Antwerp Requiem ca. 1650 -- Music by Phillipus van Steelant

The latest recording of the B’Rock Orchestra provides a musical snapshot. If you died in Antwerp in 1650 -- and you were important -- this music may well have been performed at your funeral. 

The centerpiece is the Missa pro defunctis by Philippus van Steelant. Van Steelant was an organist at St. James' Church in Antwerp. And, as was common at the time, he was also a composer, primarily of sacred music. 

His 1650 work is a masterwork of early Baroque choral writing. Most of the choral writing is either homophonic or antiphonic. But it's beautifully wrought. 

The control.X vocal ensemble sings with warmth and clarity. They're especially effective in the antiphonal passages, each entrance precisely matched in intonation. 

The release also includes a Miserere mei Deus for five voices and a Missa pro defuctis for six voices. These are also by von Steelant, and show his range within this limited field. 

The Miserere mei Deus makes effective use of strings. Combined with the organ, they set the emotional tone for this plea to God.

 The 1656 Missa pro defunctis is shorter than the 1650 version. Unlike the earlier mass, there are no instrumental symphonia movements. And the mass movements themselves are shorted, and a little more to the point. 

I had never heard of Phillipus van Steelant before, much less his music. This release was a fine introduction. 

Antwerp Requiem ca. 1650
Music by Phillipus van Steelant
CantoLX, B’Rock Orchestra, Frank Agsteribbe, director
Pentatone PTC5187006

#ClassicsaDay #ForgottenComposers Week 1

This month the Classics a Day team presents a real challenge. And that's to remember forgotten composers. It's a challenge, but remembering the forgotten can be important, too.

The idea here isn't to lift up composers who always labored in obscurity. Rather, the goal is to recall composers that were once popular. 

Throughout this month, many of the composers I'll be featuring will have the same story. During their lifetime they were famous and popular. People flock to hear them play, publishers fight for the rights to their music, and younger composers emulate their style. 

And yet, after their death, it all goes away -- and quite quickly. Usually, within a decade their music's out of print, no one performs or discusses them, and they're virtually eliminated from music history.

Why? The reasons vary. Sometimes it's gender or racial bias. Sometimes it's political upheaval. Sometimes tastes just change. 

Here are my posts from the first week of #ForgottenComposers. I'll leave it to you to judge if they deserve to remain so.

11/01/22 Louise Farrenc: Trio for flute, cello, and piano, Op. 45

In her lifetime she was feted as a virtuoso pianist and wrote symphonies, chamber works, and piano music. She was a Professor of Piano at the Paris Conservatory for 30 years and wrote several important piano technique books and etudes. Shortly after she died, her reputation and music disappeared.

11/02/22 Hans Huber: Symphony No. 2 "Böcklin Symphony"

At the turn of the 20th Century, Huber was the pre-eminent Swiss composer. His second symphony was part of the orchestral repertoire. After his death in 1921, his music and his reputation were quickly forgotten.

11/03/22 Marianna Martines: Keyboard Concerto in A major

In her lifetime Martines was renowned throughout Europe as a singer, harpsichordist, and composer. She had studied with Haydn and was the first woman to be admitted to the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna. After her death in 1812, her music all but vanished.

11/04/22 Niccolo Jommelli: Requiem

In his lifetime Jommelli was extremely influential among French and Italian operatic composers. He, along with Christoph Gluck, was credited with revitalizing the art form. And yet after his death in 1774 his music ceased to be performed. Very soon music histories credited only Gluck with the innovations they both championed.

Machaut - Remede de Fortune new triumph for Blue Heron

What is "Remede de Fortune?" Nothing less than a multi-media work of art -- created in 1350. Guillaume de Machaut was one of the greatest poets of his time. And one of the greatest composers. 

But Remede is more than just a combination of Machaut's words and music. Machaut personally supervised the creation of an illuminated book. 

This illuminated text tells the story of a heartsick poet who blames Fortune for his, um, misfortune. Hope personified comes to his aid, leading him to the proper expression of love. 

