contribute much thoughtful reaction to each others playing. They are not a rhythm section in the conventional jazz sense but continually improvise themselves. Guy is a master of the upright bass, both bowed and plucked and using advanced techniques to get sounds out of the instrument that are most unexpected. Without the benefit of visual clues, it is fun to imagine exactly what is being hit, shaken and caressed by Strid to produce the percussive effects that he contributes. Repeated listening causes some basic themes to very occasionally become more concrete. Is it fanciful to hear a bit of the beginning of Zawinul's In a Silent Way at one point ? I definitely got a glimpse of the main riff from Coltrane's A Love Supreme !

Cinderella Concerto

This month's cover disk with BBC Music magazine features music by Tchaikovsky, so no apparent anniversary tie in this time ! The featured work is his Piano Concerto No 2 which is much less frequently performed than his first. It does lack the big tunes of number one, although there are melodies aplenty, and the epic length of the first movement could be looked on as a problem. As could the need for two additional soloists of the first rank to play the violin and cello parts in the slow movement, where it is remarked that at times Tchaikovsky seems to have forgotten he is writing a piano concerto, so prominent are these two solo string parts. The piano soloist here is a celebrated one, John Lill. He is accompanied by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Walter Weller and the violin and cello soloists from the orchestra get name checks, Lesley Hatfield and John Senter respectively. The balance in the live concert recording is a bit wayward at times but Lill gives a fine performance. The first movement has many passages of cascading clusters of notes in a typical romantic style and there are notable cadenzas too. After that, it is a lengthy and sinuous unwinding in he slow movement with its' notable solo string passages. This eventually gives way to a fiery finale with more bravura piano. The disk is filled out by the BBC NOW, under Roberto Minczuk this time. performing Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien. The folk melodies and martial brass sections get perfectly serviceable workouts in a slightly clearer acoustic.

A Whiff Of Patchouli

For most bands who came to the fore in the hippy / underground scene of the late sixties, it was no hardship to move to a much more hard nosed commercial environment as the seventies commenced. There were one or two bands who had bought into the lifestyle wholesale however and who stayed true to their roots and beliefs. One such was Quintessence, who genuinely believed in the spirituality that pervaded their music. Some of it may have been half baked and not fully formed but there was a real search for a viable communal way of living that embraced elements of Hinduism and Buddhism. Musically, there were elements of mystical chant and the jazzy flute of Raja Ram prompted superficial comparisons with Jethro Tull. But in reality, they were the closest that the London scene had to the Grateful Dead with guitarist Alan Mostert a known devotee of Jerry Garcia. Shiva's vocals were a rich mix of Jim Morrison and David LaFlamme from It's A Beautiful Day and made an interesting contrast with the blues shouter prevalent at the time. They were in their element as a live act, gigging relentlessly. But this disk In Blissful Company, which was their first studio album, is a decent representation of what the band was about. Look beyond the slightly risible lyrics of Notting Hill Gate and Giants and enjoy the musicality and picture the extended live workouts such tracks received. Brilliant in their own right are Gange Mai and the stunning Midnight Mode. It took some balls to end an album with about four minutes of slowly fading hypnotic drone and Tibetan cow bells.

Hurdy Gurdy Woman

This is a disk of songs from 13th century France by the ensemble Sinfonye which is the project of composer and instrumentalist Stevie Wishart. Sinfonye consists of Wishart and two other vocalists, Vivian Ellis and Jocelyn West, with instrumental textures provided solely by Wishart on hurdy gurdy and medieval fiddle. Titled Three Sisters, which is a translation of one of the songs featured as well as reference to the members of the eensemble themselves, the songs are all in the troubadour tradition of chivalrous love but share many of the musical characteristics of very early church music and Gregorian chant. Many of the interweaving vocal lines by the three singers in fact tell differing stories simultaneously, although this effect is lost on those such as myself without the language skills to appreciate it. The first track on the disk, Azeruz, differs from the others in that it is a new composition by Wishart in the spirit of a medieval motet and has the most continual instrumental accompaniment of any of the other tracks. This is attractive enough while straying perilously close to a kind of Enya territory in parts. The disk takes a while to build an authentic medieval atmosphere on the back of this, especially when one might be expecting larger vocal forces in the chant like aspects. But that mood is eventually successfully built and maintained. The hurdy gurdy and fiddle don't feature on every track, some are acapella, but are very evocative where they are used with the distinctive hurdy gurdy being especially attractive.

