August 3, 2015

  • A Big Postcard from the Concerts Spirituel!

     

    The Parisian Symphony
    Les Agremens/Guy Van Waas
    Ricercar 357

    Gretry: Airs & Ballet Music
    Disc One, Total Time:  77:24

    Gossec: Symphonies, Op. 8
    Disc Two, Total Time:  79:31

    Gossec: Symphonies, Op. 12
    Disc Three, Total Time:  77:45

    Concertos & Symphonie Concertantes
    Disc Four, Total Time:  71:20

    Haydn a Paris
    Disc Five, Total Time:  78:04

    From Haydn to Beethoven
    Disc Six, Total Time:  56:52

    From the Revolution to the Empire
    Disc Seven, Total Time:  69:15

    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    When learning about the latter 18th Century, invariably one is led to the development of the public concert.  The shifts away from court music were challenging composers in many new ways as they had to learn to entertain a very different crowd from their more normal patrons.  Often we head to Paris as we follow how one composer, Franz Joseph Haydn, made this leap of discovery and experimentation as his fame began to spread beyond the backwaters of Hungary.   The Concerts Spirituel, begun by Philidor in 1725, were a highlight of Parisian society.  Even Mozart would find his way there in 1778 though a symphonie concertante he wrote would not get performed.  It is hear that we also find how the Mannheim symphonic school continued to develop, primarily through the work of Gossec.  Unfortunately, apart from Mozart’s Paris symphony, and the six pieces Haydn wrote, the music of this important series of concerts tends to be relegated to history books.  What one will be able to discover here are the sorts of cultural milieu from which would arise Classicism and eventually Romanticism.

    Fortunately, the group Les Agremens is intending to enhance our appreciation for this period and these concerts.  Ricercar has collected a host of the group’s recordings, released between 2002-2014, in this extensive seven-disc set exploring these Paris concerts.  Under Guy Van Wass, the ensemble has recorded a variety of symphonies, arias, overtures, concerti, and other representative music some of which had not been commercially available before.  The celebration of Les Agremens’ 35th Anniversary as an organization is also being celebrated in this set.  A wonderful essay is included in this unassumingly produced set that has each disc in a separate removable sleeve.  We will take a listen across these seven discs and hit some of the many highlights and delights to discover here in this eight-plus hours of music!  It is worth noting though that there are no texts for the vocal pieces.  The original instrument sound works quite well here and the articulation is generally superb.  The balance of the ensemble and the overall sound picture makes for a rather invigorating experience of these pieces.

    Disc One focuses on music by Andre –Modeste Gretry (1741-1813).  The Belgian-born composer headed to Paris after 1766 where he would gain his fame as one of the great opera composers of the day—writing two new operas a year!  However, most of his work tends to languish apart from an occasional overture.  This disc brings to light a variety of the composer’s music to give us a great overview of his orchestral, virtuosic, and vocal writing styles in what could be a sample “concert” of the composer’s music.  The opening music is a selection of eleven arias and instrumental pieces from the opera Cephale et Procris composed in 1773 and originally released in its entirety in 2010 (Ricercar 302).  Sophie Karthauser’s beautiful singing is among the highlights of these selections.  The exciting “Tambourin” is another great instrumental moment as is the intensely exciting “Danse infernale”.  The dances still feel bear a bit of Rococo style with even the harpsichord still prominently involved in the orchestration.  One certainly can see why this music was attractive at the time, and its dramatic flair certainly makes it engaging here!  Other selections here include music from the group’s “Airs and Ballets” disc with music from Les Deux Avares, Anacreon chez Polycrate (with some interesting French horn work for a “contradanse”), and  Le Caravane du Cairo.  This last features a rather intriguing “Egyptian Dance”.  Jan De Winne closes out the disc with a fine performance of a flute concerto that is mildly interesting.

    Francois-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829) is amply represented on the next two discs.  The first of these allows an opportunity to explore the symphonic style of the composer in three “grand” symphonies; some fun ballet music from Sarbinus exploring where some familiar dance forms are at this point in the century from their Baroque counterparts; and a delightful Symphonie Concertante for violin and cello.  The symphonies themselves are all slight little affairs with a Style gallant style that features nice contrast between strings and wind ideas reflecting some of the shifts in Mannheim styles.  The movement structures are still following rather simple forms with the slow movements really being more for a contrast in tempo and affect and without the sort of emotional depth that would come later.  The best aspects here are the way the music shifts between loud and soft passages in quick bursts with subtle wind writing to add flavor.  Rhythmic accents also lend a bit of excitement to these remnants of Baroque spinning.  While the music is all pleasant enough, it is admirable for its craft but perhaps less appreciated for the sorts of things that might garner modern attention.  Something that is noticeable is that when these ideas try to move beyond three minutes they can be rather tiresome.  The tricks at the disposal of the composers are of course new to them, like the subtle crescendos and decrescendos, but are sort of lost on modern ears.  Still this can all be quite charming.  Even the little opening of fifth symphony has its rockets and ideas that Mozart would snatch up and take to new heights in just a few years.

    Disc Three gives us some additional context for Gossec’s music.  The extension of the Mannheim composers is perhaps the first of these major connections.  It can be heard in a repertoire standard clarinet concerto by Johann Stamitz (1717-1757) as well as a three-movement Italianate symphony by Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792) both of which help give more context to the period.  The three Gossec symphonies included here use French descriptions for the affected tempo designations.  The effects here are more dramatic and integrated across the orchestra with colors shifting between winds and strings creating a more conversational tone.  A bit more elegance can also be discerned with dance-like rhythms sometimes entering as important cadence points.  Shifts in harmony from major to minor modes also lend some of the unsettling drama as development sections start to take shape.  It’s also interesting to hear the use of clarinets in the orchestral fabric, in some cases feeling like a warmer oboe line.  This is just some of what make these Op. 12 symphonies provide a bit more interest.  The music always comes back to busy string writing, but the ideas of longer lines, or motivic exploration do begin creeping into Gossec’s style in the works on this disc.  The result is music that begins to become more dramatic if still not quite as personally identifiable stylistically.  The symphonies are also fairly front-loaded with first movements often the length of the remaining two.

