Search - Giovanni Battista Fontana, Giovanni Bassano, Giovanni Battista Bassani :: The Art of the Recorder

In Love with Virtuosity

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 12/18/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The Art of the Recorder. Marion Verbruggen plays music by Fontana, Bassano, Marais and Johann Sebastian Bach. With Trio Sonnerie (Monica Huggett, violin; Sarah Cunningham, viola da gamba; Mitzi Meyerson, harpsichord and organ). No place or date of recording given. Published in 1989 as ASV CD GAU 113. Total playing time: 49'08".



This comparatively short program showcases Marion Verbruggen playing a variety of soprano and alto recorders and a selection of music from the 17th and 18th centuries. The music was not originally written for recorder, but has here been transcribed and/or adapted - something that is, on the whole, perfectly legitimate, although I don't really see the need for a transcription of Bach's Flute Sonata, which in my opinion sounds a lot better on a baroque transverse flute. The disc may sound pleasant enough on a casual listening (although I would advise strongly not to listen to this on headphones: the shrill, piercing sound of the soprano recorder, brought forward by the engineer and made much louder than the accompanying instruments, could damage your hearing), but after a concentrated session I came to the conclusion that Marion Verbruggen was more in love with her own virtuosity (and her ability to produce some astounding runs and trills as well as some excruciating long high notes) than with the music, which, in my opinion, stayed pale and unemotional; in fact, it was Monica Huggett's violin (in Bach's transcribed Trio Sonata) and Mitzi Meyerson's tasteful harpsichord and organ playing which kept me listening, while I felt that Sarah Cunningham's viola da gamba had been disadvantaged by the engineering to the point of being little more than background noise. Sorry, but I have much more greatly enjoyed recorder recitals by Frans Brüggen, Philip Pickett or Judith Linsenberg."