Tage Alter Musik – Almanach 2015

6 andrewbensonwilson.org Early Music Reviews Regensburg: Tage Alter Musik Andrew Benson-Wilson Regensburg: Tage Alter Musik 22-25 May 2015 For those with limited time but an insatiable urge to attend early music concerts, I can recommend the Tage Alter Musik festival in the delightful Danube city of Regensburg (the entire city centre is a World Heritage site). With no fewer than 17 concerts in just 4 days, this is not for the faint-heart- ed. But the musical rewards and the historical venues (which include extreme Baroque, austere Gothic and the Reichssaal, for centuries the seat of the Parliament of the Holy Roman Empire) are worth the attempt. Friday 22 May As is traditional with Tage Alter Musik (now in its 31 st year), the weekend started with the Regensburger Domspatzen , the famed boys’ choir of the Cathedral, on this occasion paired with L’Orfeo Barockorchester (from Austria) for a programme of Mozart (in the Baroque Dreieinigkeitskirche, 8pm). They opened with a series of small-scale pieces ( Regina Coeli, Exsultate jubilante (in the 1779 Salzburg version), Sub tuum praesidium and Veni Sancte Spiritu ), before the concluding Missa solemnis . Soprano Yeree Suh had most of the solos in the first half, although I found her voice a lit- tle too operatic for this music, with its fairly prominent vibrato (which she used in place of trills) and frequent portamento. Tenor Gustavo Martín- Sánchez, bass Joachim Höchbauer and an unnamed boy alto from the Domspatzen were more stylishly appropriate. The boys’ choir sang with a round- ed tone rather than the slightly harsh chest voice sometimes associated with German boys’ choirs. The orchestra were impressive, as was the direction of the Domkapellmeister, Roland Büchner, notably in not allowing Mozart’s rather hurried rush through the Mass text to become too hectic. The Missa solemnis was preceded by the Church Sonata (KV 336), apparently intended to be performed with the Missa, although it was a shame that they did- n’t segue it straight into the Mass. Stefan Baier was the organ soloist, his rhapsodic cadenza rather curiously completely changing the style and mood of the music that it was intended to grow from. The first of the weekend’s late night (10.45pm) concerts featured the Israeli/Swiss group Profeti della Quinta (in the Schottenkirche, with its extraor- dinary medieval portal sculptures), with Emilio de’ Cavalieri’s Lamentations and Responsories , dating from around 1600). Reflecting a period of musical transition, Cavalieri’s music combines and contrasts Renaissance polyphony with the developing early Baroque monody and the stilo recita- tivo . The expansive incipits (the vocalised Hebrew letters that start each verse) are particularly attractive little polyphonic gems. Cavalieri’s exquisite- ly expressive writing features elements of the early Italian opera style as well as some fascinating harmonic twists and turns. He treats the texts as musical pictures, an aspect that Profeti della Quinta explored well in their performance. The combination of a soprano and high counter-tenor (Perrine Devillers and Doron Schleifer) for the two cantus voices was particularly effective. The five singers were supported by a continuo group of harpsi- chord, organ, chitarrone, lirone and viola da gamba. Each of the three Lamentation sets was introduced by an organ Intonatione and Ricercar by Frescobaldi, stylishly played by Aki Noda. Saturday 23 May The sugar-icing baroquery of the Alten Kapelle was the setting for the solo violin recital by Rachel Podger (11am), playing pieces from her ‘ Guardian Angel ’ CD. Before she started playing, she wandered around the entire audience giving everybody a huge hug. She didn’t, of course, but it felt like that, given the warmth of her broad grin and inclusive approach to her audience. Here was a player who wanted us all to feel involved. She opened with her own arrangement of Bach’s Partita for solo flute in A minor, transposed down to G for a violin performance that worked surprising- ly well. Tartini’s Sonata in A minor completed the first half. Although stated as being senza Basso, the extent of double stopping produced a convinc- ing bass line to the treble melodies. The second half opened with the Passacaglia from Biber’s Rosenkranzsonaten , given an exquisite performance with the magical ending of a delicate slow arpeggio. Bach’s Partita 2 in D minor concluded the concert, with its final Chaconne, the conclusion of a sequence of movements that had moved from bustling, to delicate charm, to scurrying to concluding grandeur, with Podger catching the mood to per- fection. One of Rachel Podger’s characteristic uplifted-bow flourishes misled some in the audience to applaud, thinking she had finished after the penultimate Giga. Rachel Podger’s expressive and communicative playing features a fluid and flexible sense of musical line. She lingers on key notes just long enough to anchor both the harmony and the rhythmic pulse, but never disturbing the latter. In their early afternoon open air concert the German group Echo du Danube give their programme ‘ Alla Napolitana : Naples: melting pot of cul- tures’ (2pm). Appropriately, given their name, it was given on the other side of the Danube in the courtyard of the St Magn Kloster (now the Hochschule für Katholische Kirchenmusik). After the catchy rhythms of Valente’s Gagliarda Napolitana from the six instrumentalists , we heard Francesco Provenzale’s parody Squarciato appena havea, sung beautifully by the Italian soprano Francesca Boncompagni. A lively sequence of con- trasting pieces followed, with Francesca Boncompagni’s expressive, clear and agile voice being a distinctive feature, and one that attracted a bird to join in. The accompaniments and instrumental pieces were well played, the distinctive sound of Elisabeth Seitz’s salterio (hammered dulcimer) being a feature, as was some energetic viola da gamba playing by Christian Zincke. I also liked the subtle and unobtrusive percussion contributions from Michèle Claude. We next had the chance to explore one of the earliest repertoires of the weekend, with the programme ‘ Colours in the dark – the sound world of Alexander Agricola’ (1445/6-1506) given by Ensemble Leones in St. Oswald’s Church (4pm). Formed from former students of the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Ensemble Leones specialise in music of the Medieval and Renaissance periods. The much-travelled Agricola worked at an interesting peri-