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Christ Church Cathedral
October 24, 2015
Michael Jarvis and Paul Luchkow, refugees from the mainland's astronomical real estate prices and other insanities, have recently settled in Victoria and the mainland's loss is our gain. The Island's already flourishing early music scene has been enriched by their migration to our fair shores.
This evening's programme presented a collection of chamber music from 17th and 18th century Italy. The exceptions to this rule were a sonata by Jean-Marie Leclair, the most Italianate French composer of the period, and a work by Handel, perhaps the finest exponent of the Italian barque style.
A programme of this sort could not do better than to begin with a sonata by Arcangelo Corelli, and this is how it did begin. Published in Rome on New Year's Day, 1700, Corelli's Op.5 quickly became one of the eighteenth's most frequently played collections. These days, a violin sonata is usually played with the accompaniment of a harpsichord and cello, but Corelli's Op.5 was published as a set of Suonati a violin e violone o cimbalo (that is, sonatas for violin and cello or harpsichord). Consequently, a performance on violin and harpsichord is entirely canonical.
Corelli's Op.5, No.3 begins with a soulful adagio, which Luchkow gave a sensitive and thoughtful reading. He is not afraid to introduce a little vibrato from time to time, but he does not do so unthinkingly. Not every long note is played with vibrato. The slow movements were taken rather slowly but the allegros were bright and sunny. Jarvis's realization of the basso continuo was also thoughtful. Sometimes the accompaniment was sparse – no more than the adorned bass line. At other times, more harmonies were supplied.
Handel fully assimilated the Italian style during his long Italian sojourn (1706-10). Nevertheless, Handel's Sonata for Violin and Continuo in D Major, HWV371 differs in many ways from the works in Corelli's Op.5. It is a fairly late work: many scholars think that it was composed about 1750. Moreover, unlike many sonatas from the eighteenth century, it was probably written for public performance by professionals rather than for private performance by amateurs. (Handel likely played the keyboard part himself in the first performances of the work.) Consequently, this sonata places considerable demands on performers.
In some sources, the first movement is without tempo indication, and this evening the concert programme hypothesized that it is an adagio. Other sources indicate that it is marked Affettuoso. In any case, the first movement contains one of the loveliest melodies Handel - a supreme melodist - ever wrote. It was certainly given an affecting performance, with Luchkow generating a pleasingly warm sound.
The remaining movements are all strongly contrasting. The succeeding Allegro almost has the feeling of a hoedown and it was given a suitably lively performance. The Larghetto is reminiscent of a lament from one of Handel's operas. The performance was appropriately heartfelt. The final Allegro is celebratory. Jarvis concentrated on giving this movement a forward impulse, which he succeeded in doing despite the lack of support from a cello.
Leclair spent even more time in Italy than Handel did. He moved to Turin in 1716 to study dance and violin and did not return to France until 1723. His Sonata in C Major, Op.1, No.2 is thoroughly Italianate, right down to the tempo indications in Italian, then something of a novelty in France.
The highlight of this evening's performance was the Gavotta (Grazioso). Perhaps in this movement we hear a faint echo of the refinement for which French music was renowned. In any case, the musicians nicely captured the pastoral feel of the movement. It came across as a representation of the playfulness of amorous nymphs and shepherds. The restrained use of ornamentation ensured that the rustic feeling was preserved.
After the interval, the concert began to explore an earlier sound world. Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704) entered an Ursuline convent at the age of sixteen and spent the remainder of her life behind its walls. Nevertheless, she became a prolific and well-known composer. Her preferred medium was the sacred motet, but she also wrote many sonatas. Op.16, No.12 was featured this evening.
Like most violin sonatas from the mid-seventeenth century, Leonarda's work, with its many short movements, has a spontaneous feel. The musicians did a good job of capturing a feeling of improvisation. Throughout, the choice of tempi was judicious.
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) came from an even earlier period. The instrument on which Jarvis played, based on the sixteenth century original, was ideal for the work of this composer: it has four octaves and a single choir of strings, all strung in brass.
Toccata Terza from Frescobaldi's Libro I is even more like an improvisation than the Leonarda sonata. The rather desolate opening is followed by a series of short, varied passages all of them rather melancholy. Jarvis's performance was unfussy and restrained and one could easily imagine that one was hearing the great Roman composer playing the keyboard alone in his chamber.
Francesco Maria Veracini (1690-1768) was one of the most extravagant composers of the eighteenth century. His Sonata in d minor, Op.2, No.12 is typically capricious. (Even the titles of the movements are grandiose. For example, the second movement is marked, Capriccio Cromatico con due soggetti, e loro rovesci veri. Allegro non presto.) Not surprisingly, this sonata also presents the violin soloist with considerable technical challenges. Even in the most intense and thrilling moments of this sonata, Luchkow was perfectly at his ease. It was a great way to end a concert.
Except, of course, now the audience was completely het up. So the musicians performed, as an encore, the Andante from Bach's Violin Sonata in b minor, BWV 1014. Nicely calmed, we were able to exit into the cool night air and make our ways home to reflect on a successful concert.
This evening's concert was the first of three planned by Jarvis and Luchkow for this season. I am certain that everyone present is looking forward to the next ones with eager anticipation.
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