Viola da gamba solo

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the viola da gamba was one of the most revered instruments. It was played in consort, but music for viola da gamba solo was also written, and especially music to be played the lyra way, as it was called, was very popular. Although the term lyra viol referred to the way of playing in the first place, the lyra viol was different from other viols in that it had six gut strings. Music for lyra viol always indicates the tuning in which it has to be played. More than fifty tunings are documented; Alfonso Ferrabosco [1], one of the main composers for the lyra viol, confines himself to three. The pieces in his collection Lessons for 1. 2. and 3 viols of 1609 are ordered according to tuning. Most are printed in pairs on the same page, and Richard Boothby, in his selection from the collection, performs them as such. Most pairs consist of alman and coranto, but there are also pairs of galliard and coranto and pavan (pavin) and coranto. In addition, the collection includes three preludes and a single pavan. Boothby also selected two pairs for two viols, in which he is seconded by Asako Morikawa. Recently Ferrabosco's oeuvre has received quite some interest; I reviewed two recordings of consort music and music for lyra viol. Boothby's recording is a most welcome addition to the discography, also because of his engaging and dynamic playing. This disc is pretty much an ideal way to get to know the lyra viol and its music as well as the oeuvre of Ferrabosco.

Matteo Cicchitti [2] recorded a programme of music by four composers, two of which are very well-known (Diego Ortiz, Tobias Hume), whereas the two others are largely unknown quantities. The programme starts with four recercadas from the Tratado de glosas by Ortiz. Cicchitti then goes on with six pieces by Hume, taken from the first book which was printed in 1605. These are pieces that undoubtedly find their origin in improvisations by the composer. Then we get some pieces by Benjamin Hely (fl 1680-1690), who in 1699 published The Compleat Violist, which was intended as instruction material for 'young practitioners'. These pieces are recorded here for the first time. The same goes for the largest part of this disc: 21 ricercares by the Italian composer Angelo Michele Bertalotti (c1665-1747). Given that the viola da gamba was hardly played in Italy after the mid-17th century, one may wonder about the reasons these pieces were written. It needs to be said that they are not intended for the viola da gamba. They are taken from Bertalotti's Regole facilissime per apprendere con facilità, e prestezza li canti fermo e figurato dati alle stampe per comodo delli putti delle Scuole Pie di Bologna of 1698. This collection consists of pieces for one and for two voices, intended for vocal training. One could compare them with solfeggi. They have been transposed down to fit the viola da gamba. As there is little chance that such pieces will ever be recorded in vocal performances (for which they are not intended anyway), this disc offers an opportunity to get to know them. Fortunately, they can stand on their own feet this way, especially if they are played as well as by Matteo Cicchitti, who has presented here an interesting survey of what was written for the viol or can be played on it. I was especially struck by Hely's music, and I hope that more of his (small) oeuvre is going to be recorded. It seems well worth it.

Roberto Gini [3], in the liner-notes to his recording, sheds light on the conflict between two ways of playing the viola da gamba and composing of music for it which took place in France in the second half of the 17th century. On the one hand there was the jeu d'harmonie, which was connected to the old way of playing, the ancient port de main, and which combined melody and accompaniment, which suggests polyphony. The nouveau port de main represented the domination of melody, the jeu de mélodie, in which the viol played mostly just one melodic line (without avoiding harmonies altogether). This style was promoted by Sieur de Sainte-Colombe and his followers, among whom Marin Marais was the most prominent. It does not surprise that the latter started to write music for the viol with basso continuo, which provided the counterpoint that earlier was taken care of by the viol itself. Gini has recorded a programme of pieces in the 'old manner', by composers from France, England and Germany. The origin of chordal playing was England, and it is represented here by William Young, who emigrated to the continent and worked for a number of years in Austria. Nicolas Hotman and Monsieur Du Buisson are the earliest representatives of the French viol school. Theodore Steffkin(s) was of German birth, worked for some time in England and also in Italy, which makes him an interesting link between the English viol school and viol playing at the continent. Gini has produced a historically interesting and musically compelling recording of music that is seldom performed and recorded. He plays the selected pieces brilliantly, and his liner-notes are of great informative value. This is a disc no lover of the viola da gamba should miss.

