Forget the Three B's! Try the Three SCH's!
Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 02/09/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654) wrote a lot of instrumental 'banquet' music -- Ludi Musici, Musical Playthings -- of the sort we historical woodwind players used to perform at weddings, bar mitzahs, amicable divorces, and royal receptions. Acoustic wallpaper, which over the course of time evolved into the classical symphony. That's what you'll hear on nearly all of the CDs that bear Scheidt's name. But Scheidt also wrote sacred vocal music in the most advanced 'stile concertato' imported from Venice and North Italy, the sort of music expected from Heinrich Schütz and Claudio Monteverdi. Schütz gets most of the credit these days for introducing Italian forms and style to Germany, but Scheidt, a less traveled man, was thoroughly abreast of his contemporary. The publication of his Concertuum Sacrorum in 1622 proves as much. Scheidt's magnificent Magnificat Tribus Choribus, the 18-minute first track on this CD, sounds remarkably like the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610.
Scheidt's vocal music is a well-hidden secret treasure. There are only two worthwhile CDs of it available, and this is easily the better of the two. The combination of the Ricercar Consort, with the superb soprano Monica Mauch, and the instruments of La Fenice, with cornettist Jean Tubery, is a case of musical synergy. Just the first 'overture' of the Magnificat will convince you that the "cornetto" was not a weird wooden trumpet but a virtuoso's instrument of the highest art. The two cornettists, Tubery and Gebhard David, decorate these sacred concertos as piquantly as black truffles decorate "tournedos Rossini" in the finest restaurants of France. The four trombonist of La Fenice also artfully redeem that instrument from the blatty quality lesser musicians often produce; this is trombone-playing with vocal subtlety. Scheidt disposes his singers and instruments in polychoral splendor redolent of Gabrieli and Venice, but his handling of his Latin texts is more expressive and less formulaic than Gabrieli's. This is as fine a performance of music of the Monteverdi era as any on a CD.
But wait! There's a second CD in the package! Talk about a well-concealed secret! Although no sign of it appears on the cover of the box, or on the amazon listing, the second CD here is a musical jewel, a collection of miniature masterworks -- Geistliche Konzerte -- recorded by Ricercar with different singers at various times between 1981 and 1991. Nine of the seventeen tracks are works by Heinrich Schuetz, and four are by Johann Herman Schein, Scheidt's greatest contemporaries. Thus the Three SCH's of German Baroque. Ricercar Consort is unique in producing its recordings on its own label, but Man Alive! they could use a marketing consultant. To include a spectacular recording of Schütz, a far better-known composer than Scheidt, without even mentioning him on the cover? That's feeble.
This second CD is fully as artful as the first, though the musical forces are less showy -- one or two violins, gambas, and continuo. Schütz and others wrote volumes of such small vocal concertos for the musical benefit of cantors and chapel-masters in the towns and even villages of Lutheran Germany during the Thirty Years War, a time when even the great courts and cathedrals were dealing with reduced musical resources. These performances are remarkably 'tight' (a complimentary term in musical parlance) in their balance of voice and continuo. Countertenor Henri Ledroit has a warm, natural alto that reminds me of Gerard Lesne; I wonder why he hasn't emerged as a star in the field. Basses James Weaver and Max van Egmond are indeed stars on their field. Four polished sopranos, especially Greta de Reyghere, also shine on the Schein selections. Even if you already have some or all of these Schütz pieces in your collection, you'll hear new beauties in them as performed on this unheralded CD.
Now, class, who are the Three SCH's?
Heinrich Schütz: (Schütz Edition, vol. II cantiones sacrae - Cappella Augustana)
Johann Herman Schein: (Israelis Brünnlein - Philippe Herreweghe)
Samuel Scheidt: this performance!"
The best Scheidt available
scott | Calgary, Canada | 12/25/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I previously reviewed a disc of vocal works by Scheidt performed by Musica Fiata and La Capella Ducale directed by Wilson (on CPO) that I gave four stars. It's a very good disc, but seemed to be lacking something that would have made it a five-star cd. This recording has that something, and is thus given full marks.
I needn't tell you that Scheidt's music is of the highest quality, and compares favourably with that of Schutz, Schein and Praetorius. The Ricercar Consort and La Fenice, directed by gambist Pierlot, have recorded four substantial vocal works, plus two more instrumental ones, and done so extremely well. The ensemble is very tight, and the whole performance sounds polished and concise. It's not really a very new recording, it's ten years old now, but it's the best Scheidt disc I have heard.
This particular release comes with a bonus CD of small scale works by Schutz, Schein, Bernhardt, Ahle, and Krieger. These are older recordings of material that has already been released. There are some good things to be found here, but overall the quality is not up to the level of the first disc in the set. Most of the singers are just fine, but to my ear Henri Ledroit (one of the earlier exponents of the countertenor voice) does not have the most pleasing voice, so that takes away a bit of my enjoyment. Otherwise, it makes for a good add-on.
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Track Listings (6) - Disc #1