The pages of the manuscript tell this story in rich detail. Music notation is embedded in the illustrations, as are poems. In order to fully experience Machaut's creation, patrons would look at the pages while the poetry was recited, the songs sung, and dances recreated by instrumental ensembles. 

So it's a media-rich graphic novel, created 650 years before the concept came into being. Oh - and at the end, the poet's gift to his love is his love poem,  "Remede de Fortune," making this meta as well. 

The early music vocal group Blue Heron staged a live performance of "Remede" with Les Délices. Their performance includes all the music contained in the story.  The narration was replaced with motets, songs, and dances of the period. 

It's a great performance and one that can be enjoyed on several levels. I first listened to the recording cold. The recording works as a pure listening experience. There's enough variety between the combination of instruments and voices to hold interest. 

Blue Heron is still one of the finest vocal ensembles around, and they didn't disappoint. The music was sung with pure, clear tones of incredible expressive beauty. Les Délices provided subtle accompaniment, supporting the vocalists without detracting from them. 

The release comes with the complete text for Remede (and thankfully English translation). It also includes several full-color reproductions of the artwork. So one could, as in Machaut's time, follow along with the text and art as the music played. 

It was an extraordinary work of art, and it's an extraordinary realization. Highly recommended.  

Joachim Raff Piano Four-Hands Sonatas impress

This release presents two sonatas by Joachim Raff for piano four-hands. But they didn't start out life this way, and the clue is in the opus numbers. The Sonata in E minor is Op. 73b, and the Sonata in A major is Op. 90b. That "b" indicates it's the second version. 

In the case of the E minor Sonata, it's an arrangement of his Violin Sonata No. 1. The Sonata in A major is a reworking of his second string quartet. Raff was a skillful pianist and arranger. As a result, these sonatas can easily be enjoyed for their own merits. 

Solveig & Bertil Wikman perform these works with precision and gusto. Their accuracy gives clarity to the music, which can become quite thick at times. And their energy gives the music life. 

In the E minor sonata, the violin melody is distributed across both players. Yet there's a continuity of expression as it moves back and forth. These two performers play as one. And that's what makes this release a joy to listen to. 

Recommended not just for fans of Joachim Raff,. These are great selections for anyone who enjoys late 19th Century piano music.

Joachim Raff: Piano Four-Hands Sonatas
Solveig & Bertil Wikman
Sterling CDA1850

Vincenzo and Michelangelo Galilei -- Musiche per liuto

These days, Galileo is the most famous member of the Galilei family. But at the turn of the 17th Century, that wasn't the case. Galileo's father, Vincenzo Galilei was a renowned lutenist and an influential music theorist. 

In the 1590s, a group of musicians and scholars -- the Florentine Camerata -- sought to revive ancient Greek music and drama. Vincenzo Galilei had done extensive acoustical experiments. His work became a key component of what the Camerata developed. 

The Camerata didn't succeed in reviving ancient Greek music. But they did develop a new style of music -- the Baroque -- and a new musical form, the opera.

Vincenzo Galilei published several collections of lute music based on his new theories. Christian Zimmermann presents a selection of this music. 

Galilei wrote these pieces in only major and minor keys. This was part of the new Baroque aesthetic. And it represented a clean break from the church modes of the Renaissance. 

This recording also includes music by Michelangelo Galilei. He was Vincenzo's son and Galileo's brother. And he was also a virtuoso lutenist. 

Michelangelo's music is more concerned with technique than theory. So hearing music by father and son together is enlightening. 

Zimmermann uses both a six-course lute and a ten-course lute for this recording. The two instruments provide a welcome variety of timber. And, I suspect, some of these pieces are better suited to a particular instrument. 

The recital is well-recorded. The sound is clean and close-up. But the balance is good, and the instruments have a natural resonance. 

Highly recommended to anyone curious about the origins of the Baroque.

Vincenzo and Michelangelo Galilei
Musiche per liuto
Christian Zimmermann, lute
Tactus