Sieur de Machy (fl 2nd half of the 17th C) [4] was a composer who got directly involved in the debate between the 'harmonic' and 'melodic' schools. We know about this from the treatise Traité de la Viole by Jean Rousseau (1687), who was a representative of the 'melodic' school. Unfortunately Machy's contribution to the debate has been lost. We only know his views through liberal quotations in Rousseau's book - of which we can't be sure that they are correct - and the composer's preface to his book of suites. In his music melodic and harmonic episodes alternate. Machy wanted to underline the autonomy of the viol. He specifically composed suites which could be played by the viol without any accompaniment as was becoming increasingly the standard in the last decades of the 17th century. It is exactly for that reason that he emphasized the 'harmonic' nature of the viol, and stressed the importance of tenües (held notes) - notes that must be held even when they are no longer physically played by the bow. These are sounds whose resonance must be cultivated and prolonged so as to create harmony with the sounds successively produced by the bow. This reflects the ideal of a 'self-sufficient' instrument. Another feature of Machy's suites is that he explores the entire range of the viola da gamba. The Australian gambist Shaun Ng presents four suites in D minor and major and in G minor and major respectively. They open with a prélude, which has a marked improvisatory character, and continue with a sequence of dances, some of which are followed by a double. The disc ends appropriately with a chaconne. Ng is an outstanding player and performs these suites brilliantly. I noted pretty strong dynamic differences, about which I am a little in two minds, as I wonder whether this was part of the French style of playing. I don't know the answer. Anyway, given that Machy's music is not that well-known and its quality is without any doubt, this engaging interpretation of these four suites is most welcome.

Johanna Rose [5] makes an interesting connection between French music for the viola da gamba and what was written in Germany. However, as she focuses on music for the viola da gamba without basso continuo, and plays music by Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe (c1640-c1700), one might expect her to turn to contemporaries of his in Germany, or to Georg Philipp Telemann, who also composed music for viola da gamba solo, which was clearly inspired by the French style he so admired. In fact, Ms Rose turns to Bach: he wrote three sonatas for viola da gamba and obbligato harpsichord, but no music for the viola da gamba alone. She plays two of Bach's cello suites on a viola da gamba with seven strings, an instrument she herself designed. Interestingly, it is Sainte-Colombe who is credited with having added a seventh string to the viola da gamba. In the liner-notes, it is argued that Bach's cello suites are rooted in the past, and that they are a blending of old and new. Sainte-Colombe was a representative of the 'melodic' school, although in fact he mixes melodic and harmonic elements. That is also the case with Bach's cello suites. From that perspective the connection makes sense. Johanna Rose plays the last two of Bach's cello suites and excerpts from a suite by Sainte-Colombe, embraced by pieces from the pen of his son, who lived and worked in England. Interestingly, the latter's prélude with which this part of the disc opens, is largely written in the 'harmonic' style. Sainte-Colombe is better-known for his Concerts à deux violes esgales than for his solo suites. That makes this disc a valuable addition to the discography anyway, and that also concerns the pieces by his son. Ms Rose is a fine player who does deliver excellent performances of Sainte-Colombe. Her Bach is also nice to hear; here there is more competition, and it is certainly interesting to hear the cello suites on the viola da gamba. They fare pretty well, although I prefer to hear them on a cello.

