Review

Reviewed Work(s): Clarinet Quintet; Clarinet Trio by Mozart, Wilber, Crafoord Quartet,
Sjögren
and Solyom
Review by: Robert Anderson
Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 123, No. 1671 (May, 1982), p. 339
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/962651
Accessed: 24-03-2020 01:22 UTC

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 already be well known to some; it is here
given in the alternative version for soprano

Record Reviews
and four instruments (i.e. without choir) and
very well it sounds. Also more than welcome
is the two-voice setting from the 1651 collec-
tion, in my view perhaps Monteverdi's
masterpiece among his smaller sacred works
for the cunning way in which he interweaves
vocal dialogue, violin interlude and ground
bass, and manages to end the piece without so
Mannheim energy. Haydn is easy master of much as a cadence. JEROME ROCHE
Berners Fantaisie espagnole; Trois his influences, and the fugal texture that
morceaux. Lambert Trois pieces negres
marks the finale of no.3 shows how far he had
pour les touches blanches. Lane already travelled his particular highway. The
Badinages. Peter Lawson, Christopher
playing is once more sensitive and joyous, Mozart Clarinet Quintet; Clarinet Trio.
Scott
neatly pointed and a perfect case for the use of Wilber, Crafoord Quartet, Sj6gren, Solyom
Auracle AUC 1001 Artemis ARTE 7109
original instruments. Harpsichord discretion
has been carried to an extreme, and the only
These four sets of piano duets throw light on Mozart's clarinet writing is so idiomatic and
oddity is the Siciliano of no.27, where the piz-
that nook in English music, prominently zicato most resembles an elfin game of tennis. mellifluous he poses fearful problems to other
occupied by Fayade, where escapism and ROBERT ANDERSON instruments used in combination. In the
parody mingle and, as cooks might say, 'cor- quintet, for instance, string players can sound
rect' one another. The Berners works are his all thumbs (I've done so in my time) when pit-
own transcriptions of orchestral originals. ted against the effortless tootlings of the
This may explain a feeling that points could Monteverdi Sacred Vocal Music. Kirkby,
clarinet. Here the problem is compounded by
be made with fewer notes. Yet the Prelude to Partridge, Thomas, Parley of Instruments/
the fact that Bob Wilber is subtler than the
Holman
the three-section Fantaisie espagnole (1919) has Crafoord Quartet, which manages some lovely
a genuine freshness, while the downbeat end Hyperion A66021 things but does not shape phrases with the in-
to the Pasodoble points a way to Walton. The stinctive ease of the protagonist. The trio
'Valse sentimentale' from Trois morceaux (also It may be bending the facts to claim (asworks better, though ensemble rocks occa-
1919) suggests a wistful glance in the direc- Holman does in his sleeve note) that few peo- sionally when the passionate individuality of
tion of Schoenberg's Pierrot. Berners's music ple will be familiar with Monteverdi's Vene-each player is given its head. The coupling is
at this period had a whiff or two of tonal tian church music, of which quite a bit has admirable; but it has sounded better else-
decay. been recorded since the composer's quater-where. ROBERT ANDERSON
centenary in the late 1960s, but it is delightful
Lambert's Pi&ces negres pour les touches blan-
to have a disc which concentrates on his
ches date from the aftermath (1949) of World
War II. They look back with unexpected live- contributions to the small-scale repertory, for
liness to the Latin American and negro jazz Mozart Flute Concertos in G K313 and D
a few voices, perhaps violins, and continuo,
styles which were more or less where Lambert and gives them in exquisite period colours.
K314; Andante K315. Solum/Hanoverian
The singing of Emma Kirkby, Ian PartridgeOrchestra
came in 25 years earlier. The 'Siesta' is a little
and David Thomas is as excellent and as HMV ASD 4056
sleepy. Not so the all-night-carnival Noc-
turne. Lane's four Badinages are precocious sympathetic to the style of the music as we
tributes to French models now admired again John Solum's earlier recordings of 19th- and
have come to expect, while the Baroque fiddl-
- unfair perhaps to expect a young composer ing provides an appropriate foil and has 20th-century
the works could hardly lead us to ex-
to command the brevity that would sharpen right sense of spontaneity. Thomas gives pect these lively and stylish performances of
their good humour. The playing, though particularly admirable performances of Mozart's
the flute concertos on copies of 18th-
Berners needs a drop or two more devilry, is two bass solo motets, for which Monteverdi
century instruments. Such is his command of
crisply enjoyable. RONALD CRICHTON seems to have had a veritable Venetian the
Johnmusic that it seems incredible that the in-
Gostling in view (Holman's speculationstruments
that used have only one or two keys.
Occasionally
one of the pieces, Ab aeterno ordinata sum, is on the odd note or trill the in-
an early work written before he went to
tonation falters, but the virtuosity and vitality
Haydn Symphonies nos.32, 5, 11, 33, 27, A, Venice, on account of its similarity to
of his
the performances are never short of first
3. L'Estro Armonico/Solomons class. The soloist's tone is limpid and free of
Mantuan operatic bass roles, is unconvincing;
Saga Haydn 2 unstylish vibrato, tempos are well paced,
several of his Venetian colleagues, especially
cadenzas in style but sometimes just a shade
Grandi, were writing astonishingly similar
Volume 2 of the Morzin symphonies is quite virtuoso bass motets, probably for thetoosamelong, and phrasing pointed even if now
andalso
singer, in the 1620s and 30s). The record then a trifle mannered. The conductorless
up to the standard of the first, both in music
and performance (see Aug MT, p.539). It orchestra is superb, with all members playing
includes two of Monteverdi's tuneful Vesper
takes seven more Haydn symphonies from the on contemporary instruments or copies.
hymns, liturgical settings in which he whole-
years 1758-60, all inspired by employment String textures are very clear, vibrato at a
heartedly embraced the new small concertato
with Count Morzin and the lovely Countess, style, as distinct from the large-scale, minimum, and pitch at a=415. Particularly
the undoing of whose neckerchief undid plainsong-dominated approach in thenotable1610 also is the beautifully strong and
Haydn too. Symphony A used to be String Vespers. But the most substantial, and mellow
in oboe tone which contrasts well with
Quartet in B flat op. 1 no.5; the Andante, with some ways most satisfying, works are thethe
flute. In some performances and record-
eccentric leaps in all parts, is indeed for ings flutes replace oboes in the slow move-
Vesper psalms, here selected from his relative-
strings alone, but there are splendid oboe and ments (there seems to be no justification as
ly few intimately scored settings - the three-
horn parts for the outer movements. So much voice Nisi Dominus (1651) and no lessthe than
lines inevitably get mixed up with those of
of this music stands at the crossroads, looking three settings of Confitebor, which are the soloist), but not so here, and quite rightly,
pleas-
back to Baroque rigour, on to formal freedom, inThe
ingly contrasted in approach and scoring. spite of a suggestion to the contrary in the
with side glances at Austrian languor and sleeve
one marked 'Terzo alla francese' (1640) willnote. The execution of appoggiaturas
339

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