    A more esoteric collection of works for solo instruments is the focus for disc four, though Haydn’s “La Reine” closes out the disc in a fine performance with exuberant finale.  We begin with a rare violin concerto by Dieudonne-Pascal Pieltain (1754-1833).  He wrote some 30 concerti and this third one provides plenty of rapid passage work with singing cantabile lines and a beautiful central movement.  A Symphonie Concertante by Antoine-Frederic Gresnick (1755-1799) explores the virtuosic capacities of clarinet and bassoon. Essentially both soloists get a chance to display their abilities and then are paired together for fun dialogue sections and great rondo. Then a little oboe concerto (from 1777) by Ludwig August Lebrun (1752-1790) rounds this exploration off.  Worth noting is the use of a cadenza in the slow movement, an idea popular during the time and which also appears in early Mozart concerti.

    Haydn’s music is the primary focus of the fifth disc and offers an opportunity for immediate comparison to what has been heard previously.  This is music of a more dramatic nature with brass and winds integrated more into the orchestra.  Rhythmic ideas become a unifying factor as do thematic ideas that are set up and then feature formal developments.  The drama of the music is certainly undeniable, as is the wit  with its often charming accents, or meandering themes that seem to become lost.  Three symphonies appear on the first part of this mostly Haydn performances : the popular Symphony No. 82, the Bear, the Symphony No. 86 (the most “Beethoven”-like of the lot), and the earlier Symphony No. 45 (Farewell).  Each symphony is a slightly different take on the developing genre.  The first provides a more traditional four-movement work with fast opening, a lengthy “Allegretto”, a fun minuet, and then the famous “descriptive” bear finale.  Then we have a symphony with a slow intro and spirited allegro a la a French Overture.  The 86th symphony is a more balanced work with each movement being given careful consideration.  And then there is that very Viennese waltz-like minuet with folk-like scoring in the trio.  Finally, a rather unique 5-movement symphony closes off the program creating drama of gradually diminishing returns as the orchestra members leave.  Here was music with form, drama, fugues, engaging melodies, and a host of humor to go with it.  No doubt the French public paid at least some attention to a visual decrescendo!  Is this music more interesting?  Well, of course, because Haydn had a lot to gain from being able to provide audience-pleasing demonstration pieces for a public that had only heard about this backwater court composer.  He obviously succeeded beyond his own expectations as it would lead to London and posterity.  Though one cannot help but think that the music was heard as “foreign” (i.e., not French), and that alone made it a cause célèbre.  If it really impacted the French, one would expect that the composers would begin applying similar techniques and that was not really the case at all.  Solomon may have heard some of that Handelian international style that would be worth encouraging for his own concerts.  The performances here are fine.  Some may find the timpani a bit over-ambient, but the hard mallet strikes add the right punch and it feels quite normal for the period.  Articulation otherwise by the ensemble is quite wonderful throughout.

    The connections to Beethoven can already be heard in those three symphonies, but as we move into disc six, these become more pronounced with a dramatic vocal work and a concerto that move us to Beethoven’s Second Symphony.  A Misera noi provides an opportunity to hear the sort of vocal music that might have been included on a Haydn concert at the time and demonstrates the operatic differences from the many airs and arias that appeared earlier.  Also interesting is a fine performance of the Trumpet Concerto in Eb written for a keyed instrument, new at the time.  Madeuf handles the work well with a warm tone that sometimes feels almost Baroque-like in style with a touch of classicism, though the final movement rapid work feels a bit rough at times (more of an instrument rather than a technique problem).  The program closes with perhaps the most familiar work in the set, Beethoven’s second symphony.  Accents really are hammered away in the opening movement to add a great dramatic flair.  The performance often feels rather breezy.

    The final disc is a collection of overtures and arias by Salieri, Kreutzer, Gluck, Lemoyne, J.C. Bach, Mehul, Herold, and Spontini culminating in a recording of Herold’s second symphony (from 1814/1815).  One last chance to hear the way different composers are both straddling musical aesthetics and responding to musical changes in the air.  Eight of the tracks are arias.  The overall shape of the program feels like a concert with the opening Salieri overture (featuring a nice accelerando), a host of arias, a couple of Gluck “favorite” ballet pieces, and then a closing symphony.  It is one last explosion of music before the music of Berlioz will cause great uproar—well, in only another 15 years, let’s not lose our heads yet.

    For the most part, this is a wonderful set of recordings, essentially many of them are re-issues of Ricercar’s back catalogue.  The “new” to disc performances are not anything that would perhaps drive one to grab this set on its own.  However, if you are someone who missed the ensemble’s original releases, this new set is a fabulous way to hear their work and a great deal of rarely-recorded literature.  The performances have a period feel and the sound generally is quite good.  The interesting thing is to hear the music’s tenuousness between Rococo and Classical styles in some of the 1770s music as it then begins to make its transition to the Romantic period.  What is also interesting is that one gets a good sense of the period popularity.  There is some really gorgeous music here.  As one gets familiar with the music, it is equally interesting to think about why one work lasts beyond its time and another does not, especially when performed with such commitment here.  Perhaps, you may even wish to reconstruct a couple of period concerts with more familiar works alongside these to contemplate what is passed along, and what was forgotten.  As a set to teach 18th Century music though, it is certainly a must for any library.