The Fantasias by Georg Philipp Telemann [6], which one may have expected from Johanna Rose, come from Israel Castillo Hernández. Since they were rediscovered about ten years ago, quite a number of recordings have been released. It is easy to understand why they have become so popular among performers. Today Telemann is generally ackowledged as one of the great composers of his time. The qualities of his fantasias for the transverse flute are well-known, and obviously that made gambists curious about the fantasias for their instrument. For a long time they were assumed to be lost, and when they were rediscovered, they turned out to be of the same high quality as the flute fantasias. Telemann himself was certainly not a viol virtuoso, but he was able to play almost any instrument in vogue in his time. He knew enough about the technicalities of each instrument to write idiomatic music for it. The viola da gamba plays a substantial role in his oeuvre, which does not surprise, considering his liking of the French style. The fantasias were written in the time that the galant idiom had become fashionable, but they include quite some counterpoint, for instance in a number of fugues. Like Bach and Sainte-Colombe, they are a mixture of melodic and harmonic passages. One can leave it to Telemann to create quite some variety within this set of twelve fantasias. These come off very well in this fine recording by Castillo Hernández, who is not afraid to emphasize the dramatic features of some pieces, such as the opening movement of the Fantasia No. 11. This is a compelling recording, which can compete with any recording that has been released previously.

[1] Alfonso Ferrabosco II: "Music to hear - Music for lyra viol from 1609"
Richard Boothby, Asaka Morikawa, viola da gamba
Signum Classics SIGCD757 (© 2023) details

[2] "Ricercare e Canzoni" (Ortiz, Hume, Hely, Bertalotti)
Matteo Cicchitti, viola da gamba
Challenge Classics CC72918 (© 2022) details

[3] "Viola da gamba - Le Jeu d'Harmonie"
Roberto Gini, viola da gamba
Aulicus Classics ALC 0047 (© 2021) details

[4] Mr. De Machy: "Pieces de Violle"
Shaun Ng, viola da gamba
A415 Music CD006 (© 2022) details

[5] "7 Movements - J.S. Bach, Sainte-Colombe father & son"
Johanna Rose, viola da gamba
Rubicon RCD1101 (© 2022) details

[6] Georg Philipp Telemann: 12 Fantaisies pour la basse de violle
Israel Castillo Hernández, viola da gamba
Urtext JBCC334 (© 2022) details

The cello in Italy (2)

A few month ago I reviewed several discs with music for the cello by Italian composers from the 18th century. It is quite remarkable how many recordings of this kind of repertoire have been released in recent years. There was too much material for one blog, and therefore I decided to return to it later. In the meantime several more recordings have come my way. Reason enough for a sequel.

Giovanni Battista Sammartini has become best-known for his symphonies, which should have influenced Haydn. However, there is more to him than the symphonies. His oeuvre is large, and includes works in every genre in vogue in his time. The category of chamber music includes six sonatas which were published as his Op. 4, scored for cello and basso continuo. There are some doubts about the authenticity of the sixth sonata of this set, and that also goes for two separate sonatas in G major and G minor respectively. These sonatas share their fate with quite a number of other works attributed to Sammartini, some of which may have been written by his brother Giuseppe. The doubts about the authenticity of three sonatas did not prevent the Ensemble Dolci Accenti [1] from recording them. The disc of the sonatas Op. 4 and the two separate sonatas may well represent all that is or may have been written for the cello by Sammartini, although the booklet does not say so. It also may be the first disc entirely devoted to these sonatas; I only could find a disc of more than twenty years ago on modern instruments, including a piano. It is surprising that they are not more frequently played, because these are fine works, which are written in the galant idiom. That does not mean that they are devoid of expression; the slow movements have plenty of that. Many fast movements have an infectious rhythm, which is perfectly conveyed by the members of the ensemble. This disc is an important addition to the discography of 18th-century music for the cello.

