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Church of St. John the Divine
June 30, 2012
In June of last year I reviewed a concert advertised as summer music. (For a review see r2011-06-11-joy.html.) The concert on that occasion included a healthy dollop of French baroque music. A year later, I again found myself in St. John’s listening to French baroque music. It seems that there is something about this repertoire that is appropriate to summer.
The music of François Couperin is, perhaps, summer music par excellence. Much of this music, including his Deuxième concert royal, featured on this evening's concert, has a languorous quality that can recall a summer's day. (At least, it can recall summer days in places that actually have summer.)
I have remarked in the past (r2010-07-16-joy.html) these musicians are particularly effective when it comes Couperin. This impression was confirmed again this evening, particularly in the slow movements. The opening Prélude had a pleasing poignancy. The keyboard playing was spacious and delicate. Similarly the Air Tendre was pleasingly amorous. However, the Allemande Fugurée, the aural equivalent of a painting by François Boucher, could have used a bit more bounce, a bit more danceability. Similarly the Air Contre Fugué could have been more fully contrasted with the Air Tendre. The concluding movement (Échos), a very French chaconne, was elegantly delivered.
The second piece on the programme was Sonata no. 4 from Les Amusements de la Chambre by François Duval. (I assume that the ensemble is named for this collection.) Even by the standards of French baroque composers, Duval is fairly obscure. Born in Paris c. 1672, he died at Versailles on 27 January 1718. He spent some time in the service of the Duc d'Orleans before joining the 24 Violons du Roi. Between 1704 and 1720, Duval published seven sets of violin sonatas.
A few notes made it apparent that Duval's style is dramatically different from Couperin's. The first two movements of the piece (L'Héraclite and La Démocrite) are apparently intended as musical portraits of ancient Greek philosophers. The style is more Italian than French. As performed on this occasion, L'Héraclite is almost strident and La Démocrite is agitated. The Sarabande is rather droopy and more characteristically French. The concluding movement, although marked Gay, struck me as frenetic rather than gay. I was delighted to be introduced to this fascinating composer and would happily hear more of his work.
The first half concluded with two pièces de clavecin by Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer (c. 1705-1755). The Tambourin, was given a lively performance that nicely recalled the pipe and tabor. I was particularly struck by Clark's excellent choices of registration. The next piece (Vertigo) was even more memorable. In Clark's hands it was a remarkable musical representation of dizziness and disorientation, followed by an episode of panicky frenzy. Altogether gripping.
The second half of the concert began with Handel's Violin Sonata, Op. 1, No. 3. I found the opening Andante a little tentative, but the succeeding Allegro found me gently rocking in time to the music. This movement ended with a nice flourish on Redhead's violin. The Adagio is a very short little movement, but it was made memorable by Clark's spare, haiku-like accompaniment. The concluding Allegro was pleasingly bouncy.
The concert concluded with the fifth of Rameau's Pièces de clavecin en concert. These works are most usually heard in the version for violin (or flute), viola da gamba and harpsichord. This evening, however, we heard the version for two violins and harpsichord. I felt these forces worked extremely well. In particular, the echo effects were effective with two violins. I was impressed by the colourful keyboard playing in the first movement, La Forqueray (like the third, this movement is named for a famous eighteenth century French musician). The middle movement, La Cupis (named for a now almost forgotten Parisian composer of Italian origin), was intriguing moody while the final movement (La Marais) was sunny like a Victoria summer isn't. Here Clark's harpsichord playing was particularly effervescent.
Unfortunately, only a small audience was on hand for this performance. Those who love baroque music but who chose to stay home and watch re-runs on the telly made a huge mistake. This was music-making well worth braving a gloomy summer's night to hear.
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