Bringing The Harpsichord Up To Date

The free disk with this month's issue of BBC Music magazine features current BBC New Generation Artist scheme member harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani. He performs two works. One is familiar material for his instrument, a fine performance of Bach's Partita No 4 in D, BWV 828. Coincidentally, I just recently acquired a recording of this by Murray Perahia on modern concert grand and I think comparing the two just proves how adaptable Bach's music is and that it is a joy to be able to hear both options without any preconceived dogma. The other work performed is much less frequently peformed repertoire. It is a performance of Poulenc's Concert Champetre, with Esfahani on harpsichord accompanied bythe BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Martyn Brabbins. The influence of Bach is buried fairly deeply in this piece but is still there, as is the influence of neo-classical Stravinsky. But there are elements in the orchestration that are very much Poulenc's own. It is a large orchestra and makes considerable use of percussion too and so it is interesting that the balance with the relatively fragile sound of the harpsichord works so well for the most part. Written for the pioneer in resurrecting the harpsichord, Wanda Landowska, it is good to have a new musician in Esfahani who is keen to explore the more unusual contexts in which the instrument can be heard.

Out Of Kindness I Suppose

When replacing old rock albums with a representative disk of an artist, it is often a choice between some career retrospective package of greatest hits or an extant album with a coherent feel to it. In the case of Emmylou Harris, I decided on the latter course and acquired this disk Luxury Liner. Her third solo album, it boasts the Hot Band in an unbeatable lineup which includes the country guitar picking of Albert Lee, harmony vocals and guitar of Rodney Crowell, tasteful piano and pedal steel of Glen D Hardin and Hank DeVito respectively, bluegrass licks from Ricky Skaggs and a rhythm section of bassist Emory Gordy and John Ware on drums. But it is the element that these musos are providing the backing to which is the pearl here and that is Emmylou's voice, pure soaring and soulful and restoring dignity and credibility to country music. The songs featured are all strong too and still provide part of her live set to this day. The title song is a rip roaring country boogie, there is a tongue in cheek country swing version of Chuck Berry's C'est La Vie ( You Never Can Tell ), a slow burning Tulsa Queen and heartbreaking ballads like Making Believe and When I Stop Dreaming. But the absolute standout and clinching reason for my purchase is the definitive version of the Townes Van Zandt song Pancho and Lefty. A four minute spaghetti western with a memorable tune in a superb arrangement and crystalline vocals that touch the heart.

Superior Chamber Jazz

It could be said that trumpeter Enrico Rava and pianist Stefano Bollani occupy typical ECM jazz territory. I think that their form of Euro jazz remains closer to the source than some of the more new age offerings on the label, though I like much of both styles. This disk, titled The Third Man, sees Rava playing mainly slow introspective syle trumpet, sometimes literally muted but more often just muted in style. Such outbreaks of fireworks as they are come from clusters of piano playing by Bollani who also provides what percussive effects there are in the absence of a conventional rhythm section. It could be described as chamber jazz which would be fair to the musicianship but there is plenty of traditional jazz interplay and improvisation between the two players. The emotional content is also higher than imposing the term chamber jazz might imply. Late night or lazy sunny afternoon listening rather than music to leap around to but if you know what you are getting it is quietly rewarding.

Who Won ? Apollo Or Pan ?

This disk of early 17th century music from Italy is distinguished particularly by the unusual instrumentation. Titled The Contest of Apollo and Pan, it is an anthology of instrumental works by Dario Castello and contemporaries. The performers go under the name of Apollo and Pan for this disk, though I don't think that it is a regularly performing ensemble, rather musicians from various larger leading early music groups who get together on an occasional basis to perform in this guise. They comprise of violinists Tassilo Erhardt and Ben Sansom, Steven Devine on harpsichord and organ and the dulcian of Sally Holman. It is the dulcian, a forerunner of he bassoon, which lends particular distinction to many of the tracks with an individual burbling sound adding great character to the music, whether as lead instrument or part of the continuo. The pieces featured by Castello are some of the earliest examples of sonata form. Also represented are Merula, Marini, Bertoli, Buonamente, Frescobaldi ( solo harpsichord works played beautifully by Devine ), Rossi, De Rore and Turini. A very intelligently thought out programme showing the roots of much of the classical period but thoroughly enjoyable in its own right and far from being merely an academic exercise.

Recreating A Medieval Sound World

Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI rarely release a disk that is not a well thought out programme of interesting and enterprising repertoire with a lavish accompanying booklet and this is no exception. The title is Estampies & Danses Royales - Le Manuscrit du Roi circa 1270 - 1320. It is an attempt to interpet the music from this medieval document which details both courtly dance music and troubador songsfrom the south of France and all along that north western Mediterranean corridor leading from Italy into Catalonia. It is also music associated with the doomed so called heretical cultures of the Albigensians. Savall and his band are expert at capturing the atmospheric nature of this corner of early music and the dance element is contagious. The notation of the document leaves room for discussion and interpretation as to how the music should sound but as performed here, it is beguiling and surprisingly complex and this disk makes a convincing case for it.