For a long time the viola da gamba was the dominating string bass in England. With time, and largely due to the influx of Italian cellists/composers, this changed, and the cello became an increasingly popular instrument. One of the most prominent lovers of the cello was Frederick, Prince of Wales. He played the instrument himself, and several composers dedicated sonatas for his instrument to him. Among them were Andrea Caporale and John Ernest Galliard, who contributed six sonatas each to a collection, published in 1745. The six by Caporale have been recorded by Renato Criscuolo and the Romabarocca Ensemble [2], who extended their programme with arias from stage works by Handel, which have an obbligato part for the cello, written for Caporale. The latter was not known for his virtuosity, but rather his "full, sweet, and vocal tone", as Charles Burney put it. That comes well off here: these six sonatas are excellent stuff, which largely avoid technical fireworks, but are cantabile in nature. Criscuolo has realized this character perfectly. The idea to include arias by Handel is interesting and praiseworthy, but I am not happy with the choice of Angelo Bonazzoli to sing them. He has a rather small voice, and his singing is marred by an incessant and pretty large vibrato.

Salvatore Lanzetti was from Naples and received his musical education at the Conservatorio di S Maria di Loreto. In 1727 he entered the service of Vittorio Amedeo II in Turin. He held this post until his death, but had many opportunities to perform elsewhere. In the 1740s he lived in London, until at least 1754, and according to Charles Burney he played an important role in the popularization of the cello. He was a great innovator of cello technique, and his sonatas attest to that. Nine of the twelve sonatas Op. 1 consist of three movements; the other three come in four. There is no fixed order: some open with a slow movement, which is followed by two fast movements, whereas others are in the order fast - slow - fast. In 1991 Claudio Ronco [3] recorded the complete set with a traditional basso continuo line-up: cello, theorbo and harpsichord. He continued to study the music, and came to the conclusion that they ask for a performance on two cellos, without chordal instruments. That has resulted in the recording which was released by Urania Records. It is exciting and compelling music, and that is perfectly conveyed by Ronco and Emanuela Vozza. The choice of tempo and the treatment of dynamics result in often quite dramatic readings, which are hard to surpass. It is easy to understand that he was admired in his time.

The name of Dall'Abaco may ring a bell with lovers of baroque music because of the concertos by Evaristo Felice, who for many years was Kapellmeister at the Bavarian court. However, lovers of the cello rather think of his son, Giuseppe Clemente, who was a brilliant cellist. He contributed to the promotion of the cello during his stay in England in 1736/37, where he caught the attention of Charles Burney. In recent years his eleven Capricci for unaccompanied cello have been recorded several times. In comparison, his sonatas with basso continuo have received less attention. Elinor Frey [4], in the liner-notes to her recording of five sonatas, points out the various technical challenges to the interpreter, such as bariolage bowings, double and triple stop passagework and drones using open strings or the thumb. However, these sonatas are not just demonstrations of Dall'Abaco's brilliant technique, but very good and entertaining music. In some movements he may refer to the viola da gamba music of the past, such as in a modo di Viola da gamba (Sonata ABV 35). There are some beautiful galant slow movements, but also exuberant closing movements with influences of traditional music. The closing allegro, with the title La Zampogna, from the Sonata ABV 18 is a kind of Kehraus. All these pieces are brilliantly played. Elinor Frey not only shows her impressive technical skills, but also het obvious enjoyment of this music. She receives excellent support from her colleagues on the second cello, archlute and harpsichord. This is a disc no lover of the cello should miss.

Tommaso Giordani was a very productive composer, in particular of vocal music. He was born in Naples, settled in England in the 1750s and then moved to Dublin. His oeuvre includes a large amount of operas and songs, but also chamber music for various scorings, including string quartets, and keyboard music. There is no indication that he played the cello, but, according to the liner-notes to the recording of his six duets for two cellos by Charlie Rasmussen and Anton TenWolde [5], these pieces show that he must have had a more than average knowledge of the instrument and the way it is played. These duets may have been intended for the large and growing market of amateurs, and also bear witness to the dissemination of the cello on the British isles. The two cellos are treated on equal footing; often they get involved in a kind of dialogue. We may well see here the influence of Giordani's activities in the field of opera. The two cellists deliver outstanding performances; they treat the music exactly according to its intentions. They don't try to make more of it than it pretends to offer. There are no deep thoughts here: this is pure entertainment, and that comes off perfectly here.

Giovanni Battista Cirri was born in Forlì, between Bologna and Rimini, and was educated at the cello. He developed into a virtuoso on his instrument, and started to compose. In the 1760s he was in Paris, where he played at the Concert Spirituel and met, among others, Jean-Pierre Duport. He then moved to England, where he was active as a performer, for instance at the Bach-Abel concerts. He returned to Italy in 1780. Cirri has left a pretty large oeuvre of mainly chamber music, in which the cello plays an important role. The Breaking Bass Ensemble [6] recorded four of the eight duets that were published in London; the year is unknown. The work-list in New Grove does not mention the twelve sonate da camera, four of which are also included here. These were discovered in 2018 and are scored for cello and basso continuo. They were written after Cirri's return to Italy, which makes the scoring with basso continuo rather remarkable. Like the duets they are in three movements; the slow movement is either the first or the second. In the duets the two cellos are treated on equal footing, but sometimes the second acts as an accompaniment of the first. Cirri is not an entirely unknown quantity; some of his sonatas and concertos have been recorded. However, considering the size of his oeuvre, there is still much to discover, and this disc is a very fine addition to the discography. The Breaking Bass Ensemble, with Carlos Montesinos Defez and Guillermo Turina on cello, delivers outstanding performances.

The last recording to be reviewed here is an 'oldie': Roberto Gini [7] recorded four pieces for cello in different scorings as far back as 1992, but these were never released. With this disc we stay with Cirri, but then in different repertoire: the programme opens and closes with concertos for obbligato cello, two violins and bass, which were printed in London; the year of publication is not known. In New Grove they are ranked among the orchestral music, but that is incorrect: these concertos belong among the genre of the concerto da camera, and were undoubtedly intended for a performance with one instrument per part. That is the way they are played here. Cirri's music is mostly written in the galant idiom, and so are these concertos, which are very nice to listen to. Also on this disc is a sonata for keyboard (here harpsichord) and cello by the German composer Johann Melchior Dreyer, who was a prolific composer. He wrote a large amount of sacred music, which fell out of grace in the course of the 19th century. Today only some of his organ music appears in anthologies. Laurent Benosi is an entirely unknown quantity; New Grove does not mention him and the liner-notes - which are very concise anyway - don't include any biographical information. Here we get one of the six duets for two cellos which were published in London as his Op. 1. The fifth of these, performed here, suggests that they are valuable additions to the repertoire for this scoring. Roberto Gini and his colleagues have found exactly the right approach to this repertoire. The result is a fine and entertaining disc, which will give every lover of the cello much to enjoy.

[1] GB Sammartini: "Sonatas for Cello and B.c."
Ensemble Dolci Accenti
Brilliant Classics 96767 (© 2023) details

[2] Caporale: "Cello Sonatas" - Handel: "Arias"
Renato Criscuolo, cello; Angelo Bonazzoli, alto; Romabarocca Ensemble
Brilliant Classics 95622 (© 2019) details

[3] Lanzetti: "12 Cello Sonatas, Op. 1"
Claudio Ronco, Emanuela Vozza, cello
Urania Records LDV 14051 (2 CDs) (© 2019) details

[4] JMC dall'Abaco: "Cello Sonatas"
Elinor Frey, Mauro Valli, cello; Giangiacomo Pinardi, archlute; Federica Bianchi, harpsichord
Passacaille PAS 1069 (© 2020) details

[5] Giordani: "Six Duos for Two Cellos Op. 18"
Charlie Rasmussen, Anton TenWolde, cello
Centaur CRC 3819 (© 2020) details

[6] Cirri: "Sonatas and Duos for Cello"
Breaking Bass Ensemble/Carlos Montesinos Defez, cello
Brilliant Classics 96416 (© 2022) details

[7] "Il violoncello galante"
Ensemble Concerto/Roberto Gini, cello
Aulicus Classics ALC 0058 (© 2021) details